Life With The Family
by cheri1
Summary: Human Doctor/Rose. Tenth Doctor/OC. This is a companion fic to my Something Old, Something New series. Basically short stories and one-shots about the Doctor, Alan and their family.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: These are a series of one-shots and stories that tie in with my Something Old, Something New series. Just further adventures of the Doctor and Alan and their family that mainly take place between the time Dex is in the asylum and Alan's first birthday. This first story has a scene in it that has to do with Patrick Troughton being in the original Omen movie. He played a priest named Father Brennan who died in the movie after being impaled by a lightning rod.

The Beginning of a Journey (Something Old, Something New) series is nominated in the WIP category over on the Children of Time Awards website. You can go there and vote for it starting May 8th, 2009

Chapter One

It was a quiet day on the TARDIS. The Doctor was working underneath the console while Blizzard napped on the jump seat. The rest of his family had rented DVD's at a London video store and they were in the living room having a movie marathon. They had been disappointed when he didn't join them but he promised to after making a few crucial repairs to the circuitry.

While he worked, he suddenly felt a wave of happiness in his mind from all of them and he smiled, happy that they were having a good time.

While he worked, he noticed someone walking up. Blizzard jumped off the jump seat and he smiled when his wife bent down to pet her briefly before walking over to him and getting down on her knees to look at him. Blizzard came up and she stroked his fur while she gave him a sympathetic look.

"Is something the matter? You look out of sorts," the Doctor said.

"My poor Thete," she said rubbing his leg.

The Doctor was perplexed.

"Poor me? What d'ya mean by that?" he said.

"I'm so upset because I just found out what happened to you in your second life," she said.

"Why? What happened to me in my second life?"

"You regenerated."

"Yeah and it's happened a number of times since then, what's your point?"

"Well, it must have been very painful."

"Not really, it was relatively quick and painless actually."

"Really? A lightning rod through the body is quick and painless?"

He gave her an odd look.

"I didn't get a lightning rod through the body. I've never gotten a lightning rod through the body."

"You sure?"

"Well yeah, I'm fairly sure since it's my body."

"You sure you didn't get impaled by a lightning rod during your second life?"

"Uh, no, the Time Lords forced me to regenerate before I was sentenced to exile on Earth," he said.

"So they made you stand outside a church and the Time Lords stood on top of a steeple and hurled a lightning rod down into your body and you regenerated then?"

"No! Latara, where the hell are you coming up with this whole impaled by a lighting rod rubbish?"

She giggled and held out her hand to him.

"Come with me, my love, I wanna show you something," she said.

The Doctor scooted out from under the console and took her hand. They stood up and Blizzard followed them while she led him to the living room.

The moment they entered the rest of his family broke out in giggles.

"Brother, I'm so sorry everyone here had to watch a replay of your death by lightning rod," he said.

The Doctor's mouth fell open.

"What is with the death by lightning rod bit?" he said.

They made room for him when Rain led him over to the couch.

"You've heard of the original Omen movie with Gregory Peck, right?" Rain said to him.

The Doctor nodded.

"Well, we know you've never seen it, courtesy of Alan, but it's odd since you appeared in the movie. I guess you don't like to watch yourself onscreen?" Rain said.

The Doctor stared at her.

"What are you talking about? I wasn't in The Omen," he said.

"Oh, yes you weeeeeeeere," Donna said softly.

"Oh, no I waaaaaaaaaasn't, Noble. I've never been in any movie, ever."

"Bro, cue up the scene for our shy, modest little actor, will ya?" Awinita said.

"With pleasure," Alan said.

The Doctor listened to everyone's soft laughter.

"Okay, what the hell is going on here?" he asked them.

"Just…watch, dear," Rain said.

The Doctor waited until Alan found the correct scene on the DVD and then he moved away. The Doctor's eyes widened and everyone laughed when he saw a man that resembled his second life dressed in priest's clothes.

"See," Awinita said, pointing to the screen. "There you are!"

"Oh, ha ha, that's rich, that is," he said while they roared with laughter.

He watched while the priest ran terrified through a lightning storm.

"Look, the oncoming storm is scaring The Oncoming Storm," Mingxia said.

The Doctor eyed her when they all laughed. He watched while the priest ran towards a church while the storm grew in strength. The priest pounded on the door of the church trying to get inside. He stepped back looking up at the steeple and suddenly a bolt of lightning struck the lightning rod on top of it. There was a close up of the priest's face while he was screaming and the Doctor winced when the lightning rod went diagonally into his body and into the ground behind him, impaling him in an upright position. Alan paused the movie.

"So," Donna said to the Doctor. "How'd you manage to regenerate when there was a bloody great rod through your body?"

"Shut up, Donna," he said when they laughed.

"Well, that was you, Love. I've seen memories of your second life and that's you."

"It is not, that is not me in my second life. Man looks nothing like me."

"Just like Barty Crouch Jr. in the Harry Potter movie didn't look like ya?" Rose said.

The Doctor stared at her for a moment while Alan snickered and mentally went back over the Harry Potter movies he'd seen trying to remember Barty Crouch Jr.

"Goblet of Fire, Brother, if that's what you're trying to remember. He was in the trial scene? The one that Mad Eyed Moody used his wand on while he was running away? The tongue flicking chap. Rose claims he looks like us."

"He does not!" the Doctor said when they laughed harder. "He doesn't look like me and that priest doesn't look like me in my second life."

"Actually," Donna said. "You really wanna know who looks like the Doctor in his second life? It's Moe from the Three Stooges."

The Doctor glared at her while everyone else except Jenny roared with laughter.

"Three Stooges?" Jenny said.

Alan put a hand on her shoulder.

"Old comedy team from the 1930's and 40's, Jen. Apparently the Doctor became one of them for awhile."

"Shut your gob, Brother!" the Doctor said.

"Well, you know, there was that one Nicholas Cage movie we saw on cable the other day. Gone in Sixty Seconds? That evil German bloke looked like his ninth life," Rose said.

"Yeah, he did, didn't he? And I think you were in 28 Days Later too, Brother. You must have had quite a film career before you met all of us."

"Well, add to that his brief stint as a circus clown during his sixth life," Awinita said.

The Doctor tried to make a grab for her while she leapt up and ran to the back of the room.

"Not to mention the Doctor's first life and his brief stint as a model for zimmer frames and incontinence pads," Alan said.

The Doctor tried to grab him and he ran back to join Awinita.

"You know, I was having a pleasant morning working on my console until you all decided I was good for a laugh," he said to them.

"You're always working on the console, Dad."

"Yeah, you need to take a break every once in awhile," Mingxia said.

"Yeah, sit in here with us and watch some movies. The console won't fall apart on you, I'm pretty sure of that," Awinita said.

"Watch the rest of the Omen with us," Rain said. "I promise since you just died that we won't make any more references to your brief career as a movie actor."

The Doctor sighed.

"Ah, well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to take a break and watch a film," he said. "Although The Omen isn't exactly the kind of movie I enjoy watching."

"Yeah but it's interesting," Rose said. "So far, anyway. We got to the part where you got impaled and then we had a laugh and Rain went to get ya."

"Oh! Yeah, I felt your happiness in my mind a moment before she came into the console room."

"Yeah, so far, it's been about this child that's the spawn of Satan," Rain said. "And he has this evil, creepy nanny now after his first nanny threw herself off the roof of the mansion and hung herself during his birthday party."

"And he has a demon dog too," Alan added while he and Awinita sat back down.

The Doctor shrugged.

"I'll give it a try," he said.

He smiled when Rain snuggled close to him and Alan started the movie again.

"So, just how did you regenerate with a lightning rod in your body?" Rain teased.

He cracked a smile.

"Well, I came back to life long enough to pull it out of my body and then I regenerated," he replied.

"What made you decide to join the circus then?" Awinita said.

They laughed when he leaned over to the chair beside the sofa and smacked her on the head.

"You're gonna think join the circus when I fly the TARDIS to a Ringling Brothers show and convince the ringmaster to shoot you out of a cannon!" he said.

"How did you fight evildoers with soiled and wet incontinence pads?" Donna asked, sitting in a chair on the other side of the sofa.

The Doctor sighed when they all giggled.

"On second thought, working on the console with just Blizz to keep me company sounds good right about now," he said, starting to get up.

"No, we'll stop teasing you, Love, just sit down," she said.

He sat back down and put his arm around her while she snuggled against him. He smiled and sighed contentedly when Rain kissed his cheek and sent love into his mind and he snuggled with her while he watched the rest of the movie.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

My family. My beloved family.

I can see them. Everything they do while they roam my corridors and work and play in my rooms. I have existed for centuries now, an old outdated relic that no one wanted anymore. But my beloved Doctor found me; even though I had been used previously by the Time Lord called Marnal and discarded by him before he found me. We have been together ever since and even though I had been Marnal's and by all rights his, I quickly bonded with my new owner since I knew we both needed each other and I have been his loyal friend, confidant and comforter ever since.

Then came his companions, his friends and in one instance, family member who flew with him, helping him on his sacred mission to combat the injustice in time and space. He has befriended them, mentored them and loved them. Shared in their happiness and sadness, watched them leave and watched them die and each time I remained a silent witness to it all. Watching with heavy circuits while my Doctor watched those he cared about leave him for one reason or another. Watched as the darkness in his soul grew and grew and the silent suffering that my beloved endured at their losses. He grieved almost constantly, not just for his companions but also for the innocents that suffered, ordinary people who ended up hurt or killed because they tried to assist him. Sometimes I could sense how unbearable it was for him, at times I knew he felt the urge to give in, to just lay down and die but my beloved is stronger than that and always, he rebounded and found the courage to go on, to fight the good fight and make a difference in the universe. But through it all, there was the darkness slowly creeping closer to him, threatening to overwhelm his soul and turn him into one of the monsters he was always fighting against.

This continued for centuries, my beloved fighting and dying and regenerating, pressing on despite overwhelming odds and the constant reappearance of old enemies who just refused to die or give in. On and on and on my beloved fought, alone or with his companions, I being the only constant in his tormented lives.

Then came the Time War, those agonizing 22 years of nonstop horrors that my beloved had to endure. He fought bravely, so bravely to preserve all of creation from those monstrous abominations, the Daleks. Those "things" which never should have known life to begin with but existed because of the machinations of one twisted soul who was bent on destroying everything that didn't look like his creations. My beloved fought bravely, far more bravely than most of his kind who preferred to sit back and let him fight and possibly become cannon fodder so he could save their skins. Each day of that 22 years brought a new horror, a new death, allies injured and killed and with each passing day my beloved's soul became more and more tainted and his love for life diminished bit by bit until I barely recognized him any longer. I grieved at this, grieved when the light dimmed in his eyes and he became jaded and apathetic. Near the end, he was almost like a robot, just going through the motions, shutting his hearts off to anything or anybody that could cause him pain and suffering. His speech became dull and his face looked haggard and war weary. By the time his own people asked him to do the unthinkable, he was ready to go along with it, so sick was he of fighting and watching people being killed in front of him and all the horror and gore that caused him to have violent nightmares and delay much needed restorative sleep until he had no choice but to close his eyes and face the demons.

My beloved and I both cried, each in our own way when the destruction of Gallifrey happened. The ship ended up being too close to the planet when it happened and I ended up severely damaged and he regenerated after being hit by flying debris. After that, my newly created beloved flew us off to recover but while I managed to repair myself, he never really did and I watched with anguish when he continued to be the tormented, apathetic, war survivor I had seen in the final days of his eighth life. For the longest time we drifted through the vortex and I listened while he wailed and screamed and cried, tormented by what he had done and seen and by the gaping hole that had been left in his mind after all his people had perished. I could barely stand seeing him in that state and I tried to help by taking him to peaceful, pleasant places but most of the time I couldn't coax him out the door and when he did go out it was only for a few minutes before he'd stomp back in and demand I leave.

This went on for several decades, far longer than I would have liked but I tried to give my beloved the benefit of the doubt, believing that in time he would heal from what had happened and regain the zest for life and traveling that he had before. But day after day he remained the same and finally I decided to take matters into my own circuits. I reached out through time and space to try to find someone, anyone who could help restore him to the Doctor I knew and loved. And finally, I found her on Earth. A simple shop girl named Rose. I picked a point in her personal time line when there would be a threat, a threat that my beloved couldn't ignore. Finally I found one, the Nestene Consciousness in 2005. I flew there and convinced my beloved that the Earth was in peril, appealing to his love of the planet and his innate desire to protect it at all costs. I landed near Henrick's Department Store where I knew Rose was working and just as I hoped, he headed right for it assuming that if there were Autons around they would most likely be the shop window dummies. That's how he met her and she helped him defeat and destroy the Nestene Consciousness, but to my horror, when he offered her the gift of traveling through time and space she refused and my beloved, never one to beg for companions to travel with him, went inside, started me up and took me back into the vortex. It was I who convinced him to go back. I told him to offer her another chance, that she was more than just an ordinary human being and she deserved to be his companion. He objected at first, telling me he wasn't going to bother her when she didn't want to come but I used all my charm and influence to finally convince him that she would make a good companion and he finally relented and went back for her.

It turned out to be the best move I ever made. Rose helped him in so many ways. Became a light that shined into his soul and led him away from the darkness. Little by little I saw him reverting back to the Doctor I knew and loved. Rose's love of life and eagerness to see new planets and time periods rekindled his wanderlust again and to my delight, I saw the gratefulness he felt slowly transform into love, a deep and passionate love that I had never witnessed before. Rose became his entire universe and it was that connection that helped her to heal him even further. I could see into this child's mind and saw the power contained within it, the "Bad Wolf" power that slept deep within her subconscious, a power that was finally awakened when she looked into my heart and took it within her body where my power mingled with hers and awakened the sleeping giant. She piloted me back to my beloved and I watched in silent awe while she destroyed the Doctor's greatest enemies and protected him from death. But, sadly, in order to save her life, my beloved had to lose one of his own. But, to my great delight, I saw that once he regenerated he acted even more like the Doctor I once knew and his love for Rose increased, bordering at times on adoration of her as if she were a living goddess and he was her sole disciple. These were the times I feared for him because I knew, I knew what was coming and I knew how devastated he would be when it happened but I just couldn't help but love the way she had transformed him. Even though the darkness still came to the fore at times, it was overshadowed by his warm, bouncy, bubbly self that loved to dance around my console while he laughed and joked and teased with our Rose.

But after only two short years, the good times came abruptly to an end and my shell-shocked Doctor started creeping back again towards the edge of darkness and insanity. Martha was some relief but she wasn't Rose, although I knew there were times when she wished she could be so my beloved would look her way. I understood her being in love with him but I hated the way she practically threw herself at him and the horrible names she called Rose, under her breath when she thought no one was listening, even though my beloved had told her that I was alive and conscious and could hear everything within my walls. If I had a head I would have shook it at her behavior since my beloved was clearly in pain, suffering the torment of losing someone who had meant so much to him and she not only didn't understand that, she was angry because he didn't care for her in the same way. I was glad when she finally did wise up and realized that she had to leave me before her insane jealously of Rose consumed her completely. I'm happy to say that she is not that way now, that she has found a love of her own and I enjoy her company whenever she visits.

But the darkness he had during the year she lived here was disturbing to say the least. What he did to The Family horrified me. I did not witness what he did to the "Father" and the "Son" but throwing the "Mother" out my door and standing there watching her dispassionately while she screamed in terror filled me with revulsion. Trapping the daughter, Lucy, in a mirror was no less horrifying, especially when I saw him staring at her in the mirror with a gloating look on his face. I feared for him when I saw that, knowing that Rose's absence had affected him immensely. Seeing the darkness in his eyes and his soul, I wished with all my circuits there was some way I could get to Rose and bring her back so she could cure him again. But there was no way I could get to her and the anguish and torment continued to grow more and more.

After Martha left, there was Astrid and the pain of witnessing her sacrifice her life in order to save his and Donna who did manage to bring a bit of happiness back. Donna, the no-nonsense woman who talked some sense into my beloved. But once again, he began to rely on her to help him through the dark times and even though he didn't love her as he had loved Rose, she became a best mate and I watched while he opened up to her and told her things he had never told anyone else, even Rose. I also watched while she changed, just as every companion changes when their lives have been touched by my beloved. She became more gentle, more warm and caring and compassionate and the sardonic edge I saw when they first met dulled significantly, although it didn't fade completely. But I actually enjoyed that. That sarcasm was a part of her personality and there were a few times when her caustic comments did knock some sense into my Doctor's brain and gave him a reality check. But…as with Rose, I could see what was coming. Like Rose, she was no ordinary human and she had a wider part to play in the grand scheme of things, one which would ultimately tear her away from my beloved. So reluctantly, when it came time for her to help create the clone that would eventually name himself Alan, I slammed the door, trapping her inside so her ultimate destiny would play out. And thus, Alan, my half human beloved, was born and the events that would lead to the destruction of the Daleks were set in motion.

Alan was unique, to put it mildly. An anomaly formed by the mixture of two people's DNA, a clone of my beloved, but in many ways different from him. I observed this strange new being while he flew me away from the Crucible, watched as he interacted with Donna and I quickly grew to love him. Here, I saw an opportunity for the Doctor to have someone who would understand him, who would be friends with him and a valuable ally and someone who would help ease the pain of Donna's eventual "death" and departure. I hoped fervently that both he and Rose would stay with my beloved and chase away the hated darkness. But to my horror, the Doctor stranded them both in the other universe when he took Rose's mother home. I couldn't believe what he was doing, how foolish he was to reject them both. When I realized that there wasn't much time left until the void closed, when I called to him to come, I hoped with all my circuits that he would change his mind and let them come with him. But my beloved is extremely stubborn and I could only watch with silent torment while he turned and walked back into my interior and flew away over the void. The torment increased when I watched him "kill" the true Donna, forcing her to turn back into the self-centered woman she had been before she met him, then take her back to her home. So, once again, he was alone, left with only his inner demons and darkness for company.

And it grew worse and worse. He couldn't find anyone to replace Rose in his hearts. Couldn't find someone that would help bring him back to the man he was before and he grew more and more sullen and began to despair more and more especially since he knew that eventually he would have to meet River Song and send her to her doom. I was the one who had to take him to her. I hated doing it but I had no choice, I know as well as he does that the time lines must be preserved at all costs in order to prevent a paradox and so I forced myself to fly to the dig site she was heading up so that he could meet her and put the next chapter of his life into motion.

This, I think, was one of the most painful chapters of his life. I knew he didn't have feelings for her, not like he did for Rose but he had to pretend he loved her because he knew that was how River viewed him, as a lover and not a friend. The deception and lies tore at him and the guilt and anguish he felt at condemning the poor woman to an eventual death made him despair even more and I felt the old urge to kill himself and end his unceasing pain come creeping back into his consciousness again. My beloved always tried to be true to himself and be as honest as he knew how to be with his companions, although I admit sometimes he faltered in that. But the fact that he was pretending to be River's lover when he only wanted to be her friend and lying to her about it and her fate made things even worse. He had a small respite when he finally sent her away to her house but still, that didn't help the fact that eventually he would send her back to The Library to face electrocution. I shiver when I remember the nights spent alone that occurred between her being sent back and the picnic on Derillium. Nights when he would roam my corridors crying to himself and screaming out about how unfair it was that he had been left alive when everyone else was at rest in the Great Beyond. Crying and screaming and cursing, both the universe and himself, that's all I heard and it made me ache to the core of my being and wish I had a pair of arms to hold him and comfort him.

When the day finally did happen and he did send her off, I thought that would be the end of it and perhaps he might find some peace. But then that damnable abomination the Valeyard showed up, knocked him out and took him away in his TARDIS, across the void where I couldn't feel him and he couldn't feel me. I sat there for a long time, wondering and worrying about him and what his dark version was doing to him. I knew if he died over there then I would eventually die as well but that was the furthest thing from my mind. My beloved's safety mattered more to me than my own life and I grieved nonstop while I sat there by the Singing Towers and hoped for his return.

Then he finally came back. Not only was he alive and well, but he had a new family. Alan and Rose and Donna along with three women that had come from the other universe. I couldn't believe it. Not only did my Doctor look happier than he had in years but he had a new wife at his side and everyone except the Chinese woman, Mingxia, had become like him. I was intrigued at this new development and thrilled that the Valeyard was finally destroyed for all time and couldn't threaten them anymore. I watched what happened next with interest. Rose was married to Alan which I thought would upset my beloved but I noticed with growing glee that instead of being upset and jealous about that, he had turned his affections towards the former human called Rain and loved her more deeply than he had ever loved Rose. But that wasn't the only change in him. Whatever had happened in the other universe had changed him into a different man, almost as if he had regenerated and gained a new personality without changing his body. He was happier and more peaceful than I had ever seen him and these people he had brought back to me had all bonded with one another and him and became his family and his saving grace. My beloved finally had a true family, a family who accepted him just as he was, who didn't ostracize and ridicule him and accuse him of being a murdering monster, who loved him completely and unconditionally. When I saw the darkness retreating completely from his soul and the light and sparkle coming back to his eyes, I was so thrilled I thought my circuits would pop out of the walls. He had accepted Alan like I hoped he would and they called one another Brother, which made me even more happy.

But the one that helped him the most was Rain. She loved him so much, helped ease his pain and even helped him to let go of a lot of the anger and torment he had been carrying around for years, decades and even centuries. He loved her to the very core of his being and they lived and breathed for one another as if they were one person. Whoever and whatever this Imiko is, I thank her for making them all Time Lords and Ladies and letting Rain be with her husband past her normal lifespan. Just that act alone made my beloved even more peaceful since it meant they could be together through the ages and that knowledge gave him the confidence to throw open the locked doors imprisoning his hearts and give himself to her completely. I can't tell you how thrilling it is to see them in their private moments, standing together at the console or in bed with each other, holding one another tightly and just loving the closeness of their bodies and basking in each other's love and devotion. My beloved learned how to laugh and joke and act crazy again and I've rumbled out laughter at all their antics. They're so playful with one another, so silly. It warms me to see it and feel all the love and happiness in their minds.

But it didn't stop with them. My beloved, loving the happiness that this new family provided, reached out to his other friends and companions and began to visit them again, even going so far as to celebrate birthdays and other special events, something he never really did before. Then came the discovery that his daughter, Jenny, was alive which made him even happier. Then Imiko returned and turned both her and Mingxia into Time Ladies which increased the happiness still more. Both my beloved and I loved the connection of the other's minds in our consciousness. I've wiled away many an hour listening to their conversations, both vocally and mentally, and all the fun they have together. I watched while my Rain and Awinita and Mingxia and Jenny grew in confidence and became bolder and more courageous and became the young women they were meant to be. There were now two loving, married couples within my walls and their beloved family. Then came the dogs, Blizzard and Rory, who added to the happiness and serenity and made my interior seem even more homely than it had before. I could see into my beloved's mind and for the first time since I had met him, there were no traces of darkness, only peace and love and contentment. If I had tear ducts, I would have wept with joy at this, knowing that the one I loved had finally found the happiness he had been searching for all his lives.

Because of this, I began to reach out and search for more signs of family members or friends that had been lost to him. I wanted more reasons for him to be happy since I was reaping the benefits of it and that's when I found his long lost son, Dex. I could sense his consciousness hidden in a fob watch in 1863. I knew that his son had been bitter and angry at my beloved in the past because of his former wife's actions. But I also knew that it was time for all of that to end and for their devastated relationship to be healed. So I took it upon myself to fly to their farm in 1863 and let my beloved family find him so he could be cured at last and join them.

Unfortunately, Dex nearly destroyed both my Doctor and Alan's happiness when he tried to burn alive both their family and his own in a barn but eventually my beloved did get through to his son and convinced him to get treatment. Once he did, he joined the others with his wife and two daughters giving my beloved not only his son back but two granddaughters and a daughter in law as well. Now they are off on a quest with Jack and Dex to find six others, four men and two women who have also turned themselves human and are waiting to be restored. I hope they do find them and that their minds will join the minds of my ever-growing family and make them even happier.

Centuries ago when my beloved first stepped inside me and claimed me as his own I never would have dreamed that there would come a day when there would be so much love within these walls. My tormented Doctor who made a point of holding people at arm's length and shoving them away when they got too close has become a new man and has now done just the opposite. I have bonded with all of them now just as deeply as I have with him and I know that they will be here for a long time to come because he cannot live without them now and neither can I.

Eight individuals reside here full time at the moment. All of them are so different and yet when they come together, they compliment and complete each other. Each of them now a part of one another's souls, working together as a group, helping one another not only in fighting monsters but in everyday life as well. They came from different backgrounds, have different personalities and temperaments, some are more silly, some more serious but all of them are completely perfect for each other and I couldn't ask for a better, more loyal, more loving family for my Doctor. For the first time since I was grown, I am glad to be alive and be here to witness this and I look forward to seeing what the future brings for all of them, my beloved family.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: In this story Dex and Jack aren't with them. This takes place before the Doctor found his son.

Chapter Three

"So, what is the name of this planet then?" Mingxia said.

"No idea. I set the controls to random, just for fun."

Donna snorted.

"Yeah and the last time he did that I stepped outside and nearly froze my bum off. Not to mention we had to go rescue the Ood from their slave masters."

"Well, they needed to be rescued," the Doctor said.

"Yeah but they could have chosen a planet with warmer temperatures to live on."

The Doctor sighed and looked at his wife.

"You're excited, aren't you?" he asked her.

"Yes, I am."

"You love traveling with me, don't you?"

"Yes, I do."

"You don't feel like griping to me about the climate of the planets we visit, do you?"

"No, I don't."

She giggled when he gave her an affectionate pat on the head and turned back to the others.

"Anyway, let's sally forth, brave adventures and see what wonders this planet holds."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Much to Donna's relief, the climate was warm and sunny and all of them strolled out of the TARDIS into a crowded marketplace. The Doctor glanced around and noticed a man standing behind one of the stalls. He wasn't busy at the moment so they walked over.

"Hello there, can I interest you in some pretty necklaces? We have the finest Orzelean stones in the galaxy," he said, pointing to the sky blue stone inside a pendant.

"No, thanks," the Doctor said. "We're on a rocket tour of the galaxy and we just come to planets at random. What is the name of this planet?"

"Ass Face."

The Doctor's mouth dropped open.

"See here, I was just asking a simple question. There's no need to be rude!" he said to him.

"I wasn't being rude," the man said. "You asked the name of the planet and I told you, it's Ass Face."

The Doctor stared at him in shock while the rest of his family fought to keep from laughing.

"Your planet's name is Ass Face?" the Doctor said.

The man gave him a confused look.

"Yes, why?"

"Well, it…seems like a strange name for your planet."

"In our language, Ass Face means beautiful world, which it is. Look around you. What's so strange about that?"

"Nothing, nothing at all. Ass Face is a lovely name. And it's a beautiful planet. Gorgeous, very ass face indeed. Thanks so much for your time. I'll let you get back to work now."

"You're very welcome, Sir. Have a good day," he said.

"You too."

They walked away and hurried out of earshot before all of them laughed hysterically.

"I can't believe the planet is called Ass Face," Awinita said.

"Well, like he said, it means something completely different in their language," the Doctor said. "That happens a lot, you know. Occasionally you'll find the same word in two different languages and sometimes the word might have a benign meaning in one culture and an offensive meaning in another. But now that we've had a laugh, let's respect their culture and have fun exploring Ass Face."

He grinned when all of them giggled again. They quickly sobered up and walked back towards the marketplace.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(An hour later…)

"And now we've ended up prisoners," Donna said while they stood together in a cell in a dark, dank dungeon. "Yup, why did I figure this would happen at some point?"

"Well, I'm sorry. I didn't realize the screaming, panicking man was bait for a slave catcher," the Doctor replied.

"Well, I just hope we get outta here," Awinita said. "I really don't wanna die on a planet named Ass Face."

The Doctor hushed them when they heard a heavy metal door open and close. A man walked up to their cell and smirked at them. He was in his mid-thirties with short dark brown hair, a fat, pasty face and beady dark eyes. He was wearing a navy blue military outfit with gold epaulets on the shoulders. He chuckled.

"Naive little fools, so eager to rush to my assistant's aid," he said. "Now you will all end up as my brainwashed slaves and you will willingly help me conquer the universe."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the Doctor said. "Before you turn us into your willing puppets, might we know the name of our lord and master?"

He threw his head back proudly.

"I am Supreme General Knicker Inspector!" he said.

They all stared at him.

"Do what?" the Doctor said.

"I said I am Supreme General Knicker Inspector and you will become my slaves. Soon you will cease to think for yourselves and…what's so funny?" he said when he noticed all of them were sniggering softly.

"Nothing, nothing really, just having a laugh," the Doctor said.

"You dare to laugh at the mighty Knicker Inspector, the scourge of the galaxy?"

Everyone bit their lips while the Doctor shrugged.

"No, not laughing at you in any way. It's a private joke, really," he said.

"So, what's the name of your assistant?" Awinita said. "Panty Raid?"

Knicker Inspector's mouth dropped open when they all laughed.

"I will not be mocked!" he said. "Especially by a bunch of soon to be slaves! I am Knicker Inspector and you will bow down before me and become my mindless soldiers. And then once you are in my control, I will not only send you out to conquer Ass Face but it's sister planet, Butt Munch, and once that is subjugated, the entire universe."

"Wait, there's another planet around here called Butt Munch?" Rose said.

"Yes, Ass Face and Butt Munch are twin planets and you will help me conquer them. Then afterwards we will move on to the other nearby planets, Diarrhea and Booty Call."

They could barely keep their laughter in.

"I'm sorry but are the planets actually called these names or is this what the citizens of Ass Face call them?" the Doctor said.

"It is our names for them. We don't care what they call themselves."

"Okay, just checking."

Knicker Inspector frowned when he noticed the giggling beginning again.

"What is so funny?"

"Nothing!" the Doctor said.

He glared at them.

"I will not be mocked, I warn you! If you continue to laugh at me, I will put you in my douche right now!"

They all stopped their laughter.

"Douche?" Awinita said. "What's that?"

An evil grin spread across Knicker Inspector's face.

"The douche is my brainwashing machine. One I hook you up to it, your thoughts will be washed away."

"Oh yeah," Rain said. "I'm sure the douche does a good job of washing away everything."

Everyone bit down on their lips so hard they almost drew blood.

"I'm warning you!" he said to Rain. "If you don't shut up this instant, I'll use my dildo on you!"

They glanced at each other.

"What's a dildo?" Rain asked innocently.

He walked away and the Doctor and the others giggled. When they saw him again, they quickly sobered up.

"This!" Knicker Inspector said, pointing to a large halberd in his hand "is my dildo. And if you don't shut up, I will ram it into your body!"

The Doctor and Rain glanced at each other.

"So, let me get this straight," Rain said. "If I don't shut up, I'll get…a dildo up my ass?"

"Yes, that's the perfect place to put it, you insolent slave."

Rain moved behind her husband. The Doctor fought to keep from laughing when she put her face on his back to try to stifle her laughter.

_Watch this, my family,_ the Doctor thought to them. _Time for a bit of melodramatic acting._

He gave Knicker Inspector an imploring look.

"Please, I'm begging you. Let my family go. Don't wash their minds with your douche or ram your dildo into them. Please, I'll do anything you want but don't put your dildo up their arses."

The other members of his family turned around and slammed their hands over their mouths.

"Then you'll willingly help me conquer the galaxy?"

"Yes, Supreme General Knicker Inspector. I will be your slave and help you subjugate Ass Face, Butt Munch, Diarrhea and Booty Call. You can douche my brain all you like. All I ask is you keep your dildo away from the others and don't use it on them. I can't bear the thought of them dying with your dildo up their arses."

_Oh God,_ Awinita thought to the others. _I don't know how much longer I'm gonna be able to keep from pissing my pants with laughter. Of all the places to be captured. God, I can't believe we're on planet Ass Face being threatened with death and enslavement by someone named Knicker Inspector._

The family laughed inside their minds which nearly made the Doctor lose his composure.

"So, how 'bout it, Knicker Inspector? Me in exchange for everyone else here?" he said.

"I shall have to think about it. I need slaves and I can't afford to trade seven of them for one. But I must tend to other matters at present. I will send my servant, Poncy Bastard, to keep an eye on you. You already know him since he was the bait for my trap."

"Yes, Poncy Bastard, I can't believe he caught us," the Doctor said.

There was another wave of laughter in his mind.

Knicker Inspector stared at him for a moment before he shook his head and walked off. When he was out of earshot, everyone roared with laughter.

"Ah, we may die or be turned into mindless slaves at any minute, but at least we'll all have a smile on our faces," the Doctor said. "And now that's over, any ideas for escape before we get douched and dildoed?"

"Well, unfortunately, our screwdrivers were taken from us. That Poncy Bastard, how dare he steal our property," Alan said.

"I'm kinda disappointed," Awinita said. "I was hoping he'd be named Panty Raid but Poncy Bastard is good too."

They turned their heads when Poncy Bastard entered through the dungeon door and walked up to them. He was small, fat and toad-like with a bloated face, thinning hair and beady eyes. They giggled at the sight of him.

"I wouldn't laugh if I were you, very soon you will all get douched."

"Good," Rain muttered. "Lately, I've had that not so fresh feeling inside."

They all laughed inside their minds. Jenny glanced at Poncy Bastard and noticed he had a laser blaster in a holster at his side.

_Leave it to me, Dad; I'll handle this,_ she thought to him.

The Doctor watched her while she walked to the cell bars and smiled warmly at Poncy Bastard. The Doctor and Donna could barely keep from laughing out loud when they noticed she was doing a repeat of her flirting maneuver she did on Messaline. To his delight, the Doctor noticed it was working again and the sweaty lump of a man seemed to enjoy the fact that a pretty woman was making a pass at him. And just like before, he got near enough to the bars to let his daughter grab his pistol and point it at his fat gut.

"Let us out of here before you're the one that gets the dildo up your arse," she said sweetly.

"Wow, that needs to be her trademark fighting maneuver now," Donna said.

"You don't scare me, little girl. I'm not afraid of dy…"

He flinched when Jenny raised the blaster and shot it above his head. She put it against his forehead.

"If you're not afraid of dying, then I'm not afraid to kill ya," she said sweetly.

The Doctor quickly thought some instructions to his brother. They moved up on either side of Jenny. Alan grabbed his shirt with both hands and pressed his body up against the bars while the Doctor searched his trouser pockets. He found their screwdrivers and passed them out to his family.

"Well, actually, we don't need you to get us out anymore," the Doctor said, shrugging. "So I guess my daughter can kill ya. Go ahead, Jen."

"No!" Poncy Bastard said. "Please, I was just bluffing. I really don't want to die."

"How many other slaves do you have?" the Doctor demanded.

"None."

He narrowed his eyes.

"Don't lie to me."

"No, really, you're the first batch. We just came up with this idea a few days ago."

The Doctor used his screwdriver on the lock and unlocked it. Both Jenny and Alan forced their captive to move back and all of them except Jenny and Alan walked out of the cell. The Doctor put the tip of his screwdriver against the back of Poncy Bastard's head.

"Inside the cell or I fry your brains with this," he said.

He smirked when Poncy Bastard obeyed and went in. Jenny and Alan quickly came out and he slammed the door. He locked it with the screwdriver and waved at him.

"See ya later, Poncy Bastard. We're going to go after Knicker Inspector next," he said.

They hurried away while Poncy Bastard screamed for help.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What is all that screaming about?" Knicker Inspector said while he headed down the stairs towards the dungeon. "If my slaves have done something to my assistant, they'll be douched without further delay."

"Not if I ram your dildo up your arse first!"

Knicker Inspector froze on a landing when the Doctor and his family came through a nearby door. The Doctor pointed the halberd at him.

"So if I were you, I'd go downstairs and join your associate in your cell because I will ram this dildo somewhere unpleasant if you don't."

He snarled at him.

"You don't scare me! I am not afraid of death and you and your little group will suffer dearly for this!"

He let out a scream of rage. The Doctor quickly thought out a plan of attack to his family. They waited till he began to rush them. They waited till the last moment and then ran out of the way while he ran past them. The Doctor kicked him hard in the ass sending him to the floor inside the closet they had hid in. Alan slammed the door and locked it with his screwdriver.

"Right, let's go find the proper authorities and have them take these two away for a nice little holiday in prison," the Doctor said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ah," the Doctor said when they settled into the chairs and sofas in the living room, "well, that was an unusual experience, to say the least."

He smiled when Blizzard leapt up on his lap and he scratched her head. Rory walked over to Jenny who was sitting on the floor and she played with him.

"I'm just glad Knicker Inspector didn't put us in his douche after we kept laughing at him," Awinita said.

"Yeah, that was the hardest part," Mingxia said. "Trying not to laugh."

"Makes you wonder what other English words there are in their language," Rose said.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I wanna visit planet Booty Call next," Alan said.

They laughed.

"No, Bro, let's go to Diarrhea," Rain said.

He made a face.

"What if there's a reason they call it that?" he said to her. "Now, Booty Call, that could be fun."

"Nah, go to Butt Munch, just to say we've gone," Rose said.

"And then we'll get t-shirts that say I've been to Butt Munch?" Alan said.

She giggled.

"Exactly."

"Well, it's a good thing Angel thought of using her Messaline Special on that Poncy Bastard, otherwise we might never have gotten free," the Doctor replied.

"And believe me, it wasn't pleasant doing that," Jenny replied. "Man was all sweaty and smelly, ick!"

"Maybe he just needs to be douched, Honey," Rain said while they laughed.

"I'm glad he didn't use that on us. I really don't want it to get out I was douched by General Knicker Inspector. I'd be the laughing stock of the universe then," the Doctor said.

He smiled at them.

"Now see, you can have fun when you set the controls to random, eh?" he said to them.

"I s'pose," Rose said. "But the next time you do that and we end up on planet Fart Blossom and get captured by Major Wank Off who threatens to kill us with his Vaginal Cream machine, we're gonna all leave ya there and let you sort it out."

They all giggled when the Doctor rolled his eyes and flipped them off.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"I can't believe I'm doing this."

The Doctor chuckled while he and his wife put on spacesuits. The family was at a space station resort and one of the things that were offered to guests was a thirty minute spacewalk outside the station. The Doctor and Rain both decided to do it and they were currently putting on the gear for their trip out. The Doctor had no difficulty getting his gear on but Rain was having a bit of trouble. She eyed her husband when he giggled at her.

"Well, I'm sorry, I've never done this before, unlike you," she said.

"Here, love, let me help you," he said, coming over to her.

"Thanks. God, this thing is bulky," Rain said. "It's like wearing a trash bag."

She looked at him.

"We're in the year 6467. You mean to tell me that no one has invented a skintight spacesuit that allows you total freedom of movement?"

"Nope."

"Well, you need to get to work on that right away, dear," she said.

While the Doctor was adjusting the spacesuit, he glanced at her hair. Normally, she let it hang down her back or in a braid but at the moment it was up in a tight braided bun. The Doctor made a face.

"Don't like your hair this way. It makes you look too schoolmarmish," he said.

"Well, I'm sorry, Thete but I have to have it up so it doesn't get caught in the suit," she said. "I could cut it but you'd probably throw a fit if I did."

"Too right I would."

"Well, then you'll have to put up with the Little House on the Prairie schoolmarm bun for now. I'll have my helmet on anyway so you won't be able to see it."

"Yeah, but…I'll know it's there."

He giggled when she shot him a look.

"Well, you'll only have to suffer for thirty minutes then," she said.

He finished adjusting the straps on her suit and she looked down at it.

"Damn, it's hot in here."

"Well, it'll be cold in space so you'll appreciate it being hotter than hell in a moment," he replied.

He finished up and gave her a kiss on the neck.

"That's to hold ya until the helmet comes back off," he said.

"No kinky space sex then?" she said.

He raised his eyebrow when she giggled.

"Not unless you want the management to cut the lifelines and leave us drifting forever in deep space."

"That's okay; we'll just switch to our respiratory bypass systems and survive that way."

"Um…I was hoping you knew this being a Time Lady and all, but that doesn't work forever. Eventually we do have to breathe again," he said to her.

"Kinda like aquatic mammals have to do when the dive under the water? Eventually they have to come up for air?"

"If you like," the Doctor said, grabbing his helmet.

She grinned.

"So…Time Lords are basically the dolphins of the universe then."

She laughed when her husband turned and gave her an odd look.

"Okay, I guess if you want to use that freaky little analogy, yes."

"So, we're the dolphins of the universe…or whales…or killer whales."

She laughed harder when she saw the odd look on his face.

"Yes, my love, that's what you and I are. The killer whales of the universe," he said, handing her the helmet.

"So instead of calling you Thete or Sprinkles, I can call you Orca?"

"No."

"Shamu?"

"No. I will divorce you if you refer to me as Shamu."

"Flipper then?"

"No."

"Um…Free Willy?"

She sniggered when the Doctor shook his head.

"Put your helmet on, dearest," he said.

"Sure thing, Moby Dick."

She dodged when the Doctor tried to swat her head. He gave her a kiss on the lips before he put her helmet on and locked it into place.

"How's that feel?" he asked.

"Well, from the neck down it feels like I'm in a garbage bag and from the neck up, it feels like I'm in a fishbowl."

"Good, it's working then."

He laughed when she poked his arm. She watched while he put his helmet on. After that, he helped his wife with the jet propulsion pack that would allow them to move around. He slid it onto her back and put the leather straps containing the controls around her gloves. Then she helped him do the same and finally a man came in and attached the lifelines to a nozzle on the back of their suits.

"Are you two ready?" he asked.

They nodded.

"Alright, it'll take about four minutes and then the outer door will open."

He went out and sealed the door behind him.

"Here we go," the Doctor said, glancing at her.

"This is so exciting. I can't believe I'm going into outer space. I just hope the minute we get out there, there isn't some monster that's gonna jump out at us."

"Oh! There won't be."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because I'm clever."

"I'm clever too which is why I don't rule out the possibility of a monster out there."

"There is no monster, dear."

"Really, what about the living sun that Bro told me about?"

"That wasn't a monster. It was a living organism."

"But it possessed you and a bunch of other people."

"Okay, yes, that's because it was angry that it got a part of it taken for fuel. It possessed me because it wanted to use me to kill everyone else."

"Can I ask you something about that?"

"What?"

"What in the hell possessed you to look at the sun in the first place? You aren't supposed to stare directly at suns, ya dork, you go blind. I knew that before I became a Time Lady. I learned that in elementary school. Why were you looking at it?"

"I was trying to make sure the capsule with Martha was coming back to the ship and I became mesmerized by it."

"Yes, but you couldn't have waited till you got inside to look at it? You're lucky you didn't burn your eyeballs out."

"Well, considering we were minutes away from the sun burning our bodies, I s'pose it didn't matter much at the time."

"But you couldn't have just looked really quickly and then glanced away?"

She giggled when he stared at her.

"I'm just saying, love, that you have to be concerned about your eyesight. You don't wanna end up blind until you regenerate. Eye safety is very important."

"Thank you, Matron, for that safety tip," he said while she laughed harder. "I'm so sorry you weren't around back then to scream at me not to look."

"Well, you should have looked somewhere else besides the sun."

"Latara, we were about a thousand miles from it and minutes from plunging in. The sun was huge at that time, it was a little hard not to look at it."

"Should have kept your eyes closed."

She giggled when he tried to grab at her.

"Okay, we're opening the outer door now," they heard the man say on the communicators inside their helmets.

The door slowly slid down in front of them. The Doctor looked around and saw her squeezing her eyes shut.

"There, no living sun directly in front of us, it's safe to look," the Doctor said to her.

"It's a good thing," she said, opening them while he rolled his eyes.

They pushed a button on the strap on their right hands and flew out into the blackness of space. They went out as far as the lifeline would allow and then stopped. Both of them looked around in awe.

"It's beautiful!" Rain said breathlessly.

"That it is. Molto Bene, Bellisimo."

"Ma petite chou chou."

She giggled when the Doctor glanced at her.

"Ma petite chou chou?" he said.

"Yeah, if you're gonna start spouting off foreign words, I'll do the same."

"Yeah but at least my foreign words fit the moment unlike my little cabbage," he said.

"Okay, how about merda then?"

She laughed when the Doctor's mouth dropped open.

"Did you understand that?" she asked innocently.

"Yes, dear, you just said shit in Italian and I have half a mind to wash your filthy little gob out with a bar of soap."

"And you've never had an urge to just yell out a swear word in a foreign language and giggle when no one knew what it meant?"

"Not really, no."

"Not even to Davros?"

"No, I'm too busy trying to stay alive to think of swearing at him in foreign languages."

"See, that's why you need me around to help you think up these things."

She laughed when he eyed her.

"Yes, dear, thanks for helping me think of ways I can make people even angrier at me and thereby increase the chances of dying a violent death."

"You're welcome. What's a devoted wife for?"

"Apparently a devoted wife's for driving me insane."

She laughed when he flew away from her while she tried to bump into him. She stopped and smiled when he stopped a few feet away. They turned and went back to staring at the stars together.

"You know what this moment needs?" the Doctor said.

"What, dear?"

"An on the spot poem."

He made a fist, put it on the shield directly over his mouth and cleared his throat. He held one finger up in the air while he said melodramatically.

"Oh, universe.  
Thou art wonderful in thy majesty.  
Thy inky blackness is like a thick fluffy blanket covering me at night when I go to sleep.  
I have saved thee many times.  
Get down upon thy inky knees and kiss my arse for my all-encompassing merciful goodness.

"Wow, Thete, that was certainly…something," Rain said.

"You didn't enjoy it?"

"I said it was something."

"Something, what?"

"Something egotistical."

"It was not egotistical. I have saved this universe many times."

He pointed to a star in the distance.

"See, that planet way over there? I've saved it a total of 95 times."

He pointed to a star off to his right.

"And that one? I've saved it 62 times."

He pointed to a star above them.

"That one I've only saved 23 times but I didn't discover it until recently."

"How many times have you saved the Earth?"

"678,902 and ½ times."

"What was the half?"

"Oh, I was fighting these little sponge monsters named Whirligigs. Little buggers were running around, tiring me out and I finally was so exhausted I passed out and they burrowed deep below the Earth and were never heard from again. They sorted themselves out but I helped so I consider that half a time."

"Whatever, love," she said while he laughed.

She frowned while she watched him fly over to her. He stopped in front of her, turned so his back was facing her and bent over. Rain stared at him in confusion.

"What are you doing?"

"Farting."

He laughed and straightened up when Rain quickly flew the other way.

"Oh, you can smell it? Blimey, my spacesuit must have a leak."

He giggled when she flipped him off. He gave her an evil grin.

"Let's play dodge-em cars in outer space, love," he said.

Her eyes widened when he began to zoom towards her. She quickly flew towards the station. She turned after several feet and noticed him turning to face her with the wicked grin on his face.

"Don't you dare bump into me," she said to him.

"Okay, we'll play joust, then," he said. "We'll come towards each other and slap each other's helmets as hard as we can and the first person to make the other one spin in space is the winner."

"That's okay, Thete, let's don't and say we did."

"Aw, come on, one jousting match, please?"

"Do you know there could be people watching us?"

"Sod em! If they have nothing better to do than to watch a loony married couple chase each other around outer space, that's their problem. I'm having fun out here."

He began to fly towards her and Rain started to turn.

"No, stay there. I'm not gonna bash into ya, I promise."

She stopped and watched while he eased off on the propulsion and floated gently up to her body. He took a hold of her.

"Now for a bit of a snog," he said.

She laughed when he kept bumping his helmet repeatedly against hers and feigning shock.

"What's this?" he said while she giggled. "I…I want to kiss you but there's some kind of invisible force field in our way. Why can't I reach you? What demonic forces are at work here that won't allow me to go spelunking in my wife's mouth?"

He paused.

"Oh wait; I have a helmet on, how daft of me. I'm getting forgetful in my old age," he said. "Blast, I wanted a snog and I'm sure the minute I removed our helmets our heads would go ka-boom. Drat, why did I agree to come out here?"

"Oh, you poor baby, lost without my lips," Rain said.

He tapped her face shield with his gloved hand.

"There's gotta be a way to reach those luscious, wet lips. But how?" he mused while she laughed.

His eyes widened when she puckered up.

"Arrgh, don't torture me like that! Don't you know what that's doing to me?"

She glanced down at his crotch.

"Wow, it's interesting that right after I said that, that's the first place you looked," he said while she laughed harder. "Must be that filthy mind at work again."

His eyes widened when he suddenly had an image in his mind of her and him butt naked having sex in outer space. He eyed Rain who was feigning innocence.

"Love, did you just project something incredibly smutty and titillating into my mind just then?"

She shook her head.

"No, I would never do that, Thete. I'm only thinking of fluffy white kittens right now."

"Uh-huh," he said while she laughed.

He glanced back at the open door.

"I think our time's nearly up now, Latara," he said.

She groaned.

"I know, I feel the same way. I love being out here alone with you having a bit of fun. It's a nice change from the running and drama we usually have. But time's nearly up. So, you wanna go find something else to do?"

"Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know, how 'bout their anti-gravity restaurant…with bibs?"

"Bit messy, isn't it?"

He grinned.

"Yeah but we can always lick each other clean afterwards," he said, waggling his eyebrows.

She raised her eyebrow.

"That image I sent into your mind did titillate you, didn't it?"

"In the worst way," he said.

She laid her shield against his and stared into his loving brown eyes.

"Okay, let's go eat then."

"Molto bene!"

"Merda!"

She laughed when his mouth dropped open.

"You've got quite a cheeky little mouth on you, did anyone ever tell you that?" he said.

"Just you, dear."

He grinned and winked. They turned and flew hand in hand back to the station.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

"This is quite a brilliant little idea you guys had," the Doctor said to Rain and Awinita while they stood with the others in the Avis rental place.

They had just got back from exploring a planet and breaking up an interplanetary slave ring and needed a rest. Rain suggested a movie night and Awinita mentioned going to drive in movies as a kid. This led to them suggesting that they go to an all night dusk to dawn at a drive in movie theater. They knew they had any time period in which to go so they talked amongst themselves trying to figure out what they wanted to see. They finally settled on Independence Day as one of the movies.

"Okay, that's 1996 then," the Doctor said to them. "I'll have the TARDIS do a search for drive-in movies doing dusk to dawn movies featuring Independence Day and take us there."

"Wait, we need to rent cars or something," Awinita said.

"Yeah, I think it'll look a bit strange if we park the TARDIS right in the middle of all the other cars," Donna added.

"And…how about getting Jack and the others?" Rain said. "I'm sure Torchwood could use a break."

"Yeah and Sarah Jane and the kids as well," Rose said. "I'm betting they'd like to see it too."

"Okay, I'll make a few calls and then we'll find a drive in movie and rent some cars," the Doctor said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After paying for three large minivans for one night, they walked out to the parking lot and got inside them. The Doctor and his family were in one, Jack and Torchwood were in the other and Sarah Jane and the kids were in the third. All of them had brought blankets from the TARDIS, a large bag of popcorn and a cooler filled with sodas. They had landed in Indiana and they had asked the guy who ran the Avis counter where the drive in theater was since they figured it was nearby. They were pleased to learn it was only ten miles up the road, an old drive in theater called Sky-vu. On the way there, they passed a White Castle restaurant and they decided to get several sacks of burgers, cheeseburgers and fries. After they got done, Awinita drove the minivan and everyone else followed her. The TARDIS supplied them with some money that was pre-1996 so they wouldn't be accused of counterfeiting and Awinita, Jack and Sarah Jane paid the admission with it. After they were done, they went into the lot that was already half filled with cars and found three spots near a large cinderblock building that had snacks and restrooms in them. They turned the cars around so the back was facing the screen and piled out. It was early August and the air was warm. They lifted the hoods and folded the seats down under the floor making a huge space behind the front seats. They spread the blankets out until they covered the floor and distributed the food to everyone. They grabbed a large metal speaker that was hanging on a pole beside the cars and put them just inside the openings. Then they all got in and sat down to eat their food and talk while they waited for the sun to set. There were four movies that were going to be shown. Independence Day, Twister, the Hunchback of Notre Dame and the Island of Doctor Moreau. Each car was also given a raffle ticket and the winner would win 25 dollars worth of food. The winning number was supposed to be announced after the first movie.

While they ate, they heard laughter coming from the minivan Torchwood was in and saw Martha run in front of theirs.

"Don't you dare, Jack Harkness!" she yelled at him while he laughed.

She climbed into their van and knelt beside Donna while Jack casually strolled up to their car with an evil grin on his face and his hands behind his back.

"Evening, Doctor, Alan, ladies," he said, nodding.

His eyes settled on Martha and his grin widened.

"Don't you dare or I'm settin' the Doctor after ya!" she said to him.

The Doctor who was sitting at the back with Rain, Rose and Alan finished eating a French fry.

"What is he doing that I would have to be set after him?" he asked.

He's got a can of pop and he shook it up and he's threatening to open it in my face," she said.

Jack grinned and brought his arm around and showed her the can of Coke. He stared at her while he slowly shook it.

"Jack, if you're gonna douse Martha, do it away from here because I'm not payin' Avis to have these people carriers cleaned," Rose said.

Jack glanced at her and at Martha who was giving him a smug look.

"Fine, but be warned, Jones, I will be watching and waiting and it's a long summer night," he said, pointing his finger at her.

"Well, I'll stay right here then," she said.

"You'll be back. You can't resist me. No one can," he said.

The Doctor glanced at Alan and they rolled their eyes while he walked away. Martha looked back at the Doctor.

"Was he like that when he traveled full time with you?" she asked.

"Yes, unfortunately," he said while Alan and Rose laughed.

Rani stuck her head around the corner and looked in at them.

"Oh no, Jack's not bothering you as well," the Doctor said.

"No, he's not, I just wanted to say thanks for doing this for us," she said.

"You're welcome. It was Rain and Awinita's idea. They're the two Americans who used to do this when they were kids," he said to her.

"This is so cool. I love being in the people carrier instead of a theater, it's more fun that way. And an all night movie marathon will be so fun."

"Have you seen all the movies before?" Mingxia asked.

"I've seen them all except the last one. Never heard of the Island one."

"It's originally a story by HG Wells," Alan said. "'Bout an insane scientist who makes animals into humans or human-like anyway."

"Have you seen it?" she asked them.

They shook their heads.

"I hope it's good," Rani said.

"I hope they're all good. I've never seen any of them," Jenny said.

"Independence Day is really good and so is Twister. Um…Hunchback of Notre Dame is a Disney cartoon. Do you like cartoons?" Rani asked.

"Dunno, I've never watched any," Jenny said, shrugging.

"You're in for a treat, Jen," Alan said. "Except I haven't seen Hunchback of Notre Dame the cartoon, but Disney makes high-quality animated movies. I think you'll like it."

Jenny looked behind at him.

"I hope so," she said.

Gwen suddenly appeared behind Rani with an exasperated look on her face.

"Doctor, can I sit with you lot tonight?" she said.

The Doctor looked at her with wide eyes.

"Um, if you can find a spot, we're kinda crowded in here. Why? What's wrong?"

"The men, if you can call them that, are making total arses of themselves. So I decided to take a leaf out of Martha's book and come over here."

The Doctor glanced out the side window and saw the three men roughhousing in the back of their van.

_Oi!_ He thought to Jack. _Calm down, Harkness; we're getting refugees over here._

He saw him stop what he was doing and calm the others down.

_Thank you,_ the Doctor thought to him.

I think he's stopped…at least for now," he said to Gwen.

"Thank you, although I think he's hoping Martha will still go back over so he can pour pop on her."

Martha snorted.

"Not a chance, I'm fine right here," she said.

Mingxia sat her Coke down beside her.

"I'll be right back, guys. I'm gonna go use the restroom," she said.

Rani and Gwen stepped back when she swung her legs out and walked to the building.

"I better go too," Rain said.

She got up on her knees and crawled to the front. She got out and ran to the building.

"Throw me another cheeseburger, Brother," the Doctor said.

Alan reached into the White Castle sack and threw him a little white and yellow box containing the burger. He caught it and thanked him while he pulled it out. While they ate, music was coming out of the speaker. Suddenly, they heard Macarena start playing. The Doctor paused with his teeth embedded in his burger while everyone in all three cars laughed hysterically. Rose, Awinita, Martha and Donna laughed and began to do the hand motions while the Doctor rolled his eyes. Suddenly, Jack ran in front of their car and began to do the dance while everyone laughed.

"Sit down, Harkness," Alan said. "We don't need to see you doing it!"

Jack turned and laughed when Clyde ran up and started doing it with him.

The Doctor looked past him and noticed people in other cars were laughing and pointing at them.

"Why do I suddenly feel like it was a bad idea to bring extra people?" the Doctor said while Rose patted him on the shoulder.

"Dad, what are they doing?" Jenny asked him.

"They're doing an idiotic dance called the Macarena that goes with this song. It was popular for about two seconds in 1996," the Doctor said.

"Come on, Jen, I'll teach ya!" Jack said, walking to her.

"Don't you dare, Harkness, I want my daughter to grow up Macarena free," he said.

By now Sarah Jane and Luke had wandered over to the side of their car and were watching them while they continued to dance. The Doctor glanced through the window and saw Ianto and Mickey were sitting in the car with mortified looks on their faces. Mercifully, the song finished and Jack and Clyde walked back to their vans while everyone around them whooped and hollered and clapped. Sarah Jane giggled and looked in at the Doctor who was red faced.

"I take it Jack and Clyde aren't going to be traveling with you any longer?" she asked.

"I'm giving it serious consideration right now," he replied.

Alan glanced out the window at them and saw Ianto shaking his head slowly while Jack laughed and patted him on the back.

"I think Ianto will have a nice long chat with him when they get back," Alan said to them.

Because You Loved Me by Celine Dion came on the radio.

"And now we get a bit of Celine," Alan said.

"Well, take comfort in the fact it's still a year away until My Heart Will Go On," the Doctor said to him.

Rain and Mingxia came back to the van.

"You missed the impromptu Macarena dance in front of the people carrier," Alan said.

"No, I didn't, I watched it from the door," Mingxia said while Rain climbed in.

The Doctor noticed Rain had an enormous dill pickle in her hand.

"Where in the world did you find that?" he said, pointing to it while she sat down beside him.

"They were selling it at the concession stand," she said.

"They have enormous gherkins?"

"Yeah, I felt like one."

"How much did it cost?"

"1.99."

"You paid 1.99 for a gherkin?"

"Yeah, I was in the mood for it."

She giggled when he gave her an exasperated look.

"You coulda asked the TARDIS to give you one for free."

"I wasn't in the mood then."

They laughed when he threw up his hands.

"What else do they have just in case we win this big food bonanza? " Alan asked.

"Mmm, popcorn, pizza, hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, nachos, candy, sodas, tenderloins, fish sandwiches and great big pickles."

"And if you do win the raffle, Brother, I'm sure the majority of that will go towards buying her more gherkins," the Doctor said.

She grinned and offered him the pickle. He smiled and took a bite of it.

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The Doctor and the others watched Independence Day. After the movie started, everyone went back to their vans except for Martha who was sitting beside Donna with her legs hanging out the back. They watched while the spaceship destroyed New York.

"See, this never would have happened if you'd been there, dear," Rain said.

They laughed.

"Yeah, where's the Doctor when you need him?" Martha said.

"Must be my alternate universe again," Donna said. "The Doctor's dead and this is what happens to New York!"

Jenny looked at the Doctor.

"How many times have you prevented something like this from happening, Dad?"

"Oooooh, about 2 trillion times," he said while they laughed.

Rain and Rose snuggled against their husbands while they draped their arms around them.

"Now aren't you glad you're not there and taking care of everyone's injuries?" Awinita said to Martha.

"Oh Jesus, I think I'd run screaming if I had that many people to take care of at once," she said while they laughed. "I don't think I'd even know where to begin."

"If there was even a hospital left after they got through," Alan said.

They looked at him when Jack leaned his head around the opening.

"You know, considering the kind of work we do, this is hitting a tad too close to home," he said.

They laughed when he walked back to the other car.

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The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"And of course we come to the obligatory dissect the alien scene," he said.

"Have you ever seen aliens like that, Dad?"

"Uuuum, kinda, sorta… Not exactly like that, but pretty…"

He was cut off when the exoskeleton snapped open suddenly and Jenny let out a startled scream. They laughed when she turned beet red and put her head in her hands.

"I'm sorry," Jenny said while they giggled.

"Don't feel bad, honey, I did the same thing the first time I saw this," Rain said.

Sarah Jane walked over and leaned her head around the corner of the van.

"Who did that?"

She noticed Jenny's red face and chuckled.

"Don't feel bad, Jenny, Rani screamed too," she said, patting her on the back.

She walked back to her van while Alan patted Jenny on the shoulder.

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"That was really good," Jenny said when the movie ended.

"I'm glad even if it did scare you at one point," the Doctor said.

"Well…I didn't know they were gonna do that…" Jenny said.

"I think that was the point, Jen," Alan said. "And I'll tell you guys something, if it had been us we wouldn't have to have flown a stolen spaceship up to the mothership to deliver that virus. We could have just stood in the console room and sent it from there."

"Yup, every alien fighting force needs the TARDIS," the Doctor said.

"Okay, we hope you enjoyed that," a male voice said through the speaker. "Now everyone get your ticket stubs ready because we're gonna draw three numbers for our 25 dollars in food."

The Doctor pulled his flashlight out of his pocket and handed it to Alan while Jack and Sarah turned on the map lights in the other vans.

"Okay the first number is…00031475."

They looked at Alan who shook his head.

"That's 00031475. Whoever has that number please come to the concession stand with your ticket to collect your prize. Okay, our next number is…00031987."

"Nope," Alan said.

"That's 00031987. And…the final number is…00031663."

"That's me!" Alan yelled.

"Are you serious?" Rose said.

He showed her the ticket while the man repeated the number.

"I won, Starlight!" he said happily.

"Just what ya need, 25 dollars worth of food," Donna said.

"Well, I was gonna buy for everyone but if you're gonna be sarcastic about it…" he said.

Sarah Jane walked over to their car.

"Did you guys win it? We didn't."

"I did!" Alan said.

"You did? You won? Congratulations!"

"Yup! So do you guys want any food? Kids want anything?"

"I don't, wait a tic."

She walked back. Alan looked at the others.

"Anyone? Anyone want anything? Te'lesu, barrel of gherkins?"

"No, Bro, I'm past my pickle craving now."

Sarah Jane came back followed by Jack.

"They want something but they'll go inside with you to see. They have to use the loo anyway."

"You won? You actually won," Jack said.

"Yes, Harkness, I won. Now we're just trying to sort out what everyone wants before I go inside."

"Do you guys know what they have?"

Rain told him.

"Tenderloin?" Jack said.

"Tenderloins are good. Breaded pork that's fried to a crispy, golden brown," Alan said.

"Nah, not too big on pork. I'm fine; we still have some of those White Castle burgers left over there anyway."

He walked back to his van.

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After getting requests from the ones who were interested, Alan headed inside with Rose and the teens. The teens got a pizza and Alan got a tenderloin while Rose got Martha a fish sandwich and Jenny some nachos. They carried everything back out and passed it out. Alan let everyone in the car try a bit of the tenderloin and they sat and talked while they waited for the next movie to start.

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The next movie was Twister. Jenny was stunned while she watched the truck trying to outdrive the tornado.

"Dad, why are they trying to follow one of those things?" she asked the Doctor.

"Because they're nutters, Angel," he said while they laughed. "I've faced down Daleks and Cybermen and Sontarans and even I would never just stand there in front of a tornado and say "Oooo, ah! I must take a picture of it, isn't it pretty? I'm daft but not that daft."

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"Oh my God," Jenny said. "It's going through a drive in movie theater like this one."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't worry, Jen. I don't think there's a chance of a tornado tonight," Alan said, glancing out the window at the starry sky.

Jack came up beside the van and looked in at them.

"Be freaky if that happened for real tonight," he said.

"That's what Jenny was thinking," Awinita said.

"Drat, Doc, shoulda picked a stormy night so we could recreate this little scene."

"No thanks, I'm happy enough just watching the film without running for my life," he said to him.

He leaned against the side of the car with his hands in his pockets while he watched it.

"Not meaning to interrupt, but any of you seen this Hunchback of Notre Dame cartoon?" he said, looking in.

"I have," Rain said.

"Is it…any good?"

"It's not the best Disney movie they ever made but it's alright," Rain said to him.

"Because I've read the Hunchback of Notre Dame and it's hardly a children's book."

"Yes and there a few things in it that I wouldn't let young children see," Rain replied.

"You mean like the part where they tie Quasimodo down and whip him?"

"No, they toned that down. They just throw food at him in the movie."

Jack and Alan stared at her.

"What else do they tone down?" Alan asked.

Rain shrugged.

"I haven't read the book. I'm pretty sure that talking, singing gargoyles aren't in the book though."

Now all three men were staring at her.

"Talking, singing…gargoyles?" the Doctor said slowly.

"Yeah, they're um…Quasimodo's…sidekicks."

"Oh Lord, this oughta be good," Alan muttered while the women giggled.

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The second movie ended and several people went off to use the restroom.

"What'd ya think, Jen?" Alan said.

"It was good but…that last tornado, they really do get that big?"

"Yes, they do," Rain said.

"I'm glad we live in the TARDIS then where there isn't a danger of getting rolled by one of those things."

Jack walked back over with Ianto.

"Does Quasimodo die at the end?" he asked Rain.

"No," Rain said.

"And I'm assuming Esmeralda doesn't either?"

"No, it's a happy ending."

The men all stared at her.

"Describe happy ending, Te'lesu," Alan said.

"Um…everyone lives except Frollo. Esmeralda and Phoebus end up together and Quasimodo is accepted by the townspeople."

"WHAT?" the men said.

"Wait, Quasimodo gets accepted by everyone?" Jack said.

"Yes."

"And what happens then?" Ianto asks. "Do birds fly around them and sing and animals dance or something?"

"Um…no, that doesn't happen."

"That's a shocker," Jack muttered to Ianto.

Mickey came up beside them.

"What's goin' on?"

"Oh, we're just discussing the next movie and how Disney managed to mangle a classic tragic story, that's all, Mickey," Jack said.

"I haven't seen it," Mickey said.

"Yeah, I haven't either but now I'm filled with a morbid curiosity since Rain told us a few details," Jack said. "But you mentioned there were parts in it you wouldn't show young kids. What parts are you talking about?"

"Well, there's one scene were Frollo is singing about lusting after Esmeralda and if she doesn't love him, he'll burn her alive."

They stared at her with wide eyes.

"In a Disney movie?" Mickey said.

"Yeah."

Jack looked at the Doctor.

"Wow, singing gargoyles and songs about lust and burning people alive. Now I'm really curious!" he said.

"Well, you know, Brother," Alan said. "After we're done here, I think we oughta buy a copy of the movie, go find Victor Hugo and show him what they'll eventually do with his masterpiece."

They looked at the screen when the coming attractions started up.

"I'll be back later with my thoughts on this particular movie," Jack said to them.

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The women were giggling. Throughout the movie they kept looking at the Doctor and Alan who had stunned expressions on their faces.

"Quasi? He's got a cute little nickname now?" the Doctor said. "Oh God, you're right, Brother, let's go find Victor Hugo next."

"I don't know what's worse, the cute little gargoyles or the cute little goat," Alan said. "And Quasimodo has a nice sounding voice, doncha think? You'd expect him to be a bit gruffer than that."

"I expect him to be bloody deaf which is what he's supposed to be," the Doctor said while they laughed hysterically. "But then again if he were deaf he couldn't listen to his gargoyle mates singing about how wonderful he is. Not to mention Frollo is supposed to be an archbishop, not a judge. That's a big part of the story; he's supposed to be a man of the church and does all these evil, hypocritical things that goes against God. It isn't the same if he's just a judge."

"This is Disney though. I'm sure they didn't want that much controversy," Alan said to him.

"Good point."

They watched in silence until they got to the Hellfire song. They watched while Frollo sang about lusting after Esmeralda.

"Wow, this is intense," Alan said. "Brilliant song, but you're right Te'lesu; this would go waaay over little kids' heads."

Jack walked over to them and looked in.

"Damn, it's like we've suddenly switched to a different movie."

"Tell me about it," the Doctor said. "Up till now the majority of it's been a bit cutesy and then we get this."

"Well, they couldn't completely sanitize everything, I guess," Jack said. "I noticed they've changed a few things. Frollo's not an archbishop anymore."

"No and "Quasi's" not deaf."

"And," Jack said, "they also got rid of Esmeralda's mother too."

"They always do that though," Rose said. "Disney characters never have mothers and if they do, they get killed like Bambi's mother."

"Yeah, that's a good point," Jack said. "Makes you wonder if old Walt had mother issues. But, speaking of Walt, Mickey mouse over there got bored and went to sleep and so did Gwen. I think Sarah Jane did too because all I see is the teens sitting up."

"I'm about spent too," Martha said. "I'm not really interested in this and the next one doesn't sound that good either. I think I'll go lie down. But it's been fun, you guys."

"Good night, Martha," they said in unison.

She said goodnight and walked to the other van. Jack walked over and told Ianto to move so she could have room.

"Wait, I'm coming out so they can sleep," Ianto said.

He crawled out and went to stand beside Jack while they watched the movie.

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"Well, that was the strangest interpretation of Hunchback of Notre Dame I've ever seen," Jack said when it finished.

"Well, just wait because we have HG Wells next," the Doctor said.

Rani walked up to them.

"Sarah Jane's asleep and I guess they are as well," she said, gesturing to Jack's van.

"Yes, some of us aren't Time Lords that can go for days on end without sleep," Jack said.

"I'm thinking about it but I wanna stay up a little bit and see if this movie's any good," Rani said. "But I think Luke and Clyde are knackered and they're about to fall asleep too."

"I'm not. I've had a lot of nights where I didn't sleep," Jack said.

"Same here," Ianto added. "Although I'm going to do the same as you. I'm gonna watch a bit of it and if it doesn't hold my interest, I'm gonna go sleep with the others."

"Well, if you guys need us to drive you, we can," Alan said. "We're all fully awake in here."

"And you can sleep on the TARDIS before I take you back home, that's no problem," the Doctor said.

"Well, it's been fun. I've had a blast," Rani said.

The Doctor smiled.

"I'm glad," he said. "I'm glad all of you came. It's a lot more fun this way."

"It's funny too because all the coming attractions are for old movies," Rani said while they laughed.

"Yeah, I've already seen almost all the movies that have yet to come out," Jack said, winking.

He looked at Jenny.

"What 'bout you? You like the Hunchback of Notre Dame?"

"Yeah, it was pretty good. Bit odd but it was good."

"Did you like the soldier guy?" Jack said, grinning.

"I won't say because Dad might not like it," she said while they laughed. "Because I'm not supposed to like military things anymore."

"I don't mind if you like military things I just don't want you being _in_ the military," the Doctor said. "You couldn't help being programmed with that stuff so naturally you're gonna like that kind of thing. You really should read the novel though because the novel is much better than what you just saw."

"I agree," Jack said.

The coming attractions started again and Jack walked over to the spot Martha vacated and sat down while Ianto walked up beside him and leaned against the side.

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Ianto shook his head about thirty minutes into the movie.

"Nah, this is boring. I'm gonna go to sleep, night all."

They said goodnight and he walked back to their van. Jack leaned out and looked at Sarah Jane's van. He walked over when he didn't see anyone through the window and peeked inside. He walked back.

"They're all asleep. It's just us now," he said, sitting back down.

"I would say do we get a prize for staying awake this long but Alan already got one," Donna said.

"And a very delicious prize it was," Alan said, rubbing his belly.

They watched the movie.

"Is it me or did Marlon Brando get puffier and pastier as the years went on?" the Doctor asked.

"Oh my God…"

The Doctor looked at Rain.

"What, love?" he said.

"Him and the midget…oh my God, that's where they got Doctor Mephesto and the ape guy from South Park!"

Awinita's mouth dropped open.

"You're right! It is…um Kevin, wasn't it? The ape guy?" she said to her.

"Yeah, I think so," Rain replied.

They started laughing.

"And Mephesto was a geneticist too so it makes sense," Awinita added.

"Yeah and I get the whole handkerchief over the head thing now," Rain added.

She glanced at her husband.

"Sorry, big South Park fan," she said to him while he chuckled.

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Jenny was confused. She shook her head.

"This one is weird," she said.

"Well, it was a weird novel," Alan said.

"Curiosity time," Awinita said to the Doctor. "You ever…see anything like this? The whole changing animals into humans thing?"

"Yes and I've seen humans changed into animals. In fact, in my sixth life, my companion Peri almost got changed into a bird before the process was stopped."

Jenny looked at him.

"Then this stuff they're talking about, that's all possible, Dad?"

"With the right technology, yes. Theoretically, it's possible with us. During regeneration we have the option of being any species we want including those that resemble animals."

"So, you could become a great big kitty cat in your next regeneration if you wanted to?" Jack said.

He shrugged.

"I could but I'm sure my wife wouldn't fancy that."

"Yes, I'd be quite disturbed if you did that," Rain said while they laughed.

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They sighed when the movie ended.

"Novel was better," Alan said. "The novel didn't have a big puffy, pasty Marlon Brando in it."

"Okay, you lot," the Doctor said, slapping his hands together. "We here at the back are stiff, everyone out for a stretch before we go home."

They all crawled out and groaned while they stretched their tired limbs. The Doctor looked at Jack while everyone cleaned the rubbish out of the back and threw it away.

"You need us to drive your people carrier?" he asked.

"Nah, I'm awake, I'll do it," Jack said.

He nodded and helped them clean out the van while Jack did the same with his. Once they were done with their van, the Doctor and his family moved to Sarah Jane's and very quietly tried to clean it out. Sarah Jane stirred and looked at them.

"Are the films over?" she said.

The Doctor smiled and nodded.

"Don't worry, Rose will drive you back, get a bit more rest," he said.

Sarah Jane nodded and went back to sleep.

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After getting the vans cleaned out, the Doctor, Rose and Jack drove them back to the car rental place. They woke everyone up, grabbed the blankets, locked the cars and turned the keys back in. They walked several feet to the TARDIS that was parked right behind the building. The Doctor unlocked it and ushered them all in. Once they were inside, he took the TARDIS into the vortex and let everyone sleep for awhile before taking them all back home.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

It was another slow day on the TARDIS. The Doctor and his family decided to take a break and rest on the TARDIS. The Doctor and Alan went off somewhere while the rest of them played board games in the living room and watched TV. Eventually Rain and Rose began to wonder what their husbands were up to so they asked the TARDIS to lead them to wherever they were at. The TARDIS obliged and they found themselves walking down a long corridor to a wooden door. They opened it up and noticed there was a lush green countryside with rolling hills everywhere. There was a simulated sun shining in the sky and simulated birds flying overhead. The whole scene was very picturesque.

"Very beautiful," Rain said. "I wonder what they're doing in here?" she said.

Rose shrugged.

"One way to find out," she said.

She mentally called to their husbands telling them they were in the room and they assured them they would join them in a minute. They waited by the door talking to one another. Suddenly they heard a rumbling sound and noticed two golf cars coming over the hill in front of them. Their husbands were both driving one and in the back of each were a bag of clubs. They rumbled up to them and stopped.

"Wonderful," Alan said to the Doctor. "We now have two caddies, Brother."

"You're playing golf?" Rain said.

"Yes, we don't do it very often but it's an enjoyable pastime," the Doctor said. "Climb in."

"Gee, I don't know, if we're going to be your caddies now," Rain said.

"Nah, we're just havin' ya on. We don't need caddies," the Doctor said. "Climb in."

The two women glanced at each other and climbed into the carts. They sat beside their husbands and they turned the vehicles around and rumbled back up over the hill. Once they were at the top, both women saw an elaborate golf course spread out below them. They rumbled down the hill and drove back to the spot where they had placed the tee. They parked their carts and Rose and Rain got out while they selected their clubs and balls and went over to the tee.

"Anyway, Brother, I believe it was your turn?" Alan said.

The Doctor nodded and put his ball on the tee. The other three stood behind him while he placed his wooden club behind the ball.

"Fore!" the Doctor yelled as he drew his arms back.

He followed through and hit the ball. Everyone watched while it flew up high into the air and landed on the green several feet from the hole.

"Blast!" the Doctor muttered.

Alan snickered while he walked to his golf cart. He beckoned to Rain and she got in beside him. They rumbled down the hill towards the green.

"What hole is this?" Rose asked.

"Sixth," Alan said. "This is actually our second game of the TARDIS Open. He won the first round. Sometimes we play with robot monsters chasing us around to make the game more exciting but we're not in the mood for that today."

He chuckled when Rose gave him an odd look and shook her head.

"We're not playing a serious game; this is just for fun, mind. Sometimes we make up our own rules just to make things interesting."

They watched while the Doctor used his putter and sank the ball into the hole. He grabbed the ball, walked back to the cart, jotted his score down on his score sheet and he and Rain leaned against the cart and watched him. Alan walked over, put his ball on the tee and put his wooden club behind the ball.

"Fore!"

He paused and giggled and recited loudly…

"Score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure..."

"Just hit the bloody ball, Lincoln," the Doctor yelled while Rain and Rose laughed.

"Just watch this shot, Brother!" Alan yelled.

He positioned the club, drew his arms back and hit the ball. He grinned when it sailed through the air but the grin fell off his face when the ball landed several feet past the green.

"Watch what? You failing miserably?" the Doctor yelled.

"I will beat you! I swear I will!" Alan yelled back, shaking his fist while the women laughed.

He winked at Rose.

"Come along, my little lucky charm," he said to her.

"I'm not that lucky, you didn't even hit the smooth area."

"It's the green, Starlight, and yes you are, your luck just needs time to warm up. But onward…"

They climbed in the cart and started down the hill.

"You know what this golf cart needs?" he said to her on the way to the green.

"What?"

"Banjo music."

Rose gave him an odd look.

"Banjo music?"

"Yes, it needs golf cart traveling music and I think a jaunty banjo tune would be just perfect."

"Um…if you say so, dear," Rose said while he giggled.

They stopped the cart and he chose an iron while the Doctor watched him.

Remember, get the ball on the green, Brother," the Doctor said, pointing to the green.

Rain and Rose laughed when he flipped him off. They watched while he positioned the club behind the ball.

"AH-BLOODY-CHOOOOOOOOO!"

Rain and Rose laughed when the Doctor screamed at him. Alan walked over to him and held the end of the club up to his face.

"See, this flat part here?" he said, pointing to it "You want this smacking into your gob because I won't hesitate to do it if you don't button it."

The Doctor held his fist up to his Brother's face.

"See this round part here?" he said pointing to his hand. "This will smack into your gob and your pearly whites will end up scattered around you in a lovely fairy ring if you assault me with your club. Now, be a good brother, turn around and make your shot before I have to resort to a duel to resolve our dispute."

"Duel, eh? I accept! When and where?"

"After the match, in the TARDIS dueling room."

"I'll be there. In the meantime…"

Alan took Rain's hand and led her away.

"HA! I'm hijacking your mascot now so weep, weep for your loss!"

"I swear to God, you two are completely daft," Rose said while they laughed.

Alan stopped Rain a few feet from the ball.

"You're mine now so don't even think of going back to him. You'll never see him again, Te'lesu. Now you will serve me and…GET BACK HERE!" he said when Rain walked away.

He feigned anger when Rain giggled and walked back to the Doctor's side. He positioned the club behind the ball, hit it and watched while the ball rolled onto the green a foot away from the hole. Grumbling he switched out the iron for his putter and walked over.

"I guess I'm gonna win again," the Doctor said, letting out a contented sigh.

"You just wait till we get to the dueling room," Alan said, positioning the putter behind his ball. "Soon everyone will have no trouble telling us apart."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, "the Doctor said, opening and closing his hand. "Yak, yak, yak, putt the ball so we can move on, gobby boy!"

Rain and Rose laughed when Alan put his hands on his hips and gave him a dirty look for a moment before he went back to concentrating on the ball. He putted the ball into the hole and fished it out.

"I believe I will count that as a hole in one," Alan said, walking back to his cart.

"And why are we counting it as a hole in one?" the Doctor said to him.

"I'm giving myself a bonus for putting up with you."

"Well, I deserve three hole in ones then," the Doctor said, shrugging.

They laughed when Alan stuck his tongue out and grabbed his score sheet. The Doctor sauntered over and looked over his shoulder while he penciled in his score.

"I'm scoring it correctly," Alan said, incensed.

"Just making sure," the Doctor said, walking back.

Rain and Rose laughed when the brothers climbed in their carts. The Doctor waved at him while he passed his non-moving cart.

"See you at your next humongous failure!" he called to him.

"See you at your next humongous failure!" Alan repeated in a loud, snotty voice while the women laughed harder.

They watched while he went over the hill to the next hole. He looked at Rose who was still giggling.

"You know, normally, I hate golf but watching you two play it is quite entertaining," Rose said when she finally sobered up.

He smiled and kissed her lips.

"Well, I guess we better go and watch my brother now," he said. "I just wish we had the travelin' music to accompany us and…"

He trailed off. His eyes widened and he slapped his forehead.

"And aren't we in the TARDIS?" he said to himself.

Rose watched while he leaned out and glanced up at the sky.

"TARDIS, I need a jaunty banjo tune for our golf cart. A little travelin' music please!"

The TARDIS rumbled out laughter and nudged his mind playfully. He grinned at Rose and started the cart. They laughed when banjo music played loudly overhead. They reached the top of the hill and laughed harder when they saw the Doctor and Rain standing beside their cart looking around in confusion. They rumbled towards them and as soon as he stopped the music stopped.

"What the hell was that?" the Doctor said. "Why did the TARDIS suddenly act like we were in the middle of the Deliverance movie?"

"Oh, that was me. I wanted some travelin' music for my cart and I thought a quirky banjo tune would be just the thing."

Rain bent over laughing when the Doctor gave him an odd look.

"Banjo music, eh?" he said.

"You didn't like the twangy little tune? I thought it went perfectly with the little cart," Alan said.

"Mmm…" the Doctor said while the woman laughed harder. "If you say so, Brother."

Alan looked at Rose when he selected one of his wooden clubs.

"He liked it," Alan said to her.

"Like he said, if you say so," Rose said.

The Doctor placed a tee in the ground and placed his ball on top of it. Beyond the green was a large lake. While he positioned the club, Rain saw the TARDIS move the flag away from the hole. Her eyes widened when the Doctor suddenly held the tip of his club in front of her face.

"Blow on this for me, for luck?"

Rain smiled and blew on it.

"Thanks."

"We're not playing craps, Brother," Alan said while Rose laughed.

"I know that. But I need a little spousal unit lucky charmness," he said. "My Rain's breath has magical qualities, observe."

He positioned the club behind the ball, yelled out fore and hit it. It sailed through the air and hit the green a foot away from the hole.

"See, perfection," he said smugly.

"How'd ya figure, perfection would have been a hole in one," Alan said.

"Shhhh, I'm boosting my wife's self esteem," he said in a stage whisper while Rain laughed.

"Oh, okay, yes, it's absolute perfection then," Alan said, rolling his eyes.

"Come, my love," the Doctor said to Rain.

They climbed in the cart.

"Oh yes…about the whole Rain never seeing me again? Guess that didn't pan out, did it?"

He grinned at him while the golf cart rumbled down the hill.

"It'll pan out when we duel and I make your regenerate into Jabba the Hutt!" Alan yelled while Rose laughed. "We'll see how long she wants to shag ya when you're a big, blobby, podgy, drooling slug monster!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" the Doctor yelled back over his shoulder.

They stopped the cart several feet away and got out.

"See us standing here?" the Doctor yelled to him. "Don't hit us when you're executing your poorly aimed shot! Your sister would like to finish out the rest of this life without a golf ball lodged in her forehead."

"Button it, Jabba!" Alan yelled back while both women bent over laughing.

Alan grinned when he noticed his wife was leaning against the golf cart roaring with laughter. He put his ball on the tee.

"Mark my words, Starlight, I will shoot the bastard and the next think you know, he'll be lying on a big concrete slab laughing ho, ho, ho while Rain dances for him. You just watch. Once this game is finished, he's gonna be fat, flabby and flatulent."

"You sure it's not gonna be you that regenerates?" she said.

His mouth dropped open when he leaned back up.

"Never! I'm a far better shot than him. Besides, if he shoots me I'll just end up ginger and then he'll have to envy me."

"Mmm…" Rose said.

He positioned his club, aimed and hit the ball. Rose laughed when the ball sailed over the green and went ker-plunk into the lake. She laughed harder when the Doctor walked over to the edge of it, stared out at the lake and walked over to the green and stared at it.

"Um, Brother?" the Doctor yelled. "Call me crazy, but I was under the impression this was the green, not the big soggy thing behind me."

"Shut up!" Alan yelled while they laughed.

"Well, you know what they say, play it where it lies. Good luck getting your ball out of the water and into the hole!" the Doctor called out. "I'll be waiting down here with your scuba gear so hurry along and don't keep the fishies waitin'."

Alan rolled his eyes. He shoved his club back in the bag and both he and Rose got in. He grinned when he started off and the banjo music started up again. Reaching the bottom, he and Rose drove around in a circle three times before he finally stopped beside his brother.

"Ah! Love that travelin' music!" he said, getting out with Rose. "It raises my spirits."

"Too bad the travelin' music can't raise your ball as well," the Doctor said.

His eyes widened when he pulled a ball out of his bag and walked towards the green.

"Ah! No! Nope! Wrong! You play it where it lies!"

"Ah, put a sock in it, Grandpa!" Alan said, putting the ball at the edge of the green.

"Did he just tell me to put a sock in it…and refer to me as Grandpa?" the Doctor said to Rain.

"Yes, love, he did."

"Oooo, bad form, you just wait till that duel!"

"I wouldn't be in a hurry to get to it seeing how you'll end up a gigantic rolly-polly space slug," Alan said, positioning his putter behind the ball.

"You're just so certain I'm gonna be Jabba the Hutt."

"I know you'll be."

"What if I kill you first?"

"Well, as I was telling my wife, I'll make myself ginger just to spite you."

"Uh-huh and I'll be pulling your hair out by the roots just to spite _you_," the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Chatter away, Brother dear, your time in that body is near its end."

"Yeah, I'm soiling myself now as we speak. Just make the shot so we can get back to your bloody banjo music."

"Oh yeah, can't miss that," Alan said.

He putted the ball and his mouth dropped open when the ball hit the rim of the hole and skimmed it around to the other side.

"Oh, never mind, I take it back, Brother. Make as many shots as you want!" the Doctor said while Rain laughed. "Use all the balls you want if you're gonna make shots like that!"

He gave him a look of innocence when Alan flipped him off. He made another shot and the ball went in the hole.

"'Bout sodding time," the Doctor muttered to Rain. "I was afraid we'd have to wait another 1200 years for him to get it in the hole."

Alan grabbed his ball and walked over to Rain.

"Truthfully, you love me more, right?" he said.

Rain pretended to consider that and then threw her arms around her husband.

"Oho, that little rejection musta stung," the Doctor said, gleefully. "Sorry, Alan, Rain loves me so you can forget your dream of keeping her forever. Now get in your cart and go so we can get the banjo serenade over with."

"One of these days, one of these days, POW, right in the kisser," Alan said, shoving his finger in the Doctor's face.

"Yada, yada, yada, go!" the Doctor said, waving him away.

Rose giggled when Alan took her around the waist and gave her a kiss on the cheek before giving him a pointed look.

"Is that supposed to torment me or something?" the Doctor said, shrugging.

"I own her!" he said, pointing to the top of her head.

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"I think the misses might have something to say about that, mate," he said to him. "Even I'm not bold enough to say that about Rain."

He grinned when Alan and Rose got into the cart and took off with the banjo music echoing overhead.

"Come, my Latara, it's time to play let's outdo my brother," the Doctor said to her.

They got in the cart and the Doctor leaned out and looked up at the sky.

"TARDIS, I am the true master of this ship which means you will give us some travelin' music as well. And by travelin' music, I mean a full big band Sousa orchestra that will put his twangy banjo to shame! Here me, my ship and blast the 1812 Overture now!"

Rain laughed when they started off and the 1812 overture thundered overhead. They went over the hill and saw Rose laughing hysterically while Alan stared at them with wide eyes. The Doctor gave him a smug look while he took a leaf from Alan's book and drove around and around in a circle waiting until after the explosive cannon finale before finally stopping by his cart.

"Ah! You're right, Brother, travelin' music does help," he said while Rain slumped in her seat, red faced with laughter. "I particularly liked the cannons; they made me feel big and bold while I drove. So anyway, your shot?"

Rose grinned and patted Alan's head when he looked at her.

"Always gotta outdo everyone no matter what happens," he said to her.

"Too right I do. That's why I'm the stuff of legend and you're the stuff of nonsense," he said to him. "I rule the roost here and my music must outshine everyone's. Now make the shot, we got several holes to go and I got a duel to get to."

Alan stared at him for a moment and then put his club back in the bag. He walked over to the Doctor and took his hand.

"Oh, how lovely, are we goin' on a nice stroll, hand in hand?" the Doctor said while they walked. "Are we gonna end up spooning on the green next?"

The women laughed while Alan ignored him and led him up the hill. The stood next to each other and watched while Alan talked to him softly for a moment and then their eyes widened when they started playing scissors, paper, stone.

"What are they doing?" Rain asked Rose.

"God only knows."

Alan laughed when his paper beat the Doctor's stone.

"I knew it! I am the better man!" he said, thrusting his arms in the air.

He walked around, whooping and hollering while the Doctor looked at the women and spun his finger around and around his ear.

"Ha! There are some things you cannot beat me at!" Alan said, thrusting his finger at the Doctor.

"Wow! You won one round of scissors, paper, stone. Yeah, you're just on a winning streak now!" the Doctor said loudly.

Alan gave him an incensed look.

"You! You always ruin my moment of glory! Curse you!" Alan said.

He looked up at the TARDIS.

"TARDIS! Glove! Small, white and cotton!" he said, holding out his hand.

There was a flash and a small cotton glove appeared in his hand. Alan grabbed it and swatted the Doctor across the cheek with it.

"How dare you impugn my honor, sir! I shall see you lying dead at my feet."

The Doctor held out his hand.

"TARDIS, boxing glove, the bigger, the better!"

There was a flash and his hand was covered by a boxing glove. Rain and Rose roared with laughter when he bopped his brother on the head with it.

"Ha ha! Advantage mine!" the Doctor said while Rose and Rain nearly wet themselves with laughter. "And now that the formalities are over with, water pistols, twenty paces!"

"Agreed!"

They held out their hands and the TARDIS replaced both gloves with large fully loaded super soakers.

"Ah, yes," Alan said, looking at his, "a fine weapon indeed."

He looked at Rose.

"Well get up here, seconds! We need you to officiate this!" he yelled at them.

Rose and Rain glanced at each other and climbed up the hill towards them.

"Prepare to face execution, you blaggard!" Alan said to the Doctor.

"I shall triumph over you!" the Doctor said. "I am not afraid to die. I have faced death before and have overcome it. So do your worst, you evil twin person, you!"

"How dare thee?" Alan said while the woman laughed. "Thou art a pestilence upon this land, a plague, and I shall smite thee. Verily, you will be smote. So seconds, tell us how many paces so I can make with the smooting."

"Smooting?" Rose said while Rain laughed harder.

"Yes, yes, yes, smooting. How many paces?" Alan said, tapping his foot.

"Um, okay, 400 paces, turn and fire," Rose said.

They stared at her.

"Um, Starlight, I know you think the room is huge, but trust me, it's not that huge," Alan said.

"Oh, alright, 10 paces, turn and fire," Rose said, feigning exasperation.

They turned and put their backs against each other.

"Wow, you have quite a firm back, Brother," Alan said.

"You do too," the Doctor said while they giggled.

"Okay, ready?" Rose said.

"Yes, I am ready to kill him!" the Doctor said.

"Not if I kill you first!" Alan replied.

"Okay," Rose said, rolling her eyes and looking at Rain. "One…"

"Fire, Brother! Get em!" the Doctor said.

Rose and Rain screamed when the two of them turned and began to squirt their wives. They laughed while they chased them down the hill.

"TARDIS! Benny Hill travelin' music while we squirt them!" Alan yelled.

The Benny Hill theme played overhead while they laughed and squirted their squealing spouses.

"Oh yes! Nothing like an afternoon of golf to get the adrenaline pumping, eh Brother?" Alan said to the Doctor while they soaked them with water.

"Oh yes, golf is the perfect game for a lazy afternoon! It's nice, quiet and completely stress-free!"

They laughed and continued to squirt their wives while the TARDIS rumbled out laughter overhead.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

"Hello there, I am Alonzo Arthur Timelord and this…is my life!"

Alan walked along through the TARDIS holding a small video camera while he filmed a faux documentary.

"The TARDIS," he said in a hushed melodramatic voice, "the greatest ship in the universe. The ship that puts other ships to shame. And…my home."

He turned the camera around and grinned a big toothy grin.

"Yup, this is sanctum sanctorum for me. Home sweet home. I'm the luckiest bloke in the universe because I get to live here. And I'm even luckier because I have a wonderful family to share this home with me. Let's go and find them, shall we?"

He turned the camera around and headed for the console room.

"First off is my beloved brother, the Doctor. He's usually up here messing about so let's go say hello."

He walked into the room and stopped when he noticed the room was empty. He stood for a moment filming the console while the rotor moved up and down.

"Hmmm, it appears O Captain; My Captain isn't at the helm as usual. Good job we don't get hurricanes in the vortex…or icebergs. Course hurricanes would be more fun because then the Doctor would end up tying Rain to the central column like it was the mast. Course I'm sure the randy bugger would just tie her up there anyway but I digress…let's go over and take a look at the console."

He walked over to it.

"Behold, my brother's handiwork. Over the years, he's put together this hotchpotch of weird crap that now stands in for proper switches and buttons. Like this bicycle pump right here. Normally that would be used to inflate tires but nope, Brother Dear's using it for the vortex loop. Genius or insanity, you make the call."

He walked over to the monitor.

"Now this is where he usually stands but since he's off doing something I'll gladly usurp his throne and claim his TARDIS for mine own. So I am your master now, TARDIS! Obey me!"

He smiled when the TARDIS rumbled out laughter and flashed the console room lights on and off for him.

"She's showing off, she likes to do that," Alan said, turning the camera around.

He turned it back around and rubbed the rim of the console.

"Yup, the best bloody ship in the universe," he said, fondly.

The TARDIS rumbled lovingly and flashed her lights again.

"Well, now that I'm done seizing my brother's time ship, let's go find my loyal subjects," he said, walking off.

The TARDIS laughed and moved the corridors so he went right to the living room where Mingxia and Awinita were playing chess.

"Aha! Here we are!" he said while the women jerked their heads up and stared at him in confusion.

He walked over to him.

"This is Awinita and Mingxia, two of my sisters," he said, filming them.

They looked at each other.

"What are you doing, Bro?" Awinita said.

"Filming a documentary about me and my life here."

They looked at each other, shrugged, and went back to their game.

"Yes, my sisters love to play chess. Although Awinita positively sucks at it."

"I do what, now?" Awinita said while Mingxia laughed and pumped her fist in the air.

"You suck or putting the phrase into Americanese, you suck donkey balls."

"Get out of here before I make you suck your own balls, Bro," Awinita said while Mingxia laughed harder.

"Hmmm, I see several moves you could execute, Mingxia, dear," Alan said.

"Yes, I do too," she said.

"Yup, my sister sucks and it's only a matter of time until she is soundly defeated by her more brilliant, capable Time Lady sister, Mingxia."

"Damn straight," Mingxia said.

Awinita stood up.

"Hi, I'm Awinita, the apparently less brilliant, less capable sister. But there is one thing I know how to do well and that's destroy cameras and shove the broken pieces up people's asses. So unless you want a demonstration of that, Bro, you will go elsewhere and leave us the hell alone, got it?"

"Leaving you alone now," he said while they laughed.

"So anyway, that's my bitchy sister and her sister, Mingxia. I…"

Mingxia laughed when Awinita chased him from the room.

"Well, anyway, moving on," Alan said.

The TARDIS rearranged the corridors and led him to the kitchen where Rose, Donna and Jenny were having lunch consisting of chicken soup, ham sandwiches and milk. They looked at him when he entered the room.

"And this is my sister, wife and niece having a delightful meal," he said.

"Uncle Alan, what are you doing?" Jenny said.

"Filming a documentary about my life onboard the TARDIS."

"In other words, Jen, he's incredibly bored and we have to suffer now because of it," Rose muttered to her.

Alan walked over to her.

"This is the love of my life, my beautiful wife, Rose," he said.

He zoomed in to her left eye.

"This is my beautiful wife's left eye," he said.

He zoomed out and zoomed in to her right eye.

"And this is my beautiful wife's right eye," he said.

He zoomed back out. Rose held up her fist.

"And this is your beautiful wife's fist that will be blackening up both your eyes if ya don't quit," she said while Donna and Jenny laughed.

"Isn't she magnificent? So well mannered, demure and timid. It's all those years of finishing school she went through," Alan said.

Rose shook her head and looked at the others.

"You really wanted to marry him, huh?" Donna said.

"Yes, I thought at the time it was a good idea, but now…"

"But as timid and shy as my little wife is, there's one who is even more timid and that's this one," he said, zooming in on Donna. "This little flower will faint away at the sight of danger. That's why we need to have a special smelling salts room on board the TARDIS just for her use."

"You're gonna think smellin' salt when I knock your block off, Sunshine!"

"Yup, my two innocent, quiet, timid, shy family members. And here is the other one who is also timid and shy."

"Yeah, Uncle Alan, I'm really timid and shy," Jenny said while they laughed.

"But I'm lying. Little Jenny and I share something in common, we come from the Doctor's hands and we were both born in the heat of battle. Isn't that brilliant?"

The three women looked at each other. The Doctor zoomed in on Donna.

"And this woman right here is responsible for my birth. She is the Doctor Frankenstein who gave birth to this marvelous creation you see before you."

"And doesn't that just thrill ya, Donna?" Rose said to her.

"Oh, every bloody minute of every day!" Donna said, rolling her eyes. "If I learned one thing from it all, it's don't touch glowing jars with body parts in em, EVER!"

"You know, Alan, we were having lunch before you decided to be Steven Spielberg," Rose said to him. "Why don't you go find other family members and film them now so we can go back to eating that lunch, yeah?"

"I found two others, Awinita and Mingxia; they chased me out of the living room."

"Smart women," Donna muttered to Rose.

Alan zoomed in on Donna's hair.

"Oh yes and these lovely locks are mine by default. Someday soon I will take a pair of scissors and finally claim them for my own."

"You do, Buckaroo, and I'll take the scissors and ram them through your eyes and then you'll have to use Rory and Blizzard as your guide dogs," Donna said.

"Oh yes, where are Yippy and Yappy the wonder mutts?"

"Why don't you do go and find them, dear, and let us eat?" Rose said while Donna and Jenny nodded.

"You're kicking me out too?" Alan said mournfully.

Rose sighed and stood up. She embraced him from behind and kissed him on the cheek.

"You are my life," she said, getting on her tiptoes and whispering in his ear.

She kissed him on the cheek and sat back down.

"Wow, suddenly, it's gotten quite crowded in the front of me trousers," Alan said. "My wife just whispered in my ear and Wiener Schnitzel wants to come out to play. Amazing that my wife's voice has such a profound effect on the womb broom down there."

"Will you go?" Donna said while they laughed. "I don't feel like vomiting my ham sandwich all over my hands listening to you go on and on about your sodding womb broom."

"If I must. Until we meet again, a beintot!"

"Thank God, he's leaving," Donna muttered as he started towards the door.

Alan did a 180 and ran back to her.

"So anyway, I present to you the saga of Donna Noble…"

OUT!" Donna screamed while he ran out the door.

The TARDIS rumbled out laughter and rearranged the corridors again.

"And of course, my ship, for it is my ship now since I claimed the console in the name of me, is being helpful and leading me to more family members," he said, walking along.

She led him to a door. He opened it and saw a winter scene. There was a foot of snow on the ground and a large frozen lake in front of them with pine trees scattered around it. Rory and Blizzard were playing in the snow and on the lake; the Doctor and Rain were dressed in Victorian winter clothes ice skating around and around. Rain had on a long black dress, black bonnet and pink shawl and muff. The Doctor had on a long black coat, black trousers and black top hat. While he filmed them, Alan noticed Rain was doing more falling than skating. He filmed her while she went down on her butt and the Doctor laughed while he skated back to her.

"You know, my love, the object is to stay upright on your feet through this," he said, bending down with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Well, I'm sorry, Thete, but there wasn't very many chances to ice skate in the middle of the Arizona desert," she said to him.

She took her hand out of the big pink muff and he helped her to her feet.

"Are you alright?" he said, looking her over.

"Once my ass gets done hurting for the fiftieth time, yes," she said.

The dogs finally noticed Alan and barked happily while they bounded through the snow towards him. The Doctor looked over at him, noticed the camera and pointed it out to Rain. Alan pointed his camera down at the dogs who were leaping and jumping up at him.

"And this is Yippy and Yappy the wonder mutts!" he said, filming the overexcited dogs. "They're glad to see me obviously since they're bouncing up and down in the snow, barking themselves hoarse. Usually, I have a treat for them which may explain their current need to shred my trouser legs to bits but…"

He jerked the camera up when he heard a high-pitched shrill whistle and saw the Doctor with his fingers in his mouth. He took them out and stood with Rain staring at him.

"As much as I'm dreading the answer, what are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm filming my own documentary about my life and family."

Rain giggled when the Doctor rolled his eyes and looked at her.

"Knew it was something daft like that," he said.

"And this is my brother and his wife, looking splendid in their Victorian finery."

"Hello," Rain said, waving.

"No, Latara, are you mad, don't encourage him!" the Doctor said while she laughed.

"My brother's wife is apparently trying to ice skate."

"Yes, trying being the operative word here," Rain said, glancing at the Doctor.

"You're getting better. When you started out you were falling down every minute, now it's every five," he said. "That's improvement."

He laughed when Rain lightly punched him in the stomach.

"He was teaching me how to ballroom dance," she said to the camera. "But ballroom dancing doesn't have any chance for life threatening injury attached to it so we moved in here instead."

"I was wanting to ice skate with you. Can I ice skate with my wife?" the Doctor said to her.

"Yeah but you've also been pointing and laughing whenever I fall."

"Well…it's…amusing," the Doctor said. "And I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing with you."

"I'm not laughing when it happens."

"You're not?"

"No."

"You're not laughing in my head?"

"No."

"Oh," he said, slapping the side of his skull repeatedly, "my Gallifreyan mental abilities must be wonky today, coulda sworn I was laughing with you. Ah well, anyway, that's what we're doing in here and…now I'm sure the dogs have scratched your legs all to bits."

He aimed the camera down at them.

"Sit!" he said to them.

They sat down and panted while they stared up at him. He looked back up at the Doctor and Rain who had skated to the side and were stepping out onto the snow.

"So how many people have you tormented with your academy award winning documentary so far?"

"Oh, everyone," Alan said to him.

"Oh, so we're the last, Latara. Which means the rest of the family probably needs sectioning now."

"Donna does but…that's a given," Alan said.

"Better not let Donna see this footage then," the Doctor said. "She'll be putting her fist in your face for that."

"Trust me, I've already been threatened by her," Alan said. "the whole entire family is tense for some odd reason."

"Maybe because you're walking around jamming your video camera in their faces?" the Doctor said while Rain giggled.

Alan looked at Rain. He lowered the camera and held out his hand to her. She took her hand out of the muff and took it.

"Ha! Once again, your significant other is mine!" he said to him. "See, you just can't hold on to her to save your life, can ya?"

"Am I gonna have to duel ya again?"

"Don't you dare!" Rain said while they snickered.

"What's wrong, Te'lesu? Can't a man engage in a duel for your honor?" he said to her with a wicked grin.

"You wanna get punched, you just keep on with your "duel"," Rain said.

"You're the second woman that's threatened to punch me today."

"Really, who was the first?" the Doctor asked.

"My wife."

"Oho, you musta really made her mad for her to threaten that. I'd quit while you were ahead, mate."

"Well, I suppose I could film elsewhere," Alan said, sniffing. "Perhaps I could go back to my console room and film my ship."

"Your ship?" the Doctor said.

"Yes, my ship. I went to the console room to film you. You weren't there so I claimed your time ship for my own. This Type 40 belongs to me now."

"Oh, you wanna bet, you ship stealer?" the Doctor said.

"Yes, I own it now. I own your wife. I own the dogs at my feet. I own everything!"

The Doctor looked at Rain who was smiling at him.

"And this is alright with you? I don't see you putting up much of a fight seeing as how he's claimin' ya and all," he said to her.

"Oh! Um…help."

She and Alan laughed while the Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"Yeah, I can practically reach out and touch the terror," he said to her.

"Um, help me, my darling. I'm being taken away from you forever. Oh, whatever shall I do? Woe is me."

Alan laughed harder when the Doctor gave her an odd look.

"I have never in my 1200 years of life heard a cry for help as pathetic as that," he said to her. "I'll be sure to save you once I wake up from that monotone delivery of yours."

Alan pulled her close with one arm and grinned at her while he filmed her.

"You aren't resisting because you'd rather be with your brother than your husband. I've always known that but now I have concrete proof captured forever. I knew in time you would tire of your boy toy and come back."

"Mmm, well, she may have tired of her "boy toy" as you put it but I haven't tired of her, so I'll be taking her off your hands now, if you don't mind."

"Not a chance, Rain wants to be with me."

The Doctor looked at her while she giggled.

"Help, my husband," she said in a monotone voice, "light of my life, save me from this monster. Oh please save me."

Alan bent over laughing while he shook his head.

"I'm so glad you don't do this when I really do have to save you," he said. "I think I'd die of boredom before I plucked you from the peril."

"I'm sorry, my ass is hurting too much right now for me to sound convincing."

"Hear that, Brother?" the Doctor said. "Get down on your knees tonight and pray that the next time she does need our help her ass isn't hurting at the time."

"I won't need help. I'll have my brother and husband protecting me every step of the way."

"You better believe it!" Alan said, holding her closer. "We won't let a single solitary thing hurt that bonnet covered head of yours.

He stared at the black bonnet framing her head.

"This is gorgeous on ya, by the way," he said, looking at the black dress, pink shawl and muff. "Whatever possessed you two to get dressed up like this?"

"Oh, he thought it'd be cute," Rain said, glancing at him. "Kinda like that whole Currier and Ives thing, you know."

"Except when Currier and Ives painted their scenes, the people weren't on their bums every ten seconds," the Doctor said to her.

"Well, give her time, soon she'll be skating like Torvill or Dean or both," Alan said.

"Or I'll fall on the ice and break every bone in my body, whichever comes first," Rain muttered.

The Doctor grinned and kissed her cheek.

"Well, why don't we get out of here rather than stand here in the snow and freeze," the Doctor said. "I have to put some ice on my wife's rear end which doesn't sound quite that bad, come to think of it. I'm sure some time in bed with me and she'll forget all about her ass."

They walked with the dogs towards the door.

"Yes," Rain said, "I'm sure a little time in bed with you will make me forget all about my hurting fanny."

"Oh, trust me, Latara, you won't be forgetting your fanny if I'm there. In fact, your fanny will be very much on both our minds."

Alan aimed his video camera at him.

"Yes," he narrated, "this is my brother making crude sexual puns. Behold the Oncoming Storm being a rude, crude, dirty old geezer!"

"And this is my brother being an intrusive voyeur," the Doctor said to the camera. "But soon, he will have to voyeur somewhere else since I and my wife will be having a bit of fun in our bedroom…which will have the door sealed off so Mister Docudrama won't be barging in and narrating the action while he films our arses. No, Mister Cameraman will definitely _not_ be in the bedroom with us."

"Aw, come on, my documentary needs a bit of spice. Please? I'm your clone so I'm practically the same man!"

"Ew," Rain said.

"My thoughts exactly. You have your own wife; go film her in bed with ya."

"What a splendiferous fabuloso idea!" Alan said with wide eyes as he opened the door and let them through. "Brother, you're a genius! And…they have to be done eating by now. Time for me to have a little snack of my own."

They watched while he ran off down the hall with the dogs following along behind him. The Doctor looked at Rain.

"Oh great. Rose is not gonna like that I gave him the idea for that," the Doctor said. "Dear, you better get ready because I have a feeling I'm about to change bodies very, very soon."

Rain chuckled and gave him a kiss. He shut the door, took her hand and they walked off towards the wardrobe room.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

"You have got to be kidding me," the Doctor muttered to Alan while they lay bent over on the floor of the throne room. "I can't believe this. We go to another universe and my wife's double there is an evil megalomaniacal bitch?"

"Wanna say that louder? Rain's insane twin didn't quite hear you," Alan muttered while he glanced back at the leather clad woman standing behind them while she conferred with her advisor.

He glanced back at her and shook his head.

"Never ever in my wildest dreams would I ever imagine my sweet Latara having an evil double somewhere."

"Well, believe it so we can get the hell outta here and get back to the Rain we know and love. The one that won't kill us or enslave us as her concubines, that Rain," he said.

"Yeah, just imagine being your sister's love slave."

Alan snorted.

"Not my sister. My sister is out in the city somewhere still shopping which should have been your first clue that this wasn't her."

"Well, how was I to know she and the others were out clothes shopping? I figured the leather getup was her latest purchase."

Alan eyed him.

"Have you ever known Rain to wear anything like what she has on?"

"No, but then again she's gone through a lot of changes in her life. I thought maybe the leather outfit was due to her feeling confident enough to wear something like that. I thought it rather kinky until I realized that wasn't her…well, wasn't the her we know. Anyway, what are you doing here if you cottoned on to all of this?"

"I was trying to warn you, you git, before I got nabbed," he said. "At the very least, I was trying to alert you that you were following the wrong woman! I didn't really think she was evil. I just thought it was an alternate Rain with a leather fetish and…"

He grunted when a riding whip cracked across his back.

"Silence!" the alternate Rain said. "You will not speak, either of you!"

The Doctor turned his face up towards her and glared at her. She was dressed in a leather catsuit with leather boots. Her long hair was swept up in a tight bun that made her look severe. She had a riding whip in her hands and was staring down at the Doctor with utter disdain, an expression he had never seen his wife give him. She was looking from one to the other.

"Twins, eh? I've never had twin concubines before," she said. "I assume that's your intention since you were following me or at least…you were," she said to the Doctor.

"Believe me, if I realized I had the wrong woman I never would have bothered," the Doctor said.

He grunted when she slammed the riding whip down on his back. Alan gritted his teeth at her.

"Oh, lady," Alan said, "it's gonna be hard punching your face looking the way you look but that's not gonna stop me, trust me, and…"

He grimaced when she smacked him on the top of the head with the whip.

"I believe I just ordered you both to be silent, didn't I?" she snarled.

She walked around them and squatted down next to them while two guards stood behind them and kept watch. The Doctor glanced up at her with the riding whip in her hand and fought the conflicting emotions that came from looking at her face and seeing the face of the woman he loved looking back at him. He could swear it was a dream or some sick joke his family thought up but he knew it was all too real.

"So," she said in a sickeningly sweet voice that made the Doctor cringe, "what are your names, my concubines?"

The Doctor swallowed hard.

"The Doctor," he said.

He glanced up at "Rain" who was regarding him silently and he sensed she was trying to figure out whether or not he was joking. To his relief, she apparently decided he wasn't lying because then she looked at his brother.

"And you, my handsome one?" she said, putting the end of the whip under his chin.

Alan resisted the urge to snatch it away from her since the guards had submachine guns pointed at their backs.

"Alan," he said to her.

"Rain" looked at the Doctor. He grunted when she seized his hair. Alan started to get up but he felt the guard behind him put his foot on his back and he relaxed.

"See, this boy is being good, he told me his real name," she said to him. "Now you do the same. What is your name?"

"John Smith," he said to her.

"That's better, my concubine," she purred, stroking his hair.

The Doctor tried to pull away and grunted when she seized his hair again.

"I didn't tell you to move," she said with a voice like ice. "You will obey me now and you will do what I tell you to. If I want you to move, you will. If I want you to stay, you will. You and your brother are mine now and everything you do will be determined by me."

The Doctor made himself keep still while she let go and stroked his hair again.

"That's better, my pet. See how gentle I can be when you obey me?"

Alan glanced at his brother, saw the pain in his eyes and knew he was imagining his Rain and thinking how different this version was. His hearts went out to him. He could just imagine what it would be like to see an evil version of Rose standing there staring down at her latest catches. He just hoped the two of them could get out of this with a minimum of whip marks on their back.

"Rain" stood up and stared down at them. She pointed to Alan.

"Take this one to my bedroom. This one take to my harem, I'll use him later."

The Doctor glanced at his brother.

"Wheee, now I get to shag my "sister", fun!" Alan said, dryly.

He grunted when the guards seized under his arms and pulled him to his feet. They held his arms behind him back while "Rain" came up to him and stroked his cheek.

"You're very handsome, my pet," "Rain said, "you should feel honored that you're going to be the concubine of Princess Lalora."

"Oh thank God, her name isn't…" the Doctor muttered.

Alan stared at him sadly and saw the relief in his eyes. He knew it would be even more painful for him if her name had been Rain too. He grunted when one of the guards jerked on his arm.

"Oi! Watch it, git!" he said to him.

"Now, now, naughty boy," Lalora said, stroking his cheek. "Don't get angry. It's not good for you. Look at your brother. He's not angry, is he?"

"No, but there are several other things he is at the moment," Alan replied.

Lalora walked over to the Doctor. The Doctor tried to jerk his head back when she leaned in for a kiss but the guard grabbed his hair and forced his face forward. Alan sighed when he could see the disgust on his brother's face and he longed to punch the woman in the mouth for doing this to him.

Lalora smiled sweetly at the Doctor.

"You taste so good, my sweet one," she said, stroking his cheek. "I shall have fun with you. But first things first, I will have your brother."

"Like I said, wheee," Alan muttered.

He grunted when the guard jerked his head back and forcibly walked him out of the room. The Doctor watched him go and then turned his head to look at Lalora who was smirking at him.

"Don't worry, your time will come soon enough," she said, running his finger down his cheek. "I'm anxious to sample you, you know."

"Yeah, well I wish the feeling was mutual but I afraid there's another that I love and sadly you're not it."

"In time you will grow to love me."

The Doctor snorted.

"Somehow, I seriously doubt it."

"We shall see, pet."

He flinched when she kissed him again and looked at the guards.

"Take him to my harem, I will deal with him once I get done with his brother," she said to him.

"Yes, your highness," the guard said.

The Doctor grunted and fought his captors while the two guards started to drag him away. Lalora watched them go and then let out a sigh.

"Now for his brother," she said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Okay, anyone else find this creepy?" Awinita said to Rain and Mingxia.

They were listening nearby after following the Doctor and Alan into the building. Rain watched the whole thing and thought she was going to be physically ill. She shook her head.

"Alan, oh God, he's going to have to…"

She trailed off.

"We can't let that happen. We have to do something," she said. "We gotta get them outta here before I do something to Bro and my husband."

"Yeah, what?" Awinita said.

"Yeah, it's not like we can just waltz in there," Mingxia added.

Rain stared at Lalora and a grin spread over her face.

"Maybe you can't waltz in there but I can," she said to them. "Just follow my lead."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alan grunted while he tried to fight the restraints. He was tired to the bed with all his clothes off except for his y-fronts. He tugged hard on the ropes holding his wrists to the bed but they wouldn't give.

"Damn it! I gotta get outta here!" he muttered. "Gotta get free before I get in an icky situation here."

His eyes darted to the door when it opened and Lalora stepped inside wearing a bathrobe..

"Whatever you're planning to do to me, I'll never submit!" he growled at her. "I'm a happily married man whether you like it or not."

"Bro?"

He paused and his breath caught in his throat.

"Te'lesu?" he said.

She closed the door and Alan breathed a sigh of relief when she came over and sat beside him.

"Oh Alan, what have they done to you?" she said softly.

"Nothing yet. Thankfully, they won't get the chance," Alan said, "where did you come from?"

"We followed you. Awinita, Mingxia and I. they're posing as guards trying to find where they've taken the Doctor."

"All I know is they were taking him towards the harem, wherever that is," Alan said. "I was the first on Lalora's list until you showed up. No offense but I really wasn't ready to shag someone who looked exactly like you."

She smiled.

"I can imagine," she said.

She leaned over and kissed his cheek.

"I'm not gonna let her hurt you," she said.

"Good," Alan replied.

Their eyes widened when the door opened and Rain quickly ran around the corner and ducked down beside the bed. Alan glanced at her and then quickly began to struggle again trying to divert Lalora's attention when she walked in the room.

"Hello," she said sweetly.

"Hiya," Alan said. "What have you done with my brother?"

"Oh, he's comfortable enough," Lalora purred. "I hope you are too."

"Oh yeah, I just love the ropes. They feel so good on my skin," Alan said, rolling his eyes.

"Well, if you behave I'll release you from them," Lalora purred.

Alan relaxed and she smiled.

"That's a good boy!" she said.

Alan flinched when she leaned in for a kiss. While she was doing that, Alan saw Rain stick her head up and make a disgusted face.

_Um…ew…_she thought to him.

_Yes, my thoughts exactly,_ Alan thought back.

She quickly ducked back down when Lalora finished the kiss and ran her finger down his cheek.

"I'll return in a moment, my pet," she said to him. "I just need to get something."

Alan stiffened when she kissed him again and watched angrily when she got up and walked out of the room. Rain popped her head up.

"Okay, that was bizarre, to say the least," Alan said, looking at the door. "When you see brother dear again, please remind him never to judge a book by its cover, alright? Because I really don't wanna go through this all again. Having said that, you better get out of here and go find him."

"But what about you?"

"I'll be alright, I swear. I'll just close my eyes and reeeeeeeeeally pretend it's Rose. Hurry before you get caught and she executes you or something."

Rain kissed him on the forehead.

"I'll be back, Bro," she said. "I promise."

"I know you will, Rain, now go and find the Doctor and your sisters. I'll distract the evil one."

Rain gave him a quick hug and quickly ran from the room while he watched.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" Awinita asked Mingxia.

"Not entirely. I'm really just playing this by ear," she replied.

"Yeah, well if we get caught, we're gonna be dead meat," she said.

Mingxia looked at her.

"I used to be with UNIT, trust me; I know how to act like a guard. All we gotta do is find the Doctor and get him the hell outta here before Sister Psychopath rapes him."

"Oh, is that all? Gee, I'm filled with so much confidence now."

"Do you have to be argumentative?" Mingxia asked.

"Sure."

Mingxia rolled her eyes. Suddenly Awinita felt a hand on her shoulder. She gasped and spun around to see Rain behind them.

"It's alright, it's me," she whispered. "Alan's okay. Tied to her bed but he's alright. Have you found the Doctor?"

"Not yet, we're still looking," Awinita said.

They peeked around the corner and noticed two male guards in front of a door.

"My guess is he's in there," Rain whispered, pointing to them.

"So what do we do?" Awinita asked.

They stared at the door. Rain looked at her sister's guard uniforms.

"Where'd you guys find those?" she asked.

"Supply closet," Mingxia whispered back.

Rain looked down at her bathrobe and looked at them.

"Follow me," she said to them.

She straightened herself and made herself look as presentable as she could while Awinita and Mingxia straightened themselves behind her. Lifting her chin up, she strode towards the guards with her sisters in tow.

"Guards!" she said as authoritative as she could. "You are relieved. I'll look after the prisoner."

The guards glanced at each other, bowed and left their posts. Rain watched them go.

"Nice going, Sis," Awinita said.

"Thanks. And now…"

She reached into the pocket of the bathrobe, pulled out her sonic screwdriver and used it on the lock. It clicked and she opened the door a crack and peeked inside. She saw her husband lying on the floor in the middle of a sea of multicolored pillows. She breathed a sigh of relief when she noticed he looked fine, just bored and frustrated. She looked at her sisters, nodded and she opened the door wider. The Doctor glared at her and her hearts ached when he saw the cold look on his face.

"Finished already, your Majesty?" he spat out. "I…"

He trailed off when he saw Awinita and Mingxia.

"Shame on you, Bro, that's no way to talk to your wife," Awinita teased.

The Doctor's eyes widened and he looked at Rain with hope in his eyes.

"Latara?" he said.

Rain ran to him and the Doctor leapt up and enfolded her in his arms.

"Oh blimey, I'm glad to see you, my love," he whispered.

"Me too."

He smiled at Awinita and Mingxia.

"I'm glad to see all of you."

"Ditto, Bro," Awinita said. "Have you been sexually assaulted though because we could circle the block."

The Doctor stared at her while she giggled.

"Beg pardon?"

"It's from the Jim Carrey movie Liar, Liar," Awinita explained. "Jim's secretary is bailing him out of jail and says that to him when she sees him."

"Oh!" the Doctor said while they laughed. "Sorry, I haven't had the privilege of seeing that yet."

He looked at Rain.

"My brother?" he asked her.

"He's alright or he was when I left him," Rain said. "He's in her bedroom tied to her bed."

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Well, I was dumped in the "harem", he said, making quote marks with his fingers. "Except I'm the only one in here at present so I don't think it's really much of a harem she's got. If I didn't know any better, I'd say Alan and I were the first concubines."

He smiled at her.

"But let's go get Brother before something happens to him, eh?"

They nodded. The Doctor looked at her bathrobe.

"Are you sure this will suffice, Latara?" he asked, gesturing to it.

"It's all I could find. I didn't find any more of the leather dominatrix things she was wearing."

"I'd like to see you try to put one of those things on personally," Awinita said as Mingxia snickered.

"Not on your life, it'd be tight and hotter than hell in that getup."

"I really wish you would have told me that before I decided to follow you, dear," the Doctor said.

"You didn't really believe…"

"I didn't know. I really had no clue there was another you here and I figured you wanted to try a different outfit," he protested. "I'm sorry."

"God, he really doesn't know you all that well, does he?" Mingxia said.

"Apparently not," Rain said while he blushed.

They looked over when the guards appeared in the door. All three women straightened up and Rain took hold of the Doctor's arm.

"Yes, what do you want?" she barked at them.

"Princess, we came to find you. You requested scented oils for the other captive. We wanted to know what scents you would prefer before he's rubbed down."

Awinita and Mingxia fought to keep from laughing when they noticed the wide eyes on Rain and the Doctor's faces.

"Dear God, what is she doing with him?" Rain muttered.

"What was that, your Highness?" one of the guards said.

"Nothing. Um, I would like…strawberry. Rub him down with strawberry oil."

"At once, your Highness."

Awinita and Mingxia snickered when they left the room.

"Wow, Bro's in for one wild time, sounds like," Awinita said, nudging Mingxia.

"Yes, well, I think we better go get him before he kills me," Rain said.

"Yes, my thoughts exactly," the Doctor said.

Awinita and Mingxia got behind him and grabbed his arms while Rain led the way back towards the bedroom.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"For the last bloody time, you put that scented crap on my body and I'll bite your bleeding faces off!" Alan growled at the guard who had a small rose colored bottle in his hands. "I'm not some prize pig that needs to be oiled up. I mean it, one drop of that hits my skin and I'll shove the bottle up your sodding nose!"

"Mistress commands you be prepared," the guard said.

"Well, Mistress can take the bottle and stick it up her…"

"Enough!"

The guards spun around and Alan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his sister standing in the doorway.

"Leave the bottle on the dresser, I'll prepare him myself," she said.

"Yes, Mistress."

Alan breathed another sigh of relief when he sat the bottle down and they went past her. Rain looked back at the others and let them inside before closing the door.

"Brother, God, am I glad to see you," Alan said. "Get me out of this freakshow!"

Awinita and Mingxia used their screwdrivers to burn through the ropes while the Doctor picked up the bottle, took a sniff and poured a drop out on his fingers.

"Please tell me you're not gonna taste that," Alan said, making a face.

The Doctor grinned, put the drop on Rain's neck and took a sniff.

"Will you set me free and worry about your lovemaking later," Alan said, annoyed, when the Doctor pocketed the bottle.

"I wonder if they have banana though?" the Doctor said to Rain.

Alan set up and eyed him.

"I'm so glad you're concerned for my wellbeing, Brother," he said.

"Oh, for pity's sake, you're fine, Alan. We're all in here, you're not getting sexually assaulted," the Doctor said. "Otherwise, we'd have to circle the block."

"You'd have to do what now?" Alan said while Awinita laughed. "Circle the block? What the hell does that mean?"

"I'll explain later, Bro," Awinita said, kissing his cheek.

He and Mingxia burned through the ropes around his ankles while Rain went to Lalora's closet. She looked through the clothes and made a face when she pulled out the leather catsuit.

"Not on your life," she muttered putting it back.

She noticed the Doctor pouting.

"Yeah, I know you want to see me in it," she said when he grinned.

She pulled out a flowing pink strapless gown and held it against her body.

"This is nice too," the Doctor said to her

Alan got up and retrieved his clothes while Rain went to the bathroom. Mingxia and Awinita guarded the door while the Doctor helped Alan retrieve his personal effects.

"Where's the rest of the family?" Alan asked them.

"We telepathically told them what was happening and they're back at the TARDIS waiting," Mingxia said. "We didn't think it was a good idea to have everyone in here at the same time."

Alan nodded and pulled on his trousers.

"How do we take down our sister's bitchy twin?" Alan asked the Doctor.

"Element of surprise," the Doctor said. "We can use my wife's resemblance to her to our advantage."

"How so?" Alan said.

The bathroom door opened and everyone stared at Rain when she came out in the dress. The Doctor gave her an appreciative look.

"You look gorgeous," he said.

"Thanks, this is better than that stupid leather thing she wears," she replied. "Now what's this about using me to our advantage?"

"You can impersonate yourself and tell the guards that Lalora is an intruder," the Doctor said. "Command them to capture her."

"How do you know they'll believe it's me?" Rain asked. "The other me could tell them I'm the impostor and sic them on me."

The Doctor rubbed his cheek and looked at his brother.

"Thoughts, Brother?" he said.

"We need a way to convince them that she's the princess. It won't look right if we all go in there and she's just leading us and…"

His eyes widened and he looked at Mingxia.

"Te'lesu, come here a mo," he said.

Mingxia walked over.

"Yes?"

"Punch me."

They stared at him.

"Punch…you?" Mingxia said.

"Yes, rough me up and make it look convincing," Alan said, falling to his knees.

"Bro, wait!" Rain said.

"Rain, if we look roughed up, it'll help to convince them that you're the real deal. Mingxia's been with UNIT, I know she knows how to punch people and not kill them. Trust me. Hit me hard!"

Mingxia glanced at Awinita.

"You heard the man. Beat the shit outta him," she said, locking the door.

Mingxia sighed.

"I'm sorry for this."

Alan nodded.

"There's no need for being sorry. I'm telling you to do it. Now hit me."

"And hit me too when you get done with him," the Doctor said.

Mingxia shook her head and gulped.

"Damn it, this is gonna be hard," she said.

She drew her fist back and held it there while Alan stared up at her.

"Do it."

She closed her eyes and smacked him hard in the eye. Rain gasped when she heard her fist connect with flesh and the Doctor put his arms around her.

"Again, Te'lesu," Alan said when he recovered from the blow. "Harder. Give me a black eye and split lip."

He smiled at her when he saw the pain in her eyes.

"Trust me, Mingxia; I've had worse than this. I'd rather be beaten up by you than raped by her double. Just do this."

Mingxia sighed, glanced back at the Doctor and hit him again in the mouth.

"Ow!" the Doctor said, holding Rain closer to him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After twenty minutes, Mingxia finished working over the Doctor and Alan and all of them stared at their bloody and bruised faces.

"This is turning out to be quite a shopping trip, Brother," Alan said.

Awinita and Mingxia grabbed the ropes from the bed and tied their hands behind their backs while Rain stood near them. The Doctor smiled at her.

"Just tell everyone we tried to escape and the guards roughed us up," he said to her.

She nodded.

"You're gonna be in pain tonight, both of you," she said, gently touching the bruise on his cheek.

"It'll be worth it if we get away from the demon bitch from hell," Alan said. "Besides I got Rose to comfort me which I'm sure she will. It'll be worth all this for a cuddle tonight. Now that we're sufficiently roughed up, what's next?"

The Doctor looked at Rain.

"You need to come up with some excuse," he said. "Tell them you're taking us somewhere to be punished so we can all get outta here," he said. "If we're outside, we can go to the authorities and Alan and I will say they did this to us so they'll arrest her."

"But what if they won't, dear?" she said. "What if she has diplomatic immunity or something?"

The Doctor looked at Alan.

"She has a point, Brother. If she's a princess, she may have immunity," Alan said to him.

The Doctor let out a frustrated sigh.

"I guess if we can't get her arrested, we just get the hell outta here and never come back," he said. "As much as I'd hate to leave her behind, it won't do any good to just stay here and risk capture again. But…first things first, let's get the hell outta here before she comes back."


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Rain led her captives down the corridor while Mingxia and Awinita brought up the rear.

"I sure hope this works," Rain said, glancing back.

"Me too, especially since we just got roughed up," the Doctor said.

They froze when two guards turned the corner up ahead and saw them. Rain gave them a haughty look.

"Well, what are you staring at? Get on with your duties," she said.

"Yes, your Highness," they said.

"Wow, you're good," Alan said when they walked past them.

"Well, I did pick up a few things traveling around with you guys," she said.

They resumed their pace.

"Where's the exit?" Mingxia said, looking around.

"Good question," the Doctor said. "I just hope we find it soon before…"

Just then, Lalora turned the corner. Rain ran behind Alan and ducked down behind him while Awinita and Mingxia blocked her from view. She paused and took in the scene before her.

"What's the meaning of this?" she said, gesturing to the Doctor and Alan.

Awinita and Mingxia glanced at each other.

"Highness, these two tried to escape. We apprehended them and punished them for their transgression," Mingxia said, trying to sound authoritative.

Lalora stared at them.

"Who are you? I've never seen you before," she said to them.

"We're new, your Majesty," Awinita replied.

They tried to keep calm while she eyed them both.

"How new?" she finally said.

"A few days, Majesty," Mingxia said. "We just got hired in."

"Well, if you're new, then I think you should know that all prisoner transfers need to be approved by me," Lalora said, coldly. "And I never said you could take these two anywhere."

"We're sorry, your Majesty. But there was a danger of them escaping," Mingxia said. "We had to take matters into our own hands in order to prevent that."

Rain hunched down lower when she saw Lalora come closer to them. Lalora stared at the men's faces.

"Was it necessary to hit them this hard?" she said to Awinita.

"Yes, your Highness, they were resisting," Awinita said.

She stared at their faces.

"And yet, you have nary a bruise on yours," she said.

The Doctor watched her narrowing her eyes.

Oh boy, maybe we should have hit them in return, he thought to Alan.

We need to get out of here, Brother, before she finds out Rain is behind me, Alan thought back.

Thinking, I'm thinking.

The Doctor stiffened when Lalora touched the bruise on his cheek. He seethed knowing his wife had done the very same thing earlier.

"It's a shame your pretty faces had to be injured, perhaps that will teach you not to defy me," she purred.

She cupped his face.

"Now, my rebellious slave, kneel before me."

"Excuse me?" the Doctor said.

He grunted when she slapped him and he felt his wife's anger in his mind.

"I said, kneel!" she growled.

He grunted when she slapped him again. Awinita glanced down at her sister and noticed the look of death in her eyes.

Oh boy, she thought to Mingxia. Rain's on the warpath now.

The Doctor glanced behind him and slowly fell to his knees while Alan moved slightly to shield his sister from her. The Doctor did everything he could to keep her attention focused on him so she wouldn't see behind his brother. Lalora caressed his cheek.

"You have spirit, I like that," she purred. "I also will enjoy breaking you and your brother and turning you both into playful little kittens that I can play with and cuddle.

Oh brother, Rain thought. I can't believe my double is talking like this. This is embarrassing.

Lalora looked at Alan.

"And now you, kneel."

"I'd rather not, thanks," he said.

Rain gasped in his mind when Lalora slapped him hard.

"Kneel, I said!"

Alan gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to ram his head into her chest. He sensed Rain crawling behind her sisters and he slowly fell to his knees, confident she was hidden from view. He glanced up at Lalora while she stroked his cheek.

"I don't know what kind of woman you're used to dealing with but you will learn obedience," Lalora said.

"It might interest you to know that I've already learned obedience from my wife."

The Doctor held back his laughter at that.

"Wife?" Lalora said.

"Yes, we're both married, imagine that," Alan said to her. "We both have wives who won't like that we're your little love slaves and both of them have very short fuses and large tempers and I guarantee if you try something with us you will live to regret it."

"Where are they? If they try something I will enslave them and torture them before your very eyes," Lalora said haughtily. "I want to see these wives of yours, my pets."

Rain stood up.

"Okay. Hi, I'm the Doctor's wife, Rain."

They looked at the shocked expression on her face.

"What…what trickery is this?" Lalora said. "You have my face!"

"Very good. I do which is why my poor husband got confused and followed you. Unfortunately, you're not me which is why he's kneeling at your feet with my brother. Now, let them go or believe me, sister, I'll make you live to regret it."

"I'd do as she says. She's very cranky when the love of her life is threatened," Alan said. "And when Rain gets cranky, people die!"

Lalora laughed loudly.

"You think this is supposed to scare me. This trickery of yours. Whatever you've done to disguise yourself, it is only a mask. I am the true princess, not you!"

"Yeah, well, I'm the princess in my husband and brother's hearts and that's good enough for me and speaking of them, let…them….go."

"Or what, little fake?"

"Or you die and die slowly. Alan's right about me. I get very cranky especially if the men I love are threatened and I won't hesitate to make your life hell. Now let them go, I'm warning you."

Lalora laughed.

"I will see you kneeling at my feet, all of you!" she said. "I will give you and these two to my guards and let them have their way with you."

"You do and I will be on your case and you really don't want that," the Doctor said.

"And I'll be right behind him for seconds," Alan growled.

While Lalora laughed disdainfully, Rain quietly pulled out her screwdriver, knelt down slightly and burned through the ropes binding Alan's wrists. Alan kept a watchful eye on Lalora while she did it.

"Guards! Seize this imposter and her friends!" she screamed down the hall. "Make them all suffer for this outrage and…"

She gasped when Alan, freed of his bonds, leapt up, grabbed her neck and shoved her up against the wall.

"Hello there, your royal randiness," he said. "I'm free and now you're gonna pay for what you've done."

The Doctor watched while Rain knelt down behind him and burned through his ropes. His head jerked over when he heard yelling and saw guards running down the hall.

"Hurry, my love," he said. "I need to help fend off these gits while brother dear tends to the royal nuisance."

She burned through the last bit of rope and the Doctor pulled himself free.

"Ta, my beautiful non-insane wife," he said, smiling at her.

He leapt up and grabbed his screwdriver while Mingxia and Awinita followed after him. The guards raised their guns but the three of them quickly disabled them with the screwdrivers and decked them. They grabbed their guns and knocked them out with the butts. They leapt back up and saw more coming.

"Stop!"

They spun around and saw that Alan had a hold of Rain's double while she pointed her screwdriver at her cheek.

"One more move and I'll blow her face apart with my sonic blaster!" she yelled at them.

The guards took in everything.

"Get them, don't just stand there!" Lalora said.

They tried to move closer but Rain put the tip of her screwdriver against her temple.

"I mean it, I'll blow her brains out!" she yelled at them. "Obey me! I am the true princess! This woman's an imposter who's trying to take my throne!"

"That's not true. She's the imposter!" Lalora yelled.

The guards looked from one woman to the other completely confused.

"You idiots! Don't you know your princess when you see her?" Lalora screamed. "Kill them! Kill them all!"

"No! I'm the princess Lalora. Not her! She's an imposter! She's wearing a mask! Kill her! Kill her now!"

The guards were completely flummoxed. They kept looking from one to the other, not sure what to do anymore. The Doctor and his sisters, seeing their advantage, quickly decked them and knocked them all out. Once they were dispatched, the Doctor rounded on the terrified princess with fire in his eyes.

"Look, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to," she said, weakly. "Really, it was just a harmless prank!"

"I have half a mind to beat you senseless even if you do look like my wife!" he growled. "But I won't do that if you turn yourself in."

"I can't do that. I have immunity," she said.

"Yup, Rain was right," Alan said.

She gulped when the Doctor's eyes narrowed.

"Then you will abdicate your rule and you will do it now because if I have to come back here and stop you, you will be the one who lives to regret it. Is that clear?"

Lalora's eyes widened when she saw the malice in his eyes and she nodded meekly.

"I mean it," he said in a deadly tone of voice. "I will not be made a fool of and I will follow up. So don't challenge me or my brother because we will make your life a living hell if you muck with us! You picked the wrong people to enslave when you took us!"

Lalora saw the blackness in his eyes.

"I am not a featherweight, trust me," he said, staring at her intently. "I am the Oncoming Storm and I will unleash my tempest upon you and you will find out very quickly that it's a mistake to try to enslave me and the ones I love, got it?"

She nodded. He looked at Alan.

"Let her go, Brother."

Alan nodded, let her go and stepped back. The Doctor stared at her with hate in his eyes.

"Remember my words and don't doubt for one moment that I'm not sincere. I will make your life a living hell, Lalora, I swear that to you."

She nodded. He leaned forward and glared at her.

"Now, where is the exit so we can leave your little love den?" he snarled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rose, Donna and Jenny stared at their family in shock when they came through the door of the TARDIS. Rose stared at the bruises and split lip on Alan's face.

"Rough crowd at the department store, my love?" she said to him.

"Oh yeah, it's hell when you're trying to go through the shops finding discounts. I hated to get in a brawl over a swimming costume with an old lady but I just had to have the pink flowery one. It went with my eyes."

Rose looked at Donna and Jenny.

"I guess we missed out, eh?" she said.

Rose stared at Rain's dress.

"That's nice, where'd you find that?" she said, pointing to it.

"In the closest of an insane princess that looked exactly like me," Rain said to them while the Doctor and Alan giggled. "I loved it and just had to have it."

"Where'd you lot go?" Donna asked. "I mean Awinita kinda filled us in a bit but what happened?"

"Let me get the TARDIS back across the void into the vortex and then I'll explain everything," the Doctor said to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After explaining it all, they ate supper and both couples retired to their bedrooms. Rose lay naked in their bed staring at her husband who was undressing. She stared at the bruises on his face.

"I hate that happened to you, my Stitch," she said.

He chuckled.

"Stitch, apt name for me right now since I probably do need stitches. But I'm fine, Starlight. As I told Mingxia, I've had far worse than a couple of punches to the face."

He finished undressing, lay down beside her and took her around the waist. Rose touched his cheek.

"I wish you'd said something. We would have come and helped out as well," she said. "I don't like that you were down there without us."

"Nah, we're fine, love. Bit roughed up but we came through it alright. I'd rather you were here anyway with your unblemished face, free of bruises and contusions. But apart from that, did you enjoy shopping?"

"Um, it was alright. Bit boring. Jenny got a couple of trousers and t-shirts and Donna got a dress but I didn't get anything. How 'bout you? Rain got the dress, I guess."

"Yes and Brother got some scented body oil that was originally going to be used on me."

Rose stared at him.

"Body oil?"

"Scented body oil. Strawberries. The Doctor is going to use it now…probably on Rain. But he's upset because it's not banana."

Rose rolled her eyes and he chuckled. Alan pulled her closer and stroked her hair.

"So, I guess we're never coming back to this universe again?" Rose said to him.

"Uuuuuuum, probably not," he said while she laughed. "I believe Brother will be giving it a miss now."

He sighed and held her close.

"But in the meantime, we'll have a bit of fun while we wait for our next great adventure," he said, kissing her.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

"You know, I've never actually seen this movie," Awinita said.

She and the other women were in the living room watching It's A Wonderful Life on cable.

"I haven't seen it either," Donna said. "Never seemed that interesting to me, but I have to admit it's pretty good. Although the whole premise of having your life be different if you've never were born is kinda disturbing since I went through this with the parallel universe and all."

Rose nodded.

"I was thinking the exact same thing. The whole Doctor being dead and how different people's lives would be, all our lives would be if we never knew him."

"Well, it's a hellish place, that's for sure," Donna said. "And I'm so glad I was able to free myself from the Trickster so I won't have to live it anymore."

"Yeah, I bet," Rose said to her. "I hated that world too. No Doctor, no hope, no nothing."

Rain sat nearby listening to her sisters. She had been watching the movie but her thoughts drifted and she began to think about what they were saying. Suddenly, she had a thought and went out of the living room to find her husband.

She found him in the console room. She came in and smiled when she noticed I've Had The Time Of My Life was playing and he was dancing around the console flipping switches and singing to himself while the TARDIS flashed her lights on and off in time to the music. Rain's hearts filled with love while she watched her husband being happy. He rounded the console, saw her and danced over to her singing while she giggled. He took hold of her waist.

"Nobody puts Rainy in a corner," he said to her.

She laughed when he began to dance with her. She put her head on his chest and sighed while he lowered his chin to her head and sang to her.

"We need to learn how to do the dance routine to this," the Doctor said to her while they slow danced. "Especially the lift. That'll impress them."

"Yeah, especially when I sail over your head and land flat on my face behind your body."

"Never, I'm a professional," the Doctor said.

The song went off and Hungry Eyes came on.

"Are you in a Dirty Dancing mood, dear?" Rain asked.

"What can I say, it's a fabulous soundtrack," he said.

They danced around the console while the Doctor sang to her. Rain closed her eyes loving the sound of her husband's voice.

"I've been meaning to tell you," he said. "I've got this feeling that wooooon't subside. I look at you and I fantasize. You're mine tonight. Now I've got you in my sights with these…"

"Hungry eyes," they sang together.

"One look at you and I can't disguise. I've got…"

"Hungry eyes," they sang together.

"I feel the magic between you and I…" the Doctor whispered in her ear.

He kissed her face.

"You're my everything, my love," he whispered. "I'm so thrilled that I'm going to be spending the centuries to come with you by my side. My precious Rain, my beloved joy."

Rain held him closer while he rained kisses down on her scalp. She sighed wistfully when she thought back to the reason she came to find him. The Doctor heard the sigh and gave her a worried look.

"What is it?" he said.

"The rest of the women are back in the living room watching It's A Wonderful Life," she said.

"Ah, Frank Capra. Brilliant film. Out you pixies go, through the door, through the window."

She giggled.

"Why aren't you watching it? Why are you out here dancing with an old fart like me? Bored watching angels saving people and getting their wings?" he teased.

"No, it's just that I've had a thought and wanted to ask you about something."

"Ask away, my little dancing partner."

"Well," she said, dancing with him, "see, Rose and Donna started discussing that parallel universe that got built around Donna."

"Yes."

"And talking about the Trickster."

"Yes."

"Well, the Trickster went after Sarah Jane first and then went after Donna to get to you."

"Mm-hmm."

Rain looked at him.

"I'm a target then."

He stopped dancing with her.

"How'd ya mean, sweetheart?"

"Well, isn't it obvious? When you went after Rose and Alan, I was the first one who befriended you. I kept your secret when you were Morana; I got the disc out of your head. I helped heal you and all because I made this sudden decision to leave Arizona. What if the Trickster came along and convinced me to stay and go to college so we never met one another. You keep saying I'm the best thing that ever happened to you. What if I was never a part of your life? What if the Valeyard found out what you did and reactivated the disc and since it was still in your head, you would have hurt or killed Rose and Alan and everyone else. What if you had still been angry and bitter and went after them? What if the Trickster decides to go after me next?"

The Doctor held his wife close to him and rubbed her head with his cheek while he thought about that. Rain had become a huge part of his life and he was to the point where he wondered how he ever survived without her. He had thanked every god he knew of every day that he had met her and the idea that the Trickster could prevent her from meeting him scared him. What scared him even more was the thought of what her life would have been like if she had stayed in Arizona. It was the same as if he had never gone back for Rose and she spent the rest of her life as a shop girl in London. But while he held her close, he had a thought of his own.

"Love, I understand your fear but you know, you aren't the only one who could be targeted," he said gently. "He could target Donna again and convince her not to touch the jar when they're in the TARDIS. Alan is never born, the TARDIS and everyone in it perishes and doesn't come back to rescue Rose and me and Jack and everyone else and the reality bomb happens. He convinces Rose to go back with me at Bad Wolf Bay and leaves Alan there alone and angry and bitter and filled with rage and he does something bad. They never meet Awinita, they don't meet Mingxia, they never meet Imiko. There's more than just our meeting, love. I realize that's a huge monumental part of my healing and yes, you're the perfect target but you're not the only one. But I would guard you with my life and never let the Trickster have you; especially since I am aware he wants me now."

Rain sighed and laid her head on his chest while she closed his eyes. The Doctor smiled and gazed at her tenderly while he rocked her back and forth. He had a thought and guided her over to the console. He held her close while he typed something into his monitor with one hand. He smiled when Bailamos began to play and he swayed back and forth with her.

"I like this song," Rain murmured.

"I do too."

"You have some nice taste in music, love," Rain murmured.

He smiled.

"I try."

She swayed back and forth with him while the TARDIS dimmed the console room lights.

"It must be rough being a constant target," Rain murmured.

"Nah, I'm used to it now. There's always gonna be some maniac waiting in the wings to menace me. I just have to enjoy the here and now and not worry too much about it. I learned to cherish little moments like these and make permanent memories of them to carry me through the bad times. I suggest you do the same."

She smiled and nodded. The Doctor kissed her gently on her head and closed his eyes while he held her protectively in his arms. She stopped moving when he did and gave him an inquiring look. She smiled when she saw the devilish look in his eyes and he led her back over to the monitor. He restarted Bailamos.

"Enough slow dancing and talking. I showed Rose my moves once, now it's your turn," he said. "I'm sure my ship is bored and needs a few laughs."

The music started and the Doctor grabbed her hand and put a hand around her waist while the two of them danced around quickly around the console. The TARDIS laughed and blinked the lights on and off while she amplified the music so it echoed through the whole room. The Doctor and Rain laughed while they danced.

"Oh yeah, this is definitely more like it," the Doctor said while they danced.

Alan, hearing the music, wandered into the console room and smiled while he leaned against the back door watching his brother and his wife dancing and laughing. Rain let out a joyful yell when he dipped her and brought her back up to his body.

"Oh yes, I got moves!" the Doctor crowed.

Alan giggled and walked over to the railing. The Doctor noticed him when he rounded the corner.

"Hey! Can I cut in and dance with the beautiful lady?" he said to the Doctor.

Rain giggled and blew him a kiss.

"I'll take that as a gargantuan yes," he said.

Rain giggled when he sashayed up behind them and followed them around the console.

"I trust the daily repair work is progressing smoothly judging from all this," Alan said while he followed them around.

"Oh yes, nothing like repair work to get the blood flowing," the Doctor said while Rain laughed. "I'm sure the TARDIS enjoys the repairs I'm doing as well."

The TARDIS rumbled out laughter and nudged their minds playfully.

Alan giggled and shuffled along behind the dancers. He winked at Rain when she glanced back at him.

"Yes, we need to do repair work more often, Brother," Alan said to him.

They laughed and began to sing loudly…

"Bailamos! Let the rhythm take you over... quiero amor mio...Bailamos! Wanna live this night forever... quiero amor mio...Te quiero"

By now the rest of the family was at the back door watching and laughing. Alan saw Rose and beckoned to her.

"Come on, Starlight, come and dance with the Doctor and me," he said with a wicked grin.

Rose danced over and Alan grabbed her hand. The two couples danced while the others walked up with the dogs and watched them.

"Oh yeah," Alan said, "Strictly Come Dancing here we come!"

The music stopped and they let out a groan.

"Not to worry, my fellow dancers," the Doctor said, stopping by the console.

His fingers flexed over the keyboard while he thought of a song.

"Could relieve old memories and play In The Mood," Rose said, winking.

"Nah, I don't want that. I want something bouncy," the Doctor said. "TARDIS play something disco-y."

The TARDIS played Staying Alive.

"Not bad," the Doctor said.

He grabbed Rain and waggled his eyebrows when she laughed. Alan and Rose followed him around the console while the dogs followed behind them jumping and barking.

"Oi, you two mutts get away. We're dancing with each other," Alan said while Rose laughed.

Rose laughed harder when he tried to do the falsetto voice and failed miserably.

"Will you stop that, Brother, my ears are bleeding now," the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Just trying to sound Beegeeish," Alan yelled back.

They rounded the console and laughed when everyone except Jenny sang along with the song. Jenny listened quietly with a big smile on his face. Alan grinned at Rose.

"Sorry, I have to do something for a moment," he said to her.

Alan left off and grabbed Jenny. Jenny laughed when he began to dance around with her. The Doctor came around the console and looked at Rose standing alone.

"Out in the cold now?" he said as they went past her.

"I guess so, he wanted to dance with another woman," Rose said, shrugging.

"Uncle Alan, I can't dance," Jenny protested.

"What'd ya mean, you can't dance? I see ya dancin'," Alan said as they rounded the console towards Rose.

He looked at his wife.

"Can't dance, will you listen to her talk?" he said to Rose while they passed by her. "She's dancing just fine. Can't dance."

Jenny laughed and slapped his chest. Rose sat down on the jump seat and watched the Doctor and Rain when they came around the console again. When they reached the cubbyhole, the Doctor pushed the button and grabbed the mobile with one hand when it flew up out of it. Rain watched while he scrolled through the menu, found Torchwood's number and called Jack.

"Hello?" Jack said.

"WELL, YOU CAN TELL BY THE WAY I USE MY WALK, I'M A WOMAN'S MAN, NO TIME TO TALK!" the Doctor sang in a screechy voice.

"What the hell?" Jack said while everyone laughed. "What the hell is going on there, Doctor?"

"A disco dance party," the Doctor said.

"Really? Come get me, Ianto and I wanna do it!"

"Ianto and I wanna do what?" the Doctor heard Ianto say in the background.

"Disco dance party on the TARDIS. Come on, Ianto, let's sluff off Weevil chasing tonight and go boogie!"

The Doctor paused by the monitor and inputted the coordinates for Torchwood while he sang to Jack. Alan and Rose laughed while they danced by him.

A few minutes later, the TARDIS landed at Torchwood and there was a knock on the door.

"Hey!" Jack screamed through the door while he pounded. "Open up! I wanna party!"

Alan and Rose danced to the door while The Hustle played. They opened it up and danced back while Jack danced up the ramp to the laughter of his team.

"Come on, Yan, get those boogie shoes a movin'!" Jack called back through the door.

Martha looked through the door and laughed while she danced up the ramp. Jack smiled at her.

"Oh okay, you're not Yan but you'll do," he said, dancing over to her.

They danced towards the console while the rest of the team entered. Gwen took Mickey's hand and they danced with the others while Ianto stood by the door with his hands in his pockets. Mingxia looked at the others and danced over to him.

"Care to dance with a Time Lady?" she said to him.

Ianto grinned, bowed and took her hand.

"What gives? You'll dance with Mingxia but not me?" Jack said while they laughed.

"You're dancing with Martha."

"Because she got to me first," Jack said.

The Doctor danced over to him.

"Care to go get Sarah Jane so we can watch her dance?" the Doctor said.

"Gee, think she will?" Jack said while he and Martha danced.

"Not sure, but we could find out."

"Could go get Wilf so he can dance with Donna."

"I don't think Granddad would fancy that," Donna said, sitting on the jump seat with Rose and Awinita.

"Well, we need three more for them," Jack said, pointing to the women. "No one should be a wallflower during this party. So we could go and get Wilf, Clyde and Luke."

"Then Sarah would be a wallflower," the Doctor said.

"I'll dance with her. I'm man enough to handle two women at once!"

"Oh puh-leeze!" Martha said while he laughed.

"Actually, what we need to do is go and get Sarah Jane so we can pair the Smiths with the Smiths and the Jones with the Jones," Jack said.

He looked down at Rory and Blizzard who were cavorting around their feet.

"And you two can just dance with each other," he said while Martha laughed.

"Wow, they're getting big, Doctor," Martha said, pointing to them.

"Yes, they are. They're gonna get nice and big soon," the Doctor replied.

The song finished and the Doctor programmed in more disco while Ianto switched off Mingxia for Awinita and Jack for Rose. Martha went to talk to Donna while Mingxia rested and for the rest of the afternoon, the friends had a small dance party right inside the Torchwood Hub.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

"I really appreciate you doing this for me again, Doc," Jack said while he walked with him and Alan down the TARDIS corridors. "Especially since the last run for parts ended badly for us."

"Eh, we've got nothing better to do at the moment," the Doctor said, shrugging. "I can make a quick trip for you."

"Well, I appreciate it," Jack said.

As they neared the kitchen they suddenly smelled several pleasing aromas. Jack took a big whiff.

"What is going on?" he said. "Someone's cooking a feast, methinks."

The Doctor glanced at Alan. They smiled and the three of them headed towards the kitchen. As they neared the room, they suddenly heard music floating down the corridor while the women sang along to it. The three men strolled happily towards the kitchen following the scents and sounds. They paused at the doorway and noticed the six women were busying themselves cooking food while the Backstreet Boys played over their heads. All the women except Jenny were singing.

"You are…my fire, the one desire," they all sang loudly. "Believe…when I say, I want it that way."

The three men snickered and swayed back and forth while they sang. Rose closed the fridge door and noticed them.

"Don't look now, girls. We've got company," she said.

They all looked at them.

"We couldn't help but come in here with all the good smells and the singing coming from here," the Doctor said.

"Well, it was meant to be a surprise for all of you," Awinita said.

"Surprise? In what way?" Alan said.

"We're cooking you food," Rain said, stirring something in a pot. "Awinita had her Backstreet Boys CD and we put that on and started singing to it."

"You're cooking us food?" Jack said.

"Yup," they all said in unison.

The Doctor grinned at them.

"See, our family loves us to bits," he said. "They just slave away over hot stoves and ovens making us food."

"Yup, they're a kind, loving family," Alan said. "So what are you making for us and our large, eager stomachs?"

"Well, this was my idea at first," Rain said. "See, I was thinking that I've made Alan Navajo tacos before but not my husband and I was gonna make him some."

Alan let out a gasp and ran to her.

"Are you making me some as well? Please, please, please say you are!" he said while they laughed.

"Well, I couldn't make him some and leave you out because I know you'd make a huge fuss," Rain said.

She grunted and giggled when Alan squeezed her tight.

"I and my belly thank you," he said to her.

She patted his cheek.

"So anyway," she said over his shoulder. "I told Awinita and she said, well, he's never had my grape dumplings so…"

"Grape dumplings!" Alan yelled. "Oh! Yes!"

Awinita laughed.

"Grape dumplings?" Jack said.

"Dumplings that are cooked in grape juice. Old traditional Cherokee recipe," she said to him. "I made it for Alan and Rain and Rose but she was talking about making the Navajo tacos and I decided to make grape dumplings and Rose decided to make a roast and Donna's making bangers and mash and Mingxia's making dim sum and we just decided to turn this into a big cooking party."

"I need to live here full time again," Jack said. "I don't get food like this at the Hub."

The Doctor looked at Jenny.

"What about you? What are you making?" he said to her.

"I'm helping and they're teaching me. I don't have the slightest idea how to cook anything," she said.

"I can boil water," Jack said. "You need help with that?"

"No, we've got that covered," Rose said.

Rain walked over to her husband.

"You could be a dear and make couscous for us," she said. "You know, like you did before?"

Alan looked at him.

"When d'ya do that, Brother?"

The Doctor chuckled.

"When we in that hotel in China with the well stocked larder. We had burgers and chips and I contributed by making couscous since Rain had never had it."

"I didn't know you could cook, Doc."

"Well, I don't like to brag," he said, sniffing.

Rain giggled when Jack rolled his eyes. Rain walked back over to the stove and her husband followed her.

"Navajo tacos. I'm so chuffed. My wife is cooking for me," he said happily.

She grinned and kissed his cheek.

"Do we even have couscous?" the Doctor said, opening a cabinet door beside her.

There was a flash and a box appeared on the counter.

"You do now," Rose replied.

The Doctor smiled, grabbed a pot from the cabinet below him and went to put some water into it. Alan glanced at Jack.

"Boil water, eh?" he said to Jack. "Can you make anything else?"

"A mess, but that's a given," he said to him. "What about you?"

"I can make macaroni cheese, I suppose," he said, shrugging. "I'm not much for cooking either. TARDIS usually makes everything for us, so…"

He wandered over and found another pot while the TARDIS gave him the ingredients he needed. The two brothers smiled when the women went back to singing loudly to the Backstreet Boys. Both of them bounced along to the tempo while they put their pots on the burner. Jack wandered over and rummaged through the fridge. He found a jar of dill pickles and set it on the counter.

"There, there's my contribution," he said while they laughed.

"Wow, Jack, you just slaved away for hours to make that," Donna said.

"I know, I'm exhausted," Jack said, rubbing his forehead.

Rain walked over, opened it up and grabbed one.

"Ought-oh, the gherkin fiend strikes again," the Doctor said to Alan.

"Well, at least you didn't have to pay 1.99 for it," he replied.

Rain looked at her husband and feigned anger. She snapped off a bit of the pickle and popped it in his mouth. He chewed on it while he stirred his couscous. The men snickered when they listened to the song.

Get down, get down and move it all around.

"Sing it, boy band I really don't know all that well," the Doctor yelled out while they laughed.

He grinned at the women.

"I don't see any getting down and moving around from you lot," he said to them. "Aren't you supposed to do as they command?"

"Nah, we're too busy cooking your food to do that," Mingxia said.

Jack looked around.

"Where are the chow hounds you people own?" he said to them.

"They're in the park room playing. We put them in there so they wouldn't be underfoot," Rain said.

"Ah, good idea," Jack said. "Although they deserve some of this food too."

"Um, they'll get their dog food," Awinita said. "I have a feeling they'd have the runs all night if they ate all this."

"Yes, the last thing I want is dog feces in a big, brown trail down my corridors," the Doctor said.

"So, this whole food making thing, I assume you originally made this food while you were off on that worldwide trek of yours?"

Rain nodded.

"My dad has that campsite with the traditional hogans and my sister and I would make Navajo tacos for the guests as part of it. So when they came, that's what they got."

"And they are delicious," Alan said. "You'll love em, Jack. I'm so glad she thought of this because I miss eating them."

"Well, like I said, I never made them for my husband, so…" she said, shrugging. "But Awinita fixed us some traditional Cherokee food and Rose fixed British food when I started traveling with them and then we had Japanese and Chinese food."

"I told Mingxia she needed to fry up some crickets but Awinita wasn't too keen on that," Rose said to him.

"Ugh! Not on your life. Eating crickets one time was good enough for me," Awinita said.

Jack looked at the Doctor.

"And you made couscous."

"Yup, that was before I outed myself to everyone. Rain and I were rooming together and we had a lovely little meal. I didn't wanna stand there and let her do all the work so I cooked something I knew how to cook. You should have been there, Jack. That larder was well stocked with foods from different lands. You would have had a field day."

"The whole hotel was posh," Alan said. "Pete paid for us to stay there and bless him, we loved every minute of it especially since we'd been living out of Holiday Inns up until that time. But that's when we first met Mingxia."

"Yup, I was supposed to just be their guide through China and now I'm a Time Lady," she said to Jack.

"Hey, I was only meaning to swindle the Doctor and Rose and I ended up traveling with them so I know exactly how you feel."

"Swindle?" Mingxia said, looking at the Doctor. "Jack was trying to swindle you?"

Rose laughed while the Doctor rolled his eyes. While he stirred his food he quickly explained how they had met him. The other women, who had never heard the story, all glanced at each other and stared at Jack.

"Gee, Jack, that was really kind of you to try to con the Doctor and Rose like that," Rain said.

"I didn't know them," Jack said. "I thought they were time agents like me. I'm sorry; I know I wasn't exactly a nice person back then. I wouldn't do that now. Besides, Doc wasn't entirely truthful with me either."

"In what way, Jack?" the Doctor said.

"You let me believe you were time agents."

Alan snickered when his mouth dropped open. He pointed to Rose.

"Don't blame me, Harkness. You ran into her first. Rose should have said something to you but she was too busy getting swept off her feet on a barrage balloon for her to give you the facts."

"I was grateful to him, Doctor," Rose said. "He did save my life."

"Yeah, I saved her life," Jack said while the others laughed.

"Okay, well I'm sorry we didn't come right out and say we were time travelers, I was a bit busy trying to sort out the mess you created and prevent the whole world from becoming gas mask zombies!"

"And yet you found the time to dance with Rose in the middle of all of it."

Alan laughed when the Doctor threw his hands up.

"She…told me to dance!" he said, pointing at Rose. "I was trying to resonate concrete but apparently she wanted to compare my dancing skills to yours."

"She told you to dance. What does that mean? She had a gun pointed to your head and ordered you to dance or die?" Jack said.

"No…it's just that….she's very persuasive," the Doctor said, taking his pot off the burner.

Jack stared at Rose while she giggled.

"Yeah, she's a real hypnotist all right," Jack said, dryly. "I'm glad she wasn't around when we were imprisoned by the Master because between the two of them we might have been mindless zombies for that whole year."

"Oh…go….make toast or something," the Doctor said while everyone roared with laughter.

"Is that what Rain did? Were you resonating concrete when you decided to have the disco dance party the other day?" Jack said.

"No, I walked in on him dancing around the console," Rain said to him.

"Without your wife?" Jack said.

"I was happy, Jack. I am frequently happy now, you know. It was a good day so I decided to have a bit of fun while I was doing repairs. Rain walked in and she and I danced and then Alan came in and then Rose and it just took off and all of us started dancing."

"You know, Rain, I wish to God you'd been around when I traveled with him full time so I could have taken advantage of all this newfound happiness. I had to listen to him stomping up and down the corridors muttering under his breath about hating life."

I did not!" the Doctor said while Alan and Rose laughed. "I never muttered anything of the sort, Harkness!"

"Oh no? You were constantly moody and irritable. I seriously doubt Rain would have wanted to be around you if she'd know you then because I sure as hell didn't."

"Gee, Jack, you knew where the front door was, why didn't you use it then?" the Doctor said while he grabbed a bowl and spooned the couscous into it. "If I was so moody and irritable, why'd you stick around?"

"I liked Rose."

"Oh, I just bet you did," the Doctor said while Alan laughed harder. "Oh yeah, you couldn't get enough of her after the whole barrage balloon, eh? You were hoping we'd take you somewhere similar so you could go through your little romantic interlude again."

"No, it's just that Rose was a sweetheart and I was afraid you do something to her."

The Doctor's mouth dropped open while everyone laughed.

"Rose, at any time during my ninth life did you feel like you were in danger from me?"

"No," she said, shaking her head.

"I admit I was a bit hard to live with but I would never have hurt her so this whole I must protect her from me bit doesn't make any sense. Besides by the time you came along, I was much better than I was when I first met her. It's why I made her stay with Alan because I thought he was gonna be the same way and I wanted her to do for him what she did for me. If anything you were in a bigger danger than she was because half the time you drove me to distraction with your insane need to chat up anything that walked, crawl, swam or flew."

Jack flipped him off while they laughed.

"You and she had nothing to fear, Jack. You wanted to see me unbalanced; you should have been around during my sixth life. That was when I was unbalanced," he said. "I almost killed a companion then before she brought me back to my senses."

Jack frowned.

"You did?"

"Yes, I lost my mind briefly, strangled Peri and almost killed her before she stopped me. And thank God she stopped me because I don't think I could have lived with myself if I really had killed her. So count yourself lucky that you weren't around back then because you might have been next, Jack."

"You really did try to kill someone, Dad?"

He nodded his head.

"Yes, that regeneration didn't go too well and it affected my whole entire life. My regenerations don't tend to go too smoothly, to be honest. Rose was lucky. I ended up briefly ill when I regenerated into this body but that was all that happened. I'm just hoping Alan didn't inherit that when he became a full Time Lord."

"You and me both, Brother. But then again, a regeneration was forced on you and another went wrong after they gave you anesthetic and I'm sure that won't be repeated with me."

He smiled at his sister while she finished fixing the tacos. He embraced her from behind and inhaled deeply.

"Oh yeah, I'm so glad you did this," he said while she laughed.

"I'm happy to make these for you. I know how much you liked them."

"Indeed I do. And you are a wonderful cook. My tummy is growling just smelling the wonderful aroma."

The Doctor walked over, plucked a bit off meat off the tortilla and popped it in his mouth. He smacked his lips and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Jack followed suit and gave her another kiss on the cheek.

"I would watch that, Jack, if I were you," Alan said to him.

"Yes," the Doctor said with mock sternness. "Because if I find her on top of a barrage balloon with you, I will push you off, dig a hole and throw you in and I'll dig the hole so deeply it'll take you a million years to dig yourself back out!"

"First off, this is my sister so I wouldn't dream of romancing her and secondly, you couldn't dig that fast," Jack said.

"Shut up, Jack, Brother does like a challenge," Alan said when the Doctor raised his eyebrow.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they were finished, they sat the food on the counter and all of them sat around the dining room table eating.

"Like I said, I gotta get you guys off this TARDIS and into the Hub so you can cook this stuff every night," Jack said. "This is wonderful. I had no idea you had all these cooks onboard. If you don't mind, I wanna take some leftovers back when I leave. Although I might have to beat my team back with a stick if they get a taste of this stuff. You need to get together and make a cookbook or something and put all your recipes in it. You could make a fortune selling it around time and space."

"And watch as the rest of the universe gets to eat this wonderful cooking? Not a chance," the Doctor said. "These women are our little secret and I intend to keep it that way. Besides, I seriously doubt they'll wanna stay at Torchwood with you lot, not after roaming the universe with us."

"Nope," the women said, shaking their heads.

Alan and the Doctor gave Jack a smug grin. Jack shrugged.

"Eh, just as long as I get to come onboard occasionally and partake in moments like this, I won't grumble. Besides, you're right, we need to keep these little cooks to ourselves and perhaps chain them in here full time so they'll cook for us."

The Doctor glanced at Rain.

"I don't think that'll work with my wife, mate."

"Nor mine," Alan said while they laughed. "I think Rose would have something to say about being forced to be a cook and scullery maid for the rest of her life."

"Too right I would. I wouldn't be in here scrubbing pans while they were out having fun, I'd tie myself to my husband and make him take me along."

Alan smiled at Jack.

"See, I wouldn't be able to tell her to stay in here. She'd beat the living daylights outta me if I did."

"Nah, I love you too much to do that," Rose said, pinching his cheek.

"Not me," Rain said, eyeing the Doctor. "You chain me to a stove and I'll eat your remaining regenerations for dinner!"

They laughed when the Doctor's eyes widened.

"Yes, dear," he said patting her head while they laughed harder.

He gave her a kiss and smiled when Rain fed him a bit of taco.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

"Ah, sunny California," Alan said as they walked down the pavement. "Downtown LA in the summer is lovely."

"Yes, just as long as the earthquakes stay away," Rose said to him.

He gave her a devilish grin, took her from behind and shook her.

"Eeee, run, earthquake," he said while everyone else laughed.

Rose turned red when a couple of people who were standing nearby gave him an odd look.

"Earthquake drill," Alan said to them. "Be prepared, that's the scout motto, you know."

His family laughed when Rose jerked him down the pavement past them.

"You're just determined to embarrass me every opportunity you get," she said looking back at him.

She noticed his wide-eyed shock while he stared past her and she stopped.

"Alan? What is it?" she said to him.

"Brother," Alan said, beckoning to him. "Get over here now!"

The Doctor walked up beside him.

"What is it?"

Alan pointed over Rose's shoulder.

"Look…over…there!" he muttered to the Doctor.

The Doctor looked where he was pointing and Rose noticed the same wide-eyed stare on his face. The rest of the family walked up and looked where Alan was pointing. There was a small café with several people sitting at tables on a verandah. They looked but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Rose looked at Alan and the Doctor who both had looks of disbelief on their faces.

"What is it, you two?" Rose said.

"Grace," Alan said. "She's sitting over there."

"Grace? Who's Grace?" Rose said.

Awinita suddenly had a thought.

"That woman you talked about the one night in the minivan? The one you said lived in San Francisco?" Awinita said to Alan.

Alan nodded.

"Huh? When did you talk about that?" Rose said.

"I think you were asleep. We were heading towards California and Awinita and I were talking about going to San Francisco and I mentioned Grace and she suggested going and looking her up to see if there was an alternate version there but I decided not to. She's a former companion, Rose. The first companion Brother had in his eighth life. She's the surgeon that tried to save him after he was shot."

They all looked when Alan pointed her out. They saw a woman with short curly red hair sitting at a table near the door sipping coffee. Rose looked back at the brothers.

"Are you gonna go over and say hello then?" she asked.

The two men glanced at each other.

"I don't know if we should. She's probably busy," Alan said.

"Yeah, maybe we should leave her alone," the Doctor said.

Rain stood beside her husband. She glanced at the woman who was calmly sipping her drink. Intrigued, she walked towards her while the Doctor and Alan watched her silently. She put on a wide smile while she walked up to her.

"Hello there."

Grace looked up at her and smiled.

"Hello. Do I know you?" she said.

"No, you don't but we have someone in common. The Doctor?"

Grace's eyes widened and she set her cup down.

"You know the Doctor?" she said.

"Very well. He's my husband."

Grace stared at her.

"He's married?"

"Mm-hmm. We're very happily married."

Grace looked around.

"Where is he? Is he here?"

"Mm-hmm."

She pointed towards him. The Doctor gave a sheepish wave when she saw him.

"He…uh…regenerated," Rain said. "I don't know if you know what that means…"

"I do. He did it a few hours after he died on my operating table. But…why is he standing over there with all those people?"

"He's…shy. He thinks you wouldn't be interested in seeing him again."

Grace gave her a shocked look.

"Doctor!" she yelled to him.

The Doctor glanced at the others when she pointed to an empty chair across from her. They all walked over while Grace told Rain to sit down.

"What do you mean I wouldn't be interested in seeing you again, Doctor?" she said when they walked up to her. "I missed you. I've been wondering what happened to you these past ten years. Please, sit."

The Doctor smiled. He sat down next to Rain while everyone else pulled another table up to theirs and sat down with them.

"You look good, Doctor," Grace said.

"Thanks, you do too, Grace."

She looked at Alan and her eyes widened.

"Wait, who's this?"

"This is my brother."

"Brother? You have a brother? Where was he then? Back on Gallifrey?"

"Um, no."

He briefly explained Alan. Grace stared at him in shock.

"You're a clone?" she said.

Alan nodded.

"Wow. And here we're still debating how ethical it is to clone stem cells," she said while they laughed.

She smiled at Rain and looked at him.

"You're married too?"

"Yes, very happily married."

"Well, I'm glad your wife had enough guts to walk over and introduce herself. I've been worried about you. I didn't see you again and I was afraid you died or something. But I guess you did die if you look like this now."

"Actually, I died twice since the last time I saw you," he said. "So what brings you to LA?"

"Conference. I'm in a hotel and we're meeting at the convention center. It's 3 days," she said. "Just a lot of seminars and meetings about new medical discoveries and surgical techniques and things. It's extremely boring and time consuming but I have no choice. Actually Lee is here too although he's back at the hotel."

The Doctor and Alan glanced at each other.

"Lee? What's he doing here?" the Doctor said.

"He's a doctor."

The brothers stared at her.

"He is?" the Doctor said.

"Oh yeah, got out of the gang life after you left and used that gold dust you gave him to pay his way through medical school. He just finished up a year ago and he works with me. He's wondered about you too, I might add."

The Doctor and Alan grinned at each other.

"Nice to know he did something with his life then," Alan said.

"Oh yeah, you…I mean, the original you…changed his whole life. He straightened his life out and made something of himself. Like I said, he's back at the hotel. If you guys wanna stay awhile, I'm waiting for my food but after I eat I could take you back so you can see him. He looks nothing like he did ten years ago."

"I'd love that," the Doctor said.

"As for me, same old, same old. I haven't done any "great things" yet. At least nothing monumental. I've saved hundreds of lives though, held back death."

"Well, that's just as great," the Doctor said.

Grace looked around at the others.

"So, who are all these people besides your wife and clone brother?"

"This is my family. My adopted family. Everyone else is my sister except for the woman at the end with the long blonde hair. That's my daughter, Jenny. Then we have Rose who is Alan's wife, Donna, Mingxia and Awinita."

"Nice to meet all of you."

They nodded and smiled.

"Daughter? Wow, was she back on Gallifrey too or is she a clone?"

"Um…a clone, kinda…but no one here is originally from Gallifrey although they're all Gallifreyan now like me. It's a long, involved story but everyone here was either human or half human at one point."

"Half human like you are?" Grace said.

Everyone except Alan gave the Doctor a shocked look.

"Half human?" Rain said. "What? You are? Why am I just hearing about this now?"

Alan snickered when the Doctor sighed.

"I…wasn't being entirely honest with you, Grace. I'm not half human. My people are sterile as far as I know so that wouldn't have been physically possible. I was created in a special machine called a loom. I said that to that guy because he was being nosy and I was trying to get him away from us so we could get to the clock. I needed to say something so I decided to say something that would make me sound daft so he'd leave us alone. I'm not human in any way and neither are they now, so sorry if I misled you."

Grace nodded.

"Well, I'm glad you said something because I think you about gave your family coronaries," he said while they laughed.

"Sorry everyone for not explaining I did that," he said to them.

"So, has everyone here been back to Gallifrey at some point?" Grace said.

The Doctor glanced at his family. Sighing, he briefly explained the Time War and what had happened to Gallifrey. Grace sat in a stunned silence only once taking her eyes off the Doctor when the waiter brought her food out to her. She shook her head when he finished.

"God, I'm sorry, Doctor. That's horrible. I mean, you only showed me a glimpse of it in the TARDIS but still…I'm sorry that happened to you."

The Doctor nodded.

"But because of that no one's ever seen it, technically not even Alan. He has my memories of it but he's never physically stepped foot on it. All that's left is us and the TARDIS and I've traveled around pretty much nonstop since it happened. I just had a couple of brief stops. Once when I traveled with Alan and what was then his family because my TARDIS was stuck over here and then I also was trapped on the Valiant for a year with the Master."

Grace stopped in mid-sip. She sat her coffee down.

"The Master? He died. He got sucked into that Eye of Harmony thing on your ship."

"Yes, well, my people resurrected him to fight in the Time War and he ended up hiding in the year 100 trillion as a human until I stumbled on him again. But he's dead now as far as we know. He was shot and chose not to regenerate. But no one here was with me on the Valiant and…"

Alan tapped him on the shoulder.

"Correction, he was there on the Valiant with me," the Doctor said while everyone laughed. "Although he was a hand at the time but yes, my poor brother was a prisoner too in a manner of speaking."

"And the rat bastard took a piece out of me and made him old," Alan said, pointing to his right hand.

"When was this?"

"Couple of years ago. You wouldn't remember it because I managed to turn back time and erase the entire year from existence but the Master nearly devastated the whole world. Whole Earth was in ruins."

"Here? In this universe?"

They nodded.

"When I turned back time everyone who wasn't on the Valiant had their memories erased so you wouldn't remember it," the Doctor said.

"Wow, I wonder what Lee and me were doing then?"

"You might have been dead since the Master had these things called Toclafane that killed one tenth of Earth's population," the Doctor said.

Grace let out a ruthful laugh.

"Wouldn't be the first time Lee and I died, I guess," she said. "I have to ask though. Couple years ago, Christmastime, big alien spaceship. You didn't…have anything to do with that, did you?"

They laughed.

"I was up on it with Rose here but it didn't belong to me if that's what you mean," he said.

"Okay, what happened there exactly because something happened to me when I was working my shift in San Francisco."

The Doctor frowned.

"How'd ya mean, Grace?"

"Okay, I was working the holiday shift filling in for people who were off with their families. We saw the ship hovering over London on TV. I was standing there with a bunch of people watching it and I suddenly blacked out, I guess, and when I woke up, I was standing up on the roof of the hospital with a bunch of other people."

The Doctor's eyes bulged and Alan cursed under his breath.

"People who weren't affected said all of us had this weird blue light around our heads and they tried to get us to stop but we just walked up to the roof like zombies and then stopped at the edge and stood there. I had colleagues screaming in my ears trying to wake me up and I wouldn't listen. Then suddenly, everyone was okay. What happened because I have a feeling you know."

The Doctor sighed and explained it to her.

"Blood control, eh? Wow, ten years ago I never would have believed that but after knowing you…"

"Yes, but you weren't in any danger, Grace. You wouldn't have really plunged to your death; it was a trick the Sycorax pulled to try to get Earth to surrender to them. The reason you woke up was because I hit the button and released everyone. But I'm sorry you were affected and went through that."

"I'm just glad I know what happened now because I've been wondering about it ever since. I also have to ask…big ship plummeting out of the sky towards London. Was that you too?"

"Yes. I prevented that from happening."

"And the hospital that went to the moon and the fat creatures?"

He nodded.

"And the Daleks and the planets in the sky?"

He nodded.

"Lee was with me then. We were working a shift when the Earth moved and at first everyone thought it was an earthquake which in San Francisco is not good as you know. Everyone was called in after the attack so we had our hands full here. Most of it was burns and broken bones and contusions, although we had an elderly lady who had a heart attack after seeing the planets and died about an hour after she was brought in."

"God," Rose said while the two brothers sighed.

"When the Daleks started roaming the streets we sheltered people who were fleeing them, put them in people's rooms and the break room, anywhere we could find to hide them. We could hear them shooting people outside and heard the screams. I prayed you were out there somewhere because I figured if anyone could save us it was you."

The Doctor glanced at Alan and explained what he had been doing. Grace nodded while she ate her burger and fries.

"And you were the one who brought the Earth back home at the end?"

"Yes, me, Alan, Donna and Rose were there. Jenny was off somewhere in space and the others were in the other universe where none of this ever happened."

"Lucky you," Grace said to Rain.

"We had Cybermen in our universe but that was it as far as I know," Rain said. "We heard all this stuff secondhand from my husband and Alan…except I have seen a Dalek because the Doctor and I were imprisoned in this room that had a 3D simulation of his memories from the Time War and I saw a Dalek that'd been blown apart, but that was it. I've never seen a real live one."

"I wish I hadn't but Lee and I were lucky, a lot of others didn't survive it."

The Doctor lowered his eyes to the table while Alan patted his back. Grace looked at Rain.

"Where are you from by the way? You're American."

"I'm from Monument Valley in Arizona. Alan and Rose and Awinita met me when they were going across the US and I met the Doctor later on in China. Awinita's from Asheville, North Carolina and Mingxia is from China."

"And I'm from London in this universe," Rose said.

"So am I," Donna added.

"Jenny and I are from the Doctor's hands," Alan said while they laughed.

"Yes, these hands have been used and abused," the Doctor said, grinning. "Don't get your hand cut off or shoved in a machine, Grace, because you'll live to regret it."

"And all of you travel together?" Grace said.

"Yup. We actually have another adopted brother called Jack but he only travels with us occasionally. He's in Cardiff with a group of people he heads up and we have two Siberian huskies, they're in the TARDIS now chewing up everything most likely," the Doctor said.

"Is your TARDIS nearby?" Grace said.

They nodded.

"Do you think I could go inside and take a look for old time's sake?" Grace said.

"You can but it looks nothing like the way you remember it. I did a few renovations and it's not so….Jules Vern-ish anymore, shall we say," he replied. "But yes, you can go and have a look 'round and see it again. I'm sure the old girl will be thrilled to see you again."

"The old girl?"

"The TARDIS. It's alive, remember?"

"Oh! Yeah, that's right. The old sentimental thing?"

The Doctor grinned.

"Exactly."

She finished eating.

"Well, I'm done here if you want to go ahead and go."

"Well, the TARDIS is just down the street," the Doctor said. "We can go see it and then go see Lee."

"Okay, let's get going then," Grace said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you renovated it. It looks nothing like the TARDIS I remember," she said, looking around it.

She walked up the ramp and walked over to the console. She stared at the controls, shocked.

"What is all this? You had it so neat and orderly before," she said to the Doctor while his family laughed. "What the hell is all this? Is that a glass paperweight?"

"Yes, yes, I put in a few doodahs here and there," he said, walking over to her.

Grace threw up her hands.

"I'm glad you didn't ask me to program this because I wouldn't know where to begin," she said to him. "I think your "alarm clock" needs to be taken in for servicing."

"Believe me, Grace, he services enough without it being taken into a shop," Alan said while everyone laughed.

Grace looked around.

"Where are these huskies you mentioned?"

The Doctor looked up at the ceiling.

"TARDIS, kindly bring Frick and Frack to the console room please?"

The TARDIS brought the door to the park room to the back door and the Doctor whistled. Grace laughed when the dogs bounded out the dog door and ran towards him.

"Oh my God, they're adorable!" Grace said, kneeling down to pet them. "Oh God, what happened to them though?"

"They were found that way. Friend of ours found them in a rubbish bin and asked us to take them. The one missing the leg is Blizzard and the one with the blind eye is Rory."

"Oh, the poor things," Grace said, rubbing their fur. "I'm glad you took them in."

"Yup, they're very good dogs," the Doctor said while everyone nodded.

They smiled when Grace let them lick her face.

"I might have to take them off your hands," Grace said to them.

"Um, you'd have to go through my family in order to do that, trust me," the Doctor said.

Grace stood up and pulled her mobile out of her purse.

"Let me phone Lee and let him know what's happening," she said, opening it up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Doctor!" Lee said when they met him in the lobby of the hotel.

The Doctor and Alan stared at him. His curly locks were gone. His hair was cut short and he had a thin chiseled face. He was also much taller and leaner.

"Wow, he's cute," Mingxia muttered while the girls giggled.

The Doctor hugged him.

"Lee, you…look great!" he said to him.

"I feel great. You…um…kinda changed though…again," he said while they laughed.

He looked at the others and noticed the women standing behind him.

"And you got a small harem," he said while they laughed harder. "I guess you found others to travel with you after Grace and me."

"Actually, I traveled with quite a few people. These are just the latest in a very long line."

He made introductions.

"Married? You're married? Wow!" Lee said, smiling at Rain. "And a family too. That's great! You look very good, I have to say."

"Thanks."

"We wondered about you."

"So I heard."

"I took your advice too. I did take a vacation the year after you left. And I can see now why you said that since a couple of rival gang members ambushed some buddies of mine that I usually hung around with and nearly killed them. I guess I would have died then had I stayed."

"More than likely, yeah," the Doctor said, nodding.

"So…you gave me the gold because you knew I was gonna be a doctor eventually?"

"Um…well, I was hoping you'd do something with your life," the Doctor said. "I'm glad you did decide to become a doctor like Grace."

"So what can you see happening for me now?" Lee said.

The Doctor shrugged. Grace frowned.

"You don't make predictions about people anymore?"

"Funny thing about that. That talent seemed to have only been with my eighth life. I can't do that now, not with individual people."

"What talent?" Donna said.

"Um…well, there are some lives where I'm particularly adept at doing things, you know, like some people can do things that others can't. My eighth life, I not only could see time lines I could see events along a person's personal time line and tell them what they were going to be doing. That's how I was able to tell Lee to get out of San Francisco. I told Grace she was gonna do great things. I told one chap at this party to answer the second question on his exam instead of the first. I can't do that anymore though. So I have no clue what's gonna happen in your life now, Lee."

"Darn, I was still wanting you to give me a few pointers," Grace said while Alan giggled.

Alan took her by the arms.

"Here you go, a few pointers… find a nice chap who won't steal your furniture and save your shoes in case my brother needs them again."

The Doctor giggled when Alan patted her on the shoulder and stepped back. Grace stared down at his trainers.

"And I see you did ditch the shoes I gave you."

"Nah, they wore out long before I did. They were good shoes though. I loved them," he said. "Nice and comfy."

"And…you look more normal this time without the Halloween costume."

The Doctor rolled his eyes when Alan, Rain and Jenny laughed.

"Nice to know you finally got with the twenty first century," Grace teased.

"Believe me, if I was still wearing the Edwardian outfit, my wife would never let me hear the end of it," he said while Rain giggled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Grace hugged him tightly while they stood outside the TARDIS.

"Come back and see me and Lee. Please don't be a stranger," she said. "I hate to think that you would have just walked right by me if your wife hadn't come up and introduced herself and you. I do worry about you even though I only knew you for one night. So will you come by occasionally?"

The Doctor smiled and nodded.

"Good. And it was nice meeting all of you. I hope all of you stay safe. I know what it's like traveling with him. It didn't take more than a few hours to show me how dangerous his life can be."

Alan laughed when all the women nodded emphatically at that. They all gave her hugs and went inside leaving the Doctor alone with her.

"You did find someone else, right?" the Doctor said. "I mean, I know, you and me…"

"I found a couple of people but they were jerks," Grace said. "I'm too busy right now for a relationship but yeah…you have to admit that you're hard to measure up to and that kiss was out of sight, I have to say, but I'm glad you found someone and married her. You don't deserve to be alone, Doctor. No one does. Except…maybe the Master and the Daleks…"

The Doctor laughed and hugged her.

"Enjoy your conference," he said.

Grace rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, it'll be a load of laughs. We're only on day one," she said, "and already Lee and I have been bored to tears. Still, at least I don't have some maniac spitting goo gunk on my arm and possessing me."

He laughed.

"But…you know, you ever wanna take a spin in the TARDIS…it's always open to you," he said.

Grace looked at it.

"I might take you up on that offer sometime. Just for old time's sake, but please don't ask me to work your controls again."

He grinned.

"Nah, we have enough people inside who can do that. Do you have a piece of paper? I can give you my mobile number and…"

"Wait, you have a cell phone?"

"Yeah, friend of mine gave it to me because she wanted to keep in touch so I followed her example and gave out the number to friends who I want to keep visiting. It'll call anywhere in time and space in this universe. Now I can go across to other universes and it won't work there but we mainly stay over here except when Rain and Rose are visiting their families. But you have some paper…"

Grace nodded. She fished in her purse and pulled out a small pad of post-it notes and a pen. The Doctor jotted down the number and gave it back to her. He gave her one more hug and waved while he walked inside. Grace waved back and smiled and stepped back, watching while he shut the door and the TARDIS vanished from view.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

Rain and the other women were sitting in the living room talking with each other. Blizzard and Rory were lying on the couch with Jenny and Donna and they were stroking them while they slept quietly

While they talked, Rain suddenly heard her husband in her mind calling her to the lab.

"I'll be right back, guys," she said while they nodded.

She got up, left the room and walked down a couple of corridors to the TARDIS lab. She entered and saw her husband across the room.

"Hello my wife now to be my guinea pig," he said.

She stopped.

"Guinea pig?"

He chuckled.

"Painless experiment, trust me," he said.

He held out his hand and Rain walked over and took it. He led her to a large mirror in the corner.

"Stay right here," he said.

Rain watched with curiosity while the Doctor walked over and picked up a long tube that was resting on a table. It resembled a black sonic screwdriver.

"Brother and I have been working on a few things to take along when we're out and about," he explained while he walked over to her. "These are things that could aid us in dangerous situations. This is a portable x ray scanner that will allow me to take a look at your insides. It's not radioactive so there's no danger of cancer or anything but I wanted to try it on you since it would be hard for me to do it on myself and see the results."

Rain nodded.

"Now, you'll be able to see your insides when I do this but nothing disappears, it's just like a regular x ray, so don't be alarmed."

"Okay."

He pointed the tip at her stomach, turned it on and Rain gasped when she suddenly saw her insides clearly almost as if her skin had magically disappeared.

"Ah, brilliant, it works," the Doctor said happily.

Rain, filled with wonder, reached up to touch her stomach. The moment her hand entered the beam, the skin disappeared and she could see the muscles and tendons underneath. She turned her hand back and forth staring at it.

"Clever, eh? It also has settings where I can peel away various layers of your body. For instance, I adjust the setting and…"

Rain watched while her muscles disappeared and she saw her bones and blood vessels. The Doctor moved the beam up to her chest and she saw her ribcage.

"This is bizarre, Thete," she said, smiling at him.

He chuckled. He moved in closer and looked at her ribs. He frowned and bent down when he noticed an old crack on one of her lower ribs.

"Love, what happened here?" he said, pointing to it.

"Um…I think that happened when I was five. I was roller-skating and lost my balance and I slammed my side into a stone step. It hurt like hell for about a week afterward but I didn't get it checked out because I thought I was fine. I guess I might have cracked that rib a bit then? That's the only thing I can think of."

The Doctor grimaced.

"I think you might be right. It didn't look that severe. It only cracked slightly so even if you did seek medically attention, they'd just tell you to go home and rest. It's so miniscule that it wouldn't even be worth binding it up. You're lucky though, if you slammed that hard into a step it could have really broken your rib."

Rain nodded.

"I did break my leg when I climbed a tree. That was when I was eight and it was in a cast for two weeks. It was my lower right leg."

The Doctor shown the beam on it and looked where Rain pointed. He nodded when he saw slight bone growth where the fracture had healed. Rain moved her leg slightly and looked with him.

"I guess they did a good job mending it."

"Yes, they did. Anything else you did to yourself my little accident prone wife?"

She laughed.

"Um, apart from bumps and bruises, no."

He stood back up, pointing it back at her chest and moved the settings. The ribcage vanished and she saw her hearts and lungs. She stared at her two beating hearts in fascination.

"In perfect working order," the Doctor said, staring at them.

He shined the beam down and looked at her insides.

"You seem to be in perfect health," he said.

"That's good. This is pretty cool. So now if someone gets injured…."

"I can take a look without having to come back inside here," the Doctor said. "It didn't really matter when it was just me but I don't want anything to happen to you lot if I can help it and seconds count when you get injured…which brings me to the thing Alan was working on but I'll show it to you in a moment."

He grinned and shined the beam at her head. Rain looked in the mirror and was taken aback when she saw her brain floating in mid-air above her neck.

"There you go, your Time Lady mind," the Doctor said.

"Wow! Very cool!" Rain said.

Just then, Donna walked in the room.

"Okay, what are you doing to my sister, Doctor Frankenstein and…what the hell?"

The Doctor laughed when she saw the shocked look on her face.

"Where the hell is her head?" she said, staring at her brain.

The Doctor took the beam away and Donna could see Rain's head again.

"What'd you do?" she said, walking over.

The Doctor explained the device and demonstrated it on her hand. Donna stared down at her bones and blood vessels in fascination.

"And everything is still there?" Donna said.

"Yes, it works exactly like an x-ray."

Donna nodded.

"Clever," she said.

"Thanks. I just needed to try it out on someone to see if it works so I figured Latara would be the perfect candidate."

"Gee, doesn't that make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside?" Donna said to her while she giggled. "You're not only his wife; you're his test subject as well."

"Nah, she's just being a good sport," the Doctor said, ruffling his wife's hair. "Now let me show you what Alan's been working on. It's not complete, mind, but hopefully it will be in the next day or so."

He led them over to the table and picked up a small silver box with wires sticking out the end of it.

"This, when it's finished, will be a smaller version of the tissue rejuvenator machine that will allow people to be healed if they do get injured. So I have the x-ray to check and he has the rejuvenator to heal."

"Wonderful," Rain said.

"That's not all though."

They watched while he walked over to another counter and picked up a large glass beaker filled with a grayish gel. He brought it back over.

"This is in the initial stages and it won't be this gray color when we're finished. What we hope it'll be eventually is a gel that we can put over our nose and mouth that will hold in a small pocket of oxygen that will allow us to survive in an airless environment long after our respiratory bypass systems would have given out. Brother and I are thinking mainly for underwater but if we make it strong enough it might also allow us to breathe in deep space. It's really just an idea at this point and we're both tinkering around with it and we don't know if anything will come of it but we're hoping it's successful."

"Is this what you've been doing lately when we're in the living room?" Donna said.

He nodded and set the gel back down on the counter.

"We figured that we need a few extra things since we're all traveling together," the Doctor said, picking up a small beige device that resembled a hearing aid.

He walked back over to Rain and gently inserted it inside her ear. He looked at Donna.

"I'll demonstrate this but don't talk too loudly. This amplifies hearing and I'm gonna turn it up so she can hear me whisper from across the room. If you say something loudly with the volume up it'll give her a headache."

Donna nodded. He pushed a tiny button on the front of the hearing aid and turned a dial up to the maximum setting. He put a finger to his lips and then slowly backed away towards the door while Rain and Donna watched silently. Reaching the door, he pointed at his wife and mimed putting his hand over his eyes. Rain nodded and put her hand over her eyes. Donna watched while the Doctor whispered something so low that she could only read his lips. She grinned when she saw what he was mouthing and noticed from the smile spreading across her sister's face that she had heard him. He tiptoed back and removed the hearing aid from her ear.

"What did I say?" he asked, turning it off.

Rain took her hand down from her eyes.

"I love you with all of my hearts and I love bananas too."

"Brilliant, it works," he said while both women laughed hysterically. "Now this device we will duplicate and give one to everyone so that way if you need to hear something, you can. The setting I had it on not only can pick up whispers, it can pick up conversations through five feet of concrete and possibly steel as well. We've tried it with concrete but not steel. But anyway, this is what's going on in TARDIS Labs."

"Wow!" Rain said, smiling at Donna. "And all this time we've just been watching movies and doing girl stuff."

"Yeah, we're just not scientific inventor geniuses like they are, I guess," Donna said, shrugging.

The Doctor picked up the x-ray scanner and aimed it at Rain's head.

"Yes, you are, see there's the Time Lady brain to prove it!" he said pointing while they laughed.

Donna stared at her brain.

"That's incredibly creepy with that just floating above your neck," Donna said to her.

The Doctor adjusted the settings and her skull covered the brain. Rain looked in the mirror and looked at Donna.

"Is it still creepy now?" she said to her.

"Yes, because you look like a female grim reaper now," she said while the Doctor snickered. "And the whole jaw moving without any muscles attached to it is disturbing. Not to mention I can see right into your eye sockets."

The Doctor adjusted it again and her eyes and muscles appeared.

"Now you look like one of those anatomy posters doctors have," Donna said. "And it's even creepier now because you have no eyelids and you have this weird wide-eyed stare like you're a deer caught in the headlamps."

The Doctor adjusted the settings and turned them back the other way until there was nothing showing above her neck.

"Behold, my sister, it's the Headless Horseman!" he said.

Both Rain and Donna laughed hysterically.

"He's gonna have fun with this doodah, I can just tell," Donna said.

"Speaking of fun, follow me and let's show off the Headless Horseman to the rest of the family!" the Doctor said.

Donna snickered. She and Rain walked in front of the Doctor while he kept the beam aimed on her head. The TARDIS, grumbling with laughter, led them to the kitchen where Alan and Rose were talking and sipping tea. Rose nearly choked on her tea when her headless sister entered the room.

"BOO!" the Doctor said while they laughed.

Alan fell over the table laughing while Rose stared at Rain with wide eyes.

"Brilliant, Brother, it works!" Alan said when he could get his breath back.

"What the hell did you do to her? My sister has no head!" Rose said while everyone laughed hysterically.

He aimed the scanned at the ground and Rain's head instantly came back.

"What'd you do?" Rose said, looking at the Doctor.

He and Alan explained the scanner and Rose put a hand over her heart.

"Thank God, I thought you'd decapitated her somehow," she said to the Doctor.

"Nah, I'd never do that, I wouldn't be able to hear her sweet voice," the Doctor said.

Grinning, he mentally summoned the rest of the family into the kitchen and aimed the beam back on Rain's head while he casually leaned on the back of Alan's chair. They all laughed when the other women entered and screamed upon seeing her. He took the beam away and giggling, explained the scanner to them.

"Oh, so that's what he wanted you for," Awinita said.

"Yes, he wanted to take my head away and see what would happen," Rain said.

"Jesus, he's getting to be just as bad as Bro," Awinita said.

"Now wait just a minute, Alan didn't get all his insanity from Donna. I'm capable of a little raucous fun from time to time," the Doctor said. "Speaking of…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Hello?" Jack said, answering his mobile.

"Jack, you have to help me! Rain's been injured! I need you to assist us!" the Doctor yelled.

Jack's eyes widened.

"What? What happened?"

"There's no time for explanations! I'm on my way to Torchwood now! Oh God, it's horrible!"

Jack frowned. He could swear he heard soft giggling in the background. Shaking his head, he ran through the cog door and looked at his team.

"Guys, we got an emergency! Rain's been hurt. The Doctor's on his way here now!"

His team looked at each other and scrambled around. Jack looked over when he heard the familiar wheezing sound and saw the TARDIS materializing in the corner.

"Martha, prepare the med bay and get ready for Rain," he yelled to her.

Martha stared to run but they all stopped when they heard loud hysterical laughter on the other side of the TARDIS doors.

"What the hell?" Jack said.

The doors flew open and Rain came out, headless, followed by the Doctor who was aiming the scanner at her.

"Oh God, it's horrible! Rain's been decapitated! What'll I do? I can't snog her now!"

Jack stared at his headless wife, wide-eyed. Then he glared at the Doctor when everyone bent over laughing and he took the scanner away revealing Rain's smiling face.

"Sorry, Jack, couldn't resist. It's my x-ray scanner I just invented. It's also a handy dandy wife decapitator, look."

He aimed the beam back on her head and Rain's head disappeared.

"Oh ha, ha," Jack said while they laughed hysterically. "You're getting to be just as bad as your maniac brother there."

"I'm sorry I scared you but I just couldn't resist. It's just a portable x-ray scanner. Although…"

He aimed it at Rain's back and her abdomen disappeared.

"It could be quite useful in a magic act. Perhaps Rain and I can go out on the road now and astound everyone with my wife vanishing act."

They laughed when Jack lightly smacked the back of his head.

"These are the times I really worry about your sanity, Doc," he said while they all laughed.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

A/N: And now, a couple of short shorts…

The Doctor and Alan walked side by side through the TARDIS corridors talking quietly to each other. As they neared the living room, they stopped when they suddenly heard Awinita's voice coming from inside.

"No way, he was tons better!" she said.

"No, he wasn't" they heard Rain reply.

The brothers glanced at each other and strolled into the living room. Awinita and Rain looked at them.

"What are you two doing?" the Doctor asked.

"We're having a debate about…"

"Ooooo! A debate?" Alan said. "You're debating something! Splendid! Can we listen in and perhaps contribute our two pence from time to time?"

Rain looked at her sister.

"Um…if you want to, Bro," Rain said.

The Doctor and Alan grinned at each other and strolled over to the couch. They leaned down and rested their arms on the back of the couch between the two of them.

"Don't mind us; we're a couple of flies on the couch. Go on with your great debate," Alan said to Awinita.

They looked at the men's eager, interested expressions and then looked at each other.

"Anyway," Awinita said. "I was saying that Cartman is a far better villainous character than Stewie."

"No way, Stewie's better, "Rain said. "Cartman was just an asshole, Stewie's evil. He tried to kill Lois."

"Cartman tried to kill a bunch of people. In fact, Cartman did kill some people. He chopped up that one bully's parents and fed them to him. Stewie's never killed anyone successfully."

"Yes but he's still better. Family Guy is a better show than South Park."

"No, South Park is better," Awinita said. "Family Guy is ripping off…"

She trailed off when Alan tapped her shoulder. She looked at him and saw both brothers were staring at her in shock.

"Excuse me, why are you debating this?" Alan said.

"Um…we felt like it?" Awinita said while Rain giggled.

"You have Time Lady minds," the Doctor said. "You have all the knowledge of the universe at your disposal and you're sitting here arguing over which crappy cartoon is better?"

"They're not crappy, they're funny," Awinita said. "But South Park is better."

"No, Family Guy is."

They laughed when the brothers glanced at each other and rolled their eyes.

"Okay, okay, we'll debate something more important then," Awinita said.

"Thank you," the Doctor said.

An evil grin spread over her face.

"So, Sis, who's better, the Doctor or Alan?" she said.

"Well…"

Rain trailed off when the Doctor pressed his face up against her cheek and breathed heavily on it.

"Is something bothering you, dear?" Rain said innocently.

"If you wish to continue wearing that ring around your finger you will tell her I'm the better man," he said to her.

"Gee, I don't know, my husband is nice but Alan has so many good qualities and…"

Rain giggled when the Doctor breathed hot and heavy on her cheek.

"Is there a warm breeze in here all of a sudden or is it just me?" Rain said to Awinita.

"I think it's you, Sis, I think you're getting hot flashes. Probably early alien menopause or something," Awinita said, shrugging.

"Oh, I better get that checked at the doctor's office then. So anyway, what are your thoughts on the whole Doctor verses Alan debate?"

"Well, I vote for Alan since he's so cute and laughably, loveably fun," Awinita said, ruffling his hair. "And he's not an egotistical bastard like the Doctor is."

"I'm a what?" the Doctor said, leaning up while both women laughed. "I'm a what now, Harris?"

The women ignored him while Alan snickered.

"You know, you may have something there. I think Alan's just as cute as a button. Much better than my husband. I've often had an incestuous urge to just go and kick Rose out of his bed."

Alan leaned in while the Doctor eyed her.

"Really? You'd commit incest with me?" Alan said.

"For your cutey hot buns, hell yeah!" Rain said.

"Right, this is getting melted down into a tiny gold bar now," the Doctor said, seizing her ring finger and plucking the ring off it.

"You know what they say," Rain said, ignoring him. "Once you go clone, you'll never leave home!"

Both brothers stared at her in shock while Awinita split her sides laughing. Rain grinned at her husband and let out a mock sigh.

"Of course, I know the moment I give in to my secret incestuous urges, he'll divorce me and throw me out of the TARDIS on my ear so I guess I better answer that my husband is the better man."

Rain winked at the Doctor. He looked at Alan.

"I think they might be mentally ill. We better check when they're asleep and can't stop our intrusive brain scans," he muttered to Alan.

He looked down when Rain plucked her ring out of his hand.

"I'll take that, thank you," she said cheerfully while she put it back on her finger.

"That's being melted down," the Doctor said, pointing to it.

"Mmm, that's nice, dear. So anyway, back to our previous discussion. Family Guy is tons better than South Park."

The Doctor looked at Alan and slowly shook his head.

"Come on, Brother, let's go bang our heads up against the wall for an hour or two," he said while they walked away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Oh, you are bad," Alan said to his brother.

They were standing outside the TARDIS on a distant alien beach. They had all enjoyed the sand and surf before going back in. Alan was about to follow them when the Doctor suddenly pulled him aside and whispered an idea for a prank in his ear. Alan gave him a devilish grin and both of them chortled while they went back inside.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"That was fun," Rose said when all of the women finished drying off and changing back into their street clothes. "We need to do that more often."

They were in the living room settling down to watch TV. They had sat down on the couch and in the chairs when Alan suddenly came in the room, glowing with an eerie white light. They stared at the blank look on his face.

"Alan?" Rose said.

The Doctor came in after him. He also had a light around his body and the blank look on his face. The women glanced at each other.

"What the hell is this?" Donna said. "What the hell is the glow?"

They stared at them, confused, while Alan slowly turned and stared at his brother in silence for a moment.

"I…love you," Alan said in a dull voice.

"I love you too," the Doctor replied in an equally dull voice.

The women were shocked when they ran into each other's arms and passionately embraced.

"Dear, what are you doing?" Rain said.

"I have always loved you!" the Doctor said in a monotone voice while he stared into his brother's eyes.

"As have I. I was only with Rose because I couldn't have you."

"What?" Rose said.

They stared at the two men while they stroked each other's cheeks.

"Dad, what are you doing?" Jenny said.

"I'm having a bit of self love, Angel," he said, not taking his eyes off his brother.

Their mouths fell open when they began to snog one another.

"Okay, this is disturbing on so many levels," Mingxia said.

Rain glanced at the other women and rolled her eyes. She got up and walked over to the Doctor.

"Yeah, funny, break it up, boys. We don't wanna watch you frenching each other's brains out."

The Doctor broke off the kiss and glared at her.

"Piss off, you slag, I'm snogging my lover here!" he said to her.

"Yeah, don't you know a passionate kiss when you see it?" Alan replied.

"Really, and when did he become your lover exactly?" Rose said, walking over to him and folding her arms over her chest.

Alan gave her a blank look.

"I was outside with him and we were coming back into the TARDIS and suddenly this man leapt out of the bushes and shot us with some ray gun and suddenly…I was seeing my brother in a whole new light," Alan said.

"Yeah, right, Bro," Awinita said.

The two men looked at each other.

"Could it be that I have secretly fancied you all this time, Te'lesau, and I just didn't know it?" Alan said.

"I'm not sure but I was very eager to travel with you. I thought it was Rain I wanted but now…I just can't get you out of my mind, my hunky little clone."

"Dad, this is very disgusting and disturbing," Jenny said.

"Yes, please take it somewhere else before we vomit on ourselves," Donna said.

"But…we can't deny our love any longer," the Doctor said, stroking Alan's cheek. "I'm sorry, my brother, I never meant to marry Rain. It was a mistake, can you ever forgive me?"

"If you can forgive me for marrying Rose."

"I never meant to kick you out at Bad Wolf Bay. I should have ditched Rose and took you inside for a little lover's tryst."

Rain sighed and glanced at Rose. They rolled their eyes. Rain grinned and threw up a privacy block while she thought to her. A smile spread over Rose's face and she nodded.

"Well, if you're gonna love one another, I'll just take Rose on the rebound then," Rain said.

Both men stared at her in shock as she flew into Rose's open arms.

"Oh God, will you lot please stop?" Donna said.

"My love, at last I'm free of that tool of a husband of mine and I have you free and clear!" Rain said in a breathy voice.

"Yes, my git husband is gone so we can now fondle and caress each other without fear of being separated by them!"

"Goodbye everyone, I'm gonna take a nice hot scalding shower and try to burn the icky feeling out of my skin," Donna said, running away.

"I'm next!" Mingxia said, running out.

Jenny and Awinita stared at Rain and Rose who were stroking each other's cheeks. They looked at the brothers who had stopped everything and were staring at their wives with interest.

"I think we may have started a trend here, Brother," Alan said. "Shall we do nothing and see how this plays out?"

"Hmmm, I would have to answer in the affirmative," the Doctor said.

They stared at their women with wide eyes while they continued to stroke each other's cheeks. Alan held up his finger and quickly ran out of the room. He zoomed back in a few seconds later, digital camera in hand.

"Smile, girls, this little gem is for posterity," Alan said.

He let out a groan when the women quickly broke apart and sat back down.

"I hate you," Rose said to Rain.

"Yeah, me too. I'm breaking off our engagement now."

"Fine with me," Rose said, shrugging.

They grinned at their husbands who had disappointed looks on their faces.

"Blast, that was classic blackmail material," Alan said to the Doctor.

"So now that this supposed aphrodisiac ray has worn off, what's with the glow?" Rain said, gesturing to their bodies.

"Ah, phosphorescent dust from the lab. It makes things glow obviously. We thought it might be fun to pretend we were in love and see your reaction," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, well, you better go stop Donna and Mingxia before they hightail it off the TARDIS and never come back," Awinita said.

Alan looked at the Doctor and stroked his cheek.

"Shall we go stop them, my love?" Alan said breathlessly. "After all, the less people there are in here the more places we can snog openly."

The Doctor put his finger to his chin and pretended to consider that.

"Nah, better not, they might write a book and expose our torrid two minute affair to the universe, better go stop em."

Alan nodded.

"After you, Fairy Cakes," he said, gesturing to the door.

"Thank you, Dimple Dumplings," the Doctor replied.

They watched while the two of them left the room. Rose looked at Rain.

"Dimple Dumplings?" she said while Rain shrugged. "Sheesh. We've married some very strange people, Rain, that's for damn sure."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

"This is cute, dear," Rain said to Jenny while they stood in her bedroom.

They had just finished clothes shopping and Jenny had gotten some new outfits including a lavender one that had little flowers on it.

"You don't think it's too childish?" Jenny asked.

"Not at all. I think it'll look nice on you and…"

Suddenly, there was a violent lurch and a loud rumble. Jenny and Rain screamed as they teetered back onto her bed.

"Are you alright?" Rain said to her.

"Yeah, what was that?" Jenny said.

They gasped when there was another violent lurch and a loud rumble.

"I think we better find your dad. I have a feeling he might know what's going on," Rain said to her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

On their way to the console room there was a couple of violent lurches that threw Rain and Jenny against the wall. The others came out of their bedrooms and stared at them in shock.

"What the hell is going on?" Mingxia said. "Are we under attack?"

"I don't know but we're gonna find out," Rain said.

The other women came out and closed their doors. They followed them to the console room. While they walked, they heard one of the two men cursing out loud and yelling to the other to find the nanobots. They entered the console room and saw Alan on his hands and knees yelling into an open hole beside the console.

"They've gotta be down there, Brother," Alan said. "You put them there last time, didn't ya?"

"I thought I did," they heard the Doctor yell up. "That was ages ago though. I could be wrong."

Alan cursed and leaned up. He noticed the women staring at him in confusion.

"It's alright," he said. "The TARDIS is sick. It has a cold and it's sneezing."

They stared at him.

"It does that?" Donna said.

"From time to time. She doesn't get sick very often but when she does, it's a doozy," Alan said to them. "But that's what the lurching and rumbling is so don't be alarmed."

They made their way over to him. On the way over, the TARDIS let out another sneeze and all of them screamed while they hit the floor. Alan's eyes widened when he noticed Rain was about to plummet headfirst into the hole and he shot up, pushing her back onto her back with his body. She grunted when he landed on top of her.

"Thanks," she said, grimacing.

"Are you alright?" Alan said, concerned.

"I will be when my mashed organs pop back into their original shape," she said.

He apologized and leaned up so she could sit up with the others. She noticed the Doctor's head was poking up through the hole staring at all of them with concern.

"Are you alright?" he said. "Is everyone okay?"

They all nodded.

"I'm sorry, everyone. The TARDIS is feeling under the weather and it's not pleasant for us when she gets the sniffles," the Doctor said. "We're working on it though. I have some nanobots that will heal her circuits. Problem is this hasn't happened in two hundred years and I've slept since then and I'm not entirely sure where I put them. I thought I put them under here in the storage space but so far I've had no luck locating them."

"That's a storage space?" Rain said.

He nodded.

"Yeah, I have a couple of trunks and boxes down here that I put things in when I get too lazy to go up to the attic."

"You have an attic in the TARDIS?" Mingxia said.

He nodded.

"I might have to go up to it in a few minutes if I don't locate the nanobots. It's the only other place I could have stored them."

The women glanced at each other and they crawled towards the hole, half afraid to walk over in case the TARDIS sneezed again. The Doctor ducked back down and they stuck their heads down through the hole and saw a large storage space underneath the console. Rain shifted onto her butt and slid in. While the other women followed suit, she walked over to a large wooden steamer trunk that the Doctor was rooting around in.

"I didn't know this was down here," Rain said to him.

"Not many people do. Rose and Donna do because I used it in front of them but I usually don't use it much unless I really need something like I do right now."

Rain knelt down on the side of the trunk and peered in while the other women clustered around her. She moved a few items around inside while her husband continued to search beside her. She frowned when she heard faint screaming and moved a red cloth. The women were dumbfounded when she pulled out a small crystal ball that had three screaming women inside it. The women were all dressed in black. Two of them had ugly crone faces and the other looked like a young woman. They were screaming curses at Rain while they clawed frantically at the glass. Rain tapped her husband on the back and he looked at her.

"Is there a reason why you have a crystal ball with three screaming women inside it?" she said.

The Doctor snorted and eyed it disdainfully.

"Carrionites. They were imprisoned in there and I threw them in this trunk after I got through with them."

While he searched he quickly explained what they were.

"Oh yeah, Bro told us about them," Awinita said.

"Bro told you about what?" Alan said, sticking his head through the hole.

Rain held the crystal ball up for him to see.

"Oh, yes, those things," Alan muttered. "Be careful with it, Te'lesu, you break it, you'll have more than three flying out of there and they're not friendly."

Rain gently put it back on the piece of red fabric. She reached in and pulled out a book.

"Agatha Christie?" she said, examining it.

"Look at the inside page," Donna said, pointing. "Look at the date of publication. He showed me that after we met her."

She opened it up and read it. Her eyes widened.

"This was printed in the year 5 billion?" she said to Donna who nodded in reply.

"Yes, that's how popular she is," the Doctor said, glancing at her. "Her books are still published then."

Rain looked at the cover and noticed the wasp on it.

"Donna, does this have something to do with the wasp that attacked her?"

"Yeah, she remembered it and put it in her story."

"Death in the Clouds? I've never heard of this one before," Rain muttered.

She looked at her husband.

"Do you mind if I borrow this to read?" she said to him.

"No, go ahead."

"If I open it, a wasp won't suddenly appear and attack me, will it?" she said while the other women giggled.

The Doctor looked at her with wide eyes.

"No, what makes you say that?"

"Well, gee, you have little witch women imprisoned in a crystal ball here. I don't wanna read something that's dangerous like that."

"Nah, it's harmless, go ahead."

"Thanks," she said, getting up to put it up on the grating above them.

Alan took the book from her and set it aside while everyone else continued to peer in the trunk.

"My, my, all of you are awfully nosy," the Doctor teased them.

They smiled at him. He continued to rummage while they looked. Rose noticed another book and pulled it out.

"A Christmas Carol?"

"First edition," the Doctor said, glancing at her. "I have first editions of nearly every literary classic in my library and attic and other places. I try to get first editions of books whenever I can."

Rose gently laid it back in the trunk. The Doctor sighed angrily.

"Blast, nanobots aren't here. They must be in the attic," he said, sighing.

"Can we go up with you, Dad? We might be able to help find it."

"Um…well, I don't know. There are a lot of dangerous things up there. In fact, I might as well take the weird sisters up there and leave them. If you go up with me, don't wander off because I mean it. You can get hurt up there, alright?"

They nodded. The Doctor grabbed the crystal ball and rolled his eyes when the Carrionites cursed him. He handed the ball up to Alan and then shut his trunk.

"Out, out, out," he said, shooing the women. "I'll close up here and then we'll go up."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Now I mean it, don't wander too far from me," the Doctor said, looking back at the women while they climbed the steps to the attic. "This attic is huge and you can get lost in here very easily."

They nodded and waited while he unlocked the door at the top of the stairs. He peeked inside and turned on a light. He gave another cursory glance and nodded at his family. They followed him inside and their jaws dropped open when they saw the interior. They couldn't see the walls in any direction.

"Blimey, how big is this attic?" Donna said. "Does it ever end?"

"Yeah, it ends," the Doctor said to her. "Don't ask me where but this ship's interior isn't infinite so there are walls to it somewhere. Come with me."

They followed him. Alan brought up the rear carrying the crystal ball. They looked around. There were odds and ends and boxes and trunks and paintings and other weird stuff scattered around the vast room. The Doctor paused a moment and thought.

"I wouldn't have put it very far from the door since I knew I'd need it again eventually," he mused. "Probably in these boxes then."

He led the way over to a pile of boxes stacked up several feet in front of them. The women glanced around while he and Alan took some of the boxes off the stack, opened them and began to rummage through them. While they looked the women ventured a little ways away and looked at some of the other artifacts. Alan glanced back at them and when he was satisfied they were still nearby went back to looking.

Rain noticed a large metal pod nearby with a metal woman's face on top of it. Jenny and Rose came up beside her.

"Is this an iron maiden?" Rose muttered to them.

"Might be," Rain said.

"Iron maiden?" Jenny said to them.

"Torture device, Jen," Rose said.

"Yes, that's an iron maiden," Alan called to them.

The others came over and stared at it with them.

"Is it real?" Awinita asked Alan.

"Yes, it's real," Alan said.

He got up and walked over. He got in front of the women, unlocked it and opened it up. They looked inside. The interior was wooden with several sharp metal spikes inserted into little holes that were strategically placed all over it. Alan grabbed a spike and pulled it out of one of the holes.

"This can be placed in any of the holes you see," he said to them. "Depending on where you place them inside they would pierce your vital organs or miss them entirely. You'd put your victim in here and close the door and the spikes would pierce them and either kill them outright or torture them if you put the spikes where they wouldn't hit major organs. But you'd be dead eventually because the spikes plugged up the wounds until you opened the door and then you'd bleed to death from your injuries so you were doomed to die no matter what happened."

The women shook their heads while Alan put the spike back in the hole and closed it.

"If you think that's barbarous, come this way," he said to them.

They followed him several feet to the left and noticed a large bronze statue of a bull.

"This is the Brazen Bull," Alan said. "Greek in design. This is a torture and execution device as well."

He opened up a large hatch in the side and showed them the hollow interior.

"You put your victim inside, close the door and lock it and then you start a fire right underneath the belly of the bull and roast the person alive inside."

"God," Awinita said while the others shook their heads.

"But this is the fiendish part," Alan said.

He pointed inside to a long pipe and then climbed in half way.

"Pretend I'm in here being roasted alive," he said to them. "Fire's underneath me, the bronze is heating up and there's a ton of smoke in here. This was put here in the hopes that I would use it as a breathing tube but…if I use it and scream my pained screams into it…"

He put his lips to the tube and screamed loudly. The women's eyes went wide when his scream came out sounding like a bellowing bull.

"See, I scream and the bull sounds like it's alive," he said. "And they would put incense in the statue's nostrils so as I'm roasting alive and the smoke's coming out the nose, it makes a fragrant smell to hide the smell of charred flesh. People dined while they executed others in here. This was supposed to be a very pleasing aesthetic experience."

The women were shocked into silence. Alan climbed out and closed the hatch.

"Did…you actually see someone die in this?" Jenny finally said.

"I didn't and Brother didn't either. This is brand new actually. Never been used. Just a curiosity like the iron maiden."

"I wouldn't have taken it if people had died in it," the Doctor called back to them. "I know it seems odd for me to have it but I have lots of torture devices scattered around here as curiosities. I never use them of course. That right there is an example of beauty in cruelty, I think. Just so barbaric and yet the imagination to make a dying person sound like a bellowing bull while they roast alive. It puts a lot of other planet's sadistic cultures to shame. Actually, the first person to die in one was the creator. It was made for Perillos of Athens who was a sadistic tyrant. When it was finished, he convinced the inventor to climb inside to see if a man would fit and he closed the door and roasted him alive in it. Eventually though he was overthrown by the populace and he ended up in it as well."

"Good," Rain said. "That's horrible doing that to people. Jesus, some humans disgust me."

"Well, as horrible as this is, there are worse torture devices on other planets," Alan said. "But this is among the most horrifying, I think. Especially since brass heats up quickly and gets incredibly hot. You'd be in agony in seconds and there would be nowhere to hide from it since the whole bottom would have heated up."

They shook their heads and followed him while he led them away. They stopped by some large portraits several feet from the bull. Rain recognized the subjects as the Doctor's previous lives. The one that was near them was his second life. He was standing up holding his recorder in his hand with a solemn look on his face.

"This is a Renoir," Alan said to them. "He liked the way Brother looked so he painted it and gave it to him. This one next to it is his fifth life and this is a Botticelli. The Doctor saved him from some aliens so he gave it to him because he was grateful. The one of his third life here is a Raphael."

"Really? A ninja turtle painted Bro?" Awinita said.

Alan rolled his eyes when they giggled.

"I will ignore the fact that you equate a renaissance master with a stupid cartoon terrapin and move on," he said while they snickered.

"So…where is the dangerous part, Bro?" Rain said.

"Yeah, I thought this was a deadly place," Mingxia added.

"I'm not showing you any of that. I'm showing you the tamer things so you'll be safe," he said to them.

He moved over to a large cardboard box and stared at it for a moment.

"Hmmm, might as well check in here for the nanobots," he muttered while the women gathered around him.

They all knelt down and he opened it. Their eyes widened when they saw a bunch of items from the 1980's. Awinita snickered, pulled something out and walked over to the Doctor while the rest of the women giggled.

"Bro?" she said to him.

He looked up at her.

"Hmm?"

She giggled and showed him a pair of neon purple leg warmers.

"Care to explain why you have these in your attic?" she said while the rest of the women laughed.

"Um…they're a curiosity?" the Doctor said sheepishly.

"Mmm, yeah, they're curious, all right," Awinita said while they laughed.

"That's not all, Sis," Rain said, holding something up. "He also has day-glo yellow sparkly socks in here."

"They're a curiosity!" the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Oh my God," Rose said, pulling something out. "Awinita, look, he has a Cabbage Patch Kid!"

She held it up. It was a female doll with long braided hair, buck teeth and pink glasses.

"Curiosity, Brother dear?" Awinita said sweetly.

"It's a collector's item!" the Doctor said.

"Mmm, is it? Tell me, Bro, did you regenerate into an eight year old girl at some point?" Awinita said.

They laughed when he blushed.

"What is this? Your 1980's box?" Donna said.

"I try to collect pop culture items from different eras," the Doctor said.

"Look, guys," Mingxia said, holding something up. "Michael Jackson's sequin glove. That's why he only had one. The Doctor had the other."

The Doctor flipped her off while they laughed harder.

"Hey," Awinita said, walking back. "Does he have Teddy Ruxpin? Because I had one when I was four!"

They dug through the box.

"Nope, no Teddy Ruxpin," Rain said.

"You don't have Teddy Ruxpin, Bro?" Awinita said to the Doctor. "Shame on you."

"Brother, will you get them away from that box before I have to physically hurt them?" the Doctor said to Alan.

"Come along, everyone, before my brother has to physically hurt you," Alan said to them.

They groaned and stood back up. The Doctor shook his head and went back to looking while Alan went on with his tour. He led them to a yellow roadster parked several feet away.

"This was his motor, Bessie," he said, pointing to it.

"He has a car?" Mingxia said.

"Yes, he does."

"Wait, is this what you were talkin' about when I accused you of not bein' able to drive a car?" Rose said.

"Yes, Rose, this is Bessie," he said while they laughed.

The Doctor jerked his head up.

"What? She accused you of not being able to drive?" he said.

"When we first hired a people carrier in New Jersey, I offered to drive it and Rose went on and on about how I had no driving skills and how I was gonna wreck the car and kill us all and I mentioned Bessie to her."

"I'm sorry, Doctor, I'd never seen you drive anything except the TARDIS," Rose said. "And the TARDIS is far different from a car."

Rain walked over and looked inside.

"How old is this car? This is an antique, isn't it?" she asked Alan.

"Um…"

Alan thought.

"Not sure how old it is. It's not as old as you think, I imagine. It's not from the late 1800's or anything like that."

"When did you have a car?" Mingxia said. "Or…I mean when did the Doctor have one?"

"When he was exiled on Earth and couldn't fly the TARDIS into the vortex, he used this to get around," Alan replied.

"Why were you exiled to Earth?" Donna asked.

"It's a long, complicated story, Donna," the Doctor said, glancing back. "The Time Lords forced me to regenerate and they took away my knowledge of how to fly the TARDIS and I was stuck on Earth. That's when I worked for UNIT."

"Oh, so the 1970's then?" Donna said.

"Yes, I was stuck in the 1970's," the Doctor said.

"Do you use it now?" Rain asked.

"Um…no, I have no need for it anymore so I put it up here for safekeeping."

"Well, Bro, I have to say you did a good job hammering out all the dings and dents and other evidence of your many wrecks," Awinita said.

They laughed.

"Yeah and I'm sure it took a long time to pull all the dead bodies out of the grill on the front," Rain teased.

"Brother, move on now!" the Doctor said while they bent over laughing.

"Come along, my family," Alan said, beckoning to them.

They walked on to another box. Alan bent down and opened it up and they saw a bunch of board games. They bent down and looked in. Rose pulled out the one on top and laughed.

"Snakes and Ladders, I haven't played this in years," Rose said to them.

"Oh, is that what they call it in England?" Awinita said.

"Yeah, what did they call it in America?"

"Chutes and Ladders."

"Hmm, I didn't know that," Rose said. "Although Snakes and Ladders sounds like a better title to me."

"I guess Americans don't like sliding down snakes," Donna teased.

Rose looked at the Doctor.

"Curiosity?" she said, holding it up to him.

"I told you, I collect many things from Earth and other planets," he called back.

"What else you got, Bro? Candyland?" Awinita said. "Operation? Hungry, Hungry Hippo?"

"You have play doh, dear?" Rain called to him. "I wanna make something."

They laughed.

"Yeah, you need to go get the play doh beauty shop so we can give people play doh hair and cut it off," Awinita said.

"Oh God, I had that when I was about six," Rain said.

"That's what I'm saying. I think Bro regenerated into an eight year old girl at one point and that's why he has all this stuff," Awinita said.

They looked at Alan.

"Come on, hon, out with it," Rose said. "He was an eight year old girl at some point, wasn't he?"

They laughed when the Doctor looked at his brother and rolled his eyes.

"I hope I can find the nanobots in the next few minutes or so before I go completely insane from these people," the Doctor said to him.

They looked through the other board games.

"Hmm," Rose said while they looked, "Trivial Pursuit, Battleship, Risk. Hey, he does have Operation, Sis."

"We need to take some of this stuff back down to the living room," Awinita said.

"Can I have your Cabbage Patch Kid, dear?" Rain said.

The Doctor eyed her.

"If I give it to you will I have to endure centuries of jokes about being an eight year old girl?" he said to her.

"No, I'll spare you that torment."

"Then yes, you can have it."

"Yes, I get my husband's Cabbage Patch Kid!" Rain said, pumping her fist in the air.

"Can I have Bessie then?" Rose said.

"No, you can't," he said while they laughed.

"Darn, Sis, you can't have Bessie," Awinita said.

"Ah, well, I'll have to nick it when he's not lookin', I s'pose," Rose said sighing.

"You better not if you know what's good for you," the Doctor said while they laughed.

They followed Alan who led them to a stack of old leather books. They stopped at them and read through the titles. They frowned when they didn't recognize any of them.

"Where did he get these, Bro?" Awinita asked.

"Um, some of these are from Gallifrey. They're old children's books, actually."

"Seriously, these are books he read when he was a kid?" Mingxia said.

"Some of them, yes."

The women looked at each other and picked up some of the books. Mingxia frowned.

"Um…Nenanok Learns String Theory. This is a children's book?" she said.

"Oh yes, that was a favorite of children in the nursery," Alan said.

Mingxia opened the book to the first page and read the concentric circle writing aloud.

"Nenanok loved string theory," she read to them. "There was nothing more pleasurable to him than rattling off a long equation on a hot Gallifreyan day. He often spent hours going over equations in his head and challenging his friends when he thought up a particularly hard one….Alan, how old were children who read this stuff?"

"One, two years old?" Alan said, shrugging.

"Damn and I was too busy readying Pat the Bunny at that age," Awinita said as the others laughed.

"Pat the Bunny?" Alan said, interested.

"Yeah, it's this book where they had things like fake fur on a bunny that you could pet or a mirror you could look into or you could smell flowers or play peek-a-boo."

"Oh pat as in patting a bunny. I thought you meant Pat as in the name Pat," Alan said.

"No, patting a bunny," Awinita said. "But of course, that doesn't compare to books about string theory."

Alan shrugged.

"Humans aren't as advanced. I wouldn't expect them to have books about string theory at that age," he said. "It's not an insult, mind. Human and Gallifreyan brains are different and we could handle more advanced knowledge than you could. Actually, Pat the Bunny sounds cute."

"Well, sorry, I don't have it anymore so you can look at it," Awinita said.

Rain smiled.

"We could go a bookstore though and show him. I mean, I'm sure they still publish it, right?" she said.

Alan grinned.

"Brilliant idea. I would like to see the kinds of children's books you lot grew up with and I'm sure Brother would as well."

The Doctor looked back at him.

"What would I like?" he said.

Alan told him and the Doctor smiled.

"Yes, I would be interested in that. I don't know all that much about human childhood. I would be interested in a small trip to see what you lot read when you were young. All I really know about is Doctor Seuss and books like that."

Alan looked at Rain.

"You read that, didn't you?"

"Oh yeah, I love Doctor Seuss," Rain said while the other women nodded. "But I also read fairy tales and Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh. You know about those books, right?"

"Oh yeah," Alan said.

"Wizard of Oz," Rose said to Rain.

She nodded.

"Love that. And Velveteen Rabbit and Paddington Bear."

"I loved Paddington Bear," Rose said.

"Me too," Donna said. "Beats the heck out of…Tewan and the planet of the Mongragras," she said reading another book title.

"That's a classic," Alan said, pointing to it.

Awinita picked up another one.

"What about Quantum Physics and You?" she said to him.

"Bit dry. Wasn't the most popular book in the nursery," Alan said.

They stared at him.

"Yeah, you're right, Awinita. Makes our children's books look idiotic by comparison," Donna said.

"You're not idiots," Alan said. "In fact, your books have a lot more imagination than Gallifreyan ones did. They never had Mary Poppins or Peter Pan or anything like that. There's something to be said for having books that feed the imagination rather than just give you scientific facts. There's no shame in growing up with books like that. Don't be ashamed of who you are. It's your imagination that makes your culture so wonderful and fascinating. Why do you think we love it so much? If we thought Pat the Bunny and Doctor Seuss was puerile rubbish we wouldn't be discussing going to a bookshop to see what you used to read. You're poking fun at the Doctor for having a Cabbage Patch Kid and sparkly socks but this is all foreign to Gallifreyans. That's why he collects it. If anything, we envy you lot because you make stuff like that."

"Yes," the Doctor said, looking back at them. "And I agree with everything he just said. You have no reason to be ashamed of the good parts of your culture."

He opened another box and let out a joyful yell when he picked up a small metal box.

"And I found the nanobots!" he said to them. "Good, we can cure the old girl of her cold now."

"Come on, you lot, get what you want to get and let's get out of here," Alan said.

They nodded, grabbed the few things they wanted to take down and followed the Doctor out of the attic.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

When the Doctor decided to take them to a bookshop to look at the children's books, he went across the void so Rain could also see her father. John was happy to see them and offered to make them supper while they borrowed his pick-up truck to drive into town to the mall. Rain drove them and the Doctor and Awinita sat beside her while the rest of them sat in the back. Alan glanced at Rose.

"I just hope a skinwalker doesn't decide to chase us again," he said while she nodded.

The trip was uneventful and they reached the mall after about a half hour. They got out, went inside and found a Waldenbooks. They waved at the young teen behind the counter when they came inside.

"Can I help you find anything?" he asked them.

"No thanks, just looking," Alan said.

He nodded and busied himself while they walked to the children's section. Awinita spotted Pat the Bunny and handed it to the men. They giggled when the two of them opened the book and looked through it with big smiles on their faces.

"This is brilliant," Alan said to his brother.

Jenny came up beside them and they let her see it while the others looked through the books. They found the bunny with the fake fur and rubbed it while they chuckled.

"Come on, Angel, pat the bunny now," the Doctor said.

Jenny rolled her eyes and grinned when she rubbed the fur. Alan looked over at the women who were laughing and showing each other books they used to read.

"So what else did you lot used to read?" Alan said while the Doctor and Jenny smelled the flowers.

Awinita brought over a book.

"Clifford the Big Red Dog?" she said, handing it to him.

Alan stared at the big dog on the front and showed it to the Doctor.

"Look at this. I'm glad Blizzard and Rory won't get this big," he said to him.

"Yes, I think they'd crowd us out of the TARDIS if they did grow to be this size," he said to him.

He showed it to his daughter while Alan strolled over to Rain. He put his hands in his pockets and looked over her shoulder at the other books. He frowned when he read the title of one book halfway down.

"Let's Go Potty?" he said.

Rain looked where he was pointing.

"Yeah," she said, picking it up. "It's about toilet training. I didn't have this one when I was little but I had something like it."

"Really? You have books on going to the loo?" he said to her.

She shrugged.

"You had toilet training, right?"

"For about an hour. We grasped the concept the first time it was shown to us," Alan replied.

He took the book from her and giggling walked back over to the Doctor.

"Book about babies training to use the loo," he said, showing him the book.

The Doctor giggled and opened it up. His family laughed when he gave them a serious somber look.

"It's time to use the potty," he said in a serious voice while the rest of his family laughed. "You are a big kid now. Time to use the toilet."

He turned the page while Jenny leaned on his shoulder laughing.

"Don't be afraid. There is nothing scary about the potty," he read.

He raised his eyebrow while Alan and Jenny laughed.

"What? Did you lot think there was a loo monster or something?" he said while Alan and Jenny laughed harder.

"I think they mean the flushing sound scares little children, dear," Rain said.

The Doctor gave his brother an amused look while he giggled.

"Is that the same concept as checking under the bed for the bogey man?" he said to him.

"I s'pose so, Brother," Alan said, shrugging. "Read on though. The suspense is killing me. Will little baby use the loo properly?"

"I don't know, but let's read on and find out," the Doctor said.

They all laughed while he cleared his throat and gave them his grave expression.

"Climb up and sit down," he read. "You are getting big. I am proud of you for going to the potty by yourself."

He turned the page and looked at Alan.

"Can you imagine reading this thing back in the nursery?" he said to him while Alan laughed.

"You used the potty. Great job!" the Doctor read aloud.

He turned the page.

"The end," he said, closing the book.

"Wow, that was riveting," Alan said. "I was on the edge of my seat the whole time."

They all laughed and the Doctor handed the book back to Rain.

"Any more use the loo books?" Alan said to her.

"No, but I used to read this," Rain said, bringing another book to him.

The Doctor took the book which was made of a puffy plastic. He grinned while he squeezed it.

"Puffy, squeezy books, I love it," he said to Alan.

"Well, don't hog all the puffyness, Brother," he said to him.

They laughed when he handed it to him and Alan squeezed it. On the front was a little yellow dog in front of a bathtub. He read the title aloud.

"Spot takes a bath. Oooo, this sounds like another page turner," he said to his brother. "I'll read this one if you don't mind."

He opened the book.

"Spot is dirty," he read to them.

His eyes widened and they laughed when he looked at the Doctor.

"Oh no, poor Spot is soiled. Will he ever get clean?" he said.

They snickered at his intense look while he turned the page.

"It's time for Spot to take a bath," he read.

He turned the page.

"Spot likes baths."

He turned the page while everyone bent over laughing.

"Spot likes his rubber ducky. Gee, funnily enough, so does Brother."

"I have something in common with Spot, imagine that," the Doctor said.

"I hope we don't get tossed out of here because they think we're all insane," Donna said to the others.

Alan turned the page.

"Spot is clean now. Phew, that's a relief, I was worried he might stay dirty forever," he said to the others.

He closed the book and grinned when he gave it a few more squeezes.

"Puffy books, brilliant," Alan said to his brother.

"They made it that way so you could take it in the bathtub with you," Rain said.

Alan's eyes widened.

"Books you can take in the bath, extra brilliant," he said while they laughed.

He handed it back to Rain and followed her over. He stared at all the bath books.

"Wow, a whole selection of books you can take in the bath, Brother," he said, gesturing to them.

"Yup, humans are ingenious," the Doctor said, walking up beside him.

They looked over when they heard everyone laughing and walked over. They were looking at a Where's Waldo book. Alan glanced at it.

"Oh, Where's Wally? I've seen a few of these before," he said to them.

"Yes, we were just saying Wally looks like you," Rose said to him.

"He does not."

"Yes, he does," Awinita said. "If you put your glasses on and put on the hat and sweater, you and the Doctor would look exactly like Waldo."

"We would not!" both of them said in unison.

The women all looked at each other.

"Rose was telling us that they call him Wally in England and that the books started over there. I wonder why they named him Waldo over here then?" Awinita said.

"Maybe they thought Waldo sounded nerdier to Americans?" Rain said, shrugging. "It sounds more like a nerd's name to me."

"That's what we should call the Doctor then. Waldo," Awinita said.

They laughed when the Doctor smacked the back of her head. Alan walked around behind them and stared at the page they were looking at. It was a monsters and castle scene. He scanned both pages and smiled.

"Found him," he said triumphantly.

The women looked at him.

"Where?" Mingxia said.

Alan whistled and strolled back to his brother.

"I found Wally," he said smugly.

The Doctor walked over to them and looked. He grinned.

"I did too," he said as he walked back over to him.

They snickered when the other women looked hard.

"Need a hint?" Alan said.

"No, because if you give us a hint, we'll never hear the end of it," Rose said while the Doctor giggled and nudged his brother.

Jenny walked over to the women and frowned.

"What are you doing?" she asked them.

"This is a kind of game you can play," Rain said to her. "There's this little man named Waldo or Wally depending on where you live and he's hidden among all these people and you have to try to find him."

Jenny moved in beside her and stared at the page.

"Come on, Angel, find Wally before they do," the Doctor said to her.

Donna smiled.

"I see him," she said.

"Where?" Mingxia asked.

Donna pointed to him. He was strolling beside the ancient castle.

"Why'd you do that, Donna? You shouldn't have pointed him out," the Doctor said to her.

Jenny looked at where she was pointing.

"Him?" she said. "You have to find him?"

"Yes. Oh nuts, you didn't even know what he looked like, did you?" Rain said. "Sorry, dear, we should have shown you what he looked like."

Jenny stared at him and smiled.

"He does look like Dad."

"I do not!" the Doctor said while the other women laughed.

Jenny laughed when he came up behind her and tickled her armpits.

"I do not look like Wally, say it!" he said in her ear.

"Alright, you don't."

He smiled and kissed her cheek while he let go.

"Much," Jenny muttered.

They laughed when she ran away from him while he tried to tickle her again. They put the book back and went back to perusing the shelves while the Doctor and Alan stood behind them. They put their arms around their wives while everyone pointed to different books they read as children. The men smiled listening to them reminisce about their childhoods. Jenny came up beside Rain and the Doctor tousled her hair affectionately. Jenny looked at him.

"Have you read any of these books, Dad?"

"Some of them," he said. "I've read House on Pooh Corner, Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, Treasure Island…things like that. Why? Would you like to read some of them?"

"They're for children, aren't they?"

"Not those. Those are timeless classics," the Doctor said. "Adults read them as well. Now, Spot Takes A Bath is a tad too young for you but not those, no."

"Well, what would you recommend?" Jenny said.

The women looked at each other and began pointing out books for her while Jenny listened. The Doctor nudged past them.

"Okay, wait a tic; I have most of these already on board the TARDIS that she can read. What you just mentioned, I have them already. She can start out with those," he said to the others.

He glanced over at her.

"That is, if you want to read them. No one's forcing you to."

"No, I do want to read them. I mean, I'm curious and they're talking about loving them when they're were children."

He smiled.

"Okay, well, I'll show you where they're located when we get back to the TARDIS," he said to her.

He frowned when he heard Awinita and Rain discussing reading Flowers in the Attic.

"What's Flowers in the Attic?" he said to Rain.

"It's not a children's book," she said to him. "It's this novel by VC Andrews. I read it in high school and she did too. My friends and I read her novels and the Stephen King novels and passed them around."

"I know Stephen King but not VC Andrews," the Doctor said.

Awinita came up beside Rain.

"Flowers in the Attic was this really weird book. It's about this family that loses their father in a car accident and the mother doesn't get much of an inheritance so she and her kids have to go live with her mother in her huge mansion and they lock this woman's four kids up in the attic and they stay there for years."

The Doctor frowned while Alan came up beside him.

"Why did they lock them in the attic?" he said while everyone else stopped to listen to them.

"Well, it's because you find out that these kid's parents were brother and sister and got married and had these kids and the grandmother knew it and she was offering to support her daughter but she had to kill her kids in order for her to inherit their family's fortune and she did it. She slowly poisoned them with cookies laced with arsenic."

The Doctor stared at her.

"And you read this?"

"Yeah, it was kinda popular with me and my friends," Rain said. "But the grandmother locked them up and was cruel to them because she considered them freaks because their parents committed incest and she was all hellfire and brimstone and said they would go to to Hell for it. but they were up there as prisoners for…four years, I think and hit puberty and since there was no one else up there, the older brother and sister fell in love and did the exact same thing the parents did."

"Blimey," Alan said. "We never had a book like that on Gallifrey."

"And they died?" the Doctor said.

"One of the twins did," Awinita said. "There was the older brother and sister and a brother and sister twin and the boy twin finally got sick from the arsenic and died. They figured out what happened to him when this boy's pet mouse died from the cookie they fed him. There was a movie made about it but it sucked. They changed a bunch of things and gave it a happy ending."

"Happy ending in what way?" the Doctor said.

"Well," she said, "there was a series of books after this and in the next book after they all escape, they move to this town and the brother and sister get married and pretend to not be brother and sister and they have a son but their mother figures out where they went and follows them and tells their son the truth and tries to turn him against the parents. In the movie, the mother accidentally falls and gets hung so basically the kids are free to go without the mother coming after them. There's that series and several more but the other book series started having the same plot but with different characters and I stopped reading them."

The Doctor looked at the other women.

"Did you know about this?" he said to them.

Rose shrugged.

"I've heard of the book but I never read it. I had no idea it was about that though."

"Me neither," Donna said. "I don't think I'd enjoy reading something like that."

Rain shrugged.

"It was a shocking book for a teenager so I think that's why we all read it. Just the shock value of it."

The Doctor and Alan looked at each other.

"No books like that on Gallifrey, eh?" the Doctor said.

"No, Gallifreyans really didn't write books about grandmothers who lock kids in attics where they fall in love with each other. That wasn't something you'd find in the shops."

Awinita excused herself. She walked over to another section and came back a moment later holding the book in her hands. She handed it to the Doctor who studied it with Alan. He grinned at Alan.

"Suddenly, I have an insane urge to read Flowers in the Attic, how 'bout you?" he said to him while everyone laughed.

"Oh yeah, Rain and Awinita definitely peaked my interest," Alan said.

"And we can do what they did and just pass it around to the others when we get done," the Doctor said.

"What about the next one?" Alan said. "The one where the mother follows them?"

"Well, there's…four or five others, I think," Awinita said to Rain who nodded. "There are a couple of sequels and a prequel about the parents and when they first fell in love."

"Wow, we can just follow the incestuous people's entire lives," the Doctor said while they laughed. "But maybe we just better start with the first book and see how we feel after that."

"Yes, I like to slowly ease into books about incest and attics," Alan said. "And you also read Stephen King?"

Awinita and Rain nodded.

"I've read a few of those," Rose said. "He's not really my cup of tea though."

The Doctor shrugged.

"I don't fancy him either for the same reason I don't like horror movies. But incest and attics? Count me in!" he said with an evil grin.

They laughed when he took the book up to the counter.

"I can't believe you are actually buying that," Donna said while the women laughed harder.

"Incest and attics, what's not to love?" the Doctor said, waving the book in front of her nose. "My wife seems to love it which is good enough for me. Besides I'm gonna take a leaf from Awinita's book and read something frivolous for a change. I need a good giggle now and again."

They stood behind him while he purchased the book and then they walked out of the store.

"Now…" the Doctor said, reaching into his plastic bag for the book. "Gather 'round, my family, and hear the gripping incestuous tale of two children who shag each other in a dusty, musty attic."

"No thanks, we'll all give it a miss if you don't mind," Donna said while Rose and Mingxia nodded.

The Doctor looked at Jenny.

"Angel, fancy a tale about incest?"

"No, Dad, that's quite alright," she said while they laughed.

He pouted while he put the book back in the bag.

"Alright, Alan and I will just have to enjoy it ourselves," he said, sighing.

The Doctor winked at them while they headed towards the mall exit.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

"Yes! I finally got them!" Awinita said to Rain when the postmaster handed her a big brown box.

The Doctor had several PO boxes scattered around time and space and he had given the addresses to his family so they could order stuff occasionally whenever he went to check for mail or things he had ordered for himself. Awinita had ordered several DVDs and had just received the package. Alan wandered up and stared at the box with interest.

"And what is it that you've finally got?" he asked.

"Um…DVDs of old cartoons and specials Rain and I used to watch during the holidays. We were talking about them about a month ago and comparing notes and we went online and found out that they had them on DVD so we decided to get them just to relieve old times."

"Really? What kinds of cartoons and specials?" Alan said, intrigued.

"Like…Rudolph, Frosty, the Grinch and a bunch of old Peanuts cartoons we grew up with," she said.

"Wait a tic," Alan said to them.

He wandered over to the Doctor who was quietly reading a letter from one of his friends. They watched while he gestured to them and talked quietly. Rain glanced at her sister when she saw the delighted look on her husband's face and saw him whispering back to his brother. By now the others had come up behind the women.

"What are they doing?" Donna asked.

"I don't know. Awinita got a bunch of DVDs and told Bro about them and he went over to my husband and I assume he told him and they've been talking back and forth for about five minutes now," she said to them.

Finally, the two men came over to them.

"We wanna see these holiday shows you grew up with," Alan said. "And we were thinking perhaps we could arrange a kind of viewing party with Jack and the rest of Torchwood and maybe Sarah Jane and the kids. You said you have a bunch of Christmas shows?"

"Yes, I have a lot of Christmas shows Rain and I used to watch."

The men smiled at each other.

"Well, we also discussed perhaps having a Christmas dinner to go along with them?" the Doctor said.

The women grinned at each other.

"Sounds good to me, Bro," Awinita said. "But I have to ask. Do you wanna see all of them?"

The Doctor shrugged.

"Sure, I'm interested in seeing them. Why?"

"Well…I have a few Peanuts ones you guys probably haven't seen like the Thanksgiving one."

The men's eyes widened in interest.

"I would like to see that," Alan said. "Is it funny?"

Awinita and Rain nodded. Alan looked at the women.

"You lot wouldn't mind watching the Thanksgiving one, would ya?"

They shook their heads.

"Well, I also ordered the peanut's Valentine's Day one and the Halloween one and the Easter one and the Christmas one naturally."

"Well, it all sounds good to me," Alan said.

"Yes, I like Peanuts," the Doctor said. "Charles Schultz was brilliant."

"Well, I have that and several others that we used to watch and a few Charlie Brown movies that used to air when we were young."

"Movies? They had Charlie Brown movies?" Rose said.

They nodded.

"Yeah, there was one where Charlie Brown goes to a spelling bee and another where they go to France. I got those too."

The brothers and the other women stared at each other.

"I think we found something to do for this evening, girls," the Doctor said to them.

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The Doctor made a few calls and got Torchwood and Sarah Jane and the teens to come. They also called Wilf and he also agreed to come in order to see Donna. The TARDIS whipped out a lavish English Christmas dinner while the Doctor went to pick them all up. Rain and Awinita were floored that they wanted to do this.

"You know what, Sis? I thank God we met these two. I've never met anyone who got so excited over seeing old cartoons like they did," Awinita said.

"I know. I love it. I love how they're both so childlike and enthusiastic when it comes to things like this. Makes me love them both even more. I'm glad you got those DVDs now."

"Me too."

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"So, we're in for a night of fun watching Awinita's DVDs?" Jack said while all of them assembled in the living room.

"Yup, we're in for a night of animated fun," the Doctor replied putting his arm around his wife.

All of them settled down with their food while Awinita looked through the box. She glanced at them.

"What do you wanna see first?" she asked them.

They looked at each other.

"Put on a Charlie Brown one first," Jack said, settling down beside Ianto, "I like him."

"Put on the Thanksgiving one since none of us have ever seen that," Alan said.

They nodded.

"Okay, Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, coming up!" she said, pulling the DVD out.

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All of them were giggling while they watched it.

"I love how the only thing Charlie Brown can fix for Thanksgiving dinner is popcorn, toast and sweets," Donna said.

"Well, that's exactly what a little kid would make, right?" Sarah Jane said.

"Yeah, but wouldn't the popping popcorn alert his parents?" Rani asked.

"They never show the parents in these," Rose said. "Except when they make that wah wah wah noise the adults make."

"That was awfully kind of him to make Thanksgiving dinner," Jack said. "Especially since Peppermint Patty basically invited herself and her friends over."

Their eyes widened when they watched Snoopy lift up the garage door and noticed it was crammed full with boxes.

"Jesus," Martha said. "They packed the garage to the gills. How could you even get anything out? There isn't any space to put anything else in there."

They laughed when Snoopy pulled a ping pong table out and rolled it along.

"Wow, he did that and nothing fell on him," Jack said. "That is impressive."

They watched him bring out several assorted chairs.

"Um, is this a comment on how rich Americans are?" Ianto asked. "They have so much stuff they have to pack the garage till there's nothing left?"

"I'd hate to see their closets," Wilf said.

"Snoopy is smart. He knows how to set up a table and chairs. We need to teach our dogs how to do that," Alan said to the Doctor.

"He knows how to make little fancy serviette hats too," the Doctor said.

They watched while the guests settled around the table and Linus said grace for them before Snoopy served the popcorn, toast, jelly beans and ice cream.

"What is this?" Peppermint Patty said when the others began to eat it. "Where's the turkey? Where the pumpkin pie?"

"Why don't you go home and get it from your parents, you ungrateful bitch?" Jack said while they all roared with laughter.

He pointed to the TV screen.

"Well, look at her. She invited herself and her friends when Charlie Brown and his family are supposed to be leaving for his grandmother's house. Charlie Brown tries his best to feed them on short notice and she bitches at him because he didn't fix turkey for her. I'd punch her lights out if I was him. I mean, I know he's a wimp but I'd imagine even Charlie Brown has his moments when he snaps and goes off on his friends."

Rose raised her eyebrow while she snuggled against Alan.

"You mean Charlie Brown is gonna invite all the ingrates to go to his grandmother's house after they nagged him about the lack of turkey? You're right, Jack, he is a wimp," she said while they laughed. "I wouldn't be friends with any of them except maybe Linus. They all treat him like dirt."

They laughed when they left and Snoopy brought a huge turkey dinner out of his doghouse for him and Woodstock during the credits.

"Aha, so Snoopy saves the best stuff for himself," Alan said. "Yup, he's a smart dog alright."

They all chuckled and applauded when it ended and Awinita got up to change the DVD.

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They watched It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown next. Luke raised his eyebrow.

"Pumpkin carols? You have that in America?" he said while they laughed.

"No, Luke," Awinita said. "That's Linus's deluded brain thinking that up. That and the Great Pumpkin, that's all his idea."

"Oh, I was gonna ask you to sing a few pumpkin carols before you said that," Luke said while they laughed.

"No, Luke," Alan said. "Americans aren't crouching down in sincere pumpkin patches on Halloween night waiting for this Great Pumpkin. That's just him."

"Although you'd think they'd have something like that," Martha said. "I mean they have Father Christmas, why not the Great Pumpkin?"

They laughed when the kids went trick or treating.

"Was Charlie Brown wearing a blindfold when he cut the eyeholes in his sheet?" the Doctor said while they laughed. "Bloody Hell, after the first six holes you'd think he would have stopped or gotten another bed sheet."

"And they keep giving him rocks," Rani said. "They have some sadistic people in Charlie Brown's neighborhood."

"Yeah, everyone gets handfuls of candy and they throw rocks in his bag," Clyde said. "Even disguised, the adults still know it's him."

"It's a good thing Charlie Brown isn't real," Wilf said. "Poor chap would have gone through years and years of therapy otherwise."

They all laughed.

"Yeah," Jack said. "I can imagine Charlie at 25 standing on the top of a building with a gun screaming how the world screwed him while he shoots innocent bystanders."

"And how he never got anything but rocks for trick or treating," Mickey added.

"And how his lesbian friends bitched at him for not serving them turkey," Ianto said.

They all laughed hysterically.

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Awinita switched to a Christmas cartoon next called Twas The Night Before Christmas. They all giggled at it.

"Wait, this little mouse wrote a letter to the editor about not believing in Father Christmas and he gets angry and won't visit the entire town because of it?" Rose said. "Is Father Christmas that vindictive?"

"I think, Starlight, a more important question is why is Father Christmas spending his time reading letters to the editor in a mouse newspaper in some yokel town in the US?" Alan said.

"I think Santa's a bit too tense," the Doctor said. "I think he needs to calm down and realize most people think of him as a myth when they reach a certain age and he doesn't need to punish a whole town because of it."

"Well, he's assuming if the mouse signs the letter, All Of Us, it means the whole damn town," Jack said. "And they're going to build this Big Ben clock in what…two days to get him to come back? Are they going to enslave the whole town? Because I think they'd have to in order to build it that fast."

"Nah, Jack, they have these prefabricated Big Ben clocks that just pop out the box when you open it," Alan said while they laughed. "And they play a song that just magically makes Santa want to visit you."

"Well, all I gotta say is no one here write a letter to the newspapers telling people Santa's a fraudulent myth or he might punish all of us," Jack said.

They watched while the clock tried to run and instantly broke down.

"Oh no, Yokleville is doomed because the crappy clockmaker failed!" Jack said while they laughed. "What's the next scene? Him getting tarred and feathered and rode out on a rail for failing?"

"No, it's him losing all his business because he's a crappy clockmaker now," Rose said, pointing to the screen.

"Wow, the guy's having a rough day. The mice in his basement ruined Christmas and he's gonna starve now because of them," Alan said.

They watched the screen.

"Oh so it's mister write the letter mouse that ruined the clock, eh?"

"Yes, but in his defense, he was only sussing it out to see how it worked," the Doctor said to him. "It was probably too much of a temptation. You know, hickory dickory dock?"

"And he's gonna try to fix it now!" Rani said. "Go little mouse person!"

They watched while Father Mouse paced around his bedroom and said…

"Which brings us to two minutes…TWO SECONDS TO CHRISTMAS!"

"Wow, Father Mouse managed to tell a twenty minute story in two minutes, that's time management!" Jack said to them.

The clock reached midnight and there was silence while the mouse stared at the clock.

"Ought-oh, no clock song and vengeful Santa will pass them by now," Alan said.

Suddenly, the song started up.

"No wait, clock mouse fixed it," Jack said.

They watched while Santa paused his sleigh in mid-air and listened to the song.

"He's thinking, should I go down to the ungrateful asshole town or not?" Gwen said while they laughed.

He flicked the reins and turned his sleigh around.

"Wow, you can pacify Santa with music?" Jack said. "That's good to know."

They frowned when they saw his reindeer.

"Why does Santa's reindeer look like mice with hooves?" Alan said while they laughed.

"It's building on the whole mouse theme of the cartoon," Ianto said.

They listened to a voiceover reciting Twas The Night Before Christmas while Santa acted it out at the family's house.

"So, now we get to the reason the cartoon was named this," the Doctor said.

"So, do they have a little Santa Mouse like they had a Mouse Postman?" Mingxia said.

"Yeah, they had a mouse deliver their mail but they don't have a Father Christmas mouse," Clyde said.

"That's because Santa brings presents to everyone regardless of species," Jack said while they laughed.

"And after he gets done delivering the presents, they tie the nerd mouse up in a closet where he can't write anymore letters, ever," Rose said.

"Okay, that one was strange," Jack said when it ended. "Any other twisted ones you have, Awinita?"

"Well, I have another one called Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, that's kinda odd," she said.

They told her to put it in and she switched DVDs.

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They laughed while they watched it.

"Okay, now we know why Santa has issues," Jack said. "He was abandoned as a baby and left with weird elf toymakers who forced him to wear red and make toys night and day."

"And of all the places to begin delivering toys, he has to get stuck with a town called Sombertown," Alan said.

"And his dreaded arch-nemesis is an insane fat man wearing lederhosen," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, is this Germany?" Wilf said. "He's dressed up like a German and he's called the Burgomaster Meisterburger. And his soldiers have WW1 outfits on."

"Maybe this is supposed to be Nazi Germany," Ianto said. "They all act like it is with the whole no toys for the kids and everyone needs to work constantly ideology."

"Well, the schoolteacher must have been desperate to accept a teaching position there," Sarah Jane said.

"Yeah, how down on your luck do you have to be to go teach kids in Sombertown?" Jack said.

The Doctor laughed and glanced at Donna.

"Now, Donna, aren't you glad you weren't temping here?" he said while they laughed and she nodded.

"Yes, Donna Noble, the temp of Sombertown," Alan said.

"I've got a question," Luke said. "Do Americans think Santa travels around with a penguin?"

They laughed.

"No," Rain said. "That's just this cartoon."

"Good, I was wondering what a penguin had to do with Father Christmas," Luke replied.

"It got lost at the South Pole and walked around till it came to Germany," Clyde said to him.

They watched while Kris Kringle gave Winter Warlock a choo choo train that melted his icy heart and turned him into a good guy. Alan glanced at the Doctor.

"Oh, Brother, if only it were that easy. Give the villain a toy and they instantly turn good."

Rain giggled when the Doctor nodded.

"Although," he added. "I can see the appeal of a toy steam engine. I wouldn't mind having a little wooden one like that."

"Hear that, everyone? The Doctor wants a wooden choo choo," Awinita said. "Be sure to get him one for Christmas."

They watched while Kris sang to Winter Warlock about changing his ways and putting one foot in front of the other while the penguin and forest animals danced with him.

"Wait, Santa's singing about not hardening your heart and being kind to everyone and yet he punishes an entire town the moment someone calls him a fake?" Jack said while everyone laughed.

"Well, he's young here. Punishing the town happened when he was much, much older," Alan said.

"And before all the stress of toy delivery made him snap," the Doctor added.

"What I don't get," Rose said, "is if toys are illegal, why are they allowing these elves to live just over the mountain and make them? Wouldn't this bloke be ordering all the soldiers to go over there and arrest them so Father Christmas doesn't keep delivering to the children."

"I guess they're afraid of this warlock guy," Jack said. "And it's much easier to just round up all the toys and get rid of them."

"Well, I guess if they had thrown a toy steam engine in the warlock's face, they could have gone and arrested them then," Mickey said.

"Why is the chap so uptight about toys anyway?" Gwen said.

"It's Nazi Germany, Gwen," Jack said while they laughed. "It's Sombertown, Nazi Germany, where fun isn't allowed and Santa is the American who brings fun to people. It's American propaganda for children."

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They watched while the Burgomaster burned a pile of toys in front of the crying children.

"See, guys, Nazi Germany," Jack said while they laughed. "First it's toys, then it'll be books. You just watch."

"Well, what I find funny is that kid said they judge everyone by how well they do the chores and how clean their stockings are," Ianto said. "Why are they putting so much emphasis on the stockings? Do they have a stocking factory there?"

"Because stockings are unfunny things like chores," Alan said to him. "They're very somber things, you know."

"Well, the whole leaving the toys in the stockings thing…" Sarah Jane said. "The soldiers didn't notice the huge bulge in the stockings when they were searching the houses?"

"Well, Sarah, that's because in Sombertown, the way they dry their stockings is to heat rocks and put them inside. That way they get the stockings crispy dry inside and out," the Doctor said.

"Well the parents didn't seem to make much of a fuss when they dumped the toys out after the soldiers left," Gwen said.

"Well, the Burgomaster didn't object at first when Santa gave him the big yo-yo," Jack said.

"That's because yo-yos are fun," the Doctor said.

"Yeah," Awinita said. "And he should know since he owns hundreds of them."

The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out his wooden yo-yo. They laughed while he held it up.

"Yo-yos are brilliant," the Doctor said. "I can see the Burgomaster breaking his own law for one."

He grinned at his wife while he put it back in his pocket.

"We're not bothering you with these comments, are we?" he said to her.

Rain gave him a shocked look.

"NO! Are you kidding? I'm loving this. You guys are making these shows a thousand times better. Keep going with the comments, please," she said while they laughed.

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They frowned when they watched Kris standing in front of a wanted poster of himself that was nailed to a tree. Kris laughed at it.

"A wanted man, eh?" Kris said, while he stared at it. "Well, they'll never recognize me now!"

He turned around and showed off a red beard on the bottom of his face.

"Oh yes and that'll really hide you from the soldiers," Gwen said while they laughed.

"Yes, especially since he's the only ginger person we've seen," Alan said.

"I think it's supposed to be like Superman," Martha said. "Clark Kent puts glasses on and no one seems to get that he's Superman."

"Good point!" the Doctor said as they laughed. "Yes, it doesn't matter that he's the only ginger person for hundreds of miles. The moment he grows the beard, he's instantly disguised!"

They watched for a few minutes.

"But apparently the beard didn't work if they have to flee to the North Pole now," Alan said.

"Why the North Pole?" Jack said. "Fat lederhosen guy has that long a reach that they have to go all the way up there to get away from him?"

"They're trying to explain why Santa lives up there now," Wilf said.

"Yeah, but if I were fleeing, I'd go somewhere like the Caribbean," Donna said. "I wouldn't freeze my arse off in an attempt to hide."

"And the schoolteacher goes with him too. That's love," Rani said.

"Well, she's Mrs. Claus, she has to go with him," Rain said.

"I figured that's who she was," Jack said. "They've explained everything else so they'd have to explain where the misses came from."

They laughed when they saw him and Mrs. Claus sitting in their house in rocking chairs reading letters from the children.

"My, my, not only did they age fast and get white hair, they got very portly all of a sudden," Alan said.

"Nothing to do up at the North Pole, so they ate constantly out of boredom," the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Well, they have to explain why Santa's so fat," Ianto said.

"Yeah, but Jessica was as skinny as the Doctor and now she's this big fat thing," Martha said. "I feel sorry for her."

"There's nothing to do up at the North Pole except eat, I told you that," the Doctor said to her.

"So eventually Nazi Germany ends and everyone loves Santa and he can just deliver toys in complete peace, the end," Jack said when it ended. "Yeah, you're right, that one was odd too," Jack said.

"But now we know the entire history of Santa and why he does what he does," Donna said.

Awinita got up to change the DVD.

"Um, before you start the next one, I gotta go use the loo," Rose said.

"Yeah, I do too," Mingxia said.

"Okay, everyone take a lavatory break who needs to," the Doctor said. "And there's more food out in the kitchen so help yourselves before the next weird show comes on."


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

After taking a break and getting more food, the Doctor and his family and friends settled back down in the living room with the two dogs who laid down beside Jenny.

"So now what do we wanna see?" the Doctor said.

"Got any more weird Christmas ones?" Jack said to Awinita.

"A couple. I have one that Rain and I talked about seeing called Nestor the Long Eared Christmas Donkey."

They stared at her.

"Okay, that title alone just peaked my interest," Jack said while they laughed. "Put that one on for us."

Awinita nodded and took the DVD out of the box.

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"Okay, this is odd," Jack said while they watched. "Kinda like Dumbo with a donkey. What is it with people who make cartoons about animals with ears that are ten times too large for their bodies?"

Rose giggled. Alan grinned at her.

"What?" he said.

"Speaking of someone who had ears ten times too large for their body," she said pointing across the sofa to the Doctor.

They laughed when the Doctor smacked the back of her head.

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"God, this one is horrible," Martha said. "The poor donkey gets abused and degraded because his ears drag the ground and his mother freezes to death in a snowstorm protecting him? Are they trying to depress all the kids watching this?"

"It's the whole killing off the mother thing again," Rose said to her. "I guess Disney wasn't the only one doing that."

"Yes, but having the mother die in a snowdrift while she lays on top of her baby isn't the kind of thing I'd like to see at Christmas," Donna said.

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They raised their eyebrows.

"The misfit donkey ended up carrying Mary to Bethlehem? What?" Mingxia said while they laughed. "Where was that in the bible?"

"The part where they went to Bethlehem," Ianto said to her.

"Yeah but I don't remember the passage about the donkey having freakishly long ears that dragged the ground," Mingxia replied.

"It was cut out at the Council of Nicea," the Doctor said. "They didn't think it was relevant that people know about Nestor which is why this other donkey chap has to explain about him and his relevance to the Christian religion."

Luke looked at his friends.

"American Christmas shows are weird," he said while they laughed.

They looked at each other when it ended.

"I don't think I wanna see that one again," Donna said. "I suddenly feel like putting a gun to my head or taking anti-depressants."

"Um…well, let's see. We have Frosty the Snowman. That one's not depressing. You guys wanna see that one?" Awinita asked.

They nodded and she put it in.

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"What'd ya mean it's not depressing, Awinita?" Jack said to her. "Frosty's melting to death in a greenhouse. What is with all the death all of a sudden?"

"Why do they have a greenhouse up at the North Pole?" Ianto said. "I realize they say they need it to grow poinsettias but why isn't it attached to Santa's castle? Why is there a greenhouse just out in the middle of nowhere?"

"Because then you get the suspense of no one coming to save Frosty," Alan said.

"Why did the git go in the greenhouse in the first place?" Ianto said to him. "I know the little girl wanted him to go in to keep her company but surely he knows what he is and what heat does to him."

"Because he loves the little girl enough to go in there," Gwen said.

"Well Frosty deserves to melt then," Ianto replied.

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"Soooo, Frosty's dead now and once again we're all depressed," Jack said while they laughed.

They watched while Santa came and spoke to the little girl.

"And Santa's late because he was too busy reading mouse newspapers searching for disparaging comments about him," Alan said.

"Where's the penguin at?" Jenny asked.

They laughed.

"The penguin finally died. It was very old," Alan said to her.

Jack raised his eyebrow.

"Christmas snow has magic powers? Make a note of that everyone so we can use it to fight monsters," he said.

They watched while Santa opened the greenhouse door and the swirling wind turned the puddle of water back into Frosty.

"You know, I used to make snowmen when I was a kid," Mickey said. "I never realized that all you had to do to make one was dump water on the ground and let the wind blow over it."

"Probably only happens up at the North Pole, Mickey," Jack said.

They shook their heads when it finished.

"Now what?" Jack said.

"Well, they have a sequel to this," Awinita said.

"Really? What happens in the sequel? Frosty gets trapped in a sauna and Santa has to rescue him there?" the Doctor said while they laughed.

"No, Frosty gets married."

"Frosty does what?" Alan said while they laughed. "Married? When did that happen? I don't remember marriage in the song."

They grinned at each other and told her to put it in.

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"Okay, this is even stranger than the first one," Donna said. "I didn't realize snowmen got lonely and needed wives."

"What I don't understand is she has to have ice flowers to stay alive," Gwen said. "Why does she have to hold flowers while Frosty gets a hat? What happens if she drops the ruddy flowers somewhere? She dies?"

"I suppose she's doomed to use one hand for the rest of her snow life," Ianto said to her.

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Alan raised his eyebrow.

"Um…okay, first off, this vicar isn't fazed that two snow people are walking and talking in front of him and secondly, he's actually suggesting making a snow vicar because he feels he can't marry them? Am I missing something here? Do vicars do this frequently?"

Rain giggled.

"It's a children's cartoon, Bro. Everything talks to everything else and besides, it wouldn't do for them not to be married. You can't have two snow people living in sin."

They laughed.

"Thanks for clearing that up, Te'lesu!" Alan said as they laughed harder. "Yes, gotta have a Christian marriage for the snow people so they don't go to snowmen Hell."

"Which is probably the greenhouse from the last one," Jack said.

"Well, are the two horses that run around with the kids married then? They seem awfully familiar with each other," the Doctor said.

"Maybe they need to build a snow horse vicar to marry them," Wilf said.

Their eyes widened.

"And in order to bring snow vicar to life, he has to hold the man's bible?" Rose said. "What if he wants it back after the wedding?"

"I think this is a temporary thing, Starlight. After they're done, they'll rip the snow vicar limb from snow limb and take the bible back," Alan said.

"So the message of this cartoon is all snow people must be married to each other," the Doctor said.

"And snow vicars must marry them," Rose added.

"And Jack Frost is an asshole," Ianto said.

"And snow women have to hold ice flowers in their hand for all eternity," Donna added.

"And don't let Jack Frost be in charge of the seasons because you'll get winter forever," the Doctor said.

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"So what's next on our weird movie night?" Jack said.

"Have you seen Rudolph?" Awinita asked.

"I have," the Doctor said. "One of the few Christmas shows I have seen."

"Well, I have a Charlie Brown Christmas and the Grinch and the Charlie Brown Valentines one and the Charlie Brown Easter one and the two Charlie Brown movies."

They looked at each other.

"Put on Rudolph. I've never seen that one," Jack said to her.

She nodded and popped it in.

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They giggled at it.

"Poor Rudolph, having to put up with a singing homosexual elf dentist," Jack said. "I feel for the guy."

"Too bad long eared freak donkey was too busy carrying Mary to Bethlehem, they would have gotten along great together," Alan said.

"Well, shame on Hermie," Jack replied. "His ancestors risked their lives delivering toys to Nazi Germany and he just throws it back in their faces so he can be a dentist."

"And you noticed that Santa was being an asshole again telling Rudolph he was a loser," the Doctor said. "I wonder if this happened before or after the punish the town incident?"

"And Rudolph can't have a girlfriend because of his little light bulb nose," Martha said.

"That's okay, Fireball can go console her," Ianto said.

"Why didn't they chose Fireball to lead the team?" Jack said. "I'd think someone with the name Fireball would be a better choice than Rudolph."

"I love that Fireball sounds like he just hit puberty with the cracking voice though," Mickey said while they laughed.

"Yeah, why is Fireball making fun of him if he has a just hit puberty voice?" Jack said. "And if you ask me, being named Fireball is worse than being named Rudolph."

"Because presumably Fireball will grow out of the voice whereas Rudolph will have the light bulb nose forever more," Alan said.

They laughed when they saw Yukon Cornelius ride up to Rudolph and Hermie on his little sled pulled by several different dogs.

"Look at that," Alan said, pointing. "The man is making little puppies pull his fat ass around. How cruel can you get?"

"Name's Yukon Cornelius. I'm looking for gold. GOOOOOOOOOOLD!"

They laughed when the whole area shook at the sound of his voice.

"Wow, that's quite a voice Yukon has!" Sarah Jane said.

"No wonder he's off on his own. He's probably killed several people with the earthquakes he's started," Ianto said.

They raised their eyebrows when they watched him throw the pick up in the air, take it out of the dirt and lick it.

"Nothin'" Yukon said disdainfully.

"So, let me get this straight," Jack said while they howled with laughter. "The man isn't doing strip mining or digging down to find gold. He just throws the pick up and when it sticks in two inches of dirt, he picks it up and licks it?"

"It's the Doctor's way of doing things," Rose said. "Lick the pick and find the gold."

Alan laughed when the Doctor smacked the back of her head again.

"I wonder if he and the pick are married since he seems to like licking it," Ianto said.

"And what would be the proper person to marry a man to his pick? A pick wielding vicar?" Alan said while they laughed.

"I just pray to God they don't have a scene where he and the pick are in bed," Jack said.

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"I don't get it," Rani said. "This island of misfit toys thing. I don't see what's so bad about some of them. I actually like the cowboy riding the ostrich. It's cute. I wouldn't mind having it."

"Yeah and what's wrong with the Jack in the box that calls itself Charlie?" Donna said. "It seems to work properly but the fact he calls himself Charlie makes him repulsive to children then?"

"Well, the spotted elephant there…" Rain said. "I've seen uglier stuffed elephants before. I think the polka dots are cute on it."

"Yeah and the whole square wheels on the train," Jack said. "Take the wheels off and put round ones on, for Christ sake. That's the only thing wrong with it! God, children must be picky in this show. I've seen kids play with boxes before and clumps of dirt but the moment an elephant has spots, oh this will never do!"

"Well," Awinita said. "Does anyone know what's wrong with the doll? Everyone else told Rudolph what was wrong with them. But she didn't and I don't see a thing wrong with her."

They shook their heads.

"She seems to be one of the leaders," Jack said. "Maybe she just stays there to look after everyone else."

"I like the bird fish one," Alan said.

"Me too," Rose said. "I wouldn't mind having a bird fish toy that swims. Doctor, you need to go to this island so we can adopt all these toys."

"Yeah, Rose, I'll get right on that as soon as we're finished here," he said while they laughed.

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"Ugh! No wonder Santa doesn't wanna eat. If he has to listen to that crappy elf choir day in and day out, I'd lose my appetite too," Jack said.

"And see, I told you, didn't I? Nothing to do up there except eat," the Doctor said. "Mrs. Claus has to tell him to eat so he can get ready to deliver toys."

"Well, I can understand now why the poncy elf dentist wanted to defect from elf society if they make everyone sing for Santa," Ianto said. "Very humiliating if you ask me."

"And I just love how everyone abused Rudolph but now suddenly they're all just concerned about him being out in the blizzard," Martha said.

"Well, they suddenly realized they were being hard on him when they stopped a moment and said, wait a moment, the freak with the red nose could be a frozen carcass somewhere, we have to save him!" Alan said.

"Maybe Santa could go get long eared freak donkey to help find him," the Doctor said. "He seems to be an expert on surviving treacherous winter weather."

"Well, they better hurry so they can use Rudolph's 2 watt bulb to navigate through the snowstorm," Jack said. "Because we've all seen just how powerful his nose is, right? That little bugger could be mistaken for the sun, I'm betting."

"Well, if Rudolph can't see through the snowstorm they could always navigate by the music from all the clocks people had to construct after pissing off St. Nick," Donna said.

They laughed.

"Yeah, you're right, Donna. Yokleville couldn't have been the only one to make him angry. Gotta be more towns out there who don't believe in him and sent letters to their newspapers signed all of us," Alan said.

They watched while Rudolph's parents and his girlfriend found Rudolph and the others in a cave.

"How'd they know where to look?" Clyde asked.

They followed the Eeeeeee sound his nose makes," Rose said.

"Oh no, and now the ape monster yeti thing is gonna eat them," the Doctor said. "Where's Santa when you need him? He needs to stop eating and get away from the elf choir so he can save them!"

"Too bad you aren't there, dear," Rain said.

"Yeah, where's the Doctor when you need him?" Jack said while they laughed. "You have to save Christmas for us, Doctor!"

"Does saving Christmas include driving the mousedeer sleigh to deliver toys to all the people Santa's furious at?" the Doctor said.

"Yes, exactly, you have to use the TARDIS to deliver all the toys to all the children Santa refuses to deliver to because he's angry," Awinita said.

"Phew, that sounds like a handful but I love a challenge," the Doctor said.

"Why is Tubby wresting with the yeti?" Mickey said. "Shouldn't he just yell gold and cause an earthquake?"

They watched while they fell off the edge of the cliff together.

"Oh no, Tubby the pick licking prospector has died!" Donna said while they laughed.

"Tubby, we hardly knew ye," Alan said.

"Well they were all sad for their friend but they realized they had to get the women back to Christmastown," the voiceover said.

"Boo hoo hoo, Tubby's dead, oh well, gotta get the women back to Christmastown," Jack said while they laughed.

"When they got back to town, the others realized that maybe they'd been a bit hard on the misfits," the voiceover said.

"Everyone had a sudden epiphany and realized that's it's not good form to pick on reindeers with light bulb noses and homosexual elf dentists," the Doctor said.

"And so…everyone went and abused banjo playing snowman instead because banjo playing snowmen are evil," Alan said.

"And so…after saying their halfhearted apologies to light bulb deer and the elf with a difference, they set about getting ready for Santa's visit to the two towns who hadn't yet succeeded in pissing him off," Jack said.

"Meanwhile, Jessica, Mrs. Claus, had Santa tied to a chair and was shoveling food down his throat as fast as she could," Gwen said.

"Because it wouldn't do for kids to see a skinny Santa, they might be traumatized," the Doctor said.

They laughed when they watched an elf hooking Rudolph up to the sleigh while he wore heavy shades.

"And then…Ray Charles elf sat about hooking Rudolph up to the sleigh, wearing thick shades so his 2 watt bulb nose wouldn't blind him for life," Jack said.

"And finally, Santa had eaten and miraculously gained all the weight back he had lost with the Atkins diet and he was ready to whip his flying deer to death so they could go through the blizzard to the two towns who hadn't succeeded in pissing him off yet," Alan said.

"But sadly, the magic feed corn finally gave out after several hundred years and Santa and his reindeer plunged to a snowy death on the way to the first town," the Doctor said.

"What about misfit toy island?" Rain said to him. "They're going there first."

"Oh yes, sorry, they plunged to their death halfway to The Island Of Semi Misfit Toys That Got Stuck There After Bratty Unappreciative Kids Didn't Want Them," the Doctor said.

"Ready, Rudolph?" Santa called out.

Ready, Santa!" Rudolph called back.

"Argh!" Jack said when his nose turned on. "Jesus, I'm blinded for life after looking at that intense bright light on the end of his schnoz. Help me!"

They watched while they rose up into the air.

"And several seconds after liftoff, they crashed into a field and died just like Buddy Holly did," Alan said.

"Meanwhile, on misfit toy island, all is not well," Jack said when it switched to the toys sitting around a fire warming themselves.

"Poor steam engine," Donna said. "They had to use him as firewood to keep warm."

"We'll never get off this island," Charlie said. "I guess I'll go back to bed and dream for another year."

"I have no more dreams left to dream," doll said.

"Oh no, the doll's about to commit suicide now," Alan said.

The toys looked up when they heard jingle bells and saw a red light in the sky.

"It's Santa and Rudolph's leading the way!"

"I can see his nose from here!"

"Well, you lot must have eagle eye vision because I can't see how!" Donna said while they laughed.

They watched while Santa landed and the toys clambered in the back of the sleigh.

"Are they taking them to Sombertown then?" Rose said.

Alan laughed.

"Yeah, take them to the kids who have to wash stockings. They wouldn't gripe about having misfit toys," he said.

"No, they'd just get burned alive by fat guy in lederhosen," the Doctor said.

Santa rose into the air and Rain began to giggle hysterically. The Doctor smiled at her.

"What?" he said, amused.

"Okay, um…you know how fish bird can't fly?" she said to them.

"Yeah," they said in unison.

"Watch what happens to the poor thing," she said, pointing to the screen.

They watched the credits and saw an elf in the back of the sleigh handing umbrellas out to the toys so they could float down to the ground. The elf finally pulled out the fish bird, grabbed an umbrella, looked at the fish bird, looked at the umbrella and then tossed the fish bird over the edge without it.

"OH MY GOD, THE ELF JUST MURDERED HIM!" Gwen said while they laughed.

"I guess fish bird neglected to mention to the elf that he can't fly!" the Doctor said.

"Maybe toys are like bumbles, they bounce?" Alan said.

"Well, how is an umbrella gonna slow their descent anyway?" Jack said to them. "Especially the heavy wooden train?"

"I guess you're not supposed to think too deeply with these shows," the Doctor said.

They giggled when the show ended.

"Now what?" the Doctor said.

"How about the Grinch one?" Rose said.

They nodded and Awinita put the DVD in.

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"So this Grinch thing lives up above them and they've never bothered to chase him away?" Luke said.

"I think the Who people are oblivious to his evil intentions," Alan said to him.

"Doesn't he have anything better to do than stand there and just stare at them?" Jenny asked.

"Apparently not, Jen," Alan replied. "It's a very barren mountain."

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"God, the poor dog," Jenny said scratching the dog's head while everyone laughed.

"That's what we need to do with Rory and Blizz," Alan said to the Doctor while he pointed to them. "Tie antlers on their heads and make them pull huge sleighs while we whip them mercilessly."

"No, you leave them alone," Jenny said to him while he giggled.

"Any other dog would have bitten his legs off but not this ugly mutt," Jack said. "He just takes it all in stride and kills himself pulling the sleigh."

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"Okay," Luke said while they laughed, "these Whos must be deep sleepers because I'd think his nicking everything would make a lot of noise."

"The Whos are too busy asnooze in their beds," Jack said. "Remember the voiceover?"

Their eyes widened when they saw Cindy Lou Who pick up the ball ornament.

"Okay, Cindy Lou is teeny since that ornament was normal sized when it was in the Grinch's hand," Ianto said.

"Well, they had the teeny, teeny, teeny Who that gave her the strawberry at the beginning," Alan said.

"And do they have laws dictating where you can walk so you don't crush the teeny, teeny, teeny Whos?" the Doctor said. "Because I'd think there'd be a lot of accidental killings when the big Whos stepped on the little ones."

"Maybe they all have radar that lets them know where the teeny, teeny, teeny Whos are?" Mickey said.

"And the poor dog has to pull all this back to his house?" Jenny said.

"Yes, pity the poor dog that is enslaved to mister teeny heart tight shoes," Jack said.

"Maybe if long eared freak donkey wasn't busy lugging Mary to the stable he could help the dog out," Alan said while they laughed.

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"So the Grinch realizes that if you nick stuff people will still celebrate Christmas anyway?" Luke said.

"Not in Yokelville. Yokelville will fight tooth and nail to have Santa come visit them so they can have their trinkets and toys and whatnots," Alan said. "Whos aren't as greedy as they are, apparently," Alan said.

"And you know, this is just so true to life," Rose said, rolling her eyes. "Anyone else except these Whos would be yelling and screaming and going up the hill with torches and guns to kill the Grinch and get their stuff back."

"I guess that's why they tolerate the Grinch living there amongst them," the Doctor said. "They're all wimps."

"I guess they are since he comes back down and they don't kill him for nicking their stuff," Jenny said.

"And he's just throwing everything out to the crowd at random. I guess the Whos don't care about getting their own stuff back," Ianto said.

"Whoville is communist, it's share and share alike," Alan said while they laughed. "I'm sure the Grinch would have nicked their tractors too if he had enough room for them on the sleigh."

"And they let him carve the roast beast thing instead of just wrestling the knife from his grip and plunging it into his now larger heart," Jack said. "You notice that in most of these shows you either have people who are extreme doormats and let people crap all over them while they do nothing or you have the scene near the end where the people realize the ugly freak isn't so bad and just accept them outright."

They laughed and clapped when the show ended.

"Another lavatory break then before we finish up?" the Doctor yelled out.


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

They settled back in their seats and onto the floor.

"So, you guys just come up with things like this out of the blue?" Jack said to the Doctor.

"Well, we have to find things for us to do since we don't sleep much," the Doctor said. "We had no idea Awinita did this but I'm glad Alan asked about the box because this is fun. But every once in awhile we all get together and brainstorm things to do. We just sit at a table and yell out ideas and I write them down and we try to do as many as we can."

"Really? Like what?" Jack said.

The Doctor rummaged through his jacket pocket and pulled out a small pad of paper.

"We usually have two different kinds of categories. Things all of them did as children or growing up since Alan and I like to see what they used to do for fun and then we also ask people what they wanna see or where they'd like to visit and we get our ideas for that. But it's fun because you have English, American and Chinese women in our group so you get a nice mix of things from three different continents. Um…some of the things we've thought of…Fourth of July celebration with barbecue and fireworks. That was Awinita and then Mingxia suggested Chinese New Year after it and also we wanted to go see this giant Buddha statue at Leshan since they never got to see that. Um, we've had both fun fairs and state fairs, water parks, Alan and Rose wanted to go back to Disneyworld eventually for their anniversary and of course, Alan wants to ride Expedition Everest again," he said while Alan snickered. "We thought about another drive-in movie night since that was fun and then Rain and Awinita wanted to go back and meet their native American ancestors while Mingxia wanted to go back to imperial China. Alan wants to go to India so he, in his words, can do the lover's death leap with Rose off the Taj Mahal and find a maharaja and some thugees so we can all have our own personal Indiana Jones experience."

They laughed when Alan shrugged and grinned.

"I wanna see Rose pick up a bat and scream at it in terror, is that so bad?" Alan said while Rose slapped his arm.

"He also wanted to show us a couple of places they saw on their US trip since he hates that he and Rose and Awinita saw them but we didn't," the Doctor said.

"We had great fun, didn't we, guys?" Alan said to Rose and Awinita. "I get tired of telling the rest of them how much fun it was and some of the sights we saw. Granted the Jersey Devil and skinwalker incidents weren't fun but everything else was."

"But, that's part of the list," the Doctor said, putting it back in his pocket. "Like I said, we don't sleep and we don't wanna constantly stay in the TARDIS so we need to find things to do and I don't wanna be the one to suggest everything. It's not fun for me."

"And when were you planning on telling the rest of us about these fun things?" Jack said.

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"Um…we weren't. Why? You suddenly wanna go with us?"

"Okay, who here would like to go back to the drive in movies or go eat barbecue and watch fireworks or go to fun fairs and things like that?"

Everyone except Wilf raised his hand.

"I might enjoy the barbecue and the fireworks, but I'm too old for the rest of that," he explained to them.

"See, we're your friends and we also enjoy going out and having fun," Jack said. "We demand to know what you come up with during these brainstorming sessions so we can pick and choose when to go."

"What if we don't want you along?" Alan said while they laughed. "What if we wanna go to Disneyworld on our own?"

"Heh, heh, I think you have three teenagers who might have something to say about that," Jack said pointing to the teens as they nodded vigorously. "How do you usually determine what you do next?"

"Whatever we're in the mood for at the time," the Doctor said, shrugging. "But like I said, this whole movie night came about because Awinita just happened to get a box of DVDs, this wasn't planned."

"But now that we've had all this fun, Te'lesu, you have to get more DVDs so we can do this again," Alan said while they laughed. "You have to keep getting these fun movies we can comment on and laugh over. This has been a wonderful night."

"Yeah, you have to get the one Alan and I saw that has the leg lamp in it," Rose said.

"Oh! Yes, get the leg lamp one!" Alan said to her. "Oh my God, that one was hilarious. You have to get it, please?"

They laughed when Awinita stared at him with wide eyes.

"Okay, Bro, calm down, I'll get the leg lamp movie for you," she said while they laughed harder.

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"So, all that's left is Charlie Brown DVDs?" Jack said.

"Yup."

They looked at each other.

"Put the Christmas one in then," Jack said. "Finish up those."

She nodded and put it in while they settled back to watch.

"Thanks for Christmas card you sent me, Violet!" Charlie Brown said.

"I didn't send you a Christmas card, Charlie Brown!"

"There it is," Jack said. "The seeds of anger and resentment that will lead him to shooting a bunch of people when he's 25."

"Well, once again, he doesn't punch these people's lights out," Rose said. "I wouldn't have put up with that even before I met the Doctor."

"I don't think it would do to put in a scene where Charlie Brown beats the ever-loving crap out of his friends," Jack said.

"Why not? They put in scenes of donkey mothers freezing to death," the Doctor said. "Why not put in a scene where Charlie snaps and bludgeons people to death? It would be a hell of a lot more realistic to me if they did."

"I'm surprised they still show this at Christmas too," Rain said. "With the whole anti-commercialism message it has."

"Yeah, not to mention it promotes Christianity," Awinita said.

"It does? Where?" Jenny said.

"Near the end, Jen," Alan said.

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"Does anyone ever give Charlie Brown a break?" Jenny said to them. "We've watched all these shows about him and he seems like a good person and everyone just torments him."

"That's how it is for him," Rose said to her. "He's a constant failure at everything he does and he has all these ungrateful arses around him who make his life hell. That's why we keep saying he'd snap if he were real and kill someone."

"I don't doubt it," Jenny said, shaking her head.

"Sally, come here," Charlie Brown said to his sister.

"What do you need her for?" Linus said.

"She's gonna be your wife."

They laughed when they showed Sally with hearts floating out of her head.

"Hey, it's Rain," Alan said.

"Isn't he the cutest thing?" Sally said to Linus while he threw his blanket over his head. "He has the nicest smile."

"You're right, it is Rain and the Doctor," Jack said while they laughed harder. "She even talks like her too."

The Doctor chuckled and kissed his wife on the head while she snuggled closer to him. She smiled up at him.

"Isn't he the cutest thing," she said to him in a falsetto voice. "He has the nicest smile."

"Meanwhile, Donna is the woman moaning about the naturally curly hair," Alan said.

"No, Donna is Lucy," Jack said while Donna flipped them both off. "The whole I KNOW WHEN I'VE BEEN INSULTED line is very her. Donna would definitely be the one to pull the football away from Charlie Brown too."

"Well, you're bleedin' Pig Pen then who raises a cloud of dust everywhere ya go," Donna said to him while they laughed.

"Now, now, siblings, calm down," the Doctor said. "Remember the Christmas spirit here!"

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They watched while Linus stood on stage quoting a passage from the bible. Jenny looked at her father.

"This is beautiful, Dad, what's it from?"

"The Christian bible, Angel. This is what Rain meant earlier about the show promoting the Christian religion."

"This is the same bible that has the long eared freak donkey in it?" she asked.

They howled with laughter.

"Yes, Jen, this is the same bible that talks about the long eared freak donkey taking Mary to Bethlehem," he said, tousling her hair.

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Jenny shook her head while they watched the Valentine's Day cartoon.

"I think you lot are right. Charlie Brown needs to punch some people," she said while they laughed.

"Well, I think it's a very bad sign when your dog receives more valentines' cards than you do," Alan said.

"I think it's a very bad sign when your dog gets more attention and praise than you do," the Doctor said. "Never mind the lack of valentines."

"But he gets rocks, he never gets any cards or letters, he got yelled at for trying to find a Christmas tree, why is this boy still alive?" Jenny said. "I think he'd be trying to commit suicide by now."

"Who says he hasn't?" Jack said. "I'm telling ya, Charlie will be in therapy eventually for this after he shoots a bunch of people."

"And he fancies this little ginger girl that doesn't seen to know he's alive," Luke said. "So he falls in love and the woman he loves won't love him back. This bloke's had a hard life so far."

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Luke shook his head.

"Easter Beagle, you Americans are strange," he said while they laughed. "Dogs who think they're in WW1 and think they're Easter bunnies and cook turkey for birds."

"And has lesbians fancying him," Jack said.

"Yes, what's up with that? Is Peppermint Patty blind?" Rani said. "Why does she think Snoopy's a human? He looks nothing like a human!"

"Because Peppermint Patty's a blind bitchy lesbian who's into bestiality," Ianto said while they laughed.

"And she's obviously the male in her relationship with Marcie since she calls him Sir all the time," Jack said while they snickered.

"I wouldn't doubt it. She looks butch enough," Ianto said to him.

"So the whole fancying Charlie Brown is just her trying to cover up her lesbian tendencies, I guess?" Martha said.

"And her love of dogs too," Mickey said while they laughed.

"So we have one psychotic kid who'll grow up to shoot everyone in a shopping center and another who's desperately trying to cover up her love of women and dogs," Jack said.

"And one who walks around carrying dirt and disease which will eventually affect the whole town," Clyde said.

"And then we have Lucy, the abusive woman who will grow up, become an alcoholic and beat Schroeder once they get married because Schroeder is too busy fancying Beethoven to think about shagging her," Alan said.

"And Linus, who will have to have people pry his blanket from his cold dead hands when he finally dies at 80," Rose said.

"And Snoopy, who has retreated into a fantasy world of WW1 flying aces and Easter Beagles to escape the madness around him," the Doctor said.

"And the one token black kid who gets a few lines now and again," Mickey said.

"And Woodstock, who bashes into trees and buildings because he has an inner ear problem that he won't fix," Ianto said.

"And all the adults who have saxophone voices that no one but the kids understand," Rain said.

"I think that's a comment on how kids hear adults," Mingxia said. "Little kids hear adults and it sounds like wah, wah, wah to them."

"And all these kids can just run around and do whatever they want and no adult will stop them," Donna said.

"It's the Lord of the Flies except they're not on an island," the Doctor said. "And Charlie Brown is Piggy and eventually they'll all turn on him and kill him."

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"So, that's it except for these two films?" Alan said when they finished.

"Yes, one is about Charlie Brown going to a spelling bee and the other is about him going to France," Awinita said to them.

"France? Charlie Brown gets to go to France?" Jack said.

"He has to go over there to escape all the abuse," Sarah Jane said to him.

"I don't doubt it," Jack said.

"Let's see the one where they go to France first," Alan said while everyone nodded in agreement.

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"Ah, I see, they're exchange students so they have to be kicked out and go to France," Alan said while they watched. "What was wrong with the American school? Not enough desks to accommodate them and the two French children so they had to exile them to Europe?"

"Yes, there's only a certain number of desks in the US and if more come in you have to leave," Rain said.

"Wow, that sounds rough," Alan said. "I hope you never had to go to Europe because some Croatian kid decided the US might be fun."

"And the lesbian twins have to go also?" Jack said. "Him and Linus have to put up with them in France? So, even if he goes to Europe, he can't escape the cruelty?"

"Why does the dog and bird go then? Are there French dogs and birds coming over and they have to leave as well?" Wilf said.

"I think it's because Snoopy is popular so you have to have him tag along no matter what," Donna said to him

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"Oh wow, they go to London first," Rose said. "Yeah! Charlie Brown and Snoopy came to London!"

"Come to Chiswick, Charlie!" Donna yelled.

"No, come to Ealing!" Rani yelled. "You'll like Ealing!"

"Come to Cardiff, London sucks!" Jack yelled.

"He doesn't have time to come to Cardiff, he's on his way to this French chateau to meet the mysterious French woman in it," Alan said.

"And what a lovely name the chateau has. The House of The Bad Neighbor? Oh yeah, count me in! I wanna go stay somewhere like that!" the Doctor said.

"Are you kidding, Doc, that's the first place you'll go to," Jack said while they laughed. "Don't pretend you wouldn't be excited to go to The House of The Bad Neighbor. You live for going to places like that."

"Yeah, you're right, I do," the Doctor said while they laughed.

They watched while Snoopy and Woodstock went to Wimbledon and played a tennis match.

"Go Snoopy!" Rose said. "Beat whoever it is you're playing against."

"Andre Agassi?" Donna said, shrugging.

"Works for me. Go Snoopy, beat Andre Agassi!" Rose yelled while they laughed.

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They laughed while they watched Snoopy and the others get into a rental car in France.

"So…in France, it's perfectly legal for dogs and little kids to drive on the roads?" Jack said. "Remind me never to drive in France then."

They laughed harder when he pulled out onto the road and immediately caused a multiple car pileup behind him.

"And that's why you should never let dogs drive in France," Alan said.

Their mouths dropped open when Marcie popped out of the sunroof and began screaming insults at the other drivers while Snoopy made hand gestures out the driver's side window.

"Wait, first off, it was their fault," Jack said. "Second, how does Marcie know French well enough to hurl insults at the other drivers and third, is someone now gonna pull out a shotgun and shoot Miss Road Rage in the face?"

"I guess that's why they brought her along," Alan said. "She's in charge of yelling at the other drivers when Snoopy almost kills someone."

They watched while they drove off and drove along before breaking down in front of a French bakery.

"Charlie a bit famished, is he?" the Doctor said while they watched him buy a long loaf of French bread from the bakery.

"Screaming insults at other people makes one hungry," Alan said.

The car hood slammed down on the bread breaking a piece off inside. Afterwards, the car runs fine.

"The car was hungry?" Gwen said while they laughed.

"The motor was famished after the other cars slammed into it," Alan said.

"So if you just feed bread to your car, it works? Keep that in mind, gang, for our SUV," Jack said.

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"Oh God," Jack said. "Yet again Peppermint Patty is trying to hide the fact that she's a lesbian."

"Well, who can blame Pierre?" Mingxia said. "He is kinda cute. I can see Peppermint Patty and Marcie liking him."

"I don't think Marcie likes him as much as Peppermint Patty does though," Ianto said.

"I think Marcie is trying to make Patty insanely jealous," Martha said.

"Well, I love how culture shocked Patty is and how bitchy she's become now," Mingxia said. "The doing the chores when they wake up and the cheese, sausages and soup they had for breakfast. If she hates it that much, why did she agree to go?"

"I don't think they had a choice," the Doctor said. "I don't think Charlie Brown and Linus had a choice. I think both their teachers saw an opportunity to get rid of the basket case, the blanket fiend and the two lesbians and told them to get out of America or else."

"Yes, but apparently this Violette girl was waiting for Charlie Brown to come or was hoping she'd come since she sent him a letter just before he left," Gwen said.

"Maybe there's a secret romance brewing in The House of The Bad Neighbor," Jack said.

"Well, apparently Charlie Brown's such an enormous failure that his fame has reached overseas," Alan said. "And now this French girl wants to see the loser for herself."

Charlie Brown and Linus arrive at the chateau and find it locked. They spend the night sheltering from a thunderstorm in the chateau barn.

"Aw, poor kids," Rani said.

"Well, they keep saying the Baron is cruel and hates all of mankind," Alan said. "I don't think he'd throw open the door to two Americans and just invite them in for tea."

They watched while Snoopy dressed in his WW1 flying ace outfit goes to a French pub and drinks pint after pint of root beer. Their eyes widened when they see him getting visibly drunk.

"What the hell is in that root beer?" Jack said.

"Beer apparently," Alan said.

"Wait, this is kinda like the scene in the Halloween one where Snoopy was in the pub," Rani said.

"Oh Lord, they're recycling scenes now, not good," Ianto said. "Are we gonna watch Linus stand in the middle of Paris and recite from the bible again?"

The next morning after finding tea and croissants by their bodies, Charlie Brown and Linus go to school with Marcie and Peppermint Patty. Peppermint Patty is forced to sit with Charlie Brown and begins to complain each time he does something and pushing him out of his seat. She keeps it up until he finally gets angry enough to yell.

"WILL YOU STOP CRITISIZING ME?" Charlie Brown screams at her.

"'Bout bloody time he said something!" Donna said while everyone applauded.

"Yes, but this is it, guys. The shotgun's gonna come out and there's gonna be bloodshed in France and…oh wait, he gets sent to the headmaster's office. Damn. His wimpy streak wins out again!" Jack said while they laughed.

"Yes, but it's nice to know he does have his limits," Rose said.

"I'm glad Patty got sent there with him," Sarah Jane said.

"She should have got sent there on her own since she was the one doing it all," Wilf said. "Was the teacher not paying attention until he screamed?"

The boys still have no idea who is helping them through the night. One night, Charlie Brown and Linus agree to take turns standing watch to identify their mysterious benefactor. That night, the Baron is going down the pub and he instructs Violette not to let the boys in.

"What an asshole," Rose said. "If he doesn't want them there, why doesn't he tell them where an inn is so they don't freeze to death in the barn?"

"Because then he would care about his fellow man, which I guess he doesn't," Alan said.

"Well, Violette obviously wants them there because she's feeding them and covering them up," the Doctor said. "You know, this isn't your run of the mill Charlie Brown cartoon. This one has a very intense story to it."

Linus sees that the blankets have been fixed and new food has been put out, so he gets up and attempts to follow. Upon entering the chateau for the first time, he follows the light through the foyer and parlor, eventually heading up to the top floor. The light moves down a long hallway and through a door, down which Linus carefully sneaks. He peaks through the keyhole and sees a young girl with auburn hair dressed in a white shirt and lavender pinafore dress looking through some documents and photographs. Linus quietly enters the room, badly startling Violette.

Violette confesses that inviting Charlie Brown to the chateau was a mistake, and that if her uncle were to return and find them, they would be in great danger. Linus refuses to leave and makes Violette explain herself. She then tells the story - her grandmother had often told her the story of a wartime love affair that she had with a man known as Silas Brown, Charlie Brown's grandfather. She then produces a black-and-white photograph of a soldier who bears a striking resemblance to Charlie Brown and a curly-haired woman smiling daintily. Silas was an infantryman stationed in France during World War II, and stayed at the chateau. There, he met Violette's grandmother and they fell in love. When Silas received his marching orders, he promised to write letters to his love; however, they eventually stopped coming. Violette's grandmother moved on, marrying and having a family; however, she never forgot the charming American.

"Ooooh!" everyone said when she finished her story.

"So…did that mean Silas had a wife back home and he was cheating on her?" Jack said.

"Nice to know not all Charlie Brown's family were losers," Rose said.

"Well, they didn't seem to be too much in love if his grandfather never went back for her after the war," Martha said.

As Linus and Violette are talking, Charlie Brown is sleeping and Snoopy and Woodstock are having one of their late nights at the pub playing foosball while Snoopy downs multiple pints of root beer. The baron, who frequents the same pub, knows about the boys and has tolerated them long enough, he confides in the bartender, Francois, that if they do not leave, he will have to take drastic steps to remove them. He returns home to Violette's surprise, and in her rush to usher Linus out of the room, the candle falls down and ignites an old curtain. The curtain bursts into flame, and with a scream, Linus takes Violette out of the attic storage area and towards a pair of windows. He throws them open and shouts for Charlie Brown, who awakens and runs down the road screaming for help. He makes it quickly to the pub where Snoopy and Woodstock are, and as they rush off to the chateau to help, Charlie Brown continues running to Pierre's farmhouse and points out in the distance that the chateau is on fire! Pierre says that he will call the Fire Department while Peppermint Patty and Marcie rush out in their nightclothes barefoot towards the chateau.

"Wow, this is really intense now," Ianto said.

"This is really good," Jack said. "It's not all kid's stuff like the other shows were."

When Snoopy and Woodstock arrive back at the chateau, it is fully engulfed in flames. Snoopy immediately heads to a shed adjacent to a creek that runs through the chateau's property and brings out an early 20th Century fire pump with hose and brass nozzle. Once Linus and Violette are rescued, Snoopy commands Charlie Brown and Pierre to work the pump. They do so; however, Snoopy is not prepared for the intense water pressure and is spun around, splashing Charlie Brown. He grimaces while Snoopy shrugs and grins helplessly and Linus starts working the pump for Charlie Brown. Eventually, the water begins pumping again, but out pops Woodstock with a begins playing while the others work. The water then begins to flow and Snoopy's stream of water strikes the upper window. At this point, the roof has been half-destroyed, the attic is in ruins, and the fire is descending to the second floor.

"Woodstock fiddles while the chateau burns," the Doctor said while Alan snickered.

While Snoopy is working the hose, he hears a siren and a fire truck arrives, screeches to a halt, and three shadowed firefighters arrive. One works a fire gun from the top of the tanker to strike at the lower floors and stop the fire's progression while another climbs a ladder and works the roof. Eventually, the fire is extinguished.

"And the man loses half his house because he wasn't kind to others," Alan said sternly. "That's the lesson in this one."

the gang is relaxing in the chateau's parlor which escaped unscathed from the fire. They are the first outsiders to be allowed into the chateau according to Pierre. The Baron, thankful they saved the chateau, has a change of heart and promises that he will never be so mean and unhospitable again. Charlie Brown learns the full truth behind the mysterious letter he received. Later in life, Violette's grandmother married and she had a family. Many years ago, an American friend of Violette's family stopped in a small village to have his hair cut, and the barber was Charlie Brown's father. It was then that Violette found out about Charlie Brown, and unbeknownst to her uncle's anger, she wrote the letter inviting him to stay. Peppermint Patty chimes in tearfully that the entire romantic story is wasted on him.

"What a bitch," Rose said, shaking her head. "Why is he even friends with her? I don't get it. He can scream at her in class, why doesn't he tell her to piss off?"

As the gang are leaving the chateau, Violette gives Silas's satchel to Charlie Brown with kisses on his cheeks. Peppermint Patty puckers up with her eyes closed hoping to get a kiss from Pierre, only to get a kiss from Snoopy. When told by Peppermint Patty to shake Pierre's hand and tell him they had a good time, Marcie leaps up and hugs Pierre tightly with a huge smile. Finally, Linus bids adieu to Violette, as does Snoopy with a kiss to her hand and a hug, whereas Marcie and Pierre appear to be almost kissing. He shakes Pierre's hand and hops in the beat-up station wagon. As they turn onto the road, the wagon is again rear-ended by multiple cars and Marcie starts hurling insults again as the movie came to a close.

"Wow, I liked that one as well," the Doctor said. "It was different."

"Yeah but I was still waiting for someone to shoot Marcie when she screamed at the other drivers," Jack said. "And waiting for Charlie to snap and shoot everyone. He nearly did it too."

"Well, if I had to go through France with Peppermint Patty, I think I'd turn the gun on myself," Rose said, rolling her eyes.

"So, one more then?" Alan said to Awinita.

"Yup, one more," he said while they groaned. "I wasn't planning to watch them all in one night either until you two came along."

"But aren't ya glad ya did?" Alan said, grinning at her.

They laughed when she smiled and nodded. She put the last DVD in, A Boy Named Charlie Brown.

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Rose's mouth droppped open when they watched Charlie Brown win a school spelling bee and qualify for the national one.

"Charlie Brown was successful at something? Isn't that one of the seven signs of the apocalypse?" she said while they laughed.

"Well, they have to do that because years from now when he's put into the asylum for the criminally insane after shooting up a shopping center, the therapist can point to this one moment and say, see you're not a complete and utter failure, Charlie," Jack said.

"I like that in order to win, Snoopy had to play him a song about I before E except after C on his mouth organ," Alan said. "I guess humans need that in order to remember grammar rules like that."

Their mouths dropped open when the kids carried him home from school on their shoulders while they sang about champion, Charlie Brown.

"And now they love him?" Jenny said. "These people are evil!"

"Telling ya, guys, eventually he's gonna need a therapist and it won't be Lucy sitting behind her wooden booth," Jack said.

"And what, the moment he fails, they'll be kicking him in the dirt again?" Rani said.

"More than likely," Donna said.

Later on, at Charlie Brown's house, Lucy proclaims that Charlie Brown with his newfound fame must have an agent, to which she feels she should be most suited for. Everyone in the room snorted.

"Oh yeah, I bet you wanna be his agent now," Rose said. "The one who pulls the football out in front of him wants to make money off of him when he finally does something right."

Soon afterward, Charlie Brown boards the bus for the trip to New York City. Linus wishes him luck, but then hands Charlie his blanket for good luck. The kids cheer Charlie on as the bus pulls away. Back at home, Linus is beginning to suffer terribly from withdrawal after giving his blanket to Charlie Brown. Finally unable to take it anymore, he pleads with Snoopy to help him go to New York to find Charlie Brown and get his blanket back.

"Okay, I gotta ask since this is completely alien to me," the Doctor said, leaning up. "Were any of you humans this neurotic about a blanket when you were younger that you got physically ill if you were seperated from it?"

"I didn't. I had a teddy bear though that I carried around with me till I was about five," Rose said.

"I had a blanket but I didn't get ill if I didn't have it with me," Awinita said. "I slept with it at night though."

"Well, I was wondering because we never had any need for blankets or bears or things of that nature," the Doctor said, leaning back.

"So what did you do when you got scared?" Rain said.

"Um…we didn't get scared at shadows and things that might be under our beds," the Doctor said to her. "We got scared if there was an actual scary thing but we didn't have childhood fears like you lot did. So there was no need for security blankets."

Soon afterward, Charlie Brown hears a knock on his door. When he opens it, he is greeted by an enthusiastic Snoopy. Linus, however, passes out. As he comes back to consciousness, he explains to Charlie Brown that he keeps passing out from being without his blanket. Charlie tells him that he isn't sure where the blanket could be. One possibility could be that he left it at the New York Public Library. Linus and Snoopy then take off through the streets of New York, with Linus looking here and there, painfully muttering "it isn't here!" at every turn. As he continues walking, Snoopy gets distracted, and ends up ice-skating at the Rockefeller Center ice rink. Soon, he catches up to Linus at the library, who, after peering through the front doors of the closed structure, is convinced it isn't here either. Angrily, he storms back to Charlie Brown's hotel room to tell him.

"Is Linus gonna collapse and die at some point?" Jack asked while everyone laughed.

"Like I said, this is totally foreign to me," the Doctor said. "I never would have wandered around the mountains by my home muttering it isn't here to myself. The others already thought I was strange without doing that on top of it.

Jack looked at Ianto.

"Excuse me, Yan, I'll be right back," he said, getting up from the floor.

Everyone watched while he walked over to the Doctor.

"You would never have a security blanket?" Jack asked him.

"No, I'd never have a security blanket. I have no need of one, Jack."

Jack laid his hand on Rain's head.

"Gee, I never see this little woman too far from your grasp. You seem to have a constant need to hold on to her and I'm betting if she left the TARDIS you'd become physically ill and pass out."

They laughed when he patted his head and walked back to Ianto. Rose grinned at him.

"He's got a point, Doctor. There are other forms security blankets can take."

"I enjoy her company, is that alright with you, Jack?"

"Yes, but you keep saying you don't need something to get you through the day and Rain here is always at your side which proves my point that you do need her and you would pass out without her."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the Doctor said while Rain kissed his cheek.

Alan stood up.

"Hello, I'm Alan Timelord and I do admit it. Rose is my security blanket and don't you dare use her to shine your shoes like Charlie Brown is doing with Linus's blanket or I'll be very put out. I proudly admit that I cannot live one second without Rose at my side. Thank you."

He plopped back down while everyone laughed.

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Charlie Brown goes backstage while Linus & Snoopy take their seats at Radio City Music Hall where the spelling bee is to be held. Back at home, the rest of the gang are tuning into the spelling bee, which is being broadcast on television. One-by-one, the losing contestants leave the spelling bee, until it's just Charlie Brown and one other boy. Charlie Brown is then eliminated for misspelling beagle as B-E-A-G-E-L. Everyone lets out a scream; besides it being a relatively simple word, Snoopy is himself a beagle. Sadly, Charlie Brown returns home, along with Linus and Snoopy. When they get home in the nighttime, no one is there to greet them.

"And of course, the moment he screws up, everyone hates him again," Jack said.

"Well maybe if Snoopy had used his mouth organ to communicate L before E when it's after sodding G, Charlie Brown would have won," Donna said.

As they go their separate ways, Linus tells Charlie Brown good night, but he doesn't respond. The next day, Linus goes to Charlie Brown's house, where he meets Sally. She tells him that her brother has been in his room all day with the shades down. As Linus knocks on the door, Charlie Brown asks who it is. When Linus asks if he can come in, Charlie Brown replies, I don't care. Linus opens one of the shades, and sees Charlie Brown lying in bed. When Linus mentions that the other kids missed him at school, he replies that he isn't going back to school again. Linus tries to mention that they had a baseball game as well, and won. Charlie Brown rolls his eyes at this: his team won a game, and he was hardly there. Linus tells him that he must feel that he let everyone down, by losing the Spelling Bee. As he turns to go, he looks back. But did you notice something, Charlie Brown? The world didn't come to an end, he says.

"It did for him apparently since he's in his room contemplating suicide," Alan said.

"I don't blame him for doing that," Rose said. "You know the moment he goes back, the kids will be on him about losing. He's not an idiot."

As Linus shuts the door, Charlie Brown thinks for a moment, and then turns on the light. Getting dressed, he then goes outside. Outside, there are kids jumping rope and more. As he walks through a field, he sees Lucy playing with a football. As he watches, she holds it as if waiting for someone to kick it. Charlie Brown begins to sneak towards the ball, and just as he's about to kick it, she pulls it away, causing him to land flat on his back. As she walks over to him, she smiles and says "Welcome home, Charlie Brown."

"And the cycle of pure hell starts again for Charlie Brown," Jack said while the credits rolled.

They were all quiet when Awinita took the DVD out.

"That's it?" Alan said.

"Yes, sorry, that's it."

She and Rain laughed at the mournful looks on the Doctor and Alan's faces.

"I'm sorry, guys, I didn't realize you were gonna be watching these with us," Awinita said. "I got it so Rain and I could watch them during the holidays and relive our childhood. We really didn't think you'd be interested in them too since you're pretty much all adults in here."

"Yes, but we had fun eating and laughing and making fun of them," Alan said while eveyrone nodded in agreement. "Now what do we do after all the fun has ended?"

"What's next on your list, Doc?" he said while everyone laughed. "Why don't you jump ahead to Alan and Rose's anniversary and take us all to Disneyworld now?"

"You have money?" the Doctor said.

"No, but you have a TARDIS that'll get us inside the gates," Jack said.

"What about Wilf?" Alan said.

"I don't wanna go to Disneyworld and walk around all day," he said holding up his hands.

"Well, do the whole barbecue, fireworks thing then," Jack said. "We can eat and shoot off fireworks."

"Now? You just spent hours watching DVDs," the Doctor said.

"Not now, but you know, we could all go to sleep and wake up and have some more fun," Jack said while they laughed.

"And are all of you now permanently making yourselves at home here so you can go have some more fun?" the Doctor asked.

"No, but we need a break," Jack said while his team nodded. "I'm glad you did come and get us because we've been under a lot of stress lately."

"Same here," said Clyde. "Catching monsters wears ya out."

"Yeah," Wilf said. "And it's hard sitting around day after day watching telly and reading the newspaper, I'm spent."

They laughed while Donna hugged him. The Doctor leaned forward.

"Well, if we did the whole fourth of July thing, would you be up for that?" he said to him.

Wilf thought.

"That might not be too bad if all you're doing is just eating and watching fireworks," he said, shrugging.

"That might be better for him than Chinese New Year," Alan said.

The Doctor looked at Mingxia.

"Chinese New Year is pretty crowded, yeah?"

"Very. I wouldn't recommend taking Wilf with us. I'm assuming the fourth of July thing is at a park, right, in America? So there wouldn't be elbow to elbow crowds like there would be in Beijing."

"No. No offense but I don't wanna go to Beijing. That's for you young folks."

"Hear that, my 1200 year old brother? He called you young."

They laughed when the Doctor got up, walked over to Wilf and thanked him with a huge kiss on his cheek before sitting back down.

"Okay, well, you have a young body, let's put it that way," Wilf said.

The Doctor looked at his family.

"So…is that alright with eveyone? Taking them to a barbecue and fireworks?"

They nodded and everyone cheered. The Doctor grinned.

"Okay then, we'll let you rest and do that later on in the day then," he said.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty One

After the humans went to bed in their rooms in the TARDIS, the Doctor took his wife to their bedroom. After having sex, they lay naked together in their bed.

"Did you have a good time tonight, Thete?" Rain asked.

He smiled while he stroked her hair.

"Yes, I did. You?"

"I did. Alan's right. We need to buy more DVDs and have more nights like this."

"Well, I never should have read them the list, now they'll want to tag along full time. Or Jack will at any rate."

She giggled.

"Yeah, but we have just as much fun with them as we do by ourselves."

"Yes, but Jack's more prone to get into trouble than even Alan is."

"Yeah, you have a point, dear," she said.

She smiled.

"But we'll have fun tomorrow. Even if Jack does go crazy with the fireworks."

"Well, I guess if he blows his fingers off his hand, they'll grow back so we won't have to worry about taking him to hospital," he said while she giggled.

He sighed while she kissed his chest and slowly kissed up to his neck.

"Planning on giving me a few love bites for the fourth?" he said.

"I just love how your skin tastes, that's all," she said to him.

"Does that tie in with the whole I smell like time and space thing?"

"Um…yeah."

She inhaled deeply.

"And…you still do," she said.

He smiled. Sighing deeply, he gazed at her lovingly while she stroked his cheek. She saw his expression and chuckled.

"So…am I your security blanket?" she said sweetly.

She laughed when he gave her a big toothy grin and waggled his eyebrows.

"So Jack's right, you shouldn't be picking on Linus for having panic attacks."

He thought for a moment.

"Yeah, you're right, I shouldn't be making fun of him," he said.

He grinned when he tickled her and she giggled. They snuggled against one another while the Doctor kissed her lips. She noticed him looking at the door.

"What, Love?" she said.

"Just waiting for the moment Jack bursts in wanting to see what's going on," he said. "The TARDIS did seal the door up, right?"

"As far as I know," Rain said.

"Well, knowing Harkness he'll find a way to bash in here so he can get an eyeful of what's going on."

"I don't think he will since that involves invoking the wrath of the Oncoming Storm."

The Doctor snorted.

"Love, you don't know Jack that well. The man has more brawn than brains most times. He doesn't know when to take a hint even if the one giving the hint is hitting him on the head. The man is completely stubborn."

"Which is why you get along so well with him, Mister Hardhead," she said.

She laughed and pulled the covers up over her head when the Doctor's mouth dropped open.

"Oho, that's torn it, you're going to have the tickling of your life now!" he said.

She laughed when he ducked under the covers and began to tickle every inch of her naked body.

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The next morning, the Doctor and Rain woke early. Rain chose a pink t-shirt with jean shorts that made the Doctor growl in his throat.

"Oh yes, I get to see my wife's luscious, lanky leggies for the fourth," he said.

"You get to see them when we're in bed together. You got to see them last night, what's the difference?"

"Because you're out and about among other people and it's sexy because those legs are just for me," he said while she laughed.

"Okay, you wear shorts for me then."

"Uh no, I don't wanna scare small children and animals with my white legs, thanks," he said while she laughed.

She laughed harder while he stared at his clothes.

"Decisions, decisions," she teased. "Should I go with the brown suit or the blue today?"

She yelped when he tried to tickle her armpits again.

"Okay, since you've said something, I'll go with blue."

"Wow, blue, what's the special occasion?"

She laughed when he tried to tickle her again. Giggling, she ran around to the back of his Y-fronts, grabbed the waistband and snapped it.

"Oi, you cheeky woman! Quit that!" he said while she ran over to the other side of the room.

He waggled his finger at her.

"Do not snap the elastic of the Oncoming Storm's underwear," he said in a grave voice.

"Oh yes, Sprinkly-poo, I'm really scared of your wrath."

"Sprinkly-poo?" he said while she laughed.

Rain went over to her sock drawer and pulled out a pair of socks while the Doctor pulled a burgundy shirt of his closet. Rain sat on the bed and put her socks on, giggling while she stared at her husband. He raised his eyebrow.

"Whatever cheeky scheme you're concocting in that brain of yours, I'd seriously advise against carrying it out," he said to her.

Rain grabbed her trainers and began to put them on while the Doctor grabbed his blue trousers and put them on.

"Darn, you're hiding your underwear so I can't snap the elastic anymore."

"I'm warning you, wife of mine, keep your hands off my underwear," he said, pointing at her. "Or your bra will be the next thing to get snapped."

"Promise?" she said with a devilish grin.

"You are a cheeky little bugger. I know I tell you that constantly but you are," the Doctor said.

Rain finished putting on her shoes and walked over to him while he grabbed a black tie. He stood and watched her while she fixed it for him.

"You look handsome in this color," she said pointing to the burgundy shirt.

"You tell me that with every color I wear."

"Well…you're one of those people who look handsome no matter what you wear. I'm sure if a bucket of mud dumped on your head right now you'd still look handsome."

"Shhh, you wanna give my ship ideas?" he said while she laughed.

She laughed when he glanced up at the ceiling.

"She didn't mean that, honestly!" he said to her. "Please don't take her at her word!"

He looked back at Rain who was chuckling. She finished tying his tie and smoothed it out. She stared at it for a moment.

"What?"

"This is the fourth of July, Love, not a business meeting."

"I'm not gonna wear bleeding shorts and a t-shirt. I'm gonna wear my usual outfit so you'll just have to put up with your husband wearing business meeting attire to the fourth of July celebration."

He grabbed his jacket and slipped it on. Rain buttoned a couple of the buttons and smoothed it out.

"There, you're all ready for your power lunch," she said.

She laughed when he rolled his eyes. Taking his hand, she led them to their bathroom. He bent down slightly while she grabbed a comb and fixed his tousle.

"Now you be a good boy today," she said sternly. "No scaring the people around you with your intense childlike glee for everything human."

"Yes, mummy, I'll restrain myself, I promise," he said while she laughed and nuzzled his forehead with her nose.

"Now, you take your toothbrush and toothpaste and give those pearly alien whites a good cleaning. We don't want you to get cavities and gingivitis, do we?" Rain said.

She laughed when the Doctor gave her an odd look.

"Are you my nanny all of a sudden?" he said.

"I just don't want this regeneration getting rotted teeth and dentures, is all," she said, kissing his lips. "After all, you don't want to make a bad impression at that intense boardroom meeting you're going to."

She laughed when the Doctor waggled his fingers and chased her out of the bathroom.

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"So, I guess first off we'll have to go to a department store and get some fireworks," the Doctor said to the others while they stood in the console room. "So TARDIS, I guess since we're going to North Carolina, find a store where we can get some fireworks."

There was a pause and then the rotor came to life.

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The TARDIS landed near a Wal-Mart and all of them went inside.

Ah, memories," Alan said to Rose. "I remember a similar Wal-Mart where I did a dance in the rain for you."

Rose rolled her eyes.

"Well, don't do that again here," she said, taking his hand.

Well, I can't do that anyway, it's not raining."

"Thank God for small miracles," Rose muttered while he kissed her cheek.

They fanned out while Rain and Awinita walked over to the fireworks. The Doctor and Jack followed them, glancing around at all the picnic items and American flags. They found the fireworks and both women picked up huge wrapped packets that held an assortment of fireworks. The Doctor and Jack glanced over their shoulders.

"Are we wanting a certain kind?" the Doctor asked, putting on his glasses.

"Well…" Rain said, looking around at him.

The Doctor stared at her when she trailed off and just stared at him. He took the glasses off and Jack laughed when she pouted.

"My wife likes when I wear these," the Doctor said, pointing to the glasses.

"I don't blame her, I do too."

Rain and Awinita laughed when he gave Jack a shocked look and put the glasses back in his pocket.

"Suddenly, I don't feel safe wearing these here," he said.

"Um…I was gonna say before I got distracted by your handsome spectacled face that these packets carry different kinds like fountains, sparklers, that kind of thing. These are the legal fireworks."

"Why? What's illegal?" the Doctor said.

"Bottle rockets and big rockets that make mini versions of the fireworks they shoot off at the parks. You're not allowed to have those. But it doesn't stop some people from using them," Awinita said.

"But if they're illegal, how do they get them?" Jack said.

"Oh, they sell them; you just have to promise to take them out of state to another state that will allow them," Awinita replied.

The Doctor looked at Jack.

"That's it? You just have to tell someone you're gonna take them somewhere else and they don't track you."

"Nope, they don't. Dumb, huh?" Awinita said.

"Brilliant, let's go find these humongous fireworks and tell the people we're gonna take them out of state and shoot them off anyway," Jack said.

"No thank you, I'd rather not get arrested and spend the night in jail, if it's all the same to you," the Doctor said. "What's in here will be sufficient for tonight. We're gonna watch them set off the large fireworks at the park so we won't be missing out."

Rain and Awinita looked at some of the other fireworks on the shelves while the Doctor and Jack followed them. Awinita grinned and showed Rain a little yellow box.

"We should get this for Alan. You throw them on the ground and they make this loud snap. Alan would get a kick out of that."

The Doctor looked at them.

"That's it, just a little snap sound?"

"Yeah, it's just a little noisemaker," Rain said.

The Doctor and Jack glanced at each other.

"Get a couple of boxes for the kids as well," the Doctor said. "I'm sure they'd like them too."

Rain nodded and they got a couple of boxes. They looked at the others and Awinita started laughing.

"What?" the Doctor said.

She held up a cardboard 3D chicken.

"This one, if you set it on the ground and light the fuse coming out the back, it goes along and it spits out little egg shaped fireballs," she said.

Jack's eyes widened.

"The cardboard chicken shits fire? Whoa, get that, I have got to see that!" he said while the women laughed.

"I see Alan isn't the only one who gets excited by stuff like this," Awinita said.

"No, Jack is just as immature, trust me," the Doctor said while Jack rolled his eyes.

"Well, just for that, we'll get two cardboard chickens that shit fire," Jack said, grabbing another one.

He glanced down and saw a packet of firecrackers.

"And we'll get these too," he said grabbing them.

"And what do you plan to do with those?" the Doctor said.

Jack thought.

"Tie Rain here to a tree and put them around her feet and watch you try to rescue her before they go off?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrow while the women laughed.

They looked over when Alan and Rose walked up pushing a shopping trolley.

"We have minced meat and hot dogs for the barbecue," he said gesturing inside the trolley. "And charcoal and lighter fluid. I assume the park has spots where you can have cook-outs?"

"They should. I know most of the parks I went to had grills," Awinita said. "They might be a little scummy though so be prepared to clean them off."

"Well, is this sufficient? The minced meat and hot dogs along with crisps and pop? I don't know what everyone wants. I'm just getting typical barbecue things but I guess we could also get steak or chicken."

"Get me some filet mignon," Jack said.

The women laughed when Alan eyed him.

"You wanna pay for it, I'll be happy to cook it, Jack," he said.

"Yeah, forget the hamburgers and hot dogs, get filet mignon and lobster tails instead, "Awinita said.

"What are we, the nouveau riche aliens all of a sudden?" the Doctor said while they laughed. "We're just too posh for minced meat and hot dogs, we have to have goose liver pate and caviar at our barbecue."

Rain walked over to the trolley and put the fireworks inside. She glanced down at what else they had.

"Cheese, hot dog buns, mustard, ketchup, pickles, relish…shampoo…you're gonna put shampoo on your burgers, Bro?"

"No, that's the wife's purchase, not mine," he said.

Rain stared at it.

"Actually, I need some too. I'll be right back."

She walked off. She walked out of the aisle and stopped. A grin spread over her face.

"Gee, I have a feeling my husband is right behind me," she said to herself.

She spun around.

"What d'ya know? I was right!" she said while he grinned.

"Just being curious again, dear," the Doctor said.

"I'm your security blanket, Love. You can't be too far away from me, you know," she teased.

He smiled and rubbed her cheek with his while she took his hand. She led him over to the toiletries section. The Doctor walked with her down the shampoo aisle.

"It's amazing to me the vast selection of hair care products humans have," he said to her.

"You didn't have this on Gallifrey?"

"Not like this and they weren't scented," the Doctor said, picking up a strawberry one.

He looked around.

"No banana? Do they have banana?" he said.

"Um…they do but it's for little kids," Rain said.

"What? Why? Banana's a great scent," the Doctor said, walking over to her.

She picked up a yellow bottle of Dora the Explorer shampoo and showed it to him.

"Well, you're a kid at hearts," he said, grabbing it and walking away.

Rain laughed.

"You want me to use kid's shampoo just so you can smell my banana scented hair?"

"Too right I do. I'm tired of strawberry and coconut and mango and whatever else you've been using. I put up with those scents and now I want my wife to smell like bananas."

"Are you gonna eat me alive if I use it?"

The Doctor shrugged.

"Maybe, I can't guarantee your safety but I'll try my very best not to devour you if you use…Dora the Explorer banana shampoo."

"Well, I better get the conditioner then," she said, grabbing another bottle.

She paused and grinned.

"They have bubble bath too, dearest. Do we want bath time to be banana scented too?"

"Do I look incredibly handsome in this outfit?" the Doctor said.

Rain nodded and grabbed the bubble bath.

"There, now you can have a banana scented wife," she said to him.

"'Bout bloody time too," he muttered while she laughed.

She smiled at him.

"Do you need anything? Shampoo, aftershave, razors?"

The Doctor mentally ticked off his toiletries.

"I don't think so. I think I'm all stocked up. You? Anything else banana scented you can think of?"

She laughed.

"No, I think I'm fine now that I have the Dora the Explorer set of banana scented bath products," she said.

The Doctor kissed her cheek and looked down at the cartoon on the shampoo bottle.

"Who is Dora?" he said.

"Little Spanish girl. She explores places and teaches Spanish words to children. It's a cute show actually," she said while they walked away. "Why? Do you want Sis to start ordering Dora DVDs now?"

"Nah, I'll stick with Charlie Brown," the Doctor said.

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After getting everything they needed, they took the plastic bags filled with the items and walked around the back of the Wal-Mart to the TARDIS.

"Okay, hopefully, that's everything," the Doctor said, unlocking the door. "Now it's on to the nearest park for a night of feasting, fireworks and fun."


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty Two

The TARDIS took them to the nearest park and everyone came outside carrying the bags along with some blankets and a radio. Jenny and Gwen led Blizzard and Rory out to an area several feet away and let them go to the bathroom. The small picnic area had several picnic tables that had a wooden roof built over them to protect people from the rain and beside it on a slab of concrete was a large black grill. Alan opened the grill and he and the Doctor inspected it.

"Doesn't look too dirty," Alan said to him. "They had the lid closed so I think it'll be alright."

Jack brought over the charcoal, light fluid and matches and he and Alan got the fire going while the Doctor walked over to the shelter and helped everyone set out the drinks. Rose turned on the radio and tuned it to a soft rock station while everyone got something to drink and sat down to chat. Once the charcoal was alight, Jack and Alan came over and sat with them. Jack jerked his head around when Blizzard and Rory leapt onto him.

"What'd ya want, ya mutts? I don't have anything for ya," he said.

Alan opened one of the packages of hot dogs, pulled one out and whistled for them. He broke it in half and fed a piece to each.

"There ya are, now ya got something to eat," he said to them.

Alan started to walk off and they laughed when the dogs followed behind him.

"Yes, I'm the food source now so they're gonna be following me all night," he said to everyone.

Jack took a sip of Coke and walked over to the fireworks. He picked up one of the boxes of snap fireworks and walked over to the blacktop beside the TARDIS.

"Alan," he said.

"Yeah?" Alan said, walking over.

He watched while Jack opened the box and opened the small plastic bag containing the grayish colored pellets. He pulled one out and stared at it.

"You throw these?"

"Throw them down as hard as you can," Awinita said.

He did it and both of them grinned when it made a loud snap.

"Give me some!" Alan said, holding out his hand.

Luke, Clyde, Rani and Mickey rushed over and Jack gave the box to them while he went to get the other. The others laughed while they watched them fling the pellets against the road.

"Gwen, could you and Jenny take the dogs back inside?" the Doctor said to them. "They're getting scared."

"Sure," Gwen said.

She and Jenny picked up the trembling dogs who were hiding under one of the picnic tables.

"Just set them inside the door," the Doctor said to them.

They nodded. Everyone let up on the fireworks until they finished setting them inside and closed the door. Then they finished off the snap fireworks.

"Is there anything else that we can use now?" Jack asked while they threw the boxes away in a metal trash can near the road.

Rain looked through the packets.

"We have smoke bombs and those little snakes. You could light those now and the firecrackers too."

"Snakes?" the Doctor said.

She smiled.

"They're these little black pellets and when you light them they make this long ash trail that looks like a black snake."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"Light one of these snake things, Jack, I've never seen one," he said.

"Okay."

Jack took the box from Rain along with the matches, smoke bombs and firecrackers and the men walked back over to the road while the others sat and watched. Jack reached inside the box, tore open the plastic and set a little black pellet on the road.

"You just hold the flame to it, right?" Jack said.

"Yeah," Awinita said. "Keep the flame on it until it starts smoking and hissing."

Jack gave the rest of the fireworks to Alan and opened the matchbox. He grabbed a long stemmed match, struck it against the sandpaper on the side and held the flame to the pellet. After thirty seconds they heard the hissing and everyone backed up. They stood around and watched while the ash grew out of the little pellet.

"That's it?" Alan said, pointing. "How incredibly boring…"

Suddenly, the acrid scent of the smoke hit their nostrils and everyone pinched them shut.

"Oh God, that reeks," Alan said, heading back to the shelter. "What is that made of? It's got a horrible smell."

By now the smell reached everyone else and all of them made faces while they waved the air in front of them.

"Wanna set those alight further away from us, Jack? Like Canada, for instance?" the Doctor said.

"Sorry everyone," Jack said while they continued to wave the air in front of them. "I suppose we should set the smoke bombs off across the road then."

The men, except for Alan, walked across the road.

"Cor, that was foul," Alan said, making a face while he checked the charcoal. "We need to stock up on those things and use them against bad guys, Brother."

"Well, I've learned my lesson. Never buy snake fireworks," the Doctor said.

He heard Rain giggle and looked at her.

"What?" he said.

"You're gonna hate me for saying this because it's South Park again. But they had one episode where they outlawed all fireworks in Colorado because one kid got his fingers blown off or something and the only thing that was permissible was the snake firework. So the town built this humongous snake pellet that was about two miles across and lit it with blowtorches and when they did, it got out of control and the ash spread across the US and killed and burned alive millions of people. And it kept on going and no one could stop it because they calculated it'd take several years for it to burn out."

"You lot watch some strange things, do you know that?" the Doctor said while she and Awinita laughed. "Forget being burned alive though, I think the smell alone would kill humanity."

They wrinkled their nose when the smell of the smoke bombs wafted their way.

"Jack, could you find something less smelly to light? We'd like to keep our appetites before we eat," the Doctor called to him.

"Yes, do us all a favor," Rose said, waving the air while she walked by them, "especially since some of us have sensitive noses now."

"I'm gonna set off the firecrackers," Jack announced.

"Goody, here go Harkness's fingers," Alan muttered.

Wilf looked at Donna who was sitting beside her.

"Never did fancy the bangers, remind me too much of the sound of bombs from the war," he said to her.

"I'd rather have that than the vomit inducing smell of the other two things," Donna replied.

They watched while Jack lit one and all of them backed up. A moment later, a loud bang echoed through the air.

"Too bad it isn't time to watch the chicken that shits fire," Jack said.

Alan looked at Rose.

"Chicken that shits fire?" he yelled to him.

"Rain, show him!" Jack yelled.

Rain got up and showed him the cardboard chicken while she explained it to him. Rose laughed when she saw the odd look on his face.

"A chicken that defecates fireballs, this is how Americans celebrate their independence?" Alan said to the Doctor.

"You have to admit, it is an interesting concept," the Doctor said while Rain sat down beside him. "Fireball spewing chicken. We never had that on Gallifrey."

"Did you have fireworks on Gallifrey?" Rain asked.

"Um…yeeeeah, kinda, we had some that resembled the huge fireworks. But that was all. Nothing like the bangers or the snap things or the chicken thing. We weren't that clever."

He stared at the grill and looked at Rain.

"You lot need to invent charcoal that burns faster. I could have asked the TARDIS to cook the food for us in two seconds," he said.

"Yes, but then you would have missed sitting here with us while we talked and listened to Jack setting off the bangers," Sarah Jane said.

"Oh yes, and smelling the delightful smell of the smoke bombs and snake things. That was definitely something worth waiting for," the Doctor said.

"Dad gets hungry very quickly and you have to feed him now or else," Jenny said to Sarah Jane.

"So does Alan," Rose said, gesturing to him while he sat beside her.

"I have a bigger stomach than most humans, I told you that once."

"I have one too but I'm willing to sit here and wait and talk to my friends and family," Rose said.

"While we celebrate the moment America said, in your face, Great Britain," Alan said to her.

He grinned at Sarah Jane and winked.

"If I were you, Sarah, I'd keep a very low profile today," he teased. "You're in America on the day they broke away from you lot. You're the enemy right now."

"Nah, if someone attacks me I'll just sic the Doctor on them."

"Am I everyone's pit bull?" the Doctor said while they laughed. "Why does everyone feel the need to send me to fight for them?"

He smiled at Rain and Awinita.

"But yes, we're gathered here today to celebrate the moment your people decided to break away from Sarah Jane's people."

"My people?" Awinita teased him while Rain laughed. "Bro, my people had nothing to do with the signing. I'm not white, remember? There were no Indians signing the Declaration of Independence as far as I know. We had nothing to do with it; we were here in North Carolina."

"Yup and we were in Arizona minding our own business and growing our peach trees since whites weren't out there yet. We had the Spanish though which was just as fun."

"Not all of the signers were bad guys though," Awinita said. "I like Ben Franklin. He was pretty cool. He got the idea for the states banding together from the Iroquois confederation."

"Ben was a nice guy. As Martha down there knows, I once helped fly his kite for him."

Martha rolled her eyes while Alan laughed. She looked at Gwen sitting across from her at the table.

"When I first met him, he was in hospital and I was an intern with several others and the crazy git lies in bed and tells all of us how he once met Ben and got burned flying his kite and nearly got himself sectioned because of it."

"I did meet him and I did help fly his kite," the Doctor said. "I was just adding to your conversation, Martha. The man asked a question and I answered it and gave you lot a little titbit besides."

Martha looked at Gwen and rolled her eyes.

"But yes," the Doctor said to Rain and Awinita, "he was a nice chap and so were Washington and Jefferson. Adams, on the other hand, was a very pompous man who thought the sun rose and set around him and I didn't fancy him too much and the others I didn't meet. I also met Lincoln who was stellar, nice man. Also met FDR, JFK, LBJ…"

"BBC," Rain said while Awinita giggled.

"BLT," Awinita replied.

"PDA," Rain said back.

"I'm sorry, are you two mocking me somehow?" the Doctor said while they snorted out laughter.

Rose came up behind him and put her arms around him.

"DIY," she said, ruffling his hair. "LGV."

"Oh great, now Rose has gotten involved."

He smiled when she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Just trying to add to the conversation," she said, leaning back up and putting her hand on his shoulder.

"'Bout bloody time," Alan said.

They looked over at him. He was standing by the grill.

"The charcoal is ready at last," he said to them. "Okay, who wants what so I know what to start fixing?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After an hour, the first of the food was ready and all of them sat down to eat and talk.

"Mmm, great food, Alan," Jack said after he swallowed the bit of burger in his mouth.

"Thanks. It doesn't take a lot of skill to cook food on a grill though," he replied. "All you do is set it on there and let it cook."

They listened to the radio while they ate. Suddenly Uptown Girl by Billy Joel came on the radio. Jack grinned at Mickey and began to sing along.

"Uptown girl, she's been living in an uptown world. I bet she's never had a backstreet guy. I bet her mother never told her why, I'm gonna try for an uptown girl."

"Jack, do you mind? Some of us aren't impressed with your karaoke skills," the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Yeah and I'm betting you wouldn't say that if it were Rain," Jack said.

"No because Rain has the good sense not to…"

"And when she's walking, she's looooooking so fi-yi-yine," Rain sang while everyone laughed harder.

"What was that, Doc? Rain has the good sense not to what?" Jack said.

"Rain is a very cheeky woman and she sometimes does things to irritate me," the Doctor replied.

"And yet, you're still married to her," Jack replied, "Mister Security Blanket."

"I didn't say she was cheeky all the time," the Doctor replied.

"You know what we should have done, Alan," Jack said. Told everyone we were gonna have this huge barbecue and then fixed them popcorn and toast and ice cream."

They laughed.

"And then all of us who live in the TARDIS full time would have the burgers and hot dogs for later after you leave," he said.

Alan took a bite of his burger. He was chewing it when he noticed a mother walking by with her little blonde haired daughter. The daughter who was about five years old slowed her pace and began to walk over towards them.

"Amanda, get back here!" the mother said to her.

Everyone at the tables smiled at her while she walked up to Alan on the end.

"Whatcha doin'?" she said to Alan.

"We're celebrating the Fourth of July, what are you doin'?" he said to her.

"We're gonna go watch fireworks later," she said.

"Really? So are we," Alan said.

The mother walked up beside her.

"I'm sorry if she's bothering you."

"She's not. Would you like something to eat? We have more than enough food," he said.

"Can we, mommy, please?" Amanda said.

The mother sighed.

"Yes, we'll have one hamburger or hot dog and that's it. This is their food," she said to them.

She gave them an apologetic smile while Alan stood up.

"I'm sorry about this," she said to them.

"There's nothing to be sorry for," the Doctor said. "We don't mind company. Please sit and we'll fix you some food."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The woman, who was named Meagan, sat with Amanda and the others and talked with them while they ate. They learned she also was from Asheville so Awinita and she did most of the talking while the others listened. She laughed when she heard the British and Welsh accents around her.

"Odd that some of you are out here celebrating the Fourth with us," she said to them.

"Well, some of us are Awinita and Rain's family and some of us are friends," the Doctor said. "They wanted to come here so we're here just enjoying the food and fireworks with them."

Meagan nodded.

"Well, it's nice to meet ya and thanks so much for the food," she said.

They nodded and said you're welcome in unison.

"Are you staying for the fireworks tonight?" Meagan asked.

They nodded.

"Great, I'll look for ya then and maybe we can sit together. But for the moment we gotta get back to the car before my husband gets home. Gotta get ready for tonight but it was nice meeting all of you."

They nodded and said their goodbyes. Meagan took Amanda's hand and they watched while the two of them walked off.

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After eating, they cleaned up the area, took the food, fireworks and radio back inside the TARDIS and rested until it was time to go back out for the fireworks. When it was dusk, they took the blankets and fireworks and went back outside. The Doctor locked the TARDIS and they made their way across the park to a large hill that sloped down to a large skating rink below. There were other people on the hill and they looked around for Meagan and Amanda and waved when they saw them sitting about twenty feet away with a man. She pointed to the empty space beside them and they walked over, spread out the blankets and sat with her.

"This is my husband, Richard," Meagan said, indicating the man beside them.

They said their hellos and sat down, talking to them and to each other while they waited for the fireworks to start.

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"Oh yeah, this is ace," Clyde said while they watched the fireworks over their heads.

The Doctor smiled and held Rain close while everyone ooed and ahed around them. He grimaced when one shot up and made a loud boom.

"Hate the ones that just make the noises," he muttered to Rain.

"I do too. They scared me when I was a little kid."

He kissed her temple.

"Well, I'm here now so you don't have to worry," he whispered to her while she snuggled against him.

They looked over when he felt someone grab his arm and saw Alan looking at him with wide pleading eyes.

"Protect me from the boomy fireworks too, Brother?" he said while Rose laughed beside him.

Rain laughed when the Doctor wrapped his arm around him and patted his left arm.

"There, there, Brother," he said while everyone nearby laughed hysterically. "It'll be alright. I'll protect you from the big, bad ka-boom."

Alan looked across the Doctor to Rain and they held hands.

"Brother will protect us, Rain," he said.

"I know he will, Bro, don't be afraid now," she said.

The Doctor grunted when Jack suddenly lunged into his back and wrapped his arms around him.

"I'm afraid too, Doctor," she said.

"Will everyone except my wife get off me now?" he said while everyone else laughed.

Jack and Alan let go while the Doctor looked at Rain and shook his head.

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After the fireworks ended, they bid goodbye to Meagan and her family and walked back to the TARDIS. They waited until most of the cars had left before they unwrapped the rest of the fireworks. The Doctor pulled a flashlight out of his pocket and shined it on the fireworks while Jack and Alan looked through them. Jack looked at everyone.

"You wanna start with sparklers first?" he asked them.

They nodded and he grabbed a big long box and handed out sparklers. He lit a match and lit a few which others used those to light theirs. Alan leaned against the table staring at his sparkler while white sparks shot off it. He grinned when Rose came up beside him.

"En guard!" he said to her.

Rose laughed and they pretended to swordfight with theirs.

"Aha, I will win and stab thee through the heart," Alan said to her.

"Not if I stab ya first," Rose said.

Jack walked up beside them holding the sparkler in his right hand.

"Wheee," he said in a monotone voice while they laughed. "This is so much fun, I'm about to have a heart attack from it."

He walked away while Alan looked at Rose and shook his head.

The Doctor walked up with his and grinned at them.

"My loving wife has just shown me something neat," he said. "You can write your name with these."

They laughed while he swirled it around in the air.

"D…O…C…" he said while Rain and Awinita laughed hysterically.

They laughed harder when the sparkler gave out in the middle of T.

"No!" he said as everyone laughed. "I wasn't done yet, ya soddin' sparkler! How dare you quit before I do!"

"Here, Love," Rain said, handing him another sparkler.

"Brilliant!" he said as they laughed. "D…O…C…T…O…R! Yeah, I did it. I'm so happy now!"

Jack looked at his team.

"And he has people who actually wanna live with him, go figure," he said to them while they laughed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After the sparklers were done, they decided to do the fountains next.

"Let's get through these and save the chickens for last," Jack said while they laughed.

He took a small thin fountain and Mickey shined the flashlight on it while he stood the fuse up. He lit a match and touched it to the fuse. The moment it lit, Jack and Mickey ran in opposite directions. The fountain shot up in brilliant colors while everyone ooed and ahed. Suddenly, the colorful sparks turned white and a piercing whistling screamed through the air. Everyone held their ears.

"Bloody hell, what are they trying to do, make us go deaf?" Alan said.

They took their hands away when the whistling stopped and they heard the dogs inside the TARDIS howling.

"Oh I see, it's a combination firework and dog whistle," Alan said. "How handy is that?"

Mickey gave Jack a larger fountain and he lit it. They winced expecting it to whistle but it burned out without doing it.

"Nice to know they don't all make banshee yells when they're lit," the Doctor said.

The next fountain did have a whistle and they all held their hands over their ears again.

"Do people enjoy being in pain and discomfort when they set off fireworks?" Alan said. "We have these, the booming ones and the foul smelling ones. Are humans that sadistic that they want to have ringing ears and weird smells in their noses at their celebrations?"

Jack lit one that resembled a firecracker and they laughed when it spun around making colorful flames. Jack lit another one and they watched that one spin around too. Then he let a large fountain.

So far, so good, no more banshee ones," Alan said to the Doctor.

"Well, we still have a lot of them to get through so don't breathe a sigh of relief just yet," the Doctor replied.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After a couple more with ear splitting whistling and some other fireworks, Jack finally came to the chickens.

"Behold, chickens that shoot fireballs out their bums or so Awinita says," he said.

They watched while he sat it on the ground and lit the back. He backed up and there was a pause. Suddenly the chicken began to move forward while egg shaped fireballs spat out the back. Everyone laughed hysterically.

"Oh yeah, this is definitely my favorite!" Jack said. "And now, for the encore! Another chicken that farts fire!"

He set it down and lit it and they giggled when the chicken did the same thing as the other one. Once it was over, they let out disappointed groans.

"Sorry, everyone, that's it," the Doctor said.

Everyone helped clean up the mess and made sure the area was clean before they took the blankets and went back inside the TARDIS. There was a pause and then the TARDIS vanished from view.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor hugged Sarah Jane while she and the teens stood outside their house.

"Thank you for the DVDs and the fireworks, we loved them both," she said while the teens nodded.

"I'm glad you did, Sarah, I'm glad you all enjoyed them," he said to her.

"Where are you heading next?" Rani said.

"Not sure. But it's not Disneyworld if that's what you're thinking," he said to her.

He gave Sarah one more hug and waved to them while he walked back inside.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After taking Wilf home, he took Jack and his team back to Torchwood.

"Thanks so much, Doc, once again we had a fun time," Jack said to him.

"Yeah, you gotta keep coming back for us," Mickey said. "I love these little breaks from all the monsters we fight."

"Well, we'll see what we can do," the Doctor said. "But you know, we do wanna be on our own on occasion but we'll definitely take you lot more places."

They hugged him and stepped back while he waved and went back into the TARDIS. They smiled when it dematerialized and then went back to work.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty Three

A/N: Some more short shorts…

"You know, I've never seen this film before," Donna said, "and I have to say it's an odd one."

The women were in the TARDIS living room with the dogs watching Footloose on cable TV while the Doctor and Alan worked on upgrading the console.

"I mean, I can understand the minister being upset that his child was killed, but banning dances for the entire town is a bit much, I think," Donna added.

"And of course, the one person that moves into town just loooooves to dance," Mingxia said.

"I hope Alan never gets stranded in a town like this. He'd waste away to nothin'," Donna said.

They munched on their popcorn while they watched the movie.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They were giggling when they watched the school dance at the end of the movie.

So these people who have never danced before suddenly know all these complicated '80's dance moves?" Donna said. "Yeah, that's realistic."

"It's the power of music, it makes you dance and dance well," Rain said to her.

"And it can even make you break-dance like the pros," Awinita said.

They grinned when the movie ended.

"Too bad the Doctor and Alan weren't in here to enjoy this," Mingxia said.

A grin spread across Rose's face.

"Ooooh, I have an idea," she said to them. "Listen…"

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The Doctor lay under the console fixing a circuit while Alan stood nearby. They were currently adjusting one of the controls on the TARDIS and Alan was in charge of pushing the button to test it when the Doctor told him to. He had his left hand on the rim and was leaning against the console with his other hand in his pocket.

"I think I just about have it," the Doctor said to him while he used his screwdriver on a circuit.

Suddenly, they heard a drumbeat boom overhead as the TARDIS began to play Footloose. Alan jerked his head upwards.

"What'd you just do, Brother? Hit the cheesy '80's music circuit by accident?" Alan asked.

The Doctor slid out from under the console and sat up, staring up at the ceiling in confusion.

"Um…TARDIS, why are you suddenly playing Footloose?" he said to her.

He looked at Alan who was tapping his foot.

Gotta admit it is catchy," Alan said to him.

"Yes, but why is she playing it?" the Doctor said, getting to his feet. "I didn't tell her to…"

He trailed off when he heard the women singing and saw them dancing through the back door in a line while the dogs followed them. Both men watched while they slowly danced in a line across the console room. The Doctor looked at Alan.

"Call me crazy, but I suddenly have this odd feeling they're behind this," he said to him.

"We're cutting footloose!" Awinita said to them.

They noticed Jenny on the end of the line laughing with them while she danced.

"No!" the Doctor said while Alan laughed. "Don't you dance with them, Jenny. Get away from these daft people who make you do odd things! Run before it's too late!"

She laughed when he grabbed hold of her and held her tight.

"Don't corrupt my daughter!" he said while they laughed.

His eyes widened when Alan began to dance.

"No, Brother, don't! Resist the temptation!" the Doctor said.

"I can't! The music, the dancing, it's too much for me!" Alan called as he shimmed over to the dancers.

The Doctor grinned at his daughter.

"They're all a bad influence on ya, you know that, right?" he said to her.

"Yeah, but they're fun to be around."

He smiled.

"Yes, they are," he said.

He kissed her cheek and laughed when everyone ran up to him and pulled him and Jenny into their group. He began to dance with them while the TARDIS rumbled and flashed the lights on and off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ugh, I can't believe they're watching that stuff," the Doctor muttered to Alan while they stood at the back door of the living room.

The lights were off and the women were sitting in the chairs, the sofa and on the floors watching The Return of The Living Dead. They had heard them laughing and went to investigate only to find them watching the horror movie.

"I don't know why they were laughing, I don't see much humor in it," the Doctor muttered.

Alan stared at them. Their attention was riveted to the screen and they had no idea they were there. Alan snickered softly and whispered in his brother's ear. Once he was finished, the Doctor nodded and they slowly crept into the room. They slowly inched towards the women, using their respiratory bypass systems so they wouldn't detect them. They crept up to the back of the sofa and stood there watching them while they watched the movie in silence. The brothers grinned at each other and took a deep breath.

"BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" they screamed in unison.

They grinned when the women let out terrified screams and leapt up. They spun around and stared at the men with wide eyes while they stared back with smug looks on their faces.

"How was that? Did that make the movie even scarier for ya?" Alan said.

"Get em, girls!" Rose said, pointing at them.

"Oh boy, pissed off women alert, Brother, RUN!" the Doctor said.

They both spun around and ran out of the room while the women yelled and chased them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Alan said to the Doctor.

"Just…trust me; we both doused ourselves in so much cologne that it'll mask this supposed time and space smell of mine and you'll be wearing heavy shades so she can't see your non-ancient eyes. You have my clothes on now and I have yours so let's see if we can fool each other's wives," the Doctor said.

"Okay but if Rain beats me to the point of brain damage, I'm holding you responsible," Alan said.

"She won't. I'll calm her down just like you'll calm down Rose. This is just a little prank to see if we can get away with it."

"Okay, but remember we have to watch and we need to exaggerate each other's personalities so we'll see if they cotton on," Alan said.

"Agreed, so…you first, Brother," the Doctor said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rain sat in the living room reading a book. The Doctor and Alan stood at the back door.

"You first," the Doctor said to Alan.

Alan cleared his throat, put the shades on and walked into the room. The Doctor fought to keep from laughing while Alan ran to the front of the couch, spun around and fell to his knees.

"Latara, where were you?" he said in the Doctor's voice. "You know I can't be more than six feet apart from you at any one time without panicking!"

The Doctor slammed his hand over his mouth when he saw the odd look on his wife's face.

"I was right here, Love, and…"

She stopped and sniffed and made a face.

"God, Thete, what'd you do? Destroy a cologne factory or something?" she said. "And what's with the blind person's shades?"

"I'm feeling a bit under the weather today and bright light bothers me and I thought you liked this scent, my love?"

"I do but not when you're swimming in it. Could you please take a shower and then come back to me."

"But I can't shower alone! I need you in there with me!" he said, gripping her shoulders.

"Not with you smelling like that, I won't. Take a shower and then I'll cuddle with you."

"But…I can cuddle with you now," Alan said, leaping up onto the couch beside her.

He gripped her tightly. Rain quickly switched to her respiratory bypass system so she wouldn't gag.

"Thete, what's gotten into you?" she said.

The Doctor had to slam both hands over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

"I'm filled with an animalistic insatiable lust that can only be eased by a cuddle and snog," Alan said to her in a breathy voice.

Alan fought to keep from laughing when he saw the odd look on her face.

"Um, why don't you go and…do something…and then come back to me later, Love," she said to him. "And why don't you let that something be a shower so you can wash the gallons of cologne off your body and also ditch the shades, would you?"

"Then come shower with me in the dark and that way I can get the cologne off and not be blinded and…"

He gasped when Rain jerked the glasses off his face. He shut his eyes but not before she saw into them.

"Alan! Get out of here!" she said to him.

"Blast, Brother, curse you and your ancient eyes! I was doing so well!"

Rain saw where he was looking and looked behind her.

"What is going on here?" she said while the Doctor walked up to her.

He kissed the top of her head and she jerked away from the cologne he was wearing.

"We're having a little friendly prank, Love," the Doctor said. "We've switched clothes and we're trying to see if you or Rose would notice. We had to douse ourselves with cologne and Alan had to wear the shades because that's how you identify me."

He looked at Alan.

"And you weren't doing that well from where I was standing, Brother," he said to him.

Rain put her hand over her heart.

"Well thank God, I thought you'd gone insane or something," Rain said to the Doctor.

"No, we're just exaggerating our personalities and seeing how far we could take it," the Doctor said. "I'm sorry about the cologne as well."

"Well, you need to wash that off as soon as you get done with the prank because a person with no nose could smell that. I can barely breathe around it."

"Well, we just have to go find Rose and I have to try to fool her and then we will wash ourselves. Care to watch the fun though?"

Rain hesitated a moment and then with a smile took his hand.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They found Rose in the park room talking to Awinita. Both women had their backs to them while they stood by the door.

"Hide over there behind the tree," the Doctor whispered, pointing to some oak trees nearby.

He winked at Rain.

"Watch my interpretation of Brother," he said to her.

Rain kept her laughter in while she and Alan ran over to the trees and hid. The Doctor straightened his t-shirt and cleared his throat.

"STARLIGHT!" he screamed, running towards the women.

Both women jerked and looked around while Alan and Rain hid themselves.

"Yeah?" Rose said.

"I had to come find you!" the Doctor said with exaggerated excitement. "I just thought up a spiffy-doo new song for you! Care to hear it?"

"No, but I would like you to go wash and get the cologne off your body," Rose said while Awinita held her nose.

"First things first, I have to SING!"

Rain and Alan laughed softly while the Doctor began to do a manic dance in front of them.

"MY NAME IS ALAN!  
YES, I'M THE MAN!  
NOBODY ELSE  
CAN DO WHAT I CAN!  
I AM A TIME LORD, OH YES, IT'S TRUE!  
BUT I'M FAR BETTER TIME LORD THAN YOU, YOU, YOOOOOOOOOOOOU!"

Alan stared at him.

"Am I really that bad?" he whispered to Rain.

"Um, sometimes," Rain said.

Both of them put their hands over their mouths when the Doctor stopped and gave his victims a maniacal look.

"Did you like that, Starlight?" the Doctor said. "Cause I have tons more where that came from."

"No, that'll do, Alan dear," Rose said. "Go bathe now, please!"

"But Amo'tiri! I'm filled with an urgent need to sing to the woman of my dreams! I'm your little Vashta Nerada and I have an insane, almost pathological need to perform and have people applaud my every move!"

"Oi," Alan said while Rain slammed her face into his arm to keep from laughing loudly.

"And," the Doctor said with the maniacal face. "I have an insane, almost pathological need to follow you around and make your life fun!"

Both Alan and Rain paused and saw the stunned looks on the women's faces.

"Alan, are you feeling alright?" Rose finally said.

"I'm feeling absodoodly-toodly splendifioso spectcualarmosa, my loving wife! That's why I'm in here with you! I'm sharing the joy!"

"Are you also sharing your cologne too?" Awinita said. "Jesus, Alan, go take a shower before that stuff poisons our lungs."

"Shall I sing more?"

"NO!" they both screamed while Alan and Rain laughed silently.

"But singing is my life," the Doctor said. "And dancing and cracking weird jokes and making my loving wife's life hell. I love making your life hell, Starlight, it amuses me!"

There was a huge pause while Rose and the Doctor stared at one another. Then Rose lifted up his right shirt sleeve.

"DOCTOR! GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!" she screamed as Alan and Rain fell over laughing.

Rose and Awinita stood up and saw them behind the tree.

"YOU GITS!" she screamed at them. "ARRGH! I SHOULDA KNOWN! I KNEW YOU COULDN'T RESIST TRYING TO SWITCH AROUND!"

"Alright, Starlight, calm down!" Alan said, quickly running from around the tree. "Rain got pranked as well. It's not just you. We're just havin' ya on, alright?"

She recoiled when she smelt the cologne on him.

"Well, what's with the bleedin' cologne?" she said to him. "What'd you do, dump it in the pool and go for a swim in it?"

They explained the reason behind it and Awinita laughed when Rose rolled her eyes.

"Oh, that figures, well next time don't try so hard to hide the Doctor's scent from Rain, will ya? You're killing us all."

"Alright, alright, we're gonna take a shower now, I swear," Alan said.

They grinned and kissed their wives on the head before they walked off. The three women looked at each other.

"You know that part where we said we'd marry them for better or for worse, Rain? I think this is one of the worst times they were talking about," Rose said to her.


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty Four

"So, you lot finally got here at last," the Doctor said while they all stood by the bottom step that led up to the giant Buddha at Leshan.

"Yes, we finally reached our goal. Unfortunately Imiko isn't around so she can go home," Alan said. "But Mingxia can finally do the job she was hired to do."

She laughed.

"Yes, I can finally guide you," she said.

Awinita looked up the steps.

"Jesus, this is one big Buddha," she said. "How tall is it?"

"About 233 feet tall."

The Doctor let out a low whistle.

"Blimey, were in for hell of a climb," he said.

Alan looked at Rain standing beside him.

"Can you make it, Te'lesu? Do we have to carry up a tank of oxygen for you like we did on Camelback Mountain?" he said while Rose and Awinita laughed.

"No, Bro, I think I can make it this time," she said.

"What's this?" the Doctor said.

"Well, when she first came with us, we climbed Camelback Mountain in Phoenix and the three of us had been hiking and climbing small hills but she hadn't so she had a wee bit of trouble on the way up."

"But I made it," Rain pointed out.

"Yeah, only just," Alan said while she swatted his arm.

The Doctor grinned at her.

"You seemed to be winded on the Great Wall too as I recall. I had to stop frequently to let her rest."

"Gee, I don't know if we should take her up. She might be too much of a load to bear."

"I think the only load around here is you, Bro."

"Oh, ouch," Awinita said when he saw the shocked look on his face.

Alan feigned sadness and he walked over, lowered his face to her shoulder and cried loudly.

"Love, there's a Time Lord on my shoulder, could you flick it off for me please?" she said while they laughed.

The Doctor flicked the back of his fingers against Alan's head.

"Shoo, shoo, pesky Time Lord before you bite my wife," he said sternly.

Alan turned his head and smiled at his sister. He leaned back up and kissed her on the head.

"Are we ready to go or are we gonna stand here and let the rest of China stare at us?" Donna said to them.

Alan sighed.

"Oh, I s'pose we'll go now," he said.

He gave Rain's hand a squeeze and kissed her head before he took Rose's hand.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Wow, there's something to be said for having Time Lord physiology," Rose said when they were halfway up. "We've gone this far and I'm not even winded yet."

They paused to look at a small Buddha statue set back in a small hole in the mountain. It was gold and was smiling beatifically at them. Rose pulled out her digital camera and took a picture of it.

"The chap that created the big Buddha didn't make these, did he?" Alan said to Mingxia.

"No, these were put her later along with the Chinese characters beside them and…"

She grunted when a young Chinese man slammed into her back. The Doctor caught her before she nearly tumbled down the steps. They glared at the man.

"I'm sorry," he said, holding up his hands. "Someone else rammed into me. I didn't mean to hit her."

They nodded and the man headed on up.

"He's right," Donna said, pressing up against the wall. "This place is crowded."

"It's a Chinese holiday, actually, and that's why but it usually thins out in the late afternoon," Mingxia said.

"Well, we better keep going before more people accidentally ram us and send us back down the steps," the Doctor said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After another hour, they finally reached the top and paused a moment to rest. They looked over and saw the Buddha's head jutting out from the mountain. Its face had the same beatific smile as the smaller statues along the way. They all walked over to the railing and stared out at it. Alan glanced down and held Rose.

"Let me guess," Rose said dryly. "Lover's suicide leap from the big Buddha at Leshan."

"How'd ya guess?" he said while they laughed.

They looked over the edge.

"Although…that would be a very nasty fall. We'd probably go ker-splooch all over his foot and that would be a tad unsightly for the tourists. We better wait till we get to the Taj Mahal."

"Yes, I agree," Rose said while they laughed.

They stared at his face.

"Wow, it took that monk 90 years to do this?" Rose said.

"Yes, him and his followers and he blinded himself to show his piety when he thought he wasn't going to get any more funding for it. See, it was built in the hopes that it would stop the raging floods from the river beside it."

The Doctor looked at Rain.

"Jabbing your eyes out to get funding. That's one committed monk," he said to her.

"The legend says if you rub the Buddha's nose, you'll have good luck," Mingxia added.

They stared at the nose which was nearly fifty feet away from the railing.

"And how exactly do you get out to the nose to rub it, Mingxia?" Alan asked.

"Um, I'm not sure. That's just what the legend says," Mingxia said, shrugging.

Rain laughed.

"I think I know how," she said.

They looked at her.

"How?" Rose said.

"Back up," Rain said.

They all backed up while Rain stayed at the railing. She extended her arm and held her hand out so it looked like it was over the nose. She mimed rubbing it and then let her arm drop.

"There ya go, I'm a lucky woman now," she said while they laughed.

"I'm betting that's bang on too, Te'lesu," Alan said. "I can't see how else you can rub the Buddha's nose."

They went back to the railing and leaned slightly over the edge.

"Wow, Dad, 90 years to carve all this, that's amazing," Jenny said.

"Yes, it is and it's gorgeous too. Makes it all the more remarkable if the monk ended up blind and carved this," the Doctor said.

"Now if you want to go down to the feet, you have to get in another line," Mingxia said to them.

They looked where she was pointing and saw metal rods marking off where the queue stood much like the lines for rollercoasters. They stared at the forty people waiting patiently inside the boundaries.

"Wait, you gotta get in the fun fair queue to go back down to the bottom?" the Doctor said.

"Yes, because there's a huge staircase that is cut into the side of the mountain and people walk down it to get to the feet."

"Gee, are we that committed?" Alan asked. "We already spent two hours walking up the first set of steps to get up here. Does anyone really fancy going back down just to look at the feet?"

Mingxia looked at her watch and saw it was nearing four.

"Just wait a little bit, usually the line will thin out in a half hour or so," she said to them.

They nodded and went to sit down so they could rest.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

True to her word, the crowds thinned out at 4:30 and there was no one in the top section of the queue. They all headed down. But they didn't realize how steep the steps were until they started down.

"Careful, everyone," the Doctor said while they slowly walked down the steps.

"I'm glad we waited because I can just imagine some bloke bumping into us on these steps," Donna said.

They slowly walked down the steps which wound around and around nine times before they finally reached the bottom. All of them breathed a sigh of relief when they stepped off the last narrow step. At the bottom there was a stall where a man was selling incense. Mingxia brought a couple and lit them. They followed her while she took the incense and stuck them into dirt in a little stone tub between the two feet of the Buddha. They smiled when she put her hands together and bowed reverently before she walked back with them to the first foot.

"Wow, this is massive," Donna said, touching the side of it. "I think all of us could sit side by side on it and still have room left."

They walked around staring up at it.

The view is gorgeous from down here," Rain said to the Doctor while they looked up at it. "I'm glad we decided to wait and come down."

"Me too. This is definitely one of the wonders of Earth culture. One of the things that makes Earth such a brilliant place to live."

Rain looked back at the river flowing behind them and looked at Mingxia.

"Does the river still flood?" she said to her.

She shook her head.

"No, but not because of this. They constructed a dam and evened out the water that way," she said.

Rain looked back up at the Buddha.

That's sad that this monk spent all those years and lost his eyesight and it didn't help the floods like he wanted," she said.

"No, but I don't think his work was in vain since he gave everyone this treasure that can be enjoyed and revered," the Doctor said. "Besides who says it's not working? It might have a bit of magic in it right now blessing us and our travels."

"Well, I'm just glad we finally got to see it in person," Awinita said, coming up beside him.

"Yeah, we would have seen it sooner but certain people prevented us from doing so," Alan said, leaning his head on his Brother's shoulder and giving him a pointed look.

"Well, in my defense, I was not in control of my actions at the time, so don't blame me for your botched holiday," the Doctor said.

"Eh, much better with you here anyway. Like I said, it's too bad the Valeyard didn't send you down sooner so you could see the US with us…and you too, Te'lesu," he said, kissing her cheek.

"Well, we'll try to remedy that," the Doctor said.

Rose came up beside Alan.

"We need to go back to Chicago on Halloween and go to another Halloween party and see if we can find Resurrection Mary again," Alan said to Rose.

Resurrection Mary?" the Doctor said.

They explained it to them.

"Wow, that's intriguing," the Doctor said when they finished. "Not quite sure I believe it but it sounds interesting. After all, Rain and I did the ghost walk in Daytona so it might be fun. I guess we'll have to stay here in Pete's World though just to make sure old Mary's there."

"Well, I was thinking, after that, we'll go back to New Jersey and set my wife up as bait and wait for the Jersey Devil and…"

They laughed when Rose smacked the back of his head.

"On second though, lousy idea," Alan said. "However, there was the ghost light we did see. However you have to go out on a railway track and wait for it and it's just a ball of light that floats, it's not like it's an actual headless man screaming at you. Nope, the only one who saw a ghost in the flesh is this little lady right here beside me."

"Are you sure?" the Doctor said to Rose.

"Sure it was a ghost? It was there and then it vanished."

"Were you looking at it when it vanished?"

"No."

"If it looked that real, how do you know it wasn't a person from another dimension? You looked solid enough when you were using the dimension cannon but you faded at times, didn't you? At least, that's what Donna said."

Rose glanced at Alan.

"I guess that's a possibility," she said.

"He's not one for believing in ghosts," Alan said.

"Nope, I'm not but I'm willing to keep an open mind," the Doctor said, shrugging. "At any rate, are we ready to go? Is there somewhere we can get some Chinese food around here, Mingxia?"

"In Leshan, if you wanna take us over there," Mingxia said.

"I think I can do that. So, if everyone's ready, let's get back to our home and go get some Chinese food."


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty Five

"There, I got another batch of DVDs," Awinita said to Rain while they stood in the post office with the others.

"Did you get the one with the leg lamp?" Rain said.

"Yes, trust me, that was the first one I ordered," Awinita replied. "I also got that Liar, Liar one in case the Doctor wants to see where the have you been sexually assaulted line came from."

Rain giggled. She glanced over at her husband who was leaning up against the wall by the front door reading a letter. She noticed a few other items in his hand and walked over to his side. She leaned her head in slightly staring at the letter.

"No one told you it was rude to read other people's correspondence?" the Doctor said giving her a playful grin.

"I'm just curious who writes to the Oncoming Storm," she said, shrugging.

"I have several friends who write to me on occasion," he said.

"Like who?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"Why? You don't think I have a life outside the TARDIS?" he teased.

"Just curious. You're curious about things I do. I can't do the same for you?" she said.

"Well, this is from an old friend called Julip who lives in the Calium Galaxy. I've known him for a couple of centuries now."

"Wow, is he or she that old?"

"He. And no, he isn't but he lives in this time period and he writes me on occasion so I get his letters even though I'm mu ch older than he is now."

"What does Julip say?"

"He says my wife is nosy and should keep her big nose out of my letters."

He giggled when she slapped his arm.

"He's doing well. He has a family and a job as a spice miner. He's just telling me about that," the Doctor said.

"Spice? What kind of spice?"

He grinned.

"A very special spice that causes you to hallucinate and fantasize."

"You mean like LSD?"

"If you like."

He laughed at her wide eyes.

"Your friend mines LSD?" she said.

"Well, it's not quite as potent as LSD. There's no danger of "bad trips" as they say, but yes, he works in the LSD mines."

"Wow," Rain said while he laughed harder. "Your friend has an interesting job. So I assume they have to wear protection so they don't breathe the LSD in while they mine it?"

"You assume correctly," he said to her.

She glanced at the other pieces of mail in his hands.

"What else do you have?" she said.

"Oi, you're just a nosy little woman, aren't ya?"

She put her chin on his shoulder and gave him a puppy dog look.

"And that's supposed to affect me in some way?" he said while she slapped his arm. "Oh alright, I have a few advertisements along with my letter."

Rain frowned.

"You get junk mail?" she said.

"Well, I have a mailing address. I suppose eventually others besides my friends will find out about it and start sending me unwanted mail."

He handed her the junk mail.

"Here you go, have fun," he said.

Rain leaned up against the wall beside him while he went back to his letter. She looked at a white brochure made of heavy plastic. There was nothing on the front of the brochure except the words OPEN NOW FOR AN EXCITING OFFER in big blue letters. Curious, Rain opened the card and stared at a small speaker, the only thing inside the blank card.

"HELLO THERE!"

Rain gasped and the Doctor laughed when a cheery male voice boomed out of the speaker.

"ARE YOU GETTING OLD AND LOOKING OLD BEYOND YOUR YEARS?" the cheery male voice yelled at her. "THEN WHY NOT TRY THE NEWEST SENSATION FROM BUNSEN LABS? THE MOGROPHIZER! YES, THE MOGROPHIZER IS GUARANTEED TO REJUVENATE YOU AND TAKE YEARS OFF YOUR BODY AND FACE."

By now the rest of the family had come up to her.

"What the hell is this?" Donna said.

"It's an advertisement for Mogrophizer, I imagine," Alan said.

"WOULD YOU, MISTER…"

The cheery voice turned robotic.

"DOC-TOR," the voice said sounding like a Dalek.

It instantly went back to the cheery voice.

"…LIKE TO TRY A FREE SAMPLE OF MOGROPHIZER, THE REVOLUTIONARY SKIN CARE SYSTEM?"

"God, that's annoying," Rain said to the Doctor.

"Yes, it is, Latara, extremely annoying," the Doctor said while they laughed.

"I SAID, WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRY A FREE SAMPLE OF MOGROPHIZER, THE REVOLUTIONARY SKIN CARE SYSTEM?" the voice said when she didn't do anything.

Rain looked at her husband.

"How do I say no?" she said to him.

The Doctor leaned over and put his lips against the speaker.

"NO!" he said loudly.

He leaned back up.

There was a short pause.

"YOU HAVE SELECTED THE OPTION NO. WELL…SCREW YOU, YOU IDIOT!"

They laughed when Rain gave the speaker a shocked look.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW IDIOTIC YOU ARE, YOU STUPID DOFFMOFF!" the voice said angrily. "WE ARE OFFERING YOU A FREE SAMPLE OF MORGROPHIZER, THE REVOLUTIONARY SKIN CARE SYSTEM AND YOU DON'T WANT IT? WELL, YOU CAN JUST BURN IN BALHALA FOR THAT, MISTER…"

"DOC-TOR," the Dalek voice said.

"MISTER…"

"DOC-TOR…"

"IS A COMPLETE IDIOT WHO DOESN'T KNOW A FANTASTIC DEAL WHEN HE SEES IT. IN FACT, HE WOULDN'T KNOW A BARGAIN IF IT BIT HIM IN THE BUM. HE SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF HIMSELF, FOR SHAME, MISTER…"

"DOC-TOR."

"Love, how do you turn this thing off?" Rain asked while they laughed.

She glanced around at the other people in the post office who were now staring at her and chuckling.

"MISTER…DOC-TOR…IS AN IMPOTENT BASTARD WHO WILL NEVER HAVE CHILDREN!"

"Yup, you're right, I am," the Doctor said, shrugging.

"MISTER…DOC-TOR…WILL GROW OLD AND WRINKLY AND ROT AWAY BECAUSE HE HAS TURNED HIS BACK ON THIS FABULOUS OFFER AND SPIT ON THE MOGROPHIZER, THE REVOLUTIONARY SKIN CARE SYSTEM!"

"Love, how do you turn it off?" Rain said while her family laughed harder.

She closed the brochure and held it shut.

"MISTER…DOC-TOR," the muffled voice continued. "IS A CHILD MURDERER WHO LIKES TO LICK THE BUTTS OF ZARAX AND ALL BECAUSE HE HAS DECLINED THE FREE SAMPLE OF MOGROPHIZER, THE REVOLUTIONARY SKIN CARE SYSTEM!"

"Stop!" Rain screamed at it while the others bent over laughing. "God, I don't care about the Mogrophizer anymore!"

"You know, this kinda reminds me of the howler letters in Harry Potter," Awinita said.

"BURN FOREVER MISTER…DOC-TOR…BURN FOREVER IN FIREY FLAMES OF DAMNATION AND TORMENT FOR NOT USING MOGROPHIZER, THE REVOLUTIONARY SKIN CARE SYSTEM. SOMEONE ELSE WILL BE LUCKY ENOUGH TO GET THE FREE SAMPLE, BUT IT WON'T BE YOU!"

The brochure fell silent while the Doctor giggled. Rain stared at it but mercifully the voice said no more. She looked at her husband with wide eyes.

"There is no way to stop it except letting it run its course," the Doctor said. "That's why I didn't say anything when you asked me how to stop it."

"Well, I'm not opening the other junk mail then," she said as the Doctor and Alan laughed. "Jesus, and I though the junk mail in my time was annoying. At least it didn't scream abuse at you if you didn't want their product."

She started towards a trash can.

"Nope, wait, Latara," he said, stopping her and grabbing the junk mail out of her hand, "that's how people find your mailing address. They search through the rubbish bins for things like this. I'll throw it away on the TARDIS."

She nodded and took his hand.

"So, after that bit of excitement, are we done here?" the Doctor said.

They nodded and the Doctor gestured for them to leave. Alan walked back to his brother.

"She did it. She got the leg lamp DVD," he said smiling.

"She did? Good girl," the Doctor said as they walked out the door. "We'll have to schedule another cinema party very, very soon then."


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty Six

_Journal of Alan Timelord…_

_I know I haven't written in this in a long time. I haven't felt the need until tonight to use it again but I want to get my thoughts down about what I saw because it terrified me and I don't want anyone seeing this. So I'm in a secluded room of the TARDIS that I ordered her to seal off so Rose or anyone else can't come in here._

_My precious sister, Rain, is alright now. She's resting comfortably but for a few terrifying hours everyone thought she was going to die and not just die but die permanently and my Brother nearly lost his sanity. I know that both of them have become close to one another but I had no idea how much Rain meant to the Doctor until he faced the possibility of her dying centuries before him. Not even losing Rose caused him to become as unhinged as he became tonight. The fact that she is safe now and out of danger has calmed him down. He's in the med bay with her sleeping next to her on the little bed with his arms holding her protectively and all of us wisely left him alone for the moment. I think he scared everyone with how distraught he was and I know he scared me._

_My brother once abandoned me in Pete's World because he thought I was in danger of spinning out of control and hurting someone. But I always knew that he was just as dangerous as I was. He has worked through a lot of his demons since we've been together and I'm glad of that but ever since the Time War and the devastation of Gallifrey, he's had a very unhealthy tendency to rely too much on other people and make them his whole universe. He did it with Rose and now he's doing it with Rain. Don't get me wrong, I love Rose dearly and I couldn't imagine my life without her in it but I know that eventually we must separate, whether it be a few years or centuries from now. I know that she and I probably won't die together so one of us will be left alone for awhile. That will happen to the Doctor as well but I'm not so sure my brother would survive if Rain did go first. I know it's callous to think this, but I'm praying my brother goes first so he doesn't have to suffer not having Rain around._

_I don't know everything that happened with them when Brother was disguised as Morana and they were alone together in their room. But I know that Te'lesu confided in him about her life, things that she's never told anyone else and it's caused my brother to become fiercely protective of her. We know there's been abuse in Rain's past and the loss of her mother but I've always suspected that she was abused far more than what she's told me or her daughter and sisters. But I think my brother knows exactly what went on and that's why he shows her love and affection every chance he gets. I love that he does that, that he's made her feel like she's a goddess and the most special woman in the entire universe and she deserved someone like him but there are times when this blind adoration has its consequences and we saw one of the consequences tonight._

_But, getting back to the event that triggered all this. I was with Brother when we were exploring this planet called Lek 9. There was an amusement park there and we were walking around enjoying the rides, eating, drinking and laughing just like we usually do. My brother and sister went off by themselves at one point to get something to drink after riding one of the rides and…_

"Should be something over here," the Doctor said as he walked hand in hand with Rain.

"I hope so; I'm thirsty after all that screaming. The rollercoasters here are more intense than they are on Earth."

"Well, that's why I brought you here. After that Expedition Everest one I figured we could try something a bit more challenging," the Doctor said.

They found a small booth and they read the menu that was written on a small board nailed to the side of it. Rain scratched her chin while she looked at the items listed.

"I don't know what any of these things are," she said. "I don't even know what's a drink and what's not."

"Well, the Tamara Squeeze is very good," the Doctor said. "It tastes a little like a Satsuma."

"That sounds good."

"Two of those then?"

"Yup."

He smiled and gave her hand a squeeze while they got in the queue. While they waited, Rain looked back at a carousel where the rest of the family was waiting. She noticed a man leaning against another booth nearby eyeing her with interest but she quickly ignored him and caught sight of Alan who was chasing Rose around in front of the carousel. Alan caught sight of her and made a big show of tapping his foot and jabbing his finger at his wristwatch while the rest of the women laughed. Rain laughed and looked up at her husband.

"You better hurry, Thete, your brother's impatient now."

"When is he ever not impatient?" the Doctor said to her.

He looked over at his brother who was still tapping his foot and pointing to his watch.

_Oh for heaven's sake, Brother, go ahead and get on the Merry-go-round,_ the Doctor thought to him. _Rain and I are gonna be sipping our Tamara Squeeze anyway. Quit badgering us!_

_Tamara Squeeze? You're getting a Tamara Squeeze now when there are so many brilliant rides left!_ He thought back. _Omega's orifice, you two are wimps._

Rain laughed when the Doctor flipped him off and turned his attention back to the booth. Rain sighed and leaned against him, smiling when the Doctor sent love into her mind.

_My hearts,_ he thought to her.

Rain smiled and closed her eyes when the Doctor briefly nuzzled her head and kissed it.

_Oh God,_ Alan thought to them._ Are you gonna start snogging now?_

Rain laughed when the Doctor gave his brother a dirty look. She glanced up at him when he gave her an exasperated look and shook his head.

"You know, we should start snogging just to prove him right," the Doctor said as they moved up in the queue. "After all, he's expecting it right?"

"You wanna give the rest of these people a show then?" Rain said.

"Sod the rest of these people. I can do what I like when I like and as long as it doesn't break any decency laws, I will snog my wife in public, I will."

"Go ahead then, I dare ya."

The Doctor grinned.

"Dare me, eh? Hmm, I may have to take you up on that little challenge then," the Doctor said, waggling his eyebrows.

He gave his brother a pointed look and kissed her cheek.

_I knew it, snogging time is comin',_ Alan thought to them. _What's next, throwing her on the counter of that booth and shagging her senseless?_

_Maybe, if I feel the need for it, _the Doctor thought back.

He grinned when the other women laughed at his shocked look.

_You wouldn't,_ Alan thought back.

The grin widened and the Doctor waggled his eyebrows.

_Well, if you get arrested, we don't know you,_ Alan thought back.

The Doctor shrugged and pulled Rain closer.

"Boy, all of a sudden getting a Tamara Squeeze has become quite interesting," Rain said while he chuckled.

Finally the people in front of them moved and the Doctor pulled his credit stick out while he ordered their Tamara Squeezes. Rain stood with him but suddenly she got a funny feeling and she looked back over her shoulder. She saw the man who had been leaning against the booth. He was staring at her with lust in his eyes. Raising her eyebrow, she let go of her husband's hand and flashed her wedding ring at him. The Doctor saw the gesture, looked where she was looking and glared at the man. He gave him a pointed look and flashed his wedding ring and the man snorted at them.

"Here are your drinks, sir," the vendor said.

Both of them turned back around. The Doctor gave one of the plastic cups to his wife and took the other. Ignoring the man, they walked away sipping their drinks.

_That was a mistake on both their parts. The man fancied Te'lesu very much and he didn't care that Brother was married to her. He wanted her for his own. My poor brother, so confident in his own ability to protect the woman he loved had no clue that this man was about to cause them so much grief. We had been relatively fortunate since he joined our family. We'd only had the run-in with the Rani and even then it had been Brother and Jack who had borne the brunt of the abuse, not Rain. Not even the Valeyard had been much of a threat since Rain had merged with Imiko and was being protected by her. We had all kept ourselves safe on our travels so far and that had given the Doctor a false sense of security and led him to think that he was just some man who fancied his wife but nothing more would come of it. How very wrong he was. He also made a mistake thinking that the crowds at the amusement park would offer them protection because in a heartsbeat this man was behind them, seizing Rain and trying to pull her away from my brother. My brother was enraged, trying to fight him off and there were others nearby who were trying to come to Rain's aid but then the bastard pulled a blaster out of his coat and held it against Te'lesu's head. The anger instantly dissipated and the Doctor calmly tried to diffuse the situation lest he fire and she regenerated in front of everyone. While this was happening, I was slowly going around the crowd to get in back of the man so I could knock him out from behind. My sisters and niece were going the other way trying to prevent him from running off and getting Rain away from the maniac. I could see my brother's eyes darting from his wife to the man who seemed to be getting a sadistic pleasure out of his fear._

_Then I saw it, he had a vortex manipulator on his wrist and he was about to kidnap my sister and take her away from her husband and family. I knew Brother had seen it too from the ashen look on his face and I knew I had to act swiftly to prevent them from leaving. Thus, in one hearts stopping moment, both Brother and I moved against him. He coming from the front and I coming from the back with the man and Rain in the middle. Somehow in the confusion he managed to activate the manipulator and all four of us disappeared in blinding flash of light._

_After the manipulator delivered us to the location the man had preprogrammed, all of us were dazed and dizzy but the man quickly recovered as did the Doctor and I and my brother quickly grabbed his wife before he could and held her to him while they knelt on their knees. As quick as lightning, several bodyguards surrounded us, pointing blasters at our heads while we knelt there, completely at the man's mercy._

"Who are you, what do you want?" the Doctor said, holding Rain protectively.

"Who am I isn't important, what I want is her," he said, pointing to Rain.

Alan shifted towards his sister, glaring at the man along with the Doctor.

"I'm warning you, don't you dare harm her," Alan growled at him.

The man laughed.

"You really think you two little weaklings will be able to stop me. I want her and I'll have her even if I have to kill you both to get her."

_It was then that I first saw real fear in my brother's eyes. I'm not sure what was the exact cause of the fear, after all, this wasn't the first time Te'lesu had been in danger and my brother knew full well what being married to him would entail as did she. Both of them had accepted the danger as a price to pay for being together, the same price I accepted to be with my Rose. I'm not sure since Brother hasn't told me his thoughts about what went on but I think the fear stemmed from the abuse Rain had suffered and my brother's tortured images of what this maniac might do to her, either in front of us or worse, alone in the privacy of a locked room. My poor sister must have had the same imaginings as him because she drew further into his arms. It was at that point that I felt my brother enact a privacy block and I don't know what he thought to her but I imagine he was comforting her, telling her he loved her and would die before he let this man do whatever his sick mind was thinking. I could see her relax a little so I guess whatever he said had comforted her but my brother's eyes didn't see that. His steely gaze was riveted on the man and his bodyguards and I could see that familiar look of daring them to do something to someone he loved. I glanced up at the man and the smug look on his face and I thought to myself how much of an insane blind idiot he had to be not to see how much danger he was in and how quickly my brother would go bonkers if he so much as touched his wife the wrong way._

_It was then that I felt a hand on my leg and I saw my sister staring at me, calmly but her eyes held fear. I'm not sure if it was fear for herself or for us, but I drew closer to her and put my hand on her side while I smiled at her, that goofy smile that had always cheered her up before and my hearts warmed when a slight smile did spread over her face. I didn't feel anything except calm in her mind so I think she was comforted by our presence and figured that it would be enough to protect her from these men. I hoped for the same, but I held no illusions that my brother and I would be able to protect her every time. That there would be some times when she and my other sisters and niece would be in danger and we might not be there to shield them like we're trying to do now. My brother sat beside me, holding his wife against him, offering himself to this maniac just like he has done for his other companions over the centuries. I could sense my sister's pain in my mind at hearing that but she said nothing. As for my brother, I felt the simmering rage in his mind, a dormant volcano of anger that was threatening to explode any moment and turn him from the happy-go-lucky, smiling, laughing Doctor into the angry, dark, vengeful Oncoming Storm who would show no mercy to those who dared to harm the people who had become his whole life and reason for being. His family that he now was fully prepared to die for in order to ensure their safety, first among them his beloved wife who had become a part of him just as he had become a part of her. And I knew full well at that time that if that part was taken from him there would be complete devastation to his psyche. A loss that not even the loss of Rose could compare with. Brother knew it full well too which was why he was determined to keep his wife near him, no matter what the cost._

_Then without warning, the bodyguards, apparently thinking that we had been awake and resisted for long enough, suddenly ran up and smacked the butts of their blasters down on mine and Brother's head. The last thing I remembered before the blackness took me was my sister's horrified scream._


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty Seven

_I was the first one to regain consciousness although I suspect Te'lesu was never knocked out since she was across from me when I woke, fully awake and staring at me. We were in a cage but she was lying on the concrete floor with a manacle around her left ankle that was attached to a steel support pole by a heavy chain and another manacle. Brother was lying beside me in the cage, mercifully unconscious since I knew how much torment he would be in once he woke up. Groggily, I got to my knees searching my sister for any signs of abuse but apart from the manacle on her leg, I didn't see any. I crawled on my knees to the front of the cage and…_

"Te'lesu, sweetheart, are you alright?" Alan asked.

She nodded.

"Yeah, the guy dumped me in here along with you but he didn't do anything except chain me up. I think he's waiting for you to wake up."

She turned her anguished gaze to her husband.

"Is he…alright?" she said to him.

Alan crawled to him. Leaning over, he inspected his head.

"I think he'll be alright, Rain. He's got a bump on his head from where they hit him but he's had worse. He just hasn't woken up yet."

He looked over when Rain began to get to her knees. She gave him a sad, loving look before she turned her eyes towards the locked door of the room we were in.

"I won't let him hurt you, Te'lesu. Brother and I will figure a way out of here," Alan said.

_It was then that I had a thought and I reached inside my pocket. My spirit soared when my hand closed over the end of my screwdriver. Dippy hadn't searched our pockets. Triumphantly I whipped it out and reveled in the delighted look my sister gave me. She searched her jean pocket and smiled when she found hers. I opened the lock of our cage while she unlocked the manacle around her ankle. I opened the cage and let Rain come inside with me. She fell to her knees and bent over her husband…_

"Love? Love, wake up, it's me," she whispered in his ear. "Please wake up."

Alan noticed his brow furrow slightly but he didn't stir. Rain leaned back up and shot a worried glance at the door before her gaze settled back on her husband. Alan watched while she turned his head and put her fingertips to his temples.

"I hope this works," she said. "I've never done this before."

"Done what?" Alan said, moving closer.

"I'm thinking if I can go into his mind, talk to him there, maybe that'll be enough to wake him," Rain said.

Alan raised his eyebrows.

"I never thought of that but go ahead, Te'lesu. You're a Time Lady; this is instinctual for you now."

Rain nodded and Alan laid his hand on her back. He watched the door while she bent down and closed her eyes reaching out into her husband's unconscious mind.

Rain felt herself going through his mind. There were random flashes of memory. Memories she had seen before during sex and some that were brand new. She forced herself further and further into his mind looking for a way to wake him up. She saw his surface memories of his time with Rose, memories of her with both his ninth and present selves. He could sense the pain she was causing at awakening painful memories of her past loss and the loss of other companions but she couldn't help it. He had to wake up if there was any hope of them escaping. Every so often she would pause and call out to him in his mind, cajole him into returning to the waking world but she got no answer. She kept going deeper and deeper, awakening memories of him as a young man centuries before she knew him. She saw some memories of his life on Gallifrey; saw him as a very young and handsome man with short brown hair and piercing blue eyes, almost a combination of his tenth and eighth lives. She paused a moment staring at her husband's first life, loving the look of him before continuing on deeper into his mind.

It was only when she finally reached his subconscious that she hit a barrier. A barrier he had erected to prevent her or anyone else from accessing his most painful and secretive memories. She called to him again but there was no answer and she tried once more to break through the mental barrier to find him. She tried everything she could to break through it.

"NO!"

She recoiled both physically and mentally as the stern voice of her husband echoed inside his head.

"No, my love, don't go any further. You mustn't, it's forbidden," the voice said gently.

She turned her focus inside his mind to her right and saw a mental representation of her husband in his current form floating a few feet away from her.

"You must never go in there," he said, pointing to the barrier. "I forbid it."

"Thete, I'm sorry but I was looking for you," Rain said, forming a mental copy of herself and going to his open arms. "I was trying to find you but I couldn't and I didn't know what else to do. I thought if I went in there, you'd be there and…"

"No, my hearts, there is nothing in there for you," the Doctor said gently. "Only death and horror and devastation that would drive you mad. I won't allow you access to that part of me."

"Then you have to wake up. We found a way to escape but we need you. Please, you have to wake yourself up."

The Doctor looked around and smiled at her.

"You must take me back with you," he said. "When you pull back out, I must be with you so I can come back to the waking world."

He held her tightly to him and kissed her cheek.

"Don't ever look for me in there," he said, nodding his head at the barrier. "The man that you love so very much isn't in there. I'm right here so there's no need to try to force your way through the mental block I erected. I have denied you these memories for a reason and although I will indulge you and let you see other memories of me, you must never defy me on this one request. It is the only thing I ask of you, my joy. Do not ever try to see what I have hidden from you. Is that clear?"

"Yes, my love," Rain said.

He enfolded her in his arms.

"Take me back then," he whispered.

Rain put his arms around him and instinctually brought herself back to the waking world.

Alan watched when Rain opened her eyes and stroked her hair.

"Te'lesu, are you alright? Did you find anything?"

His eyes jerked down when he heard the Doctor groaning and a smile spread over his face.

"You are brilliant, Rain, simply brilliant."

He kept a watch on the door while Rain bent down over her husband.

"Doctor? Are you alright?" Rain said softly, stroking his cheek.

His eyes fluttered open.

"Apart from the massive headache from the butt of the blaster, I'm just fine, Latara," he muttered.

He glanced up at her and threw up a privacy block.

_Remember my words, Latara,_ he thought to her.

_I will. I'm sorry. I never meant to upset you by trying to get into your memories._

He smiled softly.

_Don't apologize,_ he thought. _I know you weren't being malicious when you were trying to do that but I'm telling you now that there is never a reason for you to be in there so don't go there again if you try to wake me up in future. _

He held her and sent love into her mind before Rain helped him sit up. He gave her a worried look.

"Are you alright?" the Doctor asked. "Did that bastard hurt you while we were out?"

"No, he just chained me up, he didn't touch me."

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Alan.

"Te'lesau, are you alright?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, as far as I know he just chucked us in here and left the room," he said. "But…he didn't search our pockets, so we all still have our screwdrivers."

"Good. Then let's use them to get ourselves out of here and back to the others."

Both Alan and Rain supported him while he struggled to get to his feet.

"I think you woke me up too early, Rain. I'm still out of sorts," he moaned, shaking his head.

He leaned against his wife and Brother while they walked him out of the cage to the door. He kept shaking his head trying to see straight and regain full consciousness while Rain gave him a worried look.

"The man," the Doctor said while he struggled to walk. "The man had a vortex manipulator. A time agent?"

"Might be, Brother, that was my thought as well," Alan said, glancing at him. "Are you alright?"

"Getting better. My mind just needs to get coordinated with my body but I'd rather be awake than unconscious," he said.

When they reached the door, he let go of Alan and put his free hand against the wall while Rain continued to support him.

"Some holiday, huh?" the Doctor said to her. "That'll be the last time I get us some tamara squeezes."

Rain put his arms around him when he saw him blinking trying to get his groggy eyes to focus. Alan meanwhile, had unlocked the door with his screwdriver and was slowly turning the doorknob. When he turned it all the way, he paused and glanced at his brother before he slowly inched the door open. While he was doing it, Rain sensed her husband's anger and frustration in her mind. She threw up a privacy block.

_What is it, Thete?_ she thought to him.

_I hate this. I hate feeling useless and weak when we're in danger,_ he thought back. _My brother needs me now and I'm still struggling to wake up. The condition I'm in, it wouldn't have mattered if you'd left me unconscious. I can't mount a defense if someone comes through the door and attacks him._

Alan opened the door about three inches and peeked out. He held up his hand and glanced at his brother.

"There's one out there," he mouthed to him.

"Be careful," the Doctor mouthed back.

Alan nodded and once again Rain felt a surge of anger and frustration from her husband. Alan slowly opened the door bit by bit and the Doctor could see one of the bodyguards standing with his back to them. Alan kept on opening the door until he had a clear shot at him and then raised his arm; he made a fist and slammed it down on the top of his head.

"Sorry, mate, turnabout is fair play and all that," Alan muttered while he slumped to the floor unconscious.

He put the Doctor's arm back around his shoulders.

"Are you alright?" Alan asked.

"Getting better. I'm still a tad groggy though," the Doctor said. "But just get us out of here before that git comes back."

_So we set off through this building that for all the world looked like a bunch of offices. Te'lesu and I kept our screwdrivers out and ready but we didn't see any other bodyguards around. With each step though I could feel my brother's mind becoming more lucid and his steps were getting steadier and steadier. It isn't the first time I've been thankful of our Gallifreyan physiology and our ability to shrug off illness and injury faster than humans. It only took five more minutes before Brother was able to walk without any support from us, although Rain stayed close to him just in case. _

_We didn't see anyone else around which raised my suspicions. I had the feeling we were being watched and my eyes kept going up to the ceiling looking for evidence of CCTV but I never found anything that looked like it. But that still didn't stop me from feeling uneasy and I could tell from the way Brother kept looking around that he shared my suspicions. _

_After ten minutes, we saw the exit. Outside the glass door was a car park and a lush green field beyond it. We walked up to the door but the Doctor held up his hand stopping us…_

"No," he said, shaking his head. "Something's not right. This is far too easy. One guard in the whole of the building? Something else is afoot here."

He took his screwdriver out of his pocket and aimed it at the door. Alan and Rain jerked their bodies away when sparks flew out of the door.

"Alarm system," the Doctor muttered. "But still…I don't like this. Still far too easy."

He slowly opened the door while Rain and Alan looked around. Once the door was open enough for their bodies to squeeze through, they walked outside onto a pavement that led down to the car park. All three of them looked around while the Doctor took his wife's hand and they slowly made their way across the car park to the field beyond.

_We need to contact the others,_ the Doctor thought to them. _Try to find out where we are so they can bring the TARDIS here and…_

He was cut off when his sensitive hearing picked up a hissing sound and he felt his wife's pain and confusion in his mind. Alan yelled and he looked around. His face turned ashen when he saw a dart sticking out of Rain's jugular. The back of it resembled a syringe and both men looked on in horror as an aquamarine liquid was forced into her vein. The Doctor pulled the syringe out, threw it on the ground and fell with Rain to the ground while she gasped.

"Sweetheart, oh God, what have they done to you?" the Doctor moaned, holding her close.

He looked up and he and Alan saw the man emerging from the bushes. Behind him was a bodyguard holding a blowgun in his hand.

"You didn't think you'd really get away, did you? If I can't have your pretty wife, no one can. That dart had a powerful poison in it and she'll be dead very soon."

The Doctor glanced down at Rain who was gasping and panting and staring at them with unfocused eyes and then he looked at the men responsible for putting her in that state.

_And that is when the proverbial shit hit the fan. My brother's demeanor changed in a heartsbeat and he became an enraged madman. He had the presence of mind to lay his wife down in the middle of the car park beside me but once he let go, he looked up and his eyes were jet black and he let out a bloodcurdling scream of rage and insanity and pain that shocked us all and froze us to the spot. The two men didn't have time to let out a yell let alone run because my brother jumped up and closed the gap between them in the time it takes someone to blink and then he fell upon them. The guard he rammed up against the wall, knocking him unconscious and then he turned and began to savagely beat the man. I have to admit I was stunned. I'd never seen him this crazed before and I could feel pure and total rage and insanity in my mind, a rage and insanity that frightened me to the very core of my being. I glanced down at Rain who was staring at her husband in complete shock and fear. I knelt down beside her and helped her to her knees letting her lean against me. Then she mustered her strength…_

"NO, THETE, STOP!"

_That was enough to jar Brother to his senses. And it shocked me as well. I knew she called him that. I'd heard her call him that before but it was always when she thought they were alone because Thete was her private name for him, to be used only when they were alone and she was the only one permitted to call him that. This was the first time she had used it openly in front of me and I could see why she did it because the shock of hearing her say it openly was enough to snap Brother out of his murderous rage. I watched in anguish while he staggered back and saw what he had done. I could see from my position that the man wasn't breathing and he was a bloodied mass of flesh. He turned to us and I saw guilt on his face when he realized what he had done. As I looked at him, I saw him look at Rain and saw the horror on his face at the same time Rain's mind faded from mine. I turned a panicked glance to her but she had only lost consciousness. The Doctor stumbled over to her, tears cascading down his face and gathered her in his arms… _

"I'm sorry, my love, please forgive me," he murmured to her while he held her close.

Alan quickly went to the man and gulped when he saw him. His face was no longer recognizable and there was blood all over it. He guessed there were a few broken bones too but he didn't have time to dwell on that. He pulled the vortex manipulator off his wrist and ran back to his brother and sister.

_When I got back to him, I could feel how guilty and distraught he was and he murmured out apologies to me for losing control. I assured him that I understood and I forgave him while I put the manipulator around my wrist and programmed it to take us back to the rest of the family and our TARDIS. When I was done, I put my hand on my brother and sister and put my forehead against his, saying a silent prayer for mercy as the bright light enveloped our bodies. _


	28. Chapter 28

Chapter Twenty Eight

_We landed back in the middle of the fun fair by the TARDIS and our family was right there to greet us. They saw Rain and then they saw Brother's bloodied hands but we had no time to answer the questions I knew they had. I unlocked the door and both of us ran back to the med bay with Rain in the Doctor's arms letting the rest of the women handle the front door and the console room. The TARDIS closed the distance between the console room and the med bay and the Doctor laid her down on the examination table, kissing her forehead while I raced over to get an IV drip. While I was doing that, the rest of the women came into the room. The Doctor raced over to Rose and handed her his mobile._

"Rose, call Torchwood, we need Martha," he said to her. "Whoever answers, tell them this is not a joke this time and then you need to get us there, alright?"

They all nodded. Rose took the mobile and all of them ran back out. The Doctor turned his attention back to his wife and grabbed an IV pole. He carried it over while Alan stared an antibiotic drip.

"I need a blood sample," the Doctor said. "The TARDIS needs to analyze it and see what that bastard poisoned her with."

He laid his hand on her head.

"Hold on for us, Latara, we'll save you," he said before running off to a cabinet to get out the equipment for a blood draw.

Rose came running back inside.

"I reached Jack and they're getting ready. Donna's taking the TARDIS to Torchwood," Rose said.

She ran over to Rain's side.

"Oh God, what happened?" she said to them.

"She's been poisoned, Starlight, the bastard had someone shoot a dart filled with poison into her neck," Alan said while he worked on the IV.

"Oh God, no," Rose said. "Can I help?"

"Yes, help me get this drip started."

Rose nodded and they worked to get the needle in her vein while the Doctor came around to the other side, put a tourniquet on her arm and prepared to do a blood draw.

"Doctor?" Jack yelled. "Doctor, where are you?"

"Med bay, Jack! Hurry!" Alan screamed.

A moment later, Jack rushed into the room, ashen faced.

"Shit!" he said when he saw how pale Rain looked.

He stepped aside and Martha ran in carrying a medical kit.

"What happened?" she asked the Doctor.

The Doctor explained it while the rest of the Doctor's family and Torchwood came into the room. They took one look at her and quickly asked to be of help. Alan started naming off things they needed and people began to rush around getting the items he needed. Martha pulled out a stethoscope and listened to her hearts while the Doctor finished the blood sample, tore off the tourniquet, took the needle out and ran off to the lab to look at it.

"Rain, can you hear me? Can you say your name?" Martha called to her.

She cursed when she was unresponsive and opened an eyelid.

"Pupils are dilated," Martha said to Alan. "What's in the drip?"

"It's an antibiotic solution. It helps boost Gallifreyan immune systems. We're hoping it'll give Rain the strength to fight off the poison. If her heightened metabolism can flush it out in time, she might have a chance. But without knowing what poisoned he used, I don't think we can do much more."

Martha put a plaster over the hole the Doctor made from the blood draw and moved around to Alan's side. She took a blood pressure cuff out and wrapped it around her arm while Alan moved Rose back. She stared at her chest counting her respiration in her head while she took her blood pressure. Donna grabbed the electronic thermometer and put it in her right ear. It beeped and she looked at it.

"80 degrees, damn it," she said.

Martha glanced at her.

"Why? What's normal for Time Lords?"

"60 degrees," she said.

"Blood pressure's 160 over 120, respiration's 40."

She put her fingers on her wrist and looked at her watch while she checked her pulse. Rose stared at her for a moment and then ran out. She ran down the hall to the lab and saw the Doctor standing at a scanner. Her hearts ached when he saw the tear tracks down his face and she ran to him while he opened his arms and embraced her.

"Oh God, Rose, is she still with us?" the Doctor said in a choked up voice.

"Yes, Doctor, she's still alive. Alan gave her some of the antibiotic solution and Martha's taking her vital signs. Have you found out anything?"

He shook his head.

"The TARDIS is analyzing. I think she's almost ready but it's not fast enough to suit me. Rose, listen, if she dies, I want you to help me prepare her for cremation and…"

"No, she's not gonna die, Doctor. Don't talk like that. We'll save her, I promise."

He swallowed hard and nodded. There was a buzzer and both Rose and the Doctor looked at the screen.

"It's from the Ursus flower," he said.

A relieved grin spread across his face.

"Oh God, Rose, I have the antidote. Come on."

Rose took his hand and they ran back down the corridor to the med bay.

"Ursus Flower, Brother!" the Doctor yelled when they entered.

"You got the antidote for it!" Alan said.

"Yes, I do," the Doctor replied, letting go of Rose's hand and sprinting towards the cabinet on the right side of the room.

He rummaged through it until he found a dark blue liquid. He grabbed a syringe, filled it up with the antidote and ran back over to the table. He inserted the needle into a hole in the tubing near her arm and pushed the liquid into the tubing. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw it go through the tubing into her arm.

"Come on, Rain, you can do this. Fight it," he muttered as he stared at her pale face.

He looked around at everyone.

"Thank you, everyone. I'm so glad you came."

They smiled and nodded. The Doctor walked over to a sink behind him, disposed of the syringe and washed the blood off his hands.

_After that, all we could do was watch and wait. For awhile, it looked like Rain was going to die and we all tried to comfort the Doctor who was completely distraught. It seemed like Te'lesu was past praying for but then…her body finally began to fight it and we all rejoiced when her vital signs and her color began to return to normal. The Doctor had tears streaming down his face while we all hugged him. After she was stabilized enough, we moved her to the bed in the corner so she could rest properly and Brother rested with her and so far that's all I know but it's been one emotional rollercoaster of a day and I hope never to go through it again._

_Brother?_

Alan heard the Doctor call to him at the same time he felt Rain's mind coming back into his consciousness.

_She's awake,_ Alan thought to him.

_Yes, she's awake and none the worse for wear. But she is a bit famished; can you fix her a sandwich?_

_On my way there now._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor smiled at his wife when she opened her eyes.

"Thete?" she said in a hoarse voice.

"Yes, Love, it's me. You gave us quite a scare," he said, stroking her cheek. "Are you alright?"

"I'm a little bit hungry, actually," she said to him.

"Don't worry; I've got that taken care of."

He thought to his brother while he moved onto his stomach and kissed her forehead. Rain looked around.

"I'm in the med bay," she said.

"Yes, Love, we got you back here and we brought Torchwood on board so Martha could help you."

He kissed her forehead.

"You almost died," he said sadly. "You almost left me and I would have had to carry on without your cheeky comments about my name and fashion sense."

A small smile spread over his face when she laughed softly at that.

"I guess I need to beware of maniacs with blowguns from now on," she said, hoarsely.

She stared at him.

"Thete, that man. He's…"

The Doctor stared at the bed, ashamed.

"I killed him, Latara," he said sadly. "I didn't mean to go that far but after seeing you poisoned and the bastard taunting me, I lost control and I couldn't stop myself from punching him. I'm sorry, my hearts, I truly am."

"Shhh, I understand, Thete, I really do," she said.

"Do you still love me and want to be my wife?"

She gave him an odd look.

"Well, yes, ya loon. Of course I do," she said hoarsely.

She stroked his cheek while he chuckled softly. The Doctor looked over when Alan entered the room carrying a small plate with a turkey sandwich on it and a glass of milk. He walked over to the bed.

"Sandwich service for madam," he said to them. "I believe the patient ordered nourishment?"

"Yes, I did, Bro," Rain whispered.

"Well, too bad, you want it, you make it. I thought I'd mosey in here and eat this sandwich and tell you how delicious it is."

"Gee, thanks Bro, you're all hearts," she said while the Doctor snickered.

Alan laid the plate and glass down on the table and walked back over to her. He leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Tonight was a freebie, next time you get poisoned you are on your own," he said, pinching her nose.

"Just give me my sandwich and go, little irritant," she said.

The Doctor giggled at the shocked look on his face.

"Well, in that case, rise up and get the nourishment yourself," he said.

He gave her a kiss on the lips and let out a mock sigh.

"Ah, the things brothers do for their sisters," he said, leaning back up.

He picked up the plate and glass and brought it back to her. The Doctor sat up and helped her to sit up while Alan waited. Once she was sitting, the Doctor covered her lap with the cotton blanket and took the glass while Alan laid the plate on her lap.

"Thank you, Bro," she said in a raspy voice.

"You're welcome, little Bullfrog," Alan replied.

"You're just being mean to me, aren't you?" Rain said.

He leaned down close to her face.

"I'm your little brother, I'm supposed to be an enormous pest," he said to her.

"Yes, that's true."

He kissed her cheek and ruffled her hair before he left the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After a couple of hours, Rain felt strong enough to go into the living room. The Doctor wrapped her in the blanket and walked with her there. Everyone smiled at her when she came in the room.

"Hi everyone, sorry I was a nuisance," Rain said.

"Well, you should be sorry. You disrupted me and my team," Jack teased while he sat in the chair.

"Well, you didn't have to come, Harkness, I was only wanting Martha."

"Well, I'm her brother so I guess I'm allowed to come if my sister's dying," Jack replied.

They made room for them while he slowly lowered her to the sofa. She leaned against her husband when he sat down with her and Rose and Alan sat down beside her.

"How ya feelin', Sis?" Rose asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Like crap, but I'm better than I was," she said, weakly.

She looked around at everyone who had gathered around her.

"Thank you for saving me," she said.

They smiled and gave her hugs and kisses.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After awhile, Rain fell into an exhausted sleep beside her husband and everyone except Alan left to occupy themselves with other things. The Doctor smiled softly while he watched Rain sleeping peacefully.

"I did this with her, you know, when I traveled with you lot," the Doctor whispered to his brother. "I spent many a night just watching her sleep and loving the peaceful look on her face."

He lowered his head to hers and kissed it.

"I surprised myself today," the Doctor whispered to Alan. "How enraged and out of control I got. But just the thought of being without my treasure caused me to lose control and I couldn't help myself. If she hadn't said my private name, I might have kept on going until that guy was minced meat. This one formally human woman has become that important to me."

He glanced at Alan when he didn't say anything.

"You think I'm a crazed lovesick maniac now," he whispered to him.

"No, I just think that sometimes you put too much of yourself in other people, Te'lesau. What are you going to do if Rain dies before you centuries from now? If you fear that much for her safety then why do you allow her out where she can get hurt? If the thought of her dying makes you lose control then leave her in here where she'll be safe then."

The Doctor stared at his wife while he thought that over.

"You're right, Brother, but…Rain is just amazing. I know you know that but you don't see the intimate moments we have together when she just turns into this totally cheeky person and she's so loving and affectionate and so protective. I've never known anyone like her and it does scare me that one day I'll lose this beautiful angel beside me and she'll go somewhere where I can't go. But I can't leave her in here, she needs to be out seeing planets and star systems and time periods."

"Then you have to accept the fact that sometimes things like this will happen, Brother," Alan said softly. "I'm not saying you shouldn't worry and be upset but you can't get to the point where you lose complete control and become totally useless. If there's a crisis, you need a level head or she really will die."

He nodded.

"I know, I know," he said softly. "And I have learned my lesson. The fact that I killed that man today showed me I do need to learn to keep my emotions in check when it comes to her and…"

He shut up when his wife stirred and smacked her lips. She opened her eyes a crack and looked up at him.

"Thete?" she whispered.

"Yes?"

"What time is it?"

He glanced at his watch.

"Nearly midnight, Love," he said.

"Where is everyone?"

"Everyone except Alan has gone off or gone to bed. We're just sitting here talking and keeping you company."

"Where is Alan?"

Alan leaned up and smiled at her.

"Yo!" he said, waving at her.

Rain craned her neck and stared up at him.

"You didn't hear me say Thete just then," he said.

"No, I didn't nor did I hear it earlier. I get temporary deafness from time to time so don't worry, I didn't hear your special private name for my brother."

"Good because my husband would kill you if it got out I called him Thete."

"Yes, it would," he said sternly. "So don't let it out that she calls me Thete."

"Okay, okay, sheesh, my lips are sealed, I swear!" he said.

Rain laughed and kissed his lips before he sat back down beside her. They smiled soflty and both of them rubbed her back while she yawned, snuggled against her husband and fell back to sleep.


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty Nine

Jenny lay in her room reading her father's copy of The Wizard of Oz. Even though she was enjoying the book, her thoughts weren't on the story at the moment. Finally, with a sigh, she put her bookmark back in the book and left the room. She headed to the living room where her mother was still resting. The lights were out and she assumed she was asleep but she wanted to check on her. She slowly entered, her eyes quickly adjusting to the semidarkness. She headed over to the couch where Rain was resting on her side, a pillow under her head and a comforter over her body. She smiled at her mother as she drew near.

"Sweetheart, what's wrong?"

Jenny froze when she heard Rain murmuring to her.

"I…just wanted to check on you, mum," she whispered.

Rain chuckled.

"I'm fine, hon. Your father and your uncles come in to check on me about every ten seconds, it seems. I'm out of danger, really. I've been sleeping off and on, but for the most part I've just been thinking."

Jenny knelt down beside her and Rain took her hand.

"Thinking 'bout what, Mum?" she whispered.

""Bout how badly I scared your father earlier. I watched him kill someone, Jenny. And while he was doing it, he was a completely different man from the one we know. I don't think he even realized at the time he was doing it. I think he was so angry at what that man did to me that he completely blacked out and just went on automatic pilot. If I hadn't said something to him before I passed out, he might never have stopped or at least he would have stopped when the man was a pile of blood and bones and flesh. I don't pretend to be an expert on him. I know there is darkness within him and there always will be but that's the first time I've really seen it up close."

"He told me back when I was first born not to ever kill anyone. That killing infects you and you're never rid of it," Jenny whispered.

"I agree with that and I think what I saw today is what he was warning you against, sweetheart. I think he means that once you kill someone it's easy to just kill again and again. I think that's part of the reason why he left your aunt with your uncle because Alan killed all those Daleks and that frightened him because he didn't want another version of himself running loose killing people. With you and Alan, he was trying to save you both from doing what he did today. That's why I think he would forgive anything we did except killing someone on purpose. If we inadvertently caused a death, I think that's one thing but to go and kill someone with full knowledge of what we were doing, I don't think your dad could easily forgive that. The other thing is he's very lonely, hon. He's been alone for most of his lives and especially since the Time War. Joining us was just what he needed but in a way it means that he has people to worry about again and he has to face that there are times when we might get hurt or even die. It's a big risk opening your hearts up when you've spent centuries alone. It's easier to just go through life with walls around your hearts and never care about anyone because then you never get hurt or suffer if someone close to you dies. Your father took a big risk when he fell in love and married me because now I'm a huge part of his life and if something happens to me, I'm not just some random stranger he can run away from. Same with everyone here. We're not faceless strangers anymore, we're family so he has to stick around and take the bad times with the good. I don't think he's ever experienced something like that before, not even with his companions, because with the exception of Rose he could always hold them at arm's length and pretend their dying or leaving didn't matter all that much. In fact, up until we came along, I think he expected everyone to leave him at some point but this is all new to him and I think he still needs to work through some of the fears he has about us being hurt or killed. I think that rage I saw was part of it, that and I know how protective he is of me since I told him how hard I had it growing up."

Jenny looked around when she sensed someone at the door and saw Alan peeking in. He noticed Jenny and smiled while he walked inside.

"Bothering your mum, are you?" he teased.

"We've just been talking," Jenny said.

"Well, nice to know she's strong enough to talk now. Does she still sound like a bullfrog though?"

"No, I don't sound like a bullfrog, Bro."

"Oh good, but on the other hand we could have taken you 'round to parties and shown you off as the Gallifreyan Bullfrog and made some money," he said.

He kissed her head.

"Do you need anything while I'm in here?"

She thought.

"Could you get me a glass of milk?"

"One shot of moo juice is on the way, Te'lesu," he said.

He looked at Jenny.

"What about you? I could go get you something as well."

"No thanks. I'm fine, Uncle Alan," she said.

He patted her on the back.

"Keep your mum company then while I go and procure the milky goodness for the patient," he said.

"Bro?"

"Hmm?"

"Is…the Doctor… is he alright now?" Rain said worriedly.

He smiled.

"Yes, Sis, he's alright now, I promise. In fact, you might not know this but we've landed and he, Jack and Ianto are currently on a small shopping trip."

Rain raised her head up.

"Huh? What are they getting?" she asked.

Alan grinned.

"You'll see but I've been asked to be your babysitter for the moment which is why I came in to check on you and see if you wanted anything. And lo and behold, you need a glass of milk and I, as your brother, will be glad to get it. So, you just rest and I'll be right back."

Both women watched him go. When he went out the door, Jenny looked at Rain.

"I wonder what they're buying?" she said to Rain.

"I don't know, sweetheart, maybe Jack and Ianto thought going to a store would take your father's mind off what happened to me and cheer him up. He certainly needs the distraction."

A moment later, Alan entered, turned on the light and carried the glass over to her. Jenny helped her sit up and Alan handed the glass to her. He closed the blanket around her and he and Jenny sat down on either side of her.

"Thanks, Bro," Rain said.

"No problemo," he said cheerfully.

Rain took a sip and looked at him.

"So…are we on Earth?" she asked.

"No, we're actually on a planet called Turis that's next door to Andromeda. They have a huge shopping center that's always open so they went there."

"Why?"

"That's a surprise, Te'lesu," he said, touching the tip of her nose.

"He's getting something for me."

Alan gave her an innocent look and shrugged.

"I don't know what he's doing," he said.

Rain snorted.

"Sure ya don't, Bro," she said while Jenny giggled.

"I've been sworn to secrecy, so sorry, can't tell ya."

Rain looked at Jenny.

"Big bouquet of roses, watch, he'll be in here with a huge bunch of flowers that are so dense we can't see his face and Jack'll have to lead him in."

Jenny laughed.

"Or a huge teddy bear that's so big it'll cover his face and Jack'll have to lead him in," she said.

"I'm not saying anything," Alan said, shrugging. "Been sworn to secrecy, I have, and I'm not saying a single, solitary word."

"Then what are those strange sounds coming from your open and shutting mouth?" Rain said.

"Correction, I'm not saying a single, solitary word that pertains to Brother's shopping trip," Alan said while they laughed.

He smiled when she took another sip of milk.

"Delicious?" he asked her.

"Very."

"Ah, good, mission accomplished then."

_Brother, I'm back,_ the Doctor thought to him.

"Aha, shopping trip has finished," Alan said.

_Come in the living room, Rain's awake and Jenny's with her,_ Alan thought back.

"Now, perhaps you'll get to see your surprise."

_Could you and Jenny leave us alone for awhile then? I want to be alone with her,_ the Doctor thought back.

"Ooo, I guess you're in for some snogging?" Alan said, grinning.

"I don't know but you better do what he says," Rain said.

"Yup, we have to give the man his privacy. Come along, Jen, we'll find something to do in the meantime," he said to her.

Jenny hugged and kissed Rain.

"I'm alright, sweetie, just go and do something fun and don't worry about me," she said, squeezing her arms.

They turned and saw the Doctor leaning in and looking into the room at them.

"Yes, yes, we're going, Brother. We don't wanna keep you from your snogging," Alan said.

"Do you want a knuckle sandwich, Alan? Because I can give you one without any problem," the Doctor replied.

"No thanks, I've already been hit over the head once today. I don't want more pain," Alan said. "Come on, Jen."

He smiled at them while they went past and then looked in at Rain who was sipping her milk and watching him. He gave her a loving look while he came in the room with his hands behind his back.

"I see you're strong enough to have some milk now," he said, sitting down next to her.

"Yeah, I feel tons better," she said.

"Good, I'm glad."

She smiled when he laid his face against her cheek and closed his eyes for a moment before he kissed it.

"I s'pose my brother told you I was out briefly."

"Yes, he said you went shopping."

"That I did. You wouldn't believe the bargains they had at the shops. Tons of sales. I'm becoming quite a shop-a-holic," he said. "Course Loverboy had to get something for Ianto as well but the reason I landed on Turis was because I knew what they had."

He brought his hand around and showed her a little grey box with PRECIOUS JEWELS on the top of it in elegant gold script.

"This is for you, my joy," he whispered. "Because I'm happy you're alive and still with me."

"Thete, you didn't have to do this."

"I know but I wanted to," he said. "Not only am I happy you're alive but I also wanted to apologize for my behavior."

"No, Thete, don't. There's nothing to apologize for," Rain said, stroking his cheek. "I was just telling Jenny that this is a new thing for you, having a family like this and you haven't been married in centuries and certainly your first marriage wasn't a loving one. There are a lot of new emotions you have to deal with and it'll take time to sort them out. You love me dearly just like I love you and you're scared of me dying. I get that. Please don't think you have to bribe me to stay with you. I love you and I always will, nothing you do will ever change that."

Her hearts ached when she saw his eyes misting over.

"Oh my love, my life," she murmured, putting the box in her lap and the glass on the floor while she embraced him.

He buried his head in her shoulder and held her tightly while she stroked the back of his head. He leaned his head back up and kissed her lips tenderly while he sent love into her mind. He held her like that for a few minutes before she laughed softly.

"Um, I guess I should open your gift before we get sidetracked more, right?" she said.

He smiled at her and nodded while he put his hand against her cheek. He gave her another gentle kiss on the lips and leaned his forehead against hers watching quietly while she opened the box. She gasped when she pulled out a gold bracelet that had little sparkly red stones embedded in it going all the way around it. The Doctor put his lips against her ear.

"They're Amoral Rubies, the lover's stone," he whispered. "They're only found on Turis which is why I went there."

"I love it, Thete, it's beautiful," she said, breathlessly.

The Doctor kissed her cheek and then put the bracelet on her right wrist. Once he was done he clasped hands with her and nuzzled her cheek with his nose.

"I actually always meant to get you something with an Amoral Ruby in it but after what happened today I figured I better not waste any more time."

"Thank you, Love, thank you," she whispered.

He smiled and kissed her lips gently before his lips moved to all parts of her face. Once he was done kissing her face, he kissed her forehead, let his lips linger there for a moment and then rested against it. He turned his head slightly so he could speak.

"I want to take Torchwood somewhere as a way of saying thanks, at least do something with them. I thought perhaps we could do the state fair thing in Pete's World in Arizona so you could go see your father? I figured you'd want to see him after today."

"I do, yes, but I won't tell him what happened. I think if he heard I nearly died, it would kill him."

"I agree. And you don't have to say anything, just tell him you missed him and wanted me to bring you back," he said, shrugging. "But…are you sure you're up to it?"

"I'm fine, Thete, I feel completely better and I'd really like to go back to another fair since the other one was ruined for us."

"Well, while you were back here resting Jack was up front rabbiting on and on saying, "Take me somewhere, Doctor, I wanna go somewhere, why won't you take me somewhere, take me somewhere!"

He smiled when she laughed at that.

"You sure that wasn't your other brother?"

"Well, yeah him too," he said while she laughed harder.

He kissed her lips.

"I'm gonna go back upfront then and make sure Tweedledee and Tweedledum don't seize the controls and crash us into a tree or fly us into a supernova."

"I'm coming with you then."

"You sure?"

"Yes, Thete, I've slept and slept and slept. I've had about two years worth of naps now. I'm fine, I promise."

He kissed her cheek.

"Alright, come up front then and help me keep the zoo in line," he said.

She kissed his forehead and sent love into his mind while he smiled and helped her up. She grabbed her milk and left the blanket on the sofa while she followed him to the console room.


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

"Hey, there she is," Jack said when Rain and the Doctor came into the console room.

"Yup, couldn't keep her down. She just had to come and say hello," the Doctor said.

Jack and Ianto came around the console and embraced her.

"How are you feeling?" Jack said, giving her a worried glance.

"I'm fine, Bro. I'm all better," she said. "So everyone can stop asking. I'm not gonna drop dead or regenerate."

"Good, because you're gorgeous as is," Jack replied, kissing her cheek. "Did the Doctor give you your gift?"

She held up her wrist.

"That looks gorgeous on you," Ianto said.

"Yes, it does. I'm glad he thought of that," Jack said.

She walked over to the jump seat and sat down while they followed her. She took a sip of milk while the Doctor sat down beside her and propped his feet up.

"He said you got Ianto something too?" Rain said, nodding at the Doctor.

Ianto held up his hand and showed her a gold ring with an intricate swirling design around it.

"Oh, that's beautiful," Rain said, smiling. "I love it."

"Yeah, I do too. I didn't ask for it but I guess he saw it in the jewelry shop when the Doctor was getting your bracelet and purchased it for me. He does the same thing the Doctor does for you, gets me little gifts from time to time."

"Well, to be honest, I don't buy her as many gifts as I should. I consider time and space to be one huge gift," the Doctor said.

Jack nodded.

"Did the Doctor tell you about him wanting to take us to this state fair?" he said.

She nodded.

"Yeah and I do wanna go because I do wanna see my dad too," she said.

"Yeah, I really think you should see him after tonight," Jack said. "Besides I like your dad. I wouldn't mind dropping by to say hello."

"I wouldn't either," Ianto added. "John's a nice bloke."

"At least her father isn't like Donna's mother," the Doctor said, rolling his eyes.

"I wonder if she'll ever accept you," Jack said.

"Frankly, I don't care anymore if she does or not. She can spend the rest of her life being angry at me over Donna if she wants. Donna's place is here with us, not temping. If she can't get that through her thick skull, it's not my problem. The less I see of that woman, the better."

He looked at Rain.

"And I'm sorry, Latara, but I don't like your sister either, your blood sister, that is," he said. "I'll get along with her and be civil but I don't like her and I hope to God she never decides to travel with us full time."

"Who's that?" Ianto said.

"Amber."

"The one that we met at the meet and greet, came with John," Jack said to Ianto

"Oh yeah, she seemed nice enough."

"Yes, well I think she sensed several people would have throttled her if she hadn't been civil to everyone. You notice after she went to that she's never around or she's never opted to come back on board with us."

"Why? What's wrong with her?" Jack said.

"My sister is a bit of a bitch to me," Rain said.

The Doctor stared at her with wide eyes.

"A bit?" he said, "More than a bit from everything you told me."

"My mom died giving birth to me and growing up Amber bullied me and yelled at me and made me feel like crap."

Jack's eyes widened.

"News to me," he said to the Doctor.

"Yes, like I said, she was on her best behavior in here because I think she was overwhelmed by being on the TARDIS and she knew not to say anything to her sister while we were in here but…"

He mentally asked his brother to come to the console room. He appeared a few moments later with Jenny and Rose.

"Yes, Brother?" Alan said.

"I was enlightening Jack on the reason why I don't like Amber because Rain does want to go to the state fair in Arizona and see her dad and I was saying that Amber might be there."

Jack saw Alan roll his eyes.

"I filled him in a little but I was wondering if you could tell Jack and Ianto about the whole talk you had where Rain informed everyone she was gonna travel with you."

Alan glanced at Rose.

"Basically, Te'lesu's sister was less than thrilled that she was bunking off from university to come and travel with us and let us know how upset she was about it and tried to bully her at the table until John, bless him, told her to shut her gob. I don't like her any more than Brother does but I do try to be civil when we're around to keep the peace and I'm sorry, Rain, if that does upset you but I can't help it."

"And I'm the same way and I'm sorry as well but I also can't help my feelings after seeing and hearing what she did to you," Rose said.

"I understand. I mean, I'm not too thrilled with her either but she's my sister and I do try to be civil with her as well," Rain said.

"Who is this?" Jenny said.

"Oh…you weren't at the meet and greet, were ya?" Alan said. "Well, you have another aunt called Amber but…she's kinda regarded as the black sheep of the family because she's a hateful woman who treated your mother like dirt when they were growing up. So far, you've hadn't had to meet her because she's been off doing other things but I'm sure our luck is bound to run out sooner or later. But we don't speak of her which is why you've just learned about her and mercifully she isn't a Time Lady because I'm sure we'd have to put up with a constant stream of mental abuse from her if she was."

"But she and Donna's mum are the ones we try to avoid," the Doctor said to her.

"The one that won't come to see Donna when we go get Wilf?"

"Yup, that's the one," the Doctor said. "And so far she won't see Donna even though none of us care if Donna goes and sees her. She's just angry that I came and got her again and plucked her out of a life of mediocrity so she could go travel with us."

"Donna's mum is angry at her for that?" Jenny said. "I mean, I know she was angry but I didn't know that was the reason."

"Yup, that's the reason, Angel," the Doctor said. "Rose's mum, Jackie and Martha's mum, Francine finally accepted me which is why they still visit with us but not Sylvia, so there's nothing to be done except go see Wilf and enjoy his company. But we're gonna go to another fair tomorrow with Jack and his gang and on the way we're gonna take Rain to see her dad since she wants to see him after what happened. So there may be a chance Amber will be there. If she is there, be polite and hope she doesn't say anything derogatory."

"If she does, you better believe I'll say something back," Rain said. "I'm not the cowering little kid I used to be and I'm not tolerating my sister saying anything bad to my family."

They grinned at her.

"Bless you Brother for taking her with you," the Doctor said to Alan.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Doctor, Alan, it's nice to see you again," John said when he opened the door.

"You too, John," Alan said.

"Always wonderful to see you," the Doctor said.

They mentally groaned when Amber came out behind him.

_Dun, Dun, Duuuuuuuuuuun,_ Alan thought to the others.

_Is that Amber, Dad?_ Jenny thought to him.

_Yes, that's her, Angel. Just try to be polite so we don't have to risk being thrown in jail for assault,_ the Doctor thought back.

The Doctor's eyes narrowed when he noticed the jealous look on Amber's face when she caught sight of her bracelet. He glanced at his wife but she hadn't noticed since she was busy hugging her father.

"How are you, Rainshower?" John asked her.

"I'm fine, we decided to come here for the state fair and just have some fun for awhile," she said to him.

"Oh, taking a break from fighting evildoers to go ride the rides," John teased. "Are all of you leaving after you go there?"

"We were planning to, why?"

"Well, if you want to stay the night, you can use the hogans free of charge and we can fix a meal for you when you return," John said.

_We? Is Amber going to poison the Navajo tacos, you think?_ Alan thought to the Doctor.

The Doctor pretended to rub under his nose to hide the smile.

"Um…you guys wanna do that?" Rain said looking back at the others.

"George isn't back, is he?" Awinita said.

"We haven't seen him. I think he's well and truly gone," John said. "Besides, I think your brother would rip his head off if he did show up."

"Too right I would," Alan said.

He looked at Torchwood.

"Fancy spending a night in a traditional Navajo dwelling like me and Rose and Awinita did…or tried to do."

Jack shrugged.

"That sounds fun," he said while the others nodded. "They're out back?"

"Yes, they are and they're all empty at the moment. We had a couple of tourists a few days ago but I think they're doing the same thing you're doing and going to the fair. I would like to go with you but I'm looking after a sick friend at the moment."

"Oh, I hope it's not serious," Alan said.

"Well, it's the flu but he's nearly ninety years old and no one thinks he'll be able to pull through it. He lives about five miles away," John said, pointing to his left. "He's a very old and dear friend but I think he's nearly ready to go to the spirit world now."

"I'm so sorry to hear that, John," the Doctor said.

"Well, he's lived a very full life so I don't think he has any regrets. He's lived a very long time too…course I'm sure ninety years is a drop in the bucket for you…"

"Yeah, I was still considered a kid at ninety," the Doctor said.

"Well, I think he considers himself a kid too," John said, winking. "You're as young as you feel, you know. But anyway, Amber and I have been looking after him so neither of us can go with you tonight."

_Amber's not going,_ Alan thought to everyone. _Thank you God, Jesus, Buddha, Confucius, Lao Tzu, Mohammed, Joseph Smith, Zoroaster and every other saint and prophet out there._

The Torchwood team noticed the Doctor and his family was desperately trying to keep straight faces.

"Do you need to use the truck?" John said.

"No, that's not necessary," the Doctor said. "We'll use our TARDIS. You need your truck in case there's an emergency with your friend."

John nodded.

"Then be careful and we'll see you later tonight," he said.

They bid both him and Amber goodbye and they did the same in return.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The TARDIS landed just outside the Phoenix fairgrounds. As they stepped outside, Alan pointed to a huge mountain in the distance.

"Camelback Mountain. The mountain we climbed and Rain almost got a heart attack on."

He ducked when Rain tried to hit him in the head.

"Now, now behave, brother and sister," the Doctor said to them while he passed out money to everyone, "otherwise, you're not getting your share of the money."

"Sorry, Brother, we'll be good siblings," Alan said.

He gave them and Rose the last of the share of money.

"Okay, everyone ready, let's go inside," he said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They paid the admission and got bracelets that gave them unlimited access to the rides and attractions. After that, they headed towards the livestock barns and went inside them. The Doctor and Alan stared at the cows, sheep, pigs and goats in fascination while everyone else walked beside them. They walked up to one pig that had a blue ribbon affixed to the gate in front of it. The Doctor looked at it.

"4H first prize," he said.

"Yeah, most of these are brought in by people in 4H," Rain said.

"What's 4H?" the Doctor said.

"Oh, it's an organization young people can join and you can do a lot of different things. They have people who raise livestock as projects and then bring them to the fair to be judged. I knew someone in high school that did it with a sheep. He raised it from a lamb for a year and then brought it here to be judged."

"Did he win anything?" Rose asked.

"I don't think so. But I think he sold it at the auction they have right after the judging gets done and he got a lot of money for it."

"Wait, they auction the animals off after all this?" Alan said.

"Yes, most people bring their animals in and let people bid on them and they get money for it. And then a lot of the animals get sent to the slaughterhouses or back to other farms and things like that."

"You raise an animal from a baby and then you let it be auctioned off for slaughter?" Donna said. "That's lovely."

"Hear that, Wilber? You're about to become bacon and I don't see a web spinning spider saving your hide," Alan said to the pig.

"Well, if you know Charlotte's Web, Bro, that's exactly what they were going to do with Wilber. Raise him from the piglet, take him to the fair and auction him off. That's why Charlotte felt the need to spin all those things in the web so they wouldn't kill him," Rain said. "I was in 4H too actually but I didn't do this. They also have crafts and baking and things like that. I did quilting and made a quilt and took it to the fair."

They looked at her.

"Did you win?" Jack said.

"No, I got an honorable mention," she said, shrugging.

"That's a travesty, you shoulda won!" Alan said. "When did you do this? We need to go back in time and talk with the judges. Honorable mention, my big cloned ass!"

Rain rolled her eyes when they laughed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After exploring the cattle and crafts barn, they headed over towards the midway to ride the rides. All three couples held hands while they walked towards it. On the way there, Rain glanced over and saw a huge metal wall with stairs leading up to a platform that was in front of a large open window. There were majestic looking unicorns painted on either side of the stairs and above the grate SEE A REAL LIVE UNICORN was painted in big red letters. Intrigued, Rain let go of the Doctor's hand and everyone stopped and watched while she walked over, showed her bracelet to the attendant and walked up the stairs.

"Real live unicorn, eh?" Gwen said to Martha. "Where's the leprechaun?"

"Probably next to the mermaid," Martha said as Jack sniggered.

They watched while Rain leaned her head through the opening, looked down and then turned and rolled her eyes before going back down the steps.

"Well, what's the magical unicorn look like?" Alan said.

"Like a goat with its two horns fused together," Rain said.

"Well, technically they're not lying," Alan said. "Unicorn means one horn."

"Well, you see the horned horsies on either side of the stairs? It doesn't look like that, trust me," Rain said.

"Yes, but they aren't lying because unicorn means one horn. The goat has one horn so they're not lying and…"

They laughed when Rain slammed her hand over his mouth.

"I get it, Bro. I'm just glad I didn't waste a ticket on it," she said.

They walked on. The next thing after the unicorn was another huge wall with stairs and a platform and window. The walls were painted to show a screaming man in the river staring at his half eaten hand in horror. Above the window was painted SEE THE TERRIFYING PIRANHA, TERROR OF THE AMAZON.

"Come on, Starlight," Alan said, jerking Rose towards it. "I wanna see monster fishies that strip the flesh from your hand and leave you screaming in terror."

They showed their bracelets to the attendant and climbed the stairs. The others giggled while they looked through the hole. Suddenly, Alan grabbed Rose from behind.

"Get in there! I wanna see if the devil fish strip your flesh in two tics," he said.

The others laughed when Rose wiggled out of his grasp and smacked him on the head.

"Ow, was that really necessary?" he said while they walked back down the stairs.

"So, what do the terrifying piranha look like?" Mingxia asked.

"Oh, like teeny little fish with big jaws," Alan said.

"About like this," Rose said, holding her fingers about three inches apart.

"Wow, that's terrifying all right," Jack said. "I'm betting we can go in there and barbecue them before they even have a chance to attack. But then again, I'm betting not many people in Arizona have seen a real live piranha."

"Well, at least it is a piranha and not a goat with a fused horn," Rain said.

"Well, what'd you expect at a fair, Te'lesu?" Alan said. "A real live unicorn next to the real live griffin next to the real live harpy next to the real live manticore? They paint unicorns on the walls because if they painted a pathetic flea bitten goat with one horn people like you wouldn't stop and say, hmmm, I wonder if there's a real live unicorn in there. They'd be saying, oi, look at the mangy one horned goat and walk right on by."

"And yet you did the same thing with the piranha," Rain said.

"Yeeees, because I was following your lead and I thought Rose and I would stop and partake of the freak show aspect of the fair. And now…where's the bearded lady and dog boy at?"

Rain grinned and rolled her eyes while the Doctor put his arm around her. The next thing was a huge tent with several freak show attractions painted on a huge piece of wood just outside the opening. The Doctor looked at the others.

"Dare we see what's in here?" he said with wide eyes.

"Oh, let's throw caution to the wind," Jack said. "Let's go see the horrifying freakish things inside."

The Doctor stared at him intently.

"What?" Jack said.

"I love how you say freakish things as if you're not one, Mister Immortality."

Everyone laughed when Jack chased him for a couple of feet and then stopped.

"I wouldn't talk, Mister Alien From Outer Space With His Alien Family."

"Wanna say that a little louder, Harkness? The people in Roswell in the next state didn't quite hear you and I'm sure Area 51 in the state above and diagonal from us didn't hear you either," Alan said.

"Come on, you lot, before Jack says something that'll cause us to end up on a dissection table somewhere," the Doctor said gesturing to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They stood inside the tent casting a jaundiced eye towards the stuffed two headed goat and the two headed kitten displayed in a jar of formaldehyde.

"Mmm, absolutely horrifying," Jack said.

"Yeah, I'm just urinating in terror," Mickey said.

"What's next, a stuffed monkey with a big boil on its body?" Ianto said.

"Two headed animals, ooooo, scary," Jack said, wagging his fingers.

"This is weird, Dad," Jenny said, giggling. "Why are we even looking at this stuff?"

"I think it's called sheer boredom and sick curiosity, Angel," the Doctor said while Rain laughed. "I think that's the reason we're now standing in here looking at a goat with two heads."

Martha came up to them, laughing.

"Hey everyone, they've got a real live dead "mermaid"," she said, making quote marks with her fingers.

"Let me guess, it's a monkey's torso and head sewn onto a big fish tail, am I close?" Alan said.

"I think so, yeah, how'd ya know?"

Alan gave her a smug grin.

"Fiji mermaid, Google it sometime, Martha," he said while the Doctor and his family laughed.

They walked over to the mermaid and stared down at the glass case housing it. Sure enough, it resembled a monkey with a fish tail sewed onto the bottom.

"PT Barnum had the first one," the Doctor said to Torchwood. "Traveled around with it for years until a fire destroyed it but there are a lot of people who have similar ones now including this fair apparently."

"Well, if that's supposed to be one of those beautiful mermaids you hear in stories, I'm glad I never met it," Jack said.

"Oh right, Harkness, like you wouldn't shag a monkey fish thing if you were randy and drunk enough," the Doctor said.

They laughed when Jack chased the Doctor for another few feet. He walked over to Rain.

"Your husband is an annoying ass sometimes, just letting you know that," he said to her before he walked back to Ianto.

"Well, I'm a cheeky little bugger so I guess we make a perfect match," she replied while the Doctor put his arm around her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Wow, that was yet another awe-inspiring attraction," Alan said when they walked out.

"I think the word you're searching for is craptacular," Awinita said.

"Brilliant! Yes, it was positively craptacular! Thanks Te'lesu," he said while they laughed.

"Jack was also in a sideshow at one point, if anyone's interested," Gwen called out.

They stopped and turned to look at him while Jack eyed Gwen.

"Really? You were in a freak show?" Awinita said. "When was this?"

"A long time ago, I traveled with a carnival and my whole act was I'd shoot myself and come back to life before the crowd's eyes."

"See, I knew his aberration would have its uses," the Doctor said.

"You want me to chase you again?" Jack said.

"No, because I'm beginning to suspect chasing me turns you on," the Doctor said. "So I'll refrain from comments like that in future."

Jack rolled his eyes when they headed on. The next attraction was a walk through haunted house. The steel walls outside it had bats and skulls and vampires and corpses painted on it.

"Dare we go in?" Donna said.

"I don't know. You think we'll survive the shocking horrors inside?" Mingxia said. "I mean, if what we've seen so far is any indication…"

"Yeah, does the monkey fish thing leap out at you and go boo?" Jenny asked.

The Doctor smiled at her while they laughed.

"I don't know, Angel, but there's one way to find out, right?"

They all walked up to the attendant and showed their bracelets.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Wow, this is about as thrilling as Panic Jungle," the Doctor said while they laughed.

They were groping around in the dark. Occasionally they would step on a board that activated a light and buzzer and they'd see a crudely constructed vampire or corpse pop out at them.

"Anyone else thinking the haunted house ride at Rip-Off Disney because strangely enough I am at this moment," Alan said following behind his brother.

He and Rose felt the Doctor and Rain stop. Rose grunted when Mickey bumped into her.

"Why are we stopping?" Mickey called out.

"Is there a barrier or something?" Gwen called out as she stopped behind Mickey.

"Oh, my love, dark scary haunted house and we can't see our hands in front of our faces? Let's make the most of this ride right now!"

"Doctor, Jesus, get a room or at least let us all pass before you rip Rain's clothes off!" Jack yelled out from the back while everyone laughed hysterically.

"We better not make out here, there are people behind us," they heard Rain say.

"Damn, we travel with too many people. Ah, well, let's go on then."

"Thank God for small favors," Jack muttered while the others giggled.

They walked a few more feet and then Mickey bumped into Rose again.

"Now what?" Mickey said.

A few feet ahead of Alan, the Doctor stepped on a panel and a light lit up the room revealing Alan who was squeezing Rose's breasts.

"Get a move on, Christ!" Jack said while everyone howled with laughter. "It's hot and stuffy in here and you can go fondle each other in the TARDIS! I love Ianto but even I'm not interested in doing it in a two bit haunted house in the middle of Arizona!"

Just before the light went off, Jack saw Alan snort and roll his eyes. He tried to flip him off but the darkness covered it.


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter Thirty One

After getting out of the haunted house all of them walked over to the next attraction, a maze made out of clear glass panels that were arranged so one had to walk through them to try to get from one side to the exit that led back outside. There were stairs that led up to the upper level and they all showed the attendant their bracelets before heading up. Upstairs were several funhouse mirrors. They laughed at their distorted images while they stood in front of them. Jack came up behind the Doctor and Rain who were staring at their ultra-thin reflections in one.

"Wow, and here I thought you couldn't get any thinner than you already are, Doc," Jack said.

Rain laughed when the Doctor turned around and raised his eyebrow.

"Go away, Jack," he said to him.

"Only saying, Doc," Jack said, walking to the one next to it.

The Doctor glanced over at his reflection and noticed how fat he looked.

"Wow, and here I thought you couldn't get any fatter than you already are, Jack," he said in a snotty voice.

He ducked down behind Rain when Jack threatened to swat him on the head.

"Hiding behind Rain, are you?"

"Yup, that's me. The coward who cowers behind his wife," the Doctor said while Rain giggled. "Why I managed to survive 1200 years."

He popped back up with Jack moved away.

"Thanks, my wife," he said, patting her on the head.

"Anytime, my husband," Rain said, smiling.

He took her hand and they all walked over to a set of stairs beside the mirrors. They went down into the maze. Alan was first followed by Rose, Awinita, Mingxia, Jack, Ianto, the Doctor, Rain, Mickey, Donna, Jenny, Martha and Gwen. Alan and Rose navigated it without any trouble and hurried back outside and down the metal stairs to wait for the others. They could see inside and see the others making their way through. They cheered when Awinita and Mingxia got through it and came over to join them. They noticed Jack got stuck for a moment before he and Ianto found the right passageway and after a moment he and Ianto and the Doctor and Rain were out and standing with them.

"Wasn't too bad, eh?" Alan asked the Doctor.

"Nah, wasn't a challenge at all. Easy-peasy," he replied.

"Mickey, Donna and Jenny made it out and smiled when the rest of them cheered and applauded. They saw Martha hesitate a moment touching all the walls in front of her, finally she found an opening and watched her slowly navigate through it while Gwen was still near the beginning of it slowly finding her way through the maze. Martha stepped into an opening that was at the front of the maze and waved at her friends standing outside. They waved back and gave her a thumbs up. They watched while she felt around her and frowned. They giggled when she looked around in confusion. She looked at Jack and gave him an inquisitive look.

"Behind you," Jack mouthed to her.

Martha turned and felt behind her and finally found the opening. She looked back at Jack.

"Thanks," she mouthed.

He gave her a thumbs up and they watched while she walked through. A minute later, she found the exit and walked outside while they clapped.

"Thanks for the help on the one section," Martha said, walking up to them. "That's the only thing that confused me."

"Yeah, they do hide the opening pretty well right there," Jack said.

"Are we all out then?"

"No, Gwen's the last one," Jack said.

She turned and noticed she was about halfway through and slowly going through it. Jack looked at the Doctor.

"Well, once Gwen gets through, I guess we move on to the funhouse next?" he said pointing to the attraction next to it.

He shrugged.

"It doesn't matter to me. I'll go in anything you lot wanna go into," he said.

"Um, Jack, I think Gwen is lost," Mickey said.

Jack looked back over at the maze and saw Gwen standing in the middle of it and slowly walking around with a confused look on her face. She caught Jack's eye.

"Left, go left," he mouthed to her.

Gwen pointed to her left and Jack nodded. They watched while she turned to her left and felt around. They laughed and Jack sighed when she couldn't find the opening and looked at him with an inquisitive look on her face.

"Left, Gwen, go left!" he said, jabbing his finger towards the right.

"You're pointing to your right," Gwen mouthed.

"Your left, Gwen!" Jack said while the rest of them laughed. "Go to your left!"

Jack put his hands in his head when she felt around and still couldn't find the opening. He looked back up and saw Gwen giving him a dirty look.

"Where is it, Jack?" she mouthed to him.

"Your…left!" Jack screamed at her while the others laughed.

"There's nothing there!" she mouthed back.

"Well obviously there is, Gwen, since we're all out here!" Jack said.

Gwen turned back to her left and everyone cheered when she finally found the opening.

"Thank God," Jack said while they laughed.

They watched while she worked her way through it until she got to the place Martha got stuck and then she couldn't find the opening again.

"Oh no…" Jack said.

He sighed when Gwen looked at him.

"Behind you," Jack said.

Gwen looked behind her and felt around.

"Oh crap," Jack said when she couldn't find it. "We're gonna be here all damn day waiting for Gwen to get through this."

Gwen turned back and threw her hands up in the air. The Doctor walked over to the stairs and went up them. He walked across the metal platform over to the glass panel separating Gwen from the outside world.

"Behind you," he said, pointing over her left shoulder.

Gwen turned around and looked back at him.

"A little to the left," he said to her.

Gwen went to where he indicated and got through the opening while the others cheered. The Doctor slowly walked across the metal platform watching while she made her way through. He got to the exit and stepped just inside it. When Gwen finally reached the exit, he took her hand and led her out amidst the cheers and applause.

"'Bout damn time, Cooper," Jack said.

"I'm sorry, Jack, I got confused in a couple of places," Gwen said as she walked with the Doctor towards the others.

"Well, I kept trying to tell you to go to your left and you apparently thought I was lying," Jack said to her.

"I didn't see the opening, I'm sorry. Apparently the Doctor is better at directing me than you are."

"Well, I was about to go in there and go back through the maze just to get you out," Jack said while they walked towards the funhouse. "Geez, Gwen, I'm glad we were all here. I'd hate to think of you getting trapped for an eternity in a mirror maze in Arizona."

"Piss off, Jack," she said while they laughed.

"But you know, Cooper, millions of years from now I'll still be telling everyone the story of how you got stuck in a cheap funhouse maze and couldn't get out without help so there's your immortality now. Everyone will remember your name and your deed long after you're gone."

Gwen tapped the Doctor on the shoulder when he and Rain started to go into the funhouse.

"Can I join your group? You're nicer to me than Jack is," she said while they laughed.

"Weeeell, you see, I don't really take companions per say anymore because I like that my family and I are all connected and we can speak with each other telepathically without someone having to relay what we say to an outsider. Plus I like that all of us are related to one another so if you do join our little clan, you'll have to be willing to be bonded with us, after careful consideration, of course."

"So, what do I do to get bonded?" Gwen said as Jack gave her a dirty look.

Rose giggled when Alan put a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Let me handle this, Brother," he said.

"Take it away, Brother," the Doctor said while the other women laughed.

Alan put his hands behind his back and smiled at Gwen.

"You wish to join us, eh? Well, be assured that we only accept the best of the best, the cream of the crop, the crème de la crème of wannabe applicants. Which means you must prove yourself worthy of being a sister to us. This means you must pass a written and oral exam followed by a rigorous assault course that must be completed in five minutes or less and will be judged by us. Then if we deem you worthy, there are a few guidelines you must follow. First off, Brother here is the leader and patriarch of our Time Lord and Lady family group and his word is law. He is known officially as the Oncoming Storm and unofficially as the Grand High Poobah of Time and Space. The Poobah here has graciously allowed us to live in his TARDIS so every morning we must crawl on our hands and knees into the console room and put our grateful lips upon each of the Poobah's butt cheeks. Then we must show homage to the Champion of Time and grovel at his feet and we must also grovel at the feet of Rain, Poobah Junior. Then and only then will we be permitted to eat and…"

"Never mind, Alan, I'll stay with Torchwood," Gwen said as everyone bent over laughing.

"Wait, I didn't get to the part about the generous benefits package and the part about finding Imiko and begging her to make you into a Time Lady, that's also a requirement!" Alan said to her.

Alan let out a sigh and looked at the Doctor.

"Damn, I guess we don't get a new sister then," he said while the Doctor grinned and shrugged.

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"Ugh, I hate this uneven floor," Jenny said while she walked behind her father and mother through the funhouse.

"Aw, that's part of the fun, Jen," the Doctor said to her.

"It's not gonna be fun if I break my ankle," Jenny replied.

They got off the uneven part of the floor and Jenny let out a sigh while they walked into a darkened room. Rain was in front of her husband feeling her way through it when she suddenly felt his arm around her and his hand around her mouth. She was pulled backwards until the Doctor hit a wall.

"There," he whispered in her ear. "We found a nice dark spot to be alone and Jack isn't behind us now yelling at us to get a move on."

He kissed her neck.

"A few minutes, that's all," he whispered to her. "Just a quick kiss in the dark and then we'll be back out in the bright sunlight and ride the rest of the rides. I…"

He trailed off when he suddenly felt someone hit the wall beside him.

"Um, who's there?" Alan said.

"Brother?" the Doctor said.

"Brother, you're here too?" Alan said.

"Yes, and so's Rain. We came over here for a quick snog."

"Well, great minds think alike because Rose and I want the same thing," he said.

"Hi, Doctor. Hi, Rain."

"Hi, Rose," the Doctor said while Rain laughed.

They felt someone else slide into the small space.

"Who's that?" the Doctor said.

"Um…it's me and Ianto."

"Damn it, has everyone got the same idea we have?" Alan said.

"Well bang goes the idea of having a few minutes alone time," the Doctor said. "Come on, Latara, let's get through the rest of the funhouse and go outside."

They moved past Jack and Ianto and then Alan and Rose did.

"I guess we need to go find somewhere else to have a quick snog before everyone leaves us behind. Come on, Yan, time for us to go too," he said to him.

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After the funhouse they found the Tilt-a-Whirl. The Doctor and Alan studied it for a moment before getting in the queue with their wives.

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The two couples sat down in a pod shaped car while the others went and found seats near them. They lowered the U shaped bar over their laps.

"When it hits a hill, lean whichever way the car's leaning and that makes it spin faster," Rain said.

"Lean whichever way the car's leaning for a better chance at vomiting, got it," Alan said.

The cars began to move. It went up one hill and the four of them leaned against the right side trying to get the car to spin. Jack and Ianto noticed what they were doing and they, Gwen and Martha copied them. The cars spun faster and the Doctor and Alan giggled insanely every time the car spun around really fast.

"Now I know how the TARDIS feels going through the vortex," Alan yelled out.

They went up another rise and the four them leaned to the left and laughed when the car spun around and around. After two minutes, the ride began to slow down and they groaned.

"Blast, they need to make the rides last longer. It's no fun when it's only two minutes," Alan said.

When the ride came to a complete stop, they lifted the bar up and walked along a short metal walkway to the exit. They walked down the metal steps and waited for the others. They frowned when they noticed Martha leaning against Jack.

"Jack, is she okay?" the Doctor said.

"Yeah, she got a little lightheaded. I think we spun it a bit too fast for her liking," Jack replied.

The Doctor took her hand when Jack helped her down the steps.

"You need to take a rest?" the Doctor said to Martha.

She nodded.

"Yeah, I got a little nauseous," she said.

"I think there's a bench nearby. I'll walk her to it," Jack said.

"Is Martha alright?" Donna said as she came down the steps with Awinita, Mingxia and Jenny.

"Yeah, I think she got a little dizzy on the ride. She'll be alright," the Doctor said.

Mickey came down the steps behind them and all of them walked around the ride. They noticed Jack sitting with Martha on a bench several feet away.

"Martha, are you gonna be alright?" Alan said, bending down to her. "Do you need something to drink?"

Martha nodded.

"Could you get me a soft drink or something and I'll see if my stomach can handle it," she said. "Just a Coke will be fine."

She handed him five dollars and Alan took Rose's hand while they went off to get her something to drink. She smiled at everyone when she saw their concerned faces.

"I'm fine. I haven't been on rides like that in years and it'll take some getting used to," she said to them.

Alan returned a few minutes later with her Coke and her change. He gave both to Martha and she thanked him. He knelt down next to her and pulled up her sleeve. Martha watched while he found a pressure point and squeezed it.

"I'll get rid of this lightheadedness for ya, Martha," he said.

Martha watched him while he squeezed a spot on her arm. In the meantime, everyone else went to get something to drink while Rose stood nearby sipping her Coke and holding Alan's Coke for him. After a few minutes, he let go.

"How's that feel?" he asked as he pulled down her sleeve.

"A hundred percent better, thanks," Martha said.

Alan smiled.

"If you get any more lightheadedness, tell me or the Doctor and we'll sort it out," he said.

She nodded and smiled while Alan stood up and took his drink from Rose. He sipped it while he noticed some booths nearby. He saw a dart game and sauntered over to it. Rose and Martha watched while he gave two dollars to the attendant, sat his Coke down and threw all three darts into the balloons popping them all. He looked above him and pointed to a tiny blue bear. The attendant took it down for him and he picked up his Coke and carried it back to Rose.

"There you are, I won ya somethin'," he said proudly.

"Well, thanks Alan," she said while Martha laughed.

"Blue bear's alright?" he said.

"Oh yeah, I like it."

"Good."

Rain and the Doctor walked back to them. Rain was sipping Mountain Dew. She smiled when she saw the bear.

"Where'd you get that?" she said.

"Alan won it for me over at that dart game over there," Rose said, pointing.

"He did, eh?" the Doctor muttered.

Rose and Rain watched while the Doctor walked past them. He bypassed the dart game and went to the one next to it. He gave the attendant two dollars, sat down his Coke and took a large wooden ball. They watched while he stood there, staring at some bottles that had been stacked up while he repeatedly tossed the ball up and caught it with one hand. Then he threw the ball hard into the bottles knocking them all down. He looked around at the prizes and selected a medium sized unicorn. The attendant gave it to him, he thanked him and took the stuffed animal and his drink and walked back.

"There you go, I got you a one horned goat and it's bigger than the one Alan got Rose," he said to Rain as he gave it to her.

He walked over to his brother, stuck his tongue out and walked past him calmly sipping his drink.

"Show-off!" Alan said while the women laughed.

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After they finished with the drinks, they moved on to the Scrambler. Martha took a look at the spinning cars and opted out; wanting to make sure she was past her lightheadedness. Jack and Ianto decided to stay with her while the rest of them got in the queue.

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"There ya go," the Doctor said, opening the thin metal door and letting his wife climb up.

He climbed up with her and closed the door back while they sat side by side. The Doctor looked around at his friends and family who were getting in the other cars and then he saw his brother and Rose sitting on the other side of the fenced in area.

"You're going down, Brother!" Alan yelled at him. "I will defeat you!"

"Not if I defeat you first!" the Doctor yelled back while Rain laughed.

"We shall see! But I will knock your car out of the fair, I swear I will!" Alan said while Rose sniggered.

"Oh for the love of God, will you two button it!" Donna said from a nearby car.

He looked over at her while she sat with Mingxia and Awinita.

"Silence, Ginger Menace! You will not deprive me of my moment of glory! My brother humiliated me by getting a bigger plushie and he will not get away with it."

"Well, if you hadn't been a wuss and played the dart game maybe you could have won Rose a bigger prize," the Doctor said.

Rose and Rain laughed when Alan's eyes bulged.

"Wuss, am I? We shall soon see, Ex-Brother!"

"Bring it on, Ex-Brother; I'm not afraid of you!"

Donna looked across the way at Mickey, Gwen and Jenny and rolled her eyes while they laughed. The attendant checked and locked everyone's restraints and then the cars slowly started up.

"And so it begins!" Alan called to him.

They glared at each other as their cars slowly moved closer to each other.

"I will see you regenerating at my feet," Alan said.

"Not if I see you regenerating first," the Doctor said to him while Rain and Rose laughed.

The cars moved past each other and began to speed up. The Doctor and Rain's car went to the other side of the fenced in area and it spun around. Alan raised his fist in the air when they saw him.

"Vengeance!" he yelled while Rose howled with laughter.

The cars began to head towards each other.

"And now, dear brother, you will die!" Alan yelled while they sped towards each other. "We will knock your car out of the fairgrounds and…wait, we moved past them, what magic is this?"

The Doctor and Rain laughed when the car went to the other side of the fence and spun back around.

"Aha, there you are, you blaggard!" Alan yelled when they faced each other again. "As I was saying, prepare to face death and…damn it, quit passing me, I'm trying to give you my impassioned you will die speech!"

They went to the other side and spun back around and laughed when Alan had his arms folded over his chest with an annoyed look on his face.

"You may have cheated death in the past, Brother," he yelled as they moved towards each other again. "But you will not escape and…quit moving past me, damn it!"

The cars began to slow down after they had made a couple more passes. They turned and saw Alan rolling his eyes.

"I hate these two minute rides," he said while their cars slowly moved towards each other. "Not enough time to kill anybody, let alone ride them."

"Better luck next time, Alan. Perhaps a truce is in order for the moment?"

Alan thought about it as the cars slowed down.

"Yeah, but only for the moment. When you're least expecting it, KA-POW, and then you will die."

The Doctor looked at Rain who was giggling and his eyes twinkled while he gave her a kiss. The attendant unlocked their restraint and they climbed out. Alan and Rose walked over to them.

"I think Torchwood and the rest of our family have disowned us now," Alan said, pointing to the others who were running towards the exit.

"Well, we have a spare TARDIS. They can take it and the four of us can travel together," the Doctor said, shrugging.

"Yeah, you're right. More room that way."

The Doctor gave his brother a playful slap on the back of the head and they walked towards the exit. They went through it and stopped short when they saw Jack. He had an enormous white stuffed buffalo on his lap that was nearly three feet wide. Jack gave them a smug look.

"Ha! I got my significant other the biggest prize of all," he said while Ianto rolled his eyes.

"Where in the hell did you get that, Harkness?" the Doctor said, walking towards him. "And I hope you're planning to carry it the rest of the day because we're not doing it for you."

"I won it in a shooting game and I was gonna rush back to the TARDIS and put it inside."

"Figures he'd win that shooting something," Alan muttered.

The Doctor sighed and handed him his TARDIS key.

"Hurry back," he said.

"You want me to take Rain and Rose's animals too?" Jack said.

Rain and Rose looked at each other and handed them their stuffed animals. Jack pocketed the key, took the animals and hurried back to the exit while the Doctor looked at the others and rolled his eyes.


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter Thirty Two

After ten minutes, they saw Jack rush back. He handed the key back to the Doctor and they walked on. They walked to the Octopus and stopped. Jack looked at Martha.

"You wanna sit this one out too?" he said.

"No, I'm okay, I think. I'll get on it with the rest of ya."

They nodded and got in the queue.

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"Martha, come and sit by us," the Doctor said when he and Rain climbed in a car, "we'll look after ya."

"You sure about that? I might vomit all over ya," she said, climbing up in it.

"Wouldn't be the first time someone did that to me," the Doctor said, shrugging. "I gotta ask you though while you're here. How's Tom?"

"Oh, he's fine. He's still in South Africa but I talk to him frequently."

"Has he set a date yet?" he said, gesturing to her engagement ring.

She sighed.

"Not yet. I'm beginning to think he's one of those people who are marriagephobic," she said. "I understand he's busy but lots of busy people get married."

"Can you fly out to South Africa to be with him, at least for awhile?" Rain asked as the attendant came around, lifted and locked the front of their car.

"I'd like to and actually I have asked him if he wanted me to do that but he said he's too busy to have me around," Martha replied.

"I hope he does set a date eventually," Rain said.

"Me too. I want to be Mrs. Tom Milligan badly," she replied.

"What about the rest of the family? Are they alright?" the Doctor said as the cars started to move.

"Yeah, they're fine. Everyone's better now and mum actually asks about all of ya. Hopes all of you are doin' fine," she said.

The Doctor smiled.

"Tell her we are and we said hello," he said.

Martha nodded and yelped when the black car spun around and they started to go up in the air.

"Let us know if you get sick, Martha, because we can scream at them to stop and let you off," Rain said.

"Okay!" she yelled back.

Their car reached the top. It spun around and they saw Alan, Rose and Jenny in the car below them. They had just enough time to wave before the car spun around again and went back down.

"How're you doing?" the Doctor asked Martha.

"I'm okay so far," she said and he nodded.

The ride lasted for two minutes before it finally slowed down. The Doctor glanced at Martha.

"Are you alright?"

She nodded.

"Yeah, I think it just took some getting used to doing this again but I'm fine."

"Good. So…" the Doctor said when they cars stopped and the attendants let someone out, "do you like Torchwood?"

"Yeah, I do. A lot better than UNIT."

"Well, truthfully, I was hoping you wouldn't stay with UNIT. They're fine but it's not for you," he said.

"Yeah, I like working with Jack. He's a lot less strict and a lot more fun. Mickey and I both enjoy it."

The cars went down slightly and the attendant let Jack, Ianto and Gwen out.

"Well, I'm glad you found something you like and I know Jack was upset when Toshiko and Owen were killed."

Martha nodded.

"Oh yeah, he talks about them all the time. I miss them both, they were wonderful people."

The cars moved down again and the attendant let Donna, Mingxia and Awinita out. They waved when they looked up and waved at them.

"Thank you for letting us come here," Martha said. "It's wonderful whenever we get to spend time with you."

"Well, thank you for helping to save Rain. It's the least I could do for you lot after that," he said.

The cars moved down and the attendant opened their car. Martha climbed out and the Doctor and Rain got out beside her. They looked up at Alan and Rose and Jenny who waved.

"We're coming down, slowly but surely," Alan said.

"We'll wait for you lot and Mickey," the Doctor said, glancing up at Mickey who was in the car behind them.

"You better," Alan called.

The Doctor waved while they walked through the exit.

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Once everyone was on the ground and they were assembled. They headed for the next ride which was the ferris wheel.

"Fancy riding the big wheel?" the Doctor said to Rain.

"Sure."

They got in the queue and Alan and Rose got in behind them. They looked back at the others who were standing nearby.

"You're not riding?" Alan said.

"Nah, too tame for me," Jack said.

"I don't fancy riding the big wheel either," Donna said.

"Go ahead and ride, we'll wait," Awinita said.

The Doctor glanced at his brother.

"Why do I not believe you?" he said to Awinita while everyone laughed. "Why do I have a feeling you'll jump back in the TARDIS and fly it away and leave us stranded here?"

Awinita gave him an innocent look and shrugged.

"Oh boy, I have a bad feeling about this, Brother," Alan said while Rain and Rose laughed.

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"Are you having fun yet?" Jack yelled while the ferris wheel went around.

"Tons!" Alan screamed out while Rose laughed. "You don't know what you're missing, Jack.

They went up and he nudged Rose and pointed at the Doctor and Rain in the car below them.

"I'm gonna spit on my brother's head," he announced.

"You do and you're dead the moment your feet touch terra firma," the Doctor said, glancing up at him.

The ride slowed to a stop and the Doctor and Rain sat at the top. He looked back at Alan and Rose and stuck his tongue out at them.

"I'm on top! Just as it should be!" he said raising his fist in the air.

"Oh, stuff it, big brother!" Alan said while Rose laughed.

They looked down and waved at their family and friends.

"Come down, we need you!" Awinita screamed up.

"We can't! These bastards have us trapped!" Alan yelled. "Damn them!"

"Climb down then," Mingxia yelled.

"Oi! Don't give our brother ideas, Mingxia!" the Doctor said while they laughed.

They jerked their heads back when they heard Rose yell and saw Alan rocking the car. He gave his wife a big toothy grin when Rose gave him a murderous look.

"Just putting a bit of excitement into your big wheel ride, dear hearts," he said to her.

The ride started again only it was now going backwards.

"We're going the other way! Be still my beating hearts," Alan said.

"Wow, you're going backwards now!" Jack called out when they came down. "How thrilling is that?"

"I know, Jack, I can hardly keep myself in the seat I'm so excited," the Doctor called to him.

They went around a couple of times and then the cars stopped so the attendants could start letting people out.

"Wasn't that thrilling?" the Doctor said to Rain.

"Oh yeah, more heart pounding than a rollercoaster," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Really? Are you little hearts racing with fear now?" the Doctor said.

"Yes, I'm so scared, comfort me."

"Okey-dokey," the Doctor said, holding her close while she giggled.

The Doctor's eyes widened when he heard Alan clearing his throat and he looked up to see him leaning over the bar trying to spit on him.

"You do and you will live to regret it!" the Doctor said, pointing up at him.

Alan leaned back in his seat and folded his hands in his lap while the cars went down. It stopped at the Doctor and Rain and they got out. As they walked away, they looked back at Alan and Rose.

"No fair, we should have been let out first and you should have stayed on for another go 'round," Alan said.

The Doctor shrugged and grinned while his car moved down to the attendant.

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They walked over to the next ride. It was a car that went up a long straight pole, stopped and then came back down really quickly. The Doctor noticed Rain shaking her head.

"Nuh-uh," she said.

"Love?"

"I'm sorry, hon, I hate this ride. I rode it once when I was ten and I about barfed my lungs out of my body on the way down. I can't."

He nodded.

"S'alright, I'll sit this one out as well."

"You don't have to. If you wanna go…"

"No, I'd rather be down here with you."

Alan frowned when he and the others walked towards the queue.

"Brother? You two aren't coming?" he said, stopping with Rose.

"She doesn't like it. It makes her ill so I'll keep her company. You go on ahead."

Alan nodded and he and Rose joined the others in the queue. The Doctor noticed some swings nearby.

"Can you ride those flying swings?" he said to her.

"Yeah, those are okay."

He nodded.

"Alan!"

Alan looked at him and he pointed to the swings.

"We'll ride those while you're on this. We'll meet you over there."

Alan nodded and gave them an OK gesture with his fingers. The Doctor took Rain's hand and they walked over to the swings.

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Rain made a face while she watched the car go to the top of the pole, stop and speed down it.

"Ugh, just looking at it makes me feel like puking," she said to the Doctor. "Have you ever ridden it before?"

"No, I haven't actually."

"Oh, well if you wanted to ride it, I mean…"

"Latara, I wanna ride the rides with you. It's no fun for me going on a ride alone. The universe won't implode if I don't get on the go uppy, go downy ride there. Quit worrying, alright?"

She nodded and he kissed her temple.

"Besides, I have a feeling my lungs would also be left up at the top of that pole if I did," he said.

"It goes down so fast that it makes your stomach go up in your throat," she said.

"Yes, I can imagine after seeing what it just did," the Doctor replied, glancing back at it.

"There's something I heard once about some little six year old girl that got her legs cut off riding it," she said.

"What? Where?"

"I don't know but there was some cable that was out of place and when she came back down her legs hit it and sliced them both off."

The Doctor was horrified.

"Uh…suddenly, I'm wondering if Rose and Alan and everyone else will be crawling off that ride when they get done," he said, looking back at it.

The gate opened and the Doctor escorted her through. They walked with the other people towards the swings. The Doctor sat down in the outer swing and he watched while Rain hooked the strap between his legs to the bar before she sat down in the swing next to him.

"Hmm, that's it, eh? The only protection we have this is this teeny tiny bar," the Doctor said to her.

"Yeah and watch it because the outer swings go out really far," she said.

"How far? To the moon?"

She laughed.

"Um, pretty close to it, yeah," she said while he chuckled.

He pointed over when he saw Alan and Rose walking over to the car. They waved at them and they waved back.

"We're getting on that next," Alan mouthed to him while they sat down.

The Doctor nodded.

"Mind your legs," he mouthed back to Alan.

He laughed when Alan gave him a confused look.

"Why?" he mouthed.

"I'll tell you when you come down and get over here," he mouthed back.

The swings started to rise into the air. They laughed when Alan, Rose, Donna and Awinita cheered them from their seats. The Doctor's eyes widened when his swing drifted out.

"Blimey, you weren't kidding, were ya?" he yelled to Rain.

"I told ya, Thete, it does that," she yelled back.

As they went around they noticed the car rising up the pole.

"Alan's never been on that ride then if you haven't, right?" Rain screamed to him.

"Unless he's been on one after he was born," the Doctor yelled back.

"I don't think he has."

"Then this is his first time then," the Doctor yelled back.

They came around again and saw the car was paused at the top and then there was an enormous scream from everyone while it zoomed down. While that happened, the swings slowed and stopped.

"That was fun," the Doctor said. "We'll have to give this another go when they get over here."

The swings stopped and they unhooked the restraints, lifted up the bars and walked out. They walked out the exit and saw everyone else heading towards them. They walked back over and joined them.

"Why were you telling me to mind my legs?" Alan said when they reached them.

"Tell them, Rain," the Doctor said.

Rain told them about the little girl and they stared at her in horror.

"When was this?" Rose said.

"I forget where and when but I remember hearing about it happening."

"Oh blimey, I'm glad it didn't happen to one of us then," Alan said.

"Brother, was that your first time riding that thing?"

"Yeah, it wasn't bad actually. A bit intense."

Rain wondered since I told her I'd never been on it before and since you're my clone…"

"Oh! Well, yes, I'd never been on it before but it wasn't that bad," Alan said while they got in the queue for the swings.

"These are fun too," the Doctor said, pointing to them.

"Gee, is there a chance we could hit a metal cable and get our legs cut off our bodies?" Donna said.

"No but you have to restrain yourselves right between the legs so if we stop short for some reason me and Alan and Jack will be sudden sopranos," the Doctor said while they laughed.

While they were talking, the mobile in Rain's pocket rang. She pulled it out and looked at the display.

"Dad," she said to the Doctor.

She pushed the talk button.

"Hello? Hey, Dad…we're fine…we're um, in line for the flying swings."

The Doctor rocked back and forth on his heels while he watched his wife. He stopped rocking when he saw her frowning.

"He did? Oh, God…yeah, I understand…"

"Rain? What's going on?" the Doctor said while everyone else neared closer to her.

She looked around and lowered the phone.

"I better sit this ride out. Dad's friend's taken a turn for the worst," she said to him.

Everyone groaned while the Doctor took her hand and they walked out of the line to a bench several feet away.

"Oh God," Donna said, looking at them.

"I'm glad we let John have his motor then," Alan said, glancing back at them.

The gate opened and they walked through, glancing at Rain while she sat with the Doctor. By the time they got through with the ride, she was off the phone and she and the Doctor were sipping Cokes.

"What's happening?" Awinita said as they walked up to them.

"My dad's friend is named Jessie. He's been a family friend for years. I kinda guessed it was him but I wasn't sure. He's bad and they don't think he's gonna live much longer. His daughter is with him but dad and Amber are going to be with her because he's not in the hospital. He didn't want to die there and there was nothing they could do for him except give him painkillers to keep him comfortable. He's been through a lot and he wasn't in the best of health anyway which is why antibiotics didn't work for him this time. My dad doesn't know when they'll be home but he told me to let myself in with my key. I do have my key but it's in my purse in our bedroom. They did fix us dinner and it'll be there for us when we get back and he said we can stay in the house or out in the hogans, either option is fine."

"I think we better stay out in the hogans because his house is tiny enough without all of us on the floor and the sofa and chairs," Alan said.

"Well, he put sleeping bags and lanterns in the hogans. It's the two at the back where the portapotty is, same one you had before. But that's what's going on."

They groaned and sighed.

"Um, actually, there's something else," Rain said.

"What else?" Mingxia asked.

"Well, I don't know how to take this since I really wasn't as close to Jessie as dad was but he's…giving me a couple of things. He and his daughter want me to have them."

"What is he giving you?" Jack said.

"Well, I'm really stunned at the first thing. It's this handmade Navajo blanket that's nearly 200 years old. His grandmother made it when she was a little girl."

"Wow," Jack said.

"I know, Amber's getting one too but I think they should go to his daughter. I mean they're family heirlooms."

"Yeah, but he obviously thinks you'll take good care of it," Alan said.

"Maybe his daughter is getting a couple and wants one to go to you and your sister," Donna said.

"Well, he's also giving me a handmade hand drum that's nearly 150 years old and a silver belt with turquoise inlay that's almost a hundred years old that his father made."

"Wow," Jenny said. "And you barely know the man?"

"Well, he's not a complete stranger. I grew up with him visiting my dad and we are friends but I'm just floored that he's giving me these things."

"Well, if he is, we can find room for them in the TARDIS where they'll be nice and safe," the Doctor said. "I can make sure they will stay in pristine condition. I wouldn't want these gifts to get ruined in any way."

Rain nodded.

"But that's what's going on, guys. And if he's still gone when we get there then I'm supposed to call him and let him know we're there," she said. "He left the number by the phone in the kitchen for me. But…um…I hope you guys enjoyed the swings while all that was going on," she said.

"I liked them, but blimey, the ones on the outside go out far," Alan said. "I was wondering if the chain broke if I'd just go sailing over everything and smack into the big wheel back there."

"I was thinking much the same thing, interesting," the Doctor said while they laughed.

Alan looked at Rain's Mountain Dew. He leaned over and Rain held it up to him while he took a sip.

"Ah, thanks muchly, Sis. That wets my whistle," he said.

"And makes you hyper," Rose muttered.

"Nah, I'm hyper already."

"You said it, I didn't," Rose replied while they laughed.

"So, since you two have drinks, do you wanna all break for a snack and rest?" Jack said.

They nodded and started looking around for the snack wagons. Alan leaned down to them.

"Anything I can get you, or you?" he said, glancing at the Doctor.

The Doctor looked around with the others.

"They have burgers, right? And chips?" he said.

"Yeah, they should. Burgers, fries, corn dogs, that kind of thing," Rain said.

"You want a burger and chips?" the Doctor said.

"That sounds good."

"Two cheeseburgers and chips if you can find it. If not, corn dog, I s'pose," the Doctor said to Alan, handing him ten dollars. "Hopefully, that'll cover it. If not, I'll pay back the difference."

"Don't worry about it, we can handle it. So two cheeseburgers and chips, got it. Come on, Starlight; let's go find a place that sells burgers and chips then."

Everyone headed off in different directions while the Doctor and Rain sat on the bench, sipped their drinks and talked.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter Thirty Three

Alan returned with four burgers and chips and gave two of the meals to the Doctor and Rain along with his change.

"And here, I found you a gherkin too," he said, handing her a big pickle.

"Oh, aren't you sweet, thanks," Rain said.

Rose sat down next to her on the bench and Alan sat on Rose's other side. Donna, Mingxia, Awinita and Jenny sat down on the bench directly behind them and the others milled around, talking to each other.

"Well, it's a good thing they had chips so Rose can get her daily fix," the Doctor said while Alan chuckled.

"Yup, now I can add the fun fair in Arizona to my list of places I've had chips," Rose said.

"You like them that much?" Rain said.

"Love em. But…they're better in the UK, I think. I like salt and vinegar on mine."

Rain nodded.

"I've had salt and vinegar potato chips before. They're not bad," she said.

"French fry chips are better, Sis. Salt and vinegar crisps aren't the same," she said. "The next time we go to London, we'll have to go to a chip shop so you can get some. And don't start on me liking them so much, Doctor. You and Alan both crave them as well."

"Only because you got me hooked on them," the Doctor said. "Course it wasn't the first food craving I had. I used to fancy jelly babies."

Rain looked at him.

"What's that? Like jelly beans?" she said.

He shook his head.

"No, they're like…gummy bears? Little gummy sweets that look like babies."

"Oh, okay. And you liked those, huh?"

"He ate them incessantly," Alan said while the Doctor snickered.

"And you don't anymore?" Rain said.

He shook his head.

"I got sick of them eventually. I had so many that finally I got tired of them."

"Wow," Donna said, looking back at him. "Can't imagine you fancying jelly babies for some reason."

The Doctor looked at her.

"Why? You don't think I like sweets?" he said.

"No, I know you like sweets. It just seems strange that you like…liked jelly babies."

Jenny looked at him.

"I've never heard of jelly babies," she said.

"Neither have I," Awinita said. "But that's because I don't think they sell them here. I like gummy bears though."

Mingxia laughed.

"Gummy worms," she said to her.

"Gummy mice," Awinita replied.

Donna made a face.

"Could you not discuss eating worms and mice while I'm eating my chicken sandwich," she said while they laughed.

Awinita looked at the Doctor.

"I know you like licorice on occasion."

"Mmm, yeah I do, love licorice," he said, "and boiled sweets and toffee. I got a fondness for toffee now, love toffee."

"Did they have any candy on Gallifrey?" Awinita said, looking around.

"Um…not as such. They had sweet things but they were more like fruit, I wouldn't call them sweets," he said.

"So, you came here and discovered candy then," Mingxia said.

"Oooooh yes," the Doctor said while they laughed. "Yes, sweets are one of the best things about this planet. Trust me, cavities were unknown on Gallifrey. It's you lot that need all the dentists after eating all that stuff."

Martha walked up to them sipping a Coke.

"You have to see Jack and Ianto now," she said.

"Why? What are they doing?" the Doctor said.

"They're over at the games. The one where you use the water pistols to shoot water into the clown's mouth and race the things up the wall. They're competing on that," she said. "I guess if you win you can keep trading up the prizes until you get something bigger. So both of them are doing that."

The Doctor sighed.

"I'm not gonna keep lending him the TARDIS key so he can store all these prizes on my ship," he said. "I was gonna play the games as well but I'm waiting till we start to leave so we don't have all these plushies to carry on the rides. If Harkness had any sense, he'd do that as well."

Martha shrugged.

"You know him, Doctor, he loves to compete and I think he's finished eating and was looking for something to do while he waited for everyone else to finish."

The Doctor glanced at Alan and sighed while he shook his head.

"He's in charge of carrying it," Alan said. "I'm not doing it for him."

"Neither am I," the Doctor said.

Gwen walked up behind her.

"You oughta see Jack's prize now. It's this huge lion. It's almost as big as that bison he won."

"I'm not carrying it for him," Alan repeated.

The Doctor looked around.

"Where'd Mickey-boy get to?" he said.

"He's walking around eating and just looking at everything. He's not doing what Jack and Ianto are doing," Gwen said. "He's staying close to us though and checking to see if you're finished yet."

The Doctor nodded.

"I'm sorry we're eating slowly," he said.

"Nah, you're fine," Martha said. "That's why Jack and Ianto are off at the games. You're alright. Take your time."

"Do you feel better?" Alan said.

She nodded.

"Oh yeah, I'm not nauseous anymore," she said.

"Good," the Doctor said.

He glanced around while he chewed on a chip looking at the other rides.

"Is there anything you wanna ride next?" he asked his wife.

She took a sip of Mountain Dew and scanned the rides.

"I can ride anything. Is there something you like?" she asked him.

"Um…I don't think I've really been on anything before except a rollercoaster," he said pointing to a mini one near the back of the midway. "Everything else is unfamiliar to me."

Rain put her hand on his shoulder and looked with him.

"Um, do you like rides that go upside down?" she asked him.

"Um…I can go on them," he said.

She pointed to one that resembled a flying saucer.

"That one there is the Gravitron. You get in it and you lay against the walls and it spins really fast and pins you to the wall while it goes up in the air."

"Oh, centrifugal force," Alan said, looking at it.

"Is it scary, Mum?" Jenny said, looking at it.

"Um…it's a weird feeling because you get pressed up against the wall and sometimes it's kinda hard to breathe because you're going so fast, hon. You can get sick really easily on it too. I had a friend in high school that went on it and he came out and vomited right outside the door."

"Isn't that lovely?" Donna said while they laughed. "I guess he learned his lesson about riding one."

"Not really. He liked things like that," Rain said.

"Well, I don't think that's a problem for us. We don't get sick like humans," the Doctor said.

He glanced at Martha.

"I'd think long and hard before you got on it though, Martha," he said.

"I'm already debating whether I should," she said to him. "I can just picture myself getting off it and vomiting by the door. That Tilt-a-Whirl thing was bad enough without riding something that presses me to the wall and goes up in the air."

Rain looked around.

"Well, usually they also have a merry-go-round and bumper cars but I don't see them. They must have them near the back," she said.

The Doctor looked over when Mickey walked up.

"Mickey," he said.

"Hey Boss, still eating?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, we're debating on what to ride next. Are Jack and Ianto still playing the games?"

He nodded.

"Well, if you see them will you make it clear to them that they're the ones responsible for carrying what they win? We're not pack animals and I'm not gonna keep giving him the TARDIS key," the Doctor said.

Mickey nodded.

Mickey glanced at rocket cars that were several feet away.

"If you don't mind, I'm gonna ride that while you eat," he said to them.

"Go ahead, we'll be right here," the Doctor said.

He nodded and they watched while he hurried over and got in the queue. The Doctor took a bite of his cheeseburger while he studied the ride. He watched while a pod shaped car went around and around in a circle. He looked at Rain.

"Have you ridden that before, Latara?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's not too bad. You just go around and around and go upside down and occasionally they'll stop the ride and leave you hanging upside down for a moment," she said.

The Doctor and Alan ate while they watched it. They watched with fascination while the cars went around and around and then stopped for a moment leaving the occupants upside down.

"You wanna ride that next?" the Doctor asked his wife.

"I will if you want to," she said.

He nodded. He felt a tap on his shoulder and looked up at Martha.

"Gwen and I are gonna go find the portaloo or the lavatory or whatever they have here."

He nodded.

"Be careful."

"We will. We'll be right back," Gwen said.

They watched while they hurried off and then turned their attention back to the rides. Suddenly, he felt Rain kiss his cheek.

"Stay here, Love, I'll be right back," she said to him.

The Doctor stared at her while she sprinted away.

"Now where's she off to?" Alan said.

"I don't know but I hope she'll be alright," the Doctor said.

"She will. Don't worry about her," Rose said.

Rain returned a few minutes later with a big purple balloon in her hand. She smiled while she tied the string around her husband's wrist.

"There you are, my childlike husband. A nice balloon for you," she said sitting back down while everyone laughed.

"And you even tied it around my wrist so it wouldn't float away, how considerate," the Doctor said.

Donna giggled when she stood up and flicked the balloon.

"Oi, leave my balloon alone, Noble," he said while everyone laughed.

Donna sat back down and giggled while she and the other women stared up at it.

"I have to say that balloon looks lovely on your arm, Brother," Alan said. "The purple goes with your eyes."

"I think so too," the Doctor said. "It's a lovely balloon and I shall wear it proudly."

"Well, now everyone will have no trouble telling us apart," Alan said. "You're the one with the balloon."

Alan finished eating and put his trash in a nearby trashcan.

"That was delicious," he said walking back to Rose. "Nice and greasy."

He grinned as he flicked the balloon before sitting back down.

"Oi, leave my balloon alone," the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Where'd you get those, Te'lesu? I want one," he said.

Rain pointed ahead of her.

"Go about twenty feet or so and there's this little booth behind this concession stand that's selling them," she said.

"Brilliant. You want one, Starlight?"

She giggled.

"Yeah, get me a blue one if they have it."

"Blue balloon, gotcha. I'll be back in two tics."

The Doctor rolled his eyes when he hurried off. He looked up when Awinita walked past him. She turned and grinned at him.

"I want one too, damn it," she said as they laughed.

She hurried off.

"Look at that, I've started a trend," the Doctor said.

Alan returned two minutes later holding a red and blue balloon. He handed his red balloon to Rain and then tied the blue one around Rose's wrist.

"Thank you," Rose said.

"No problemo, Starlight."

He kissed her on the lips and held out his wrist so Rain could tie his on. Once it was tied he sat back down beside his wife.

"Awinita is getting one as well," the Doctor said.

"I saw her get in the queue behind me. I guess everyone likes a nice balloony," he said.

Awinita came back over a moment later carrying a green balloon. She walked up to the Doctor.

"Bro, could you…" she said, pointing to her wrist.

He smiled and took the balloon from her. He tied the string around the wrist while everyone behind them looked up at it.

"Oh, she's got a green one," Mingxia said.

"Yeah, I like green," Awinita replied.

The Doctor finished and smiled when Awinita gave him a kiss on the forehead.

"Thanks, Bro," she said.

"Yup."

Mickey came back over and they laughed when he stopped short and stared at the balloons.

"We had a sudden desire for balloons," the Doctor said.

Mickey grinned when he walked up and flicked the Doctor's balloon.

"Oi, everyone quit bothering my balloon," he said while they laughed.

"Jack and Ianto aren't back yet?" Mickey asked.

"No and Gwen and Martha went off to find a loo somewhere," the Doctor said.

Mickey sighed.

"I'll find Jack and Ianto and tell them you're all waiting," he said.

He walked off. He came back a few minutes later with Jack and Ianto behind them. Jack was holding a large stuffed lion.

"Jack, I'm telling you right now. You better hold off on the games until we're ready to leave because I'm not giving you the key every five minutes and we're not carrying that," the Doctor said, pointing to it.

"I know. I didn't expect you to. Although…"

He walked up and stared at his balloon.

"Indulging your inner alien child, Doc?"

"If you must know, my wife purchased it for me and then Alan wanted one and Rose and Awinita and now we all have balloons," he said.

"Purple's definitely your color, Doc," he said. "Where are Gwen and Martha though?"

"Went to find a loo. We're just waiting on them and then Rain and I are gonna ride this spinning ride that Mickey was just on," the Doctor said, pointing to it.

"Oh yeah, I like that ride," Jack said, staring at it.

They looked over when Martha and Gwen walked up.

"We're ready when you lot are," Gwen said.

The Doctor looked behind him.

"Are you ready?"

They nodded and everyone got up and threw their rubbish away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After riding the rocket ride, the group decided to split up a bit. They agreed to meet back at the benches in two hours and the Doctor, Rain, Rose and Alan walked off together.

"Look at that. Rain's balloonless," Alan said while they laughed.

"Yup, you're the oddball here," the Doctor said.

Alan laughed and he stopped the others. He pointed to a man sitting on a wooden stool. There were prizes scattered around him and there was a sign posted.

LET ME GUESS YOUR AGE, it said.

"Oh, do it, Brother. I dare ya!" he said while Rose and Rain laughed.

The Doctor got an impish grin. He walked over while the others followed him. He gave two dollars to the man and they stood there while he stared at him intently.

"37," the man finally said.

"Nope, sorry," the Doctor said while the other kept their laughter in.

The man frowned.

"You look 37," he said.

"Yes, well, looks aren't everything."

"How old are you then?" the man said.

He grinned.

"I'm 1205," he said.

The man rolled his eyes while the Doctor's family tried to keep a straight face.

"Right, buddy, very funny," the man said.

"I am," he said. "You got it wrong, so do I get a prize?"

"Go away," the man said.

"You got it wrong, mate. I get a prize," the Doctor said.

The man sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Fine, buddy, pick something and get out of here."

The Doctor looked at Rain.

"What do you want, Love?" he asked her.

She stared at the prizes.

"I want the stuffed Stewie," she said, pointing to it.

The man got up, took it down and gave it to her.

"Now get out of here," the man said.

"Oi, no need to be rude, mate," Rose said, glaring at him. "You got it wrong, trust me."

They rolled their eyes and walked off while the man muttered under his breath.

"He got it wrong, you're all witnesses," the Doctor said.

They laughed.

"We know that and you know that, but I suppose he thinks you're just thirty seven," Alan said.

"You should have gone after me, Brother. I would have loved to have seen his reaction when you told him you were eleven months old," the Doctor said while they laughed.


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter Thirty Four

After walking around and looking at the rides, they decided to get on the bumper cars. Alan and Rose got in the queue followed by the Doctor and Rain. The Doctor and Rain were at the back of the queue. Suddenly, Rain felt someone running her fingers up the back of her arm.

"Hey gorgeous," a man purred in her ear.

Rain gasped when the Doctor spun around with a murderous look on his face. She turned and noticed a young Hispanic man staring at him in shock.

"Just go away, all right? This is my husband," Rain said when she noticed how black the Doctor's eyes were.

"I'm sorry, man. I didn't realize she was with you. I'm going," the man said.

Rain turned back to the Doctor who was glaring at him while he hurried away.

"Love, it's alright. I'm here, I'm safe, just calm down," she implored while she rubbed his chest.

The Doctor relaxed and let out a sigh.

"Sorry, Latara, I'm a bit jumpy, I guess," he said sheepishly.

Rain held him while he wrapped his arms around her.

"Boy, he'll think twice before trying to chat up someone else," Alan said behind him.

"Please get in front of me, would you?" the Doctor said to her.

Rain nodded and got between him and Alan. Alan smiled at her.

"You get a lot of people trying to chat you up, you notice that?"

"It's because she's beautiful," the Doctor said, running his finger up and down her arm. "And I didn't mean to terrify him but…"

"Completely understandable, Brother," Alan said, holding up his hand. "I'm just glad you had the presence of mind to just glare at him."

"Well, I keep feeling like I'm the alpha male constantly defending my mate from rivals," the Doctor replied.

They went through the gate and walked into the ride. The Doctor escorted Rain to a yellow car and waited while she got inside.

"I will kill you, you know that, right?' Alan whispered in his ear before hurrying away.

"Not if I kill you first," the Doctor said while Rain laughed.

"Oh no, we're back to this again," Rain said when he got inside with her.

"Yup, I must defeat my brother and destroy him utterly," he said, putting the restraint on.

"I guess I better strap myself in good then," Rain said.

Rain giggled and glanced up.

"I like the balloon. It's like a flag," she said.

He laughed and looked up.

"Yes, these are the colors of our car. We'll display them proudly."

Rain pointed across to Alan and Rose on the other side of the ride.

"Well, they have two colors for their car."

"Well, that's because they're strange," the Doctor said to her.

Rain laughed when Alan gripped the wheel of his car and gave them an intense look.

"Prepare yourself, Love. We're gonna get bumped and bumped hard and often, I just know it," the Doctor said. "They're gonna be following us all around the floor so be warned."

Rain giggled and blew Alan a kiss. She laughed when he saw the surprised look on his face followed by pucker lips and wagging eyebrows.

"Are you flirting with your brother over there?" the Doctor said.

"I can't help it. He looks like you and I get mixed up sometimes," she said.

The cars started and both of them saw Alan driving towards them.

"Right, Thete, turn right!" Rain said to him.

He turned and they noticed that Alan was following him. They were so busy watching them that they didn't notice a little eight year old black girl coming from the front. Alan and Rose laughed when they collided.

"Ooops, other people in here besides Brother," the Doctor said when Rain laughed.

He grunted when Alan rear-ended him.

"I'm sorry, did I hit you? My bad!" Alan said sweetly while Rose laughed.

"You're gonna pay for that," the Doctor said glancing back at them.

He drove off and Alan followed him.

"You're not getting away from us," he called out.

They laughed when a middle aged woman hit his front and they rear-ended him again.

"Ooopsy, I'm such a klutz," he said to Rose.

The Doctor heard him whistle loudly when he drove off again.

"I love following behind Brother, it's so fun," he said, loudly.

The Doctor suddenly tuned a hard right and tried to get behind him.

"Going somewhere, Doctor?" Alan said sweetly while they followed him.

Rain laughed and looked back at him.

"Sorry, Te'lesu, I realize you're an innocent victim in all this but you shoulda seen this coming when you chose to marry him," he called to her.

Suddenly someone rammed into Alan and Rose and the Doctor laughed loudly.

"Thank you, whoever you are!" he called back as he drove off.

"Oh, no you don't, get back here!" Alan called when he drove off again.

Rain glanced back and saw Alan laughing manically while he tried to catch up with them. Rose saw someone coming from their side and tried to shout to Alan but it was too late. The Doctor giggled while he drove away.

"You reap what you sow, eh?" he said to Rain.

He grunted when the kid slammed back into him.

"You were saying, Thete?" Rain said.

"I was saying I should shut my gob," the Doctor said while she laughed.

He grunted when someone rear-ended him.

"There we go, now we're back in the old rhythm," they heard Alan say loudly.

"You're just bound and determined to give us broken necks, aren't ya?" the Doctor yelled back.

"I love hitting you, it's so stress-relieving," Alan yelled.

The cars suddenly slowed and stopped.

"Blast, I wanna hit him some more," Alan said.

They got out of the restraints and got out of the car.

"Ah, that was relaxing," Alan said while they walked off. "I found that highly pleasurable."

He ducked when the Doctor tried to swat at his head. They walked through the exit.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They found a teacup ride and the four of them headed towards the queue.

"Well, well, well, it's the four horsemen of the apocalypse."

They turned and saw Jack and Ianto walking up to them.

"Where were you headed?" Jack said to them.

"The teacup ride," Alan said.

Jack looked at Ianto.

"Wanna join them on the teacups?" he said to him.

"It doesn't matter to me," Ianto replied.

They got in the queue behind them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The six of them got into a brightly painted teacup. In the center was a large round steel disc on a pole.

"Do you know where the rest of them got to?" the Doctor said.

"Not a clue," Jack said, shaking his head. "Yan and I went on the rollercoaster and then we drifted over here and that's when we saw you. Where'd you go?"

"Well, first off we pissed off a carnie because we found the guess the true age booth and the man tried to guess the Doctor's age and failed."

Jack giggled.

"Oh, you are bad," Jack said to the Doctor while they laughed.

"Well, I'm not 37 like he thinks I'm am. So I won and Rain got a stuffed Stewie."

"After that, I kept hitting him and Rain on the dodge-em cars," Alan said. "And we ended up here."

The ride started and all of them grabbed the disc and began to spin the cup around.

"No one here has a queasy stomach, I trust?" the Doctor said.

"Are you kidding? Martha's the only one that has that problem. Spin it fast," Jack said.

They laughed while they all worked to spin the teacup around. They paused for a moment and got their breath.

"Oi!" Rose said.

They looked at her and saw her pointing towards the entrance. They looked around and saw Donna, Mingxia, Awinita and Jenny at the front of the queue waving at them. They waved back.

"And…spin!" the Doctor said.

The four women in the queue laughed hysterically while they watched them whirl around.

"Go Bro!" Awinita yelled when they stopped.

The ride slowed and stopped and they spun one more time before getting out.

"Are you alright?" the Doctor said while they headed for the exit.

"We're fine," Donna said. "I'm just surprised you didn't vomit after all the spinning."

"Nah, iron stomachs, that's us," the Doctor said, heading for the exit.

They waved at each other when the six of them walked out.

They paused a moment and looked around.

"Now what?" the Doctor said to them.

"I don't wanna ride anything tame like the merry-go-round," Jack said.

"Are you with us now?" Alan said.

They laughed when he grinned and shrugged.

"Is the rollercoaster fun?" Rain said.

"Eh," Jack replied, shrugging. "It's not thrilling. There's nothing much to it, really. I wasn't impressed."

"He likes the one that make you vomit all over your body while you ride them," Ianto said. "That didn't qualify."

"How about the bobsled one," Rain said. "It's these cars that go really fast around this track."

The Doctor shrugged.

"How about that one?"

"Sounds good," Jack said.

They headed towards it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After waiting in the queue, they walked onto the ride. There were several large sleigh-like cars attached to each other and the track contained two dips that went around and inside a large wall. Loud rock music blared overhead while they walked over and sat down in the cars. The Doctor grimaced and stared up at the ceiling while he and Rain sat down.

"Is it really necessary to have that up full blast?" he said while he and Rain sat.

"I agree," Alan said turning his head to look back at him. "I think they think we're at a rock concert."

"Well some of us have sensitive hearing," the Doctor muttered while he put his arm around Rain.

"Love…"

He looked at her and looked over at the entrance. He grinned when he saw Martha, Gwen and Mickey and nudged his brother's head. When he looked back, he pointed to them.

"Starlight, look," Alan said to her.

She looked at him and looked where he was pointing. She smiled and waved at them.

"Jack," Alan said to him while he and Ianto sat in front of them. "Your team found you."

Jack looked back and looked where he was pointing. He and Ianto laughed and waved at them.

"We keep running into everyone," he said to them. "We just ran into the others back at the teacup ride."

"Mickey wanted to ride this," Martha said, gesturing to him.

They waved when the ride started up and everyone grabbed the bar in front of them. They laughed and cheered when the cars went up and down the hills and sped in and out of the wall. They waved back at them while they went past. Then it stopped behind the wall and they laughed when it went backwards.

"WE'RE GOING THE OTHER WAY!" Jack screamed at them while they went past.

"WE NOTICED THAT!" Gwen yelled back.

The ride slowed and stopped and they got out of the cars.

"Pretty good ride," Jack said to them while they walked past. "I think you'll like it."

"Well, we'll see you later then," Martha called as they went through the exit.

They waved to them and went down the stairs.

"So now where do we go?" Jack asked.

They walked around. Suddenly, Rain grabbed the Doctor's arm.

"Hmm?" he said, glancing at her.

"Wait a moment," she said to him.

They watched while she rushed over to a concession stand.

"She's hungry again?" Jack said. "Wow and I thought you were the eating machine of the group, Doc."

She came back over holding a foil wrapped object. She unwrapped it and smiled at the Doctor while she broke off a piece.

"Here you go, dear. Buffalo burger," she said, popping it in his mouth.

"Mmm, very good," he said.

She broke off pieces and let everyone try it.

"This is good," Jack said. "Tastes a bit different from cow but I like it."

The Doctor opened his mouth and she popped another piece in.

"So, now I've had buffalo," Jack said.

"I've had alligator," the Doctor said smugly.

Jack stared at him.

"When?"

"On our honeymoon to Orlando. There's this place down there called Gatorland and the misses and I tried gator nuggets and gator ribs."

"And what does it taste like?" Rose said.

"Not bad, actually. We liked it. Course it was kinda disturbing walking through looking at the gators and then eating their friends but…all the same…"

"It's where I got you the alligator handbag, Sis," Rain said.

She laughed.

"Oh okay, yeah, I need to use my alligator handbag whenever I go out," she said.

"Alligator handbag?" Jack said while they laughed.

"It's not a real alligator handbag. It's a stuffed purse that has a stuffed gator head on the front and it has Florida on the side."

"Oh," Jack said while they laughed.

Alan leaned forward and Rain popped a bit of burger into his mouth.

"Deeeeeeeeeeelicious," he said. "Actually, we've also had octopus, donkey, various fishes, crickets…"

"Where?" Jack said.

"Japan and China," Alan said. "We had blowfish as well. It was good but very dear. But we ate it without getting poisoned."

"I need to travel around with you more often," Jack said while they laughed. "What does cricket taste like?"

"Crunchy," the Doctor said. "Awinita hates it. We also ate fried starfish and seahorse."

Jack stared at him with wide eyes.

"What does that taste like?" he said.

"Starfish tastes like a crunchy fish finger. Seahorse is very salty and disgusting. Don't eat it," the Doctor said.

"Don't eat seahorse, got it," Jack said.

They finished the burger and Rain threw the foil away.

"Excellent," the Doctor said. "Molto bene. Very, very good."

"Sorry about that, but I saw buffalo burger and I thought you might like to try it," Rain said coming back.

"It was good," the Doctor said, kissing her. "Don't apologize. You know us, we like new experiences."

He took her hand while they walked off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After another hour, they walked back to the bench and sat down to wait for the others.

"I guess we've just about ridden everything," Alan said.

"I think so. You wanna play a few games?" the Doctor said.

"Yeah, I wanna beat you utterly."

"Bring it on!"

"Oh no, here we go again," Rose said while they laughed.

The Doctor pointed to Jack's lion.

"I'm gonna get something just as colossal for Rain. I want something that'll just crowd her off the bed," he said.

"Whoopee," Rain said while they laughed.

"Why don't you go ahead and go? Ianto and I will wait and intercept the others," Jack said.

"You sure?" the Doctor said.

He chuckled.

"Go, you crazy kids, win some prizes," he said, waving his hand.

They laughed and walked off while Jack and Ianto sat down.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They walked along looking at the game booths. The men behind them called to them but they ignored them. Suddenly, Rain tugged on the Doctor's hand and Alan and Rose stopped while she led him over to a duck game. She handed the man two dollars and studied some plastic ducks floating in a tiny moat. She picked out a pink one and handed it to the man. He gestured to some tiny prizes and Rain looked through them. She selected a whistle and gave it to the Doctor.

"There, now you can keep everyone in line," she said.

He grinned and tried it out.

"Thanks, dear. Anything I can use to annoy people is a-okay with me," he said to her.

Rose walked up and paid two dollars.

"Blue, get blue," Alan said while he stood beside her.

Rose reached in and pulled out a yellow duck.

"Um…that's not blue," Alan said while she laughed.

"I didn't want blue, I wanted a yellow duck."

The man looked at the number on the bottom and pointed to some stuffed animals above them. Rose chose a gray cat and he handed it to her.

"Ha! My Rose got a bigger prize," Alan said smugly.

"I like my whistle. Besides she went against your wishes which is why she got the bigger prize."

They laughed when Alan flipped him off. They walked on and found the water pistol game. The four of them paid two dollars and picked up the metal guns and hunched over the counter.

"Prepare to be humiliated in defeat, old man," Alan said.

"Don't run your gob before it's time, Squirt, the Doctor replied.

They all aimed the guns at the clown's mouths. The buzzer went off and they squirted water at them. They kept their eyes on the mouth until they heard the buzzer. They looked up and both brother's mouths dropped open when they noticed Rain had won.

"Yes!" Rain said.

"No, this can't be right," Alan said. "Why did she win?"

She chose a tiny panda and held it to her.

"Aw, did you lose, Bro?" she said when she saw the disbelief on his face. "I'm sorry you didn't get the chance to gloat over my husband's defeat. Better luck next time though."

Rose laughed when he chased her for a few feet and then walked back.

"She's got a mouth on her, she does," Alan said to the Doctor.

"You're now finding this out?" the Doctor replied.

They walked on. Rain paused by a dart game that had different painted mirrors as the prizes. She gave the man two dollars and studied the balloons while the others watched. She popped three of them without any effort and studied the mirrors. She giggled and chose a Family Guy one. The Doctor rolled his eyes when he saw it. It was Stewie and Brian walking through the desert. Stewie had his underpants on his head and was panting while he walked behind Brian.

"Charming," the Doctor said while they giggled.

Alan grinned, paid his two dollars and popped three more. He chose a South Park one of Cartman dressed as a cop saying RESPECT MY AUTHORITAH and gave it to Rain.

"Because you can never have enough," he said to her.

"Thanks, Bro," she said while Rose laughed. "I was gonna get that until I saw the Family Guy one."

"Always happy to help," Alan said, shrugging.

Rose walked up, paid her two bucks and popped three balloons.

"Wow, you people are good at this game," the carnie said, leaning back.

Rose chose a grim reaper one and gave it to the Doctor.

"Why?" the Doctor said while Alan laughed.

"Because you can never have enough?" Rose said while Alan and Rain laughed harder.

"Thanks but I'll pass on this," he said, giving it back to her.

"I'll take it. It'll look good above our bed," Alan said, plucking it from her hand.

"Why does that scare me?" the Doctor said while they laughed.

They walked on while the man called for them to come back.

"Hey look, you can win fish," Alan said, pointing to a booth.

"We have dogs, that is sufficient," the Doctor said while they laughed.

They walked up to one booth where you threw balls at little stuffed tiki-looking monsters. The Doctor paid his money, studied the monsters for a moment and then threw the ball. It knocked down a monster and he gestured to Rain who selected a little kazoo.

"To go along with your whistle," she said.

"Brilliant, now we can go through the TARDIS making noise," he said while Rose and Alan looked at each other.

"Is there anywhere where you can win earplugs?" Alan said while they laughed.

They heard someone clearing their throat and turned to see the rest of the family following them.

"Well, well, here comes the others," the Doctor said.

"Are you winning prizes now?" Donna said.

They showed them.

"Where did you get the Family Guy and South Park mirrors?" Awinita said.

They pointed back behind them and the Doctor groaned when she ran off.

"You two and your Family Guy, South Park obsession," he said to Rain. "Have you lot won anything yet?"

"No, we're looking at everything and trying to decide," Mingxia said.

"Well, the guy at that mirror booth was impressed that we kept winning," Alan said. "But of course, we have Time Lord and Lady minds which can calculate trajectory and wind speed and things like that and allow us to beat these stupid rigged games."

"And don't get the fish, the dog is sufficient, my husband's words," Rain said while the Doctor nodded.

"You mean we can't get a little fish and call it Allons-y?" Donna said while they laughed.

"No," the Doctor said, staring at her intently.

They looked over when Awintia hurried back with two mirrors in hand. She grinned when she held them up for Rain to see. One was Butters dressed as a flower with WHAT WHAT IN THE BUTT above him and the other was Terrance and Phillip screaming out I'M NOT YOUR FRIEND, BUDDY! The Doctor looked at his brother when the two of them fell about laughing.

"Care to explain these to those of us who are South Park, Family Guy impaired?" the Doctor said to Rain.

"Um…the one here is Terrance and Phillip, they're Canadian and they got in an argument and yelled at these other Canadians and said, I'M NOT YOUR FRIEND, BUDDY, I'M NOT YOUR BUDDY, GUY, HE'S NOT YOUR GUY, FRIEND and on and on. The other one…"

She giggled with Awinita.

"It's dirty, dear, very dirty," she said.

The Doctor looked at it.

"What what in the butt is dirty?" she said while Rain and Awinita laughed harder.

"Mm-hmm, um…it's the same episode as the I'm not your guy, buddy and they were trying to make money to give to Canada so Terrence and Phillip's show would get back on the air and so they decided to make a You Tube video because apparently the more views you get for a video the more money you get…or so they thought, so they filmed Butters singing this song called What What in the Butt."

"And how does the song go?" Alan said.

They grinned when Rain turned red. She looked over at the booths and led them away. She looked at Awinita.

"Should I sing it?"

"Go ahead, Sis. Sing it for them," Awinita said.

She looked at her husband and giggled when she saw he was waiting.

"Well, let's hear the dirty South Park song," he said to her. "I wanna know what you spend your time watching because I have this odd feeling it's not one of those shows that improves your mind."

Everyone leaned in and grinned at her while Rain glanced at Awinita and cleared her throat. She put her hand over her eyes while they giggled.

"Is putting your hand over your eyes significant?" Alan said.

"If I'm gonna sing it, I need to get through it without looking at you," Rain said.

She cleared her throat while they snickered and then sang to them.

"I said what, what in the butt. I said what, what in the butt. You wanna do it my butt, in my butt? You wanna do it in my butt, in my butt? You wanna do it in my butt, in my butt? Let's do it in the butt, okay!"

She turned redder when they laughed.

"Don't let Jack hear that, Latara, or you won't be able to get him off you," the Doctor said.

"Wait, there's more to the song," Awinita said.

"I think we get the general gist of it, Te'lesu," Alan said.

He grinned at the Doctor.

"We need to start watching South Park. Suddenly I wanna know more," he said while they laughed.

The Doctor giggled and put his arm around Rain when she walked over.

"Thank you for the smutty little ditty about anal sex, I enjoyed it," he said to her while she turned redder.

He patted her head when she put her head in her hands and groaned.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"That was fun," Jack said while they headed back towards the TARDIS. "I had a great time and…Doc, what the hell is that you're whistling?"

The Doctor stopped whistling What What in the Butt and shrugged while his family laughed.

"Just some snatch of tune I heard somewhere, Jack," he said, giving him an innocent look.

"Why do I not believe you?" he said when his family laughed harder.

The Doctor smiled and shrugged. He waggled his eyebrows while he whistled What What in the Butt to Rain. Jack looked at Ianto.

"I need to get a hold of some truth serum from the Hub and use it on him," he said pointing to the Doctor.


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter Thirty Five

On the way back to John's house, Jack kept giving the Doctor an annoyed look when he kept on whistling What What in the Butt while he worked the controls.

"Seriously, what is that you're whistling?" he said. "Because I'm sensing it's some kind of private joke between you and your family if their laughter is any indication."

Alan held up his hand when the Doctor started over.

"Allow me, mon frere," he said to him.

He strolled over while the Doctor and his family chortled. He bobbed up and down in front of Jack and his team.

"And a-one and a-two and…" he said.

Then he opened his mouth and yelled…

"I SAID WHAT WHAT IN THE BUTT. I SAID WHAT WHAT IN THE BUTT. YOU WANNA DO IT IN MY BUTT, IN MY BUTT? YOU WANNA DO IT IN MY BUTT, IN MY BUTT? YOU WANNA DO IT IN MY BUTT, IN MY BUTT, IN MY BUTT. LET'S DO IT IN THE BUTT, OKAY!"

The Doctor and his family fell over laughing at the shocked look on Torchwood's faces.

"That's what you're whistling?" Jack said to the Doctor. "Where the hell did you hear that?"

His eye bulged when everyone pointed to Rain who had a beet red face.

"You?" he said while they laughed harder. "Sweet little Rain knows a song about anal sex?"

Rain turned redder while her family gasped for air and held their aching sides.

"It's from South Park," Rain said.

"It is? I need to watch South Park now," Jack said.

The TARDIS landed and powered down. Rain looked over at the console and noticed the Doctor was nowhere in sight. She walked over and noticed he was on the floor against the jump seat laughing hysterically.

"Um, dear, we're here," she said to him.

The Doctor gasped for air and nodded while he got up from the floor.

"Aaaaah, I love Earth," the Doctor sighed while he followed everyone out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When they walked up to the house, they noticed one light was on in the living room. Rain knocked on the door and when there was no answer, she pulled her house key out of her pocket and unlocked the door. She peeked in but the house was empty. She came inside and everyone followed her.

"I guess while I'm here I might as well get a few things from my room since I don't live here anymore," she said to the Doctor.

"Take what you need, we'll find room," he replied.

Jack closed the door and all of them followed her to the kitchen. There were several plates covered with napkins. Rain peeked under them.

"Navajo tacos, guys," she said.

Alan pumped his fist in the air.

There was a huge pot on the stove. Rain lifted the lid and stirred a spoon.

"Chili," he said to them. "Drinks are in the fridge. You go ahead. I gotta call dad."

Everyone walked over to the counter and rummaged through the fridge except for the Doctor who walked over with Rain.

"Love, you can eat, you know."

"I'll wait for you to get done. You know I can't be more than six feet away at any one time. Security blanket, you know," he teased. "Besides, I wanna know if his friend is alright."

"I have a feeling he's not," Rain said, picking up the receiver.

She studied the phone number on a post it note on the fridge and pressed the buttons. The Doctor leaned against the fridge watching her while she walked back over and rubbed his arm. While they stood there, Alan walked over with his Navajo taco and ate while he listened.

"Hello Dad, it's Rain. We're home now…" she said. "Yeah, we had fun…we're all eating now."

She rubbed her cheek while her husband and brother listened. She smiled and took a bit of hamburger off Alan's plate and popped it in her mouth.

"He did?"

She looked at the men.

"He died," she mouthed while both of them groaned softly.

"He died," Alan said to the others who also groaned and shook their heads.

Rain put her hair behind her ear.

"He did go peacefully, right?" she said. "Good, I'm glad."

The Doctor smiled at that.

"When's the funeral or do they know yet?" Rain said.

Rose walked up to them with a bowl of chili.

"Is that good?" Alan whispered.

She nodded and fed him a spoonful.

"Mmm," he said softly.

"Okay, well…we're gonna sleep out back but I have the house key and everything so we can get in and out and we'll be here when you get back. Okay…yeah, I'm just glad he went peacefully. That makes it a bit better that he didn't suffer or anything."

The Doctor nodded at that.

"Okay, well, you have my cell phone number and I'll keep it on me if you need us for anything, alright?" Rain said. "But, we'll be alright and I'll see you later on, okay? I love you lots. Okay, you too…night, Dad."

She hung the phone up.

"I'm sorry to hear your friend died," Jack said.

"Thanks, Jack. He went peacefully though which is the most important thing."

They let her by and she and the Doctor went to get their food.

"Is the food alright?" Rain asked.

"Food is delicious," Awinita said.

"Good and I'm guessing my sister didn't poison you?"

The Doctor and the others giggled while Martha stared at her.

"Poison us?" she said when they laughed harder.

Jack smiled and let her know what they had thought to each other.

"I didn't think she was that bad," Martha said.

"Well, like we keep telling everyone. She was on her best behavior that day at the meet and greet but I'm sure if she had been alone with Rain, it would have been a different story," the Doctor said, waiting to use the microwave after Rain.

He looked at her.

"And she saw your bracelet and she was none too pleased. She had a jealous look on her face but you didn't see it because you were hugging your dad."

"Well, she can keep on being jealous. She's has looks and she could get a man if she wanted to," Rain said, shrugging.

She looked at the others while she pulled her plate out of the microwave oven.

"Go ahead, dear, I'm gonna fix a bowl of chili," she said while he nodded.

She sat her plate down and looked at the others.

"What he said is true. My sister probably would have said something to me if we had been alone. And I'm not surprised she's jealous of my bracelet. She doesn't like it if I have something she doesn't. I'm sure she'd be scheming to get my husband away from me if she didn't know he was an alien."

The Doctor made a face.

"She can scheme all she likes. I'm not about to shack up with her. I'd rather be anal probed by a Dalek's plunger," he said while they laughed.

He pulled his plate out.

"Your turn, Latara," he said.

He switched places with her while she put her bowl in and ladled out some chili into a bowl.

"But I'd watch it if I were you, Jack. She might set her sights on you next," he said, glancing back.

"Pbbt, I have Ianto, she'll have to look elsewhere."

He glanced at Mickey.

"Does she like black men though?"

"I don't want her if she acts like that," Mickey said while they laughed. "I don't wanna date a jealous, possessive bitch."

"Well, all the men here are spoken for or not interested," Jack said, shrugging. "She'll have to go on being jealous then."

Rain took her chili out and switched places with her husband. She walked to him.

"What do you want to drink?"

"Milk is fine," he said to her.

Rain got two glasses and walked to the fridge to get the milk.

"So we get to spend a night out under the stars, eh?" Jack said.

"Yes and this time I'm staying firmly inside the hogan," Awinita said.

"We're gonna be awake this time so there's no chance a skinwalker will be sneaking up on ya," Alan said.

"What's this?" Jack said.

Awinita told him what had happened while she ate. Everyone except Alan, Rose, Rain, Awinita and the Doctor listened in stunned silence.

"So some Indians can shape shift?" Jack said when they finished.

"Yes, ones who have turned to black magic," Rain said to him. "George was always creepy so it's no surprise he was into that crap."

"So there might be more?" Ianto said to her.

She shrugged.

"It's a huge reservation I'm sure there are a few more," she said. "But you guys aren't the ones that are in danger. What happened to Awinita, the mind control…that's what skinwalkers can do. They have better control over other native people than whites or any other race. So she and I have a better chance of being put under their control than you do."

"Except that's not gonna happened because the Doctor and I blocked your mind from that stuff," Alan said.

"Yup, if they control your minds after what we did, I'll be very surprised," the Doctor said. "And everyone that travels with me has that protection so you lot will have to be careful but I seriously doubt one comes a callin'. I think we'll be alright out in the open. We all camped together before in Japan and nothing came of it."

"Except an earthquake," Rose said. "But you and Rain weren't with us at the time."

"Well, there was also the night of the tremendous rainstorm," Alan said, glancing at her.

"Oh yes, that was fun," Rose said, rolling her eyes. "We about got washed away."

"You guys had so much fun," Jack said. "We need to do that with you."

Alan looked at the others.

"We still have our camping equipment…somewhere. Actually we should since Donna didn't have the privilege. Those nights sitting by the fire while the Doctor and Rain worked on their amusement park and the days when we'd skip across Japan singing Abba and watching Rain fall on her ass."

Jack and the others stared at Rain while her family laughed.

"Skipping and singing Abba and falling on your ass?" Jack said while they laughed harder.

"That was great," the Doctor said. "One of the best moments of my entire lives. I still wish someone had been around to see it. It was like being in our own personal musical. You should have been there, Jack. Watching the girls skip across the countryside singing Dancing Queen as loud as they could."

"Dancing Queen, eh?" Jack said while the girls turned red.

"We were into Mamma Mia," Rain said. "We saw the DVD and then we went and saw it in Beijing and watched while all these Chinese people just sang along. It was fun."

"Yup, we definitely have to go camping with these people," Jack said while they laughed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rain locked the door behind them and all of them walked the half mile to the campground. The moon shone bright overhead illuminating the desert floor. Awinita stiffened when she heard a coyote in the distance and smiled when Alan put his arm around her.

"I won't let anything happen to you," he said softly.

They walked towards the hogans which were silhouetted in the moonlight.

"That it, huh?" Jack said to Rain.

"Yup, that's it."

They walked to the back of the circle and found the hogans John and Amber had prepared. The Doctor and his family took one while Torchwood took the other. Inside, sleeping bags had been arranged on the floor and there were electric lanterns by the door. Rain turned theirs on while the others came inside and sat down.

"Wow, déjà vu," Alan said to Rose who nodded.

"Yes, except there's more people now than what we had," she said to him.

"Goody, more people to beat the skinwalker senseless if it goes after Awinita or Rain."

He smiled at her when she sat down.

"Remember that wonderful night when I banged down your door and nearly gave you and your family heart attacks?" he said while Rose and Awinita laughed.

"Yes, I remember your pounding and screaming quite clearly," she said, nodding. "I was wondering if you would go on to pound on us after you got done pounding on the door."

"Well, my sister was in danger," he said while Rose laughed.

"Yeah, I got that, Bro," she said while Rose and Awinita laughed. "I got that Awinita was in danger and you were pissed. Didn't take a Time Lady mind to figure that out that night."

"And my dear brother was in the other universe and missed it all," he said.

"Yes, too bad I missed you going ballistic and nearly kicking the door in. I'm just glad you didn't give my wife a heart attack and she died before I got to her," he said.

Jack looked inside and came in with the others.

"Hi, we're lonely, entertain us," he said, setting down their lantern while his team laughed.

"I said what, what in the butt…"

"Not with that," Jack said to Alan while they laughed.

They sat down against the side wall.

"So, what did Navajos do for fun, Rain?"

"Danced, told stories, sang…"

"I said what, what in the butt…"

"Shut up, Alan!"

"I'm singing, Jack!"

"You know any good stories then?" Jack said, shrugging.

"Um…I guess so, why? Are we gonna tell stories now?" Rain said.

"Might as well," Jack said, shrugging. "I'm not sleepy yet."

They looked at each other. The Doctor shrugged.

"I s'pose it's down to me then," he said.

He pulled out his flashlight, turned it on and grinned while he began his story…


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter Thirty Six

"Okay…"

The Doctor glanced down at the flashlight and looked at his wife.

"Who started the whole tradition of holding a torch under the chin when telling scary stories?"

"Beats me," Rain said.

The Doctor shrugged.

"When in Rome , I guess," he muttered. "Anyway, a story…hmmm…Once upon a time there was a dashing alien crusader who went around time and space saving lesser species from themselves and their follies."

"Gee, I wonder who that could be," Jack muttered while they laughed.

"But this dashing alien crusader had a secret passion. He wanted to be on Strictly Come Dancing. Yes, he loved to dance. He danced all night and all day until his spindly legs were well spent."

He bit his lip when he heard Rain snickering besides him.

"Quiet, my spousal unit," he said giving her a stern look.

"Sorry, dear," she muttered.

"Anyway, where was I? Ah yes….this alien had a secret passion to be on that wondrous dancing show. Unfortunately they had a no alien dancers clause which irritated the alien to no end. So he schemed and schemed to find a way to get himself on it. In the meantime, he was handing out justice left and right with his fists, stopping Daleks and Cybermen and Sontarans and other assorted weird aliens but he still wanted to dance. Then one day he hit upon a magnificent idea. He'd use the chameleon arch to make himself human and then he could compete on Strictly Come Dancing. "How brilliant am I?" thought the alien and his devoted spousal unit replied, "You are most brilliant, my husband." "Yes, I am, aren't I?" said the dashing alien who then proceeded to disrobe said spousal unit to the enchanting strains of What What in the Butt. Yes, he laid his enchanting wife down on their bed and proceeded to insert his sizable…"

There was a long pause while the Doctor feigned surprise.

"I'm sorry, I lost track of my story," he said while his family laughed. "I'm such a silly goose sometimes. Anyway, after said lovemaking the dashing alien crusader retired to his console room to use his handy dandy chameleon arch which would turn him into a human and make him eligible for Strictly Come Dancing. But at the last moment his spousal unit fell to her knees and begged for more lovemaking and the alien decided that was much more important than some daft dancing show and so they retired to their boudoir for cuddles and sex. The end."

He lowered the flashlight and grinned at the others. They snickered when Alan whistled like a cricket in the silence.

"Well, have to say that was like a lot of your other ramblings, Doc. Pointless and dull," Jack said.

The Doctor glared at them while they laughed.

"Think you can do better, Harkness?"

"I know I can do better."

He tossed the flashlight to him and he stood up.

"Oh, this oughta be good," Gwen muttered to Martha.

Jack stepped into the middle of the group and held the flashlight up under his chin.

"Picture this if you will," he said dramatically. "It's the 51st century. The Boeshane Peninsula and I'm a young handsome stud of a man looking for employment."

"Blimey, I feel like going back to the house suddenly for some more chili," Alan said looking out the opening while everyone laughed.

He gave Jack an innocent look when he glared at him.

"Anyway, I'm a handsome young go-getter with an eye for danger and a need for excitement," Jack said, waving his arm out in front of him. "I'm stuck on a tiny peninsula with no hope of fulfilling that need when lo and behold the time agency opens up and they need someone."

"Yes," Ianto said, "the time agency needed an idiot to become their first test subject for them and if he disintegrated somewhere in time and space, they could just say he was an idiot and had it coming."

Everyone laughed when Jack gave him a dirty look.

"Ignore my significant other," he said. "Anyway, as I was saying, the time agency needed someone and lo and behold they got me."

"And I'm sure the time agency was completely underwhelmed when you walked through their door," Mickey said while they laughed.

"Hey, you didn't interrupt the Doctor's pointless story."

"Because we were all in shock from it," Awinita said. "Especially when he threatened to go into graphic detail about sex with the spousal unit there."

"Oi!" the Doctor said.

"So anyway, they needed someone and they got me and I was ready and willing to be a time agent."

"And they were ready and willing to sign you up and get rid of you and your enormous ego," Alan said.

Jack flipped him off while everyone laughed.

"So I was the first one signed up for the time agency and they decided to make me the poster boy."

"And what the poster said was, beware, you sign up, you get to hang around with the likes of him so think long and hard before you join," Donna said.

"You ever stop to think that maybe you were the poster child because you were the only one that signed up?" Mingxia said.

"Yeah, they didn't have anybody else they could use on the poster, Uncle Jack," Jenny said.

"So if I were you, I wouldn't go around gloating about that," the Doctor replied.

"They liked my face, I told you that before," Jack said to him.

"The only reason they used your face was my far better looking husband was off somewhere in time and space and they couldn't get a hold of him," Rain said.

She quickly threw her sleeping bag over her head while everyone laughed at Jack's stunned look.

"YES!" the Doctor said, pumping his fist in the air. "I love my wife!"

"I'll ignore that comment and carry on with my story."

"If you ever get to the bloody point of the story that is," Rose muttered.

"I would get to the point of the story if you all shut up and let me tell it," Jack said. "Anyway, I was signed up and after they took my photo for the poster they told me I had my first assignment."

"We've never seen the inside of a supernova, Harkness, the time agent recruiters said," Alan said, "could you be a dear and go inside one and tell us what's there?"

Jack eyed him while everyone laughed and cleared his throat.

"No, my first assignment was bringing in a felon who had committed murder and was fleeing across the galaxy," he said.

"You just joined up and they made you go catch a murderer? Wow, that's harsh," Awinita said.

"Ah, but I was more than up to the challenge, my sister," Jack said.

"Because I'm Jack Harkness," the Doctor said, "and I can do anything even if I've never done it before because I'm God's gift to the universe and several other universes on top of that!"

"Damn straight I am!" Jack said to him.

"Bollocks, I'm not staying in here for this. Come on, Starlight, let's go snog in an empty hogan!" Alan said.

Jack ran over the open door and stood against it when they started to get up.

"So anyway, I was sent to catch this murder," he said while Alan sighed and glanced at his wife, "and I made sure that he would be brought to justice. Unfortunately, when I first tried to use the vortex manipulator, things when a bit awry."

"You overshot the murderer and landed smack dab in the middle of a nudist colony," the Doctor said to him.

Jack looked at him.

"Have I told you this story before?" he said.

"They all groaned and began talking to each other.

"Wait! It was a nudist colony of aliens," Jack said.

"And you shagged each and every one of them, the end," Alan said, glancing back at him.

Jack glared at his friends and family who were now talking to each other.

"Fine, but you're missing out on a wonderful story," he said, sitting down beside Ianto.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A few hours later, Torchwood went back to their hogan so they could sleep. The Doctor and his family lay in their sleeping bags talking quietly while moonlight flooded into the open entrance.

"Well, I'm glad we had an uneventful trip this time," Alan said.

"Yup, it's always nice when nothing happens…most of the time," the Doctor said while everyone snickered.

Everyone fell silent.

"I said what what in the butt," Alan said.

They all laughed hysterically.

"I can't believe my wife knows something like that," the Doctor said when they sobered up.

"I'm not a completely innocent waif, thank you," she said to him.

"You know any other perverted ditties, Te'lesu?" Alan said.

Rain laid her head on the Doctor's chest and thought. Suddenly she giggled.

"What?" Alan said.

"I know a dirty one from Family Guy," she said.

"Well, sing it," Alan said.

Rain leaned her head up and looked at him.

"You get a kick out of hearing me sing filthy things, don't you?"

They laughed when Alan gave her a toothy grin and nodded.

"Um…okay, um…" Rain said.

She started giggling and then sobered up.

"Come on, put your hand over your eyes and sing for us," Alan said.

They laughed when she put her hand over her eyes and cleared her throat.

"Well…there once was two cowboys all alone out on the trail," she sang as Awinita giggled, "and they dis-covered they could sleep with another male. Now they're having gay sex…cowboy gay sex. Sodomy-heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

They laughed hysterically.

"Sodomy-heeeeeeeeeeeeeee, sodomy-heeeeeeeeeeeeeee, sodomy."

They all laughed and applauded. The Doctor raised his head up.

"We need to start watching these programs. Apparently they're not as idiotic as we thought," he said.

Alan raised up and put his finger to his lips.

"JACK!" he yelled.

Everyone snickered when Jack appeared at the opening and stuck his head in.

"Yeah?" he said.

"Well…there once was two cowboys all alone out on the trail and they dis-covered they could sleep with another male. Now they're having gay sex…cowboy gay sex."

He grinned at the others. Jack's eyes widened when everyone sang…

"Sodomy-heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"

"What the hell are you people doing over here?" Jack said while they all roared with laughter.

"Oh, Rain taught us another song," Alan said.

Jack came in and walked over to her.

"Where are you getting these songs from?"

"That one was from Family Guy. The other was from South Park."

"You watch some odd shows, Rain," Jack said while they laughed. "Not to mention the shows you watch seem to have a preoccupation with anal sex."

"Well, now that you know it, go sing it to Ianto," the Doctor said.

Jack thought about that for a moment.

"Hold that thought," he said, rushing out.

They snickered when he and his team came back in a moment later.

"Okay, now sing," Jack said.

They grinned at each other and sang the song. Jack laughed when his team's eyes bulged out.

"I particularly like the whole sodomy ending," Ianto said when they finished.

"Wow, and I thought What What in the Butt was disturbing," Mickey said.

"And yet again, it's a song that Rain knows," Jack said.

"You know some interesting songs, Rain," Gwen said.

"So while we're over there trying to get some sleep, they're over here singing about cowboys sodomizing each other," Jack said. "Apparently the Doctor and his family are capable of having a good time, anywhere at any time. So now that you know the song, are you gonna go spread it around time and space?"

"Sure," Alan said. "We'll go right to the Victorian age, stand on a street corner and sing it to all the prudish folks. They'll love us."

"Then we'll go back to Queen Victoria and sing it to her," the Doctor said. "She already thinks Rose and I are demon worshippers so it won't ruin our rep to go back and sing to her about cowboy gay sex. Who knows, she might think it's charming and shock us all. But while we do that, you lot spread it around Cardiff and soon the entire British isle will be singing about sodomy in the old west."

"No thanks, the folks in Cardiff think we're odd already without adding to it," Jack said. "Any other witty ditties about butt sex before we go?"

they shook their heads.

"Okay, you guys, have fun amusing yourselves then with bawdy songs and we'll see you in the morning," Jack said as they went out.

They giggled and went back to talking quietly to each other.


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter Thirty Seven

The Doctor and his family spent the night playing cards that Rose had brought while in the next hogan Jack and his team slept. They kept on playing by lantern light until the sky began to lighten outside and the sun began to come up. When they noticed the sun peeking above the horizon, they stopped their card game, tidied up the sleeping bags and put them in one corner. Once that was done, they went out the door and snuck over to the next hogan. They peeked inside and noticed everyone was asleep. With an evil grin, Alan tiptoed over to Jack and leaned down into his ear while everyone else watched from the opening.

"Toodle-loo, sleepyhead, this is the Navajo fairy telling you to get up now," he whispered in his ear.

"Go to hell, Alan," Jack muttered with his eyes closed.

Alan paused.

"How'd ya know it was me?"

"Because even the Doctor isn't capable of saying something that idiotic," he muttered.

"Oi," Alan said while his family giggled.

Jack smacked his lips and glanced around at his team.

"Up and at em, gang, the ones that never sleep feel it's time for us to join them," he said.

The rest of the team groaned and raised their heads.

"Five more minutes," Gwen muttered.

Alan rolled his eyes.

"You humans and your need to sleep," he said.

"I wouldn't talk if I were you, you were half human once," Jack muttered.

"Precisely, which is why I remedied that the first chance I got," he said, heading out the entrance.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Jack muttered.

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After he and his team got up and fixed up the hogan, they joined the others for the walk back to the house. The sun was rising illuminating the desert. Jack pointed to the truck in the driveway.

"I see John's back now," he said to them.

"I see Amber is too," Alan said when they saw her looking through the kitchen window at them.

"Hello, Satan," Alan muttered while her family snickered.

"It's like Halloween when Michael Meyers is just standing around staring at their next victims," Awinita whispered to Mingxia.

They tried not to laugh while they followed the Doctor and Rain back to the house.

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"Well, I hope you had a nicer time in the hogans this time," John said to them.

"We did, yeah. No skinwalkers this time," Alan said.

"Good, I'm glad. Do you need me to make you breakfast?"

"No, that's not necessary. Rain wants to get some things from her room and we'll be on our way," the Doctor said.

John walked over to the chair and picked up the blanket, drum and belt.

"Dad, this isn't necessary. He didn't have to give these to me," Rain said.

"He wanted you to have them, Rainshower. He asked me to give them to you personally. I know you'll take care of them."

Rain nodded and accepted the gifts from him.

"I'm gonna go pack some more things before we leave," she said.

"Take your time, Rainshower."

"I'm gonna go to the loo," the Doctor whispered in her ear.

"And I'm gonna go to the necessary room after him," Alan whispered in her other ear.

"And I'm gonna stand outside and show off my body to all of Arizona," Jack whispered behind her head while everyone laughed.

"Okay, you go to the potty, you wait on my husband and you go strut for the rez. I'll be in my room," Rain said while they laughed harder.

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Rain pulled out an old suitcase and laid it on the bed. She rummaged through her dresser drawers pulling out as many shirts, trousers, socks and underwear as she could get. While she looked, she glanced outside and smiled when everyone except her husband and Alan were milling around in front of the TARDIS talking to one another. She looked up on the top of her dresser, grabbed a clown kachina doll and gently tucked it away on the side. She grabbed a small iron statue of kokopelli and laid it on top of a yellow t-shirt.

"So, you're leaving again, huh?"

She jerked her head up and saw her sister standing in the doorway glaring at her.

"Well, yes, I travel with them. My place is there," she said pointing out the window towards the TARDIS.

"What about college?"

Rain snorted.

"Amber, I'm a Time Lady. I have the knowledge of time and space. I don't think I need college anymore. If I went back, I'd ace everything in two seconds. My place is with my husband now."

Amber snorted.

"And how long do you think this alien will want you?"

"Um…for the rest of his lives, I expect. He tells me constantly that he loves me and I believe it. It might come as a surprise that there are some people out there who love and care for me in this universe. Now why don't you quit being jealous of me and go find someone of your own. No one's telling you to stay here, Amber. You can leave too, you know. I'm sure dad won't mind. I can't come back to this life now. I'm not even human anymore."

"What? Of course you are, Rain."

"No…I'm not. I'm a Time Lady. I'm like my husband now and so is Awinita and Mingxia and Donna and Rose and Jenny. We're Gallifreyan. You want proof? Go ask my husband if you can borrow his stethoscope and I'll let you listen to my two hearts. I don't belong here anymore. I just come for visits but if this is the reception I'm gonna get, I'll stop coming."

"You're completely irresponsible, Rain. You always have been," Amber said, walking over to her. "If you had any sense you would have stayed here and finished college."

Rain didn't flinch. She looked her sister dead in the eye and smirked when she noticed the surprise on her face.

"I'm not a fearful cowering little child anymore…sister," she spat out. "I've become a lot more confident and sure of myself and I'm not afraid of you. My husband and family helped me with that. So don't try this bullying bullshit with me, Amber, because I'm not gonna stand for it. I'm packing what I want and then I'm leaving in that blue box out there with those people and with the man I love and there's nothing you can do about it. You wanna throw a little fit, fine. Throw a jealous fit over what I have. I could possibly care less anymore."

She turned around and grunted when Amber grabbed hold of her shoulder and jerked her back around.

"Don't turn your back to me," Amber growled.

"No…don't turn your back to me."

Amber spun around and saw the Doctor and Alan step into the doorway, glaring at her.

"We've been just outside the door listening to this little sisterly exchange," the Doctor said to her. "I allowed it to go on for awhile because I wanted Rain to have her say but I won't let you lay your hands on my wife and get violent with her because she's going against your wishes."

They stepped into the room.

"I don't know you all that well. What I've heard I've heard mainly from my brother and my wife and I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt especially since you were civil to everyone at the meet and greet but you just confirmed the stories both people told me, Amber. My wife is right. She is no longer human and her place is no longer here. She made her decision to leave the last time my brother and his wife and sister stayed here and her father gave her his blessing and since he's the head of the household I expect his decision carries more weight around here than yours does. I'm very sorry for what happened to your mother but she isn't responsible for her death and I'm sick and tired of you blaming her for it and making her life hell with your petty anger and jealousy. She is a grown woman and has the right to do what she wants when she wants. If she doesn't want to go back to university, that's her business, not yours. And I can tell you that she was also right about not needing it any longer. She is far more intelligent now than she was as a human and human college courses will not only be too easy for her they will bore her to tears. Her place is with us now and I believe it's time for you to mind your own bloody business and leave her alone. Because if you don't…you'll have us to deal with, got that?"

Amber looked from one to the other in shock.

"You hear what my brother said, Amber? Piss…off," Alan snarled.

They rolled their eyes when she finally hurried past them and out the door.

"Told ya, one day it would happen," Alan said to him.

"Yup, I'm just glad we were in here when it did," the Doctor said, taking his wife around the waist.

He gave her a kiss.

"Just go ahead and pack your things. We'll be right here," the Doctor said.

Alan turned sideways and kept an eye on the door while Rain went back to packing. The Doctor picked up the clown kachina doll and smiled. He showed it to Alan.

"Where did you get this, Te'lesu?" he said to her.

"Mmm, the Hopi reservation several years ago and I don't know where kokopelli came from. I've had it since I was three."

Alan picked up the iron statue and stared at it. He looked down at her bed and noticed a Navajo blanket on it.

"What about this? Are you taking this?" he said to her.

Rain looked at where he was pointing.

"I thought about it. My grandmother gave it to me."

"Well, then it should go," Alan said, moving the suitcase.

Rain smiled when the Doctor and Alan grabbed both ends and carefully folded it for her into a neat little bundle. Once they were done, Alan put the suitcase back up on the bed and looked around. He noticed some dresses in the closet and pulled out one that was black with red designs on it.

"You need to take these," Alan said. "You'd look gorgeous in them."

"Yes, I agree," the Doctor said.

"There isn't room in the suitcase."

"Sod the suitcase, we have arms, Te'lesu," Alan said while he and the Doctor took the dresses down and laid them across their arm.

Rain finished cleaning out most of her dresser and looked around the room while the Doctor and Alan walked back over with the dresses on their arms. The Doctor looked through the window at Jack and banged on the glass. When Jack looked over he told him to come inside. Jack nodded and excused himself. He came in the room a moment later.

"Yes? Oh! Look at the dresses, you'll both look stunning in them," Jack said.

"Heh, heh, yeah, that's witty, Harkness," Alan said while Rain giggled. "Rain needs a bit of help with the suitcase here."

"Happy to help."

"And we have to tell you what happened with Siszilla. She went on a rampage when she thought we weren't around," the Doctor muttered to him.

Jack rolled his eyes. Rain finished packing after grabbing a black teddy bear and an Indian chief and Indian woman figurine. She zipped up the suitcase.

"Done?" the Doctor said.

She nodded.

"Okay, let's get out of here then before something else happens," he said to her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After hugging her father goodbye, Rain carried the blankets, drum and belt onto the TARDIS while the Doctor and Alan carried her dresses and Jack lugged in the suitcase. After they were in, the Doctor got back into the vortex and activated the void crosser. After they got Rain's things into their bedroom, they came back and told everyone what had happened between Rain and Amber. Rose seethed.

"Good thing I wasn't there. I would have given her a split lip," she said.

"Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later," the Doctor said. "Like I said, I'm glad we were there to defend her after we let her have her say."

"I don't think she'll be bothering her again anymore," Alan said. "Not after we stepped in."

"So I wouldn't let that stop you from seeing your dad. She won't make trouble again, I'm sure of it," the Doctor said to Rain. "I think she realized how pissed off your alien husband can get."

He glanced at the monitor.

"Besides, we're back over the void now so we're a universe away from her so everyone can rejoice now," he said with a grin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Thanks again, Doc. I'm glad that Rain is alright, it wouldn't be the same without her smiling face around here," Jack said as he hugged the Doctor inside the Hub.

"Yup, her and her smiling face are definitely assets," he said.

"Well, if you think of something else fun for us to do, come back and get us," he said.

"Will do. Good luck defending Cardiff and the Earth."

"Same to you and the universe," Jack said.

He gave him one more hug; hugged Rain and they waved when everyone stepped inside and closed the door. As the TARDIS dematerialized, Jack and his team walked away and went back to work.


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter Thirty Eight

Rain lay on the sofa lazily looking through a magazine she had picked up when she and her husband stopped at a department store on Feltrox Eleven. It was a magazine devoted to genetic science and Rain thought it funny seeing all the examples of spliced animals inside it. Some of the crazy creatures scientists had developed reminded her of the flip books she had when she was a child that allowed you to adjust the different head, bodies and legs of animals and people. She was staring at a blue lion creature that had goat's hooves on it when she suddenly felt lips brushing her scalp and she glanced up at her husband.

"I didn't know you fancied genetic engineering," he said.

"Um…I don't really. I'm looking at all the weird animals people have made."

"Oh, that figures," the Doctor teased, rolling his eyes. "Of course, you'd just be interested in looking at the pictures."

"Hey," she said while he tickled her arms.

He knelt down and wrapped his arms around her.

"I was wondering if you could stop looking at the crazy critters and indulge me for awhile," he said to her.

"Indulge you? With what?"

"Remember when the Rani trapped us in that simulation room?"

Rain snorted.

"How could I forget? I loved the lovely romp through Arcadia," she said.

"Remember I told you this TARDIS had one as well?"

She looked up at him.

"Why? Are you wanting to take another stroll through Arcadia?" she teased.

"No, but I want to show you some more of my memories. You see, it occurred to me that you've been very open and forthcoming about your life so I want to return the favor and show you a couple of things about me, mainly having to do with my formative years at the academy. Not to mention I want to show you what the academy looked like since you would have gone there if it still existed."

"You want to show me some of your past?"

"Yes, but this is just between us, alright?"

"Sure, Thete."

He kissed her scalp, grabbed the magazine and threw it over his shoulder while she laughed.

"Quit looking at the daft animals, Latara. I have more interesting sights to show you," he said.

He held out his hand and she rose up and took it. He smiled as he escorted her out of the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Now, I've already programmed the memory I want into the TARDIS," he told her when they reached the simulation room. "I just want you to know a bit more in-depth about me and what I had to put up with on Gallifrey. Ready?"

She nodded and he opened the door. They stepped into a wide corridor and the Doctor shut the door behind him obscuring it from view.

"This is the academy," he said. "Or rather, this is the second floor west wing corridor of the academy. My advanced Gallifreyan law class is just down the way. Care to accompany me to it?"

"I would love to," she said.

He grinned and held her hand while they walked down the hallway.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Now, I have to warn you. This won't be like the last time. I've programmed it so we can see and hear everything that's going on but no one can see or hear us. That way we can talk in private if we need to," the Doctor said as they paused outside a classroom.

Rain nodded and he ushered her through the open door and she saw a memory frozen for the moment. The first thing she noticed was how average the classroom looked. Except for a few high tech devices on a table, the classroom looked like ones she had when she attended college. The desks were the same kind of half desks attached to the seats that she had used. There was a blackboard up front. Even the walls were the same drab ecru walls that were in every classroom she had ever been in. There were five rows of seats with about twenty seats to a row. Each row was raised slightly higher than the one before it. The students even had the same bored expressions on their faces and she noticed one near the back was nearly ready to doze off. The only thing that was different from her classrooms was the students were all wearing long orange robes that looked heavy and uncomfortable. She knew from her husband's memories that these were the robes Time Lords wore. However, they weren't wearing the skullcap and flared piece that she had also seen in his memories. The professor was, however, and he looked to be in his early 50's although she knew he was centuries older than that. Her husband took her hand and led her to the middle of the first row where a young boy with short brown hair and blue eyes slumped in his chair. She smiled and glanced at him.

"You?" she said.

"Yup, the one and only," he said.

He gestured to a boy with longer dark brown hair and brown eyes sitting beside him.

"This is my mate, Koschei, the one who'll eventually become the Master," he said, staring at him. "But at this point in time, he was just a student like I was."

Rain stared at him. He also had a bored look on his face and his arms were across his chest. The Doctor smiled at his wife.

"Let the drama begin," he said.

He shut his eyes and thought to the TARDIS and suddenly the memory came to life for them. She watched while the younger version of her husband let out a bored sigh and Koschei slumped down further in his seat. She turned her head and saw the Professor droning on about the laws of time while he wrote on the blackboard.

"Come on, ya old windbag, quit talking so we can leave early," she heard Koschei mutter.

She turned her head and smiled when she saw the young Doctor stifle a laugh at that.

Curious, Rain took advantage of the fact that no one could see her and wandered up to the podium while the Doctor watched her. She glanced at the professor's notes written in Gallifreyan circle writing and skimmed through the laws of time. She raised her eyebrow at one and looked at the Doctor.

"You're not supposed to have non-Time Lord people in TARDISes?" she said.

"Weeeeeell, I never fancied that law much," the Doctor said sheepishly.

"My husband, the rule breaker," she said.

"Yes, well you're about to find out I've broken many more rules than that one," he replied.

She looked around while the professor lectured.

"This looks like classrooms I had back on Earth, Thete," she said.

He chuckled.

"Well, I s'pose one classroom is very much like another," he said shrugging.

The Professor began to talk about the law of non-interference while Rain listened. She looked at the Doctor when he began to snicker.

"What?" Rain said.

"Ah, this is what I wanted you to see, Latara," he said. "Just watch."

"The law of non-interference states that Time Lords are not permitted to interfere in the events of history," the professor said while he wrote that out on the board. "A Time Lord's main purpose is to watch over all of time and space, but…"

"Professor…"

Rain turned her head and saw the younger version of her husband had his hand up in the air. Next to him Koschei was groaning and she noticed several students around him were nudging each other and snickering. The Professor didn't even acknowledge him but kept right on with his lecture.

"We Time Lords have a sacred duty to watch over universal events and…"

"Professor!"

Rain frowned when the Professor once again ignored the young Doctor. She glanced at her husband who smiled and winked at her.

"Isn't he gonna answer you?" Rain said, gesturing to the professor.

"In a moment. Right now he's desperately trying to ignore me."

"Why?"

The grin widened and he waggled his eyebrows.

"Since the founding of our society it has been the law that we must not interfere…"

"Professor!"

Rain jumped back when the professor spun around and glared at him.

"What is it, Merzet?" he snarled.

Rain was taken aback.

"He just used the first part of your real name," she said.

The Doctor nodded.

"I wasn't known as the Doctor yet," he said.

Rain glanced at the professor and was shocked to see how angry the professor looked while he glared at the young Doctor. She glanced at him and saw that old familiar smirk on his face, the one he used when he taunted his adversaries.

"Professor," the young Doctor said with his typical calmness, "I have a problem with this whole law of non-interference."

"Yes, I expect you do, Merzet," the professor said, coldly. "You seem to have a problem with laws and authority in general."

"Asshole," Rain said while the Doctor snickered.

"Oh, trust me, Latara. He wasn't the only professor who hated me," the Doctor said, gleefully.

"Yes, that's because I find many of the laws outdated and absurd but especially this one in particular, Sir," the Doctor said as cool as a cucumber.

Rain noticed Koschei was trying subtly to gesture to him to be quiet while the other students around him gave each other looks and rolled their eyes. The young Doctor ignored them all as he fixed his steely gaze on the flustered professor.

"And what, pray tell, do you find absurd about it, Merzet?" the professor said in a tone of voice that suggested he knew exactly what he was going to say.

"I don't understand why we, the Time Lords, need to sit back on our bums and watch the universe go by when there are many lesser beings who need our assistance," the young Doctor said, shrugging.

"It is not our business to interfere in the affairs of the lesser species, Merzet," the professor said.

"Then what is the purpose of knowing what we know? We possess the knowledge of time and space and can see the time lines and yet we do nothing? What good is knowing all this information if we just sit back and do nothing with it?"

Rain glanced at the professor and noticed he was trying to keep his temper in check.

"We are entrusted with watching over the universe, Merzet, not interfering with it," the professor said.

The young Doctor leaned forward.

"Then why do we know what we know if we do nothing about it?" he said.

"Mate, shut up," Koschei muttered beside him.

The young Doctor ignored him and gave the professor another look Rain recognized. It was the look that said I'm right and I'm winning this argument. Rain glanced at the professor who had a red face and was now speaking through gritted teeth.

"We are not permitted to interfere," the professor said in a strained voice.

"But why…sir?" the young Doctor said innocently.

"Because it's the law."

"Then why do we have the knowledge of the time lines then?"

Rain looked at her husband who was vibrating with silent laughter.

"Is this going to lead to the professor knocking you across the room, Thete?" she said to him.

"Nah, he won't do anything because he knows I'm right," he said, shrugging. "And I am right, that's why he's so flustered."

"We are here in this classroom to learn about the laws of time, not to question them, Merzet!" the professor growled.

"But shouldn't we be learning precisely the reason why the law was adopted in the first place, sir?" the young Doctor said. "I mean, it's important to hear the reason why the law of non-interference was adopted in the first place, right?"

"It is not necessary to know why it was adopted, only that it was," the professor said.

"But why is it wrong to question it, sir? Why is it wrong to question the absurdity of…"

"Because it is not absurd!" the professor said, startling Rain when he slammed his hand down on the table. "These laws were adopted after the overthrow of the Pythia by Rassilon and…"

"But why was this particular law adopted?" the young Doctor said calmly.

"To ensure the safety of time and space!"

"Ensure its safety from whom exactly?" the young Doctor said innocently.

The professor didn't say anything and Rain could see the gleeful look on her young husband's face as he leaned forward.

"What you're neglecting to tell us, sir, is the law was adopted because our esteemed founder Rassilon went on a rampage and destroyed several star systems who were trying to develop time travel at the same time he was…is that not true?"

Rain looked at the Doctor when the memory froze for a moment.

"Seriously?" she said.

"Yup, the founder of Gallifrey as I knew it went off the deep end and obliterated a few planets because he couldn't stand the thought of someone else being able to time travel besides the Time Lords."

He pointed to the professor.

"This was never mentioned in the lectures, of course, because it would call into question Rassilon's character and given the fact that he was revered as one of the three founders of our society, that was a big, big no-no. It's no different from humans revering George Washington or Lincoln or Gandhi or Mother Teresa and other leaders and famous people like them, putting them on a pedestal and not treating them as mistake making human beings. We were taught from an early age that Rassilon was infallible which is why he's so angry at me right now because I'm pointing out the fact that he's not. Rassilon is the reason this whole law was adopted because he caused several genocides and the Time Lords wanted to make sure that never happened again. Which don't get me wrong, that part of it is good but we were all born with all this knowledge and me and a handful of other "renegades" like me were the only ones who ever did anything with it."

He gestured to the other students.

"See them, Love? They're laughing and snickering at me because they're exactly like the professor. Everyone was taught blind obedience to the laws and that's one of the main reasons I was shunned was because unlike 99.5 percent of Gallifrey, I actually questioned things which is what you should do since blind obedience to anything or anyone is dangerous. But anyway, just wanted to point that out and why the professor there is losing his temper with me. So I'll start it up again."

He closed his eyes briefly and the memory started again. By this time, Rain could see the professor was almost ready to run up and deck her young husband who had a smug look on his face. She watched while Koschei eyed him and she could imagine him mentally telling him to shut his mouth but true to her husband's personality, he sat there enjoying every minute of the stir he was making. The professor suddenly changed tactics and he turned back to the board.

"Anyway," he said, writing. "The next law of time is…"

"Professor…"

Rain laughed.

"Jesus, Thete, you just don't know when to quit, do you?"

"I'm winning, Latara. I'm right and he knows it. That's why he's trying to go on with the lecture. I'm sorry but what I said needed to be said. And no, I don't know when to quit," he said, winking.

She glanced at the professor who had stiffened but kept on trying to write.

"Professor!" the young Doctor said, waving his arm around.

She jumped when the professor spun around and slammed his hand down so hard on the table; several papers fell on the floor.

"GET OUT NOW!" the professor screamed, pointing at the door.

"But, sir…"

"GET OUT, MERZET! NOW!" the professor bellowed.

The young Doctor shrugged and got up from his seat. Ignoring the snickers and pointed looks of his classmates, he put his hands behind his back and walked out.

"As you might imagine, I didn't enjoy the academy very much," the Doctor said to her.

He held his hand out to her and she walked over and took it. He led her out the door and they saw the young Doctor leaning against the wall by the classroom patiently waiting. Rain gave her husband a questioning look.

"I'm waiting for Koschei. We were inseparable at this point. Besides, there wasn't anywhere to go. The canteen wasn't open yet and you weren't allowed back in the dormitories so I had to wait."

"Um…how often did you cause disturbances like this, Thete?"

"Ya really wanna know?"

"I'm guessing a lot?"

"You guessed correctly, my love," he said.

He waved his arm around.

"This place…it had its uses and it was fine for some. But most of the Time Lords went on to serve in the government or the High Council and that wasn't for me. I had a sponsor who hoped I would get a seat on the High Council and I purposely did lousy so I had no chance of that. Made my sponsor furious but I'm far happier doing what I'm doing now than graduating from this and going on to be a cog in the governmental machine. But this isn't like Earth university, Love. You didn't have that much of a choice if you were loomed to be a Time Lord. You usually went on to a government position somewhere and spent the rest of your lives sitting on your fat, complacent arse doing nothing. I knew from a very young age that I didn't want to do that. I knew when I was a child how idiotic it was to sit back and do nothing."

He sighed.

"But…I had no choice, my hearts. I had to go to academy along with every other Time Lord. So I rebelled in my own little way. I wasn't the most popular person there but I didn't really care. I was always a loner anyway. Koschei was my only real friend but that's because he was a bit of a nutter and no one would associate with him either. We bonded together back then for mutual protection and solidarity. This is why I like Earth so much. Because you lot aren't as bound to the rigid rules of society as we were. You had more diversity, more freedom of choice. I was loomed to be a Time Lord and from the moment I was created, certain rules were supposed to dictate my life and conduct and I wasn't having any of that which is why I was labeled a renegade."

Rain was silent, taking everything in. She had known a little bit of this but she hadn't known it was this bad for her husband and her hearts ached for him knowing that he had been punished by Gallifreyan society for trying to be different. She leaned back against him watching while his younger self waited patiently for his friend and sighed contentedly when her husband kissed the top of her head.

After a few moments, the other students began to file out of the classroom. She felt a brief stab of anger when she saw the mocking looks they were giving her husband's younger self. The Doctor leaned down into her ear.

"Why are you getting angry?" he said, curious.

"I hate the looks they're giving you, Thete," she said.

His hearts warmed and he kissed her head.

"Don't do that, Love. This is an old memory. It's centuries past so there's no need for you to get angry at it. Just think of it as an old movie you're watching," he said lovingly.

Finally, Koschei came out and she noticed the students were also giving him a wide berth.

"Are you completely insane, Merzet?" he said to the Doctor. "Are you trying to get yourself kicked out of here?"

The young Doctor snorted.

"Oh yes, Kosch, and that would be a terrible tragedy," he said, rolling his eyes.

He leaned back up and he and Koschei walked down the hall while the Doctor and Rain followed.

"Why don't you just keep your gob shut for once and just listen to the professors?" Koschei was saying to the young Doctor.

"Because I can't. I can't stand that they only teach half truths here. They teach that we're the superior beings, above everyone else."

"And aren't we?" Koschei countered.

The young Doctor stopped him and the Doctor and Rain stopped behind them.

"If we are then why don't we use our knowledge and interfere with history? Why don't we aid those in need and bring about real change instead of just sitting around in a stuffy office collecting dust while the universe goes by? We have this knowledge, we have TARDISes but we do nothing? What use are we then? We need to be out among the stars using what we know to change things."

"Little did I know, Latara, that I was sowing the seeds of my eventually damnation by telling Koschei all this," the Doctor said. "I was telling the would-be Master to go out and change history and I paid dearly for it later in life."

Rain put his arm around him and he stroked her hair while they watched and listened. Both of them started walking again and they followed.

"And you really think you're gonna change minds here if you keep on telling people this?" Koschei said to him. "You know no one is gonna listen to you, Merzet, no matter how loudly you scream at them. They're a bunch of stuffy old Time Lords who do everything the way it's been done for centuries and you're not about to change that. Why don't you just belt up and listen and then get the hell out of here and then you can do your own thing? You are bringing a hell of a lot of grief on yourself by speaking up and telling everyone these crazy ideas of yours."

"They're not crazy, Koschei, that's the whole point of my speaking up. Not interfering in universal events, that's what's crazy."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, give it a rest, will ya?" Koschei said, rolling his eyes.

"So he eventually got tired of you saying the same thing too?" Rain said.

"Yup, everyone did," the Doctor replied.

They headed through some double doors into the cafeteria.

"And now you get to see what we ate for lunch in the canteen," the Doctor said to his wife. "Doesn't that thrill you?"

He nuzzled her head when she giggled at that. When they entered, she looked around. The cafeteria was large with about twenty five long metal tables arranged around the room. The walls were painted the same drab ecru color and there were several colorful banners hanging down from the ceilings. Each banner was long and tapered at the end, fringed in gold with a gold tassel at the bottom. They had slogans written in gold concentric circles and she read a few of them while they followed the young Doctor and Koschei up to the queue of students waiting to get their food.

"Full Marks lead to a full life?" she said, reading one of the banners.

The Doctor glanced at her and looked where she was looking. He chuckled.

"Yes, more indoctrination by the powers-that-be. Funnily enough, I never got full marks and I have a very full life so bang goes that theory."

The young Doctor and Koschei got in the queue. Rain noticed there were racks of sealed food beside the students and occasionally one would reach over and grab something. She let go of her husband's hand and walked over to examine a rack. She pulled out a small white plastic container that had a clear sheet of plastic sealed over the top. She looked into it and saw a huge purple pureed glob. She made a face and showed it to her husband.

"Stewed pomberries, trust me they tasted about as good as they looked, Love," he said.

She put it back and walked back to him. The queue was slowly moving up towards a bunch of dinner ladies who were standing behind a glass sneeze guard scooping food onto trays. Once they got up to them, Rain looked at the entrée and made another face when she noticed it was black, in pieces and resembled eel parts. The other food didn't look much better. Her husband leaned down in her ear.

"Now you know why I like Earth food so much," he whispered. "I would have given anything to have your Navajo tacos when I was here. Trust me, the food was bland and disgusting but I was a student with hardly any money and we stayed here so my only options were eat or starve."

"I would have starved," Rain said.

He chuckled.

"There were times when I did but unfortunately I didn't keep that up for long," the Doctor replied.

She grimaced when a dinner lady scooped a bunch of the eel parts onto the Doctor's tray.

"What the hell is that crap?" she said to him.

"Kratok. It was disgusting, dear, trust me," he said.

"I can imagine," she said, watching while another dinner lady put something on his tray that resembled refried beans.

Once the food was put on his tray, the young Doctor took it and waited for Koschei. Once his was finished, they walked together and the Doctor and Rain followed them. Along the way, she noticed the majority of the students stopped eating and talking to look at them. She could see them snickering and nudging each other and heard muttered comments about them being losers and daft. She tried to take her husband's advice and pretend it was an old movie but the comments still got on her nerves and she couldn't help feeling a bit protective of the man she loved. They walked with them to an empty table near the back and they sat down at the end of it, all alone. She glanced around and noticed the majority of the students went back to eating as soon as they sat down but there were still a few who were pointing and whispering to each other. Rain couldn't help but feel a sense of déjà vu about it all since she had also experienced being ostracized. She supposed that was why her hackles were being raised watching her husband undergo the same thing and she was glad that he had the friendship of one person even if he did go on to become his worst enemy. She watched quietly while the two of them made small talk about their professors and homework and what was going on in their classes.

Suddenly, a ginger haired boy ran up to the young Doctor and shoved him from behind. Rain gasped when he nearly went headfirst into his food.

"Heard what you said to the professor in your Gallifreyan law class, Theta," he sneered. "Sounds like something a daft git like you would say."

Koschei gave him a look of warning and the young Doctor tried to ignore him but the student persisted.

"Well, come on, Theta? Aren't you gonna say something witty back to me?" he said. "Little Theta who thinks he knows everything? Come on, Theta, say something witty! I wanna hear it."

"Now you know why I despise being called Theta," the Doctor muttered to his wife.

She gasped when the boy nudged the young Doctor's head and he instantly leapt from his seat and spun around to face him. Rain shivered when she saw the darkness in his eyes and her husband put a comforting arm around her and kissed her cheek. She glanced at the boy who was trying to hold his ground, but she could see the fear in his eyes.

"Go…away…now!" the young Doctor said with a warning tone that Rain knew very well.

The boy tried to stare him down which Rain figured was for the benefit of his friends and the rest of the cafeteria who were watching the whole thing intently. Koschei was quiet but there was also a menacing look on his face while the whole scene played out in front of him.

"You're a basket case, Merzet, you know that? You and your insane friend there. I'm surprised you didn't get thrown in the insane asylum after your initiation. It's where you two nutjobs belong."

Rain gasped when the young Doctor suddenly seized the boy by his robes and slammed him back onto the table behind him.

"I believe I said go away," he said between gritted teeth.

"Merzet!" a man in full Time Lord regalia yelled as he ran towards them. "Headmaster's office, now!"

Rain glanced at the young Doctor who still had a hold of the boy's robe and was staring him down with a look of fiery rage that could have melted steel. This time the student didn't put up a brave front and he was visibly shaking with fear. The Time Lord pulled the Doctor off him.

"I said, headmaster's office, Merzet!" the Time Lord snarled at him.

"He started it," Rain said, pointing. "Why isn't he going?"

"Because funnily enough most of the time the staff didn't see that part. Just me losing my temper," the Doctor said.

Rain watched while the young Doctor glared at the staff member before he headed up to the cafeteria door. The boy leaned back up and watched him go. He waited till the Time Lord walked away before muttering, "Freak." under his breath. Rain put her arms around her husband and he smiled at her as he kissed and nuzzled her cheek.

"Do you mind if I jump ahead a bit and show you another memory?" he said to her.

Rain nodded and her husband closed his eyes.


	39. Chapter 39

Chapter Thirty Nine

The scene shifted and they were in a tiny room with the ecru walls. There was two wooden beds, a couple of desks and a couple of dressers. There was an open door off to the side that led to a bathroom. On the bed, the young Doctor sat frozen reading a book by a window. He was out of his Time Lord robes and had on black trousers and a grey sweater. Outside the window she could see other buildings and in the distance twin lightning bolts were coming down from a darkened sky.

"This is our dormitory," the Doctor said. "I shared a room with Koschei and at the moment he's in the lavatory getting ready for his date. I want to show you this and a few other memories because I want you to see what caused the rift between me and him that led to us being adversaries later on.

Rain nodded and leaned back against her husband while the memory started. She gasped when there was a loud thunder boom and the room shook.

"Yes, um…Gallifrey had very violent storms," the Doctor said, gesturing to the window.

Rain glanced over when Koschei emerged from the bathroom. He was wearing black trousers and a black jacket that resembled a Nehru jacket. He smiled at his roommate who glanced up from his book.

"You're completely crackers going out in weather like this, you know that right?" the young Doctor said. "Is Lorelei worth getting electrocuted?"

As if for emphasis, another twin lightning bolt came down several miles away. Koschei chuckled.

"Lorelei is worth a bit of electrocution," he said to him.

The young Doctor shrugged.

"Suit yourself, mate," he said.

The young Doctor went back to reading his book. Rain watched Koschei walk to his dresser and open it. But instead of searching for whatever he was looking for, he was looking at his roommate with what looked like lust. Rain raised her eyebrow and pointed it out to the Doctor.

"I know, Love. He fancied me although I didn't know it at the time since I was Mister Oblivious. He's bisexual but I wasn't so this was a one-sided crush. At the time I wasn't really interested in dating since the Time Ladies were just as rigid as everyone else in their views and even if I did want to go out with someone, no one would have dared risk their reputation to go out with me. Lorelei was the only one who was brave enough and she suffered greatly for going out with Koschei the Nutter as he was called. But yes, the penny did eventually drop centuries later that Koschei wanted badly to shag me."

Rain noticed Koschei's disappointment when the Doctor didn't glance up and he slammed his dresser drawer without getting anything out.

"I'll see you later, mate," he said to the young Doctor.

"Okay," the Doctor muttered, not glancing up.

Rain noticed the angry look on his face before he opened the door and walked out.

"Yup, Mister Oblivious," the Doctor said, nuzzling her cheek.

The memory froze.

"I'm gonna advance a little so you can see what happened later on," he said.

The scene shifted slightly and now the Doctor was stretched out on the bed reading the book.

"Wow, you were really into that book," Rain teased.

"Yeah, well, I was studying for an exam I really didn't care about," the Doctor teased back.

The memory started again and Rain noticed it was raining heavily outside. The young Doctor turned the page and shifted one leg. Suddenly, there was a pounding on the door. The young Doctor lowered the book.

"It's unlocked, Kosch, you know that," he yelled.

"Theta, open up, it's me," Lorelei yelled through the door.

The young Doctor put down his book and walked over. He opened the door and Lorelei entered, drenched and shivering. Rain's eyes bulged when she saw her left eye was black and swollen shut and she had a split lip.

"Lorelei? What the hell happened?" the young Doctor said, closing the door.

Lorelei turned to face him.

"He did this. Ko-Koschei."

"What? Why?"

She sniffed.

"Because he thought I was looking at another boy when I wasn't," she said, softly.

"Oh God," Rain said.

"Yes, he was extremely paranoid. It was a part of his madness," the Doctor said, softly.

"Well, why are you here? Why didn't you go see the headmaster or the proctor or someone who can help?" the young Doctor said.

"Because if he finds out I went to someone, he'll kill me."

"Oh don't be so dramatic. Kosch may be a bit odd but he's no killer."

"Once again, Mister Oblivious," the Doctor said to his wife. "I didn't wanna believe that my best mate was capable of murder but unfortunately I was proven wrong."

The young Doctor went to get her a towel from the bathroom.

"I don't know what you want me to do about it," he was saying from the bathroom. "Wouldn't it make him just as angry if I talked to him? If he won't listen to staff, why would he listen to me?"

"Because you're his best mate and if anyone can make him see reason, it's you," she said, accepting the towel from him.

"And what happens if I make him angry. I'm the one that has to live with him, you know," the young Doctor countered, sitting on his bed.

"Then move to another dormitory, Theta."

"Why? Koschei's my mate."

"You wanna be mates with someone who does this?" Lorelei said, pointing to her eye.

"I'm not exactly the model of perfect behavior myself."

"Yes, but you're not like him, Theta," Lorelei said, drawing closer to the bed.

The young Doctor snorted.

"Really? Because I was under the impression the entire academy thought I was very much like him."

Rain's eyebrow raised when Lorelei sat down next to him and turned his face to hers.

"You're not like him, Theta. You'll never be like him."

"I see Koschei wasn't the only one who liked you," Rain said.

"Yes, she did to her cost," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"Just watch and see."

Rain turned her attention back to the bed. The young Doctor jerked his head away and got up.

"Lorelei, I'm not interested," he said.

"Theta, please, you're the only one who can protect me from him," she said, rising and following him. "He's insane and he's a danger, not only to you and me but to everyone. Have you heard him speak before, Theta? He says disturbing things. He's not in his right mind; you need to get away from him before it's too late."

Lorelei put her hand on his cheek.

"Please, listen to me; you have to get away from him before…"

Suddenly the door opened and Koschei was standing there, staring at the two of them in shock. He raised his eyebrow and put his arms over his chest while he glared at the young Doctor.

"I shoulda known," he said.

"Kosch, it's not what you think," he said to him.

"Oh really? Then tell me, Merzet, what is going on since it looks like you're trying to take my girl away from me."

"First off, I'm not taking your girl away from you and secondly, what is the meaning of this?" he said, gesturing to her face. "What have you done?"

"I caught her looking at another man so I corrected her," Koschei said curtly.

"You don't hit other people, Kosch, and you certainly don't hit women," the young Doctor said.

"Thanks for the lecture, mummy. I'll remember that while you send me to my room without supper," Koschei sneered.

"You're a right prick sometimes, Kosch, you know that?"

"And you're a backstabbing bastard, Theta," he snarled. "I knew the whole asexual thing was just an act. You were waiting to steal Lorelei out from under my nose, weren't ya?"

"It was at that point that I began to realize that perhaps everyone was right in telling me to get away from Koschei the Nutter," the Doctor said to Rain.

Rain could see from the look on the young Doctor's face that he was thinking what her husband had just vocalized to her.

"Kosch, this isn't what it looks like, alright?" the young Doctor said, trying to calm him down. "Lorelei came in here…"

"For a snog and a shag, yes I know," Koschei snarled. "Like I said, I'm not an idiot, Theta. I can tell when someone is being a backstabber and I'm telling you now, I will not forget nor forgive this. You both will pay and pay dearly, whether it be now, tomorrow or years from now! You will both be punished!"

Rain flinched when he went out the door and slammed it so hard the walls and furniture shook.

"Oh Thete," Rain said when the memory froze. "God, I'm so sorry this happened to you."

The Doctor smiled tenderly at her and kissed her cheek.

"Do you want to go on and see more or is this too painful for you?"

"No, I want to see more, please."

He nodded, shut his eyes and the scene shifted again…


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter Forty

The next thing Rain saw was an outdoor scene. There were several people standing around a pile of stacked up logs. On top of the logs a body was wrapped in heavy white cloth. Standing several feet away in a circle around the log structure were students who were dressed in full Time Lord regalia. Near them was another older Time Lord who was holding a flaming torch in his hand. Around the clearing were several silver leafed trees. Rain glanced up and saw the orange sky with the twin suns. In the distance was the Citadel and beside it were some mountains. The Doctor watched while Rain walked around the frozen memory staring at it. She stared at the faces of the students looking for her husband and finally found him standing near the back. He was wearing black robes like everyone else with a silver skullcap and brown headpiece. Rain stared at him and began to giggle.

"What's so funny?" the Doctor said.

"I'm sorry, Thete, but you look like a complete dork dressed this way," Rain said.

"Oi, I do not."

"Yes, you do. You all do. I'm sorry but you look weird. What is the purpose of this thing up the back?"

"It's just a part of the outfit."

"Mmm, well I'm just glad you don't wear this all the time, that's all I have to say."

"Anyway…" the Doctor said while she giggled. "Shall we get on with the memory?"

"Wait a moment," Rain said.

The Doctor watched while she walked over to a tree behind her young husband. She stood beside it staring up at the silver leaves. The Doctor walked over to her.

"These are beautiful," she said, pointing to the silver leaves. "I love the color."

"I do too," the Doctor said. "Gallifrey was beautiful. I wish you could see it in person and not just from memories. But I also love the green leaves and grass and blue sky of Earth. But yes…the sun hits these leaves just right and they glow."

"I can imagine," Rain said.

She noticed something behind the tree and leaned her head over.

"Um…Koschei is back here," she said.

"I know. There's a reason why," he said. "Which would be revealed if you let me start the memory."

Rain nodded and took her husband's hand. He led her back to the front of the group and closed his eyes. The memory started and the Doctor put a hand on her shoulder while she watched.

"We are gathered here today," the Time Lord with the torch said, "to pay our last respects to Loreleibandarvarvaluta."

Rain gasped and the Doctor tightened his hand on her shoulder.

"Oh Jesus, he killed her," Rain said.

"We commit her ashes back to the soil of our beloved Gallifrey and her memories will be forever stored within the Matrix," the Time Lord intoned.

Rain glanced at her young husband and saw him staring up at the pyre with a poker face but there was anger in his eyes. She glanced at the tree behind him and saw Koschei's head just barely peeking out from behind the trunk.

"He did, didn't he?" she said to the Doctor. "He killed her."

"Yes, although at the time a part of me didn't want to believe it. But Lorelei who had been an honors student suddenly became depressed when she never had before and supposedly jumped to her death off the top of the science building. They ruled it a suicide but I never believed it. But I still refused to believe that Koschei was involved. I deluded myself because I believed I could help him get over his madness, fool that I was."

"You're not a fool. You tried to help him," she said. "And I don't blame you for not wanting to believe your best friend was capable of murder. I would have done the same thing. You're a good person, Thete, and you want to believe there's good in everyone. That's one of the reasons I love you so much."

He smiled and held her closer.

The Time Lord finished his eulogy and everyone backed up as he lit the pyre and put the torch on top beside Lorelei's body. The whole thing was aflame in a few minutes and everyone milled around for a few minutes watching it before they walked off back towards the Citadel. Eventually everyone left except for the young Doctor who stood there watching it solemnly.

"I believed I was partly responsible. That's why I stayed," the Doctor explained. "I kept thinking if I had done more to protect her then perhaps she wouldn't have died. I knew Koschei was back there as well. I knew he was watching but he was under suspicion from a lot of the students and my thinking was he was hiding so he wouldn't have to listen to their accusations while he watched the funeral. Little did I know…"

"I know you're back there, Kosch," the young Doctor said while he stared at the pyre. "You can come out now. Everyone's gone."

He stepped out from behind the tree and came up beside the young Doctor. They stood there for a moment staring at the pyre in silence. Finally, the young Doctor turned to him.

"Kosch, you didn't have anything to do with this, did you?" he said.

Koschei gave him a shocked look.

"No, Theta, I didn't," he said angrily.

"You notice that he's no longer calling me Merzet. He's calling me Theta like everyone else," the Doctor said. "He never did that until he supposedly caught me with Lorelei."

"I can't believe you'd accuse me of this," Koschei said, gesturing to the burning pyre. "I loved Lorelei."

"Then why did you beat her, Kosch?"

Koschei sighed angrily.

"I…lost my temper once, Theta. I'm not the only one who's lost his temper. You've done it plenty of times and I've seen you rough up people you didn't like."

"I never hit a woman," the young Doctor said angrily.

"Well, aren't you the saint then? Let's all give you an award for never hitting a woman when you get in one of your "dark moods"."

"Lorelei and I never did anything. What you saw that night was her trying to seek protection from you because you apparently lost control and pummeled her face," the young Doctor said angrily.

"You? Why you? You hardly ever spoke to her. If she was so scared for her life why didn't she go to the headmaster or the vice-chancellor and get me thrown out of the academy?"

"Because oddly enough she was afraid you'd kill her."

Koschei snorted.

"So, she went to the other academy freak for protection? Seems a bit odd to me, Theta."

"Quit calling me that."

"What? Theta? That's your nickname, isn't it? Why can't I call you that? Everyone else does. She did, didn't she?"

The young Doctor seethed while Koschei grinned.

"I'm only trying to fit in with the rest of the students. That's what the professors want, right? For us to conform to what they think a Time Lord should be? Everyone else calls you Theta, so I'm just joining in."

"You know, Kosch…"

"My name is Koschei…" he snarled.

"You know, I defended you when everyone else thought you were a nutter. I befriended you when no one else would. I tried to help you."

"What do you want me to do, applaud? You were never my friend, Theta. You only befriended me because no one else would. You're the oddball of the whole entire planet. Little Snail who was born with the odd hole on his body that no one else has. The little misfit who thinks that Time Lords need to travel through time and space interfering in other species' affairs. The outcast no one wants. Who ended up going to the academy to escape from his house and all the cousins who would rejoice if he ended up dead on a mountain somewhere. You know, I'm not surprised Lorelei chose me over you. No one will ever love you, Theta."

"Au contraire," the Doctor said, squeezing Rain around the middle.

"Yeah? Well, you're Koschei the Nutter who hasn't been right since you looked into the schism. Who should have been committed but somehow earned the right to go to the academy anyway. Who is just as ostracized as I am, maybe even more so. The man who thinks hitting women is perfectly acceptable in order to "keep them in line." The man who is so paranoid that he can't accept the fact that his girl wasn't cheating on him. The man who's biggest fear is that someday, somehow his best mate will become a god, whatever that means."

"Huh?" Rain said.

The Doctor smiled.

"Koschei confided in me after I'd known him awhile that he had this odd delusion that I was some sort of god and he was fearful of that coming true. Don't ask me where he came up with it, Latara. The man fancied himself a god so maybe he was terrified I'd actually one-up him someday. He actually told me he had a few nightmares about it whenever he slept deep enough to dream."

"O-kay…" Rain said while he giggled.

She turned her attention back to the two former friends who were now glaring at each other while the funeral pyre burned. Suddenly, Koschei jabbed his finger at it.

"You are responsible for this, Theta, never forget that!" he said.

"No, I think you are. If she was that depressed I'm sure your abuse made her that way," the young Doctor spat out.

Rain gasped when Koschei decked her young husband. He instantly leapt to his feet, fire in his eyes. She glanced at Koschei who seemed amused by it.

"Come on, Theta, show us that temper," he said coolly. "Show us how gentle you really are towards others."

For a moment, Rain thought he was gonna hit him back but he turned and walked away from Koschei back towards the Citadel.

"I'm through with you, Koschei. You're on your own from now on," the young Doctor said as he walked away.

"Promise that, my bosom buddy?" Koschei said, sneering. "I'll see you back at the dormitory then."

"No you won't because I'm moving to another room," the young Doctor said.

"Aw, poor little Snail, ending up alone. Get used to it, mate. You'll be alone your whoooooooooole lives."

The memory froze.

"That was the beginning of the rivalry between us," the Doctor said to her. "Lorelei's death and my supposed betrayal were the things that tore us apart. Eventually I accepted the truth that he did kill her but I tried to believe there was still good in him. I believed that up until the year that never was. I always tried for reconciliation with him because I wanted to help him. I thought I could. I believed I could. That's why I tried to forgive him but he wouldn't accept it. He hated that I wanted forgiveness because he had built most of his existence around revenge. He wanted me to be just as angry as he was and vengeful but I wasn't. I pity him, Latara. I always have from the first moment I met him and became his friend. Part of it was the illness he had. These so-called drums he had that I never knew about until his Yana persona mentioned it. I think deep down he wanted reconciliation too. There's been plenty of opportunities over the centuries for him to kill me but he never has. There's always been excuse after excuse of why he needs to keep me alive. Even when he aged me, he just kept me there on the Valiant even though I was feeble and helpless. He told me it was because it amused him to see me so old and helpless but I think deep down inside he still wanted to be my friend. Maybe I'm completely wrong about it but that's what I saw in him. And he still fancied me; I found that out as well. I was probably the greatest friend he ever had because I cared about him enough to defend him from others."

He sighed.

"But after this he began his descent into his madness and his transformation into the Master," he said. "So on to the next memory I have for you…"


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter Forty One

The scene shifted and Rain saw an office. In front of her sitting behind a desk was a man in full Time Lord regalia. In front of the desk her husband stood wearing his orange robe. Behind the man were several portraits and on either side of his desk were marble busts on stone pedestals.

"This is some time later," the Doctor said, pointing to the memory. "By this time Koschei was completely unhinged and had begun calling himself the Master. I was in another dormitory but I still heard things about him including the fact that he was planning to place explosives in the room of a student called Garvas because he was one of the ones who taunted him. That's why I'm in here. This is the vice-chancellor, the head of the academy, and I'm trying to warn him of the Master's plan so Garvas can be saved. And now…"

"Wait. Just one thing. Who are the people in the pictures and the busts?"

"The portraits are former vice-chancellors. The bust on his right is Rassilon and the other bust is Omega, two of the three founders of modern Gallifrey. The third man was known as The Other because no one remembered his name. No one remembered what he looked like either which is why he doesn't have a bust."

"Okay, I'm ready now."

The Doctor nodded and closed his eyes.

"And where is your proof, Merzet?" the vice-chancellor said to the young Doctor.

"I don't have any concrete proof, sir. I just know that Koschei is planning to kill Garvas. He's going to set off explosives in his room and he needs to be stopped before he does it," the young Doctor replied.

"I'm sorry but I need more proof than that, Merzet. Rumor and hearsay aren't sufficient."

"Sir, if you don't do something, people are going to die! Don't you care about that?"

"I care but I need more proof than just you telling me Koschei is going to do this. I just can't throw him out because you told me this."

"Well, can't you investigate it?"

"Not without proof. I need proof that this is a credible threat. Until you can bring me that proof, I can't do anything."

"But by then it might be too late!"

"I can't do anything without proof."

"Then I'll do something about it."

"You do and you'll be brought before the proctor for punishment, Merzet," the vice-chancellor said, narrowing his eyes. "Now if you can find proof that Koschei is going to do this then come and tell me. Until then, I can't do anything."

"Fine, sir," the young Doctor said, turning towards the door.

He looked back.

"But if this happens, Garvas's blood is on your hands."

The memory froze.

"Two days later, the bomb went off in Garvas's room killing him, his roommate and four others."

Rain looked at him.

"Did they do anything to him?" she said, pointing to the vice-chancellor.

"No. There wasn't any proof apart from me and he wasn't going to admit that he heard about the bombing from the Gallifreyan oddball. He just pretended that he never heard anything and I knew if I said something to the contrary no one would believe me since he was the head of the academy. But I learned a valuable lesson from all this, Latara. I learned not to rely on others when lives are in danger. I learned that sometimes I need to go over those who are in authority and take matters into my own hands. I should have done that here and Garvas's death is as much my fault as it is his because I was too afraid to act. I never made that mistake again. But this right here is a good example of what I meant by not wanting to be a part of the bureaucracy. The reason he didn't want to investigate was because that would have involved him getting off his fat, lazy bum and moving and without this proof he wanted he wasn't going to do that. I doubt the bastard would have moved even if he had this elusive proof he wanted. This is what they wanted me to do when I graduated from the academy, Latara. Become a part of all this and then sit back and do nothing while dust settled on my head and shoulders. Apart from a handful of people I knew, the whole government on Gallifrey was corrupt and lazy and it's one of the few things I don't miss about the planet. But now I want to jump ahead a bit and show you the first meeting between me and a lives long friend."

The scene shifted to a darkened corridor.

"At this point in time I had graduated the academy. I told you before that I purposely made a poor effort so I wouldn't qualify for the government and that's what happened. I barely scraped by. The fact that I barely scraped by meant I wasn't qualified to do things that other Time Lords did. In the eyes of other Time Lords I was a disgrace so for the first time in my life, I moved away where no one knew me and hid my true identity, taking the name Zeta and passing myself off as an average non-Time Lord Gallifreyan in order to get a job. Because I had to have somewhere to live and food to eat. I used this new identity to get a job as a janitor at an office building but unknown to me, the Master tracked me down and set about getting his revenge. Because after all, I was to suffer as much as Lorelei did and he wanted my downfall in the worst way. Now I worked overnight at this building cleaning up after everyone had gone home. While I was working, the Master broke in and left me a little surprise and if you follow me I'll show you the surprise."

He led her down the corridor. They turned the corner and Rain gasped. There in the middle of the hallway lay the dead body of a blonde-haired female child, clad in a white nightgown.

"I don't know who she is. I don't know where the Master found her. But he killed her and brought her here to frame me. He laid her here and then went and rang the police telling them that I had killed her. I learned all this from him centuries later which is how I know. He told them to come here and somehow he timed it just right because I was caught with the body…"

He closed his eyes and started the memory. For a moment nothing happened and then Rain saw the young Doctor turn the corner up ahead of them. He froze and stared at the young girl for a moment in disbelief before sprinting over to her and kneeling. She watched while he checked for signs of life.

"At this point in time the police are downstairs and searching the building. A few of them are heading up now while I'm doing this."

A moment later, Rain heard a noise and saw two police officers turning the corner. They froze when they saw the young Doctor who was just as surprised to see them. The young Doctor quickly got over his shock.

"Officer, there's been a…"

"Don't move. You're under arrest!" one of the officers yelled.

"No, wait, I'm innocent. I found her like this!" the young Doctor said, holding up his hands. "I don't know where she came from but she's dead and…"

"Silence! You will come quietly with us," the officer said.

"I'm innocent! I swear!"

"You can tell that to the interrogators."

"Now the police have retinal scans to identify people and I knew as soon as they scanned me they'd find out I was Merzet and a Time Lord which would have been damning since it would have looked like I was trying to conceal my identity to cover up my crime. I knew they wouldn't believe I was a Time Lord trying to pass myself off as an average Gallifreyan in order to get a job so…"

The young Doctor stared at the officers for a moment. Then suddenly, he leapt to his feet and ran away.

"HALT! YOU'RE UNDER ARREST!" the officers said, running after him.

The memory froze.

"I managed to get out of the building without being nabbed," the Doctor said, "and I ran hell for leather through the night trying to find a place to hide and lo and behold there was a dry dock a few blocks away where old and obsolete TARDISes were being stored…"

The scene shifted to a large white domed room. They were standing on a metal platform and several ramps jutted off it to several steel boxes. The boxes had their doors open and Rain could see inside. She saw a console in each and a central column. The Doctor took her hand and led her to the one that was directly in front of them.

"This is it, my love. This is ours," he said, pointing to it. "Of course, at this point in time, the chameleon circuit was functioning which is why it's not in the shape of the police box you know and love. But all of these are obsolete type 40 TARDISes like she is and they were waiting to be decommissioned and junked to make way for newer models. This is the night I met her."

Rain peered inside. Instead of the organic interior she was used to, the interior was stark white and clean with larger roundels than the ones the TARDIS currently had. The console was metal and the switches and buttons looked like actual switches and buttons and were neatly arranged. The central column didn't go up towards the ceiling. Instead it rose about a foot up out of the center. In addition to the front doors there were white inner doors that were opened into the inside.

"Wow, she looks totally different, Thete," Rain said.

"Yes, that's because I've changed the desktop theme over the years. This is the way it used to be and I had it this way for a couple of centuries until I tired of it. But this is her, Latara."

He took her hand and led her back up the platform. He closed his eyes and started the memory. A minute later, the door burst open and the young Doctor ran inside, panting and puffing.

"Oh, I picked the lock when I got inside. No sonic," he said to Rain. "And no sonic to lock this door. Would have come in handy then."

The Doctor locked the door and looked around the room. Rain could hear the officers faintly yelling in the distance. The young Doctor's eyes settled on the TARDIS and he stared at it, transfixed.

"I don't know why I chose her. I think she chose me because I had this sense that I needed to go inside her. Maybe it was self-preservation. She knew she would be scrapped but then again so did every other TARDIS here. I think it was just meant to be."

The young Doctor slowly walked down the ramp towards the TARDIS and went inside. The Doctor led Rain inside and they watched him flip a lever and close the inner doors along with the outer ones.

"Used to have these…these inner doors," the Doctor said gesturing to them. "Had em for centuries but after awhile they became a nuisance because I had to open and close both doors to get in and out and that was a bother when monsters and villains were chasing me or I needed a quick exit out of the console room so I got rid of them which is why she doesn't have these now."

Rain heard the sound of the officers trying to break down the door while the young Doctor ran around the console flipping switches and pushing buttons.

"Now normally a TARDIS imprints with only one owner. That's to prevent theft. She did have another owner but for some reason she accepted me in spite of that, which to my knowledge never happened with another Time Lord. Another reason why I think we were destined to be together."

The central column bobbed up and down in the middle of the console and she watched the young Doctor breathe a sigh of relief while he slumped against the wall.

"This was the beginnings of my wanderings. I didn't return to Gallifrey for a couple of centuries because of this so-called murder of mine. In that time I stumbled onto this woman named Susan Forman who wasn't related to me but who called me Grandfather and for some reason it seemed right so I let her travel with me and call me that. We set up residence on Earth in 1963 and she went to school in London and two teachers who were curious about her followed her to the TARDIS which was resting in a junkyard and that's when I gained my first human companions, Ian and Barbara. That was the beginning of my taking along companions once I realized how enjoyable it was to have others to share my adventures and thus I became who I became."

"Wow, this was really eye-opening," she said.

"Good. Because I also wanted to view these memories myself to get a bit of perspective. You see, I told you that I kept on trying and trying to reconcile with Koschei for centuries and our little war kept on going until we got to the year that never was."

The scene shifted again and Rain noticed they were in a room with a large table. There was a staircase at the front with a man sitting on the bottom steps looking at her husband who was now in his current form and being held by two men while he glared at him. There were several people scattered around the room including Jack and Martha who were also being guarded.

"This is the Valiant at the start of that year. That is the Master on the steps and yours truly is there," he said, grinning. "This is what Brother has told you about. Now you can see for yourself what went on."

He started the memory.

"Oh, if only I had the Doctor's biological code," the Master said.

He snapped his fingers.

"Wait a minute, I do. I've got his hand."

He ran over to a case and opened it to reveal the hand in the jar. The memory froze.

"Before this goes further…" the Doctor said, taking her hand.

He led her over to the jar and smiled at her.

"Wave at Alan, Latara!" he said.

She laughed and waved.

"Hi, Bro!"

"Hi, Alan!" the Doctor said, waving.

She laughed when he led her back over to their original spot.

"Okay, now that we're done saying hello to Brother, back to the action," he said.

The memory started and the guards quickly backed up while the Master aimed his laser screwdriver at the Doctor. Rain gasped when her husband jerked around and around screaming in agony.

"Oh God, Thete," she said.

"It's okay. It hurt like hell but not as much as when he made me into an elf. That really, really hurt because this was aging me 100 years and the other was aging me 800 years on top of it," he said.

She noticed the horror on Jack and Martha's faces while they watched. The guards seemed to be unconcerned as did the woman who was near the Master.

"Is that Lucy?" she said, pointing up to her.

"Yup."

The Master let up and Rain's eyes boggled when she saw the elderly version of her husband.

"Oh my God, Love," she said.

She knelt down next to him while he puffed and panted. Martha ran over and knelt down on the other side looking at him with concern. Rain looked at the Master who had a gleeful look on his face along with Lucy. She looked at her husband.

"Wait, can you stop this?" she said.

The Doctor nodded and stopped the memory. Rain got up and pointed to Lucy.

"This woman, Thete, who is she? Where did she come from?" Rain said to him.

"I have no idea, Love. I have no idea where he found her or why she joined forces with him. I assume part of it was a hypnotic suggestion but there were times she seemed lucid enough. I don't know why he needed her except to make it seem like he was a married man when he stood for Prime Minister. She's a mystery, Latara. To this day, I have no real clue who she is or if Lucy Saxon is her real name. I just know that she helped to make planet Earth a living hell just as much as he did and she certainly helped to make my time on the Valiant unpleasant."

"Okay, I was just wondering. Continue."

He nodded and started the memory again. She watched while the elevator at the back opened and Francine and Tish were dragged in along with a man Rain had never seen before.

"Is that Martha's dad?" she said to the Doctor.

"Yes, that's Leo. He wasn't at the meet and greet so you've never met him," he said to her.

Rain watched while the Master played Voodoo Child and the Toclafane descended to Earth.

"Like I said, he could have very easily killed me at any time. Look at how helpless I am. But he spared me that entire year. Gave me shelter, such as it was. Gave me food to eat. Left me alone for the most part except for the occasional torture and humiliation but even then he never went too far with it. I think Jack and Martha's family suffered worse than I did."

Rain watched while two guards grabbed the Doctor and forced him up the stairs to the Master and Lucy who were giggling at him. They took hold of him and forced the Doctor to watch. Behind them, Jack was struggling to get free while three guards held him back and Martha's family was crowded into a corner while the rest of the guards aimed their guns at them. Rain came forward slightly so she could see her husband's face. Her hearts ached when she saw the despair in his eyes while the Master taunted him with something that sounded straight out of the Bible. After he finished, the memory froze and the scene shifted. Now in front of Rain there was a tarp that was arranged like a tent. Beside it was a yellow dog dish and she could see her husband inside lying down on the bedding. No one else was in the room.

"This was a few months later. As you can see, no one was in the room guarding me although there were guards at the doors and CCTV everywhere. I couldn't really make it up these steps without assistance so I wasn't going anywhere. He had the controls on isomorphic so only he could operate them so it would have been useless to try. But as you can see, he gave me shelter."

"Did he make you eat out of that?" Rain said softly, pointing at the dog dish.

He put his arm around her.

"No, that was a perverted joke on his part. This was my little doghouse but I was served normal meals. But he went to all this trouble to keep me alive and comfortable which is why I was hopeful I could get through to him. Even after all these centuries I still held out a spark of hope that I could regain the friendship I once had with him and it was doubly important now because he and I were the last until you lot came along. I was tired of the fighting, Latara, I wanted peace between us."

He closed his eyes and the memory started up. The elevator door opened and the Master pranced into the room, happy as a clam.

"Woof, woof, little doggie. Guess what?" he said, coming over to the tarp and leaning down.

"You've been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize," the Doctor muttered inside the tarp.

"Heh, you're funny, Theta. No, I wanted to update you on what's been going on lately. You see, my plans are coming along just swimmingly."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" the Doctor muttered, not looking at him.

"It means my plans are coming along swimmingly. You know…that's a cute word, swimmingly. I love it."

"Mmm, why don't you go find more cute words to love and leave me be?"

"Oh, don't be such a sour puss," the Master said as if he were talking to a petulant child. "You're just upset that I won."

The Doctor was silent.

"No witty retort, Theta? No I'll stop you if it's the last thing I do? No I'll sacrifice myself if I bring things back to the way they were? Nothing?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because…it's fun?"

"Aren't you tired of this by now?" the Doctor said, leaning up to look at him.

"Tired of what?"

"The fighting."

"Are we fighting? I was under the impression I was gloating and you were lying there like the geriatric lump that you are."

"I mean, the centuries of war between us. The feud that started the moment you thought Lorelei fancied me. Aren't you tired of battling me?"

"Um…not really, no."

"Well, I am. You and I are the last, Koschei."

"Don't…use that name."

"I will use that name because that's who you are deep inside. I'm tired of you being the Master."

"Well, I'm tired of you being the Doctor, Merzet," he said. "That's just as idiotic as my name."

"You know that we are the last now, right?"

"Yeah, I kinda had that feeling the moment you informed me you burned Gallifrey to a big blackened crisp."

"We are the last, Koschei, you and me. Doesn't that mean something?"

"It means we have a very short Christmas card list?"

"I'm being serious!" the Doctor growled.

"What, Theta? So we're the last. It doesn't change a bloody thing. Are you trying to apologize again? Is that it? I don't want your idiotic apologies! You're nothing but a loser. A soft-headed loser and in that respect, nothing has changed since the academy. You are a wimp and that's why you're on the floor, an old, old man. I'm not interested in apologies. I'm not interested in reconciliation. I'm interested in your death."

"Then why don't you kill me and get it over with?" the Doctor growled.

"I told you, you must bear witness to my moment of triumph."

"No, you want me alive because the moment I breathe my last, that will be it for you and your lives time vendetta against me. You'll have nothing to occupy your time with because there will be no one who'll pay attention to you and your little schemes. That's why you feel the need to gloat to me, Koschei. You're like a little kid who finger painted a picture and need to show it off to mummy and daddy. If I'm not around there's no one to show your painting off to. I'm necessary, Koschei, which is why I'm still breathing. And you know it."

There was a tense silence while the Master stared at the Doctor who was gazing at him from inside the tarp.

"You may think you're clever. But I know you far better than you think, Koschei. I know a few things about you, things I can use against you."

"Oh yeah? Well go ahead, Gramps! Give me your best shot. Let's see you move those ancient legs and give me sheer hell! Come on, old man. Go find your Zimmer frame and stop me!"

Rain noticed a faint ghost of a smile pass across her ancient husband's lips.

"All in good time, Koschei. All in good time," he said.

The Master rolled his eyes.

"Blah, blah, blah, Theta," he said, opening and closing his hand. "All talk as usual. I'll be in my office overseeing my empire while you muster up the strength to shuffle back and kill me. Ta-ta!"

He started off and the memory froze. It shifted and now she saw a tiny creature in a birdcage. She stared at it in shock.

"Oh my God, you looked like that?" she said.

"Yup, that's little ol me," the Doctor said.

Nearby, Martha was at the bottom of the steps staring up at the Master who was staring down at her. Jack and her family were nearby being guarded and Lucy was near the tarp. The Doctor pointed to her face.

"Look, Love. He abused her too just like Lorelei. He started doing that all of a sudden so maybe she got a bit too big for her britches and tried to boss him around. At any rate, he was back to correcting women while I was there. If you notice she's a bit out of it which also happened towards the end so I think he also upped the hypnosis on her. But this is the day we finally gained the upper hand on good old Koschei there. Remember I told you about this whole delusion he had that I was a god? Well…"

The memory started and a blue aura surrounded the Doctor and he began to grow.

"The psychic energy of humanity concentrated through the Archangel Network," the Doctor said to Rain.

Rain saw the disbelief on the Master's face while he grew out of the cage. Around her everyone was starting to say the Doctor's name, even Lucy.

"I think that's why he had to hypnotize and abuse her," the Doctor said when he saw where she was looking. "I think she shook herself out of his thrall and he had to take measures to try to control her. But she's saying my name along with Jack and Martha and her family."

They watched the scene play out. The Master tried to kill the Doctor with his screwdriver but it stopped at the aura. He tried to kill Martha and her family and the Doctor raised his hand and the screwdriver sailed out of his hand across the room.

"Look, Love. Look at his face. You see the fear there?" the Doctor said, pointing to him. "Suddenly, I've become a god."

Rain noticed how terrified he looked. He went back down the steps in complete shock while the Doctor rose up into the air and sailed across the room. She looked at the Master who was trying to claw a hole through the wall.

"I took advantage of that delusion to terrify him enough that he wasn't going to run or fight," the Doctor said to Rain.

The moment her husband's shoes touched the floor, the aura vanished and he walked over to the cowering Master and knelt down to embrace him. She put her arms around her version of her husband when she heard the other version say, "I forgive you."

"It was finally said after centuries," the Doctor said to her. "Course he didn't accept it but I said it and I'm glad I did."

He paused the memory and the scene shifted to all of them in the Valiant. Jack had a hold of the Master while everyone was watching him from the other side. The Doctor started the memory and they watched while her husband talked about keeping him on the TARDIS. Then a shot rang out and the Master's eyes bulged out in shock.

"Hold on, I've got you," the Doctor said, running to him.

Rain stared at Lucy who had an odd look on her face while she held the gun.

"Love, wait, stop!" she said.

The Doctor paused the memory.

"Yes?"

"Lucy. You said he hypnotized her. Look at her, her face. Do you think all this was staged? That he put a suggestion in her mind that if he got caught she'd shoot him and he'd die?"

The Doctor considered that.

"It's possible, very possible. I never considered that but yes, looking at her…I mean, I was busy with him but now that I'm standing here staring at her I can see how dazed she looks and you might be right, Latara. It would be just like him to arrange something like that. He knew I might be able to escape and could have planted a suggestion in her mind in advance. We were so preoccupied with the Master that no one noticed she had the gun till she shot it. See, this is what I was talking about when I said I wanted a fresh perspective and you just gave me one."

"So then he dies just to torment you," Rain said.

The Doctor nodded.

"Yes, in his deranged way of thinking he was getting back at me and making me suffer. But the joke's on him because now I have a loving family of Time Lords and Ladies. So his efforts were all for naught."

The memory started again and Rain held her husband while she watched the other Doctor begging his adversary to live.

"Right to the end, I believed. I always believed I could help him," her Doctor said while they watched. "I wanted to take him on the TARDIS and try to get through to him in a safe environment but he wasn't having any of that so it came to this."

Rain hugged him tightly and he rubbed her back when the Doctor held the dead body of his friend and screamed his rage and anguish.

The scene switched and the Doctor was standing in front of a wooden funeral pyre in the dark holding a lighted torch.

"And just like with Lorelei centuries before I built a pyre for him and cremated him. My best mate and worst adversary and I gave him a proper Gallifreyan cremation out of respect which I'm sure is more than he would have done for me but…I felt it was a suitable ending to centuries of hate and war between us. And I thought that was it, I was the last. Then came Alan, the Valeyard, you lot, the Rani and now I'm not the last. But I'm glad you came along with me on this trip down memory lane."

"I'm glad too. I'm glad you trusted me enough to let me see this, Theta."

"Well, if I can't show my wife these memories who can I show them to? This whole war between me and Koschei helped define me and make me who I am today. It was terrible, all the centuries of hate and fighting but I still value my friendship with Koschei at the academy and wherever he is now, I hope he's finally at peace."

"Me too, Theta."

An evil grin spread over the Doctor's face and the scene shifted. Rain looked around and noticed they were standing in front of a stage in a strip club. The stage had a stripper's pole in the middle of it. Rain looked at him.

"What does this have to do with the Master?" she said.

"Oh nothing. Nothing at all."

He started the memory and rock music blared overhead. Suddenly some red curtains at the back of the stage parted and Rain's eyes bulged when she saw herself dancing out wearing a black thong and nipple tassels.

"Now this particular fantasy involves you dancing for me and…"

"THETE!" she said while he laughed hysterically.

She slapped his head while he covered it.

"What? I just went through a lot of painful, deep memories. I need something to cheer me up, Love," he said to her.

He kissed her cheek.

"Okay, you don't wanna see my smutty fantasy involving you. Got it."

The image faded away and they were standing in the middle of the simulation room.

"Although that's a particularly good fantasy," he said to her. "I love to sit up at the console and replay it over and over and over in my mind."

Rain snorted.

"Yeah, I just bet you do, Thete," she said while he sniggered.

He put an arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek while they walked back to the simulation room door.


	42. Chapter 42

Chapter Forty Two

Rain sat in the living room watching a movie quietly. As she was watching, she suddenly felt arms go around her. She smiled figuring it was her husband but when she glanced up she saw her brother instead.

"Hiya, Te'lesu, what are you doing in here all alone?" he said with a grin.

"I'm watching King Kong," she said to him.

"Old or new?" he said, keeping his arms around her.

"Old."

"Aaaaaaaaah, yes, Fay Wray. Brilliant film. But…where's the husband?"

"Um, I'm not really sure, Bro."

"He's abandoned you? For shame. I guess I'll have to step in and take over then."

Rain smiled up at him but she was slightly confused when she saw the look in his eyes. It was the look her husband gave her when they held one another. That loving look that was in no way brotherly affection and her brother had the same look. But before she could say anything, he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Enjoy your movie, Te'lesu," he said.

She watched while he strolled out the living room door whistling happily. She tried to go back to the movie but the memory of his eyes kept repeating over and over in her mind. Finally, she could stand it no more. Putting up a privacy block, she called her husband and told him to come to her. A few minutes later, he strolled in whistling like his brother did.

"Bored, lonely, randy or all of the above?" he said, smiling down at her.

"Confused, that's what I am," she said to him.

"Confused about what?"

Rain sighed and took his hand.

"I need to talk to you privately in our bedroom," she said, getting up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Yes, Love?" the Doctor said when they entered and Rain commanded the TARDIS to seal the door behind them.

She sat down beside him.

"I've been thinking, Thete. Your brother. He's your clone, right?"

"Last time I looked."

She sighed.

"Latara, what is it?" the Doctor said.

"You love Rose deeply, right?"

"I…did."

"Yes, but there's a place in your hearts that will always be for her. And you can say so, I won't be jealous or upset."

"Yes, there is."

"And Alan fell in love with her because he's you and he loves who you love, right?"

The Doctor nodded.

"Love, has it ever occurred to you that it's working in reverse. You love me but so does Alan?"

The Doctor stared at her.

"He flirts with me, Thete. I think he thinks it's brother, sister teasing but it's gone on and when I thought about it, it's gone back since before you came into my life. I think you both like the same women. He loves Rose same as you and he loves me same as you and I think occasionally the teasing accidentally becomes flirting. Remember on the bumper cars, the kissy face and the wagging eyebrows when I blew him a kiss? All those times he's teased about taking me away from you. He tells me all the time I'm his favorite sister. I think he's in love with me like you are."

The Doctor considered that and nodded.

"I guess that's a possibility. He keeps denying he's not me but he's my clone and we'll always have some things in common especially since he has my memories."

"Well, I don't think he'd really take me away from you. I think that's kidding but I think it's also a way he can express his love for me by doing that but pretending it's platonic teasing. It makes me wonder if he would have married me if Rose hadn't been around because I'm betting he would have."

"Have you spoken to him about this? Let him tell you his side of things?"

"No, I just wanted to see if you noticed it before."

"I noticed but I guess I thought it was playful teasing the same as you. We respect each other's marriages so I never harbored any fears that he'd take you from me."

"And I don't think he would. I think it's just a playful kind of flirting but that's as far as it'll go."

"Why don't you talk to him, Love? Just make him aware of it. Maybe he is teasing you and you see it as flirting sometimes because he's my clone. Just let him tell you himself before you jump to conclusions, alright?"

"Alright, Thete," she said.

"And tell me what happens because I'm curious now as well."

She nodded and gave him a hug.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After leaving her husband, Rain walked to the park room and sat down on the grass. She called to Alan and a few minutes later, the door opened and he peeked into the room.

"Um, you tired of the telly?" he asked, walking inside.

"I want to talk to you about something," Rain said to him.

"Yes?" he said, walking over to her.

"Please sit, Bro."

"Okey-dokey."

He sat down and Rain took his hands.

"I want to ask you something and I want the truth between us. I won't get mad, I promise."

His brow furrowed but he nodded.

"What do you want to ask me, Te'lesu?" he said.

"Alan, do you love me?"

Alan was taken aback.

"Do I love you? Well, yes, you're my sister and…"

"No. Are you in love with me as more than a sister? Do you love me as a lover?"

Rain saw him swallow hard and he fell silent while he stared at her.

"Please, I want to know because sometimes your teasing is a bit flirty and I was thinking that since both you and my husband love Rose that it's also true for me. I'm not mad, Alan. I understand if you do love me that way since you're my husband's clone and…"

"Yes," he said softly.

He looked at her, completely serious.

"I do…love you the same way I love Rose," he said.

He sighed.

"I've tried hard to suppress it, Rain. So hard. You belong to my brother. You're his wife but there are times I can't help thinking of you and loving you the same way I love Rose. But I love Rose, don't get me wrong. It's just that…"

"Alan, I understand. You both love the same women. The Doctor admitted he still cares for Rose when I asked. Me and Rose are very special women."

"You're more special than you'll ever know," Alan said. "I'm sorry, Rain. I've tried so hard to think of you as a sister and I do succeed most of the time but there are times when I can't help loving you as much as my Starlight. I'm sure Brother feels the same way with Rose. I'm…sorry, I'm truly sorry, Rain."

"You've done nothing wrong, Alan. I asked my husband about it…"

She held up her hand when he saw the terrified look on his face.

"No, he's not angry about this. He's curious too because he didn't think about it until I said something. You're the same as him, Alan. I know you don't want to be but there are some things you'll both like and love including me and Rose."

"But I respect your marriage to him the same way he respects my marriage to Rose," Alan insisted. "I do and I will. You're his, not mine."

"Alan, please," she said when she saw the pain and shame in his eyes. "I know that but I just wanted to know the truth and so did he. You can't help what you're hearts feel. You're trying to suppress it but it'll only come back stronger than ever. I don't mind that you love me. I know that you love me but I want to get this out in the open and know that your teasing is a way for you to satisfy your need to love me the way my husband loves me."

Alan nodded.

"I can't turn it off like he can, Rain. I can't suppress my feelings that well. Not after being human. Brother has the ability to turn his feelings on and off like a light switch and that's why he can be around Rose and treat her like a sister. I'm trying to do that and I do succeed most of the time but…"

"If Rose wasn't around. If she'd never been around you would have married me?" Rain said.

"Yes," Alan whispered, staring at the ground.

Her hearts ached when she saw the pain in his eyes.

"You've been the best brother a girl could ever have," she said. "You know what, I don't ever fear traveling in the TARDIS because I know both you and my husband will protect me with your lives and that gives me comfort. I know you'll respect his marriage just as he respects yours."

He gave her a sad smile.

"I wish I could have you both sometimes," he said.

Rain giggled.

"I'm sure my husband feels the same way, Bro," she said.

She took his hand and squeezed it. Alan squeezed it back and sent love into her mind.

"Thank you for understanding, Te'lesu," he said. "Thank you for not being angry at me loving you like I love Rose."

"Thank you for loving me. I needed that love badly when I first came with you guys on this whole journey."

He squeezed her hand.

"I'm here too if you ever need me, Rain. I'm always ready to listen. Always ready with a shoulder to cry on. Ready to love you."

"And steal me away from my husband during your duels?" Rain teased.

He laughed and nodded.

"Yes, the sodding bastard won't have you for long," he said, with a wink.

She paused a moment and then leaned in for a kiss on the lips. Alan kissed her, sighing contentedly and then they broke apart and touched foreheads.

"Thank you for that, Te'lesu," he said.

She nodded.

"Now…that's all I wanted to know so how about we go get some ice cream and figure out ways to drive your brother crazy with our wild antics?"

He grinned and nodded. He held her tightly when she leaned in for a hug and then with a smile, they stood up and he put his hand on her back while they walked out of the room.


	43. Chapter 43

Chapter Forty Three.

Alan lay on his bed in his and Rose's bedroom. He had stayed in the kitchen for awhile laughing and joking with his sisters but what had happened in the park room weighed heavily on his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about what Rain had said.

_Was I that obvious? I thought I was being more subtle than that,_ he thought to himself.

He snorted.

_Who am I kidding? I'm about as subtle as a lorry slamming into someone's face,_ he thought.

He rolled on his side and tears fell from his eyes as anger and shame plagued his mind. While he was crying softly. Rose came in the room. She froze, stared at him lying on his side with his back to her and checked her watch.

"You're havin' a nap at three in the afternoon? Mister Manic Energy is spent this early?" she teased, walking over to him. "Come on, Stitch, afternoon's still young and…"

She paused when she noticed him taking a deep breath and sighing heavily.

"Love? What's wrong?" she said, gently turning him over.

She was shocked to see the tears running down his face.

"Alan? What's wrong?"

"I don't deserve you," he said softly. "I don't deserve anyone."

Rose stared at him for a moment before she went and closed the door. She mentally asked the TARDIS to seal the door and went back to him.

"Love, what is it? What do you mean you don't deserve anyone?" she said gently while she lay down beside him.

"It's nothing, Rose. It'll pass. I'm just in a dark mood like Brother used to have," he said, waving his hand.

Rose smiled.

"Somehow the words Alan and dark mood don't quite go together," she teased.

She sobered up when she saw it didn't cheer him up and she rubbed his wet cheek.

"Please, tell me what's going on, Alan," she begged.

"I can't. You'll hate me," Alan said.

"I don't hate you and I never will. Now please tell me," Rose said.

Alan took a deep breath and explained the conversation with Rain in the park room. Rose listened quietly and then neared closer when he was finished. Alan lowered his eyes and stared at their grey comforter, too ashamed to look. He frowned when he heard Rose chuckle softly.

"I figured this, Alan. I'm not blind, ya know," she said gently.

Alan looked at her.

"And you're fine with me cheating on you?"

"Have you cheated on me?"

"No, not literally but I have fancied Rain before."

"Would you cheat on me with Rain?"

"No," he said emphatically. "You're my wife and Rain is Brother's wife and I wouldn't sleep with her. I love you, I do. I swear I do. It's just that…"

"You have the Doctor's thoughts," Rose said.

She laid a hand on his arm.

"Alan, you honestly don't think that the Doctor turned off his love for me like a light switch, do ya?" she said. "I mean, he told us one of the ways the Valeyard got to him was pointing out our love and the fact I was gonna marry ya, right?"

He nodded and stared down at the comforter.

"I know you don't like being compared to him and being a clone but you are, Alan, and even though you've distanced yourself from him in many ways and became your own person there are still some things you'll still agree on and like. You both like bananas. You both like watching Earth movies. You both like a nice ice cream cone in the middle of summer and you both like the same type of woman. It's really no different than two proper twins liking the same things and that's what you are except it's a bit more intense than that since you're literally his twin. You have the Doctor's memories. You have his thought processes and I have to tell you that when Rain told me that she fancied the Doctor, it was the least shocking day of my life because you were a bit flirty with her sometimes."

"And I'm sorry about that. I'm so, so sorry. I'll go and ask Brother to suppress that urge for good or take it out of my mind and…"

"No!"

He looked at her.

"Alan, that's a bit one sided, isn't it? Especially since that implies the Doctor can keep his urges and memories about loving me. Look, in a lot of ways, Rain is a bit like me. She's come from humble beginnings and was abused and put down and was going nowhere and she wanted to travel and you took her under your wing, same as the Doctor did for me. She's a sweet, loving caring person and you became protective of her but I think that's what you and the Doctor gravitate towards. That kind of personality. Awinita was pretty independent and Mingxia was too so you didn't feel the need to guide and protect them as you did with Rain. Donna doesn't need protecting and Jenny just needs a bit of education about things other than military stuff but she can handle herself too. Rain led a very sheltered life. Never been anywhere and you were thrilled when she first traveled with us. You did what the Doctor does, teaches and molds someone into the person they were meant to be and the affection deepened to love like it did with me and the Doctor because she helped to heal you as much as I did and just like she's doing with the Doctor now. But, I know you love me and you already were in a relationship with me and wouldn't leave me so you channeled that into flirty, teasing behavior that you thought was disguised well enough and it was for the most part but sometimes you kinda stuck a toe over the line and put it back again."

She stroked his cheek.

"You are technically the Doctor and you have his memories and thoughts but this was combined with a half human side and you were feeling love but didn't know how to tease Rain properly without it crossing the line, you see? You were learning how to be human and that's something you needed to learn. The difference between teasing and flirting and what's appropriate. The Doctor's learning it too with Rain. He's trying to be romantic and learning how to be a bit sexy which is why he kinda makes lewd little remarks to her from time to time because that's what humans expect and Rain is still very much human in personality if not in body. You told me they didn't do much of this stuff on Gallifrey so flirting and sex talk and being romantic is something new for you both. Not to mention the Doctor wasn't that close to anyone in his family, I don't think, and he didn't have that sibling interaction growing up so you're missing that experience. Everyone here knows what it meant and we knew it was harmless so we didn't correct you. But I guess Rain finally had to ask to be sure but I'm sure she knew what you were doing as well. And apparently the Doctor realized it too since you said Rain told you he wasn't angry. You're the only one who seems upset."

"I'm just confused, Starlight. This is so new and different to me, not just the flirting with Rain, but other things. It's been a few months traveling here on the TARDIS and I just feel…lost."

"How'd ya mean, sweetheart?"

Alan rolled onto his stomach and stared at the bed. He looked at Rose.

"I've been trying to suss out who I am and I thought I was doing a good job but…being back here…I suddenly went from being the head of our family to being one of them while I let the Doctor take over."

Rose nodded but remained quiet while he gathered his thoughts.

"I think I know why. Not just that it's his TARDIS but because the last time I made waves I ended up with my bum out on a beach."

"And you're afraid if you piss off your brother he'll do it again?" Rose said.

Alan sighed angrily.

"Yes, because I'm fucking insecure as usual," he said, pounding the bed with his fist.

Rose remained quiet for a moment, rubbing his back.

"You know what I think?" she finally said.

Alan looked at her.

"What?"

"I think that's why you goof off all the time. Always acting like a maniac and making jokes and trying to make people laugh. You're afraid of making someone angry and ending up alone," she said to him. "And there's nothing wrong with that, Alan. I love that you do that but…you go a bit overboard at times and make people angry when you don't mean to and it's because you're insecure. You had a family, Alan. A family of your own when suddenly the Doctor plops down in the middle of it and suddenly the one who exiled you is back in your midst and you don't wanna blow your chance at being let back on the TARDIS so you extend the hand of friendship and brotherhood to him, do all that you can to please him and make him proud, to show you've reformed and then basically step back and let him run things and let him be the leader of a family you made and you lost yourself. And to make sure you keep from being lonely and rejected you've become a stand-up comic and tried to be a people pleaser and now you're confused and angry and frustrated because you don't know where you belong anymore."

Alan nodded.

"I don't think the Doctor meant to start running things but you know as well as I do that he's a natural born leader and he jumps at the chance to head up anything and with you stepping down, he filled in the gap. But I don't think he hates you or secretly harbors desires to kick you out again. I think he genuinely loves you, Alan, and won't do that now. I've seen the two of you together and he teases you just as much as you tease him and you are the best of friends but you're still insecure because he's the Doctor and I think you think you're still trapped in that long shadow of his, right?"

"Yes."

"No one here wants ya gone, Alan. Every one of us loves ya and the moment the Doctor did kick you out, there'd be six women running out the door to scoop you up and carry ya back in. The Doctor is many things but he's not a ruthless dictator. I think he liked that we had a democracy in our family and he does the same thing for all of us. We showed him what a family looked like and it was because of you and what you learned that he runs the TARDIS like that now. He's proud of you, Alan. I can see it in his eyes when he looks at ya. The reason you can't see it is you're crouching in his shadow, trembling and waiting for the moment he lands back on Bad Wolf Bay and screams for ya to get out. I think that's why you're so freaked out Rain cottoned on to your flirting because you thought you were being clever and now you're terrified big brother will be angry at you. And he's not, Rain said he's not. So some of it is your insecurities and your fears of rejection. I think that's also why you love Rain so much. She was also rejected by others and insecure and you found a kindred spirit and when the Doctor came along, he experienced the same thing but for different reasons. His rejections and insecurities stems from his childhood and adulthood and his companions constantly leaving him. Your fears mainly stem from what the Doctor did to ya which if you ask me was an extremely rash thing to do since it didn't really address any real problems. He just threw you out the door with me and expected me to tend to ya and that was that. But I'm not the problem, he was the problem and it should have been talked over and worked out before he left. This is what happens when someone thinks ditching someone else on a beach is a great idea."

She cuddled close while Alan put his arm around her.

"I don't think the Doctor would mind if you became a leader with him. After all, you have the right to have your say in all this. You have the right to be the head of the family since that's what you were in the first place before he happened along. You need to work together with him to head up this family of ours and I think the Doctor would let that happen if you asked. The problem is you don't ask and you don't assert yourself but there's no reason not to. Personally, I think he'd like the extra help managing this crazy clan. I really, really do think the four of us need to sit down and talk and really sort through this whole mess especially since we tried to set up a weird hierarchy of who belongs where and who's related to whom that doesn't really make much sense if you think about it. I mean, the whole Doctor being married to a woman who is his sister but wink, wink she's really not because we say she's not and yet she is to you is odd to say the least."

She smiled at him.

"and if you really think about it, the Doctor is your daddy and Donna's your mummy because those are the people who helped create you. But no, they're your brother and sister because it would be weird calling the Doctor daddy and I think Donna would rather kiss a Slitheen than be called mummy by you. Jenny is technically your daughter since she came from your genes but somewhere down the line, you and the Doctor decided that would confuse the poor girl too much and you were demoted to uncle instead because apparently you think Jenny would never be able to tell ya apart in a million years. But see, my love, see how much of a mess this really is? People thrown together, claiming to be related to each other because I read from a piece of paper that said they were or Rain's dad went and got papers from a tribal council or got married or just got cloned from one another. And like I said, the whole family is related to one another in weird ways. Like the Doctor and Rain, the brother and sister who aren't and the Doctor and Donna, the mummy and daddy who aren't and Amber the other sister but we don't claim her or speak of her because she's an abusive bitch and Jack, the immortal who's a brother on the weekend or something like that. And you can't be with Rain because a piece of paper claims you are in her clan or something, which by the way means you also probably have John and a hundred other people as your brother and sister but you never claimed those other one hundred and one people before. But because a piece of paper said Rain was related to you and you couldn't be with her because that was incest, you go by that and because I read from a piece of paper that you repeated from that said you were brother and sister, you are. I mean, no wonder you're confused and unsure about yourself. I'm confused just talking about it, Alan."

She smiled.

"But I think, I honestly think you're blowing it all out of proportion and imagining things that aren't there and if we talk this out like adults, sit down and truly talk we can finally get past all this and get another part of the Doctor and your healing done. Because this whole kicking you out the door was never really addressed and it's now the white elephant in the room that no one talks about. But it's time. It's truly time to get this out of the way and over with so we can move on and be the family we were meant to be, alright?"

Alan nodded and she kissed him.

"Now, dry those tears and come with me. You and me and the Doctor and Rain are gonna have a little chat and then we're gonna include the rest of the family and get this sorted out once and for all!"


	44. Chapter 44

Chapter Forty Four

After leaving the bedroom, Rose led Alan to the kitchen and prepared a little picnic lunch.

"I want to make this a nice friendly chat between friends," Rose explained while she put things in a wicker basket.

Alan nodded and helped her assemble everything. After they were finished, Rose kissed his cheek and wiped away the tear tracks with her fingers. She grabbed a blanket, led him to the park room. Once the blanket was down on the grass by the lake and the picnic basket was resting on it. Rose threw up a privacy block and called the Doctor and Rain to them.

"Now we can eat and talk this over like adults," Rose said to Alan.

The Doctor and Rain came in the room a few minutes later.

"We made a lunch for ya," Rose said while they closed the door.

"Ah, lovely," the Doctor said, taking his wife's hand.

They walked over and sat down beside them. The Doctor gave his brother a reassuring pat on the back and Alan smiled. Rose reached into the basket and pulled out everything and laid it out. Once everyone was eating, Rose glanced at Alan. Knowing he probably wouldn't have the courage to say everything, she explained their entire conversation while Alan stared at the blanket and ate quietly. When she finally finished, the Doctor laid his ham sandwich down on his paper plate and sighed while he scooted closer to his brother.

"Brother, most of what Rose just said is news to me," he said gently. "I had no idea you still had all these fears and insecurities because you do hide behind this clownish behavior. Course I shoulda known that's what it was hiding since I do it as well. But distance lends perspective and it's hard to judge your own behavior when it's easy to see someone else."

He put his arm around him.

"Brother, I'm not angry at you. I don't hate you. I'm not secretly plotting the moment when I'll take you back to Bad Wolf Bay. Even if I were, Rose is right. I would be pistol whipped by six angry women the moment I did. I don't blame you anymore for what happened. I forgave and forgot and it's water under the bridge now. I understand about Rain which is why I'm not angry at that either. I didn't mean to overtake your role as head of the family. I s'pose I did do that but again, Rose is right. I just do take control so often that it's second nature to me now and I don't realize I'm doing it at times. This is your home now. You live here with me and with us. You don't have to be the court jester to earn your keep. And actually you do need to tone it down a bit. I love your playful sense of humor and you're fun to have around but you do tend to become a bit annoying and overbearing when you get going and I'm concerned because I think Donna's on the verge of punching ya if you don't slack off a bit. But I understand why you do it now that Rose has explained it. I understand about loving Rain and she does too."

"I do, Alan," Rain said, reaching over and squeezing his hand.

"And I don't blame ya. What's not to love?" he said, winking at his wife. "And Rose's theory about wanting to shelter and protect her is bang on. That's why I fell in love with her as well. I understand you not knowing the difference between sibling teasing and flirting. It's a mystery to me as well. How you humans manage to tease and flirt and not get the two things mixed up amazes me. I still have a lot to learn about human behavior too but you're one up on me with that because you had a human side. I did as well, but being a human in 1913 is a bit different from being a human in 2009. But it's a learning process for both of us and unfortunately neither of us is an expert at communication yet which is why everything has led to us being in here being shocked at the revelations and discussing this. But, Brother, you don't have to be "on" all the time for us. We love you. I love you and you can be quiet and thoughtful and loving and rest. Personally, I get tired watching you go and I'm sure everyone else does too. Never mind it must exhaust you as well."

Alan grinned and nodded.

"I too noticed the flirting but like Rose and everyone else I knew it was just overactive teasing and I never said anything. I know you respect my marriage like I respect yours but these two ladies sitting here will always have a special place in our hearts and I think we can both love them equally and not have that be a problem just as long as we know who goes with whom when it's time for bed. Everyone here except for me and Donna and Jenny was under your care once and you looked after them with Rose and kept them safe and kept them entertained. I didn't mean to take that away from you in any way and I really do want you to have that role back because it was never mine to take in the first place. This is your family, Alan. I'm just a part of it because you were the one who graciously let me in. You were the one who let me into it, not me. I didn't barge into it even though loony tunes in the sky forced me into it at first. I don't know if your offering to become my brother was a survival tactic for you. I hope not because I really, honestly wanted to be your brother and I hope you want to be mine."

"I do."

He smiled and squeezed his shoulder.

"But yes, the whole arrangement we have here is quite odd. I think we need a chart just to sort everyone out. But personally it is interesting how you managed to sort it out before I came along and how you merged Donna and Jenny and me into it afterwards. I'm grateful to you for allowing me to marry Rain even though yes, technically, we're brother and sister. Which by the way, Flowers in the Attic is very odd, Brother. You have to read this thing," he said while Rain giggled. "You want insight into my wife's mind and her reading habits. Read it next. But anyway, I want this sorted out as well because the last thing I want it for my Te'lesau to be cowering in a corner waiting for the Sword of Damocles to drop while the rest of us go out and have fun. I'm sorry for what I did to you. I'm sorry I dumped you out the door without so much as a by your leave and leave you to sort yourself out with Rose as your babysitter. I'm sorry I made a dog's dinner of things by not talking it out in the TARDIS before I went back over and I'm sorry I let things stay unsaid in here. I love you, my Brother, just as deeply as everyone else and it breaks my hearts that you were secretly in fear of me."

He tousled his hair playfully.

"Omega's orifice, Brother. I had to sort these two out and get them to assert themselves, you mean I have to do it for you as well?" he teased.

Rose and Rain came over to Alan, got on either side and put their arms around him. Alan put his arms around them and sighed while he looked at them. The Doctor rubbed Rain's back and then put his hand on Rose's head.

"These two women are our special women and they need extra special care from us," the Doctor said. "Both of them were hurt and lonely little souls who were beaten down by life and we found them and raised them up and turned them into the stellar women they are today. They're our special treasures and we can't let anything happen to them because our lives will be a lot darker if that happens. We took them under our wings and taught them to fly and that's why we both love them so much because they allowed us a peek into their private lives and we showed them a glimpse into ours. We must guard them closely, more closely that the others because they're our two beating hearts and if we lose them we'll die inside and never regenerate."

"Wow, Doctor, that's beautiful," Rose said, glancing at him.

"Yeah, I found it in a secondhand poetry book or some such thing," the Doctor said, waving his hand dismissively.

He grinned when the other three and he crawled over to the front of them. Both women opened their arms and they got in a group hug.

"The four of us, I think, form the core of this family and it's up to us to communicate and keep the lines of communication open so we can be healthy and happy and pass that on to the rest. Hopefully, in time, the others will find loving partners like we have but we have two hearts, Alan, and there's room enough in each for both these little jewels."

He paused a moment.

"Now…about the whole polygamy scheme of mine where we marry each other and live in Utah as Mormons…when do we arrange that?"

"Um, you can be a Mormon, dear. I'll pass," Rain said.

"Yeah, me too," Rose said.

The Doctor smiled at Alan.

"Brother, you wanna marry me and go live a Mormon life in Utah?"

The women giggled when Alan thought long and hard.

"Can I keep Rose as my concubine?" he said.

"Um…only if I can keep Rain as mine and we switch every other day to keep things interesting."

"How 'bout we pass and you get Donna and Awinita to do it instead?" Rose said.

"Oh blimey, trying to find someone to marry Donna, that'll be interesting just for the sheer voyeuristic thrill," Alan said, widening his eyes.

"Now, now, Brother. Donna is capable of marrying someone…"

The women giggled when the brothers looked at each other and began to snigger.

"Course that's only when big red alien space spiders aren't involved," Alan said.

"Damn, you said it first," the Doctor said. "And I was gonna add the next wedding gown better have bleedin' pockets in it because I'm not gonna listen to that gripe again."

The Doctor sobered up.

"But are we finally past all this and can we finally move on and concentrate on something else?" he said to him.

Alan nodded. The Doctor leaned forward and embraced him tightly.

"You are my brother now and forever."

"And you are mine," Alan replied, hugging him back while the women scooted back a bit.

The two women watched with warm hearts while their husbands kept hugging and didn't let go for a few minutes. Finally, they broke apart.

"Are we ready to let the rest of our family come in? I packed enough sandwiches and crisps for them as well," Rose said.

They nodded and Rose summoned them to the park room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they were inside and eating, the four of them talked to them about what happened. The others sat and listened in stunned silence.

"Bro, you can't be serious. We love you. We'd never kick you out of here," Awinita said to him. "We'd make the Doctor eat his next regeneration if he did that to you."

"See, I throw you out, I'm dead meat. Incentive enough for me to keep you around, Brother," the Doctor teased. "And I've been around long enough to know you don't muck with angry women on the warpath. No way!"

"And yeah, you don't have to be a maniac all the time," Donna said. "In fact, I'd love it if you weren't. It gives me a headache sometimes when you bounce off the walls. But at the same time don't become a gloomy Gus sitting in a corner moping. Just find a happy medium and stick with that."

"Well, I'm sorry I did that to all of you," Alan said. "I didn't realize I was being that annoying."

"Nah, you're our little brother. You're supposed to be an annoying pest, remember?" Rain said while they laughed.

They other four women all gathered around him and hugged him and tousled his hair while Rain, Rose and the Doctor watched happily. Each of them poured love into his mind and he gave it back to them gladly.

"You're a part of this family, Alan, and that'll never change," Awinita said to him.

"Good, because I don't want it to," Alan replied.

He grinned when they kissed his cheeks and nuzzled them. Once they broke apart, the Doctor slapped his hands together.

"Okay, next up, the dogs…" he said while they laughed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After eating and talking, the group dispersed to different parts of the TARDIS. Rain went back to the living room and relaxed while she watched the TV. She smiled when Alan passed by the room, stopped and backed up.

"Hey, Bro," she said when he came inside.

"Hello, Te'lesu, back to watching your movies?" he said.

"Yeah, but it's not King Kong now. It's Ghostbusters."

"Ooo, another classic. Can I watch it with ya?"

"Sure, go ahead."

Alan sat down beside her.

"I really will watch my behavior in future, Te'lesu," he said to her.

"Alan, I don't mind you teasing me. I knew what you were doing. It's nothing, alright? I'm happy you love me. I love you too and we can have a special relationship as Bro and Sis and make my husband's life pure hell."

He giggled and smiled at her.

"You know, I want to tell you something private if you don't mind."

"I don't mind, Bro."

He threw up a privacy block and thought to her.

_I don't know what life we're on, Te'lesu. I figure it's our first lives but if it is then there's the possibility that the Doctor will be dead long before us and if that happens, I'll make sure you are taken care of and well provided for along with everyone else. Because if we are all on our first lives, we'll be around far longer than he will._

Rain nodded and thought back to him.

_I know which is why I want to make every moment count with him but I'm glad you'll be around to look after me and all of us, Bro. That also makes me feel safe traveling with everyone._

_Good, because I want you to feel safe and secure and loved. _

_And I want the same for you, Bro. And you are all of those things, believe that._

_I do now, Te'lesu, there's no doubt in my mind anymore._

_Good, I'm glad because now I can do this without you getting upset…_

Alan's eyes widened when she smacked him upside the head. She giggled when Alan gave her a maniacal look and poked her arm. Rain feigned anger and poked back. Alan gave her a devilish grin and smacked her leg.

"Oh, that's it, Bro," Rain said. "You're going down now!"

"Not if you can't catch me, poopy butt!"

He leapt up from the couch and laughed as Rain chased him out the back door.


	45. Chapter 45

Chapter Forty Five

"Wow, this is hotter n' hell under this garb," Donna said.

She and the rest of the family were on Attatuk taking a desert tour of an ancient civilization. The country required women to dress in long black dresses and veils similar to what Muslim women wore in some countries. The Doctor wore his customary brown suit, shirt, tie and trousers but he had a long bright blue scarf wrapped around his head and only the area around his eyes, like the women's, was visible. Alan was wearing a white t-shirt and blue trousers but he also had on a blue jacket and headscarf.

"Trust me, Donna; you'll thank Attatuk for making you wear that kit. The dust storms here are ferocious and they can start with little or no warning," Alan said to her.

He leaned in and stared at her eyes.

"That is you, right?"

"Yes, it's me."

"Good, wanted to make sure I was addressing the right pair of peepers," he said, walking away.

Donna rolled her eyes. She leaned up against the wall of the little building that served as the headquarters for the tour guides. They had two guides for the afternoon who were going to be walking with them and showing them the sights while they rode something called Gunks. Donna had no idea what that was but she figured with a name like that it wasn't a pretty animal.

The door opened and Mingxia stepped outside. She adjusted the veil and stared down at the black canvas shoes covering her feet.

"They sure do love black here," she said to Donna.

"Not if you're a male then apparently blue's your color," she replied. "You get a dekko at these "gunks" yet?"

"No, the guy inside was describing them as giant dinosaur-like lizards."

"We're riding dinosaurs? Do they eat people?"

"I hope not. I really don't wanna die in this and end up as a big black turd out the gunk's back end," Mingxia said.

The door opened and they stared at the eyes. They stared intently.

"Awinita?" Mingxia said.

"Yup, although I won't be here much longer after I sweat myself into a skeleton."

"Whine, whine, whine, my God, you women are fussy," Alan said, coming around the corner. "We have a golden opportunity to see the ruins of an ancient civilization and you're griping about being hot and sweaty."

"Easy for you to say, Bro. you're not covered head to toe in black," Awinita said.

"Yes but I have a headscarf on and a jacket which I'm not used to wearing anymore. I'm not cool and comfortable either," he said, leaning against the building on the other side of the door from the women. "Brother's in there making final preparations though and I think we're just about ready to go."

"What are gunks?" Donna said.

"Oh, big four legged lizards that four people can ride on. We're getting two of them and there'll be two trainers guiding them into the desert off in that general direction," Alan said waving his right arm around.

The door opened and a woman stepped through. Alan leaned up to look at her.

"It's me, Bro," Rain said, pulling down the long sleeves of her robe. "The Doctor wanted me to tell you he's ready, just finishing up the paperwork. There's some kind of underground stable out back and they'll be bringing the gunk things around in a moment. They said that four people can get on them."

Alan nodded.

"We have to decide who goes where."

"I'm going with my husband wherever he's going and Rose is going with you and I think Jenny is coming with me. That's as far as we've gotten on the seating arrangements."

"I'll go with you and Jenny and the Doctor then," Donna said.

"I guess we're stuck with Bro then," Awinita said to Mingxia.

"Wow, I'm just bowled over by your excitement," Alan said while they giggled.

Rain moved when the door opened and the Doctor, Jenny and Rose came outside. The Doctor folded the paperwork and put it in his inside jacket pocket.

"Everything is ready. We just need to suss out who goes where," he said.

"We did. Me, you, Jenny and Donna on one. The others on the other," Rain said.

"Wow, it's amazing how quickly things get sorted out when you're sifting through tons of paperwork. Good, glad that headache is over with then. Now if the trainers would just bring the animals around so we can get going…"

The moment he finished speaking, they heard a sound like someone giving out a low burp. The women were shocked when they brought the gunks around the building. They looked like huge green Gila monsters. Around their large snouts were a bridle and two handlers wearing long white robes and blue headscarves were leading them around the front of the building.

"We're riding those?" Jenny said.

"Oh my God, it's the lizard the storm troopers rode in the first Star Wars," Awinita said.

The creatures stopped and lowered their heads when the handlers put the reins back over their heads and walked toward the people assembled by the building. Both of them had dark brown hands and the skin showing through the hole in the scarf was brown and lined from age. Each one carried a long brown rod in his right hand.

"I am Muktuk, he is Geni," the handler on the right said pointing to the other. "We are your guides for this afternoon.

They nodded and watched while they walked back to the gunks.

"Nai, nai," they said in unison while tapping them on the back with the rod.

The gunks lay down and the guides gestured for them to come and get on. The Doctor looked at Alan.

"In front of each?" he asked.

Alan nodded and they walked over and climbed on. Rose and Rain got on behind them. Then Jenny and Donna on the Doctor's gunk and Awinita and Mingxia on the other.

"Im, im!" the guides said in unison tapping the rod on the front left leg.

Everyone gasped as the gunks slowly got to their feet.

"Hold on to the rein," Muktuk told the Doctor and Alan.

They nodded and grabbed the rein. Both handlers walked back to the back of the gunks.

"Naishi, naishi!" they said tapping them on the side.

The gunks lumbered off and the handlers walked quickly to the front. They grabbed hold of the side of the bridle and walked with them, guiding them into the desert.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After a half hour, they began to see ruins poking up through the desert sands.

"'Bout bloody time, my ass is hurting from this bony back," Donna muttered.

The guides subtly turned the gunks and they headed towards a statue that was standing beside the ruins of a temple. The statue resembled a man with a hawk's head who had his arms outstretched. His arms had wings and he was naked with a large erection.

"Apparently bird man had a sizable womb broom there," Alan said while Rose laughed.

The guides walked the gunks up to the statue and stopped.

"This is Zerzia, god of the ancient Kapenik people," Geni said, pointing with his rod. "He was the main god of the Kapenik. It's said he masturbated while in the heavens and when he ejaculated, his semen fell onto the sand and the Kapenik were created."

"Wow, created from spilled semen, that's a bummer," Awinita said to Mingxia who giggled.

"Is that how Gallifreyans were originally created, dear?" Rain whispered to the Doctor.

"Yes dear. Rassilon was bored one afternoon while watching chat shows on the telly and he wanked off and it made me," he said while Rain laughed and hugged him around the middle.

"The temple behind him originally was the site of several violent sacrifices," Geni continued. "Much blood was spilt to please great Zerzia."

_Blood, semen and sand,_ Alan thought to his family. _Welcome to Kapenik civilization, I guess._

"Nishi, nishi," the guides said, tapping the lizards on the side.

The brothers held onto the reins while they walked off.

For the next half hour, they toured the desert site, looking at statues, most of which depicted Zerzia in one form or another, monuments in various states of decay, ruins of houses and tombs. After an hour, the sun was beating down overhead making the women sweaty and uncomfortable. Rain was wilting along with Rose and both of them laid their heads on their husband's backs while the gunks walked along.

"I want this to end so we can get back into regular clothes," Donna muttered to Jenny.

Jenny turned her head and nodded.

"I don't think I can stand much more of this," she said to her. "I'm sweating in here and it's making this outfit stick to my face and body."

"We're nearly done. Hold on, girls," the Doctor said, looking at them.

The women stared at the Doctor who was looking over their shoulders with terrified eyes.

"LOOK!" he screamed at the guides.

Everyone turned to look and gasped when they saw a wall of sand several miles away and closing in fast.

"Sandstorm!" Muktuk said." Nishi, nishi!"

Both of them began to beat the gunks who bellowed angrily and lumbered on.

"Oh for heaven's sake, a pushchair goes faster than this monstrosity!" Donna said angrily.

The Doctor glanced around and noticed the sandstorm was about two miles from them.

"Get ready you lot. This isn't gonna be pleasant!" he yelled.

Geni was getting scared and frustrated when he saw how close the sandstorm was. Panicking, he beat Alan's gunk even harder. Suddenly, the gunk, having had enough whippings, bellowed loudly and surprised everyone when he put on a sudden burst of speed carrying Alan, Rose, Mingxia and Awinita into the desert.

"Brother!" the Doctor screamed.

"Shit! How do you stop this crazy thing?" Alan screamed back.

The Doctor looked behind him while Alan's gunk lumbered off into the desert. He noticed the sandstorm was a half mile away.

"On the ground!" he yelled to the women behind him.

They quickly slid off and Muktuk lowered their gunk to the ground. He and Geni ran around and huddled together with the others while the Doctor made the women get in a circle, face each other and put their heads down. He said a silent prayer for the rest of his family's safety while he and the two handlers lowered their heads.

There was a roaring in their ears and then the sandstorm overtook them.


	46. Chapter 46

Chapter Forty Six

"Halt," Alan screamed as he kept his head down through the sandstorm. "Cease, desist! Quit running, ya daft lizard! Stoooooop!"

The lizard was still running through the swirling sand in a panic while Alan and the others held on for dear life. Rose had her face pressed up against his back and the other two women were doing the same thing with the backs in front of them. Alan's head was down and his hand was covering his eyes while he kept jerking on the reins trying to get their gunk under control again.

"When's he gonna stop?" Rose screamed to him.

"I guess when he figures he's gotten far enough away from the git with the cane!" Alan screamed back. "I hope it's soon though because I don't wanna get halfway across the planet before he quits!"

Suddenly they felt themselves going downwards and the sand was no longer beating against their bodies. Alan took his hand away and opened his eyes and noticed they were in an underground passageway. He looked back and noticed the gunk had run down a stone ramp into a narrow space and through the opening the sandstorm was still raging.

"Starlight, Te'lesu, open your eyes. It's alright now," he said to them.

They leaned up and opened their eyes. They looked around.

"Where are we?" Mingxia said.

Alan noticed a painting of Zerzia on the wall.

"My guess is a tomb of some kind or underground temple perhaps. At any rate, it's shelter for us."

He and the others slid off the back and backed away slightly from the entrance when gusts of wind brought sand blowing inside.

_Brother?_ Alan thought to him. _Brother, are you alright?_

_Yes, only just. We're in the middle of the sandstorm_, the Doctor thought back._ Where are you?_

_In some kind of underground passageway. The gunk ran down here. We're alright; just don't know where we are because we can't even see the sky yet._

_I can't either because my head is down and my eyes are closed but I can feel the sand starting to bury us alive and it will if it doesn't let up soon. But we're all huddled together, us and the guides._

_Well, be sure to beat up the git who did this to us._

_Believe me, I'm seriously considering it. _

There was a pause.

_Oh! The sandstorm just stopped here, Brother. So it should let up in a few seconds where you are._

_Good, I hope so,_ Alan thought back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor slowly lifted his head and opened his eyes while tiny mounds of sand slid off his back. He rubbed the backs of the women.

"It's alright now, storm's over," he said gently.

They slowly leaned up and looked around. They noticed that the sand had almost buried their legs and feet. The guides leaned up and dusted the sand off their bodies.

"You'll be pleased to know my brother and the rest of my family is alright, no thanks to you," the Doctor snarled at Geni.

"I was trying to get the beast to move," Geni shot back.

"Oh…it moved alright," Donna said.

The Doctor helped the girls to their feet. He dusted the sand off his suit while they looked around.

"Love, they said they were underground, right?" Rain said to him.

"Yeah…" the Doctor said, looking with them.

_Alan,_ he thought. _Where are you? Show yourself!_

_I can't. The storm hasn't passed yet._

"What?" Donna said.

The storm was now about three miles away.

"How far did they get?" Rain said in horror.

"I didn't think these things could run that fast," Jenny said.

"I think they have secret rocket packs on them if you ask me," Donna said.

_Ah, now the storm's passed,_ Alan thought to them.

_Come up and show yourself to us,_ the Doctor thought back.

They looked hard and finally they could see a tiny speck in the distance.

"Bloody hell!" Donna said as their mouths dropped open.

_Brother?_ Alan thought in disbelief. _Is that you way over there?_

_Yeah, I guess the gunks are faster than they look,_ the Doctor thought.

They noticed the others coming up behind Alan.

_Doctor?_ Rose thought. _Oh my God, it ran this far?_

_Seems so,_ the Doctor thought back. _I'm thinking four, five miles maybe?_

"Well, let's go get them, Dad," Jenny said.

Muktuk shook his head.

"That's not possible," he said.

"What'd ya mean, that's not possible? We have a gunk and they're right over there. We can see them!" Donna said.

Geni pointed up to the sun.

"Too hot. We must wait till nightfall," he said.

"He's right, loves," the Doctor said. "We weren't supposed to be out here this long. If we try to go now, even four or five miles in this heat the sun will fry us. We need to wait till it gets dark."

"What about the TARDIS?" Rain said. "We can use the TARDIS and go get…"

"We can't go back all the way," Geni said. "There is an underground shelter about a mile back. We can use that until the sun sets."

"Oh great," Donna said.

The Doctor thought the news to the rest of his family.

_Get them back underground, Brother,_ the Doctor thought to him. _Keep them there and we'll come when the sun begins to set._

_Will do. Be careful._

_You too,_ the Doctor thought.

They watched the four of them turn and go back underground. The Doctor turned around.

"Come on, we need to do the same before we all roast alive," he said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rose sighed.

"I'm not wearing this veil then if we're gonna be down here," she said, reaching up to take it off.

"Good idea," Mingxia said.

The three women took off their veils and sighed when they could feel the air on their faces again. They heard Alan giggle and looked at him.

"What?" Awinita said.

"Heh, you have a circle of dust around your faces. You look like dust raccoons," he said.

"Well, you have one as well so as soon as you take off the scarf, you'll look like us," Rose said.

They laid the veils on the gunk's back while Alan unwound the scarf and took it off his face.

"Heh, you have a circle of dust around your face. You look like a dust raccoon," Rose said, imitating his voice perfectly.

"Oh, be quiet," Alan said while they giggled.

He laid the scarf on the back beside the veils and started to take his jacket off.

"No wait, I better not. Lizzy might panic again and this jacket has the bigger on the inside pockets. I'm not about to have Godzilla scarper off with it," he said, dropping his arms to his sides.

He reached into his trouser pocket, pulled out a small flashlight and turned it on. He shined it past the gunk and noticed the passageway went on and on. He swung the light onto the wall and saw a painting of Zerzia vanquishing some adversaries that resembled humanoid mice.

"Weird," Awinita said, staring at it.

"Most of these resemble an Egyptian influence," Alan mused. "The whole human with the animal head thing? But then again, lots of cultures did that. The whole melding of man with animal and…"

"Hon, who are you talking to?" Rose said.

"Myself. I'm bored now," Alan said. "I'm trying to amuse myself until Brother gets here and we can go home."

"How long will that be?" Mingxia asked.

Alan sighed.

"Let's see…Attatuk has thirty six hour days and we started out at 0800 this morning and it's now 11 soooooo…about 9 hours, give or take."

"Nine hours?" Mingxia said while Rose and Awinita groaned.

"Yup, sorry guys, long days here, I'm afraid."

"Will we survive that? If it's too hot for them to even go a couple of miles..." Rose asked.

"We should. We have an advantage in that we can withstand temperature extremes but even direct sunlight would be too much which is why we have to wait. But sheltered here…I think we'll be alright. We can just move further back and wait where it's cooler and we can keep communicating with the others and when they tell us they're coming we'll walk back up here and wait. So, let's go ahead and get going before it gets unbearable."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Oh God," Rain gasped while she laid her head on her husband's back.

"Not far now, Latara. Hold on," the Doctor said, glancing back at her.

"Can't this thing go any faster?" Donna said, panting. "Are they that dim that they don't realize they're gonna die?"

"I can't bear this veil anymore. I'm gonna take it off," Jenny said, reaching up.

"No, Angel, leave it on. It protects you," the Doctor said to her.

"Damn it," Jenny said.

"We're about there!" the Doctor said. "I…OI!"

He was looking back at Geni who was whipping the gunk with his rod. Geni looked at him.

"Don't…you…dare…" the Doctor snarled at him.

"I'm trying to make it go faster," Geni said.

"Yeah and I lost half my family the last time you did that so leave him alone," the Doctor said.

_Brother?_

The Doctor heard Alan in his mind.

_Yes?_ he thought back.

_We're moving deeper into this…tomb or temple or whatever it is. There are paintings on the walls of bird boy so I'm guessing it's one or the other. Anyway, when you get ready to come back tell us so we can go back to the entrance._

_I will. Good luck._

_Thanks, you too._

"Ugh, they're in a tomb?" Rain said.

"Seems so. Maybe they can look at some mummies which is more than we'll be able to do," the Doctor replied.

Rain looked back at the guides.

"Um…whoever wants to field this question please do. Is there anything to do in this shelter to pass the time?"

"There are beds, a holovision set, magazines and a kitchen," Muktuk replied.

"Good. At least we won't be totally bored," Rain said, putting her head back on her husband's back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm so glad I'm not claustrophobic," Mingxia said as the passageway became narrower.

They were following Alan who was shining the flashlight on the ground in case there were holes in front of them. There were still paintings on the walls but now they were becoming scarcer. They stopped when Alan did.

"What is this place?" he muttered, looking around. "If this is a tomb where's the sealed door or lower level where the body is kept? Why are we just going down one long passageway?"

"Maybe it's not a tomb," Awinita said.

"Yes, but what is it?" Alan said. "If it's a temple, where's the altar or a larger room? Seems like someone just dug and painted and dug and painted and dug and painted to pass the time."

"Are you familiar with ancient civilizations here?" Rose asked.

"Not entirely. I know a smattering. Enough to know they did bury their dead in tombs and they usually had a lower level with a sealed door but if this is one it must be waaaaaaaaaaaaaay at the back somewhere. Wait a tic…hullo…."

"What?" Rose said to him.

He shined the flashlight on the wall. Above a painting of Zerzia sipping from a bowl, the TARDIS had translated a sentence.

LORD ZERZIA SHALL DRINK THE LIFEGIVING BLOOD OF THE UNBELIEVERS.

"How quaint," Mingxia said, dryly. "I'm assuming that's what's in the bowl then?"

"I think so, Te'lesu," Alan said.

He rubbed his chin.

"So…Egyptain and Aztec influences?" he murmured.

Rose looked back at her sisters.

"Bored again," she said, jerking her head at her husband.

"Very bored and very curious," Alan replied, glancing back at her.

He shined the flashlight over their shoulders. They turned and saw more writing over a painting of Zerzia raising his winged arms in triumph.

THE AGE OF ZERZIA WILL BE BIRTHED WITH THE BLOOD OF THE IMMORTALS.

"Good thing Jack isn't here then," Alan said to them. "Not sure what the age of Zerzia would be like but if the bloke drinks blood I'm sure it won't be very pleasant for the unbelievers."

"Bro, can we go back to the entrance?" Awinita asked.

Alan frowned and looked at her.

"Why, Te'lesu?"

"Because I'm getting the willies. I don't like being back here with crap like that on the walls."

"Oh Awinita, it's just musty, dusty tomb paintings. There's nothing harmful about them. I promise you'll be safe," Alan said.

Suddenly he heard Mingxia grunt at the same time her mind winked out in his. The other three spun around and they saw figures wearing black robes and hoods with clubs. Mingxia was lying unconscious at their feet.

_Brother?_ the Doctor thought, panicking. _What happened to Mingxia? We can't feel her. Where is…Brother? Rose? Awinita? Where are you?_


	47. Chapter 47

Chapter Forty Seven

The Doctor was frantic. They had reached the shelter and Geni and Muktuk had taken the gunk down but he and his family were standing at the entrance looking back out over the sands trying to reestablish contact with the others and being torn about what to do. Geni noticed them pacing back and forth and came up the metal ramp.

"I thought you were eager to get in here," Geni said to the Doctor.

He spun around.

"My family is in danger. Something happened to them," he said to him.

"Um…how do you know?"

"Because I can communicate with all of them telepathically and I can feel their minds in my own. If they are unconscious we can't feel them so I'm betting someone knocked them out or they fell and hit something and they're unconscious."

"There is no one out there where they are. It's all ruins," Geni said, shrugging.

"Then they must have had an accident. We need to find a way to get back to them."

"We can't. The heat will be too much for us."

"Are you sure we can't make it back to the other building?" Rain said, coming up to him.

"No ma'am, if we were able to make it back I would have taken us back. I'm sure your family is alright. Just come inside before you die from the heat."

The Doctor muttered a string of curses under his breath. Feeling powerless and frustrated, he reluctantly ushered the remains of his family into the underground shelter.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rose groaned and slowly opened her eyes. She rose up on her hands and knees and noticed she had been stripped down to her underwear and was trapped at the bottom of a long dirt pit. The walls were all smoothed down so there was no way to climb out.

_Rose?_ she heard the Doctor saying in her mind. _Oh Rose, are you alright?_

_Yes, but I'm in a pit and I'm in my underwear and I have no clue where the others are at._

_We still can't feel them. Only you. We can't get to you. We're miles away and the sun is still too hot. _

Rose cursed.

_What can you see?_ the Doctor thought. _Why are you in a pit? Did you fall in?_

_No, these bastards in black robes with hoods over their faces knocked us out._

_Black robes? Geni informed us no one was out there. It was all ruins._

_Well, Geni is thick then,_ Rose thought, snorting. _As for what I can see. I can see a ceiling way up above me. I think we're in a room. There's light and it's flickering so I'm guessing torchlight? I can't hear anyone. I think I'm all alone unless everyone's being very quiet. _

_And there's no way for you to get out?_ the Doctor thought.

Rose felt the wall in front of her.

_No, it's dirt. All around me it's been smoothed out and it's packed tight. There's not even a crack for a handhold._

_Damn it!_

Rose smiled when she felt the Doctor send love into her mind.

_Rose, I'm sorry. We can't get to you yet. We'll be dead and regenerating before we get halfway to your shelter. I'm so sorry. I hope whoever these people are they leave you alone until after nightfall. Are you alright physically though? You said they knocked you out._

Rose reached up to her head and winced when she felt a knot on the back of her head. She ran her hand down the sides of her face and saw dried blood on her fingertips.

_I have a lump on the back of my head from where they hit me and I bled a bit but I think I'm okay, just trapped. _

Suddenly, she felt Alan's mind wink back in.

_Alan!_ she and the Doctor said in unison.

_Ugh, yeah? Not so loud, you two, my head is throbbing and...Starlight? Where are you? Sod that, where am I?_

_I'm in a dirt pit,_ Rose thought to him.

_You are? Where? I'm in a stone box or something with metal bars over my head and why am I only in my Y-fronts?_

_I see I'm not the only one they stripped,_ Rose thought dryly.

_Are you alright, Brother?_ the Doctor thought, concerned.

_Um…I seem alright, I'm just by myself and I can't feel Mingxia or Awinita yet. My head hurts from the club landing on it but other than that, I'm just nearly naked and alone. Did you lot make it back to the shelter alright?_

_Yes, but that doesn't matter right now. We're here but we can't get to you until the sun goes down. All of us are acting like caged lions and dumb and dumber here can't figure out why. Brother, I'm sorry. We're helpless at the moment. I was telling Rose we'd never make it across the desert in this heat; we can't even make it to the TARDIS. I just hope they leave you alone for the moment._

_Me too and…wait, _Alan thought.

_What? What is it?_ the Doctor said.

_I hear someone above me. Wait a tic…_

"Hello?" Alan screamed. "Is anyone there?"

There was a moment's pause and then a robed and hooded figure walked over to the bars and looked down at him.

_It's one of them,_ Alan thought to the others.

"Who are you?" he said to the figure. "Why are we here? What do you want with us?"

"We have need of you," the figure said with a deep male voice.

Alan thought that back to the others.

_Keep telling us what he says,_ the Doctor thought. _Keep him talking, Brother. If he's too busy talking maybe he won't hurt or kill you._

_Will do,_ Alan thought back.

"Need of us? What does that mean?" Alan said to him. "Where are my wife and sisters? What have you done with them?"

"They are unharmed for the moment. As for your purpose, you will help bring about the age of Zerzia."

_Oh boy, Brother, not good,_ Alan thought.

_Why? What'd he say?_

_He wants us to bring about the age of Zerzia. We saw a wall painting and the inscriptions said that the age of Zerzia will be brought about with the blood of the immortals._

_We're not immortal, _Rose thought.

Alan snorted.

_No, but we're pretty damn close to it,_ he thought back. _Doesn't matter anyway. If the nutters think we might bring about this age of theirs, they'll kill us. _

_Keep him talking, Brother. We're trying to work out a solution._

"What are you going to do to us then?" Alan said to the man.

"You will be sacrificed and your blood will be used as an offering to Lord Zerzia."

Alan thought that to the others.

_Ya know, I'm gettin' really tired of being sacrificed to people's gods,_ Rose thought.

"We're not immortal though. That's what the inscription said. You need an immortal to waken Zerzia," Alan said to the man.

"You are a Time Lord."

_Oh crap, Brother. This bloke knows I'm a Time Lord. This can't be good, _he thought to the Doctor.

_How? How does he know?_ the Doctor thought back.

"How do you know that?" Alan said to him.

"Lord Zerzia has given us the power of inner sight and communication. Even now you are speaking with another like yourself."

_Ooops, they know we're talking to one another,_ Alan thought to the Doctor.

_He's a telepath?_

_I think so. _

_Can he focus on me? I can't feel him._

"Can you sense the one I'm talking to?" Alan said to him.

"Yes."

_Yes, he can, Brother._

_Tell him to talk to me._

"My brother wishes to speak with you," Alan said to him.

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The Doctor waited for a reply while the other women clustered around him. All of them had their veils off and he had thrown his headscarf on a nearby chair.

"What's going on?" Donna said.

"I think he's trying to get this chap to speak to me personally," the Doctor replied.

_Yes?_

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"And there he is apparently."

"I can't hear him, Dad."

"I don't think he's that strong a telepath, Jen. He's not as advanced as we are, I suspect."

He held up his hand.

_I'm here,_ he thought back to the man. _Who are you and what do you want with my family?_

_You are a Time Lord?_

_I am,_ the Doctor thought, rubbing Rain's arm while she watched him with quiet concern.

_You are one of the ancients?_

_No,_ the Doctor thought. _If you speak of the Eternals, I'm not one of them._

_I didn't mean them. I mean the Time Lords._

_I am a Time Lord, but I'm not an ancient, whatever that means._

_You are immortal?_

_No, I'm not and neither is my family. Let them go._

"Dad, what's going on?" Jenny said.

The Doctor held up one finger.

_You have lived a long time though._

_Yes, but living a long time and being immortal are two different things. My brother informed me that to bring back your Zerzia you need the blood of an immortal which he is not and neither are the others you've captured. Now let them go or I will show you just what happens when you make a Time Lord such as myself angry beyond all reason and I can assure you it's not pleasant._

_If you are so powerful, ancient one, come and stop us._

_I don't want bloodshed, _the Doctor thought. _That's the last thing I want but I will defend my family and if that means killing you and your friends to ensure their safety, I will do it. I warn you, I am capable of killing others so don't taunt me, whoever you are._

_I am Remalk, high priest of Zerzia. _

_Thanks for letting me know that. I'm the Doctor, nice to meet ya. Cup of tea? No? Alright then, enough small talk. Let…them….go…now!_

There was a long pause.

_Brother, what's he doing?_ the Doctor thought to Alan. _He's stopped talking with me._

_He's gesturing wildly to someone I can't see. I think he's speaking telepathically but I can't hear it. _

_Tell Marcel Marceau to stop miming and talk to me again._

Alan chuckled in his mind.

_Doing it now, Brother._

There was another pause.

_You are the one called the Doctor?_ Remalk thought to him.

_Yeah, I believe I just thought that to you. Spot on. Now let my family…_

_You are the legendary Time Lord who fought in the Time War._

The three women noticed the Doctor rolling his eyes.

"What's wrong?" Donna said.

"Once again, my reputation precedes me, that's what's wrong," he said to Donna.

_Yes, I'm he_, he thought to Remalk.

_You are valuable. _

_Really? I am? How valuable? Rank me on a scale of one to ten._

_You alone could bring about the age of Zerzia. Come and surrender yourself and we will let the others go._

The Doctor sighed angrily. He leaned over slightly and put his forehead against his wife's.

"Latara, why am I here and not there rescuing the rest of our family?" he said to her.

"Because it's too hot to go out?" Rain said.

"Mm-hmm, how come I know that and this git who I'm assuming is a native doesn't?"

"He wants you to go outside?"

"He wants me to go across the desert and surrender to him so they can sacrifice me in Alan and the other's place."

"Why you?" Donna said.

"Because I'm the Doctor and my reputation precedes me," he said. "Once again someone thinks that the so-called greatest Time Lord that ever lived will magically bring to life their god."

_Are you there, Time Lord?_

"Am I there, Time Lord?" the Doctor said in a snotty voice while his family giggled. "Yeah, I'm here, ya cloth-eared thick git."

He leaned back up and sighed angrily.

_Yes, I'm here. No, I can't come because I'm about five miles from where you are and there's a blazing sun overhead that will bake me nice and crispy in about five minutes. Why don't you and your mates come to us? We'll have a nice, big party for Zerzia._

_We cannot travel in the heat of the day._

_Well, funnily enough, I can't either. Because I'm not the magical Time Lord fairy you think I am. If I could get over there, I would be over there rescuing my half naked family members. You apparently have a god. Ask him to come get us._

_We cannot come to you and you cannot come to us. So we will sacrifice those we have here._

_Whoa, wa, wa, wa, shht shht shht, just…hear me out,_ the Doctor thought to him_. You wanna sacrifice four measly Time Lords or one great big one? Because four sacrifices sounds like a hassle to me. Why not wait till the sun goes down and I'll come and surrender myself to you and then you can just sacrifice little ol' me and get all the resurrection for ¼ the work. Come on, what'd ya say? Me after dark if you don't harm them and let them go free?_

There was a pause.

_Brother, now what's he doing?_ the Doctor thought to Alan.

_Gesturing frantically again._

_I guess he has to talk it over with the board members of this cult,_ the Doctor thought to him.

_That is acceptable,_ Remalk finally thought to him.

_Brilliant. Then let them be and set them free and you'll get to kill little me, me, me!_

There was a long pause and the Doctor snickered.

"High priest is puzzled by my witty verse, Latara," he said to her.

_We have a deal,_ Remalk finally said.

_Good and I mean what I say about leaving my family unharmed because I will be in constant communication with them and if they tell me you are hurting them I will show you no mercy._

_Just make sure you are here after the sun sets._

_I'll be there. You can bet on that._

After Remalk cut off contact, the Doctor thought to Alan, Rose and Mingxia and Awinita who had woken up during his conversation. After getting them to promise they would keep him informed of what the cult was doing, he cut off communication with them for the moment and looked at the three women clustered around him.

"You heard what I said to them. Now I'm telling just the three of you…you are going to be helping me tonight. I will be the distraction and you will rescue the others while I keep the cult members busy and working together we're gonna free them."


	48. Chapter 48

Chapter Forty Eight

All day long the Doctor kept in constant contact with his imprisoned family members checking their safety and wellbeing. He was relieved when they told him that no one was hurting them.

_I suspect it's because they know they're going to get me in return and they don't want to endanger that, _the Doctor thought. _Not to mention they know I can talk to you lot and make sure you're all safe. At least I have ensured your safety for the moment. _

_How much longer do we have?_ Mingxia thought to him.

_Not much longer. An hour, I think. It should be safe enough for us to travel again so I'll go ask the guides to get the gunks ready. I wanna be there as quickly as I can in case they get nervous and start thinking about using you again._

_Bro, be careful,_ Awinita thought to him.

_I will. I promise. This isn't the first time I've done something like this. I'll be back to the TARDIS with all of you in two shakes of a gunk's tail, count on it._

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After getting the gunks ready and getting them outside, the Doctor astounded the guides by telling them that instead of them leading him and his family across the desert, the three women would dress like them and lead the gunks instead. Geni was floored.

"Women dressing as men? That's unheard of!" he said to the Doctor.

"Yeah, well, I'm sorry if I'm making a huge cultural faux pas but we've made a plan to rescue my family from these insane cult members you got over there and dressing up as guides is part of it. Now are there some spare men's outfits they can borrow?"

"Yes, but…this can't be possible. Worship of Zerzia died out millennia ago."

"Well, apparently someone is very interested in bringing it and old Zerzy back again. So if you don't mind, I can't talk. Time is of the essence and my family's lives are on the line here. In the meantime, can you lot call the authorities and get them to come out and arrest them before they do this to someone else?"

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After getting dressed, the guides showed them how to control the gunk. The Doctor got on one and the other was led back underground while Rain used the rod to gently guide the creature and Donna and Jenny rode behind him. Every mile or so they traded off so the one walking could rest for awhile. After two and a half hours they finally saw a gaping hole in the sand.

"I'm assuming that's it," the Doctor said to them as they stopped.

He looked at his wife and sisters.

"Stay here and pretend to be the guides. Whoever comes to meet me will probably watch and make sure you leave so pretend to do that. Then when we're out of sight, put your part of the plan into motion."

They nodded and the Doctor hugged them all tight before he mentally called to Alan.

_We're here. Try to get Remalk's attention,_ he thought to him.

_Wait a tic,_ Alan thought back.

_I'm here,_ Remalk thought to him after a long pause.

_I am as well. Right outside the door._

_Did you come alone?_

_I came with three guides who are going to leave as soon as you come and fetch me._

_I assumed you would come alone._

_Well, I don't know your lovely planet all that well and the last time I was out this way I got caught in one of your lovely sandstorms. They're leaving as soon as you come to collect me. Now do you want me or not? _

_I am sending three of the members to escort you back here. But I warn you, no tricks._

_Wouldn't dream of it,_ the Doctor thought airily

Once he cut off communication, he turned to his family.

"They'll be expecting you to leave. So make sure you convince them you are," he said to them.

They nodded and gave him hugs. They sent love into each other's minds, wished each other luck and then stepped back while the Doctor walked forward to the opening. Fifteen minutes later, they saw three robed and hooded members coming up the ramp. The Doctor held up his hands.

"Unarmed except for my wits," he said to them.

"They can leave now," one of the cult members said, pointing to his family.

"You can go now," the Doctor called to them.

The three women turned the gunk around and started to lead it away. The cult members watched for a moment and then grabbed hold of the Doctor's arms.

"Oi, watch it, this sensitive skin bruises easily," the Doctor said indignantly.

They led him down the ramp and vanished from sight. Jenny who had been keeping an eye on them threw up a privacy block.

_They're gone,_ she thought to Rain and Donna.

_Keep walking for another minute or two, just to make sure, and then we go in,_ Rain thought back.

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"Nice place you got here. Bit cramped but I'm sure the rent is reasonable," the Doctor said cheerfully while they used flaming torches to lead him through the passageway. "So, what do you lot do for fun around here? Do you have your own version of Pop Idol or Are You Smarter than a Cult Member? How 'bout Strictly Come Sacrificing? No? You lot are the silent types, aren't ya?"

They passed by a painting of Zerzia stabbing a mouse man in the chest.

"Cheerful Décor you have around here," the Doctor said to them. "I love your god. He's very pretty with the budgie head. But the wings concern me. You chaps ever hear of Icarus? Bloke who flew too close to the sun and fell to his death? Course he had wings made of wax but with the scorching sun you have, same difference. Wax, feathers, it all burns up. Speaking of, it was a scorcher today, wasn't it? Blimey, you lot need to install some air conditioning in your buildings. Those robes must be heat traps. I know my family hated the robes and veils you lot make your women wear. They were just whining to me all day long. Doctor, this is hot, can I take it off before I sweat to death? That and are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? You have women in your cult? Do they nag you constantly and leave the toilet seat down? Because my women sure do. My wife and daughter and sisters will not leave the toilet seat up and I tell them and tell them and tell them and tell them…"

"Will you be silent?" one of the cult members finally said.

"Why? Is your esteemed leader trying to contact me again? Because it's so wonderful that he can do that. Means we can have nice intimate chats in our heads. Can you do the same? Isn't it wonderful just sitting back and having an entire conversation in your head? I love just sitting up in my console room ordering my family about by long distance. Course that means I get no exercise and I'm getting a bit podgy now. I need to get a treadmill so I can do walking workouts while I mentally order people about. Do you have treadmills?"

"I said, be silent!" the cult member said, turning and grabbing the Doctor by his tie.

"Can I ask you something?" the Doctor said to him.

"What?"

"What's with the hoods? Are you horribly disfigured under there? Are you the Elephant Man or Freddy Krueger? Or is this just a fashion statement among cult members? Is it a kind of conformity thing like in the novel 1984 where they all had to wear those blue one piece outfits with the red sashes? Is Zerzia Big Brother? Speaking of Big Brother, have you ever seen it? Fascinating show. I love when people get voted off and it's the git I voted for…"

He grunted when the cult member slapped him hard across the face.

"Oi! I'm your guest and I'm valuable to boot! Remy won't like you damaging the goods, ya know."

The cult member sighed and threw up his hands.

"Just take him to the main chamber," he said to his comrades.

"Ooo, main chamber. Sounds mysterious and exciting! So I assume you have a not-main chamber? What do you call that? Substitute chamber? Assistant Chamber? Chamber in training…you lot really are the silent types, aren't ya?"

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Alan sat on the floor of his prison. The air was hot and humid but his ass was cold from the cold stone floor, so half of him was shivering and the other half was sweating.

"Ooo, this is the main chamber, eh? Very big. Nice and roomy unlike the odd, why is this even here corridor we just walked through. Why did we go through that long corridor? It doesn't really go anywhere except here. Shouldn't you lot just put the main chamber right by the entrance or are you trying to lose weight or…you didn't build it at all, right?"

"Brother!" Alan called, getting up on his knees.

"I hear my brother," he heard the Doctor say. "I believe my beloved brother is right over there where that cage in the floor is at. I believe I will say hello to my beloved caged brother. HI BROTHER!"

"Hi!" Alan yelled back. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, I'm just peachy keen," he heard the Doctor say. "Just standing here in the main chamber with three lovely escorts waiting to die, die, die. How 'bout you?"

"Let him go!" Alan yelled.

"Hear that? My brother is not only angry; he's trying to defend me. I'm tickled positively pink that I have a brother who wants to defend me from nutty cult members such as yourself. Do you lot have brothers?"

"Kill me! I'm just as good as he is!" Alan yelled.

"Aw, now he's offering himself as an innocent sacrifice to please the bird god ya got. Yup, I'm tickled positively pink I got a baby brother."

Alan stood up and stepped to the back of the cell trying to see his brother.

"Ooo, are we going over here now?" he heard the Doctor say. "Oh! I'm going to visit my baby brother now? Yup, once again, positively pink me."

The Doctor appeared at the edge of the prison. Two cult members were on either side of him holding his arms tightly.

"Howdy, baby brother," he said cheerfully.

"Please, kill me. Leave him alone!" Alan said desperately.

"See, I love my brother muchly," the Doctor said to the member on his left. "Do you have a brother? You didn't say."

"Open this cell door before I kill this idiot myself!" the cult member yelled back over his shoulder.

"Hear that, Brother? I'm coming to spend time with you at his budgie majesty's pleasure," the Doctor said.

"Brother, tell them to let you go. I'm your clone. I'll let myself die in your stead," he pleaded.

The Doctor smiled at him. He watched while the third cult member unlocked the door and swung it up.

"Get in there!" the other two said, shoving him in.

Alan gasped and cursed them when the Doctor fell in and stumbled to the ground. They quickly locked the door and walked away. Alan knelt beside him.

"Are you alright?" he said.

"I'm right as rain, Brother. And speaking of Rain…"

He glanced up and then whispered the plan in his brother's ear.

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Rain, Jenny and Donna inched slowly down the dark corridor. They had the Doctor's flashlight with them and used it on occasion to make sure there were no obstacles in their path but for the most part they kept it off in case someone could see the light. For a long time there was only pitch black darkness and then they started to see a faint light up ahead. It grew brighter the closer they got and they slowed their pace, being mindful of traps and guards while they neared closer to their family.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So…I don't quite get the concept of disrobing you, Brother," the Doctor said while he sat beside him. "Does Zerzia have a kinky side to him or something?"

"I don't know but I'm uncomfortable and my ass is cold from sitting here," Alan said.

The Doctor unbuttoned his jacket and handed it to him.

"Thank you," Alan said, slipping it on. "You didn't see my clothes while you were up there, did ya?"

"No, I didn't."

"Wonderful," Alan said, lowering his voice. "If we get outta here I'm gonna be going across the desert in underwear and a jacket. Isn't that just wizard?"

"I'll look for the clothes while I'm up there."

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Alan whispered. "Things might go wrong and you're needed to defend the universe. Let me go. That way if the plan fails and I die…"

"No, you're not gonna do that. You're just as valuable as I am. Just wait and watch for Rain, Jenny and Donna if they take me somewhere else. I'll try to suss out where the others are and communicate it back to you so you can tell them if they won't accept my idea of assembling you all in one place to watch me die. Just relax, Brother. I've gotten out of worse situations before, you know that."

Alan nodded and he patted him on the shoulder.

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The three women paused just outside the entrance to the main chamber. They stood in the darkness peeking inside. The chamber was large and had paintings on the walls of Zerzia in various poses. On the other side of the room were steps leading up to a stone table that they assumed was the sacrificial altar. Rain dared to stick her head completely inside the room and look around. Seeing no one she thought to her husband.

_You see a cage door in the floor? Alan and I are in here,_ he thought back.

Rain looked around and then nodded to her daughter and sister. They ran across the chamber to the cage door.

"Te'lesu, Jen, I'm glad to see you lot," Alan whispered when he saw them.

Rain smiled. She pulled her husband's sonic screwdriver out of her robe pocket and used it on the lock. She and the other two women swung it open and the Doctor boosted him up. They reached down and grabbed the Doctor's arms, grunting while they pulled him out of the cage.

"Now what?" Donna whispered.

The Doctor looked at Alan.

"Do you know where the others are at?" he whispered.

"No, I don't think even they know for sure."

The Doctor looked at the women.

"Then put us back," he said to them.

"Love, we can search for them and…"

"Yes, but that'll take time and we might all end up being sacrificed. Trust me, I'll convince them to bring everyone in here to witness my execution. In the meantime, you three hide outside in the dark and make sure you're not seen. Let Alan have the screwdriver so he can get out again if he needs to."

Rain nodded and handed him the screwdriver which he put in the jacket pocket.

"Right, now…go hide over there and wait and watch for my signal to strike."

They nodded and watched while the two men slid back into the cell. They shut the cage door, Alan locked it and after whispering good luck, the men sat back down while the women ran and hid.


	49. Chapter 49

Chapter Forty Nine

The three women crouched in the darkness outside the entrance to the main chamber while they waited. They were there about twenty minutes when suddenly a section of wall at the back of the chamber was slowly pushed open and ten cult members came inside the room.

"Ten?" Donna whispered while they watched them close the door back. "That's it? Just ten?"

"It must not be a very popular cult," Rain whispered back.

"What do we do?" Jenny whispered.

"Not sure," Rain whispered. "But we have to wait till they're distracted before we sneak inside. Hopefully, Doctor and Alan can do that and allow us to sneak up and get the drop on them."

Nine of the cult members gathered by the altar while one walked over to the cell door.

"Oh!" they heard the Doctor say airily. "Is it time to die now?"

"Yup, that's the Doctor for ya," Donna whispered.

Rain stared at the other cult members.

"If only we could get three of them to come over here so we could knock them out and take their robes," she whispered to the others. "Problem is I don't know how to get only three of them to come over here."

"Could we talk to three of them telepathically and lure them over?" Jenny whispered.

Rain shrugged. She thought for a moment.

"Wait a minute," she whispered. "Maybe we can…make noise and just see if we can get some of them to come over here. If it's more than three we'll knock them all out and that'll be less for us to deal with later on."

They nodded. Discretely, Rain turned on the flashlight while Remalk summoned three cult members over to get the Doctor and Alan up out of the cell.

"Go get the other prisoners," Remalk said to three more. "The Doctor wishes to see them before he dies."

"Mum, three are over with Dad and three are leaving to get the rest of the family. That leaves three," Jenny whispered.

"Good," Rain whispered while she took a rock that Donna found beside her. "Hopefully those are the three that will come over here then."

They all scooted backwards into the darkness and Rain raised the rock to the stone wall and began to tap loudly on it while she watched. One of the cult members that was left by the altar turned and looked their way.

"Come on, come on," Donna whispered. "Take the bait."

They smiled when he nudged his friends and pointed towards the door.

"That's it, come over here," Rain whispered.

They started to walk over.

"Get ready," Rain whispered.

She stopped tapping and they flattened themselves up against the wall and used their respiratory bypass systems while the cult members came over to the entrance. Rain gripped the rock in her hand while they kept an eye on the cult members who were stepping into the darkness. Rain threw up a privacy block around her daughter and sister's minds.

_Get ready,_ she thought to them.

The cult members stepped further into the darkness searching for the source of the noise.

_Ready…_Rain thought. _On the count of three…_

They inched further away from the entrance.

_1…2…3!_

As one the three of them raised up towards the robed figures. Rain struck the first one on the back of the head with the rock, Jenny did a karate chop to the second one's neck and Donna hit the third one in the face. The three cult members fell silently to the ground.

_Okay, let's get them undressed and get back in there,_ Rain thought, watching while the Doctor and Alan were led towards the altar.

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"So, this is it, eh? This is where I'm gonna get…what…stabbed in the hearts, my throat slit, decapitated, what?"

"Your throat will be slit and we will drink your blood," Remalk said to him while he and a cult member led him up to the altar. The other two cult members stopped with Alan at the steps and held him by the arms while he struggled to get free.

"So you're gonna drink my blood, eh? You lot are basically vampires then?" the Doctor said to him while he let go and the cult member grabbed both his arms. "So this is really the Count Dracula cult then. But not only that, what's Zerzia gonna drink if you're drinking all my blood? Won't he want some as well?"

Remalk paused and noticed the other three cult members were gone. He called for them. He glared at them when they came back into the room.

"I didn't tell you to leave," he said. "Get over here now!"

The three women walked over. Donna and Jenny stood across from Alan and Rain walked up beside him. She threw up a privacy block around Alan's mind and thought to him, identifying herself and Jenny and Donna. Alan stopped struggling and stared at her for a moment nodding slightly to let her know he understood. The back door opened and the other three came in forcing Rose, Mingxia and Awinita into the room. All three of them were in their bras and panties and Alan growled in anger.

"I'm sorry; I'm new to your cult. Is there a reason why everyone must be nearly naked?" the Doctor said to Remalk. "Is this part of the proceedings?"

"They were stripped in case they were carrying weapons on them."

The Doctor's mouth formed an O.

"I see. Thanks for clearing that up."

He smiled at Rose, Mingxia and Awinita.

"Hello, my family members who are in their bras and knickers. I'm glad to see you're alright except for being nearly starkers."

Alan glanced up at Remalk. He threw up a privacy block around his wife and sister's minds and told them about the three cult members. Rose and Awinita who were standing beside Rain glanced at her and Mingxia glanced at Donna and Jenny before they stopped struggling and became passive. In the meantime, Alan quickly shielded the Doctor's mind and let him know their identity before he quickly dropped it lest Remalk become suspicious. The Doctor glanced down at his hooded family members and then looked at Remalk.

"So now that we're all assembled, this is the moment of my death?" he said to Remalk.

"Yes, it's time for you to die, Time Lord."

"Brilliant. Except…"

"Except what?" Remalk said.

"Except you skipped a few steps."

"What?"

"We're not done yet. Before I'm executed, I need my last meal, my final request and my heartfelt, stirring, weepy goodbye to the ones I love. I didn't get any of that so we're not done yet. Now for my last meal…"

"You don't get any of that!"

"I don't? How dare you deny me my right to have my final food, my final request and my final goodbye! I'll report you to whoever is over you lot. They'll have your hoods for this outrage!"

"I will not play games with you, Time Lord! You have no say in any of this and it is time for you to die!"

"Whoa! Wait a tic, just one tic, okay? I wasn't finished," the Doctor said.

Remalk sighed.

"What?"

"I don't like this chap behind me. I want a replacement. I want the one beside my brother. His robe is cleaner looking. I'm germaphobic and I'm afraid of getting a sudden disease just before I die. I don't wanna meet my maker with a violent cold. So if you could just switch them around I'll die happy and…"

"Put him on the altar!" Remalk said to the cult member behind him.

"Wait!" the Doctor said. "I wanna at least say goodbye to my family. Can I at least do that much?"

Remalk sighed.

"Make it brief," he said to him.

"Thank you ever so much for your kindness," the Doctor said.

He looked at his family.

"I s'pose since I don't get a last meal or final request, this will have to do," he said to them. "I love you all very much and I'll be watching over you from…somewhere. Don't know where but I'll be watching…kinda like Father Christmas so you better not pout, better not cry, better not fight cause I'm telling you why. The Oncoming Storm is coming to tooooooooown," he sang.

He cleared his throat.

"Sorry, broke into song there at the last moment, don't know what came over me. Anyway, Alan, my brother, take care of our scantily dressed family members there and get them some kit when you get out of here because I'm sure they're cold. And take care of my jacket for me and get it cleaned regularly and see that it doesn't get lint on it because I hate lint. Lint is one of the things I really hate. But I'll always cherish the time we spent together and I'll always be your big brother…"

He paused and looked at Remalk.

"Speaking of…Big Brother. It's a fabulous show. You really need to watch it."

He trailed off.

"Oh! Sorry, got off on a tangent there. Silly me. Anyway, goodbye my sweet brother. I will love you always. Rose…nice bra. Anyway, we've had so many good times together and I'll always cherish you and I'll go to my death knowing I've finally seen you standing around in public in your unmentionables. That was a liveslong goal and by God, I finally achieved it. Mingxia…nice bra as well. You've been a great friend and I can't tell you how chuffed I am that I've known you. Please take care of everyone and get some kit on because it's rude to stand around in public with almost nothing on. Awinita, my Te'lesu, your bra is not so nice so you need to go to the shops and purchase a new one. But other than that, I love that I've known you and I hope that you and the others will treat my TARDIS well and not fight because if there's one thing I can't stand it's fighting. Rain…my wife, I love you dearly and I'm so sorry you have to see…"

"Wait," Remalk said. "You've said your goodbyes to your family."

"No, actually I haven't. I have three more people left."

Remalk looked around.

"Where?"

"At your feet. Here, I'll show you where they are."

He looked down.

"NOW!" he screamed.

Rain, Jenny and Donna threw punches and knocked out the cult members holding Rose, Mingxia and Awinita.

"Stop them!" Remalk said to the two cult members holding Alan.

But before they could act, the six women knocked them both out and before the other member could act, seven people were up on the altar surrounding him.

"Let him go," Alan snarled, glaring at the last cult member.

The cult member let the Doctor go and he ran forward and grabbed Remalk by his robes.

"Don't underestimate my family," the Doctor said to him.

Rose, Rain and Donna surrounded Remalk while the other four guarded the last remaining cult member. Donna grabbed Remalk's arms and held them behind his body while the Doctor grabbed his hood and tugged it down. They gasped when they saw his face. He was brown skinned, bald headed and his face was disfigured, cut up and scarred by acid burns.

"What the hell happened to you?" Awinita said.

"This is how I show my loyalty to Zerzia. By scarring and disfiguring my flesh," he said, raising his chin.

Alan pulled the other cult member's hood and they noticed he was also bald and disfigured.

"You lot are bonkers," Alan said.

The Doctor looked at Remalk.

"What passes for the police on your planet are on their way to throw you and your mates into prison and then your little cult is finished," he said to him.

Remalk sneered at him.

"You think that'll stop us?" he said. "Zerzia is all powerful. He will free us from our incarceration."

"Really? Let's put that to test then," the Doctor said.

He and the cult member grunted when the Doctor and Alan punched them in the face and they fell to the floor unconscious.

The Doctor sighed.

"Right, take their robes so you're covered up and let's go see if the police have arrived yet," the Doctor said to his family.

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They met the police coming down the corridor on their way back and led them to the cult members. They watched while the police gathered them up in their arms and carried them back to the front entrance. The Doctor and his family followed behind them. Alan had given the Doctor back his jacket and he and the other nearly naked family members dressed themselves in the robes. They relaxed while they walked down the corridor back to safety.

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"Well, that was interesting to say the least," the Doctor said when all of them were back on the TARDIS and were wearing their own clothes. "Hopefully, that's the end of the cult of Zerzia."

They were all sitting in the living room with the dogs. The Doctor smiled at them.

"See, when you travel with me, it's never dull, eh?" he said.

He looked around and noticed the dirty looks.

"Well, it's not, is it?" he said defensively. "I didn't say traveling around with me is constant fun but it's never dull, right?"

"Well, there are times when I'd like it to be dull, thanks," Donna said.

"Oh, don't say that. You live for the adventure I provide," the Doctor said to her. "It's why you wanted to travel with me in the first place. Chiswick was boring, right?"

"Well, after all the fun we had I vote for taking a rest before we find another fun adventure," Rain said.

"What? For pity's sake, you lot are dull. Rest, rest, rest, day in and day out. You're not human anymore; you're supposed to have energy enough to keep on going."

He sighed and winked at them.

"Oh, alright, we'll rest a bit but only a bit and then it's off to our next great adventure!" he said.

"Whee," Awinita said while the other women giggled.

They gave him kisses on the cheek and he and Alan watched while they and the dogs headed out of the living room.

"Honestly, Brother, they just need to rest constantly," the Doctor said to him.

"I know. It's all that humanity that's still stuck inside them," Alan replied.

"Yup, we gotta figure out a way to draw that out."

They sat together for a few minutes.

"So…do a bit of repair work to pass the time while they rest?"

"Sounds good to me."

The Doctor patted his leg and the two of them got up and headed for the console room.


	50. Chapter 50

Chapter Fifty

After leaving the Doctor and Alan alone, the women went off to rest. Jenny went to her room and laid down under her covers while she read The Wizard of Oz. After one chapter though, she found she was tired and worn out from the heat on Attatuk and she decided to take a nap. She snuggled back down under the covers, turned the lamp off on her bedside table and went to sleep.

While she slept she had a weird and disturbing dream. It was so intense that she eventually woke up. She shot up in bed and stared into the darkness for a moment wondering what the dream meant. Finally, she turned on her light and went to find her mother.

She found her in the living room watching a game show. She sat with her and told her that she had a dream that involved her and Rain and the other women. Rain nodded and asked her to describe it but Jenny struggled to find the words to tell her about it.

"It was bizarre, mum. I mean, I've never had a dream like it. I usually don't dream but it was so vivid," Jenny said.

Rain nodded. She thought for a moment and then had an idea. She called to the other women telepathically and when they came into the living room. She told them about Jenny having a dream and explained what she wanted them to do.

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"And this simulation room, this is what the Rani had on her ship?" Donna said.

"Yes, it's what she put me and the Doctor and Jenny into and the Doctor used it the other day to show me some memories of his. We can use it to see Jenny's dream and she wouldn't have to explain it to us."

"But how do we do that?" Jenny said.

The TARDIS, who had been listening, telepathically told them what to do. She led them to a nearby console that had a helmet attached to it. Jenny put the helmet on and the TARDIS instructed Rain on what buttons to push. She did and Jenny's dream was uploaded. When the dream was rendered in 3D, the TARDIS let them know. Jenny took off the helmet and all of them opened the door to the simulation room and stepped inside.

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The first thing they saw was a laboratory. The walls and floor were concrete and there were cabinets and a counter on the other side of the room with beakers, test tubes and other lab equipment resting on the counter. There was a lab table in front of them with leather restraints on it and on each side of the room were wooden doors. Jenny pointed to the door on their right.

"This way," she said.

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They opened the door and stepped into a long narrow room that was also made of concrete. Along the right side of the wall they noticed several Perspex walls that were separated by wide concrete partitions. Jenny led them to the first Perspex wall and they looked inside. It was a concrete cell. Inside there was no furniture of any kind. The only occupant was an elderly man dressed in old fashioned clothes. He was staring at the floor but when they stepped in front of the wall, he looked up at them in confusion.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" he demanded.

Rain's eyes widened.

"Oh my God, it's the Doctor. This is his first life," she said. "I've seen him before in the Doctor's memories."

The Doctor got to his feet and walked over to the wall.

"What are you doing here? You're in great danger," he said.

"Danger from whom?" Donna said.

"Some chap that calls himself the Valeyard."

Everyone except Donna and Jenny gasped.

"Who's the Valeyard?" Jenny said.

"He's an evil version of the Doctor," Rose said. "A being that's made up of the all of the Doctor's dark sides. He's the one that kidnapped the Doctor and sent him to kill us when we were travelin' the world. But he's dead. We defeated him."

"You have to get out of here," the Doctor said urgently. "It's imperative you leave now, my children! Go!"

They promised they'd leave but instead moved on to the next cell. There was another man inside dressed in black clothes with a white shirt. He was younger than the Doctor but he wasn't young. He had black hair that was straight and came down in the back to his collar with long bangs in the front."

"This is the Doctor's second life," Rain said.

"Oh my giddy aunt, what are all of you doing here?" he said getting to his feet. "You must leave immediately before it's too late."

They promised they would and moved to the next cell. In it was the third Doctor who was also surprised to see him. He gave them the same warning and after assuring him they would leave, they moved on. They moved on down the line and saw Four, Five and Six who said the same thing. They told them the same thing in return. The moved past Six and went to the next cell. They frowned when they noticed it was empty.

"I guess this Doctor hasn't been caught yet," Mingxia said.

They moved to the next one and saw Eight sitting at the back.

"I know this one. This is the one we saw, Mum," Jenny said while she nodded.

"Who are you?" Eight said, getting up. "Odd place to be having a tour, don't you think? You need to leave now!"

They promised they would and turned to go to the next cell.

"Oh God, here we go," Rose said, swallowing hard.

They moved to the next cell and saw Nine sitting at the back of it. He blinked in surprise.

"Doctor!" Rose said.

He frowned.

"Do I know you?" he said.

Rose was shocked.

"Apparently you haven't met him yet," Donna muttered.

Nine walked up to the wall and stared at them.

"Who are you?" he said.

He looked at Rose.

"Do I know you?" he said to her.

"No, you don't," Rose said, shaking her head.

"Well, you seem to know me. Have we met before?"

"No, I just…have heard of you," Rose said.

"Well, this is no time to sightsee. You have to leave before you get captured," the Doctor said.

They nodded and moved on. They paused just before they got to the next cell and stared at each other.

"Now he'll know Rose at least," Awinita said.

Rose swallowed hard and nodded. They stepped in front of the Perspex and saw not only the Doctor but Alan as well. They blinked in surprise.

"My family," the Doctor said, leaping to his feet with Alan. "No, my loves, you can't be here. You have to go. It's not worth risking your lives to save us!"

They paused when they saw Awinita and both of them stared at her in shock.

"What?" Awinita said.

They looked at each other and looked at Rain.

"Love, where are you from?" the Doctor said. "What did we do before you came here?"

"We went to Attatuk and escaped from the cult."

Their eyes bulged from their heads and Alan looked at the Doctor.

"Wow, very early days then," he said to him.

"What's going on? What is all this?" Rain said. "Why are you looking at Awinita like you don't know her?"

"You've got to get out of here and go back to your own time," the Doctor said to her. "Just go and forget you were here."

"Yeah, but you didn't answer my question," Rain said.

"And I'm not going to. These are future events and you're not meant to know them yet. Now leave before you get captured," the Doctor said to her.

Rose stared at them and suddenly began to put two and two together. She walked up to Alan.

"This is what you were talking about when you said that the Valeyard captured all the Doctor's incarnations and used them to power the golems, right?"

"Yes, my love, this is that moment," Alan said.

"You never said you were here though," Rose said.

Alan sighed.

"I don't think I was supposed to be here. I saw Brother being kidnapped. We all did and tried to stop the Valeyard and got nabbed along with him."

"Yes, but the Valeyard's dead. We defeated him," Mingxia said.

"Not in the past. This is a past event before I met all of you," the Doctor said. "But the Valeyard took us out of your future when he kidnapped us which is why it's still going to happen."

"And your seventh self, that's why he isn't here," Rain said.

"No, he never gets captured. He freed the rest of us," Alan said. "So you mustn't worry because we'll be alright. We'll be sent back to our own timelines. So now that you know we want you to leave before the Valeyard sees you and you get captured and time gets altered further. Go now!"

"But wait, why were you two looking at me funny?" Awinita said.

"I'm not saying, Te'lesu, just go…alright? You'll find out in time why we had the reaction we had. Now go," the Doctor said sternly.

They gazed at them lovingly while the women reluctantly pulled themselves away. They walked on and stopped before they reached the next cell.

"Um…if the Doctor's in the next cell," Rose whispered. "We're about to see what he's gonna look like, yeah?"

"Let me guess. Bro's ginger in there," Awinita whispered.

They looked at each other and moved to the next cell. They looked in and their eyes widened. The Doctor was a young man with dark brown hair. He was wearing all black. Black trousers, shirt, jacket and trainers. He was sitting at the back but the moment he saw them his eyes widened.

"My family," they heard him murmur.

He raised up and walked over. They noticed a tear fall down his cheek and he put his hands against the Perspex. They noticed he still had the wedding band on his left hand and he was looking at Rain while his eyes misted over.

"My love, it's been so long since I last saw your beautiful face," he whispered.

Rain stared at him while the rest of the women looked at one another.

"What? What do you mean it's been so long. Where have you been?" Rain said.

The Doctor frowned.

"You don't know?" he said in disbelief.

"Know what? Love, I'm from the past. I'm still living with your previous self."

The Doctor stared at her.

"How did you get here?" he said.

"It's a dream Jenny had. We're in the simulation room viewing it," Rain said.

"It's more than a dream, Love. I wish to all the gods in the universe it was just a dream. Angel, you've had a premonition apparently."

The woman all looked at Jenny who was in shock.

"This will all happen in the future, Dad?" Jenny said, gesturing around her.

"Yes, my beloved."

"You mean I dreamed the future?"

"I s'pose so, my daughter," the Doctor said.

"You're gonna be younger in your next life?" Rain said. "You look like you're my age."

The Doctor smiled at her.

"You don't approve of my look, my hearts?" he said.

"No, I mean, you're handsome but did you make yourself younger on purpose or something so you'd look more my age?"

"I had no choice in the matter, trust me."

"What d'ya mean?" Donna said. "You have no control over how old you look?"

"No, I mean the regeneration was forced upon me."

The women stared at him in shock.

"What?" Rose said. "By who?"

The Doctor looked conflicted. He lowered his eyes.

"Love, what happens? Please tell us," Rain said.

"I don't know if I should. You'll worry if I do," he said to her.

Rose hearts began to race.

"Alan, where's Alan, Doctor?" she said to him.

"As far as I know, he's with you…your future selves, I mean."

"As far as you know? What do you mean, Bro?" Awinita said.

The Doctor stared at her.

"Te'lesu, what did you do before you came here?" he said to her.

"We went to Attatuk."

"Wow, that's ages ago, no wonder," the Doctor muttered.

"What does that mean? Why are you and the other Doctor and Alan so shocked to see me?" Awinita said. "Oh God, am I gonna die?"

"No! No, Te'lesu…well…you are with us still."

"Why did you just hesitate then. What's gonna happen to me?"

The Doctor sighed.

"I don't know if I should tell you. You'll worry needlessly about things that can't be changed and then you will try to change them."

"We won't, Love," Rain said to him. "We'll let whatever happen, happen."

The Doctor let out a ruthful laugh.

"I doubt you will after you hear what I have to say, my love," he said.

"We promise we won't," Rose said. "We're Time Ladies now. We know that some things can't be changed. Please."

The Doctor stared at her for a moment, studying their eyes. He nodded and sighed while he looked at Awinita.

"I won't say when because I don't want you dreading this, my Te'lesu. But sometime in your future, you will die and regenerate."

"Excuse me?" Awinita said.

The Doctor smiled.

"You say that like regeneration will never happen to you, my sister," he said to her.

"What happens? What do I look like?"

He smiled.

"I won't say. But I will say this. You won't suffer and we'll all be with you when it happens and it's an easy regeneration."

He noticed the color draining from her face.

"My Te'lesu, it's a natural part of our lives. As natural as breathing. I've done it ten times now. It's a part of who we are. Why do you act so shocked to hear that you'll regenerate? Even if nothing happens to you ever, if you never get in an accident or get killed, your body will eventually wear out and quit working and you'll regenerate then. My Te'lesu, it's nothing to fear. So you're the first out of everyone here to undergo it. They will as well eventually. Don't be afraid."

"Wh…when?"

The Doctor smiled tenderly.

"A couple of centuries from your time, alright? Does that make you feel better now?"

"Yes," Awinita said.

The Doctor chuckled.

"So you see, my sweet sister, it's not even on the horizon yet. You're gonna have a few centuries of life in that body and have a happy life with us and Ne…"

"Ne…" Awinita said to him. "Ne…what?"

"You'll find out, trust me," the Doctor said.

"Wonderful, Bro, thanks," she said while he chuckled.

He looked at the other women and the smile fell off his face.

"If I tell you this, you must swear you won't act on the information and try to alter future events," he said. "I don't know why Jenny is having this premonition but it must be for a reason. But when the Valeyard captures me, three centuries have come and gone so whatever happens after that, there's at least three centuries of waiting for all of us."

The women looked at each other, confused.

"Promise me, my hearts. Promise that you will let time run it's natural course and not try to interfere beforehand, alright?"

"We promise," they said in unison.

"First off, just like Awinita's regeneration this is a long time off. We will have lots of happy times and fun, all of us. Me, you and Alan and the dogs…although Rory and Blizzard won't last as long as we will obviously and…there are others with us but you'll find out who they are in time. Just know that what I'm about to tell you is not yet to be so don't go thinking this is all going to happen to us tomorrow morning in your time. Alright?"

They nodded.

"I say this to offer you a bit of comfort because it's been hard for me and I can imagine how hard it is for you. But know that time is nothing to our kind and it will pass quickly. All of it has come and gone in a heartbeat and even I'm amazed how much time has come and gone. I don't know why you're being shown this now but there has to be a reason. Perhaps it's because you need to be prepared when it happens, I don't know."

He sighed.

"Once again, I won't say exactly when because I don't want you to worry or act on this information to try to save me. I want you to go on with life and enjoy traveling with me and Alan. But sometime in the far future, we will be traveling along and the TARDIS will be captured. I…I in my tenth life that is and Alan and you are forced out and imprisoned by a group who claims that I destroyed their homeworld in the Time War and I need to be brought to justice. Just like the cult members you just faced, they cover their faces so I never see who they are. They never say who they are so I'm not even sure if their planet was destroyed in the Time War. But…I am put on trial. A fake trial designed to condemn me. I never have a chance although they let all of you and Alan supposedly testify in my defense. I s'pose it was for their amusement seeing you beg for my life. Anyway, I'm convicted of this so-called crime and sentenced to regenerate like I did in my second life was and I'm forced into exile for 1000 years on a planet in another universe. The TARDIS is giving back to you but they take the void crossers out and wipe all knowledge of how to build one from Brother's mind and the TARDIS's databases so you can't make another one and save me. And when this happened, I'd been trapped in this other universe for three hundred years…alone."

He put his hands on the glass when he noticed the tears streaming down his family's faces.

"They swore after an eon Alan's knowledge of the void crosser would be restored and he could come get me. He knows what universe I'm in but he's powerless to help me."

He paused when he saw them crying.

"My girls, shhhh. This is far in your future, remember that," he said gently. "But I have no idea what has become of you. I assume you're still traveling with Alan in the TARDIS. At least I hope you are. I hope you're not all crying your eyes out somewhere. As for me, I'm safe, I promise. It's been rough but I've actually managed to construct a crude rocket ship and I'm not confined to one planet anymore. So I do move around and visit other places and for the moment I'm filling my time doing what I've always done. Saving people. It's back to being alone for the most part but at least I'm not sitting on my bum on a desert planet with nothing to do. But I'm counting the days until I can be with you again and my darling, you must wait for me. I'm coming back to you, no matter what. Alan swore he'd look after you and I'm sure he is but don't lose all hope when all this happens. I love you and I always will. My ring is still on my finger and you're still my wife and always will be, alright?"

He smiled lovingly at her while the tears streamed down her cheeks.

"You begged to go with me but they wouldn't let you because that would allow me some happiness which defeated the purpose of my exile. They stripped me of everything I loved and sent me away to supposedly punish me and it would never do to have you at my side. But…it wasn't just you lot that begged for mercy. Trust me, there will be others in the future who will be a part of our lives and they begged as well. I started out with you lot and ended up with so many friends and family members, it just boggles my mind to think of it. That was another crushing blow to me. But you know, not the first time I've been by myself so it wasn't as devastating as it would be if I'd never been without people. And actually, by the time it happens, there's more family too. Which didn't thrill Jack but sod him, I loved it. But anyway….we have centuries of happiness before this comes and before Awinita's shocking regeneration that apparently she never saw coming."

"I just wasn't thinking I'd be the first, Bro," Awinita said.

"Well someone has to be first, I suppose," the Doctor said to her.

"Seriously though, it won't hurt?" Awinita said.

The Doctor stared at her with a grin. He folded his arms and leaned on the Plexiglas while he stared at her.

"You wanna know why this is terrifying you so?" he said to her. "It's because you're a Time Lady that lived a human life to adulthood and you carry within you that old human fear of death and dying. All of you except Jenny still have that because you've been human before. Te'lesu, you're acting this way because your human self deep within is telling you it's gonna hurt up till the moment it happens and you have a fear of the unknown and what is it like and you're gonna find out when it does happen that you were silly for having these fears. First off, you'll feel at most I'd say a second or two of pain and then your body goes into shock and numbs itself. I know this because I asked you if you were in pain and you said no. Secondly, when it happens, you'll black out during the regeneration like you're going to sleep and when you wake up, it'll be over. Thirdly, you don't go anywhere. You don't really change your personality that much. You change physically and you do get a teeny bit of a personality shift but you're still the wisecracker we know and love. You don't go anywhere. You get right back up and walk away with us back to the TARDIS. So…don't be afraid, alright? You don't turn evil. You don't go nuts. You won't be in pain except maybe for two seconds. You're surrounded by family and friends and you are perfectly fine after it happens. And up until my exile you are still fine. I assume you're fine now wherever you are but this is what we do. All of you will eventually do this whether through getting injured or just having an old worn out body. No Time Lord or Lady escapes this so quit worrying. You're not gonna be the only one here who does it, Awinita. You just became the first out of everyone here. And actually, you really aren't the first because someone else in the family does it long before you but you'll find out more about him as time goes along."

He smiles.

"And I love you still just like I hope you'll all love me when I look like this. I'm not hideous, am I?"

They shook their heads.

"I haven't changed that much personality-wise except I'm a bit bitter and angry at the people who do this to us but I don't think I've changed that much. I still love you all deeply. I never stop loving you. You're my family, my hearts and always will be. And Rain is still my wife. I still love and fancy her. Nothing changes there. I love Alan, wherever my brother is now. I assume he's in the cell beside me since you mentioned he was shocked along with my former self and in that respect, I wish I could see him again. I hope I do before I have to go back to my own time because I miss him so as I miss all of you. I hate that I'm still not ginger. The rat bastards didn't make me ginger, damn them and if I find out who they are, I'm gonna pummel them for that. But…I've grown accustomed to my looks now and my youth. Actually I'm kinda glad I went backwards in age. I'd hate for you to look the way you look, my love, and I'm looking like I did after the Master aged me on the Valiant. That would be awkward for us when I'd have to explain you're my wife to people. I'm assuming you look the way you look. I personally haven't seen you since we last held one another and kissed goodbye three hundred years ago. And you know I look like this. They did this to me before I went and you seemed to be alright with it after you got over the shock. At least I wasn't dead. Out of all of you, Rose was the least shocked because she went through it before so you actually go through two regenerations with me, my Rose. I still smell the same, still have the same eyes. You have no trouble telling my brother and I apart anymore. But I'm here. I'm still here and I'm keeping myself alive for you and all of you and if I have to live out the 1000 year sentence then I'll be counting the days until we're together. Now…I've told you all this because I'm under the impression you'll keep it in your minds and not try to altar anything. And I'm telling you now. You go back and try to warn me or Alan and they'll only tell you that it's meant to be and they won't try to stop it either. Just enjoy each day as it comes because I promise there are lots of fun and laughs and surprises and new friends and family before my exile comes…and Awinita's scaaaaaaaaaaary regeneration."

"Shut up, Bro," Awinita said while he sniggered.

He smiled at them.

"You know, I think the reason you are here is because perhaps we were meant to have this conversation so I can see you and have the hope and strength to keep going because after three centuries, the strain was beginning to take it's toll and now that you know, you can keep it in mind so when the moment comes you'll be prepared. Just don't fear the future, my girls. Everything works out in the end. You lot taught me that. So I'm not worried and you shouldn't be either. So now that I've told you this. I want you to leave and go back to your own time and cherish each day to the fullest. Just remember this is centuries from now so don't think that you'll lose me tomorrow because you won't. You are my lives and I love you all with all my hearts."

They sent love into each other's minds and the Doctor smiled at them.

"Go now, my family. Go and have fun with me and Alan and the doggies. We're waiting for you," he said to them.

All of them laid their heads against the Perspex and the Doctor stared at them lovingly and filled their minds with love. After a moment, they leaned up and tore themselves away and walked on while he watched. They walked by 12 and 13's cells and noticed they were both empty so they went to the door at the other end, opened it and walked through a med bay back into the laboratory and back out the door of the simulation room. Once they were outside, they got into a huddle and held one another close, crying softly.

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After they finished crying, they walked up to the console room, hand in hand. As they neared it, they heard music blaring from the room and heard the Doctor and Alan singing loudly and off key. They smiled at that and their eyes misted over. They walked into the console room and giggled when they heard them singing Dancing Queen while they lay under the console making repairs. They glanced at each other and walked over.

"Hand me the neutron ram, my musical Brother," the Doctor said to Alan who was lying beside him.

Alan continued to warble while he dug through the tool chest beside him and handed him a tool that resembled a mallet.

"Thank ya!" the Doctor said before he went back to singing.

Alan used his screwdriver to work on a circuit when he suddenly noticed six pairs of shoes around him.

"Oh no, the estrogen brigade has located us, Brother," he said with mock terror. "Don't look now but I think chick flicks are in our future."

They all knelt down and Alan smiled at that. He frowned when he noticed they'd been crying.

"Hey? What's wrong?" he said when the Doctor stopped working and gave them a confused look.

The women said nothing. They crawled under the console and lay with the men embracing them and touching their chests while they closed their eyes. Both men stared at them in silent confusion while they felt them sending love into their minds.

"Are you done with the chick flicks and this is cuddle and cry time?" Alan said.

The women chuckled softly. Rose and Rain kissed their husband's cheeks and closed their eyes while they enjoyed the closeness of the men they loved. The Doctor looked at his wife and looked at Jenny on his other side.

"Are you lot alright?" he said.

"We're alright, Daddy," Jenny whispered. "We just wanna be with you and love you."

They opened their eyes and teared up when they saw the overjoyed look on his face. He noticed the tears.

"What's wrong?" he said.

"We just don't ever wanna lose you, dear," Rain whispered in his ear.

"Well, I don't wanna lose me either because that would be very inconvenient," he said.

The women giggled. Both men watched while they switched places and lay with them again.

"You know, this is quite relaxing," Alan said. "We'll have to tie them to us and walk around all day long like this."

They laughed.

"Trust me, we'll willingly tie ourselves to the Doctor and stay there," Donna said.

The Doctor's eyes widened.

"Okay, that was a bit disturbing coming from you, Noble," he said.

They laughed and closed their eyes. Alan and the Doctor glanced at each other, shrugged and sighed while they closed their eyes and enjoyed their company.


	51. Chapter 51

Chapter Fifty One

Alan was walking down the corridor whistling cheerfully to himself. His brother had picked up Jack after Jack had asked him to make another parts run for him and both of them were in the console room talking to one another. Alan went by the living room and paused when he noticed that Rain and Awinita were on the sofa watching TV. Whistling, he strolled inside.

"Hello, my sisters," he said happily. "What are you little couch potatoes watching in here?"

"We're watching the History Channel," Rain said to him. "Turns out today is President's Day in America and they have all these documentaries about the presidents. We're watching one now about the Lincoln assassination."

"Odd thing to watch on a holiday," Alan said, coming up beside them. "Happy Presidents Day, you yanks. Now sit back and enjoy a program about the day when one of your most beloved leaders was bumped off."

He smiled when they laughed and settled down beside Rain. They watched the documentary for several minutes in silence before Awinita looked at him.

"Did the Doctor ever see this happen in person?" she said gesturing to the screen.

"Um…no. He did meet Lincoln in the White House but he never went to Ford's Theater."

He raised his eyebrow.

"Why? Do you wanna go watch this happen?" he asked.

Awinita frowned.

"Would the Doctor want to?" she asked.

Alan was surprised.

"Would he want to? The man who constantly asks all of you to give him ideas for places to go? Are you kidding me, Te'lesu?"

"Well, I mean, would he want to go and watch Lincoln get assassinated?" Awinita said.

"Well, I admit the whole thing is a bit ghoulish but it is history and if you lot want to see it he'd take you. Just understand that this is one of those events that are fixed. We'd only be there to observe not to save."

They nodded.

"What about Jack though? He only came in here so he could go get parts. Shouldn't we wait till he's gone before we ask?" Rain said.

"Wait a tic," Alan said.

He mentally called for his brothers to come to them. A moment later, they walked into the living room and Alan explained what was going on. The Doctor shrugged.

"If you want to see it, that's fine. I agree with Brother. It's a bit macabre but not the first macabre thing I've seen. Do you want to go with us, Jack? A little diversion from the parts shop?"

"I can," Jack said. "I like Lincoln and I'm always up for a little trip into the past."

"What about the others? Have you asked them?" the Doctor said.

"Not yet," Alan said.

The Doctor summoned them to the living room and when they were all assembled, he explained what they wanted to do. The women looked at each other and shrugged.

"Sounds okay to me. I'm kinda bored anyway," Rose said. "I've gotten to the point now where I'm also trying to think up things to do."

"If we do this though, this time I want us to dress in period clothes. I want us to be merely observers here. We can't interfere because this is a fixed event. I know you lot have probably guessed that but this is for Jack's benefit since he doesn't have the knowledge of the time lines like we do. We can't save him."

Jack nodded.

"I understand," he said.

"So, in order to blend in we have to dress up this time so no one will pay us any mind. I'll try my best to get the box across from the presidential box so we can have a clear view. So once again we'll have to look like everyone else so Lincoln isn't staring at us, alright?"

They nodded.

"Okay, let's go to the wardrobe room then and get a change of clothes.

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(April 14th, 1865…)

"Okay, wait here, I'll see if I can get tickets," the Doctor said while they waited outside Ford's Theater.

All of the women were in long formal dresses with kid gloves on their hands. They were holding feather fans and their hair was pulled off their necks and done up in a bun making them look elegant. The men were dressed in suits and bow ties. Alan and Jack stood beside the women while they waited and watched the people pass by.

"Little do they know how much their world will change by the morning," Alan muttered to Jack who nodded.

Rain was standing beside Rose calmly watching the people with Alan when she suddenly felt eyes on her. She turned and noticed a woman dressed in a black dress smirking at her.

"I see one savage has been civilized," she said.

Awinita turned around.

"Excuse me?" she said.

The women looked at her.

"Pardon me, two savages."

"Lady, go away," Jack said, glaring at her while Alan gave her a look of warning.

The woman's gaze settled on Mingxia and the smirk widened.

"My, my, my aren't we all ladies," she said.

Rain stepped up to her.

"Listen here, lady," she said with a snotty emphasis on the last word. "I suggest you leave us alone and go about your business before this "savage" reaches up under her petticoat, pulls out her tomahawk and scalps you!"

Alan and Jack held back their laughter when they saw the shocked look on her face. Then with a "Hmmmph!" she pushed past them and went on.

"Asshole," Rain muttered coming up beside Alan.

The woman stopped several feet away and glared at her again. Rain raised her open palm to her open mouth and patted it while she made an Indian war call. Alan and Jack laughed when she quickly hurried away. She grinned when Awinita draped her arms over her.

"You tell her, Sis," Awinita said while they laughed.

"Okay, my brilliant self has managed to secure the box right across from Lincoln," the Doctor said, coming up beside them.

"You missed the fun, Doc," Jack said.

"What? What'd I miss?"

They told him and he chuckled.

"Damn it, I'm always missing fun things," he said while they laughed.

He gave his wife a kiss.

"Good for you, little savage, and now let's go shock civilized society some more, eh?"

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After climbing some stairs, they entered a small room that overlooked the stage and settled down into some seats. Alan and the Doctor were in the front with Rose and Rain and the four women were behind them. Jack sat on the floor next to the box opening and rested. He looked across the way to the president's box which had red, white and blue bunting hung across the front of it. He peered into the box but could only see a rocking chair and three other chairs.

"He's not in there," Jack said to the Doctor.

"No, he comes in around 9 o'clock. He is delayed because he signs a pardon at the White House which is the last act of his administration. You'll know when he comes in because the conductor sees him, stops everything and plays Hail to the Chief. Then around 10:15 the assassination happens. In the meantime, we can just relax and watch a bit of Our American Cousin. Supposedly it's a funny play."

"Look at all these people," Rose said gesturing below them. "Unaware of what's gonna happen tonight."

Awinita leaned forward.

"If we can see it happening from here, I was thinking it's gonna be surreal like watching a horror movie when the killer's behind someone and you wanna shout at them to turn around, you know. We have to sit here and watch this poor man die."

"I know," Rose said. "That'll be the hard part."

"Nevertheless, we can't interfere," the Doctor replied.

"Who is with him?" Jack said to the Doctor. "I know his wife is but who are the others?"

"Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancée Clara Harris," he said.

"Heh, she has my last name," Awinita said to the women beside her.

"They thought Ulysses S Grant and his wife would join them but he declined and so did a number of other people until Rathbone decided to join him," the Doctor said to Jack. "Meanwhile while this is happening another of the conspirators goes to try to kill secretary of state William Seward and he attacks him but doesn't kill him. There's supposed to be a couple more assassinations but the people who are sent to kill them chicken out at the last moment."

He glanced over at Rain when she let out a puff of air.

"What's wrong?" he said.

"It's a bit stuffy in here," she replied opening her feather fan.

She began to fan her face gently while she watched the crowds. While she did, she noticed Alan stick his open palm out across her lap. She stared at it in confusion. He pointed to the fan and then opened his palm again. Rain laid the fan in his hand.

"Thank you, I'm feeling a bit stuffy myself," he said, taking it and fanning himself.

The women laughed and Rose shook her head while he imitated her. He looked at Rain and said in a high pitched southern accent.

"I do declare, it's hot in here. I'm feeling a bit faint. Where are my smelling salts?"

"Geez," Awinita said while the other women laughed.

The Doctor leaned over and grabbed the fan from his hand. He started to fan himself and grinned at Alan.

"Ashley Wilkes," he said, imitating his brother's falsetto voice. "Don't you dare marry that mealy mouthed Melanie. You love only me!"

Rose rolled her eyes when the three men sniggered. Alan grabbed the fan back from him.

"Miss Scarlett," he said in a shrieking voice. "I don't know nothin' bout birthin' babies."

By now the women were bent over in silent laughter while the Doctor took the fan back. He fanned himself while he looked at Jack.

"Rhett, no, you can't leave me!" he said in the falsetto voice. "Wherever shall I go? Whatever shall I do?"

"Frankly, Scarlett, I don't give a damn," Jack said while they laughed.

"Oh no, Rhett's left me. But I won't think about that today, I'll think about it tomorrow. Because after all…tomorrow is another day," the Doctor said in the falsetto voice.

"Na na na naaaaaaaa," Alan said singing the theme song to Gone With The Wind. "Na na na naaaaaaaaaa.

The Doctor snickered and gave the fan back to Rain.

"There you go, everyone. Your pre-show entertainment," he said while they laughed. "Our all-male interpretation of Gone with the Wind."

"Wow, that was incredibly disturbing," Awinita said.

She glanced over and noticed a huge chandelier hanging down from the ceiling.

"Okay, Bro," she said, leaning up to the Doctor and pointing to it. "Now do Phantom of the Opera for our amusement."

The Doctor snickered and turned and glared at them while he pointed to the front of their box.

"Did I not instruct that box five is to be kept empty?" he said while they laughed.

"Go to hell, lady, would you please?"

The Doctor glanced at Rain.

"Where is that in Phantom of the Opera?" he said to her.

"No, I found another nosy bigot, look," Rain said, pointing down.

The Doctor glanced down at the floor seats and saw a woman in a white gown glaring at her.

Jack snorted as he looked down at her.

"Welcome to America in the 1800's, girls," he said.

The Doctor watched her staring up at Rain. A grin spread over his face when he suddenly got an idea. Keeping his eyes on the woman, he held up his left hand and pointed to his wedding ring, making sure she saw it. Then with an impish grin, he held up Rain's left hand, put it next to his and pointed to the wedding band. They giggled when they saw her eyes bulge out.

"Yeah, that's right," Awinita said. "She's an Indian woman married to a white man and there's nothing you can do about it."

The Doctor reached behind him and took Awinita's hand.

"Come here, Te'lesu, show the lovely lady you're up here," he said.

She leaned up and the Doctor pointed to her while the lady's eyes widened even more.

"Okay, Mingxia, your turn," the Doctor said.

Mingxia leaned up and they laughed when the woman was even more shocked.

"Too bad you didn't go get Sarah Jane and the kids for this," Jack said. "Then you could have shown her the black boy and Indian girl too."

The Doctor smirked at her shocked expression.

"And now, for the finale," he muttered.

He leaned over to his wife's cheek and licked it slowly. Everyone laughed when the lady's mouth dropped open. He gave Rain's cheek a long kiss and then gave her a pointed stare. He smirked when she finally turned her head away.

"That oughta hold her for the rest of the night," the Doctor said while everyone giggled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You know," Jack said while they watched this play. "This is not bad. It's pretty funny. It's a shame Lincoln dies watching this."

"Yeah, I've never even heard of it before except for this," Mingxia said. "I wonder if anyone still stages it or if they stopped after Lincoln got killed watching it. You're right, it is pretty funny."

"What time is it, Love?" Rain whispered to her husband.

He checked his watch.

"Ten minutes to nine. About time for Lincoln to arrive," he said to her.

Rain and the other women fanned themselves.

"This isn't fair," Alan whispered. "How come they get air conditioning and we men don't?"

Rain grinned at him and fanned his face rapidly. Alan grinned and closed his eyes.

"Yeah, that's more like it," he said while the women laughed.

She stopped fanning him and poked his arm. Alan raised his eyebrow and poked back.

"Behave, you two before I make you go sit in the car," the Doctor said to them.

A few minutes later, the Doctor noticed the conductor looking up with a panicked look on his face.

"Here he comes," the Doctor whispered.

They saw him gesture frantically to the other members of the orchestra and they looked across at Lincoln, his wife, Rathbone and Clara who were now in their box. The conductor played Hail to the Chief while everyone in the seats and on the stage gave him a standing ovation and cheered. The Doctor and his family did the same and they watched with aching hearts while Lincoln stood and waved to them while his wife and the others sat down. After a moment the theater quieted down and Lincoln sat down beside his wife in his rocking chair. The Doctor and the others ignored the play while they quietly watched him. For the next hour and fifteen minutes they watched sadly while Lincoln laughed loudly at the play and nudged and talked to his wife and friends. All of them looked like four people who were just out having a good time and it made the knowledge of what was about to happen even more painful. Rain studied Lincoln and noticed how tired and haggard he looked and even though he was smiling at the play there was still a hint of melancholy that she seen in her own husband from time to time. She recognized it as the same world weary aura that her husband had from a lifetime of dealing with stress and sadness and heavy burdens. She mentioned most of this to the Doctor who nodded.

"Oh yes," he whispered to her. "By war's end he was tired and depressed and stressed out. The whole conflict aged the poor man considerably."

"So if what happened tonight hadn't happened," Rain whispered back. "Do you think he would have died prematurely from all the stress put on him?"

The Doctor considered that.

"It's possible, Latara," he whispered. "It certainly took a toll on his health. But it's hard to tell. He might have bounced back and recovered but I'm sure he never would have regained all his strength and vitality. He also lost two sons, one of them while in office and that also took a toll not only on him but Mary Lincoln as well. Plus, Mary Lincoln lost another son and her husband got shot right beside her. She never was the same after this night and…"

He trailed off and pointed across. Rain looked over and her eyes widened when she noticed the door to the box slowly opening behind the Lincolns and their friends. Everyone in their box watched transfixed when they saw Booth slip through and close the door quietly behind him. They held their breath while Booth quietly snuck up behind Lincoln's rocking chair, pistol in hand. One of the actors on stage was giving a soliloquy and their attention was focused on him. Then the actor said something funny, everyone in the box laughed and Booth fired into the back of Lincoln's head. As he slumped forward, the other three stared at him in shock for a moment and then Mary screamed as Rathbone leapt up and tried to fight Booth. The Doctor and his family gasped when Booth took out a knife and stabbed him in the arm. As Rathbone held his wounded arm, Booth ran past them and jumped out of the box to the stage. The riding spur on his left foot caught on the bunting and he stumbled down eleven feet onto the stage breaking his left ankle. As everyone stared at him in horror, he raised the knife and screamed "Sic simper tyrannis. The south is avenged!!"

They watched while he half ran/half hobbled off the stage before turning their attention back to the presidential box. They watched sadly while several men laid Lincoln out of the floor and tended to him and Rathbone while a couple of men tried to calm Mary who was in near hysterics. Everyone else in the theater was watching with them and finally after several minutes, several of the men picked up Lincoln's long lean body and carried it out of the room.

"They're taking him to a house across the street where he'll die early tomorrow morning," the Doctor said to him. "But I doubt we'll be able to get in there so I believe this is where our little view of history ends."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor opened the door and let his family through.

"God, that was tragic," Donna said while they walked through the door. "Makes you wonder what might had happened if he lived."

"Well, I'm betting the south would have had an easier time since Lincoln was the one who was calling for everyone to be lenient," the Doctor said. "Without him around, the south was punished for trying to break away from the union. But we'll never know."

"Same thing for Kennedy," Awinita said. "If he wasn't killed, what might have happened?"

"I was there," the Doctor said. "I saw that happen."

"When, Dad?"

"Ninth life before I met Rose."

"Oh yeah, I saw the photo of you in the crowd," Rose said while Alan closed the door. "That Clive showed me when I was trying to find out about you."

The Doctor nodded.

"I was trying to find out if there was a gunman on the grassy knoll that day."

"And was there?" Rain said.

"I saw someone up there," the Doctor said. "Whether or not that was a second gunman, I can't say for sure. But someone was behind the wooden fence and ducked away after it happened."

He went to the controls and took the TARDIS into the vortex.

"Erm, while I'm standing here, any other periods of history you wanna see?" he said to them.

They glanced at each other and looked at Jack.

"If you guys want to go explore, I'm up for it," he said shrugging. "It isn't like the Doctor can't take me back to the exact time I left and I'm immortal, you know. You wanna go see something else, be my guest."

The Doctor and Alan sat down on the jump seat while the women conferred with each other about possible periods in history. They got an idea and walked over to them.

"We were thinking that if we did this perhaps the teens could come along with us?" Rain asked. "Because we were thinking it might help them out in school to see history up close like we just did."

The Doctor glanced at his brother.

"I could put in a call to Sarah and ask," he said. "But you're right. It might help them with their class work."

He walked over to the console, grabbed his mobile and dialed Sarah Jane's number.


	52. Chapter 52

Chapter Fifty Two

After making a call to Sarah Jane, she agreed to come with the teens. The Doctor assured her they would come as soon as they changed into their regular clothes. After he ended the call, they went back up to the wardrobe room to change. Once they were back in their regular clothes, they went back down to the console room and the Doctor went to pick up Sarah Jane and the kids.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So…" the Doctor said when they were onboard and with the rest of them in the console room, "where do you wanna go? We have all of space and time to choose from. Except the Lincoln assassination, we just got back from viewing that."

"Really? You saw Lincoln get shot?" Clyde said.

"Yup, it was very sad but at the same time interesting to see," the Doctor said. "But on account of us running into ourselves, that's right out now."

"What about JFK?" Rani said.

"Getting assassinated, you mean?" the Doctor said.

They nodded.

"Erm, that's a bit problematic as well because I also saw that. By myself in my previous life but I was in the crowd and I'd rather my former self not see us, especially Rose. And the Titanic is out too. I was there as well in my ninth life."

The teens stared at him.

"You were on the Titanic?" Rani said.

"Yes, I was."

"Why? Did you want to see the wreck up close?" Clyde said.

Sarah Jane and the teens frowned when he noticed the way he shifted uncomfortably. They noticed his family giving him a sad look and Sarah Jane drew closer.

"Doctor, why were you on the Titanic?" she said to him.

The Doctor sighed.

"Sarah, you have to understand that this was just after the Time War and I didn't have a family like I do now so I wouldn't do what I did now but…I went onboard because I wanted to die."

Sarah Jane gasped. She walked over and hugged him tight while the teens stared at him in shock. He hugged her back.

"I never realized it was that bad for you," Sarah whispered in his ear. "I knew it was bad but not to the point you'd consider…"

"Well, luckily I snapped out of it," he said to her. "I came to my senses but I was on the ship by that time and I had to go through the whole thing. I ended up clinging to the iceberg until the Carpathian came to pick us up. When I got back to Southampton I went back to my TARDIS and never did that again."

Sarah hugged him tighter and he smiled while he hugged and rubbed her back.

"But…that's why the Titanic is a bad idea not to mention we would be sinking and I couldn't guarantee your safety," he said to them as Sarah Jane broke away and stood beside him. "So is there anything else you can think of?"

"A war?" Clyde said.

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"Which one? There are millions of wars I could take you to," he said while they laughed. "I need a bit more info than just "A war."

"Don't pick a war, Clyde," Sarah Jane said. "He's right. We need to be safe and it's too dangerous to be in the middle of something like that."

"Yeah," Awinita teased, "and we can't go to New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and stand there and stare at the neato weather. That's a bad idea too."

"Exactly," the Doctor said grinning while the others laughed.

"What about dinosaurs…seeing them from a distance, I mean," Luke said.

The Doctor considered that.

"If we did, we'd have to be extremely careful. Otherwise, we might end up in our own personal Jurassic Park if you know what I mean."

"Well, can we go see cavemen?" Rani said.

"Well, which is it?" the Doctor said. "Because contrary to some films, cavemen and dinosaurs didn't exist at the same time. So I could take you to one or the other."

"I'd rather you go see the cavemen than the dinosaurs," Sarah Jane said to them.

"Oh, come on, Sarah. You and me and dinosaurs, just like old times," the Doctor teased.

"No," she said as they laughed.

"Well, I could take you back to about 3.8 million ago to the time of Australopithecus. That's Lucy's species. They were still apelike but not so apelike that they didn't act a bit human. I don't wanna take you back too far otherwise you'd just have chimpanzees that stood upright for a few tics and then walked on all fours the rest of the time. So if you want to do that, I can take you there."

The teens looked at each other and nodded. The Doctor began to put in some coordinates and then had an idea.

"Wait a tic, I'll be right back," he said, running out of the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So these perception filters will hide us?" Luke said, looking at the modified TARDIS key hanging around his neck.

"Yup, as long as you don't draw attention to yourself. I had several made up awhile back just in case and we can all use them now. That way we can observe the Australopithecines up close, otherwise they'll run away as soon as they see us. Now," he said, going to the door while the others followed. "Prepare yourself to step out onto the African savannah approximately 3.8 million years in the past."

He opened the door and all of them walked out onto a vast savannah. Tall grasses swayed in the brisk breeze and there were several baobab trees scattered about. The TARDIS was parked next to a large one and about fifty feet away they could see another. In the other tree were ape-like humanoids who were resting in the branches and hooting and hollering to each other.

"Australopithecus," the Doctor said, pointing to them. "As you can see, they're still basically apes, just walking around on two legs. But this is the beginning of human evolution. Now we have to be cautious. We have the perception filters but there are still saber tooth cats that hunt here so be still and quiet and just observe our friends over there."

They nodded and watched. Occasionally a couple of the ape men and women would come down out of the trees and walk around in the grass picking bugs off the grass stalks and eating them while they grunted and hooted to each other. Occasionally a far off noise would cause all of them to freeze and they would stand and look around them for a few minutes before finally relaxing and going about their business.

"The reason they developed two leg walking was a matter of survival," the Doctor said to the teens. "A couple of million years before this, all this was rainforest and the apes could go from tree to tree without ever having to come down. Then the temperatures heated up and the rainforest turned into savannah and suddenly trees became scarcer and they had to go to ground to get from one tree to another so they began to stand upright to look for predators and that's how your evolution began."

"So if the world's temperatures didn't rise we might not have evolved," Clyde said.

He nodded.

"There were other factors of course but that was a big one," he said.

While a few of the apes walked around in front of the tree, a small female holding an infant began to venture away from the others in search of food. She and the others were about four feet tall and were covered with fur. She looked like an ape except she was walking upright. She was heading their way and they stood and quietly observed her. Her infant was sucking on her nipple while she held it with one hand and grabbed beetles and bugs off the grass stalks and ground with her free hand. She popped them in her mouth and chewed on them while she walked and looked around her. Slowly she came towards them until she was next to them. She stopped about three feet away from the Doctor and the others and stared down at a small anthill in fascination scratching her belly while she gazed at it. She looked around and looked at them but she didn't see them and looked behind her at the others who were foraging and resting. She paused a moment and sniffed the air but the Doctor and the others had made sure to stand downwind from her and grunting she relaxed and moved towards the tree. She searched around it and found a long thin stick. They watched, fascinated, while the mother sat her baby down beside her and stuck the end of the stick deep into the anthill. She kept it there for a couple of seconds and then pulled it back out with several ants climbing on it. She stuck the stick in her mouth eating the ants and then put the end of the stick back in the hole.

Meanwhile, the infant was walking on two legs and all fours searching his surroundings. They could see now it was a boy and occasionally he would stop and stare at the swaying grasses and touch them. The Doctor smiled when a small dragonfly alighted on one grass and the infant's gaze was drawn to it. He stood and stared at it for a moment before walking over slowly. He tried to touch it but it flew away and he let out a couple of grunts while he stared at the flying bug with a look of disappointment. The dragonfly landed a foot away and the infant watched it and began to go towards it again.

The mother then looked up and saw what he was doing and hooted to him. The infant looked at her and she hooted and grunted. The infant walked over to her side and she stuck the stick in the hole while the infant watched. She pulled it out and showed her infant the ants before she ate them. Then she did it again, pulled it out, showed the ants to the infant and ate them.

"Aw, she's teaching him," Rain whispered to the Doctor who nodded.

While she was teaching the infant how to get the ants, the Doctor and the others noticed a male near the other tree stop to look at her for a few minutes before he headed her way. They looked at the female who hadn't noticed him while the male walked across the grassy savannah towards her. After a minute, the infant noticed him and hooted at him causing the female to jerk around and shriek at him while she waved her free arm at him. The male stopped and stared at her, unsure what to do while she bared her teeth and hooted at him.

"Oops, I guess she doesn't fancy him," Alan whispered.

The male dropped down to all fours in a kind of submission posture and began to creep towards her while the female became more and more agitated.

"Buddy, I wouldn't do that if I were you," Jack muttered while he watched the female become angrier while she scooped up her baby with one hand and she slapped the ground with her other hand and bared her fangs at the male.

The male stopped a few feet away and hooted softly at her. He dropped his head and hooted softly at her. They looked at the female who had paused and was calming down although they could tell she was still a bit agitated. But once she was calmed down, the male began to slowly creep towards her, hooting softly while he kept his eyes down. He came up behind the female who was still watching him warily and he slowly put his hands up on her back and began to groom her, picking off the fleas and lice and eating them. The female calmed and went back to poking the ant hole with the stick while he continued to groom her. The male continued the grooming but they noticed he was getting an erection and nearing closer to her keeping his eyes on her while he tried to insert his manhood from behind. The female was still eating the ants, holding her baby with one hand but the moment he tried to insert his penis she instantly turned and smacked him with her free hand, hooting and shrieking and growling at him while the man stood up and ran backwards, shocked.

"That's what ya get for trying to shag a lady without permission, mate," Donna whispered.

Suddenly, the male became agitated and began to hoot and shriek. They gasped when he ran and barreled into the shocked female and grabbed her infant by its right arm. He held the wailing child by its right arm and then he raised it over his head and slammed the baby hard into the trunk of the tree killing it instantly. The male roared and slapped the ground and bared his fangs before he was chased away by the female. The female chased him on two legs for a few feet, hooting and waving her arms around while the other apes in the tree hooted in return. Then it quieted down while the male ran away and the female turned back to the tree, hooting mournfully at her dead baby. They watched with aching hearts while she scooped it up with her hand and hooted at it mournfully while she poked it with her finger trying to get it to stir. They could see the anguish on her face while she tried to get a response from the dead infant.

"Oh God, the poor thing," Awinita said softly.

Suddenly, there was terrified hooting from the other tree and the female stood up. They looked over and saw everyone else was in the trees and just below them a large saber tooth cat was trying to get up the tree after them. They looked at the female who climbed up the tree beside her with the infant still in her hand and hooted and shrieked at the cat who was trying to pick off a meal from the terrified ape men and women. Several of the apes jumped back down out of the trees and found some stones. They threw them and clumps of dirt at the cat. He hissed and growled at them but continued his upward climb. Several more jumped down but two climbed up higher and the cat pursued them while the other apes threw the rocks and dirt and shrieked at the beast.

Then the cat lunged forward and seized a female by the neck. The last ape fell out of the tree and the terrified apes ran shrieking towards the other tree while the cat kept his mouth on the ape's throat, suffocating her to death. She fell limp and the cat began to eat her while the other apes ran to the tree, hunched down in front of it and hooted and hollered at the cat who now completely ignored them while it ate its meal. After quieting down the apes climbed the tree and sat with the female who was still trying to get her dead child to respond to her prodding. The Doctor and the others observed them for a moment more before all of them decided to leave. The Doctor quietly opened the door of the TARDIS and they all went inside. The apes didn't notice them until the TARDIS began to wheeze and they shrieked with fear and jumped out of the tree while the TARDIS vanished into thin air.


	53. Chapter 53

Chapter Fifty Three

After the Doctor took them back in the vortex, they decided to take a rest and get something to drink while they decided where to go next. Rain and Awinita got a Mountain Dew and Coke and sat on the sofa in the living room. They talked quietly to each other while they sipped their sodas. Suddenly, Alan came into the room with an impish grin on his face. They watched him warily while he stopped a few feet away and grunted and hooted.

"Are you an ape?" Awinita said.

"I was half one once," he replied.

They raised their eyebrows while he imitated the male ape's submissive posture and came towards the couch hooting under his breath. Then suddenly he lunged forward and smacked Awinita in the back of the head.

"Hey, you little asshole!" she said while he ran away giggling.

He turned and walked back to them, chuckling. He leaned down and gave her a hug and then gave Rain a hug.

"Thank God the couch is here so he can't take us from behind," Awinita said, rolling his eyes.

"I wouldn't want you anyway, Harris," Alan said while Rain giggled.

Bending his arm, he scratched his armpit while he hooted at her.

"Yup, keep talking, monkey boy," Awinita said.

"Do you lot know where Rose went? I need to urinate on her to show my dominance and my complete and total alpha male possession of her," Alan said to them.

"No, but now that you said something I'll be sure to throw up a privacy block around her mind and warn her you're trying to pee on her," Rain said.

He wrapped his arms around her and put his chin on her head.

"Don't you dare do something because I just know you're gonna hit me or poke me or something apish and immature like that," Rain said.

"Nah, I'm just giving my Te'lesu a bit of cuddles and love," Alan said.

"Well, as long as you behave yourself."

They giggled when he hooted softly and pretended to groom her hair.

"Better watch it, Sis, that's how ape boy tried to screw the female," Awinita said, nodding to him.

Rain turned her head and glanced at him.

"Only picking fleas and nits off of ya," he said innocently.

She giggled and he ruffled her hair. He looked at Awinita.

"So, any ideas about where to go next?"

Awinita gave him an odd look.

"I thought the teens were picking," she said.

"Yes, but we could always use some ideas as well for other places to go after they leave," he said to her.

"We could go watch JFK and say hello to the Doctor while we watch," Awinita said.

"Um, no."

"Why? I'd like to meet Bro's former self," Awinita said.

"Yes and right after we did it, Brother would have to erase his memory so he won't remember you which means he'd have to wrestle his former self to the ground which means…"

Alan trailed off when he saw the interested look on Rain's face.

"Don't even think about it, Rain," he said while she laughed.

"Why? She wants to see her husband wrestle himself. Don't ya, Sis?"

"Mm-hmm," Rain said with a grin.

"No, I'm afraid that's right out. You'll just have to be contented with pictures of his other selves. I'm afraid you won't be able to meet his other selves face to face."

Alan noticed a look that passed between them.

"What did that look mean?" he said, raising his eyebrow.

He noticed the two of them growing quiet.

"Rain, Awinita, what's going on? I'm assuming from that look you have seen the Doctor's other selves before. Where?"

Rain sighed and briefly told Alan about Jenny's vision. Alan listened in stunned silence. The shock deepened when she told him what the eleventh Doctor had said to them. When they were finished, Alan hugged them both and sent love into their minds before he excused himself and left the room.

"I don't like the way he reacted to that, Sis," Awinita said.

"I don't either. I have a feeling he went to tell my husband what we said," she replied.

Their suspicions were confirmed when Alan entered ten minutes later with the Doctor behind him. Alan sat down in the chair while the Doctor sat down beside Rain.

"Brother told me what you told him but I'm assuming you figured that out since I'm in here," the Doctor said to him.

"Are you upset we used the simulation room?" Awinita said.

"No, I'm not upset about that. I'm just concerned that you saw something you shouldn't have. But on the other hand if Jenny saw this whole premonition there must be a reason for it. I know about the Valeyard capturing me obviously. The fact that he captured Alan and you lot is a surprise and I just warned him that when the moment comes that I don't want him or you to interfere because I don't want you in danger. I'll tell the other women but whenever this happens which I'm assuming is centuries from now don't do anything. Let me go. Like Alan in the vision told you, my seventh self rescues us and we return to our own timelines unharmed. Now…about what my eleventh self told you. I'm glad he told you not to worry about it because you shouldn't. Especially if this occurs more than two centuries from now and I'm glad he eased your fears about regeneration because he's right. There's nothing to fear about that, Te'lesu and once you go through it you'll realize how true that is. Now…when Brother first told me all this I seriously considered taking it from your minds so you won't worry or try to prevent it but I trust you for now to be responsible with this information because I want you to be prepared. Now there is a chance this event can be avoided but if it's fixed you must accept it and trust that everything will work out. Alright?"

They nodded.

"Because if it does get to be too much for all of you, I will take this vision away because I don't want any of you to spend the next two centuries or more dreading this separation. From what you told Alan, it sounds like I'm alright even though we've been apart for three centuries and he's right, it will pass quickly. I'm 1200 years old and it amazes me I'm that old since it seems like yesterday I was a kid. But I know Alan will look after you, my love, and keep you safe."

He feigned anger.

"But if you dare do something to my TARDIS while I'm gone…" he said, wagging his finger at him.

Alan held up his hands and feigned fear. The Doctor smiled warmly at him and sighed while he wrapped his arm around his wife.

"Well, now we know why they came and cuddled with us under the console that day," Alan said while the Doctor nodded.

He smiled at his wife and sister and sent love into their minds.

"We won't know until closer to the moment if this exile can be avoided. If it can be then rest assured I will fight it with every breath in my body but until that moment we have to do what my eleventh self suggested. Live each life to the fullest and enjoy our time together."

He paused a moment and looked at Rain.

"I'm not ginger, eh?"

"No, Love."

"Damn," he said while they laughed. "Am I even gonna be ginger? Is that too much to ask to be ginger for one life?"

He paused.

"I'm younger?"

"About my age," Rain said while Awinita nodded.

"Hmm, that's a surprise as well," the Doctor muttered.

"Is it me, Brother, or are you getting younger with each regeneration?" Alan said.

"Seems like it. At least since the Time War. Maybe I keep growing younger to compensate for my age. Then again, apparently the mystery goons force this next regeneration on me. Maybe they assumed if I'm young I'd be inexperienced and unable to take care of myself on this barren planet they wanna dump me on. Ah well, who knows?"

He glanced at his wife.

"Am I repulsive to you when I regenerate?" he asked her.

"No. You're handsome. Most of your lives have been handsome."

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"When have I not been handsome then?"

"When you were eighty and when you were a clown."

"Oi!" the Doctor said while Alan roared with laughter.

"No, you were all handsome in your own ways."

"Even the elderly one?"

She nodded.

"You had a very mature, handsome face," she said. "But…I mean I fell in love with you looking like this so I'm partial to it, you know."

"Well, I'll feel the same way about this body after you regenerate," the Doctor said, kissing her cheek.

"I wonder what I'm gonna look like since I go first," Awinita said.

"Doctor Jekyll and Mister Hyde combined."

The Doctor laughed when Awinita rose up and smacked Alan on the top of the head a couple of times before sitting back down. The Doctor sighed contentedly while he laid his head back onto the back of the sofa and closed his eyes.

"I hope this whole exile can be prevented because I'll sure miss this," he said with his eyes closed.

He opened his eyes and looked at his wife and sisters.

"You know, I love all of you but I have to admit it's been interesting having the two of you and Mingxia travel with me because I'm getting new perspectives on American and Chinese cultures I never had before. In all my lives, I traveled with one American, Peri and had two others, Grace and Lee, who assisted me and that was it. And I've never even traveled with a Chinese woman before so I'm getting to experience brand new parts of planet Earth. Not to mention I've never traveled with Native Americans. I knew a little bit about Native American culture but not the little nitty gritty things that you two know and the same with China. I love learning little things about your cultures."

"I do too. I'm glad I went across the US because I saw wonderful things I didn't know existed," Alan said.

The Doctor nodded.

Other than Peri, I traveled with British people and aliens so I know a great deal about British culture and it's ins and outs but not so much about American culture and its ins and outs so I'm glad you and Mingxia are with me because now at 1200 years old I get to see brand new things and learn brand new things and I'm loving it."

He squeezed his wife.

"And I'm married to a former American which also has been an eye-opener for me," he said while she kissed her cheek. "It's too bad Imiko wasn't human because then we could have learned a lot more about Japanese culture too. I always say consult the experts if you wanna really learn a culture from the inside out. But yes, I'll miss you all if I really do have to go into exile."

He shut his eyes and sighed.

"Brother, if I do have to do this, you will be sure to punch these people directly in the face for me, yeah?"

"You better believe it," he said while Rain and Awinita laughed. "And not only that, Rain will be pulling me off so she can have a go at em."

"Damn straight I will," Rain said. "I'll throw you across the room so I can have space to kick their asses!"

"Well I'll be sure to get out of your way then, Rain," Alan said while they laughed.

The Doctor chuckled.

"The other interesting thing is Alan here," he said.

"Me, what about me?"

The Doctor opened his eyes.

"I don't know if you've realized this but you've picked up quite a few Americanisms from your sisters. I'm guessing that's mostly Awinita's doing since you traveled with her the longest but every once in awhile you say something I've never thought of saying in my life and sometimes you say things I've never heard before."

"Oh yeah. Um…well, frankly, I was trying to distance myself from you and be my own person and every once in awhile, Awinita would say something that I'd love and I'd sorta cotton on to it and use it, much to my wife's chagrin. But she's taught me a lot of fun things. I know what a snipe hunt is now and I loved the first time I asked Rose if we could go on one and she fell for it. She was angry when she found out it was a joke and Te'lesu and me laughed at her but the look on her face was priceless. She was asking what a snipe was and Awinita was just making up this crazy description and not even cracking a smile. Oooh, Brother, you should have been there. It was hilarious. Unfortunately, that was months before Rain came into our lives and she missed it as well, damn it. But yeah, I do that on occasion because I love the sound of the words or the phrase or just to irritate my wife. But yes, I'm also glad they and Mingxia came along and enriched our lives with their own little ways of living."

He patted Awinita's head.

"Like the little DVD viewing party we almost missed because you were afraid we wouldn't be interested," he said, pinching her cheek affectionately.

"Yes, that was wonderful. We really have to do that again," the Doctor said. "You and everyone else have healed and helped us both in so many ways. Which is also why you must avenge me if I'm torn away from you. I want to see you screaming and pounding these hooded gits right in the face. If I'm going, I wanna see pools of blood on the floor before I leave. I wanna have the satisfaction of knowing they'll have broken noses and bones and contusions and bruises. That'll keep me going for awhile in the other universe."

He opened his eyes.

"Of course, Brother, now that we know we can plan just in case I am forced to do this. You and I have over two centuries to find a way to communicate with one another even if I am trapped behind a void. We need to do that anyway since we cross the voids frequently."

"But…" Awinita said. "couldn't we also make more void crossers and hide them in secure locations all over the universe so if they do take ours we'll have more?"

The Doctor glanced at her. He looked at his brother and they grinned at each other.

"Why yes, we could, couldn't we?" the Doctor said.

"Maybe this is why Jenny had the vision, Brother. Maybe this is a warning to prepare ourselves and do things like hide void crossers so it can be prevented," Alan said to him.

"You mean let it happen and let myself be "exiled" and then once they're gone, you come and get me?" the Doctor said.

"Yes, let the bastards have their stupid little trial and then once you're condemned and sent away, we'll come and get you and go on with life," Alan said.

"Yeah but you'll be forced to regenerate," Awinita said to the Doctor.

The Doctor shrugged.

"Yes but don't you think that's a small price to pay to get them to leave us alone?" he said. "It'll be over two centuries with this body by the time it happens, that's pretty good considering my average is usually a hundred to a hundred and fifty before something happens. I'll still be me, honestly. I know Rose freaked out the last time I almost regenerated but even though our personalities might change a bit, at the core we'll all be the same people and trust me, you'll recognize me. I won't be this slobbering, drooling, raving maniac wandering the TARDIS corridors wanting to smear feces over everything. I will remember all of you and I'll love you all, I'll just be in a different body. So…I repeat, isn't that a small price to pay to prevent me from spending three centuries or more apart from all of you?"

They nodded.

"Whatever I need to do to get these wankers off my back and away from us permanently, I'll gladly do it and if that includes being beaten, tortured or forced to regenerate, I will. The reward of having my family with me is worth it all."

"So, Love, instead of the Valeyard grabbing you from the other universe, he'd grab you a second time while you were with us," Rain said to him.

"Yes, which will be irritating but unfortunately since that events stems from the past, that I can't change and I'm sure it'll be irritating when time goes on and my twelfth and thirteenth selves get nabbed while all of you have to watch. But like I said, each instance that happens, do not interfere because we'll all be sent back to wherever we were taken from. I realize it'll be a bit tiresome having to watch the Valeyard grab me four separate times in four different time periods but it can't be helped. I s'pose by the time my thirteenth self gets taken you'll all be groaning and throwing up your hands in frustration while you yell, "Bloody hell, not again!" This is what happens when your evil double is allowed to run loose in the universe and he gets it into his head that your good selves would make wonderful batteries for your golems. Having said that, the next time he does snatch me, Brother, please hide because I don't want him seeing you and thinking he could make another handy dandy golem with the spare clone."

"I will."

The Doctor sighed.

"I s'pose we should go talk to the others and let them know about this conversation before we go take Sarah and the kids on another fun trek through history."

The Doctor kissed his wife and sister and the four of them got up and left the room.


	54. Chapter 54

Chapter Fifty Four

They went and told the rest of the family in private what they had discussed and what their plans were. Once they told them about putting the void crossers in secret locations the rest of the family burst into relived tears and gathered around the Doctor holding him tight. The Doctor closed his eyes and smiled while he soothed their minds.

"This was really weighing heavily on your minds, I take it?" the Doctor said to them.

"You're better believe it," Mingxia said while they nodded. "We kept wondering whether or not to tell you but I'm glad Rain and Awinita did if you found a way to get out of it."

"Well, I wasn't too keen on it myself," the Doctor said to them.

He smiled when his women clustered around him and encased him in a group hug. Alan sat nearby smiling while he watched and felt the outpouring of love from all of them. He was glad his family had found a solution instead of just resigning themselves to fate. He was horrified that something like this might happen to tear their family apart and he knew if they were close now they would be inseparable in two centuries time. He was glad that Rain wouldn't have to endure at least three centuries of separation from her husband either. He loved her and he was more than willing to take care of her but a brother was a poor substitute for a husband. He could tell his brother was relieved especially since he had been just as horrified when he told him about it.

While they were holding him, the door opened and Rani peeked inside.

"Oh, am I interrupting something?" she said to them.

"Not at all. We're just having a little family hugglies session," the Doctor said. "Come on in."

"Well, we were discussing where to go to next," Rani said. "And kinda throwing out ideas and I just wanted to ask Rain something."

Rain smiled at her.

"Yes?"

"Well, I guess you or Awinita can answer this but you know, I was kinda interested in seeing something Native American since I've never known any before you two. Is there something interesting you can think of that we could see?"

"Are you wanting to see something specifically Navajo or Cherokee or just Native American history in general?" Rain said to her. "Because I know a lot of different events but not all of them are Navajo history."

"Same here," Awinita said. "There are lots of different moments in history. Lot of sad moments too."

"Like what?" Rani said.

"Well, my people went through the Trail of Tears where we were forced to walk about 500 miles to Oklahoma because Andrew Jackson and the whites decided our land was valuable after finding gold in Georgia where my people were living. We weren't the only ones that were forced to walk it. They tried to get rid of all tribes east of the Mississippi and they think about 4,000 Cherokee died walking it and also from the concentration camp type forts they forced them into before they went. But that was just my people. In all, there were about 80,000 Indians that went to Oklahoma territory and about 10,000 died from the walk and the forts"

"Can we see that or a part of it?" Rani said. "I mean, we don't have to if it's gonna be painful for you and I don't wanna upset you."

"No, that's fine. I wouldn't mind seeing it because it's a part of my people's past. I'm happy you're curious. Not everyone is," she said while Rain nodded in agreement. "Besides Bro just got done telling me and Rain he was interested in our history and culture too."

"Yup, but I really do wanna make sure you wanna do this, Awinita, since these will be your people and we more than likely won't be able to interfere and save them."

She nodded.

"I understand. I've kinda wanted to do this for awhile anyway. I want to see what my people went through."

He nodded and put his arm around her while all of them headed up to the console room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

(Missouri, 1838…)

The TARDIS landed behind a high hill in a wooded area. Everyone stepped out the Doctor closed the door behind them. They looked around but they saw only woods.

"Let's head straight. The TARDIS landed somewhere near the forced march and I'm betting it's straight ahead," the Doctor said. "We've got our perception filters on but just be careful in case we accidentally do make our presence known to soldiers."

They nodded and slowly began to walk away from the TARDIS. Rain held her sister's hand while the Doctor, Alan and Jack walked near them so they could comfort them if they needed to. They walked about a half mile when they suddenly noticed movement up ahead. All of them slowed down and hunched down. Finally, they reached the top of a hill and all of them lay down on their stomachs side by side and watched quietly. Their hearts ached at the scene below them. There was a line of captives stretching back for as far as they could see, men, women and children forced to march while several soldiers rode beside them on horses. They glared when they noticed all the adults hands were shackled in front of them with heavy iron chains and manacles. A few elderly Cherokee were on horses and there was one man driving his family in a wagon but these were the exception rather than the rule. Everyone looked exhausted, malnourished and they stumbled along while the soldiers ignored their suffering. Alan and the Doctor put their arms around Rain and Awinita who were lying between them crying silently. They could hear a few people singing in both English and Cherokee trying to keep theirs and other people's spirits up. Beside the Doctor the others lay and watched in stunned silence.

While everyone slowly marched by on the dirt path, they saw one young woman look around her while she passed by them. She had on a red dress and a white cotton blanket was wrapped around her head. She glanced at the soldiers and when she saw they were distracted, she made a break for the hill, scrambling up and over it as fast as she could. The time travelers glanced at each other while she fell to her knees nearby, gasping and panting.

"Te'lesu, come with me," the Doctor whispered to Awinita.

She nodded and both of them got up and walked over to her. At first she didn't see them but the moment the Doctor laid his hand on her shoulder the spell was broken and the women shrank back in fear.

"No, I won't hurt you," the Doctor said, holding up his hands. "My name is the Doctor and this is my sister Awinita and these are my family and friends behind you. We're not with the soldiers. What's your name?"

"Galilahi," she said.

He smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Galilahi. Will you let me help you?"

She nodded and he reached into his pocket for his sonic screwdriver.

"Let's get there horrible shackles off your wrists first," the Doctor said.

Galilahi watched in amazement when he turned it on and the manacles opened. He took them off and examined her chafed wrists.

"Good thing I keep an assortment of things in my pockets, Te'lesu," he said to Awinita.

He pulled out some bottled water and a small bottle of aloe vera skin cream. He unscrewed the cap off the bottled water.

"It's water," he said to Pranati.

She nodded and took it from him. She took a few sips watching while the Doctor squirted out a bit of the skin cream onto his hand and rubbed it.

"This will help your wrists feel better," he whispered to her.

She nodded and he gently took her left wrist. He rubbed the cream into her chafed skin while Awinita sat with her and kept her company. Galilahi looked at her.

"Are you Cherokee?" Galilahi whispered.

"Yes."

"Are you with us?" she said confused.

"No. I live with my brother and his family and we happened to be here and we saw you run up here so we decided to help."

Galilahi gazed at the others who were watching her quietly. She pointed to Rain and Rani.

"Are they Cherokee?"

"No, Rain there is Navajo."

Galilahi frowned.

"Navajo? I've never heard of that tribe."

"They live out west, in the southwestern desert," Awinita said. "And Rani isn't an Indian like us. She's from England but her ancestry is the Indians from India. Everyone else is from England, America and China."

The Doctor finished applying the skin cream.

"Better?" he whispered to her.

She nodded.

"Thank you…Doctor?"

"Yes, Doctor. How long have you been walking?" he asked.

"Not sure. About six days, maybe seven."

Awinita closed her eyes in anguish while everyone still lying on the hill looked at each other and shook their heads.

"What about family? Do you have family members still walking?" the Doctor asked Galilahi, putting a hand on Awinita's shoulder.

"No, they died back in the forts. I'm all alone which is why I chose to run up here. I'm tired of walking and I really don't care if they kill me. It's better than leaving our homeland to go die in a land that doesn't belong to us. I'm gonna make my way back home but if I die on the way, so be it. I'd rather die than go where they're forcing us to go."

The Doctor nodded.

"I understand, Galilahi," he said to her.

His eyes shifted over when he saw Alan, Rain, Clyde and Luke get up.

"Where are you going?" he said to them.

"To help, Brother. Trust me, she needs it. We'll be right back."

They watched while they went down over the hill and hurried back up a minute later carrying an elderly woman in between them.

"She collapsed in front of us, Love," Rain said while they gently laid her on the ground. "We couldn't just let her die there."

The Doctor nodded and bent over her. He unlocked the shackles, pulled out his stethoscope and checked her vital signs while Awinita held her hand.

"Will she be alright?" Luke asked, worriedly.

"She's very weak," the Doctor said. "I'm not sure yet."

Galilahi came around to Awinita's side and looked down at her. She shook her head.

"How could they do this to other people?" she said to the Doctor. "We've never done anything to them. We have treaties with the white man and our homeland was ours. But the whites just decided to take it and force us all to walk to this strange new home. People have died around us but the soldiers don't care. They don't even give people enough time to perform burial rituals. We just have to bury them and go on. How could people be so cruel?"

The Doctor gave her a sympathetic look.

"I don't know, Galilahi. I don't know why some humans can do things like this and not care. I wish I did know."

"Me too. But the Great Spirit will judge their hearts and see their deeds and they will answer for this eventually."

The Doctor nodded and Awinita put her arm around her and hugged her.

"Hey! Here! Up here!"

The Doctor looked at Jack when he heard him. He saw the others beckoning to someone and a minute later a man and a young boy of about five ran up and over and collapsed to their knees. Jack and the others went to them and the Doctor unlocked the shackles around the man's wrists. The man stared at him in surprise.

"You're not with the soldiers?" he whispered looking around at them.

"No, I'm the Doctor and we're here to help. We've tried to help a few and my brother, Jack, must have seen you and called you up here."

He nodded.

"Thank you. I am Adahy. This is my son, Tooantuh."

"Nice to meet you both. Just rest now. You and everyone else here are safe. We won't let the soldiers take you."

"Thank you, my friend. Thank you all. May the Great Spirit bless each and every one of you."

The Doctor smiled. He took the bottled water from Rain and offered it to them. Adahy drank while the rest of them went back to watching the others. The Doctor rubbed skin cream into Adahy's wounds and when he was finished, he went back to tend to the elderly woman. He smiled when he noticed she looked better. Galilahi had folded her blanket and put it under her head as a makeshift pillow. He smiled when she opened her eyes and stared at him with a weary expression.

"Don't be afraid. We're friends. I'm the Doctor. What's your name?" he said gently while he took her hand.

"I'm Salali," she said softly.

"Nice to meet you. Just rest. You're safe now," he said, rubbing the back of her hand.

Donna came up beside him.

"Will she be alright?" she asked.

"I think so. I'm gonna take them back to the TARDIS and get them some food and take them back home. It's too far for them to walk and I don't want the soldiers catching up to them. But as much as I hate to leave the rest we have no choice. This is a fixed event and I'm only doing like I did in Pompeii, saving a few. But we have to go before the soldiers down there cotton on."

Donna nodded and thought to the others. Jack looked back when she finished thinking, nodded and told Sarah Jane and the teens. All of them took one last look before reluctantly pulling away from the hill.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After getting the astonished Cherokee inside the TARDIS, the adult men carried Salali back to the med bay while the others took their friends to the kitchen to feed them. the three men worked to restore Salali to health and when they were satisfied that she was out of danger, they let her rest while the Doctor flew the TARDIS back to their home in Georgia.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm glad we did that," Awinita said when they had finished getting their friends back to their home and flew back into the vortex. "It was painful but I'm glad we helped a few people get back home safely."

"Me too," Rain said. "It was nice to be able to help a little. I just hope all four of them had a nice long life."

"I'm sure they did. The Cherokee we talked to promised to shelter them," the Doctor said.

He glanced over at Donna who was smiling widely at him.

"What?" he said.

"You got that from me, you know. The whole saving a few people even if it's a fixed event. I taught you that."

He smiled and ruffled her hair affectionately.

"Yes, you did, Te'lesu," he said to them.

Rani looked at Awinita.

"Thanks for letting us do that. I know it was painful but I'm glad I saw it because I didn't know very much about Native American history."

"Well, I'm glad you wanted to do that. I wanted to see it and I'm glad we did get to help."

The Doctor rubbed his sister's back and sent love into her mind while they sat and discussed where they should go next.


	55. Chapter 55

Chapter Fifty Five

The Doctor and the others sat around discussing where to go next. They had gone through several options but none of the teens seemed to come to a mutual agreement about where to go.

Then Clyde had a thought.

"Doctor, I want to know. Was there really an Atlantis?" he asked him.

"Yes."

The teens looked at each other.

"Can we go there?" Rani said.

"We can but are you just wanting to go and see it or do you wanna go to the day it sinks into the ocean because that might be exciting," the Doctor teased.

"No, just looking at it is fine," Clyde said while they laughed.

"Is it true about them being advanced?" Rani asked.

"Yes, most of what Plato wrote about is true," the Doctor said. "The reason why it was advanced was because it was a kind of experiment by aliens to form colonies here. Humans at the time weren't that advanced but after Atlantis and Lemuria disappeared, the survivors made their way to the other continents and helped build the Egyptian and Aztec pyramids and helped advance human civilization somewhat. They also gave them the crystal skulls that were in the recent Indiana Jones movie. Although…they weren't alien skulls, they are carved crystal skulls that contain great knowledge that is meant for the human race when they become advanced enough to access it. But yes, that's why the Atlantians and Lemurians were advanced."

The teens looked at each other.

"We wanna go there then. To Atlantis," Clyde said.

"To the day it fell into the ocean?"

"No!" Clyde said while they laughed.

The Doctor giggled.

"Just having ya on. Alright then, Atlantis it is!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Wow!" Luke said when they stepped outside the TARDIS.

About fifty feet from them was a large gleaming futuristic looking city. There were huge white marble towers that were capped with domes at the top. Marble buildings were in between them and there were small spacecraft flying in and among them.

"No one will ever believe we've been here though," Rani said.

"Eh, we believe you were here and that's what's important," Alan said, shrugging.

The group walked towards the city. On the way there, several spacecraft flew above them and the teens waved but they couldn't see any windows as they zoomed past.

"Do they have windows in those things?" Rani asked, pointing up to them.

"Yes, but they're one way windows. Those are Andromedian space skimmers. Andromedans are the main colonists here and everyone else adopted their mode of transportation because the skimmers are small and quick," the Doctor said to her.

As they neared the city they could see several different species of aliens walking among the buildings while they talked to each other or went about their business. They walked into the city limits and immediately a small white robotic orb flew up to the Doctor's face.

"Good day, welcome to Aslatian, gleaming jewel of Atlantis," the robot said. "Are you here on business or pleasure?"

"Pleasure," the Doctor said to him.

"I am Ronco 2X. I would like to assist you with your visit here," the orb said. "Might I be of service?"

"Sure. Please assist us," the Doctor said cheerfully.

"Very well, I am your humble servant," the orb said tipping forward in a kind of bow. "Do you want accommodations for the night?"

"No, we're just visiting for the day," the Doctor said.

"Very well. Follow me and I will guide you on a tour of our lovely city."

"Brilliant," the Doctor said.

They followed the orb while he led them towards the heart of the city.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ronco 2X led them around while he gave them a tour of the city. They found it fascinating. The buildings were all clean and looked like there had never been a speck of dirt on them. There was no pollution that they could see and everything seemed peaceful. The aliens they saw were all assorted shapes, sizes, colors and genders and were wearing everything from skin tight bodysuits to long robes and everything in between. The Doctor pointed to one that looked humanoid with an enormous nose and identified him as an Andromedan.

"So, that's what he looks like without the huge helmet," Awinita teased.

"Yes, the whole stereotypical alien with the big head and black eyes is their spacesuit," the Doctor said to the teens. "People see the helmet and skin tight bodysuit and assume that's their head and skin but yes, this is what they really look like underneath it."

The Andromedan paused and stared at them before coming over. They stopped and Ronco 2X waited while he shook the Doctor's hand.

"Greetings, I am Darus," he said.

"I'm the Doctor and these are my family and friends."

He made a quick introduction of all of them and Darus nodded. He looked at the Doctor.

"Might I inquire where your home world is?" Darus said to the Doctor.

"Gallifrey. We're all from Gallifrey," he said to him.

"Ah, I see. I have been there before on business. You're a Time Lord?" Darus said.

"Yes, I am."

"What brings you to the backwaters of Earth, my friend?"

"Oh, we're just kinda slumming it," the Doctor said. "We were curious about these lower life forms here."

Darus chuckled.

"Yes, the poor creatures. They are so dim it amazes me sometimes," he said. "Is this your first trip?"

"Yes, it is."

"Then come with me and I'll show you something," Darus said. "And you can get rid of your robot, I can show you around."

He dismissed Ronco 2X and everyone followed him further into the city.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ah, here we are," Darus said ushering them into a building. "The local menagerie."

He shut the door behind him and they followed him through an enormous room through a door. Behind the door was a large zoo with hundreds of animals inside Plexiglas enclosures. They walked down a narrow walkway following Darus while he led them. There were animals both familiar and strange to them including some that had become extinct by modern times.

"They have a couple of people who have the task of rounding up animals from Earth and all over the universe," Darus said, looking back over his shoulder. "It's quite a collection as you can see."

_Um…what's the point of bringing us here?_ Mingxia thought to her family.

Darus looked at her.

"The point, my dear one, is I have something to show you," he said to her.

He noticed the shocked look on her face.

"Andromedans are telepaths too. You didn't know that?"

"I…uh…forgot," Mingxia said sheepishly.

He led them down several pathways before he finally came to what he was looking for. The Doctor and the others were shocked to see a human being crouched down inside one of the enclosures. He had light brown skin and looked Egyptian. He was clad in nothing but a loin cloth and had a light fuzz of dark hair on his head that the Doctor assumed was starting to grow back in after the man had shaved it all off. The Doctor felt anger flair up when he saw the frightened look on his face. Darus calmly walked to the front and gestured to the man.

"If you wish to see humans, here's one up close," he said to the Doctor. "Quite a fascinating species. Not very intelligent though. Apparently this one was captured without too much trouble. At the moment they just have the male, they're looking for a female now and maybe try to breed them."

The Doctor nodded politely, trying to keep his anger in check. Darus stared at the man for a moment and then looked at them.

"Well, anyway, I just wanted to show you this. Would you care to dine with me?" he said.

"Well, actually, we need to get back to my TARDIS. I just remembered I forgot to take something with me when I left Gallifrey and I need to go back and get it."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Well, peace be with you, my friends," he said, bowing.

They bowed in return and forced polite smiles on their faces while they waved at him. They quickly hurried away from him and the Doctor looked back at Jack, Sarah Jane and the teens.

"I was afraid of that," he said softly to them. "That's why I introduced you as Gallifreyan. Humans are curiosities to the aliens here so don't say a word to anyone about being human or you'll end up alongside that man, alright?"

They nodded. He looked at Mingxia.

"And yes, Te'lesu, most aliens here have telepathic abilities so everyone watch what you think."

They nodded and they quickly hurried out of the building before Darus caught up with them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After leaving the menagerie, they walked over to a local food stand and got a yellow fruit juice to drink that tasted a bit like raspberries. They walked around in a group sipping it and looking up at the buildings.

"So no humans live here?" Rani asked the Doctor.

He shook his head.

"Believe it or not, Atlantis and Lemuria were built by the colonists. The land was brought up from the ocean floor which is why they fell back into it eventually. Neither continent is very stable and eventually violent earthquakes do them both in. but the colonists guard their borders well so no humans can mix with them."

"So why do they help humans then?" Jack asked.

"Well, after the continents are destroyed, the colonists that are stranded here suddenly find themselves mixing with humans and they "help" them because they couldn't stand living in such primitive conditions after being here. So they share some of their knowledge and help them along so they aren't completely backwards and are more tolerable. That's the reason. It wasn't because they were particularly benevolent towards the humans here. Same with the crystal skulls. They did make and use them but when they finally were rescued, they left them here in the hopes that someday humans could make some progress and become as advanced as they were."

"Because then they wouldn't have to interact with the hillbillies of the universe," Awinita said.

He chuckled.

"Yup. Humankind isn't thought of too highly by most species. But not me, I love ya. But when they first came here mankind was like the Australopithecus we saw and they weren't about to live among a bunch of hooting apes so they made these continents, set up camp and gradually built a civilization apart from humans."

"So they're a bunch of snobs here basically," Mingxia said.

"Yes, but put yourself in their place. Would you want to live with a bunch of hooting apes? You saw how violent your kind was back then. The murder of that female's infant because her mother wouldn't shag a randy male that wanted her. Would you wanna live by that? It is snobbishness but back then they considered your kind animals and still do. Which is why that man is an exhibit here. Gallifreyans are actually respected among the higher beings so there's no ridicule of them like there would be for a human. It's actually a good thing you communicated telepathically with us because that proved to him you weren't a human. But like I said, you lot back there be very careful because if it gets out you are…you know, that could cause trouble for you because no one will allow you to roam free here. It's akin to having wild animals roaming London streets."

"So we shouldn't have come here," Luke said.

"No, you're alright. As long as you don't say anything about what you are, no one will harm you and we wouldn't let them harm you anyway. You have nine people here who would fight if someone tried to nab you. Don't worry about it, Luke. Just enjoy the pleasant day."

Luke nodded and they walked along, sipping their juice while they glanced around. While they walked, they passed by a short alien with dark purple skin, a bird beak and claws on his hands. He was wearing a black skin tight tank top and skin tight pants. He glanced back at Rain and smiled when he telepathically nudged her mind. Rain looked back at him and saw him wave to her. She waved back.

"Who are you waving at, Te'lesu?" Alan said to her.

"Purple skinned alien. He nudged my mind when he passed us," Rain said to him.

They stopped, turned and looked at him. The alien smiled while he walked up to them.

"Sorry, she's very beautiful," he said to the Doctor. "I have a bit of an eye for the ladies but I meant no harm. I'm Follos. Nice to meet you."

"And you," the Doctor said, shaking his hand.

He glanced at Rain.

"Are you mates?"

"Yes, she's my livesmate," the Doctor said.

"Lives? What species are you?"

"Time Lord."

"Really? I've never met a Time Lord before," he said with interest. "Are all of you…"

"We're all Time Lords or Ladies and there a few regular Gallifreyans here," the Doctor said.

"Really? I was under the impression that Time Lords didn't mix with regular Gallifreyans," Follos said, frowning.

"We do from time to time," the Doctor said. "We're on a holiday of sorts."

"As am I. Actually, Cheem where I'm from has a package tour of several planets in the Milky Way Galaxy. 100 credits for seven planets. Earth is actually the second planet I've been to. A bit rustic here but it has its charms. Still, nothing like Cheem. It's a wonder the humans are able to function with the brain capacity they have. They haven't even mastered telepathy. I can't imagine not being able to communicate telepathically. That would be irritating to say the least."

The Doctor nodded politely.

"Anyway, It's nice to meet you and I apologize for the mental nudge but you are very beautiful," he said to Rain.

"Thank you," Rain said.

"Well, I need to go catch a skimmer. I'm meeting some friends in Eros about 60 kilometers from here but have a safe journey."

They wished him the same and waved when he walked off.

"Doctor, is that true about Time Lords not mixing with regular Gallifreyans?" Sarah Jane asked.

He stopped with them and turned to her.

"Yeeees, although it's not because we were prejudiced against them. It's more because Time Lords were segregated from the rest of society because we had a different task in life and frankly, most normal Gallifreyans had trouble understanding us since they couldn't see the Time Lines like we could. But we went to different classes at university, we lived different places, we were sorted into different houses after looming. We only interacted with them if we went to the shops for instance. But yes, to an extent what he said was true and why it was a shock when I said some of you weren't Time Lords."

"But…if he recognizes you, doesn't that mean Gallifrey still exists now?" Luke said when they resumed walking. "Couldn't we go to it?"

"I don't want to see it," the Doctor said, shaking his head. "I have put my memories of it to rest and I don't want to go there and open old wounds. Plus, humans aren't allowed there at this point in time which is why I eventually had to part company with Sarah. My family and I save Jack would be allowed there but you'd have to wait in the TARDIS and trust me, they would know if you were human or not because they wouldn't be able to feel you or communicate with you and you'd be in a lot of trouble. So I'm sorry but I'm afraid Gallifrey is out."

They nodded and they resumed walking.

After touring some more of the city, they finally decided to go back to the TARDIS and go back into the vortex.

"Well, I hope you enjoyed your tour of Atlantis," the Doctor said to the humans.

"I did but I hate that everyone is prejudiced against humans," Rani said.

"Eh, like I said, at this point you were still fairly primitive and like I said to Mingxia, if you were advanced would you want to live next to those who weren't? None of these aliens are evil. They are good people but this was really just a crazy experiment much like Americans did when they headed out west to unknown lands. I can't say what their eventually purpose was and whether they would have eventually spread out and overtaken the Earth because both continents disappeared before that happened but I do know that if that hadn't happened your species might not be as advanced as it is today and you wouldn't have structures like the pyramids of Giza to marvel at."

He walked up to the TARDIS, unlocked it and let them all inside. Once they were all inside. He walked in behind them, closed the door and took the TARDIS back into the vortex.


	56. Chapter 56

Chapter Fifty Six

After they got back into the vortex Sarah Jane told the Doctor to go ahead and take them home much to the teen's disappointment. The Doctor obliged and he and his family stood with them outside their house talking with them for a few minutes before all of them waved goodbye and left for the vortex.

After that, Jack and the others went off to rest while the Doctor sat on the jump seat and relaxed. Rain found the dogs and bent down while they licked her face.

"Do you two need to go potty?" she asked while she petted them. "Let's go potty. Come on."

The dogs followed her down the corridor while she led them to the park room. When she reached the door to it, she opened it and stepped inside with the dogs. She paused when she noticed Alan was stretched out on the grass beside the lake, his hands behind his head while he stared up at the simulated clouds. The dogs ran off to the right while she walked over to him. He was turned away from her and didn't notice she was coming towards him, although he did turn his head briefly to look at the dogs before looking up at the sky again. Rain grinned when she walked up and leaned over, giggling at the delighted expression on his face.

"Well, hello there," he said, looking at her. "I figured the dogs just came in through the flap. I didn't realize you came in with them."

"Yeah, I thought I'd take them to go potty. What are you doing?"

"Resting and reflecting and looking for shapes in the clouds," he said. "Come and lay with me. I found a cloud bunny actually."

Rain smiled. She sat down beside him and lay down while she put her hands behind her head. They lay beside one another in a companionable silence staring up at the sky when Alan looked at her.

"Te'lesu, do you mind if I do something?" he said.

"What, Bro?"

"Do you mind if I have a peek at your memories and see what Brother will look like in his next life?"

"No, go ahead."

"Cheers. I've been a bit curious since you mentioned seeing him. I want to see what the git is gonna turn into," he said.

He got up on his knees and leaned over. He put his fingertips on her temples and closed his eyes. He found the memory and found the Doctor's eleventh self. He chuckled.

"So that's him, eh? You're right. He is young," Alan said, his eyes still closed. "Poor Brother, still not ginger and it's all these mystery gits' fault."

He took his hands away and thanked Rain while he lay back down beside her.

"Do you think you'll look the same when you regenerate?" Rain said.

He made a face.

"I hope not. That'll be a bit boring if we just keep regenerating into the same bodies," he said to her.

Rain turned on her side and stared at him for a moment. Then she got a thought and got up on her knees. She started to put her fingertips against his temples and hesitated.

"Go ahead, I have nothing to hide," he said, shrugging.

"You sure? I'm just curious about something," she said.

"Well, you just let me see into your mind so I guess I can't refuse," Alan said, shrugging. "Go ahead, Te'lesu."

She nodded, put her fingers to his temples and closed her eyes. Alan saw flashes of memory while she searched and then he noticed she stopped on the moment he and the Doctor were on the beach together. He lay there quietly while the memory went through his mind, letting his sister view it. He sighed while he relieved the Doctor's anger at him while he told Rose to stay with him. He smiled when he heard himself telling Rose that he had one life and he wanted to share it with her. His grin widened when Rose kissed him and Rain giggled.

"Go, Sis," Rain said while he laughed.

"Yes, that was quite a kiss," Alan said.

He frowned.

"Why are you so interested in this, Te'lesu?"

"Because the Doctor won't let me see it."

Alan raised his eyebrow.

"Why?" he said, curious.

"I don't know. I think it might be a bit painful for him now since you and he are close or maybe that was just a painful time since he had to watch Rose go with you. I'm not sure. But I've always been curious about that day. Do you mind if I see something else though?"

"No, go ahead. My life is an open book."

Rain nodded and Alan watched while the memories rewound until they got to the time on the Crucible.

"The prophecy must complete."

"Don't listen to him."

"I have seen the end of everything Dalek and you must make it happen, Doctor!"

"He's right. Because with or without the reality bomb, this Dalek empire's big enough to slaughter the cosmos. They've gotta be stopped."

"Just…just wait for the Doctor."

"I am the Doctor."

"Heh."

Alan looked up at his sister.

"What?" he said.

"That's probably the only time I've ever heard you call yourself that," Rain said while she kept her eyes closed.

Alan rolled his eyes.

"I had no choice at the time. I wasn't Alan yet so I had to call myself something."

He flinched when he saw the Doctor run out the TARDIS door and scream at him.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE? NOW GET INSIDE THE TARDIS!"

Rain flinched and took her fingertips away.

"Sorry, I'll stop now," she said.

"You're alright. That's in the past," he said gently.

"Yeah, but your brother is screaming at you and angry. I don't wanna make you relieve that," Rain said, settling back down beside him.

Alan shrugged.

"What's past is past, can't change it now," he said. "Besides it's not like that now which is why I have no problem with you viewing it. What happened then was a misunderstanding that has since been resolved. What happened on the beach has since been resolved. My brother and I are as thick as fleas now so I'm not upset by seeing that now."

"Were you?"

"For awhile," Alan said, shrugging. "But I came to terms with it. I still stand by my actions because the universe is safer now. But I can't fault Brother for his views because he was right about me being too hasty when I destroyed them but lives were at stake and I felt action was needed. Unfortunately, I did what I did in the Doctor's name which is why Davros yelled at him instead of me and for that, I am truly sorry because he's had enough people blaming him for things he's done without me adding to it."

He smiled at her.

"Can I take a peek at something now? Satisfy my curiosity?"

Rain nodded and he got back up on his knees. He went through her memories and found the night he nearly broke down John's door after Awinita had been kidnapped. He was taken aback when he watched himself from Rain's point of view.

"Blimey, no wonder you were terrified. My face. I look like a crazed murderer," he said while he watched the memory. "I'm sorry, Te'lesu, I didn't realize I looked like that to you lot. It's a wonder John didn't throw us out after we did rescue Awinita. The way I look I can imagine him thinking I was gonna kill him if he didn't move."

"Yes, we got that you were royally pissed off, Bro," Rain said while he chuckled. "And I'm sorry I didn't tell you about George but that was back when I didn't wanna rock the boat and my sister was bullying me into silence."

Alan snorted.

"Thank the heavens those days are over then," he said.

He paused a minute and then went back a bit further. Rain saw herself watching them when they were sitting in the kitchen while they were making them food. Suddenly, she could hear her thoughts while she watched them.

"I wanna know what you were thinking, Te'lesu, Alan said. "I hope you don't mind. I'm curious to know what you thought of us before you found out the truth about us."

She watched herself while she sliced a tomato into the bowl in front of her. She looked back up and her gaze settled on Alan who was talking about their adventures.

_My God, he's cute,_ she heard herself thinking.

Alan let out a laugh.

"Cute?" he said while she laughed. "Cute? Oho, that's what you thought of me?"

"Well, you were cute, Bro. Still are."

_Too bad he's with Rose._

Alan snickered when he heard her think that.

"Hmm, little envious of your sister, were you?" he said while she giggled.

_I wonder if he has a brother somewhere?_

Alan laughed.

"As a matter of fact…" he said while Rain laughed harder. "And lo and behold, you did end up with the brother, what are the odds of that?"

_I hope he doesn't think my food's crappy._

Alan frowned.

"Is there a reason why I would have thought that?" he said while he kept his eyes closed.

"I thought I was a crappy cook."

"Really? What led you to that conclusion since everything you've ever cooked for me has been delicious?"

"I had low self esteem, Bro."

"I'll say. Crappy cook, indeed," he said.

_God, he's a hunk._

Alan laughed.

"Tell me, my sister, was I ever in danger of being pounced on by you back then?" he teased.

"Um…maybe," she said while he snickered.

"Is this the reason you came along with us? You were following the hunk?" he said while she laughed.

"Um, well…no, but then again...partly?" she said.

"This is a bit of an eye opener here. Were you thinking all this after you found out Brother was with us? Did you go through the whole "God, he's a hunk," routine with him as well?"

"Um, maybe…I can't remember for sure."

"Hmm, one way to find out then…"

Rain watched while her memories fast forwarded. She saw in her mind's eye the moment they met Morana in the theater in China. Alan went past it and kept looking for the moment the Doctor revealed himself. He found it, backed up the memory and played it at normal speed. He watched his brother turn off the imager and heard his sister gasp.

_It's him. It's the Doctor. He's found us! Oh God, he's gonna kill us all!_

Alan raised his eyebrows.

"Okay, not thinking he was a hunk at that point then," he said while he watched.

He watched his brother frantically calming her down. He stared at the scene with interest since it was the first time he had seen what had happened that night. He listened to the Doctor explain how he wasn't under the Valeyard's control anymore.

_Phew, that's a relief,_ he heard Rain think. _But…oh, the poor man. He's been through so much!_

Alan raised his eyebrow and grinned.

"Poor Doctor," he said imitating Rain's voice. "He's been through so much. Maybe a shag and a snog will make him feel aaaaaaaaall better."

He giggled when Rain slapped his chest.

_He wants me to keep his secret? Oh God, what if the others find out about this?_

"What if they find out?" Alan said in Rain's voice. "Surely I'll be drawn and quartered and burnt at the stake for harboring my clone brother's brother."

"Will you shut up, Bro," she said while he sniggered.

"Hmmm, still no what a hunk yet. When did you start thinking that?" Alan said.

"Um…to be honest, probably not until after he confessed his love for me."

"Wait a tic, you thought I was a hunk but the man you gave your heart to wasn't worthy of the same epithet until after you became a couple?" Alan said, looking at her.

"Well, for the longest time I was more concerned with keeping him alive and out of the Valeyard's hands than lusting after him. Not to mention the fact that he was the Doctor and I didn't think I had a chance with him."

"But the lowly clone, that was obtainable for ya, eh?"

He laughed when she slapped his chest. He took his hands away from her head for a moment.

"What does being the Doctor have to do with having a chance with him?" he said, confused.

She sighed.

"Because back then I thought he wouldn't want someone like me because I thought after hearing all your stories about him that he was some kind of god like figure that wouldn't want a human like me."

"But I would want you…" Alan said, confused. "So I wasn't a god like figure that was unobtainable like my brother?"

"No, I mean you were with Rose and you were my brother. At the time I thought you were a hunk, we weren't brother and sister yet and I thought you were just passing through. I just did what any women would do and…ogled you, I guess."

"And you stopped ogling me after you came along with us?"

"I loved you but it was in a sisterly way. You were my little brother that I could come to with my problems and tease and have fun with. But you told me all these stories before we even met the Doctor and I had it built up in my mind that he would never want me as a lover in a million years so when I roomed with him I kept it friendly between us."

"And then he confessed he loved you and you were shocked beyond belief," Alan guessed.

"Yes, I was."

"Okay," Alan said, turning on his side towards her, "let me sort this out a bit here in my mind for my own clarification. You fancied me up until the point you decided to join us and John told you we were brother and sister because of that whole tribal clan thing and then that affection was channeled into platonic love, yeah?"

"Yes."

"Okay, so we go along and I'm little brother who you can talk to and have fun with and you got used to me being in that role, right?"

"Right."

"And all this time I was entertaining you by explaining who Brother was and his adventures and you began to secretly idolize and fancy him then, correct?"

"Yes."

Alan thought that over.

"But at the time you had low self esteem so you thought to yourself that even if you met Brother he wouldn't want you in a million years so this became a kind of secret infatuation that the three of us never cottoned on to."

"Yes."

"Then along comes Brother into our midst and that reveal I just saw in your mind and suddenly the object of your secret affection was right there in the flesh but…you had this idea he would never fancy you or want you so you pushed that all into the back of your mind and did what you did with me and channeled it into a platonic relationship."

"Yes."

"Meanwhile, Brother is beginning to fancy you but he's afraid to show it, I s'pose, maybe for much the same reasons you were afraid to admit your feelings. Although I can't think why he'd be afraid except I know he was scared we'd be angry at him for doing that. Which boggles my mind even now because people being angry at him have never stopped him before."

He smiled while he thought it over.

"So…we have two people then who secretly fancied each other but were afraid to tell the other one how they felt until finally Brother gets up the nerve to do it and after that…I guess you knew it was okay to love him and you returned the love?"

"After he told me that I had a right to love him because he wasn't some mythical god I couldn't have."

Alan raised his eyebrow.

"So you did tell him that concern?"

"Yeah, because I was kinda…in shock and he could see I was so he asked me why," she said.

"And meanwhile, Rose and I were in the next room completely gormless about all this," Alan said. "And the night we went out and got you the birthday presents, that's when he told you for the first time? Because you two were inseparable for awhile before that."

"No, that was the first time he told me. The reason why I stayed with him was because I was keeping his secret and he trusted me and at the time I was the only one he could be himself with. And frankly, I think he was scared you would be angry at him after what he did to you."

"Interesting that we were afraid of each other. I mean, I still had a fear of making him angry and getting booted out of the TARDIS and back then he was afraid of me."

He shook his head.

"I'm so glad this is getting sorted out day by day because everything that happened on the Crucible and afterwards has been one huge fiasco. But I assume that's also what helped along the romance when you two had to bond together in order to keep the secret?"

"I think so, yeah."

"This is fascinating. It'll have to be my turn to use the simulation room next. I wanna watch this whole mini soap opera unfold and find out what I was missing. And I'm sure, my Te'lesu, that Brother never planned on falling in love with you but you were his closest friend at that time and that just blossomed into love."

"Imiko said it would. She told him that we were meant to be together and she arranged things so he would."

"Like your wanting to go room with him?"

"I'm not sure about that. But I know she fixed it so we got the room with the one big bed that we had to share."

"Oho, did she? Well, I have to tell you that Rose did not object in any way to that. But like I told you when we first took those rooms we were concerned about you being uncomfortable sleeping in the same bed with him because we knew you were shy and had low self esteem. Little did we realize…Heh, and I'm betting Brother just loved it when you said you were okay with sleeping beside him."

"He was."

"Yup, he got to lay with you and had a good excuse for doing it, the little sneak."

He chuckled while he rolled onto his back and closed his eyes.

"And I'm so glad he did fall in love with you because he helped you in so many ways. You've become so much more because he made you feel loved and appreciated and worthy. He did far more than I ever could."

"You did some good too. I mean, you started all that and he just added to it. You're as much responsible as he is…and Rose… and Awinita. All of you."

He smiled and rolled over on his stomach while he put his arm around her and gave her a squeeze.

"I notice Frick and Frack aren't around. They must have scarpered back out for more mischief," he said while they stared at the door. "Maybe they're going to hunt Brother down and turn him into minced meat."

"Should we go save him?"

"Nah, he's an old geezer. Mister One Foot in the Grave can handle himself."

His eyes widened with mock surprise.

"I'm sorry was I saying something bad about your livesmate there?" he said while she slapped his head. "I'm sorry. I keep forgetting the old pensioner is married to you and not in an old folk's home in a delusional daze while he feeds his 400 cats and soils himself."

He laughed when she hit him on the back of the head.

"I'm sorry, Te'lesu. It just slips my mind that Granddad has a significant other who is much, much younger than he is. I mean, the man is an insane old crone by now, right?"

He laughed harder when she hit him again on the back of the head.

"I mean before you came along he hadn't had a shag in donkey's years. Must have taken forever to get the womb broom heated up so it would function properly, eh?"

"Will you shut up, Bro?" she said while he laughed.

"Tell me, Te'lesu, when he did finally get an erection was there an audible creak coming from it?"

He covered his head and laughed when she slapped him harder.

"You're a mean little brat, you know that?" Rain said to him.

"Yeah, but you love me and apparently think I'm a hunk," he said, waggling his eyebrows.

He smiled when she nodded and kissed his cheek. Suddenly, he had an idea.

"Come with me. I want to do something," he said, standing up.

She stood up with him and they walked to the river bank.

"TARDIS, I would like a rowing boat please," he said to the ceiling.

There was a flash and a small aluminum rowboat appeared that was tied to a small stake that the TARDIS had put in the ground.

"There you go, a nice little aluminium rowing boat for a little relaxing row across the lake," he said to her. "I will row and we can chat a bit more, eh?"

"I'd love it."

"Brilliant."

"He stepped into the boat, took her hand and helped her inside. Then he untied the stake and walked over to the front of the boat. He sat down, grabbed the oars and they talked while he rowed them around the lake.


	57. Chapter 57

Chapter Fifty Seven

The Doctor sat on the jump seat with his feet up on the console rim. He had his eyes closed, resting them while he listened to the soothing sounds of the rotor going up and down. He was enjoying the quiet peace of the moment when he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He opened his eyes and saw Jenny standing beside him.

"Hello there, Angel," he said, smiling. "Did you enjoy the trips we took today?"

"Yeah, I did, Dad."

"Good."

Jenny hesitated a moment.

"Can I sit with you?"

"Sure, sit down. I'm just relaxing," he said.

Jenny sat down beside him. He chuckled when she tried to put her feet up on the rim but they slipped off.

"You're not as tall as meeeeee," he teased.

He smiled fondly at her when she shook her head. They fell into silence for a moment while the Doctor watched the rotor.

"Dad, are you glad I'm here?"

The Doctor gave her a shocked look.

"Yes," he said to her. "Why? Do you think I'm not glad?"

"Well, I mean having me here. It must be strange for ya."

"Well, I admit it was an odd way to bring a child into the universe but I love you dearly, Jen."

"Even if I am a bother to you?"

The Doctor gave her another shocked look.

"When are you a bother to me?" he said.

"Well, I mean, you lot have to constantly explain things, non-military things to me. That must get annoying."

"Um…no, especially since everyone knows you really were only programmed to fight in wars. None of us mind teaching you, love. We love you. Your mum loves you. You're not a bother to her."

"But wouldn't you prefer having a child that's both yours and hers?" Jenny said.

The Doctor gave her a wide-eyed look.

"Angel, I'm sterile and so is she. You do know that, right?"

"I know but if there was a way, wouldn't you want to do that so you can have a real daughter?"

"You are my real daughter," the Doctor said, shocked.

"I'm not her real daughter."

"Love, people adopt children all the time and bring them into their homes and love them like their own. That's what we have here. Rain adopted you and she considers you her own child, you're her daughter now. It doesn't matter that you only came from me."

He sighed sadly.

"Angel, is all this stemming from what I said to you on Messaline? Because I told you I'm sorry I said that to you and I don't think that way now and…"

"No, it's not that. I know you love me."

"Then why are you saying all this, like no one accepts you?"

"I just though it a bit odd that you have a child that's never been a baby and I was thinking that since mum is a woman and never had children she might want that."

"But she does have that. She has you," he insisted. "You're hers now. She has a daughter and that's you. Love, are you not getting the concept of adoption, is that it?"

"Yes, I get that but I'm just wondering if mum would like a baby that is a part of her and…"

She held up her hand when the Doctor started to open his mouth.

"I know I am a part of her now but I mean…"

"A baby made with our DNA," the Doctor finished.

"Yes."

"We talked about it and at the moment, no, we're not interested in it. We have you and that's enough right now."

"But is there a way for you and she to do that? I mean, just out of curiosity, Dad."

The Doctor thought.

"There are a couple of planets who have techniques similar to looming where we could both contribute a blood sample and have a baby grown from it. Or…"

He pointed up to the chameleon arch.

"I s'pose if we really wanted to do it the old fashioned way we could turn ourselves into humans. I could stay human long enough to impregnate her and she'd stay human long enough to carry the child to term. The only problem with that is any child we had would be human whereas if we loomed it we could loom it as a Time Lord. But like I said, at the moment, we are happy with having you as a daughter."

"But this chameleon arch could work for any of us?"

"Well, not Jack but yes, for us who are Gallifreyan it could. Why? Are you considering having children in future?"

"I thought about it."

"Yes? And…so are you looking for a mate whenever we land somewhere?" the Doctor said, smiling.

"Would anyone want me?"

She laughed when the Doctor gave her a shocked look.

"I s'pose you'll have to leave off the part about being born from my hand when you talk to your potential mate," he said. "I imagine there would be many men out there who would want you. The problem is they'd have to go through a rigorous screening process before they dated you because I'm not allowing my treasure to be with just anyone. There will be forms to fill out in triplicate and blood tests and I must interrogate them for 46 hours straight before I decide if they can be your mate."

He grinned when Jenny laughed.

"You'd be that strict?" she said.

"Course I'd be that strict. You're my daughter. I'm your father and damn it, the boy will pass inspection before he steps foot in this TARDIS."

"What if he's a military man?"

"Then I will suddenly find him a war to fight and that'll be the end of that," he said while she laughed.

"You don't want me dating a soldier?"

"I told you, forms in triplicate, blood test and interrogation and then we'll see."

"Seriously, Dad."

"I am being serious. Forms in triplicate, blood test and a long, arduous interrogation!"

He giggled when Jenny nudged his arm. He sighed.

"No, Angel, his being a soldier will not automatically disqualify him as long as he doesn't convince you to become cannon fodder in some battle somewhere. Then I will have a problem with it. I don't have anything personally against the military it's just not for me and it's not for you. You aren't fit for that kind of life which is why we turned you away from it. And yes, I know you think I'm a soldier and I guess to a degree I act like one but I'm really not….at least I don't consider myself one. I just don't agree with killing like that. I told you it infects you and it does. I'd rather you chose someone who was more peace loving but like I said, if he's got a good heart or hearts and he's loving towards you, I'll be alright with you dating him. Your happiness is what concerns me and if he makes you happy and treats you like the angel that you are then he'll be welcome here."

He smiled when Jenny kissed his cheek.

"And if you want to have children, we'll find a solution whether it's though the chameleon arch, looming or adoption. I would love to be a grandfather more than anything, but I draw the line at you having 123 children all shooting out of you one after the other like rocks from a catapult. Theeeeen, I won't be so keen on being a grandfather."

He smiled when Jenny laughed and he put his arm around her.

"Dad?"

"Hmmm?"

"Why did I have that vision?"

He frowned.

"I don't know, Angel. I really don't know. You're my daughter and maybe our blood connection allowed you to see it."

"But you are going to hide the void crossers, right?"

"Yes."

"But what if it's meant to be?"

"Then we won't act on it and leave the void crossers hidden. But thinking about it, I have a feeling it isn't a fixed event. Otherwise, why would you see this vision centuries before it happens? Thinking about it, I have a feeling that these beings, whoever they are, aren't associated with the Time War in any way. That's just an excuse to hold a mock trial and get me out of the way so they can do whatever evil schemes I'm sure they would probably be doing since I'm sure they're evil. If this trial was legitimate, why wouldn't they show their faces or tell me who they were? No, I think this is a great injustice and the reason you saw my eleventh self and heard him talk about it is because it's a warning to change the future before I do end up in exile. At any rate, love, we can't worry about it yet. That's centuries away and we'll deal with it when the event draws nearer, alright?"

Jenny nodded and draped her arm across his chest while he smiled and closed his eyes. She leaned her head on his shoulder while he sent love into her mind. They stayed that way for a few minutes.

"Dad?"

"Hmmm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Angel," he said with his eyes still closed.

"Can I…get a tattoo?"

His eyes snapped open and he groaned.

"Oh hell, I thought this notion was gone from your mind when you didn't mention it after the first time you asked me."

"Yeah, but I was thinking about it and I really do want one. I love Rose's tattoo."

"You want Gallifreyan writing on your arm?" the Doctor said.

"No, I mean I just like her tattoo and I'd like something as well. Would you be angry?"

"No, it's your body. Just remember that whatever you do will be there until you regenerate."

"I know but I want one."

"And what do you want to get?"

"I'm not sure. I don't want writing though but maybe a design like that? Something pretty."

"Just promise me one thing…"

"Yes, Dad?"

"Make if fairly small like your uncle and aunts have. Don't do like some Japanese do and get a large battle scene across your entire back, alright?"

"I promise, Dad."

He smiled and kissed her head when she laid her head back on his shoulder.

"Decide what you want and we'll go get it but don't go overboard and get 20 tattoos and piercings and blue hair and whatever else humans do to themselves."

"I promise. Just one tattoo."

The Doctor smiled and put his arm around her while she snuggled close to him. He glanced up at the rotor and watched it while she rested by his side.


	58. Chapter 58

Chapter Fifty Eight

Ah, lovely boat ride," Alan said when they reached the river bank and he secured the boat.

They got out and walked away.

"You know, this simulation room may prove useful," Alan said to her while they went out the door. "I keep telling you lot I wish you could have seen what it was like when we traveled the US and if this room renders things in 3D then you can see my memories and see what you missed."

"I love that idea, Alan," Rain said while they walked.

"We'll have to ask Brother about it because I'm sure he wouldn't mind seeing what we saw and I know Rose and Awinita would enjoy it and…"

"Alan?"

They turned and saw Donna walking up to them.

"Yes, Donna?" Alan said.

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting something but I need to talk to you," she said to Alan.

"Me?"

"Well, one of you. You or the Doctor, I just need a man's opinion and you're the first one I came across."

"Well, I'm your man then. What's on your mind, Te'lesu?"

Donna glanced around.

"It's…about Jack," she said to him.

"What about Jack?" Alan said.

She glanced around.

"Can we go someplace private since this concerns him and he's still onboard?" Donna said.

Alan nodded. He started to walk away.

"Is Rain allowed to hear?" he said, stopping and gesturing to her.

"Yeah, it's okay for her to hear this," Donna said.

Alan nodded and led them to an empty room. They walked inside and he asked the TARDIS to seal the door and soundproof the room. Once that was done, he smiled at his sister.

"What's on your mind, Donna?" he said.

"I'm conflicted, Alan," Donna said.

Alan glanced at Rain.

"Conflicted about what?" he said.

She sighed.

"I…still have feelings for Jack," Donna said.

Alan groaned.

"Te'lesu, no. He's not available. He's with Ianto," he said to her.

"I know that. But I've fancied him since I first saw him through that sub wave network."

"Yes and Brother warned you away from him when you asked about him. Donna, please, Jack's a nice enough bloke but he's a playboy. He likes to flirt and rack up conquests and you'll be just another tick in his little black book if you keep on with this. You deserve someone better than him. You deserve someone who won't sleep around and cheat on you. He's not worth it, my sister, honestly. Even having Ianto around isn't helping to curb his need to chat up anything and everything. You're special and you deserve a man who'll love you and only you and not go off and cheat behind your back. Please…I'm begging ya; stop this infatuation once and for all."

"But there's only us and him," Donna said. "I know he's supposed to be my brother now but we're the only Time Lords and he's immortal. Who am I gonna find to fall in love with?"

"Brother was willing to love Rain here and be with her when she was human," Alan said, gesturing to Rain. "Why does it have to be a Time Lord? I know it'll be difficult watching someone who isn't a Time Lord age and die but isn't it worth the heartache to love someone for however long they're got to live? Honestly, I'd rather you fell in love with a human and went through the heartache of seeing him die centuries before you than fall in love with Jack and become another conquest of his. Not to mention Brother would be livid and bash his face in for doing that to you. He doesn't want to see you get hurt, same as all of us and we really don't want to watch you going after a man who'll never love you. Don't get me wrong, I love Jack and he's been loyal and a great help to us but he is who he is and he's a flirt and he thinks it's fun to chat up people and love em and leave em. Frankly, I'll be surprised if Ianto doesn't eventually offer him an ultimatum to stop before he leaves because I know I wouldn't put up with his philandering for long. You are worth more than that, Te'lesu, far more so please take my advice and don't pursue him any longer," he said while Rain nodded in agreement.

_Brother?_

Alan held up his finger when they heard the Doctor thinking to him.

_Yes?_ He thought back.

_Can you come to the console room? I need to tell you something. _

_Is it an emergency? I'm speaking with Donna right now about a concern she has._

_No, it's not an emergency. It has to do with Jenny but take your time._

There was a pause.

_Is there anything I can do to help Donna?_ He thought to him.

Alan looked at Donna.

"Do you mind him coming in here and joining us?" he asked her.

She shook her head.

_Could you come back here and bring Jenny so once we're done we can hear what you have to say? You need to hear this, Brother._

_On my way._

The TARDIS led him and Jenny back to the room and let them inside before sealing it up. Once they were inside and the room was secure, Donna told him what she had told Alan and Rain. The Doctor groaned.

"Donna, no. Don't do this. Alan is right. You need to stop focusing on Jack and find someone else, someone better," he said. "That's why I said "Don't" when you asked about him on the TARDIS. Because I could see where you were headed and trust me, he is not the one for you. I don't think he'll be happy with just one person, not even Ianto. It's just who he is and it stems from living in the 51st century where this promiscuity he engages in is more accepted. But you are far more special than that, Donna and I don't wanna see you get your hearts broken. Please just find someone else, alright?"

Donna nodded and he breathed a sigh of relief and hugged her.

"You're worth a man who'll love you and you alone. Just be patient and you'll find that eventually, I promise. Don't start up again with the old insecurities you had before you became the DoctorDonna. There's someone out there for you who's not Jack. Just leave the man alone."

"I will," Donna said.

The Doctor and Alan breathed sighs of relief.

"Thank you," the Doctor said to her.

"So what did you want to tell us?" Alan said to him.

Jenny giggled when he eyed her.

"Jenny has gone off her trolley and has told me she still wants a tattoo."

"Oh no!" Alan said while Rain laughed. "Jenny, why do you want one?"

"Because I like Rose's tattoo."

Alan raised his eyebrow.

"You want Gallifreyan writing on your arm?"

"No, I don't want that but I do want a tattoo and Dad said I could get one."

Alan was shocked.

"You…said she could?"

"Well, I really can't stop her. She's an adult," the Doctor said. "I told her not to get one across her whole body but other than that, she can do what she wants."

"What are you wanting to get, hon?" Rain said.

"I don't know. I haven't decided yet."

"Word of advice, Jen," Alan said, pulling up his sleeve. "Don't get something like this. Because according to your vision, I will have this on my body for over two centuries which means I will have a naff Disney character on my arm until I regenerate, probably long after people on Earth have forgotten who Walt Disney is. Do not get this, alright?"

They laughed and Jenny nodded.

"What do you think I should get, mum?" Jenny said to Rain.

"Um…what do you like? I mean, it's your body and it's really up to you."

Alan grinned.

"Take a photo of your dad and get his face with his stern expression put on your arm and have them write underneath it, I do not approve of this tattoo."

They laughed while Jenny rolled her eyes.

"Or have them write, this was not my idea," the Doctor added.

Rain thought for a moment.

"What about an angel? That's your dad's nickname for you," she said, shrugging.

"Yeah, an angel would look pretty," Donna said.

Jenny thought that over.

"That might be a good idea," she said.

"You could get the TARDIS on your arm and have them write, I live here underneath it," Alan said.

"Or…" the Doctor said to him. "Get an angel and the TARDIS and then have them write, the angels have the phone box."

"Brilliant."

He noticed the odd look on Jenny's face.

"Course she doesn't know what the hell that means, but who cares, get that anyway and let it be a private joke between me and your dad."

"I know what it means," Rain said.

"I don't," Donna said.

The Doctor glanced at his brother.

"I s'pose we'll have to tell them the tale of the Weeping Angels. What we know of it anyway," he said to him. "But I like the angel idea. That would be a lot prettier than getting something like amo'tiri on your arm. Honestly, I don't know what possessed Rose to…than again; I don't know what possessed you to do it."

"I succumbed to peer pressure," Alan said.

The Doctor rolled his eyes while Rain giggled.

"If you want to do that, I'll take you somewhere where you can get it done," the Doctor said to her.

Jenny looked at Rain.

"Would you get one with me, mum?"

"Oh no! No! Nope!" the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Why not, Love? We could all get one."

"I would rather die," the Doctor said while they bent over laughing. "I am not getting a ruddy tattoo on my arm. You wanna go insane and do it with your daughter, that's fine. I can't stop you either but there's no way in hell I'm subjecting myself to it."

Rain looked at Donna.

"Join us, Donna. Let's all get one and then the Doctor can be the odd one out."

Donna smirked at him when he raised his eyebrow.

"You are all barmy," the Doctor said.

"Jenny and Rain wanna do it and Rose and Awinita and Alan have one. Mingxia and I must as well go along with it," she said, shrugging.

"Do it, please. I want you to show it to Wilf so I can see his reaction," the Doctor said to her. "Oh, puh-leeeeeeze do it so I can see his reaction."

"He wouldn't care. I'm an adult same as everyone else."

"Okay, then you run inside your house next time we visit him and show your mum your nifty tattoo and run back to the TARDIS and tell me if she doesn't care," the Doctor said to her.

"No thanks."

"That's what I figured," the Doctor muttered.

He looked at his family.

"Honestly, you're gonna get a tattoo?" he asked Rain and Donna.

"I might," Rain said, shrugging.

"But Raaaaaaaaain," the Doctor moaned.

"But, Dooooooctor," Rain said while they laughed.

The Doctor sighed and looked at Donna.

"And you?"

"Probably not," Donna said, shaking her head. "I really don't fancy getting one."

"Thank you!" the Doctor said, throwing up his hands while Alan laughed. "Thank the heavens one of you has some sense left."

He gave his wife and daughter an affectionate rub on the head.

"Just please promise me you also won't get a large tattoo on your back, dear. I have to live with this, you know."

"I promise, dear. I'll get a tiny one of your face and have them write, I'm married to him under it."

"Oh, how lovely," the Doctor said, rolling his eyes while they laughed. "I can't wait to see that."

He sighed and nuzzled her head.

"So, I guess everything is resolved for now. I trust, Donna, you'll take our advice and forget Jack Harkness?"

"I will," she said.

"Good because you about threw Sarah into the wall the last time you pounced on him after we moved the Earth back," Alan said. "We really don't wanna watch that again and see Sarah in hospital with twenty broken bones from you slamming her into the wall."

"I really didn't know she did that," the Doctor said to Alan.

He snorted.

"I saw it and poor Sarah was jerked out of Jack's arms by Te'lesu here. I'm surprised she didn't throw her into me. Jack enjoyed it though, no surprise there."

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Speaking of memories though, Rain and I had a pleasant boat ride on the lake in the park room and I was remarking to her that since you lot have been using the simulation room for various things that perhaps sometime I might use it as well and show you what I've been wanting to show you which is some of the things me and Rose and Awinita saw when we went through the US. If the simulation room can render it in 3D then you can see what we saw."

"That's not a bad idea, Brother. I wouldn't mind that. I am curious to see what you saw…if you let us see the moment you proposed to Rose at Disneyworld," the Doctor said, winking.

Alan grinned.

"Oh I don't know about that. That would be a very painful memory but I'll grin and bear it while I watch myself propose," he said with a mock sigh.

He smiled when the Doctor patted his shoulder.

"But for the moment let's rest up some more and then we can go get this tattoo thing over and done with since I'm sure my wife now has to think of something," he said while Rain chuckled. "Not to mention we might as well talk to everyone else and ask if they wanna do it as well. Can't leave the others out of this wacky idea, right?"

They smiled and nodded. The Doctor asked the TARDIS to open the door and when she did, they went outside into the hall and went their separate ways.


	59. Chapter 59

Chapter Fifty Nine

The Doctor and Rain retired to their bedroom after leaving Alan, Donna and Jenny. The TARDIS sealed the door and they undressed and laid in bed fondling and kissing one another for awhile before they finally decided to cuddle before taking a nap. The Doctor rubbed his hand up and down her back while she laid her head against his chest.

"So you really wanna get a tattoo with your daughter?" the Doctor said.

"I don't know, Thete, I might. Maybe a little butterfly or something like that."

"Butterfly would be pretty. I just don't want Stitch. That thing looks idiotic on my brother's arm.

"Maybe I'll get a raindrop with Latara underneath it," Rain said to him.

"I wouldn't mind that either. But don't put "And Sprinkles" under Latara," he said while she laughed.

"I promise I won't do that, Thete."

He smiled and kissed her.

"I love you, my hearts," he murmured.

"I love you too, my darling," she said, putting her left hand up against the side of his neck while she kept her head on his chest and closed her eyes.

The Doctor watched her with loving eyes for a moment before he let out a contented sigh and closed his eyes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

An hour later, the Doctor jerked his eyes open when he heard Rain let out a scream. The color drained from his face when he saw her jerk her body up with a horrified expression on her face.

"Latara? What is it? What's wrong?" he said, grabbing her arms.

Rain gasped.

"I think I had a nightmare," she said.

The Doctor closed his eyes in anguish. He had been dreading his wife starting to have nightmares like he frequently did. He turned on his side and pulled her close while he kissed her and sent love into her mind.

"What happened?" he asked softly while he caressed her body.

Rain struggled to remember and shook her head.

"I can't remember, Thete," she said.

He sighed and kissed her head.

"Perhaps it's best that way. I've done that numerous times in the past. What matters is you're here and you're safe."

Rain nodded and lay against him while he stroked and kissed her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When they finally left their bedroom, the Doctor smiled at her and stroked her hair.

"Are you feeling better?"

She nodded and he kissed her cheek.

"Listen, I'm gonna go get Jack his parts before we go get the ink put on the body. I figure if we can get that done first then Jack can go ahead and leave when he wants to."

Rain nodded and he gave her another kiss on the lips while he walked back to the console room. Rain turned to go towards the living room, her mind still trying to bring back the memory of the nightmare.

_I wish I could remember what I dreamt,_ she thought to herself while she walked. _If I could tell Thete then maybe he could help me resolve it and I wouldn't have to risk doing that again. I really don't wanna spend the rest of my lives dreading naptime and I know he won't want me continuously waking up from nightmares._

She paused when she suddenly got a thought.

_Maybe…I could use the simulation room and load it up and have a quick look. Then I can tell him later in private what I saw. I know he's just as curious as I am,_ she thought.

She headed past the living room towards the simulation room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After the TARDIS scanned her mind for the nightmare and loaded it, she asked her to fix it so she could observe the events without being noticed. After the TARDIS reassured her she had done that, she opened the door and stepped inside.

She closed the door and looked around. She was surrounded by gleaming metal walls and guessed she was in a spaceship of some kind. The room she was in was large and there a metal door at the other end. She walked towards it and it slid open silently. She walked through and saw a control room. There were several large computers and consoles but there were no buttons on switches that she could see just little circular monitors with colored lights in them. She stared at them for a moment before moving on to the door at the other end of the room. The door slid open and she froze when she saw two Daleks in the room. She hesitated a moment and froze again when one of the Daleks swiveled its eyestalk and looked her way but it didn't see her and she relaxed when the eyestalk swiveled back. She stepped into the room and the door slid shut behind her. Disdainfully she stared at the two Daleks and snorted.

_Tin banes of my husband's existence,_ she thought to herself while she stared at them. _I'm glad Bro blew your butts out of space and time. Good riddance to your goofy looking asses._

She gave them a disdainful look before she headed to the left and went through another door. She froze when she saw she was inside a cell and on the floor was her family lying unconscious. She ran to them and knelt down. Jack was with them but when she made a head count she noticed she, the Doctor and Alan were missing.

_God, I'm glad this is just a dream,_ she thought to herself while she stood up.

Reminding herself it was just a dream she forced herself to leave and went back into the other room. She noticed the Daleks hadn't moved and wondered briefly if they were guards before she went towards a door on the right side of the room and went through. She found herself in another large and dark room only this one had huge plate glass windows across the room from her. She looked out and saw only deep space and stars in the distance. Her blood chilled when she saw a spotlight focused down on someone in the middle of the room. He wasn't clothed and he had his back to her but the tousled brown hair was unmistakable. But from her vantage point she couldn't tell if it was her husband or her brother. She moved closer and walked over to his right side. She saw the Stitch tattoo on his arm and walked around him. She gasped when she saw Alan's face. It was bruised and bloodied. He was kneeling in the spotlight looking around him and she briefly wondered what the spotlight was for. The rest of the room was dark but as far as she could tell, he was kneeling in the light without trying to make a getaway. Tentatively she reached out to put her hand on her brother's head and jerked it back when she saw a blue force field. The force field was visible for a few seconds and then she saw only the spotlight.

_Oh, okay, I get why he's in there now,_ she thought to herself. _Okay, found Bro. Now where are me and my husband at?_

Suddenly, she heard a sinister chuckle coming from the dark and she froze. It sounded like her husband except it wasn't the warm laugh she was used to and it sounded throaty like he was raspy or had merged with a bullfrog. Alan looked into the darkness, anger etched on his face. Rain heard a soft whirring behind her and turned around. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw the figure come near enough to the spotlight to be illuminated. The being looked like a combination of her husband and Davros. Her husband was sitting in the Dalek bottom that Davros used and it was his face and hair but his eyes were open and milky white while a third blue eye sat right in the middle of his forehead. He was dressed in a black leather shirt of some kind that had metal clasps on the side of it. His left arm was withered and useless and his right hand looked like it was made of metal. Rain felt fear rising within her while the Doctor/Davros creature smirked at her brother while he glared back defiantly at him.

"Hello, dear Brother," the Doctor said with the raspy voice.

"What have you done with Rain?" Alan demanded.

He let out a chuckle that chilled Rain to the very core of her being.

"My beloved wife is resting comfortably," he said with sickening sweetness. "As is yours and the rest of our family."

"Let me see Rain," Alan demanded.

Rain stepped back when the Doctor glided closer to him.

"Why? She's no concern of yours," he said, staring at him with his unseeing milky eyes. "She's my Latara or have you forgotten that?"

Rain felt the fear increase when an evil twisted smile spread over his face.

"Then again you do have a little soft spot for her, don't you, my brother? You love her just as deeply as I do which is why you're so scared for her."

"I swear if you'd done something to her. If you've done anything to any of our family…"

"Bah!" the Doctor said. "They're not my family any longer."

The evil smile was back.

"Except for my love. I'll keep her with me," he said in the sickeningly sweet voice. "She'll become just like me."

"No, please," Alan said. "Leave her alone! Let them all go! Do what you want with me!"

Rain's hearts raced when he let out a loud insane laugh.

"I don't want you, Brother dear. I want Rain. She's the one I love!" he sneered at him.

Rain was so terrified that it took a moment to register her mind was being stroked. Ignoring the horrifying scene for a moment she focused in on that and felt her husband's anguish.

_Latara?_ He thought to her. _What's going on? Why are you so scared?_

_Yes,_ Alan thought to her. _Where are you? We're trying to find you._

Rain swallowed hard and asked the TARDIS to freeze the memory. The Doctor/Davros froze in mid laugh and Rain turned away from him and focused on Alan who had a look of terror on his frozen face and threw up a privacy block around their minds.

_I…I'm in the simulation room. I wanted to see what I dreamt and it's not very pleasant._

_Oh, Love, you should have taken me or Alan in there before you did that,_ the Doctor thought to her. _Especially after the reaction you had earlier. Just…freeze it and come back to the front door. Alan and I are coming. We both wanna see this for ourselves._

_Okay, I'm coming._ She thought back.

Glancing at the Doctor/Davros creature she quickly hurried back to the front door. She opened it and saw her husband and brother hurrying towards her.

"Latara, you really should have come and gotten me before you did this," the Doctor said.

"You were busy with Jack."

"Yes but Jack could have waited or this could have waited. I don't like you viewing something this terrifying on your own," he said as they walked up to her.

They both embraced her and Rain sighed, thankful that this was her husband and not the creature she had dreamt up. The Doctor smiled at her.

"We reassured everyone else since they were panicking as well. But we didn't tell them you were in here since Alan and I want to be the ones to see it. Is it horrifying?"

"Very," Rain said.

They kissed her cheeks and stepped inside with her. Rain closed the door while they glanced around. Rain led them back to the Daleks and the Doctor sighed when he saw them.

"I can understand your terror now, Latara," he said to her.

She led them to the cell and they looked inside it. They looked at everyone and Alan frowned.

"Missing us three," he said to the Doctor.

"You're through the other door. Or well, I've seen you guys. I don't know where I am yet but follow me."

The Doctor shut the door and they walked across the frozen scene to the other door. Rain paused at it and glanced back.

"Um…you guys better prepare yourselves," she said to them. "I don't know why I dreamed this but I'm sorry I did."

The brothers glanced at each other but said nothing. Rain opened the door and took the Doctor's hand while they walked through. They stopped short when they saw the dream Alan and the Doctor/Davros.

"What the hell?" Alan said while the walked over to the hybrid.

Alan looked at himself in the holding cell and then his eyes settled on the creature in front of him. Both of them stared at it in horror.

"Rain, why the hell did you dream this?" Alan said.

"I don't know," she said standing behind them.

"Oh God, you and Davros together? Even I couldn't have dreamt that in a million years," Alan said to his brother.

He looked back at himself.

"Someone had a go at me, I see," he said, gesturing to himself.

The Doctor stood up and stared at him before he looked back at the Doctor/Davros being. He looked at his wife.

"How long were you in here?" he asked her.

"About…five, ten minutes?"

"Back up the dream, let Brother and I hear what you heard before you continue," the Doctor said.

"Um…I just ask the TARDIS to reverse it?"

He nodded and she mentally asked the TARDIS to start over from the time she entered. Immediately the Doctor/Davros creature glided back into the darkness in fast motion. Both brothers cleared their throats and the Doctor held his wife while the dream started again and they listened. With the two men nearby, Rain wasn't frightened anymore and she could watch it objectively like they were doing. They heard the Doctor/ Davros laughing in the darkness.

"Okay, he sounds like you and Davros combined," Alan said to him.

They listened to the exchange but Rain suddenly froze it just before he began to taunt Alan about loving her. Both men stared at her in confusion.

"Is this a particularly disturbing part or something?" the Doctor asked her.

"Um, well…it kinda…stems from our conversation the other day. About Alan liking me so I just wanted to warn you," Rain said to her husband.

He nodded and the dream resumed.

"Then again you do have a little soft spot for her, don't you, my brother? You love her just as deeply as I do which is why you're so scared for her."

"I swear if you'd done something to her. If you've done anything to any of our family…"

"Bah! They're not my family any longer."

Rain glanced at her husband but he was listening intently and looking back at forth at him and his brother. They went past the point she had gotten to and Rain gulped dreading what was coming next.

"Brother, you can't do this. You have to fight this!" Alan implored.

The Doctor/Davros laughed.

"Why would I want to fight it? This is my destiny. The Doctor and Davros combined. I am no longer the man I was before now I am…Davtor!"

"Davtor? Geez," Alan muttered. "Sure you don't wanna be known as Docros?"

"Just let everyone go! Please, my brother, you have to fight this!" Alan implored.

Davtor laughed.

"At least I'm still a jolly fellow," the Doctor commented dryly.

"Why should I fight this? I was always meant for this! That's why I kept meeting Davros throughout the ages. One day I would realize that we needed to combine and become one."

"Love, lay off the snacks before our kips, alright?" the Doctor said to Rain.

Rain grinned in spite of herself and the Doctor kissed her head before turning his attention back to the scene before him.

"I will stop you, I swear I will!" Alan said.

Davtor laughed louder.

"You," he sneered. "You're nothing but a worthless clone!"

"I didn't say it, Brother. Jekyll and Hyde did, take note of that," the Doctor said to Alan.

"No, you're nothing but a freakish monstrosity and I swear I'll separate you from my brother and destroy you once and for all."

"Too bad we didn't think to bring popcorn in for this movie," the Doctor said, grinning at Alan.

He smiled when Rain giggled.

"I agree, Brother," Alan said. "My acting is a bit over the top though, don't you think?"

"A bit. But apparently Rain imagines this is how you talk to people in situations like this," he teased.

"Well, I already said the do what you want with me line earlier. What's next, no, no a thousand times no?" Alan replied.

Rain smiled while she listened to them teasing one another. She knew they were doing it to keep her from being frightened and her hearts warmed when she realized it was working.

"Blimey, where's good old DoctorDonna when you need her?" Alan said to the Doctor.

"Dunno, should we call her in here?" the Doctor said, glancing back.

"You cannot hope to defeat me, my Brother," the Davtor said, sneering on the last word.

Alan walked up to the Davtor.

"I will try my best!" he said melodramatically while he jabbed his finger in the air.

He walked back to his brother and Rain's side while the Doctor snickered.

"I will do whatever it takes to defeat you even if it kills me!" dream Alan replied.

"Hmmm, almost matched myself there," Alan said.

Davtor laughed again.

"Yup, I'm one jolly hybrid Dalek monster thing," the Doctor said.

He looked down at Rain.

"Seriously though, my love. Lay off the snacks from now on."

He kissed her when she gigged and he sent love into her mind.

"Now don't you feel better that we're in here now?" the Doctor asked her.

"Yes," Rain said, glancing up at him.

"Well, that's why you needed us here so you can look at this without being scared out of your trousers," he replied.

"Besides this is great fun. I love the whole melodramatic acting and dialogue. We need to make a panto out of this for the rest of the family at Christmas," Alan said.

"And we need to contact someone about making little Davtor plushies. I'm sure children everywhere will snap them up and love them," the Doctor added.

"So, you want to see your beloved Rain, dear Brother? Fine, I shall show her to you!" Davtor said with an evil grin.

"Ought-oh, one modified wife coming right up!" the Doctor said while Davtor turned and glided back into the darkness.

He looked at Rain.

"Incidentally, my hearts, this isn't a Dalek ship but then again, you wouldn't know that since you've never seen one that close up," he said, rubbing her side.

"Who knows, maybe the Doctor side of you decided that you didn't want a Dalek ship and got another ship that was more to your liking," Alan said to him.

"That could be," the Doctor said. "Never liked the design of the Dalek ships. The bumps on the underside did nothing for me."

The Doctor rubbed Rain's side while he glanced at the dream Alan who was staring fearfully into the darkness.

"I call this the, oh no what has the bastard done to her expression," the Doctor said, gesturing to him.

Alan turned to look at him and looked at Rain with mock anger.

"You had to ruin my pretty face in this dream, didn't ya? You make Brother a freakish monstrosity and you gave me a black eye. Honestly, Rain, I'm upset with you for this! Don't you know how to dream something pleasant?"

There was a whirring in the darkness.

"Ought-oh, here comes my modified livesmate," the Doctor said to Alan.

"Fiver says she's in an identical Dalek bottom, blind with a blue eye and a gimpy arm."

"You're on," the Doctor said to him.

Davtor came into the light and they noticed Rain was beside him. She was still human but completely naked and chained at the neck. The chain ran down to the side of Davtor's chair.

"Bollocks!" Alan said while the Doctor snickered. "I'll pay you the fiver when we leave Wonderland then."

"Rain! My Te'lesu, are you alright?" dream Alan said.

"Are you alright, Te'lesu, aside from being naked as a jaybird and having an enormous heavy chain attached to your neck?" Alan said, imitating his dream self's melodramatic acting.

The Doctor let go of Rain while Davtor laughed. Alan bent over laughing when he walked up to his naked wife and make a big show of unzipping his trousers. He froze and feigned shock when he looked back at them.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I momentarily forgot there were others in here and was gonna wank off in front of my naked wife. What was I thinking?" he said, zipping his fly and running back to Rain.

He kissed Rain when she laughed.

"You know, Brother, I'm glad Rain forgot this dream when she woke. Otherwise, we might not have gotten to see this little melodrama in splendid 3D!" Alan said to the Doctor.

"What's wrong, my Brother, are you upset that your sister is naked?"

"Am I upset? Hell no!" Alan teased while the Doctor bent over laughing and Rain hit him in the side. "The love of my life naked in front of me, keep going, Davtor baby, and bring out the stripper pole! I wanna see my sister shake what her mamma gave her!"

He laughed when Rain smacked him on the head.

"Aren't you glad your wife didn't opt to come in with ya?" the Doctor said.

"Yes and no. on the one hand it would have been awkward but then again I could have convinced her to get naked and join in the fun," he teased.

"What are you going to do to her?" dream Alan said mournfully.

"Yes!" Alan said, running up to dream Rain and breathing heavily. "What are ya gonna do to her? Do tell!"

The Doctor laughed hysterically while Alan panted and drooled while he stared at his dream sister. He feigned shock when Rain eyed him.

"Oh, I'm sorry, this isn't Rose. Silly me," he said while he walked back over.

He laughed when Rain slapped him on the head. The Doctor looked around him.

"Can we get a bit of porno music in here while we watch whatever Davtor's gonna do to my wife?" he said while Alan sniggered.

"Kneel!" Davtor commanded, jerking on the chain and forcing dream Rain to her knees.

Alan sniggered when the Doctor reached into his pocket, pulled out a banana and began to peel it while he walked over to his dream wife's side.

"No! Leave her alone!" dream Alan said while the Doctor munched his banana and watched intently.

"Alan, save me!" dream Rain said while she stared at him beseechingly.

Rain giggled when the Doctor paused in mid chew and gave her a disapproving look.

"No, Latara, you don't implore my brother to save you when I'm in the room. You're supposed to be talking to me and getting me to somehow separate from Davros. Very bad form, my wife."

Rain laughed when he stuck his free hand in his trouser pocket and went back to munching the banana. He paused in mid chew when Davtor raised his hand and shot a bolt of electricity at her.

"Ouch," Alan said watching while Rain writhed in pain and screamed. "Barbecued Te'lesu, not good."

The Doctor took another bite of banana and walked back over to his wife.

"Forgive me, Latara," he said through the mouthful of banana. "Is this some kind of torture fantasy right here or is it a bit of angst for Brother since he's trapped and can't help ya right now?"

He smiled when Rain swatted the back of his head. He took his hand out of the pocket and put it around her while he munched his banana.

"You see, my brother, she belongs to me!" Davtor said.

"So don't fancy her any longer or I'll fondue her arse next," the Doctor said to his brother while he giggled.

Alan leaned in to Rain.

"You know, when I told you I did love you. I was under the impression that you knew I could control that urge now especially since I have Rose and you have him. Why did you concoct this whole doomed lovers scenario between us?" he said, ruffling her hair. "Not that I'm not enjoying it but you went a bit overboard with the whole secret lovers thing. But I have to say both Brother and I are enjoying it immensely."

"Yes, we are," the Doctor said.

"And thanks for the naked body," Alan said in a loud stage whisper. "I've wanted to look at your buff bod for ages. This helps considerably with that."

The Doctor laughed when she tried to swat his head. She looked at the Doctor when he let go of her, put the last of the banana in his mouth and draped the peel over Davtor's head. He swallowed the bit of banana and whistled while Alan and Rain laughed and walked back to his side.

"Thanks, my love, I was looking for an excuse to have snack time and you gave it to me," he said.

They listened while Alan screamed curses at him and Davtor shot a bolt of electricity into his chest in retaliation.

"Yeah!" the Doctor said, wagging his finger at Alan. "That'll learn ya to keep your gob shut and not mouth off to me!"

"Um…the whole electricity bolt into the chest thing just brought back a ton of unpleasant memories for a couple of tics," Alan said while his dream self held his chest and gasped.

"Brother, can we see your Slitheen chasing you on a rocking horse dream next and make this a double feature?" Alan said to the Doctor.

"Sure! Why not?" the Doctor said while they laughed.

"And now my hapless clone. I will first make Rain like me…"

"Told ya!" the Doctor said to Alan. "I was right, I was right, I was right!"

"And then you and the others will die slowly and painfully and…"

The dream suddenly faded to black. Alan looked around.

"And? Yes? And…" Alan said to the ceiling.

"I think this is the point where my wife woke up screaming actually," the Doctor said to him.

"Oh! Damn it, Te'lesu, you didn't finish Brother's cornball gloating soliloquy of death! How dare you cut him off in mid sentence just when it was getting good!"

The Doctor chuckled and he asked the TARDIS to get rid of the dream. The room shifted back to the metal room and he looked at his wife.

"Are you satisfied now, Latara?"

"Yes, but I can't help thinking though. What if that wasn't a dream but another vision like Jenny had," she said.

"Then this is what I want you to do, my wife," the Doctor said, grabbing her arms. "I want you to carry a sawn-off shotgun with you from now on and when this happens, shoot both me and Brother repeatedly so we don't have to repeat all the cornball dialogue we just repeated!"

"And also carry some CS gas that you can use on Davtor since I'm sure your modified husband will be hornier than a toad once he gets you starkers," Alan added. "I don't wanna be imprisoned and watch his gnarled Davros body shagging yours. I would rather die than have that burned into my mind for the rest of my lives."

Rain giggled.

"It's a deal, Bro."

She gasped when Alan seized her and held her close.

"And now my secret love, let us retire to our boudoir!" he said melodramatically. "I must satisfy my unrequited love while Rose watches!"

The Doctor laughed when he let go and patted her head. He gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Come on, Brother, let's go find Jack and go get those parts he needs before he comes in here, sees my naked wife and we have to use the shotgun and CS gas on him," the Doctor said, taking Rain's hand and heading back towards the front door.


	60. Chapter 60

Chapter Sixty

"Yup, that was definitely worth going in the room for," Alan said while they walked back to the console room.

"I'm just glad she was alright," the Doctor said while his brother nodded.

He stopped Rain.

"Seriously, you had us all panicking. Especially since no one could figure out what was making you so scared when we're all in the TARDIS in the middle of the vortex. I did tell them you had a nightmare earlier because they had felt that and asked me about it so I assumed when I felt your fear again that you'd went back to sleep and had the dream again. So Brother and I went to my bedroom to wake you up and comfort you and when you weren't there then we got worried."

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset everyone. Just the whole you as Davros frightened me."

The Doctor rubbed her arm.

"That's why Brother and I decided to take the mickey out of your nightmare so you would be calm. I mean we have to feel it too when you get scared. Truthfully, I was shocked at what you thought up but I was more fascinated than scared especially since I never imagined combining myself with old prune face before. It's even more fascinating to me that both of us have told you enough and shown you enough that you can actually combine me and him. I actually did show her a bit of my life at academy and my time on the Valiant with the Master, Brother, so I'm waiting for the dream where she combines us and makes Mastor or something."

He smiled at her when she giggled and put his arm around her while they continued to walk to the console room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rose and Donna hugged Rain tightly when the Doctor told them she had suffered another nightmare.

"Oh Sis, I hate that's happening to ya now," Rose said. "I've had my share of nightmares and Donna has as well and the last thing we want is for the rest of you to start gettin' them."

"Well, I went in the simulation room by myself to see it and that's when I got scared."

She told them about the Doctor being combined with Davros and Rose and Donna's eyes bulged.

"Okay, that's a scary thought. You and that thing in one body," Rose said to the Doctor.

"Nah, I looked quite dashing with the blind eyes and withered arm," he teased.

He told everyone in the console room about Jenny and Rain wanting tattoos. Rose laughed while her husband rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Awinita and I are gonna have company now," she said, hugging Rain again.

"Yes and anyone else who wants one, speak up now so we can get this madness over and done with in one go," the Doctor said.

"Come on, Mingxia, get one," Awinita said to her.

"Um…I'm not sure. I mean, I've never actually thought about getting one before," Mingxia said.

"Donna?" Rose said.

"I think I'll give it a miss, thanks," Donna said.

Rose grinned.

"Jack?"

Jack raised his eyebrow.

"Me? Um…well, I'm like Mingxia. I never thought of one before but…Not sure…let me get back to you on that because Yan might like it but…I have to see."

"Well, as I was telling Rain, I want to go get your parts beforehand so you'll have them then we can do this," the Doctor said.

He nodded and the Doctor entered some coordinates.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After getting the parts, the Doctor asked the TARDIS to find a reputable tattoo parlor. They landed in an alley in London and found one that was a few shops down from them. The Doctor stared at it. Alan chuckled and put his arm around his shoulder.

"Congratulations, Brother. After 1200 years you're finally gonna step foot in a tattoo parlor," he said to him.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and followed his wife and daughter inside. The interior was well lit and clean. Along the right side, the wall was covered with pictures of designs. Alan's mouth dropped open.

"This place is less grotty than the one we went to. We should have done this before we left London then," he said to Rose.

Rose shrugged. A door in the back opened and a young man stepped into the room. He had short wavy brown hair and some slight stubble on his chin. His bare arms had various tattoos on them and he was wearing brown trousers and a white t-shirt.

"And he doesn't look like a biker who just got down going across the country on his Harley," Alan muttered to Rose.

"May I help you?"

"My daughter and I and possibly a couple of others wanna get tattoos."

"Do you know what you want?"

"Not yet," Rain said.

"Take your time and let me know when you're ready," the man said. "My name's Clive so just yell for me when it's time."

They nodded and walked over to the wall of pictures. The Doctor stared at some of them in shock while his brother stood beside him. He grinned at the Doctor.

"This is an education for you, isn't it?" he teased.

"Very much so. Who in the world gets a scorpion and a gravestone?" he said to him.

He eyed his brother.

"Then again, I'm speaking to the man who got a Disney character inked on his arm," he added.

He patted Alan's shoulder and walked around him to Rain, Jenny and Rose who were looking at the designs and talking amongst themselves. He stood behind them listening.

"You could get a fairy, Jen," Rose said, pointing to a little fairy with pink butterfly wings and a white dress.

"That is pretty," Jenny said, nodding.

"I thought you wanted the angel," the Doctor said to her.

"I'm thinking about it, Dad. I'm just looking at what else they have," Jenny said.

The Doctor saw a unicorn head and grinned.

"Love, my love," he said to Rain while he pointed to it. "Get the one horned goat."

They laughed and the Doctor wrapped his arms around her. He sighed.

"Honestly, I don't see the attraction in this," he said, laying his chin on Rain's head. "Looking at the designs, I wouldn't fancy any of them on my body."

"It's just something humans or former humans do," Rain said. "I'm trying to find a rain drop or something similar but all I see is a teardrop."

"So, get that and call it a raindrop. I'm sure the teardrop won't care," the Doctor said.

"It's not the same thing though. I know you don't know this but a lot of people who spent time in prison get a teardrop on the side of their faces to show they've been there. That's the only thing I've seen that resembles a raindrop."

"Why would they do that?" the Doctor said. "Get the teardrop, I mean?"

Rain shrugged.

"I don't know, Love, just something some people choose to do after having been in prison."

Alan was nearby listening to that. He and his brother shared a glance.

"I didn't know about that either, Brother," Alan said shrugging. "But you've been imprisoned hundreds of times, why not get one yourself?"

"No thanks," the Doctor said while the women laughed. "I don't want a ruddy teardrop on my face."

Mingxia walked up to the Doctor and tugged on his suit sleeve. The Doctor smiled warmly at her and took her hand while she led him over to another group of pictures. She pointed to a red and yellow Chinese dragon.

"I like this. What do you think if I got it?" she said to him.

The Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"So you are thinking about getting one?" he said.

"I was looking through the choices and I wasn't at first but I do like Chinese dragons and I thought about getting a small one on my arm."

"I like dragons as well and it would look a lot better than Alan's Stitch," he said.

Awinita came up beside her and looked at the dragon.

Oh that would be cool, Sis. Get it!" she said.

"Well, I thought about getting that or maybe a Chinese character on my arm. Like the character for luck or strength or something like that."

"I'd get the dragon if I were you. That would look cool on your arm," Awinita said.

She smiled at the Doctor.

"Now we gotta convince Donna, Doctor and Jack to get tattoos," she said to Mingxia.

"You might be able to convince Jack but you're not gonna convince me and I doubt Donna will get one," the Doctor said.

Alan walked up beside his brother. He grinned when Mingxia showed him the dragon.

"I do like that actually," he said. "I think it'll look nice but I'd get it under your sleeve like I did."

"I will if I get it," Mingxia said. "I do want something I can cover up."

Alan nodded and turned to the Doctor.

"Rain's got her tattoo picked out," he said pointing to his wife who was talking to Clive and pointing to the wall.

"What? What did she get?"

"Actually, it's not too bad. I think you'll like it."

He and his brother walked back over to the far corner of the wall and he pointed up to a red rose that had two leaves on either side of it.

"The wife's idea, actually, but she liked the whole rose motif."

"That'll look beautiful on her. I'm glad she picked that and not a tombstone," the Doctor replied.

He glanced at Rain who was looking at him.

_Bro showing you what I'm getting?_ She thought to him.

_Yes and I approve of the rose._

_Good. Jenny's still deciding_, she thought.

_Well, I think Mingxia is getting a Chinese dragon,_ the Doctor thought back.

Rain and Rose's eyes widened with delight. Rose wandered over and asked Mingxia to show her. She gasped when she pointed it out.

"Yeah, that'll look lovely. Get that," Rose said.

Alan looked at his brother.

"I can just see it, Brother. Soon you'll be the only one who isn't inked up."

"Good. I'll keep it that way," the Doctor replied.

He wandered over to Rain's side while she sat in a chair with her right shirt sleeve up. He held her left hand and watched in fascination while Clive prepared the inks and needle.

_You're barmy, my love, completely barmy,_ he thought to her.

She giggled.

_Yes, but you'll love it when I get it done. You can kiss it when we're in bed together,_ she thought back.

The Doctor looked at his brother who was giggling and the Doctor rolled his eyes. Alan felt a tug on his sleeve and smiled at Jenny.

"Mingxia is getting a dragon?" Jenny said to him.

"Yes, I think so."

"I saw one as well and I want you to give me your opinion on it," she said to him.

Alan took her hand and she led him over to a picture. She pointed to a small chubby baby dragon. It was purple with a wide eyed expression and was sitting on its butt while its little tail curled around it. Alan chuckled at it.

"That's kinda cute actually."

He projected an image of it into the Doctor's mind.

_She's leaning towards that, Brother,_ Alan thought to him.

_That's not bad. I think it would be a cute feminine thing for her,_ the Doctor thought back. _Just as long as it's not a flaming skull or scorpion or something like that._

"You hear that, Jen?" Alan said to her.

She nodded. She pointed to a mermaid a few pictures above it. It was small with a teal fish tail and blonde hair. Alan projected the image into the Doctor's mind.

_I like that one as well,_ he thought back to Alan.

Jenny looked at Alan.

"Wait a tic, okay?"

Alan nodded and she went to get Rose. She led her back and showed her the dragon and the mermaid.

"I like them both," Rose said to her. "But the mermaid kinda looks like you with the blonde hair."

"I agree," Alan said.

"I like the mermaid more. I think I'll get it," Jenny said.

_She's getting the mermaid, Brother,_ Alan thought to the Doctor.

The Doctor glanced back and projected the mermaid image into his wife's head while she watched Clive ink her tattoo.

_She's settled on that, Love,_ he thought to her.

_I like that one,_ Rain thought back.

Alan looked at Mingxia when she and Donna came up beside them.

"Te'lesu, are you getting the dragon?" Alan said to her.

"I think so, yeah."

_Mingxia's getting the dragon,_ Alan thought to the Doctor. _We're gonna be here awhile._

_I s'pose we can get something to eat while everyone takes their turn,_ the Doctor thought back.

Jack walked up beside Alan.

"What is everyone getting?" he said to him.

He pointed to the mermaid.

"Jenny's getting this. Rain's getting a rose and Mingxia is getting a Chinese dragon."

Mingxia led Jack over and pointed it out to him.

"Oh wow, I like that and I like the mermaid," he said. "And Rain's getting a rose?"

Rose took his hand and led him over to the picture.

"Oh, I like that one too," he said.

Rose looked at him.

"Are you getting one?"

"Debating it," Jack said, sighing. "I'm weighing my getting one against Yan's reaction. I'm not sure if he likes tattoos."

"Do you have your mobile? Why not ring him and ask?" Rose said.

"Yeah, that's true," Jack said. "Thanks, Rose. I travel with you guys so much I forgot we were in present time right now."

He pulled out his mobile and called Torchwood. Rose walked back over to Alan while Jack talked to Ianto. She smiled at Donna.

"How 'bout you, Donna? Wanna get one as well?" Rose said to her.

She shook her head.

"No, sorry, not interested in a tattoo but I do like what everyone picked out," she said. "Is Jack getting one though?"

"Dunno, he's discussing it with Ianto," Rose said, gesturing to him. "I think he's afraid Ianto will object or something."

"Well, If I were him, I'd make damn sure I was happy with it because unlike us, it'll be on his body forever more," Alan muttered to her. "So I don't see why he has to ring Ianto for his approval since he'll outlast Ianto by eons and eons."

"Yeah but for the moment Ianto has to live with it, same as the Doctor has to live with Rain's tattoo. I'm sure he wants to make sure he'd be okay with it," Rose replied.

Jack walked over to them.

"I must not get something too creepy or disgusting, his words," Jack said, putting his mobile back in his pocket.

"And creepy and disgusting to Ianto would be…" Alan said.

"Something like this," Jack said, pointing to a picture of a corpse.

Alan made a face and shook his head.

"I didn't want something creepy or disgusting anyway," Jack added.

"Well, as I was telling Rose make sure your immortal self is happy with whatever you get," Alan said to him.

"Trust me, I'm choosing very carefully," Jack replied, nodding.

Alan sighed.

"I hope this doesn't take too long. I hate this whole dull pain I'm getting from Rain now," he said, glancing back at her. "I don't fancy feeling dull pain from everyone the entire day."

He wandered over to his brother who was still holding Rain's hand while he watched her.

_Enjoying the slight pain you're getting from your wife, mate?_ Alan thought to him.

_Oh yes, it's what I've always wanted. First I get to feel her fear now I get to feel her pain,_ the Doctor thought back. _I'm just so glad she got a tattoo_.

Rain smiled.

_Just be glad I didn't get it done on bone then you'd really feel pain from me_, she thought to him.

The Doctor shook his head.

_I don't get this fascination with marring your body. Tattoos, piercings, things like that. I don't understand why people do that to themselves. _He thought._ I like this tattoo at least but still; you're sitting there voluntarily going through pain and discomfort to get a picture put on your body that'll be there until you regenerate._

_Well, Jack is thinking about getting one now so his will be on there permanently, _Alan thought to him.

The Doctor put a privacy block around his mind.

_Unless he really is the Face of Boe and then he'll have it until he loses his body,_ he thought to him.

_Yes, I thought of that too, Brother,_ Alan thought back.

The Doctor dropped the block and watched while Clive finished the rose. Once he was done, he wiped the blood off it and bandaged it. He instructed her on how to care for it and she nodded and thanked him. Once she was done, Mingxia came up and pointed out the one she wanted. She sat down in the seat while the Doctor rubbed Rain's side and led her away.

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Jack finally opted for a small eagle on his right arm. Everyone had gotten their tattoos on their right arms and had made them small enough to hide under shirt sleeves. The Doctor glanced at his wife, daughter and sister's arms and stared at the gauze covering their tattoos.

"This has been one odd day," the Doctor said while they laughed. "I never thought I'd spend the day in a tattoo parlor. I have never had any companion say to me, "Doctor, I need to go get a tattoo now! Take me to a tattoo parlor!""

"First time for everything, Bro," Awinita said, hugging him from behind.

"Well, I hope Ianto likes eagles," the Doctor said while he watched Jack getting it put on his arm.

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After everyone was finished, they went to get something to eat before heading back into the vortex. Everyone left the console room except the Doctor, Rain and Jenny. The Doctor stood by his monitor shaking his head at his wife and daughter who were sitting side by side on the jump seat giggling.

"How do your arms feel then?" the Doctor asked them.

"It aches but I'm glad I got it done," Rain said while Jenny nodded.

"Well, I can't wait to see John's reaction to this new tattoo."

"Well, I can't wait for you to see Amber's reaction to this new tattoo," Rain teased.

The Doctor snickered.

"That's true. Let's go show her right now!" the Doctor said while they laughed. "I'm sure that'll go over like a lead balloon especially after you told her you were turned into an alien."

He let out a sigh and shook his head.

"That's why I love traveling. Every day is a surprise for me," he said.

He smiled and hugged them both tightly.


	61. Chapter 61

Chapter Sixty One

"So let me get this straight," Jack said while he followed his family to the simulation room. "This room will scan your mind and put your memories into 3D and now Alan's gonna show us what they saw when they went through the US?"

"Yup," the Doctor said to him. "Memories, visions, dreams. Whatever's in your mind can be put into 3 dimensions."

"I am so glad you thought of this, Bro," Awinita said to Alan. "I'm glad you found a way to show everyone else what they missed."

"Me too," Alan said. "Bless the simulation room. Now everyone can see what the fuss was about."

He felt a privacy block being thrown around Rose and Rain's mind. Rose slowed down and hung back while the two women talked to one another telepathically. Rose nodded and then brought Alan into the private conversation so they could ask them something. Alan glanced back, thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Um, Rose and Rain also want to see a few things that happened before we went on our trip," Alan said to the others when they dropped the block. "Rose wants to know what went on with Donna and I while she and the Doctor were imprisoned. I hope that's alright, Donna."

"It doesn't matter to me. I know how everything turned out so it won't upset me watching the memories again."

"Well, Rose kinda wants to see my "birth", "he said while Rose and Rain giggled.

They reached the simulation room and Alan scanned his mind.

"I'm putting all my memories in so I can pick and choose," Alan said. "I'm not even one year old yet so it's not like I have tons of them like Brother does. But I'll start with Donna in the TARDIS while we were in the core. So now Brother, Rose, you get to see what you missed being imprisoned with pruny boy."

"Oh, this oughta be good," the Doctor muttered when he opened the door.

They stepped inside and saw the interior of the TARDIS. Donna was over by the jump seat looking around in frozen terror. The Doctor closed the door behind them.

"Nothing's moving," Jack said, looking around.

"That's because I have it on pause," Alan said. "You can pause your memory, fast forward or rewind, zoom in, zoom out. It's like watching a video."

"Wow, we need one at Torchwood," Jack said, glancing around.

"Okay, now that everyone's in here, let the show begin," Alan said, closing his eyes.

The image unfroze and instantly the glass in the roundels began to shatter and explode while the TARDIS rocked back and forth. Donna gasped and looked around panicked while several fires burned. All of them heard a scream inside their minds. Everyone except the Doctor and Alan were confused.

"What's that screaming, Dad?"

"It's the TARDIS in pain, Jen. That's what I heard when I was up inside the Crucible," the Doctor said, pointing towards the ceiling. "She's in agony and dying at this moment."

"Oh God," Rose said, "Now I can see why you were so distressed. You heard this in your mind? Oh Jesus!"

Suddenly they heard a heartbeat and everyone except Donna and Alan looked around in confusion.

"Huh?" Jack said.

"It's my single heartbeat. It somehow echoed back over the time lines and she was able to hear it since everything converged on her."

"Which is what I kept hearing," Donna said to the Doctor. "I started hearing it when we were at The Shadow Proclamation and it's why I didn't come out the door. I was going down the ramp and heard this and stopped and then the door closed on me. And I was hearing it when you walked over to me and told me there was nothing we could do."

"Oh! I wondered about the weird look on your face," the Doctor said. "I just figured you were frightened about going outside the TARDIS with us."

They watched the hand glow inside the jar and Donna tentatively reaching out to touch it. They gasped when she touched it and jerked like she was being electrocuted. Then the jar shattered and Donna fell back on her butt while the hand flopped out on the grating. All of them neared closer to it and watched it glow.

"Cool!" Awinita said. "You had a pretty glow there, Bro."

"That's the glow you get when you regenerate," the Doctor said. "That'll happen to all of you when it's time to change your bodies."

They watched with fascination while the fingers on the hand began to flex and move. Then all of them backed up when the glow spread out into the shape of a man.

"Fascinating. The glow basically created you," the Doctor muttered to Alan.

The body glowed for a moment and then Alan jerked up. The glow dissipated and everyone laughed at the shocked look on his face.

"Shocking for you, Brother?" the Doctor said, amused.

"Yes, it was," Alan said.

"It's you," memory Donna said to him.

"Oh yes."

"You're naked."

"Oh yes."

Everyone bent over laughing while Donna blushed.

"Well, what'd you expect my brother to be? Fully clothed?" the Doctor said to Donna.

"I didn't expect I could see his bits, Doctor," she replied while they laughed.

They watched while memory Alan hurried over and pressed a button on the console. The Doctor put his arm around his brother when the rotor started.

"You saved her, my Brother. I'll always be grateful for that," the Doctor said to him.

"I wouldn't have done any less for her, Te'lesau," he replied.

After pressing the button, they watched while Alan sank back onto his knees and looked around him. His eyes settled on memory Donna who had a mortified look on his face.

"What?" Alan said to her.

"GET…SOME…CLOTHES…ON!" memory Donna screamed while everyone laughed.

"Oh! Yes, right, sorry!" Alan said, leaping to his feet while everyone giggled.

"Thank God," memory Donna muttered as he hurried through the back door.

The Doctor and his family followed Alan into the corridors. Rain was giggling while they watched his naked backside as he walked.

_There, you've seen me naked, now I've seen you naked,_ Rain thought to Alan after throwing up a privacy block.

_You've already seen me naked, Te'lesu, I'm the Doctor's clone, you know,_ he thought back.

They stopped when memory Alan stopped. Memory Alan turned slightly and they laughed when he glanced down at his crotch and stared at his huge penis with a huge smile on his face.

"Oh for the love of God," Donna said while they bent over laughing.

"What? I'm very proud of my penis," Alan said to her. "I wanted a little dekko at it."

"And you didn't stop to think we were in danger then?" Donna said to him.

"I'd just gotten us out of danger. You weren't around so I examined the goods," Alan replied while everyone giggled.

Memory Alan quit looking at his penis and headed on down the corridor. They followed him to the wardrobe room and watched him climb the stairs. They blinked when they seemed to rise alongside him.

"It does this," the Doctor said when he noticed their shock. "If there's stairs or hills in the vision we go up with the person since we're basically just standing in a big metal room with only one level to it."

Memory Alan reached the second level and looked around while the Doctor and his family watched. They followed him around while he picked out the blue trousers, t-shirt and grabbed some socks and underwear. He passed by the full length mirror and they laughed when he once again paused to look at himself.

"Just how vain are you, Alan?" Donna said to him when they laughed harder.

"I had just been born. Give me a break, Noble. Trust me, Brother did the same thing with all his regenerations," Alan replied.

They watched him dress himself and put everything on except for the blue jacket. He looked around and walked over to several pairs of trainers the Doctor had in the corner. He bent over and looked through them, finally choosing a red pair.

"Behold everyone, I had a thief in my TARDIS," the Doctor teased.

"Well, it was either nick your shoes or have Donna bash my fifteen minute old face in for daring to be naked in her presence," Alan replied.

He put the shoes on and tied them. He slung his jacket over his arm, took one more look in the mirror and they followed him while he walked back to the console room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"All repaired, lovely," memory Alan said, jumping down onto the ramp after checking the TARDIS.

The Doctor and his family watched while he put his jacket on and walked over to Donna.

"This is quite interesting, eh Rose?" he said while she nodded. "We were imprisoned in the holding cells while all this was going on."

They laughed hysterically at the back and forth exchange between memory Alan and Donna.

"Oi!"

"Oi!"

"Spanners, Shhh!"

"Oh yeah! This is great!" Awinita said. "I love the whole pissing contest you two had going on here."

Rose came up behind her husband and put her arms around him.

"I see now you immediately had that wacky sense of humor you still have," she said while he looked around and smiled lovingly at her.

They laughed some more.

"This must have been quite a shock for you, Donna," the Doctor said between giggles. "Not only do I have a clone but he's got a huge, caustic gob on him."

"Well, that's because she gave me the huge, caustic gob," Alan said, pointing to his sister. "She was just getting a little taste of her own medicine."

"I kept hearing that noise, that heartbeat."

"Oh that was me. I'm a complicated event in time and space; it must have rippled back, converging on you."

"But why me?"

"Because you're special."

"Thank you, Brother," the Doctor said to Alan. "Kept on trying to hammer that into her head and she still didn't get it."

"Oh…you really don't believe that, do you? I can see Donna, everything you're thinking…"

"Ooo-eee-oooooo," Rain said while they laughed.

"Shouting at the world because no one's listening…"

"And shouting at me because I'm not listening," the Doctor added while they laughed.

"And all this time you think you're not worth it."

"I see you started out immediately with the little chats about self esteem, love," Rose said to her husband.

"Course, I have a need to sort everyone else out, especially my girls," Alan replied while she kissed his cheek.

The Doctor patted him on the shoulder while he listened to him finishing up his talk to Donna.

"I'm proud of you, Brother. You saved the TARDIS and you bolstered Donna's confidence. You saved us all doing this."

Alan blushed when he squeezed his shoulder.

"So meanwhile, you were in the Crucible?" Mingxia said to the Doctor.

"Yes, me and Rose and Jack, except Jack had been "killed" so probably at this point we're in the holding cells listening to Davros gloat."

He threw up a privacy block around his wife's mind.

_Or Davtor if you prefer,_ he thought to her.

He rubbed her back and dropped the block when she giggled softly.

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After observing his birth they watched him interacting with Donna.

"You're very calm for someone who just witnessed a clone being born, Donna," the Doctor said, gesturing to memory Alan.

"Well, after he calmed down, I accepted him for the most part," Donna replied. "I figured a clone Doctor was better than no Doctor at all."

They watched while they watched the results of the reality bomb. The Doctor sighed when he saw the shock and disbelief on his memory brother's face.

"We had to watch it as well," the Doctor said to him. "Davros wouldn't let that opportunity slip by, you know."

Alan shook his head.

"Nutter, a complete nutter, that's what he was. All those poor people, disintegrated in the blink of an eye and because he had some insane idea to be the last being standing in the universe. And Rose did inform me of what was going on with you lot at this point so I did know you were forced to watch as well because Rose was upset about it."

"Yes, I was," she said when he put his arm around her and drew her near.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Everyone stood by and watched memory Alan while he stood by the TARDIS door and prepared himself to go out into the Crucible. They saw the look of concentration on his face while he held his makeshift weapon in his hands. Donna was several feet behind him staring at him with concern.

"You sure this is gonna work, Doctor?" she said to him.

"It must work, Donna," memory Alan said, keeping his eyes on the doors. "For the sake of the universe, Davros must be stopped for good."

"Wow, talk about intense," Jack said while they laughed.

"Brother to the rescue!" the Doctor yelled.

"Yes, except it was a miserable failure," Alan said bitterly.

"No, it wasn't Brother. If you hadn't been caught, Donna wouldn't have run out and tried to grab the weapon, Davros wouldn't have zapped her and the DoctorDonna wouldn't have been born. It was meant to happen that way, you played your part and she played hers," he said, patting his shoulder.

The rotor stopped.

"Stay back, Donna. Let me handle this," memory Alan said.

"Apparently, you didn't listen as usual, Te'lesu," the Doctor teased Donna.

Alan opened the door.

"Brilliant!" they heard Jack saying.

"Um, is this one of those things where you can't see yourself or a paradox will occur?" Jack asked.

"No, this is just his memory. No one can see us so there's no danger of that," the Doctor said to Jack. "There's no danger of that anyway since this is all artificial. The moment the memories stop, all this will revert back to a big metal room. So there's no need to worry about watching your other self."

Jack nodded. They followed Alan when he raced outside with the weapon. Rain flinched when Davros hit him with the bolt of electricity and the holding cell surrounded him. The Doctor threw up a privacy block.

_Thinking of your dream, Love?_ He thought to her.

_Yes._

The Doctor sent love into her mind while he dropped the block.

They watched the scene unfold. Rain glanced at her memory sister and noticed her staring at memory Alan in shock and confusion. Meanwhile, everyone else was gathered around her and the Doctor in their cells. They looked over at Donna who was behind the console and saw her eyes were glowing.

"Ta-da, the birth of the DoctorDonna," the Doctor said.

"Stand witness, Time Lord. Stand witness, humans," Davros said while he activated a view screen.

They looked over at DoctorDonna who was getting to her feet, her eyes blinking in shock and then they saw a dawning realization on her face when she realized what had happened.

"This is weird. It's like getting a whole new perspective on something you went through," Jack said. "I'm over there but now I can see what went on over here."

"That's why I like this room," the Doctor said to him. "It allows me to view my memories and gain new insight like this."

Davros started the countdown while DoctorDonna smirked at him and silently began to work the controls so she could undermine him. Everyone else in the memory was watching the screen above them but the Doctor and his family were watching the DoctorDonna who had a gleeful look on her face while she deactivated the reality bomb. She finished up just as Davros got to one and stood there smirking at the shocked look on everyone's faces when the screen disappeared.

"Go, Sis," Awinita said to her while Donna put her arm around her.

They giggled when she spewed off the technobabble and they saw the shock on the Doctor's face.

"Donna, you can't even change a plug!"

"You wanna bet, Time Boy?"

They laughed.

"Time Boy?" Rain said. "I like that. I have to start calling you that."

"No, you won't!" the Doctor said while they laughed harder.

They glanced at the memory Doctor and his companions and noticed Alan had a knowing look on his face while he watched the DoctorDonna from his cell. Alan put his arm around his sister when he saw how proud he was of her.

"Time Lord," memory Alan finally told them. "Part Time Lord."

"Part human, oh yes!"

"And all sarcasm!" Jack said while they laughed.

Rain giggled at the stunned look on Davros's face. The Doctor grinned at her.

"Just enjoying how shocked Davros was, Love."

"Well, he wasn't thinking my "children" might actually be able to defeat him," the Doctor said.

The ones who weren't present bent over laughing when Donna made the Daleks spin around. Donna bowed when they applauded her.

"But that's brilliant!" memory Alan said to the DoctorDonna.

"Why didn't we think of that?"

"Because you two were just Time Lords, you dumbos!"

Everyone laughed at that while the Doctor glanced at his brother and rolled his eyes.

"Did I mention, best temp in Cheswick? 100 words per minute!"

"As if you were in the middle of a job interview at that point," Alan said to Donna.

"Hey, I just had to gloat a bit. You lot do it all the time," Donna said, shrugging.

They watched while they sent the planets back to their proper places.

"The vault will be purged! You will all be exterminated!"

Rain gasped when the Supreme Dalek shot at the Doctor and narrowly missed killing him.

"LIKE I WAS SAYING, FEEL THIS!"

Everyone whooped and cheered at Jack while he turned and bowed to his family and pumped his fist in the air. He turned back around and grinned when Mingxia and Awinita patted him on the back. They watched the Doctor running back into the TARDIS.

"Oh no," Rain muttered.

The Doctor glanced at her and bent down to her ear.

"What?" he whispered.

"Alan showed me this," Rain whispered back. "I hated seeing you yell at him and I couldn't watch any more."

The Doctor nuzzled her head and drew her near. He threw up a privacy block.

_I was an ass at that moment, Latara,_ he thought to her before dropping it.

"DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU JUST DID? NOW GET INSIDE THE TARDIS!"

The Doctor gave them a sheepish look and Alan chuckled when Awinita, Mingxia and Jenny eyed him.

"Like I was telling my wife, I was an ass at that moment," he said while they laughed.

The scene switched into the interior of the TARDIS and they saw Alan waiting by the door glancing out. They laughed when he named everybody while they ran through.

"And actually I was wondering why you were doing that," Donna said.

"Just making a head count," Alan said, shrugging.

They walked over and looked through the open door with memory Alan. They could see the Doctor by the door.

"Davros, come with me! I can save you!"

"Um, Bro, you were gonna put him someplace if he came in the TARDIS, right?" Awinita said to the Doctor.

"Well, yes," the Doctor replied while they laughed. "I wasn't gonna let him roam free and have a personal tour of my ship."

"I name you forever! You…are the Destroyer of the Worlds!"

They looked at memory Alan when he snorted.

"I wouldn't talk if I were you, you pruny murderer," they heard him mutter.

The Doctor snickered and looked at his brother.

"Pruny murderer, eh?"

"Just telling it like it was, Brother," he said shrugging.

Memory Alan went up the ramp while memory Doctor shut the door. Alan's eyebrows rose when memory Doctor looked at memory Alan's back with an icy look on his face.

"I didn't know you were looking at me like that," he said to the Doctor.

"I didn't know I looked like that but I was angry with you at the time," the Doctor replied.

Alan rolled his eyes when the icy look instantly melted away into his happy mask while memory Doctor ran up the ramp to the console.

"I'm so glad you don't hide your emotions like that anymore," Alan said to the Doctor. "I had no idea you were mad at me for what I did. Maybe if I knew at that point we could have had a chat then and sorted some things out."

The Doctor nodded and patted him on the shoulder. They watched them fly the Earth back and when it was finished they watched them hug each other. They bent over laughing when Donna pushed Sarah Jane out of the way and hugged Jack.

"You know, I'm glad you didn't injure Sarah Jane, Donna," Jack said to her while they laughed. "You almost knocked her into the console."

"I know, I'm sorry!" Donna said.

"And now I do see the shocked look on her face as well," the Doctor said while they laughed harder.

The Doctor noticed Martha and Rose hugging and laughing and he threw up a privacy block around her mind.

_She was jealous of you and me, did Alan tell you that_? He thought to her.

Rose glanced at him.

_Yeah, he did. I had no idea she was but I'm glad she's not anymore._

_Well, she became a bit unbearable for awhile but yes, I'm glad it got sorted out eventually and we're friends._

_Me too,_ Rose thought back. _But I get now why she seemed so shocked when I introduced myself on the Crucible._

The Doctor nodded and Rose gave his hand a squeeze while he dropped the block.

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They all stood on the beach watching the exchange between the Doctor, Alan and Rose. Alan glanced at Jackie and giggled at the shocked look on her face.

"Bless her, the poor woman now had two Doctors to deal with," Alan said to his brother.

The Doctor looked at her and the two brothers giggled hysterically. They watched the exchange quietly between Rose, the Doctor and Alan while Jackie and Donna stood back and watched quietly. They giggled when memory Rose grabbed Alan and kissed him. They laughed harder when actual Alan grabbed Rose and imitated it.

"Ah, memories!" Alan said pulling away while Rose swatted him on the back.

They watched while the Doctor and Donna went back in the TARDIS and he closed the door behind them.

"Ah, so now I get to see what happened after I left you lot behind," the Doctor said to Alan.


	62. Chapter 62

Chapter Sixty Two

The Doctor and his family walked along behind memory Alan, Rose and Jackie listening while Rose and Alan discussed his new name.

"This is so fascinating, Brother," the Doctor said to Alan while they followed the memory. "You have my memories and my thought patterns yet you still had the presence of mind to break away from me and create your own identity."

"Well, like we were discussing, I needed a human name because we thought we were gonna be on Earth forever more. And I'm not exactly like you since I'm part Donna."

Alan poked Donna's arm.

"Mummy," he teased.

"Do not call me that," she said while they laughed.

Once they were done listening to his name, Alan shifted the memory and they watched while they lay together on the bed in their hotel room staring up at the ceiling.

"LORD, LORD, OH GOD I'M BORED. NOTHIN' TO DO IN NORWAY 'CEPT CLIMB A FJORD!"

All of them laughed hysterically. They laughed harder when Jackie pounded on the wall and Alan got up to pound back.

"MY NAME IS ALAN NOW, NOT THE DOCTOR! GET IT RIGHT AND QUIT POUNDING ON THE WALL, YOU'RE INTERRUPTING MY SINGING!"

"I'm so glad you were here continuing on the tradition of irritating Jackie any way you can, Brother," the Doctor said.

"Well, the wench had it comin'. Interrupting my singing like that. The nerve. And my name was Alan at that point and she needed to get that through her thick skull."

Jenny looked at Alan when he began to tease Rose about the black spot.

"What's a Vashta Nerada?"

The Doctor snickered while Alan put his arm around her.

"Well, Jen," Alan said. "They're these little shadow creatures that can swarm and devour people's flesh in seconds. Brother was in this place called The Library which is the largest library in the universe and he had to deal with them there. The black spot on the ceiling reminded me of that which is why I started teasing Rose about it."

Donna rolled her eyes.

"Noble-itis. I hate you sometimes, Alan," she said while they laughed.

Alan hugged her.

"I mean that in an affectionate way, my sister, honestly," he said.

They watched while they got up and headed towards the door.

"Listen, let's jump ahead a bit. This is just us being bored in Norway and really the whole trip back to London was boring as well. Let's skip ahead to the US, okay?"

They nodded and Alan thought for a moment, trying to decide what to show them. He smiled and closed his eyes and they found themselves in a darkened arena. They were standing on some stairs beside Rose and Alan who were watching a show.

"This is Ringling Brother's Circus at Madison Square Garden," Alan said pointing to the elephants doing tricks below them. "Our first real date together."

"Who's the kid eating your candyfloss?" Donna asked.

"That was Rachel. She was my little friend for the evening," Alan said. "We shared that candyfloss."

They watched while a lady rode horses bareback around the ring.

"I can do that, you know. I just choose not to."

"And he said that phrase about a zillion times over two hours time," Rose said, pointing to memory Alan while the real Alan laughed. "I nearly decked him after the five hundredth time he said it."

"Aw, man, I wish I was here with you. I missed the circus," Awinita said.

"I wish you would have been with us too, Te'lesu," Alan said, putting his arm around her. "In fact…"

He closed his eyes and the scene shifted to the inside of a McDonalds.

"Behold, the moment we did meet her," Alan said, putting his finger on top of her head.

They watched while Rose and Alan ate and saw Awinita across the way looking at them with interest.

"If you knew what you know now, would you have gone over and said hello to us?" Alan asked her.

"Yes, because you two were the best things to happen to me," Awinita said while he and Rose hugged her.

They watched while Awinita got up and walked over to them.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but I couldn't help noticing you have backpacks with you."

"Yes, we do and we're aliens and soon you'll be one too, nice to meet ya!" Alan said while everyone bent over laughing.

They listened to the conversation between them. The Doctor giggled.

"Wanted to go home and ended up exploring time and space, who knew," he said, patting her shoulder.

"Like I said, meeting them was the best thing that ever happened to me," she replied.

"So, where did you guys start from? You're not American, I can tell that much."

"No, we're aliens and soon you'll be one too," Alan said while they laughed.

"Well, we started from New York; same as you and we're slowly following M95 into Florida and then we're gonna go to Disneyworld."

"Oh cool, I've never been there myself. Sounds like a lot of fun. Well, I was just wondering about the backpacks and I won't bother you any more. You two have a safe journey."

"No! Wait! You must come with us!" Alan said melodramatically.

"Yes, I must!" Awinita replied melodramatically. "Because I must become a Time Lady someday and travel around in a phone booth with other aliens!"

"Police box, Te'lesu, not phone booth," the Doctor said, nudging her.

"Sorry, my bad, police box," she said, nudging him back.

"It doesn't matter to me. It's gonna take awhile to get down there anyway, but…really, guys, this is way too generous of you. I mean, I don't know you or anything."

"Well, we're not rapists or serial killers or anything like that."

"We're aliens and soon you'll be one too."

"Will you shut up, Bro?" Awinita said while they laughed. "You weren't aliens at that time anyway."

"Au contraire, Te'lesu, I was half."

"Oh sorry, you were half, don't wanna forget the half," Awinita said, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, I'll come with you. It sounds like it might be fun."

"Famous last words there," Rain said.

"So basically you took a leap of faith and followed these two strangers who may or may not have been serial killers," the Doctor said.

Awinita shrugged.

"I could have been one too. Besides, I figured it was safer being with them than being alone."

"Look at that, Rose," memory Alan said when she went back to her seat, "we just found our first companion."

They laughed and the Doctor patted Alan's shoulder.

"The more you tried to break away from me, the more some things stayed the same," he said to him.

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"So, that's the Jersey Devil then?" Jack said while they watched Alan lob his hunting knife into its chest.

"We're not for sure but whatever it was, it was ugly," Alan said.

"Good job with the hunting knife as well," Donna said.

"Yup, you saved Rose. Cheers, Brother."

Alan blushed.

"I couldn't let the thing carry her off and hurt her."

The Doctor grinned at Awinita.

"So, the first night you decided to travel with this lot, you went through this!" he said while Alan and Rose laughed.

"Yes, I learned really quickly what traveling with them would be like," Awinita said.

"And I see where you got the marks on your arm," the Doctor said to Rose.

"Yup, I'm lucky that's all I got apart from the bumps and bruises and hurt back," Rose said to him.

The Doctor looked at Alan.

"So this is what prompted you to get the people carrier?"

"Yes, we did it so Rose could have a bit of a rest and recover from her injuries but then we found that we liked traveling that way so we kept it."

He closed his eyes and the scene shifted to McDonalds. They laughed while they listened to Alan explaining who he was and they stared at the shock on memory Awinita's face.

"You listened to this and still opted to continue on with them," the Doctor said to Awinita.

"Well, considering I just watched a bat horse try to kill Rose the night before, I was willing to believe anything at that point," Awinita said.

"Rose is with me now and the only way I'll let her go is if she wants out of this relationship. If she wants to leave me of her own volition, then I'll be heartbroken, but I'll respect her wishes. But if comes back demanding she go with him and she doesn't want to go, then by God, he'll have to get through me to get to her and I won't make it easy, not by a long shot. I don't care if he is my twin; I'll send him packing without a second thought."

Jack laughed when the women let out low whistles and the Doctor gave Alan a mock look of anger.

"You and me, twenty paces, water pistols now!" the Doctor said.

They laughed when Rose and Rain started to run from them. They went and got them and held them close while they continued to listen.

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"So, this is it, the proposal," Jack said while they watched Rose and Alan leave Awinita by the Disney gift shop and walk away.

"And this is Disney," Donna said, looking around. "I've never been."

"Well, we oughta correct that then," Alan said to her. "Disney is wonderful."

"Yup, it is," Rain said, while the Doctor squeezed her from behind. "The site of their proposal and our honeymoon."

"Are you truly happy here with me though? I mean, say the Doctor walked up to us and asked you to go with him, would you?"

"I wouldn't go with him unless he let you come."

"Why?"

"Because I love you. I love you, Alan, you and only you. The Doctor and I did share something together, but that's in the past. You're my future, Alan, and I don't want anyone but you now."

Rose gasped when the Doctor seized her from behind.

"No, she's mine! You can't have her, Brother!" the Doctor said while they laughed.

"No, I love Alan now, leave me alone!" Rose said to him.

"Nah, you don't mean that. You're just under the influence of some weird hypnoray my brother managed to build."

She patted his cheek while he drew his wife near and put his arms around both of them. They awwwed when Alan got down on his knee and proposed to Rose.

"Rose Tyler, my beloved Amo'tiri, my precious Starlight. Will you make all my dreams come true and become my wife?"

"No, I love the Doctor, piss off!" Rose said while they laughed.

"Yeah, she loves me, piss off," the Doctor teased his brother.

"Don't you dare get me another ring. I love this one. This is perfect. It's unique and I wouldn't trade it for anything. This is my engagement ring and I won't accept any other, so don't even waste your money."

"And actually, it's held up rather well given the fact it's a cheap little Stitch ring," Rose said, glancing down at it.

"Alan, you had no reason to be afraid, I would never have said no to you."

"But, the Doctor…"

"Isn't here. He's gone, Alan. There's only you and me now and my heart is completely yours. I told you, the Doctor is in my past and it's time to put his memory to rest once and for all and move on with you. This right here marks the beginning of a new stage in our life together, alright?"

"Noooo, Rose, come back, be with me!" the Doctor howled while they laughed.

He grinned and kissed her cheek.

"Nah, I'm glad you moved on and found love with my Brother. He's a great chap and you belong together."

He snickered at her and leaned down in her ear.

"Course that doesn't mean I don't get you on the weekends and…"

He leaned back up and feigned shock.

"I'm sorry, did you lot just hear that?" he said while they laughed. "My mistake, what was I thinking. Rose is your wife, honestly she is, really….no really, she is."

He ruffled his brother's hair when he flipped him off and grinned.

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After viewing some of the Disney rides, Alan skipped to their fleeing from the hurricane. The group was standing in the back of the mini-van watching with wide eyes while Alan drove them through the rain and the wind.

"I'm glad I wasn't here for this. I think I would have crapped my pants before we got out of Florida," Rain said.

"Nah, I was an expert driver. I got us out alive and soon we were on our way to Chatanoooooooooooooga!"

Rose and Awinita bent over laughing when everyone else gave him an odd look.

"That's my personal name for it. It's a fun name to say," Alan said, shrugging.

Donna came up beside Rose.

"Was there a point where you just thought to yourself what am I doing with this nutter?"

"I thought that every day of my life," she said while Alan swatted the back of her head.

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"And this is Lookout Mountain in Chatanooooooooooga," Alan said while they stood on top of it.

They all walked up to the edge and looked out.

"This is gorgeous," Rain said while she stood with the Doctor.

"Yes, it is," he replied.

They stood and stared out while memory Alan, Rose and Awinita stood nearby enjoying the same view.

"Oh, you know, the whole lover's death plunge. Imagine falling to our deaths from Lookout Mountain, our bodies intertwined and our hands down each other's trousers as the ground rushes up to meet us."

Rose rolled her eyes when they heard memory Alan say that.

"And this was the start of the running joke about the lover's suicide plunges," she said, gesturing to them while her family laughed.

"Hand's down each other's trousers, eh?" Jack said to Alan.

"Don't get any ideas, Harkness," Alan said while they laughed.

"I'm talking about coppin' a feel while we plunge off Lookout Mountain, do ya mind?" memory Alan said to memory Awinita. "I'm in the middle of a romantic moment here!"

"Sometimes I wonder about you, Alan," memory Awinita replied.

"That needs to be my motto actually," actual Awinita said to the others.

"Mine as well," Rose said.

"And mine," Donna added.

"Mine too," Mingxia said.

"Oi!" Alan said while they all laughed.

"Everyone who wonders about Alan raise their hands," the Doctor said.

Alan flipped them off when everyone raised their hands.

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They laughed when they followed them through the Haunted Cavern.

"You see them," Alan said, pointing to memory Rose and Awinita who were screaming every time someone jumped out at them. "What wimps!"

"I agree, this is boring. Jackie's scarier than this!" the Doctor said.

He covered his head when Rose tried to slap it. He looked at her.

"I agree with Brother. You've faced things that would make most humans run in terror. Why are you screaming at costumed people?"

"Because I'm an idiot, alright?" Rose said while they laughed harder. "I'm a wimpy little idiot who screamed at costumed gits jumping out at me! Happy now, Doctor?"

"Yes, because now I know that once we leave here, I can go put on a sheet and jump out at you whenever you walk by and have a giggle while you scream and soil yourself. I'll get my jollies doing that at random times at all hours of the day."

"Oh shit, Alan, you had to show him this, didn't you?" Rose said to her husband while they all roared with laughter.

She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around.

"BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the Doctor said, waving his arms around.

"Piss off, Time Boy!" Rose said, rolling her eyes.

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The Doctor laughed harder when he saw Alan's unconcerned look while the men waved the chainsaws in his faces.

"Now see, Brother isn't scared, Rose," he said, pointing to them. "Because he knows it's fake and you and Awinita seemed to have forgotten that."

Rose eyed him while Alan sniggered.

"I'm only saying, Rose," the Doctor said, holding up his hands when she flipped him off.

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They stood and watched while they sat in the minivan outside a Taco Bell near Nashville and ate Mexican food. Alan was in the driver's side, Rose was beside him and Awinita was behind them.

"You know, Starlight," Alan was saying to her. "I'm half human and I can't handle food as well as a Time Lord could. I could eat this burrito and just kill you with constant farts aaaaaaaaaaaall night long."

"You do and you're sleeping alone while Awinita and I sleep in another room," Rose said to him.

Alan took a bite of the burrito.

"I could also get a tummy ache and get the runs," he said matter of factly. "I could soil myself and have it leak through my trousers onto the seat and then you'd have to sit in it when you drive."

The Doctor and the others laughed at the dirty look memory Rose gave memory Alan.

"It's the truth, Rose. I could drop some trouser chili and you'd have to deal with it."

They laughed harder at the disgusted look on memory Rose's face while memory Awinita bent over laughing.

"Alan, I'm trying to eat here!" memory Rose said.

"Just saying, I could drop trouser chili all over the people carrier."

"Where in the hell did you come up with that term?" the Doctor said to Alan.

"My little brilliant noddle," Alan said, tapping the side of his head.

"You are so disgusting, Alan Timelord," memory Rose said to her fiancé.

"I'm just stating a fact, my love. I might get a tummy ache and whoosh, you'll be buried in trouser chili and then…"

The Doctor and the others laughed when memory Alan puffed out his cheeks and bent over in feigned pain.

"Oh no, what I have spoken of is coming to pass. Trouser chili is spilling out the back end!" memory Alan said while memory Awinita howled with laughter.

"I'm going inside to finish my meal," memory Rose said, getting out. "Have fun, Alan!"

"No, help me! I can't control my bowels! I'm gonna spew trouser chili any second and…THAR SHE BLOWS!"

The Doctor and the others roared with laughter. Actual Rose groaned and shook her head. Alan held her close and kissed her while memory Rose jumped out and ran into the Taco Bell and memory Alan and Awinita laughed hysterically.


	63. Chapter 63

Chapter Sixty Three

"Why am I here?"

The Doctor and his family giggled while they watched memory Alan trudge along behind memory Rose and Awinita in the doll museum near Nashville.

"Why did I agree to come into a doll museum?" memory Alan said. "I'm must be insane. Why am I here?"

"For the last time, Alan, belt up!" memory Rose said while the Doctor and his family laughed harder.

"Well, why was I there?" Alan said to them.

"Because you loved us and you were willing to put up with dolls so we could have a good time," Rose said to him.

"The Doctor loves you as well but I don't recall him trudging through a doll museum," Alan said, making a face. "My half human side was messing with my mind, that must be it."

Rain left the Doctor's side and walked over to a Shirley Temple doll in a Plexiglas case.

"Although, I would have loved it," Rain said, looking back at Alan.

"Well, that's why I'm glad we're doing this so you can see what you missed, Te'lesu," he said to her.

He smiled at his brother.

"And in the end, I came here because Rose and Awinita wanted to see it and I care about their happiness."

The Doctor smiled and patted his shoulder. Alan looked over and noticed his memory self gesturing to Awinita while Rose's attention was focused on a Victorian doll.

"Rain, watch," Alan said.

Rain turned away from the Shirley Temple doll and noticed Alan pointing to himself. They watched while memory Awinita walked over to him with a confused look on her face. She started to open her mouth and Alan put his hand over it and shook his head. He took her hand and led her through a doorway into the next room. The Doctor and his family followed them while Alan giggled.

"Watch this," he said, nudging his brother while Rose sighed and rolled her eyes.

They looked back through the doorway and giggled when Rose turned around and looked around her with a confused look on her face. Meanwhile, memory Alan and Awinita had ducked down behind a display case that had several clown dolls in it.

"Alright, you two, where the hell did you go?" memory Rose said angrily.

Alan giggled with his memory self while he and Awinita hid behind the display case. Memory Rose threw up her hands and walked through the doorway.

"Funny, you two, really funny," she muttered, walking towards them. "I have half a mind to leave you two…"

"BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" memory Alan and Awinita said jumping out at her.

Memory Rose screamed while her two traveling companions bent over laughing.

"Ah, that was great, Amo'tiri. Suddenly the doll museum isn't boring anymore," memory Alan said, walking away from her.

Actual Rose glared at her husband when he snickered.

"What? I had to entertain myself," he said, shrugging while his family laughed. "You lot might thing looking at dolls is fun but I don't."

"And of course, she was her partner in crime," Rose said to the Doctor.

Alan grinned and put his arm around her sister.

"What do you mean "was"? She still is," he said while Awinita nodded.

"And once again, you got terrified by someone jumping out at ya," the Doctor teased her. "What happened to you, Rose? You never used to get that jumpy. Did my leaving you on the beach make you nervy or something?"

He giggled when she slapped his arm. Rose looked over when Alan cleared his throat and gave her an evil grin.

"What? What are you planning, Alan?" she said.

"Oh, I thought we might show them Margaret and Bill next."

"Oh hell!" Rose said while Awinita bent over laughing.

"Do it, Bro! Show them Bill!" Awinita said, between giggles. "Do it, please!"

Alan grinned and closed his eyes.

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Everyone except Rose was bent over laughing. Rose's face was red while they listened to Bill tell her about the woman he shagged in England that resembled her.

"Doris Meriwether, eh?" the Doctor teased. "We need to go look her up and see if she does resemble ya!"

"Don't you dare!" Rose said while they bent over laughing.

"Do it, Brother!" Alan said. "Go find her and Bill so we can watch them shagging!"

"And she was a virgin when he shagged her. How nice," Jack said. "Nice to know Gramps deflowered someone while he was defending the world from Hitler."

"Well, you lot think this is great. Watch this," Alan said.

He closed his eyes and the scene shifted to a bedroom. Awinita was asleep on an air mattress on the floor while Alan and Rose lay in bed.

"No! We don't wanna watch you two go at it!" Donna said.

"We're not gonna go at it, Donna," Alan said indignantly. "I wasn't gonna show you that anyway. Those memories are private."

"Thank God for that," Donna said, breathing a sigh of relief.

They listened to them talking to each other for a moment and then they heard shuffling and cursing outside the door.

"Stupid bitches leaving the toilet seat down. Damn them! Can't even put the goddamned toilet seat up for Christ's sake."

All of them laughed.

"What the hell was grandpa's problem?" Jack said.

"We didn't put the goddamned toilet seat up, that was his problem," Alan said while they laughed.

Their eyes widened when Bill came in the room and looked down at Awinita.

"Who is this stupid asshole on the floor? Goddamn it, get a bed like the rest of us."

They laughed when the Doctor knelt down and covered his memory sister with his hands.

"Alright granddad, back away from the Lilo and no one will get hurt!" the Doctor said while they laughed harder.

"Goddamned bitch doesn't know how to use a bed."

The Doctor looked up at memory Alan and Rose who were in the bed.

"What'd Bill expect her to do? Lay on top of you?" the Doctor said to Alan.

"Who knows what he was thinking, Brother," Alan said, shrugging.

They watched him leave.

"Thank God, I thought he was gonna fall on Awinita and beat the shit outta her," Mingxia said.

"We thought that as well," Rose said. "I mean I know the man wasn't in his right mind but still…"

They laughed when memory Rose shut and locked the door and got back into bed.

"Yes, I can see you didn't trust him, Rose," Jack said while they laughed.

"I don't blame her," the Doctor said. "The look in his eyes, he did look like he was gonna assault Te'lesu while she was sleeping."

"And you slept through it," Donna said to Awinita.

"Yeah but Alan did project his memory into my head so I knew this went on," Awinita said, gesturing around the room. "I'm glad I was asleep though because I'm sure I would have been scared shitless with him standing over me like that."

Alan chuckled.

"That was what happened though when the people carrier broke down. Needless to say we were all overjoyed when the car was fixed."

They laughed when Rose and Awinita shook their heads emphatically. Alan scratched his chin.

"Hmm, so we did what you lot did at the meet and greet and went to the children's museum, went to a couple of other museums and ate at Bocca Di Beppo's. Then we went up to Wisconsin and oh…yes, went to Extreme World."

"Oh Jesus!" Rose said, rolling her eyes while Awinita laughed.

Alan smiled and showed them the memories. They watched with wide eyes while they bungee jumped.

"Okay, this is one time I'm glad I wasn't with you," Rain said. "I can't believe you guys did this."

"I can't believe it did it without having twenty heart attacks and soiling myself," Rose said while they laughed.

They continued to watch while they freefell into the net and swung on the giant swing.

"You lot are bonkers," Donna said while they laughed. "No way would you have ever gotten me up on these things."

"I think they would have been fun," Jenny said.

Alan ran to her and hugged her.

"See! Some people aren't afraid!"

"Yeah, well, Jenny was programmed to go into wars and kill people. Of course she wouldn't be afraid," Donna said.

Alan rubbed his neice's shoulder.

"I'll take you back to Extreme World sometime so you can bungee jump."

"Thanks, Uncle Alan," she said while they laughed.

Alan rubbed his chin.

"Show them the fancy dress party and your cow costume, dear!" Rose said to him.

"Oh yes! My prize winning cow costume!" Alan said.

"Your what now?" the Doctor said while Rose and Awinita laughed.

Alan closed his eyes and they were in a hotel room. The Doctor's eyes bulged out and Rose and Awinita howled with laughter when they saw Alan sitting on the bed in full costume and makeup.

"What the hell are you wearing, Brother. You look like a nightmare!" the Doctor said while they bent over laughing.

They looked over when Rose came out of the bathroom and the Doctor's eyes bulged when he saw her farm girl costume with the fake breasts.

"Okay, you were the cow and she was the farmer. What was Awinita, a horse?" the Doctor said.

"No, I was a pirate," Awinita said, gesturing to the bathroom.

They walked over and looked inside. She was in front of the mirror getting ready. The Doctor looked at her.

"You didn't wanna conform to the rest of the barnyard?" he asked while they laughed.

"Um, no…actually, Alan and Rose were gonna enter the costume contest together but they didn't let them and they judged them separately. But Alan won first prize. We all won prizes."

"And we ended up getting the same flippin' Halloween music CD," Rose said to the Doctor. "So we had three copies of a CD we didn't even want."

Alan giggled. He closed his eyes and they watched the costume party. The Doctor stared at his brother sitting at the table and shook his head.

"Never in all my lifetimes have I ever considered dressing up as a cow," he said while they laughed.

"Oh I don't know. He's a very cute cow," Jack said. "And he and Rose just go together so well."

They watched the costume contest and clapped when Alan won.

"This was the first part of the evening. Then we went to two haunted houses."

"Where I got groped," Rose muttered.

They looked at her.

"Groped?" the Doctor said.

Rose sighed angrily.

"Bunch of git teenagers. Made fun of Alan and then when we got to a darkened section of the haunted house, they were there in the darkness and grabbed a hold of my breasts before running off."

"And believe me, Brother, it's a good thing they did because I would have killed them if I'd gotten a hold of em," Alan said to the Doctor.

"You and me both," the Doctor said. "That's all they did though?"

"Just grabbed my breasts, yeah."

The Doctor glanced at Alan and shook his head while Alan nodded in agreement.

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The Doctor and his family watched while memory Alan and his family went through H.H. Holmes's murder house.

"I've actually heard of this chap before but I've never toured his house," the Doctor said.

"Well, he certainly thought things through before becoming a serial killer," Jack said to him. "Hidden rooms, gas chambers, basement where he could dispose of the bodies. He was efficient."

"This is sick," Rain said, looking at the bloodied table where Holmes cut up the corpses.

"Put some monsters and villains we've fought to shame," Donna added.

Jenny walked up to her mother and she put her arm around her while they stared down into the lime pit as they listened to the tour guide telling memory Alan, Rose and Awinita about it.

"This is disgusting, Mum," Jenny said to Rain.

"I know, dear. I don't know how he could have done it. I don't think I would have been able to kill and cut up one body let alone hundreds."

"That's because you're not an evil bastard," the Doctor said in her ear.

She smiled when he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

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"So, let me get this straight," Jack said to Alan while they stood on a train track in Omaha. "People come here every night to watch this ghost light?"

"Yes, supposedly it's the lantern light of a beheaded railway worker who's out searching for his head."

They stood behind the memory versions of their family while they sat on a blanket waiting for the light to appear. Alan looked at his brother.

"I'm showing you this because I want your opinion because frankly I don't know what it was," Alan said to him. "I tried to think of any logical explanation I could besides ghost and I couldn't think of any. So I want your ideas on what it might be."

The Doctor nodded. Alan sped the memory up a bit until it got to the light. They watched in silence while the light danced above the train track.

"Freeze it, Brother," Doctor said to him.

Alan nodded and froze the memory. The Doctor walked over with the rest of his family. He stood beside it and stared at it intently.

"Unfreeze it for a moment," the Doctor said to Alan.

The memory started back up and the Doctor watched it dance. He looked all around him searching for a source of light.

"Freeze it again, Brother."

The memory froze and the Doctor walked around it staring at it in a perplexed silence.

"You don't know either, do you," Alan said.

The Doctor shook his head.

"I can't see any source of light. There aren't any cars around so there's no chance of it being a reflection from a headlight. There wasn't any swamps around, right?"

"No, it's not swamp gas," Alan said, shaking his head.

"Maybe it's a ghost, dear," Rain said to him.

The Doctor sighed.

"Maybe but I'd rather rule out all other explanations before I got to that, Latara. I'm sorry but sometimes what people think are ghosts are something else entirely. However, I don't see an explanation for this and I suppose it could be an actual ghost. Anyway…unfreeze it again, Brother."

The memory started back up and they watched the light while it danced over the tracks. Then it went over to the side and vanished down the hill.

"And headlights don't work that way," the Doctor muttered walking over to the hill and looking down it. "Nor would swamp gas. I haven't the foggiest, Brother, I really don't. I don't know what this thing…"

The light suddenly came back. They watched while it floated and danced around. They watched while a teenager walked up to it. Suddenly the light disappeared again and he cursed.

"I was this close," he said to his friends.

"Wait a minute, buddy. Maybe it'll come back, kill you and take your head," Jack said to him.

The light came back.

"Hey! Hey, say something!" the teen yelled at it.

"Um…the ghost doesn't have a head, dumbass," Rain said while they laughed. "You can't say something without a head, you know."

"Hey! I'm talking to you! Are you the guy who lost his head?" the teen said to the light.

"How's the guy gonna answer him with no head?"

They laughed when they heard memory Awinita say that.

"At least someone figured that out," Rain said to her sister.

They watched while the light went back down over the hill and the teen followed him.

"That's it, idiot. Follow it and get hopelessly lost," Donna said, watching him.

"Fiver says the dumb git trips on a fallen log and breaks his leg in two places."

They laughed when they heard memory Alan mutter that to Awinita.

"That too," Donna said to her brother.

The light came back up on the tracks.

"HEY DUMBASS! THE GHOST IS UP HERE NOW!"

The Doctor looked at his brother.

"Were you lot desperate to find things to do at this point?" the Doctor asked Alan.

"Just curious, I s'pose," he said to him.

"I notice you're leaving now," the Doctor said when he noticed the memory selves standing up.

"Yes, we finally did tire of it," Rose said.

"And Alan never did figure out what it was," Awinita added.

The Doctor shrugged.

"I have no clue either, Brother. I guess it'll be one of those things we never figure out."

"Well, after this we tried to go north but a huge snowstorm forced us to go south," Alan said. "So we went to New Mexico and spent Christmas in Albuquerque and that's where Awinita and I bonded and I gained my first family member."

He showed them the memory and they smiled while they watched them kneeling on the floor while Rose read out the bonding ceremony. Alan put his arm around his sister and gave her a kiss on the cheek while she leaned against him. When the memory finished, Alan froze it and grinned.

"We explored New Mexico and then…Rose got the bright idea to spend the night in a Navajo hogan in Monument Valley."

He ruffled Rain's hair when she giggled and the Doctor put his arm around her.

"And now without further ado I give you…the moment we met Te'lesu."

The scene shifted. They were standing outside John's house while he and Rain and Amber were standing on their porch. The Doctor's eyes bulged out when he saw Rain in her black dress. The family laughed at his delighted expression on his face.

"I keep telling ya, Rain. You need to wear dresses!" he said to her. "You look gorgeous there."

The memory started up.

"I'm John Niyol," John said. "The one in the black dress is Rain and the other is Amber. Welcome to the Navajo reservation."

"Where I'll soon be kidnapped by a crazed shape shifter," Awinita muttered to Alan.

The Doctor ran over to Amber and they laughed when he kicked her in the ass and ran back to his family.

"Sorry, always wanted to do that," the Doctor said while they laughed harder.

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After watching the dances and listening to the stories around the fire, the scene shifted to them sleeping in the hogan.

"Oh boy, here we go," Awinita said while Alan put his arm around her.

They watched while she went out to use the bathroom and followed her. She used the portapotty and came back out.

"Awinita!"

"Yeah…Alan?"

"I'm over here behind the hill. I heard a noise while you were in the restroom and I found something. Come over here!"

They watched while she headed over there. There was a pause and then they heard a scream.

"AWINITA!" Alan screamed inside the hogan.

They watched while he and Rose ran around screaming and searching everywhere for her. Alan closed his eyes and the scene shifted to the interior of John's house. They flinched when they heard Alan pounding on the door.

"OPEN UP!" they heard him screaming outside the door.

They watched in shock as John opened the door and he ran inside. They recoiled at the enraged look on his face. Jack let out a low whistle.

"Pissed off, were ya, Alan?" he said to him.

"Um…just a bit," Alan said sheepishly.

The Doctor looked at his memory wife and Amber who were staring at him with wide eyes.

"I'm so glad you didn't scare my wife to the point she never came with you, Brother," he said to her.

They watched while Alan went over to her and grabbed Rain's arms.

"He's a skinwalker, isn't he?" memory Alan said. "That's what you were afraid to tell me earlier!"

"We…we d-d-don't know, it's never been proven,"

"Yes, I'm so glad you didn't scare my wife to the point she didn't come with you," the Doctor said to him while they laughed.

"Good job he didn't start hitting you in the face as angry as he was," Donna said to Rain.

"Believe me, I was scared he was gonna do that," Rain replied.

"I saw this memory earlier and I did apologize because I didn't know I looked like that," Alan said gesturing to his enraged face. "I just was scared about Awinita and…"

The Doctor put his hand on his shoulder.

"Understandable, Brother. Don't worry about it. I would have done the same in your situation," the Doctor said.

Alan nodded.

"Well, we finally took off and went to George's house and…"

He closed his eyes and the scene shifted to the interior of George's house.

"Oh good, I get to see what I missed now," Rain said, looking around.

"Where were you, mum?"

"I was back at the house with Amber, sweetheart. My dad told us to wait on them so I never saw this," Rain said to her.

They watched while memory Alan ran over to his sister.

"Oh God, Te'lesu, are you alright? Did he hurt you?" Alan said, kneeling down to her and hugging her tightly.

The Doctor smiled and put his arm around his brother. Their eyes widened while they watched Awinita try to kill him. Awinita groaned while she watched her memory brother struggling with her and trying to block her mind from George's influence.

"I'm so glad you stopped me, Bro, before I killed you," Awinita said to Alan.

"So am I, Te'lesu," he said, putting his arm around her.

"I'm glad you still had that ability," the Doctor said to Alan.

"Me too. I'd hate to think what would have happened if I hadn't been able to block her mind from him."

Awinita's family held her close while they listened to her memory self apologizing and crying in Alan's arms.

"This George should count himself lucky we weren't there because we would have bashed his head in for this," Donna said while the rest of the family nodded.

"Well, needless to say, after this I did block all their minds and the minds of anyone who joined us. Except for you, obviously," Alan said to the Doctor. "But we were heading back to John's house and…"

The scene shifted and they were in the back of John's pick up truck. They were beside Alan who was resting.

"And there he is," Alan said, pointing to the coyote running alongside the truck.

"Well, well, couldn't leave well enough alone, could ya?" memory Alan muttered while he got up on his knees.

"Get em, Bro!" Rain said to her memory Brother.

They gasped when the coyote leaped up and shape shifted into a panther while it barreled into Alan. They cheered his memory self on while he fought him. The Doctor watched the whole scene in silence and when George vanished he asked Alan to freeze the memory.

"I'm sorry; I need to say this to you, Brother before we go on. I am so proud of you," he said while the rest of them nodded. "You defended your family and you managed to fight that thing and defeat it while you were half human and vulnerable. I can't tell you how incredibly proud I am of you for this and saving Awinita."

They hugged Alan when his eyes misted over and he hugged his brother tightly. The Doctor put up a privacy block around Alan's mind.

_I'm so proud to call you brother,_ he thought to him.

_Thank you, Brother. I feel the same way,_ Alan thought back, hugging him.

The Doctor patted his back and he grinned when everyone embraced him and ruffled his hair.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After showing them the highlights of their New Year's celebration, Alan showed them the moment Rain told them she wanted to come. All of them glared at memory Amber when they watched her trying to bully Rain out of coming with them.

"You know, I tried to be civil to her as I'm sure you lot did," the Doctor said. "But after the confrontation with my wife after the funfair, that woman is never welcomed back in the TARDIS again and I don't care if John asks me to bring her along. I noticed she was all smiles and giggles at the New Year's celebration and then once Rain asked to join you, her true self suddenly came out."

"I doubt she will come with you anymore, Brother, even if John does ask," Alan said. "I think you scared her enough that she'll be finding other things to do whenever we go back to visit."

The Doctor put his arm around Rain.

"For the hundredth time, bless you for letting her come along with you," he said to Alan.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next thing Alan showed them was their wedding in Sedona. Rose held Alan's hand while they watched themselves.

"Now I did see this," the Doctor said, gesturing to all of it.

Jack frowned and looked around.

"You did? Where were you?"

The Doctor pointed up to the sky.

"Prisoner of the Valeyard. I was viewing it in his TARDIS," he said to him.

Jack glanced up.

"I was in outer space in orbit above the Earth."

He thought for a moment.

"Alan, let the wedding run its course and then let me go out and implant some of my memories in so we can switch back and forth from time to time. I'm sure you'll wanna see what happened to me and also what was happening with me and Rain when you weren't looking."

Alan's eyes widened.

"Yes, please, we've always been curious," he said while Rose and Awinita nodded.

They watched the entire wedding, hugging each other and smiling at memory Alan and Rose's happiness. Once it was finished, the Doctor sprinted out and added his memories in. Five minutes later, he walked back inside.

"Um…this is just after I was taken by him and before I got the disc in my head," the Doctor explained, walking back to them. "Also, this is still when I was jealous over you being with Rose so forgive me for some of the things you'll hear me saying and doing."

Alan nodded in understanding. The Doctor closed his eyes and the scene shifted to inside the Valeyard's TARDIS. He was about to start up the memory when he had a thought and beckoned to Donna and Jenny and Jack. He led them over to the Valeyard who was at his console and pointed to him.

"This is who captured me in your vision, Angel," the Doctor said to her. "This is the Valeyard."

They leaned in and looked at his face.

"He's ugly," Donna said while they laughed.

"Oi, don't say that. He's supposed to be my thirteenth self," the Doctor said.

Jenny looked at him.

"He is?" she said.

"Maybe. I'm not sure. He was supposed to have been born sometime between my twelfth and thirteenth lives. It's all very complicated. But anyway, this is him since you didn't see him in your vision, I gather."

"No, we didn't."

"Well, if he's gonna kidnap me four more times, you'll be seeing him in a couple centuries so just so you know what he looks like. Anyway, as you can see, I'm over here chained to the wall and there on the viewscreen is the wedding. So now that I've made sure you know what the Shipyard looks like, I'll start the memory."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alan seethed while he listened and watched the memory of his brother's torment.

"Bastard, if I only had a way to get up here then I would have ripped his head off for this," he snarled.

They watched both of them, how frantic the memory Doctor was to get free of the chain and how amused the Valeyard was about it. Rose put her arms around the Doctor.

"I'm sorry he did this to you," she whispered. "Alan's right, if we'd known then you were watching…"

The Doctor shook his head.

"Wasn't anything you coulda done, Rose. You were stuck on Earth," he said. "I am glad I did witness your wedding fully just now because it was a beautiful ceremony. I just wish Creepy Boy would have sent me down to see it in person instead of being stuck up with him listening to his taunts and jeers."

"Yes, Doctor! Once I get done bringing out the darkness inside, you will want to punish them both for doing this to you."

"No! You can have my body and my mind. Control me like a puppet and use me in your evil schemes. I'll give myself to you willingly if you'll leave all of them alone."

"How noble Doctor…Noble, now why does that word ring a bell? That's another thing the clone took from you. If it wasn't for him, she would be with you now instead of living a shallow, empty life on Earth."

"Oooo, he better be glad I wasn't around when he said that," Donna said, narrowing his eyes. "I woulda murdered him."

Awinita put her arms around the Doctor.

"You weren't thinking of us, right?" she said to him. "I mean, you were just concerned about Rose."

He patted her hand.

"Yes, I don't think you or Rain would have been in any real danger from me. Alan and Rose were the ones I was after when I was being controlled. Sad to say I really didn't give either of you much thought then. I didn't know either of you although I'm glad that's not the case now."

They winced when the Valeyard stuck the mind control disc on his forehead and his eyes glazed over.

"Jesus, Doctor," Rose said while they watched him follow the Valeyard to his lab. "We knew it was bad for ya but…God…"

"And we were down on Earth completely unaware of this," Alan said.

"I'm glad you were. Trust me, the last think I would have wanted was for you to be aware and then have your wedding ruined. I'm glad ignorance was bliss in this case."

They switched back to the reception and the photos and watched. Then they switched back to the lab and watched that.

"In a weird way, this is fascinating, Brother," Alan said. "Not that I'm happy it happened but the juxtaposition of our happiness with your sadness is weird and unsettling."

The Doctor nodded.

"Yes, it's kinda like viewing two different films," he said while everyone nodded in agreement. "But as painful as it was, it led me to all of you and the life I have now so I'm glad it happened this way. But while you see me here on the lab table I was communicating with the TARDIS and she agreed to send a message to you and warn you what was happening which gave me a small measure of comfort."

Alan groaned. The Doctor frowned.

"What is it?"

Alan switched to his point of view. They watched while Rose tried to warn him and Alan reassuring her it was just a dream. Alan sighed and glanced at him.

"I'm glad you didn't know I did that, Brother. She did try to warn me but she'd been having nightmares left and right about the Valeyard and I just assumed it was another dream. It wasn't until later that the penny finally dropped."

"But then again, there was nothing you could do. I did that just so you would have warning. There was no way I could stop the Valeyard and there's nowhere you could have hidden on Earth. So…I'm still glad you were ignorant of it and concentrated on having fun," the Doctor said to him.

Alan nodded.

"Well, after this we had our honeymoon at the Weatherford Hotel in Flagstaff and I'll skip that so Donna doesn't have a coronary watching us shag."

They laughed when Donna nodded emphatically.

"Then we went skiing and I naturally outskied them all," Alan said smugly. "Yup, I skied circles around the four of them. I was the ski king of Flag…"

"Anyway…" Rose said while they laughed. "Either show us or shut up!"

"Nah, I wanna show you something else. I don't want to bore you with my superior skiing skills," Alan said, sniffing.

Rose rolled her eyes.

"Aren't ya glad you were a mindless zombie during this, Doctor?"

"Yes and no," the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Well, after this we went to the Grand Canyon and went down into it to the Phantom Ranch Campground to spend the night and then we headed on to California," Alan said.

"Well, can I show you something while you figure out what to show next?"

"Go ahead, Brother."

"I want to show you what the Valeyard was doing with me."

He closed his eyes and they were in an arena. They frowned when they saw Rose huddled in the corner.

"Huh?" Alan said, confused.

"Robot," the Doctor said to him. "This was a test to see if I was willing to kill Rose."

Rose paled and Alan put his arms around her protectively while he glared at the Valeyard sitting in the stands.

"Um. I had the disc in my head but it was turned down enough to the point I had some free will," the Doctor said to them. "That was part of the test. Could I have some free will and still be willing to kill you and Rose. And like I said, Rain and Awinita were afterthoughts to both the Valeyard and I. I don't think I would have killed them unless they got in my way and in fact, Rain carried on a conversation with me in the theater so I know for sure that they wouldn't have been threatened. Still, this is the first time he carried out the test so I just want to show you this."

He started the memory and they saw the memory Doctor standing in front of some weapons.

"Here she is, the little betraying slut. Now you can finally get your revenge for what she did to you," the memory Valeyard said.

Alan shook his head.

"Like I said, it's a good thing I didn't know about this and had a way to reach you," he said, holding Rose closer.

He frowned while he listened to the Doctor.

"Your queen?" he said to his brother.

"Yeah, I had it in my head if I turned evil, Rose would be some kind of dark consort for me," the Doctor said, rolling his eyes.

They watched while he picked up a spear and moved towards the robot. He stared at it for a moment and then fell to his knees.

"Rose, say you're sorry for marrying him."

They looked at the Doctor who shrugged.

"Couldn't do it. I couldn't kill Rose."

Rose walked over and hugged him tightly while his family cheered. She held the Doctor while she watched the Valeyard stomp over to him. They cheered when the Doctor suddenly leapt to his feet.

"I won't let you hurt her!" the memory Doctor said while they cheered louder.

They gasped when the Valeyard backhanded him and he flew back into the wall and was knocked unconscious.

"I see I shall have to increase the intensity of the mind control until you are barely able to think for yourself. Very well, if I have to control you like a marionette in order to gain your obedience. I will do so."

"Damn him," Alan growled.

"Yes, but the point is he had to enslave my mind until I was almost a vegetable before I would even think of killing Rose," the Doctor said, smugly. "Even enslaved, I still cared enough not to let her come to harm."

Rose hugged him tightly while he rubbed her back and smiled.


	64. Chapter 64

Chapter Sixty Four

After showing them the meeting between them and Imiko...

"Little did we know…" Alan said, winking, while they laughed. "But after we met her we went to Tokyo Disneyland and then as we were settling in, the TARDIS did speak to me and it finally dawned on me that perhaps it wasn't a dream and I set about making the dampers to hide everyone. But before we did that, I offered Awinita and Rain a choice, to stay with us or go back home and bless them both, they stayed with us. And then we told Imiko who played dumb and made us believe she had no clue I was really an alien. So after that, Imiko took us to a department store, I got the parts and spent the night making the dampers for everyone. Then afterwards we fled to China and…"

They laughed when he grabbed Mingxia's hand and pulled her to his side.

"Hi everyone!" she said, waving while they laughed harder.

"And we actually did think you were the protector for awhile, Mingxia, since you were with UNIT and assigned to us. Little did we know…" Alan said, squeezing her.

"Well, can I show you something else then," the Doctor said to them.

"Go ahead."

The Doctor closed his eyes.

"This is what happened to me when you lot disappeared from view," he said to them.

They watched the Valeyard's confusion while he tried to find them. Rain's hearts ached seeing her husband standing nearby while he stared blankly ahead. They gasped when the Valeyard seized him by his robe and dragged him to the monitor.

"HOW? WHY AREN'T THEY BEING DETECTED? WHY DOESN'T THE SCANNER PICK THEM UP ANYMORE? HOW ARE THEY ELUDING MY SCANS? HOW?"

"Oh, Brother, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry you got blamed for this," Alan said sadly.

"YOU! YOU WARNED THEM SOMEHOW!"

"No. No, Master. I've done nothing."

They gasped when the Valeyard struck him.

"And I really didn't know what the hell was going on until you finally told me," he said to Alan. "I was being knocked around and had no clue why."

"Like I said, good thing I wasn't there," Alan growled. "Just seeing this makes my blood boil. I'm so glad Imiko gave him the idea to send you down to us."

"So am I," the Doctor said.

He sent love into Rain's mind when she held him protectively.

_I wouldn't have met you, otherwise,_ he thought to her as he threw up a privacy block. _That alone was worth the abuse and degradation._

_If I had known…I'm like Alan. Nothing would have saved him from me,_ she thought back.

He chuckled and kissed the top of her head before dropping the block.

"But anyway, this is when I was sent down after you lot," the Doctor said to him.

"Well, I finally figured out what I want to show you because I think you'll find it interesting," Alan said. "We'd just got done seeing the Forbidden City and relaxing in our hotel room. They were watching Princess Bride on cable and I went out on the balcony to relax since I'd seen it before and little concerned Rain came out with a Coke for me and I told her to sit down beside me and we had a little chat."

The scene shifted to the balcony and he started the memory. They listened to their conversation.

"The Doctor…is he a good guy?"

"How'd you mean, Te'lesu?"

"I mean, is he as nice as you are? I know the Valeyard's probably done something to him to turn him evil now but normally, is he a nice guy to be around?"

"For the most part he is. There is some darkness in him that is no longer in me. But if you mean would he normally hurt you, no he wouldn't. He is a force for good in the universe and if you are a good person, which you are, then you have nothing to fear from him. It's only the monsters and evildoers that need to beware of him."

"Do you love him like you love me and Rose and Awinita?"

"I'd like to love him, Te'lesu. I'd like to be his brother in the same way you are my sister but I don't know if he'll have me. Not after what I did."

"And thank God, I was wrong about that," Alan said while the Doctor grinned and nodded.

They continued to listen.

I love you, Alan," memory Rain said.

"I love you too, Rain, so very much."

"If you do free the Doctor, bro, let us talk to him. We'll talk sense into him. We'll make him see how wonderful you are and beg him to accept you as his brother."

"Awww, thanks Te'lesu."

"Because if he's half as wonderful as you are then I want him to be my brother too."

"I think he would be chuffed to have you as his sister, both of you and even if he doesn't accept me, he'll accept you, I know it."

"No. I won't be his sister unless he accepts you. I don't want to have to split my loyalties like that. If he won't call you brother than I won't have anything to do with him."

"Wait!" the Doctor said, holding up his hand. "Brother, freeze this."

The memory froze and he looked at him.

"Brother, you're aware that you have the same ability I do, right. That ability to engender fierce loyalty in people?"

"Yes, I do."

"Because this whole exchange here is fascinating. Rain's only been with you for a week or so and yet she's already telling you if I won't accept you, she won't accept me. She barely knows you and doesn't know me except through your stories but she's already protective of you and Awinita did it too. Both of them were willing to go ahead and be with you and risk their lives while you fled to China. I mean, I understand Rose wanting to be with you but it boggles my mind that they became so loyal to you so quickly."

"Because he's wonderful just like you are," Rain said.

"Yes, but still, only after a week and you were telling him all this?"

"Well, we were kinda biased, Bro," Awinita said. "I mean, we didn't know you and we knew what happened to him and how you abandoned him and we didn't want to see him get hurt again."

"Yes and that's my point, you became loyal to him like all my companions have done with me. Like Rose did. Rose became the Bad Wolf because she wanted to get back and help me even though it might have meant her death. It's just scary sometimes how willing people are to die for me. It was Davros's whole point about you becoming my weapons and that was a shock for me because I'd never seen it that way but it makes sense. And here you are, Brother, trying not to be me but in many ways you are and things that were happening with me were happening with you. It's just amazing to me. But I'm glad you were both protective of him because he needed that. But anyway, I just needed to say something because Rain had only been with you for a week or so and was already acting this way. Go ahead."

Alan nodded and started up the memory again.

"No, Rain, don't do that to him. That's what got him into trouble in the first place. He needs love just as much as I do, probably more so. He's not a bad guy. Don't shut him out of your life and abandon him just because he makes the choice not to call me his brother, please. He's had far too much abandonment in his life. He needs a family like ours to help dispel the darkness in his life. Please offer to be his sister."

"Alright, if we save him I'll ask him to be my brother no matter what he says about you."

"Brother, eh?" the Doctor said to Rain while they laughed.

"Well…it kinda got changed over to lover and husband on the way to brother," she said.

The Doctor hugged her and looked at Alan.

"And yes, you're right. A family was just what I needed," he said.

He smiled when all the women gathered around him and hugged him. Alan paused the memory thought for a moment and then giggled insanely. The scene shifted to the bowling alley in the hotel.

"Hell no!" Rain said running to Alan while they laughed. "Don't you show my husband what I did!"

Alan grabbed her and held his struggling sister tight. He started up the memory, went right to Rain trying to bowl and nearly killing Rose before pausing and letting her go. Rain blushed while the Doctor and Jack laughed hysterically. Amused, the Doctor strolled over to his wife and pointed to Alan.

"See this person? He was generous enough to let you come along with him and you nearly crippled his wife!" he said while they laughed.

They laughed harder when Rain turned and slapped Alan on the head. He ducked behind Rose and peeked out from behind her while the Doctor hugged his wife from behind and patted her head.

"Calm down, my little bowling pro," he said to Rain while they laughed. "Luckily Rose's legs were spared your assault with the bowling ball."

"I'm gonna get back at you for that, Bro, count on it," Rain said, pointing to him while they laughed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"And now we come to the first meeting between you and us," Alan said, switching to the Chinese theater.

He walked over to the woman sitting beside Rain.

"Jack, Donna, Jen, this is Morana or should I say the Doctor in disguise," he said, pointing to the frozen memory.

The three of them walked over, bent down and looked at her.

"Wow, Doc, you're a cute woman," Jack said.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. Alan started the memory and watched while Rain struck up a conversation with his female persona.

"Oh, I see, the first meeting between the future lovers," Jack said, winking at Rain.

"Yes, I was the only one who would talk to him for the longest time."

"Well, because we had about a billion other people in our group and we really didn't fancy making it a billion and one at that point," Alan said to her. "And she's the one who invited Morana to come eat with us so you're lucky she was around, Doctor, because I'm sure you wouldn't have infiltrated us otherwise."

"Well, according to Imiko it was meant to be that way," the Doctor said, shrugging. "She was supposed to be next to me because we were meant to fall in love. But of course I didn't know that at the time and I was nervous that you lot wouldn't accept me and the Valeyard would have punished me and killed all of you. And little did I know that Imiko was turning down the disc so I wouldn't be a threat to you. I didn't know that was happening I just knew I was losing the will to kill Alan. But she finally did tell me when we were back at the hotel and told me she had her eye on you all and told me I was supposed to be with you for a time to calm down and see what having a family meant. And bless her for doing that," he said, hugging Rain.

"Well, while you were doing that…" Alan said.

The scene shifted to Alan and Rose's hotel room and he started the memory. They could hear the shower running.

"Awinita, she was in there," Alan said to them. "Rain's out on the balcony getting some fresh air."

Memory Rose and Alan lay on the bed relaxing.

"Alan, are you sure this is the right thing to do?" memory Rose said to her husband.

"Morana, you mean?"

"Yeah, we can't keep on doing this. Picking up people like this. One of these days our luck is gonna run out and we'll accidentally let a murderer join us."

The Doctor let out a hollow laugh.

"Rose, you are so insightful sometimes it scares me," he said to her.

"I know, but I think we'll be alright," Alan said to her. "We're gonna take her to her village, drop her off and that's that. And Imiko is leaving us as soon as we get to Leshan. It's just the four of us now, Starlight. You and me and Rain and Awinita, that's who our family is and always will be."

"So what are all these other strange people doing standing around me?" Actual Alan said while his family around. "I guess I ate my words eventually since we have more than four now."

Just then, the balcony door slid open and Rain stepped inside.

"Bro, can I talk to you for a minute?" she said walking over to them.

"Sure, what's on your mind?"

"Um…it's about Morana. I wanted to go room with her."

Memory Rose and Alan shared a look.

"Why?" Alan said, frowning.

"Because there's an extra bed in there and I'm sorry, but Sis snores and hogs the covers…"

"I do not!" Awinita said while they laughed.

"Yes, you do," Rain replied. "You kept doing that to me and it was annoying!"

"Are you sure you want to do this?" memory Alan said, rolling onto his side. "We just met the woman."

"Um, I barely knew you three and roomed with you."

"Good point!" the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Besides," memory Rain said, shrugging. "I like Morana. She's a nice woman. I know you guys don't trust her yet but I think she's trustworthy."

"If that's what you want to do, Sis," Rose said to her. "Just know that if you're uncomfortable, you can come back in here anytime."

"I know. I just want to give it a try."

Alan nodded.

"Better ask her then and see what she says," he said, gesturing towards the front door.

Rain smiled and kissed his forehead.

"I'll go over and ask and let you know what she says," she said.

Alan nodded. They watched while she opened the door and walked out. She closed the door behind her and Alan looked at Rose.

"Rain trusts her, Alan. Maybe she can keep an eye on her and if she does have less than honorable intentions she won't act on them."

"I hope so, Starlight."

The memory froze.

"Okay, what went on in the other room then?" Alan said to him.

The Doctor closed his eyes and it shifted to his room. There was a knock on the door and he got up to answer it.

"Um, hi," memory Rain said. "Listen…I wanted to know if I could room with you? You have a spare bed and I have to sleep with my sister and I love her to bits but she snores and sometimes she jerks the covers away from me. Um, I…also like you. You're a nice woman so I was just wondering if you'd like a roommate?"

"I'd love it."

"Great! I'll go get my things then. I'll be right back."

"I'll be waiting."

The door closed.

"Apparently not much happened in the other room," Jack said while they laughed. "Why? Did ya think the Doctor dragged her in and pounced on her."

"No, I just wanted to see what we missed since we were concerned about her being over there."

"Okay, now switch back then," the Doctor said.

Alan switched to his memory and their door opened.

"She said I could," Rain said, coming inside. "I'm getting my things now."

"Gee, Rain, don't be so upset at your leaving us," memory Alan said while the Doctor and his family laughed.

"Upset she didn't want to spend time with you anymore, Brother?" the Doctor teased.

"Well, it was a little bizarre that she just breezed in the door all happy, grabbed her things and breezed out, leaving us there like we were nothing," Alan teased back.

She was packing her things when Alan sat up in bed.

"Listen, can you do me an enormous favor?" he said to memory Rain.

She looked at him.

"Sure."

Alan sighed.

"I'm tired of hiding from every single person we meet especially since eventually they find out who I am. I hate to ask this of you but could you explain to her about us and me?"

"Sure, Bro."

Alan gave her a grateful smile.

"I'd appreciate it," he said. "I just wanna get it out in the open now so I don't have to waste time pretending to be a human British male who has a home in London, blah, blah, blah. Besides, it'll give you something to talk about for the rest of the night."

"I'll do it, Bro."

"Thank you. And tell her we might go out tonight, get something to eat and maybe watch a movie back here and you're both more than welcome to come over and join us for that."

"I'll tell her," Rain said.

She walked over and kissed him while the bathroom door opened and Awinita stepped out. She looked at her and her backpack.

"Going somewhere?" she said, gesturing to the backpack.

"Yeah, I'm gonna room with Morana over there so you'll have room."

"With the new girl? Are you sure you'll be alright?"

The Doctor grinned at Alan.

"Yup, a little concerned family that loves each other," he said while Alan grinned and nodded.

"I'll be fine, Morana's a good person. Seriously, guys, you need to open up and accept her. She's not a bad person just like Awinita and me and Imiko weren't. I'll be fine."

"Well, you can come over anytime you want to and hang out with us, yeah?" Rose said.

Rain nodded and they smiled while she waved at them and walked out the door. Alan looked at the Doctor.

"What were you doing during this, just waiting?"

"No actually, the Boneyard contacted me for an update just before Rain walked back in," the Doctor said. "So I had to deal with that."

Alan rolled his eyes.

"But she came over and explained the whole half human thing to me and I was very accepting of it," the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Well, good, I'm glad you weren't freaked out when you heard about the existence of aliens," Alan said, winking.

"Well, let me take this turn because after we went out and came back I decide to reveal myself to Rain."

"I've seen some of it in Rain's memories but go ahead."

"When were you in Rain's memories?" the Doctor said.

"We were in the park room and she wanted to see some memories and I saw a few in return…then we had a boat ride."

The Doctor stared at Rain who was giggling.

"Well, I'm glad you had a boat ride after the memories. It must have been exhausting going through his mind like that," he said while she kissed his cheek. "Well, okay, for those of you who weren't messing about in my wife's head. I'll show you the moment I opened up to Rain."

The scene shifted to the Doctor and Rain lying in separate beds.

"What? You weren't on top of Rain panting and drooling?" Jack teased while they laughed.

"Well, considering the fact she still thought I was a woman that would have looked strange, Jack," the Doctor said. "Besides at this point it was more of a platonic feeling for her so I wouldn't have been on her panting and drooling anyway."

"That came much later," Rain said while the Doctor waggled his eyebrows.

The memory started up and they listened to them talking. Jack raised his eyebrow.

"That's a really convincing female voice, Doc," he said.

The Doctor looked at him.

"Gallifreyans can mimic voices precisely, Jack," he said in Jack's voice. "One of our many gifts. If you'd become a full Time Lord you could do it as well."

"Okay, stop that, that's creepy," Jack said while they all laughed.

"Rain, are you sure you wanna go to the shops with me? I mean, I can go by myself."

"You don't want me to come along?"

"No, I mean, I'd love to have you along. It's just you don't have to if you don't want to."

"No, I want to. I always hated shopping by myself and I think it'd be fun to look at a department store when we're not in a rush."

"Rush?"

"We were in Japan and we found out this bastard named the Valeyard had kidnapped Alan's twin named the Doctor and both of them were watching us. So Alan made these bio-dampers for him and Rose and we fled over here. The first night we were here, Alan went to a department store and got some parts for these sonic screwdriver things for me and my sister so we could protect ourselves."

"Really? What does it look like?"

"Yes, you had to get a look at my handiwork, Brother," Alan said to him.

"Well yes, especially since you only had Earth parts to work with."

"Ingenious," memory Doctor said.

"Thanks," Alan said to the actual Doctor.

"It was. That and the dampers. You did a good job with what you had."

"Are you worried about this Valeyard?" memory Doctor asked memory Rain.

"A little. I hope we can defeat him if he comes after us and free the Doctor."

"You want to free him?"

"Well, yeah, he's Alan's….well, in my mind, he's Alan's brother since Alan came from him."

Actual Alan chuckled.

"See Starlight, already she was building the bridge between us," Alan said while Rose smiled and nodded.

"What about you? You're Alan's sister, right? So would that make the Doctor your brother too?"

"You would think so, but…" actual Alan said while they laughed.

"I guess so. But I doubt if he'd want me or Alan for that matter. According to him, he's kinda a loner. He travels with people from time to time but overall, he pushes them away eventually because he's depressed."

"Oho," Alan said to the Doctor. "Ouch!"

"Nah, she was right," the Doctor said, shrugging.

"Maybe sometimes he has to push people away to protect them."

"Maybe, but that's a crappy way to treat people. Alan would never do that to me or Awinita. When he found out about the Valeyard he gave us the choice to travel with him or go home and both of us stayed with him because we love him so much. Alan's wonderful. I wish the Doctor could see him now and know that he's not evil or a threat to anyone. I've never met anyone more loving in my life. He risked his life to save Rose and Awinita and I'm sure he'd do the same for me."

Alan ran to Rain, grabbed her and hugged her tightly.

"Thank you for the ringing endorsement!" he said while they bent over laughing. "My Sis was in the other room defending me! Oh! I love you!"

He kissed her cheek and ran back to Rose.

"And yes I would do the same for you and have done so," Alan added, smiling at her.

"How did he save Rose and Awinita?"

"Ooo, more ringing endorsements from my Sis," Alan said while they listened to her tell how Alan saved his wife and sisters.

She finished the stories.

"I think if the Doctor were here right now he would tell Alan how proud he was of him."

Alan's eyes bugged out while Rose laughed. He grinned at the Doctor.

"Yes! Indirectly, I was saying I was proud of you, Brother!" the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Well, I just hope he gets that chance. Poor Doctor. I hate that he's been enslaved like my sister and I hope to God we can rescue him before it's too late for him."

The women gasped and felt their eyes mist over when the Doctor began to cry after hearing that. The Doctor held Rain close and kissed her cheek. The other women neared closer to him and hugged him while he sent love into their minds.

"It was at that point that I knew I had to say something to Rain," the Doctor said gesturing to his memory self. "It wasn't right for me to do this to her when she was that concerned about my wellbeing."

Hey? What's wrong?" memory Rain said." Did I say something wrong…Morana? Are you alright?"

"Rain? Can you keep a secret?"

"There's something I want to tell you but I'm afraid to say it."

"Why are you afraid?"

"Because I'm afraid you won't like me anymore."

Alan and Jack laughed and let out "Awwws" along with the other women who gave the Doctor more hugs.

"I haven't been entirely truthful with you and the others. But it wasn't by choice, I swear. But I'm scared if I tell you I'll lose your friendship and I don't want that to happen because you've been a good friend."

"Tell me and then let me decide for myself."

"If I tell you, you must swear to keep it a secret from the others, at least for the moment."

"I…I don't know if I can."

"Nice going, Doc, make the poor woman decide between her loyalties," Jack said.

"I didn't want to tell everyone because I was afraid they were still in danger. I hated doing that to Rain but if I was gonna be in the same room with her I wanted a bit of respite from the charade," he said.

"It's nothing bad. I'm not a rapist or a mur…well, I won't hurt any of you, let's put it that way."

"You're not a murderer, dear. Not in the sense you were thinking of," Rain said to her husband.

"I've killed people, Rain."

"When you had no choice, Doctor," Rose said to him. "You've killed but you're not a murderer."

The Doctor sighed sadly and Rain snuggled against him and threw up a privacy block.

_Love, our point is you're not evil. I know that's what was going through your mind when you started to say murderer. You've killed but you did it when you had no choice and you have guilt about it. That's what we're trying to get across to you._

The Doctor kissed her head and held her tight while she dropped the block.

"I'm doing this because I'm like Alan. I hate pretending to be something I'm not and if we're rooming together I want you to know so I can let my hair down, so to speak. At the moment, it's safe for me to do this but you must keep quiet at all times, especially outdoors, alright?"

"Yes."

"I swear on my life that I won't hurt you, Rain. So please, please don't be afraid."

"Boy, you're sure are taking your sweet time doing this, Doc," Jack said while they laughed.

"I was trying to keep Rain calm because I knew it would shock her, Jack. I wanted to make sure she understood I wasn't a threat before I did it. So sue me!" he said to him.

"Rain, I'm not who I claim to be. What you see before you is a disguise…I won't hurt you, remember that, please. I want to show you my true identity but you must be quiet no matter how shocking it might be to you, alright?"

"There, now I'm to the point I drop the disguise Jack, the rambling has ceased," the Doctor said to him.

He turned off the imager and Rain gasped.

"You're him!" memory Rain said, "You're the Doctor!"

"Rain, no, It's alright. I swear that to you. I'm not under his control right now. This…person freed my mind. I'm not gonna hurt you or the others, I swear that on my life."

"He found us?"

"I won't let him hurt you, Rain. I won't let him hurt any of you."

"Aw. And already you started protecting us," Rose said to the Doctor.

"Course I did. I wasn't gonna let tall, dark and nutty hurt you lot," the Doctor said.

They listened while the Doctor calmed her down and explained everything.

"Oh, so Rain was the one who informed you about the TARDIS then," Alan said.

"Yes. I'm glad she did since I really did wonder where you lot got your information from since it wasn't me," he replied.

"Doctor, please don't hate Alan. He's not a threat to anyone. He's completely loving and sweet and funny. He won't hurt anyone."

"I know that now. I've seen him and I've seen the way he acts around all of you. I don't hate him anymore, Rain, I promise."

"Would you be his brother? I mean, once you let him know who you are?"

"I would like to be. If he wants me to be, I will."

Alan walked over to Rain and bent down in her face.

"You just took it upon yourself to bring us together, didn't ya?" he said while they laughed.

"Yes, I did because you two needed to make up and become brothers," Rain said.

He tousled her hair and walked back over to Rose.

"This is why he accepted me, Rain was working on him while we were in the other room," Alan said while Rose laughed and nodded.

"Yes because he's told us so many stories about you and how lonely you've been and I hate that you lost all your people and don't have anyone. Alan made a family for himself and you should have one too."

Alan laughed at that.

"Just working away at him, Starlight. Girl did all the work for us!" he said to Rose. "I'm glad you thought of this, Brother. I love seeing what was going on when we were in the other room. How hard Rain worked to bring us together. Ah, little Rain, the bridge builder."

The Doctor chuckled.

"So after that, she went to sleep and I laid awake and then she woke up to use the lavatory and found out that little quirk we have about not sleeping much. But I got her up in time for your sparring session, Brother. I was diligent about that. But like I told her when I woke her up the next morning, I'd been lying there just thinking over my whole life. So yes, Rain did plant the seed in me that led to all this now because I really did do a deep evaluation of my life and my actions."

"Good for you, Te'lesu!" Alan said, giving her a high five.

"And actually…I remember saying this to her…"

The Doctor fast forwarded the memory a bit and then played it for them.

"Feel my manly hand?"

"Yeah, God, that is creepy too."

"Well, now you know why I kept my hands to myself yesterday."

"God, Doctor, this sucks so much. I wish you didn't have to do this."

"I know but I'd rather do this than be stuck up there with tall, dark and evil."

"Are you ready to go and meet your family so you can go kick my brother's butt?"

"You called him your brother."

"Well, that's one of the things I thought about last night and I have to admit your logic about him being my brother is irrefutable…"

They laughed when Alan grabbed Rain and hugged her tight. The Doctor paused the memory.

"And you got him to admit it too! Rain, you are a miracle worker!" he said while she hugged him back.

He let go and the Doctor raised his eyebrow while he started up the memory again.

"…I mean I had a daughter created from my genes so…"

"Jenny?"

"Yes, blimey, he really did tell all, didn't he?"

"And I'm sorry she died too. She sounded like a wonderful woman."

"She was. I wish I could have known her a bit longer but there's nothing I can do about it now. I'm just glad I got to know her and be with her for awhile before she died."

He paused the memory and smiled at his daughter.

"And see, Angel, no one forgot you in all this," he said as he and Alan came to her and put their arms around her.

She swallowed hard.

"Yeah but you thought I was dead, both of you," she said to them.

"Yes but eventually we got you back so it all worked out in the end," the Doctor said while Alan nodded.

She smiled and sighed when they both kissed her forehead.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They watched the Doctor's memories of them going through the department store.

"Ugh, you had to turn the disguise off only when you were indoors?" Donna said.

"Yup."

"I'm glad Imiko fixed it so you didn't have to wear that anymore," Rose said.

"Same here. That was a pain in the butt worrying about all that and worrying about slipping up," the Doctor said.

"Interesting that Rain hit on the idea about using the chameleon arch on me," Donna said.

"Yes, and I can't believe I didn't think of it myself but I'm getting forgetful in my old age," the Doctor said to them.

They watched while Rain led the Doctor into a bank and asked him about the disc. Suddenly, they noticed Rain looking around.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"Someone just spoke to me. A woman."

"Huh?" Jack said.

"It was Imiko," the Doctor told him. "She was communicating with us telepathically but she didn't tell us it was her so we just knew it as this voice but she's telling Rain that she can get the disc out of my head right now."

"Doctor, she's offering to take the disc out."

"Well, by all means, let her do it."

"Yes, I want that disc out of his head this instant."

The memory went black and everyone looked around in confusion.

"It was at that point I blacked out so I don't remember this part," the Doctor explained to them.

"Me, can you help me load my memory up so they can see it?" Rain said.

"Yes, because I wanna know what the hell was going on at this point. I just suddenly passed out and when I woke up the disc was out. Wait a tic, everyone."

He froze the memory and he and Rain stepped out. They came back in five minutes later and Rain shifted to her perspective while everyone watched.

"Doctor, she's offering to take the disc out," Rain said from her point of view.

"Well, by all means, let her do it."

"Yes, I want that disc out of his head this instant."

The Doctor's eyes rolled up in his head and he slumped back against the wall and slid to the floor.

"Doctor! Oh God, Doctor!" memory Rain said, kneeling and cupping his face. "Oh God, what have I done? I…"

"Sorry, I scared you, Love," the Doctor said to her.

"I'm just glad you were alright afterwards," Rain replied.

They blinked when the disc slowly came out of his forehead.

"The disc just kinda floated out like osmosis?" Alan said to his brother.

"I s'pose so. I don't remember this. I was out for the duration of it."

"Why? Was it painful to bring that out?" Donna said.

"Probably," the Doctor replied.

The disc fell into her hand and the Doctor woke up.

"Weird," Jack said.

"Huh, we were back at the hotel room just waiting for you two to come back," Mingxia said. "We had no idea this was going on."

"And we did wonder what took you so long," Alan added.

"And then Imiko said she could hide the Doctor without using the imager and hide him from the Valeyard and I told her to do that," Rain said, gesturing to the memory.

"Shield your eyes though because I'm about to be surrounded by a bright light," the Doctor said.

They blinked and looked away when a bright light surrounded him for a moment. It faded and the Doctor sat there, stunned.

"Okay, either that was the spell at work or I just farted a supernova," the memory Doctor said while the actual Doctor's family laughed.

"And that was it," the actual Doctor said. "I was free from the Valeyard. We went back to the hotel and I did try out the no imager thing by telling Rose we were back and Rose never suspected a thing."

"Nope, I didn't," Rose said, shaking her head.

"Damn it, I wish I could have been with you guys. This is really interesting. The whole road trip and the Doctor cross-dressing and hiding from all of you. I missed a lot being in the other universe," Jack said.

"Same here," Donna said while Jenny nodded.

"Oh my God, Doctor, you're free!" memory Rain said when they got back in their hotel room. "Are you going to tell them your secret though?"

"Not yet. Even if the voice has done this there's still a chance the Valeyard will cotton on and work out what's happened. I don't want to risk their safety…Besides, I kinda like the idea of having a secret identity that's only known to one person. Makes me feel mysterious like I'm James Bond. I will reveal myself in time but for the moment I can't risk it and you can't tell them either, but I know you won't do that."

"Yup, my little secret keeper," the Doctor said, squeezing his wife around the middle while she patted his cheek.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So here we are on the Great Wall of China," Alan said to them. "Wonderful view. Quite a hike though."

The Doctor grinned and brought up his memory of it and they laughed when they saw Rain leaning up against the wall, tired.

"Yes, that whole thing about her being winded on Camelback Mountain…" the Doctor said.

Alan and Rose laughed.

"You didn't have much stamina in those days, did ya, Te'lesu?"

"No. But I'd only been with you guys a couple of weeks and I had never climbed mountains before," she said.

Alan walked over to her.

"This wasn't a mountain," he teased pointing at her.

"It was to me," she said while they laughed.

"Okay, I'm gonna start this memory and let you lot hear my thoughts because…"

He started the memory and they could see the Doctor leaned against the other wall while he stared at her. Suddenly they heard him speaking while he continued to silently stare at her.

Oh my God, am I falling in love with her? It's only been one day since I met her and already I'm getting to the point where I don't wanna be without her?

"Aha! At last, the moment of truth!" Alan said while they laughed. "We wondered when you finally started to fancy her! It was on the Great Wall in the middle of her triple heart attack!"

But…she's been so wonderful to me, taking care of me and going places with me and worrying about me. She's so young and innocent, just like Rose was when I first met her. But not even Rose fretted over me this fast."

"No, because you were a brooding arse for the first few months I knew ya," Rose said while they laughed. "That's why I didn't fret over ya immediately. You wouldn't let me."

I mean, I know she's heard stories about me from Alan but still, after only two hours of talking she acted like we were best mates and invited me to dinner with her and her family. And now damn it, I'm actually jealous that Alan will get to have her in his TARDIS instead of her travelin' with me. But, would she even want me if I asked? Especially since I look exactly like her brother, how weird would that be for her?

"Apparently Te'lesu has no probably whatsoever with it," Alan said, nudging Rose.

Still, we don't act exactly the same and perhaps she might differentiate between us. Blimey, now I'm trying to figure out a way to ask her to be with me. I really am smitten. This must be something that happens with old age since I never would have done this in my youth and certainly not with a human who's over 1100 years younger than I am.

"Yes, Brother, you are acting barmy in your old age," Alan teased. "Creating clone brothers and daughters from body parts, chasing jail bait that's 1100 years younger than you are. We'll need to section ya before too long."

I'll just take my time with her. Just see how this plays out like I did with Rose. It took time for Rose and I to become close to the point I considered her my lover and I'm sure Rain will be no different. We have all of China…at least I hope we do if certain bastards stay away. God, if that son of a bitch touches her in any way, shape or form I'll tear a hole in his forehead, shove the disc in and make the dark bastard spend eternity barking like a dog. Wow! Yup, I'm definitely smitten then.

Everyone bent over laughing.

"Wow! You got pretty possessive pretty fast, Brother," Alan said, clapping the Doctor on the shoulder. "And take your time with her? Are you having us on?"

"Now wait a moment. You were the one that told me to go ahead and get married to her since you hated waiting till you got to Disneyworld to propose to Rose. I took your advice so don't start in on how fast I moved in our relationship!"

"Okay, but I told Rain I found it funny that you were so scared of being with her and she was scared of being with you and I'm wondering how long it really would have taken if you hadn't worked up the courage to tell her. I mean, you were scared she'd get creeped out about you looking like me and she was scared because she thought you were some god or something she couldn't have."

"Oh, you told him that?" the Doctor said to Rain.

"Yes, I told him that I told you that you were the Doctor and you seemed like this mythic person to me and I didn't think you'd ever want me."

"Oh puh-leeze, skinny boy here, a god?"

"Shut up, Noble," the Doctor said to her while they laughed.

"Well, I seem to be the only one who wasn't starstruck by ya," Donna said.

"You are aware that she had low self-esteem, right?" the Doctor said to her. "That also played a factor in her thinking she couldn't have me, it wasn't just the whole thinking I was god rubbish."

Rain thought for a moment before she put up a privacy block and thought something to the Doctor. He paused a moment and then looked at her.

"Sure?" he said to her.

"Yes, I'm secure enough now that I won't mind them knowing. I know everyone in here loves me."

"Huh?" Alan said.

Rain looked at him.

"I asked my husband to show you when I told him about me, my whole story. I know you know parts of it but not everything and I asked him to keep it a secret and he's done that but I don't mind you knowing now because you're my family."

Alan, Rose and Awinita glanced at each other.

"Really? You'll let us know everything?" Alan said.

"Yeah, you've wanted to know, right?"

"Yes, but we don't want you revealing it if you're not comfortable."

"I am comfortable. Just keep this between us, alright?"

They all nodded and the Doctor brought up the moment where Rain told the Doctor about her life. They all listened in silent shock.

"Ugly? People thought you were ugly?" Jack said in disbelief. "People were blind at your school, I guess, or had no taste in women."

Alan groaned.

"I guessed from the way you acted around the Doctor that you were a virgin, Te'lesu," he said, shaking his head. "I figured it was more than just being hesitant around Brother."

They groaned when they mentioned blaming herself for her mother's death. The Doctor paused the memory and they all gathered around her in a group hug and sent love into her mind while they rubbed her head and arms. They all turned when the Doctor started the memory back up but stayed near her giving her continuous love while they listened to her story. When she was finished, they turned back around and gave her hugs.

"You don't have to worry anymore, Rain. We love you here and we'll never abandon you or make you feel like crap or hurt or degrade you in any way," Alan said to her.

"I know. I know you all love me, that's why I let you see that."

"And if Amber ever says another hateful word to you again…"Alan said.

"If she does, we'll be bashing her face in quicker than she can blink," Donna said.

"Right after that, we came up the nicknames for each other," the Doctor said, nodding at the memory.

"Oh! That's where Sprinkles comes from," Rose said while everyone except Jack laughed.

"Sprinkles?" Jack said.

"Damn it, Rose!" the Doctor said while they laughed harder. "I swear to God, you can't keep your gob shut sometimes!"


	65. Chapter 65

Chapter Sixty Six

Jack giggled when the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Sprinkles, eh?" he said after the others got done explaining it. "I like it. I oughta start calling you that."

"You do and you'll spend eternity in 4000 separate pieces!" the Doctor said to him. "That is her personal name for me, not yours."

"Alright, can I have my own personal name for you then?" Jack said.

"You call me Doc and as much as I detest that, that is your name for me," he replied.

"Why do you detest it?"

"Because that's not my name. Is your name Ja?" the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Well, I'll call you Turkeso then."

The Doctor stared at him.

"What does that mean?" he said while Rain giggled.

"Whatever you said means beloved brother."

"It's Te'lesau not Turkeso," the Doctor said, rolling his eyes while everyone howled with laughter.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, Te'lesau then," Jack said.

He paused.

"Incidentally, what does Latara mean? You call Rain that all the time."

"Latara is the Gallfreyan word for rain."

"Oh, that's pretty."

"Yes, it is. I call her that and she calls me Sprinkles."

"And something else too but that's hidden," Alan muttered.

"Yes, and it'll stay hidden, Brother."

"Why? What is it? Your real name?" Jack asked.

"No…although she does know that as well."

Everyone looked at Rain who had a knowing smile on her face.

"And no, Jack, I'm not telling you what it is because he swore me to secrecy," Rain said to him. "He told it to me as a sign of his love and trust for me and I'm not gonna betray that trust."

"Okay, well does the secret name have something to do with that?" Jack asked. "Not wanting you to reveal it, just asking."

The Doctor sighed.

"It's my old academy nickname…well, actually a variation on it. I permitted her to use it so she doesn't have to call me Doctor all the time. She wanted something a bit more personal and she only calls me this name when we're completely alone or our minds are shielded from everyone else. However, there's been times when she's accidentally said it around Brother because she didn't know he was there which is why he knows and…one time she did say it intentionally around him to get my attention after I lost control of my senses but it's her very private name for me…more private than Sprinkles and she's the only one who is permitted to use it because I really don't like it all that much. However, I know she uses it in a loving way which is why I don't mind her saying it. Satisfied?"

Jack nodded.

"But Rose did find out and Blabbermouth told the whole world about it," he said while they laughed. "And so far they've been respectful and not used it in a snide manner or made it sound cutesy so I'm warning you, Jack, don't you go around calling me Sprinkles in a high-pitched voice or you'll live to regret it!"

Jack held up his hands.

"I won't." he said to him.

"Good. I'm glad. Because she chose that out of love for me and I don't want it becoming the butt of your jokes."

"I won't do that. I wouldn't do that to something she did," Jack said. "Especially not after hearing what she said to you."

"Good," the Doctor said.

She looked at Alan.

"Um, you wanna continue or should I?"

"Got any good memories?" Alan replied.

He grinned.

"Well…after we got back from the Great Wall, there was a little interesting unintentional thing that happened."

"And that little interesting unintentional thing was…" Alan said, grinning.

The Doctor grinned at Rain who was staring at him in confusion.

"Yeah, what unintentional thing?" she said.

He brought up the memory. All of them laughed while they watched Rain listening to his heartbeats and his breathing.

"Oh God, Brother, that must have taken monumental effort not to lose control and snog her," Alan said while Rose laughed. "I commend you. If that were me and Rose, I wouldn't have lasted a minute before I had her clothes off."

"Well, it was all in innocence. I mean, she didn't know I fancied her but yes, when she leaned into my face, I did think she was gonna kiss me," the Doctor said.

"Actually, the thought had crossed my mind for a millisecond," Rain said softly.

She blushed when everyone wolf whistled and laughed at her embarrassment.

"Yes, but Te'lesu, was this really just you being curious or was it a way to touch him without him cottoning on?" Alan said to her.

"Um…bit of both," she said, blushing, while they laughed.

There was a knock on the door.

"And of course, git that I am, I interrupt this!" Rose said while they laughed.

"Damn it, Rose, you have lousy timing," Awinita said.

"Tell me about it," Rose replied.

"Especially since they might have gone at it if you hadn't knocked," Alan said to Rose.

Rose groaned.

"And it was about my dad wiring us money and getting him a pass. Stupid me, I should have saved that for later but I just had to come and tell you lot."

She rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah, and this was when Alan was in there hollering the Oompa Loompa…show them that!" she said to Alan. "Show them what Awinita and I had to go through!"

Alan giggled. He switched to their hotel room and ran the memory. They laughed at him singing the Oompa Loompa song loudly and off-key.

"Christ, I'm glad Imiko and me had a room of our own," Mingxia said, shaking her head.

They laughed when Rose hollered at him to be quiet.

"Jesus, Alan, the whole bleedin' hotel can hear ya! You wanna shut the hell up before security throws us all out?"

"I'm in a good mood, Starlight! Besides it's a silly song and it's the kind of song you should sing at the top of your lungs."

"You know what, you sing it then. I need to go talk to Morana and Rain and tell them what dad said. Enjoy."

"Oh, so you drove Rose over to us," the Doctor said to Alan.

"Yes, if it wasn't for the dying cow there, you might have kissed," Rose said to them.

"Honestly, Rose, how you lived with him in a hotel room without going insane and bashing his brains in, I'll never know," Donna said, shaking her head.

The Doctor smiled and switched to a different memory. It was night and Rain was asleep.

"This is later on that night while Rain was asleep and I'll let you hear my thoughts again," the Doctor said to him.

They watched while he hesitated a moment at her side and then leaned over to give her a gentle kiss.

"I KNEW IT!" Rain screamed.

The Doctor paused the memory and stared at her with wide eyes while she bounced up and down.

"Thank you, Love. I thought you were doing that to me but I kept thinking it was my imagination."

"You were awake?" the Doctor said.

"Not there but there were a couple of times I was almost asleep and I felt your lips on my cheek or temple but I was nearly asleep and I thought maybe I was imagining it. Thank you, dear. I wasn't going crazy," she said while they laughed.

He started the memory, let it play to the moment he knelt down and put his hand on her head and then froze it.

"Did you know I was doing that?" he said, gesturing to the hand on her head.

"Um…I don't think you did that when I was aware so no." Rain said.

He started the memory up again and they listened to his thoughts.

I will take care of you, my Latara. I will keep your safe on this journey and if you want to come back with me to the other universe I will beg your family on your behalf. If the Valeyard has a void crosser I can have my TARDIS copy it and install it under my console so you can see them whenever you want. I just want you to be happy now and I want the rest of your life to be better than the beginning of it. You have so much trust in me and I won't betray that trust, my Latara, not ever.

He grinned when his family awwwed again.

"But then you just decided to take the rest of the family with you and we were denied the whole falling to your knees and begging us part," Alan said while they laughed. "So sadly we didn't get to see the Doctor humbling himself at our feet."

"I wouldn't have fallen to my knees anyway, Alan," he said to him.

"Damn!" Alan replied.

"Anyway, after that was the shopping trip for camping supplies and then rip-off Disney."

"Rip-off Disney?" Jack said while they giggled.

"Your turn, Brother," the Doctor said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

All of them bent over laughing.

"I just love the ballsy blatant use of licensed characters, "Jack said. "The We Don't Give A Damn If You See Us theme park."

They laughed harder.

"Ah, Blizzard Black. Good one, Rain," Jack said, giggling.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They kept on laughing until the part where Rain asked to talk to the Doctor in private.

"Oh yeah, this is where I finally reveal myself to everyone else because Rain convinces me to," the Doctor said.

They watched while they walked off.

"Now where are those two off to?" memory Alan said to memory Rose while they waited in the carousel queue.

"Beats me, don't wanna ride the ride I guess. Rain's rode the merry-go-round before. Just don't worry about them, Alan. If Morana wanted to kill her she'd have done it when they were alone on the Great Wall."

"Was there this huge concern that I was gonna murder Rain?" the Doctor said to Alan.

"Not at that point but you know, we were all protective of Rain, same as you and we just wanted her to be safe," Alan said to him.

"Well, where are you two?" Jack said to the Doctor.

"Behind a building. Rain's convincing me to show myself to everyone but we agreed to get Rose first since I figured she'd be more accepting than Alan was at that point. But we finished talking before they were finished riding so we got lemonades and waited for her."

They watched while they rode it and the Doctor pointed to himself and Rain while they got lemonades and waited for them. When they got off the ride, Rose walked over to them and the Doctor switched it to his point of view while they led her around the building, he revealed himself and they explained things to her. When she left, Alan switched back to his point of view.

"There you are, Starlight," Alan said while she walked up to him.

He and the rest of the group were near the carousel waiting for her.

"Where's Morana and Rain? Aren't they coming…"

He trailed off and frowned when he noticed her eyes were misted over.

"Rose, what is it?"

"Alan, I just found out something. Something huge."

"Okay…" Alan said.

"Alan, the Doctor is here with us."

"What? Where?" Alan said, jerking his head around.

"He's with Rain."

"What? Get her out of there! The TARDIS said…"

"No, wait, it's not like that. I don't know how it happened but the Doctor is Morana."

"The Doctor is who?" Awinita said.

"He's Morana. He's disguised as Morana."

"That's one hell of a disguise," Mingxia said.

"So we were right about Morana not being trustworthy. He's come here to kill us, Starlight, we have to get Rain away…"

"No, the protector has freed him. He's not under the Valeyard's control anymore, Alan. He's harmless. And he respects our marriage. He's not here to take me away from you. He just wants to be friends and he wants to hide from the Valeyard so he doesn't take him back to the TARDIS again."

"But if that's a disguise…Mingxia's right, that's one hell of a disguise because it looks like a woman."

"It's some kind of magic spell the protector's put over him. You'll see him as a woman until he tells you it's him and then there's this bright light. He did that to me. The moment he told me it was him there was this bright light and I could see him again."

She sighed at the disbelief on their faces.

"I know it sounds crazy but it's true. Come and see for yourselves, all of you. Just follow me!"

Alan looked at the other women and followed Rose behind the building.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After watching the full memory, Jack looked at the Doctor.

"So, Imiko had this odd magic spell where they could all see you as you were but the rest of the world saw you as a woman," he said.

"Yes. It was my protection."

"So if I'd seen you, I would have seen you as a woman."

"Yes. Until I told you otherwise."

Jack shook his head.

"This Imiko Kitsune person was one odd chick," he said. "But from here on out, they knew."'

"Yes and it was a massive relief because I hated deceiving them and making Rain deceive them."

"Not to mention we felt safer knowing it was the Doctor and not some weird woman," Alan added. "But after he did that we went back to Osaka since the Valeyard knew he went to China and he never found us so Imiko's hocus pocus worked, I suppose. But yes, I did feel more at ease, Brother. Not only knowing you were safe but the added protection you gave the women being around us. Especially knowing how deadly the Valeyard is. But we decided to celebrate Rain's birthday in Osaka and since the Doctor didn't have an official birthday she gave her his so they're both February 14th."

"Aw, Valentine's Day, how sweet," Jack said while they laughed.

"And sometime that night after we had gotten done going out to eat in Osaka and before we went to Universal Studios, he confessed his love to Rain," Alan said, glancing at the Doctor.

"After she woke up and saw the birthday present you gave her. She went to the lavatory and when she got back I showed her the note you both wrote me and that's when I accepted him as my brother. She was overjoyed with that but that's when I decided to confess all to her."

"So show it," Jack said.

The Doctor grinned and showed them the memory. Jenny put her arms around her mother while they watched him telling her he loved her.

"But…why me?"

All of them groaned at that.

"I'm glad you sorted her out, Brother," Alan said.

"Why not you?"

"I…I'm nothing special."

"No, that's not true, my Latara."

"But…why would you want me?"

"Why wouldn't you think I'd want you?"

"Because you're wonderful and I'm not worthy of you. I mean, you're the Doctor and I've heard all these stories about you from bro. you're a legend, why would you want me? I'm nothing."

All of the women began to cry and Jack and Alan got misty eyed while the Doctor held his wife close and kissed her. All of them cheered when she accepted him.

"This is like watching a romance movie," Awinita said to them.

"Yeah, one of those chick flicks that men would rather die than see," Jack teased.

His eyes widened when he saw the teardrop necklace.

"Oh, I didn't know you had that," he said to Rain.

Rain reached into her shirt and pulled it and the butterfly necklace out.

"He gave me this and Bro gave me the butterfly," he said. "And they never leave my neck."

They continued to listen.

"So you weren't gonna tell Alan now?" Donna said.

"I was hesitant to do that because this was his sister and I basically got dropped into the middle of them," the Doctor said to her.

"Yes, but thankfully, I talked him out of that too."

"You had to talk the Doctor out of a lot," Donna said while Rain laughed.

They awed again when the Doctor held her close and let her fall asleep.

"This is nice," the Doctor said. "I get to relive this all again."

Rain smiled and kissed him while he snuggled her against him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So this is the love hotel we spent the night in. Despite what Donna thinks, I'm not gonna show you the shagging but we were by ourselves in here while they went out to the spa and this odd theme park and we ended up getting this theme room. Which was all Rose's idea because they had a UFO room and she thought it would be hilarious for the half human to shag her in it."

He eyed Rose when she giggled.

"They had a Hello Kitty themed room but I would rather shoot myself in the eyeball than fornicate with a dozen of those freakish things gazing at me. Anyway, here's the room…"

They laughed when they saw the room.

"Wow, UFO bed and everything," Donna said, walking over to it.

"Love the whole green alien watching you from the corner," Jack said. "I oughta take Ianto to this place. You say they have this and Hello Kitty rooms?"

"They have regular hotel rooms as well. But they also had a medieval castle and a dungeon room and an undersea one and a few others."

"Dungeon room. I'll have to interest Yan in that one," Jack said, nodding.

Alan started the memory. The door opened and memory Alan and Rose walked inside.

"Oh hell no, Rose," Memory Alan said while the Doctor and his family laughed.

"Come on, Alan, it'll be fun. It's something different, yeah?"

"Well, sometimes different isn't good. I'm sorry, I'm not gonna perform for you with that daft looking alien in the corner."

"Oh, once we get going, you won't even notice it!" Rose said, waving her hand dismissively.

Memory Alan rolled his eyes while she shut the door.

"I can't believe you talked me into this," he said.

"And she talked you into the tattoo, Brother," the Doctor said to his Alan. "She just leads you around like a sheep, doesn't she?"

"Yup, I do," Rose said, patting his head while they laughed.

"Come on, love," memory Rose said, starting to take off his trousers. "Just relax and have fun with it, yeah?"

"Okay, we've seen enough of this," Donna yelled out. "Change to something else!"

"No, we wanna relive this memory," Alan said, giving her an evil grin.

"Well, I'm leaving then. You lot have fun!" Donna said.

Alan grabbed a hold of her and put his arm around her.

"Oh alright, Brother, show them what you lot were doing while I was shagging on a UFO bed."

"Um, we went to this spa to get pampered except we ended up getting walked on and got put in hot and cold water and sweated to death while our nostril hairs got singed. So no more of that ever," the Doctor said while the women giggled. "But after that, we decided to go to this theme park that had this bizarre statue towering over it. For some reason the statue was scowling. Um, so I'll show you this weird park we went to?"

"Even weirder than rip-off Disney?" Jack asked.

"Um…no, but it was weird enough," the Doctor said.

He closed his eyes and the scene shifted to the middle of the theme park. The Doctor pointed to the angry man statue in the distance.

"Ooookay," Jack said while they laughed. "What's the point of it? Hello, welcome to our theme park, now piss off?"

"Yes, you're probably right, Jack," the Doctor said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

All of them were laughing hysterically while they watched them going through the rides.

"Okay, what's the point of the animals being frozen in the fake ice?" Donna said.

"It's Ice World," the Doctor said to her.

"And is it supposed to be a comment on what happens if global warming occurs?" Jack said. "I mean The Day After Tomorrow they had the killer ice. Is this the same thing?"

"I haven't the foggiest, Jack. I'm just showing you what we saw and we saw penguins and polar bears and seals half frozen in ice. I don't know what that signifies."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"This is great! I love the whole PLEASE WASTE sign on the trash can," Jack said to the Doctor.

"Yes, but please waste what?" the Doctor said while they laughed.

"I like the log flume ride you can't get wet on," Donna said.

"Yes, that was a snooze and a half," Awinita said. "I don't know if Japanese people are afraid of getting wet but the point of the ride is to get wet not to sit there and stare out the Plexiglas windows.

The Doctor chuckled and he shifted the scene. The women giggled when they saw Panic Jungle.

"Panic Jungle? Sounds dangerous," Jack said.

"It's not, Jack, trust me," the Doctor said while the women laughed harder.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Everyone was in pain from laughter while they watched the lazy boat ride.

"Was this a joke, Dad?" Jenny asked.

"Um…I don't know, Angel. I have a feeling it wasn't. I have a feeling they were being very serious," the Doctor said.

"Wow, elephant statue, that's enough to make you panic right there," Jack said to the Doctor.

"I know, I couldn't stop my hearts from beating out of my chest when I saw it. Almost as horrifying as when Rain and I rode the catch the imaginary poacher ride at Disneyworld."

They all laughed at the shocked look on the Doctor's face when the ride ended.

"Um, I hope you recovered from the disappointment, Doc," Jack said to him.

"I did but it took several hours," he replied.

They watched while they walked over to The Dark. Jack snickered.

"What was this one, a series of dark rooms with nothing in it?"

"Actually no although you would think so after Panic Jungle," the Doctor said to him.

They went inside it.

"Oh, it's the ones where they just have horror scenes," Jack said, rolling his eyes. "You know, I've never ever found a decent haunted house that has actually scared me."

"Neither have I…although apparently Rose has."

He gave her a pointed look and she flipped him off while everyone giggled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What the hell?" Jack said while they stared at the weird statues. "Who are these people? Especially the superhero with the toast head."

"And the one with the bowl for a head," Donna said. "Are these actual Japanese cartoon characters or something?"

"I have no idea," the Doctor said.

"Okay, where's Imiko when you need her?" the Doctor said. "I wanna know who white bread superhero man and bowl for a head is."

"Yeah, where was your little Japanese fox spirit friend?" Jack asked.

"Who knows? She told us she didn't want to go to the spa so she went somewhere else. We found out later the reason why she didn't is because kitsune's true selves are reflected in water and mirrors which is why she kept acting oddly when we'd wanna ride water rides and she didn't."

"She told us when she got back she went to the park for awhile," Rose said. "Dunno if she did or not but that was her excuse."

"Probably went home to the spirit world to visit her foxy family or something," Alan said. "Don't get me wrong, she was nice to us and she allowed everyone to become Time Ladies but before we found out who she really was, we though she was the oddest person we'd ever seen in our lives."

They finished with the theme park and moved on to the time spent at the capsule hotel. Jack, Donna and Jenny's mouths dropped open.

"You lot slept in coffin rooms?" Donna said while they laughed.

"They weren't that bad. They were actually comfortable for what they were but yes, they were teeny and us tall people had to kinda cram into them."

The Doctor switched to his memories and they watched while he and Rain talked to Aika.

"Blast, we never did take her up on her offer to spend the night with her, did we?" Alan said. "We need to go back for a visit. She's probably wondering why we didn't come visit."

"Well, I still have the numbers of the people I met in the baths and I promised to call them and never did," Rain said to them. "It's because we got the TARDIS back and just got caught up in traveling and I forgot."

"Eh, I'm sure giving out the phone numbers was more a courtesy thing," the Doctor said. "I'm sure they go to the baths all the time, meet people and give out their phone numbers to people who never call. Aika too. I doubt she's in her flat waiting patiently for us to come by."

He nudged Alan.

"If I were you, I'd skip the memory of the baths, I'm sure Jack's head will explode from seeing all the naked people."

"You know, Doctor, I can control my urges. I'm not horny 24/7," Jack said while they laughed. "You do notice that I haven't forced myself on the six women in this room, right?"

"I'm sure you're just waiting till we duck out to pee," Alan said.

Jack flipped them off while they laughed.

"Besides which, the memory of the baths involves us and the women being starkers and although you've seen me naked I'd rather not show you Rose and I'm sure the Doctor doesn't want you seeing Rain so I will skip it."

"Whatever, you two," Jack muttered while they giggled.

"Besides, Brother, we saw Donna's reaction the last time you were naked in front of her."

"Oh yes, that too!" Alan said. "Yes, I forgot the whole screaming at me to go get some kit on so yes, I'll skip it too for her benefit. But we got the geisha photos which were absolutely gorgeous and the family photo and then we went camping which was stellar."

He brought up an image of their campsite and gestured to it.

"See, we had everyone in a circle. Me and Rose, Doctor and Rain, Awinita and Mingxia and Foxy off by herself which is probably how she preferred it. Anyway, this is how we spent our nights. We'd leave the flap open and talk to each other and the Doctor and Rain would work on their little amusement park."

"We need to start that up again, Latara. I miss that," the Doctor said to her.

"Me too," Rain said.

"What amusement park, Dad?" Jenny asked.

The Doctor brought up his memory of them working on the DS game. He zoomed into the screen and showed them the memory. They stared at it while they heard memory Doctor and Rain discussing where to put things.

"And you build your own theme park?" Jack said, staring at it.

"Yes, it's called Roller Coaster Tycoon. She got a Nintendo DS for her birthday and this was one of the games they got her. It was really addicting. Although…"

He shifted the memory and Rain smacked his chest while they watched a roller coaster train go off the track, hurtle through the air and explode.

"This kept happening whenever Rain tried to build a proper roller coaster because she wouldn't listen to me about G forces!" the Doctor said while they laughed. "We kept losing people left and right because of her."

"Not again," they heard memory Doctor saying. "How many times am I gonna have to witness the slaughter of innocent holidaymakers because you can't build a working roller coaster?"

"I'm trying! Alright? I'm still trying to get the hang of this," they heard Rain say.

"And while you're trying to get the hang of it, you're scaring off everyone else."

"Oh…bite me, Doctor."

The Doctor froze the memory and smiled.

And that was our little theme park game that we played while we were out in the woods. So that was one of the ways we passed the time there. But moving on, I will now show you this memory…"

The scene shifted to the countryside. Alan and Rose laughed when he showed them the women skipping to Dancing Queen. They laughed harder when Rain fell.

"WOMAN DOWN!" memory Alan screamed. "STOP YOUR DAFT SKIPPING AND HELP HER!"

"Problem staying on your feet, Rain?" Jack said.

Rain flipped him off and he winked at her.

"So, you were basically acting like a bunch of barmy gits singing and dancing across Japan?"

"Yup," Alan said. "We had one aim in mind…to entertain the Japanese with our antics! But we weren't there long because we decided to go on to Kyoto in time for the Doctor and Rain's actual birthdays so we took the train and found a nice hostel and met two lovely British people called John and Sophia and while we were there, I convinced Brother to go ahead and propose to Rain."

The Doctor held his wife close and brought up the memory of their proposal.

"Oh good, we get to see them propose now," Rose said to her husband.

"Yes, we all went out to dinner and the other girls went to a nightclub with John and Sophia while this was happening."

They watched the Doctor and Rain sitting in the garden. They laughed when the Doctor went on and on and on explaining things to Rain.

"Ramble much, Doc?" Jack said to him.

"I was getting up the nerve to propose to her, Harkness."

"Well, I'm surprised Rain didn't fall asleep waiting for you to get up the nerve," Jack replied.

They let out an "Aw!" when he finally asked her and laughed when she pinched her arm.

"Oh blimey, I love the reaction you had, Te'lesu," Alan said, walking over and putting his arm around her. "That was classic."

"I'm sorry, I thought I was dreaming for a moment, Bro," Rain said.

"And the thought never crossed your mind that he took you out there to do that?" Mingxia said.

"Uh…no," she said while he laughed.

"She still had her low self esteem then, bless," the Doctor said patting her on the head.

"And you immediately got married. You don't waste time, Doc," Jack said.

"He convinced me to do that. Propose and have the secret wedding before the one you saw and I decided to take his advice," the Doctor said, pointing to Alan.

"Which was nice because we got to see their wedding but it wasn't like the one in London where we had all of you. We had us and we invited John and Sophia to it because you noticed ours was just four people and the wedding reception was lonely. And it wasn't much better since there were the six of us and John and Sophia. But this is their traditional Shinto wedding."

"If you show it, you have to show the reception when you were forced to sing for us," the Doctor said to him.

Alan rolled his eyes while they laughed.

"Sing?" Donna said.

"Yes, apparently it's traditional at a wedding reception to give a speech and sing a song for the bride and groom and we had to do that for them and the Doctor just loved it to death. Thank God we didn't repeat it in London. But yes, this is their wedding and the daft reception afterwards."

Jenny hugged her mother from behind.

"Oh, I love what you're wearing, mum," she said.

"I did too. It was nice and comfortable and your father looked so handsome that day," Rain said.

Jack watched the ceremony with interest.

"You know, I wonder if I could convince Yan to get married this way."

He shrugged when everyone gave him a shocked look. The Doctor paused the memory.

"Well, I do love the guy, you know," he said.

"So when are you gonna propose then?" Awinita said.

"I don't know. I don't know if he'll accept."

"Um…yes but that's the purpose of proposing, Jack. Finding out if he'll accept," Alan said. "The man loves ya. We can see that. Why not do it and get it over with?"

Jack shrugged.

"I might. I need a romantic setting though."

"I'll be willing to take you anywhere, anytime in the TARDIS," the Doctor said. "And if this is what you want then you can get married like we did in Kyoto. If you want to be married to him, I'll help out."

Jack considered that.

"Let me get back to ya, Doc," he said. "But let me see the rest of the ceremony first."

The Doctor shrugged and started up the memory again.

"This is a legal thing, right?" Jack said to the Doctor.

"I s'pose it's legal. I'm sure Rain and I aren't the only ones to get married this way. Why? Are you concerned if you don't say I do it isn't valid or something? Because many planets have weddings similar to this and it's legal and binding. I felt married to Rain after we did it. In fact, this felt more natural to me than the Christian wedding we had in London. Are you concerned if you did this it wouldn't be recognized in Cardiff?"

"Yeah, but I would rather have what you're doing here than a Christian wedding. This is beautiful with the water and cups of sake and the blessing."

"Well, if you're that concerned about it being recognized in Britain, ask before you do it. It doesn't matter to me because I don't live in England and I don't have to worry about Rain not inheriting my things if I die and other concerns like that. But in my mind, I got married twice to her and this was the first time. In the end it doesn't matter anyway. This is just words and rings and London was words and rings and signing a piece of paper. It just makes the love we have between each other official and legal but as I said, we could have just stood in a field and pledged to be husband and wife and it would have worked for us since we live here in the TARDIS."

"This is nice though. I think Yan would like it too. I definitely have to keep this in mind," Jack said to him when the wedding finished.

The Doctor giggled when Alan shot him a look.

"And now…on to your reception if you have the wedding in Kyoto."

They giggled at the speeches and songs while the Doctor and Rain sat on the stage.

"Yup, I am definitely gonna do this and make all of you do this to us," Jack said.

"Mum, if he does, can I go hide for the day?" Jenny asked Rain.

"Only if I can hide with you," she said to her.

Jack sniggered.

"Loved the humiliation everyone went through. I gotta do this to my team. I gotta see Martha, Mickey and Gwen tell us how fabulous we are and sing. That'll be great!"

The Doctor glanced at Alan and they rolled their eyes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So. Afterwards, Rain and I had two honeymoons. One in Kyoto and one that John graciously paid for where we went to Orlando and Disneyworld. So I saw what Brother and his family saw and rode the same rides and found out what all the fuss was about when he kept gushing about Expedition Everest."

"Brilliant ride," Alan said to Jack.

"And we did a bit more than they did because we went to a couple of Orlando attractions like Gatorland and this mystery dinner that was fun and we went to Typhoon Lagoon which they missed because of the hurricane. But we finished up early and went to Daytona Beach and went through a ghost walk the night we got there and…"

The Doctor whispered to Rain who nodded.

"Okay, just seeking my wife's permission to show this because this happened while we were in a graveyard there but…I'll let you see my wife's point of view since it happened to her."

Rain nodded and showed them the memory of her assault. Everyone watched in horror while the drunk man tried to rape her and cheered when the Doctor came to her rescue. Alan was livid thinking how close his sister came to being violated. He suddenly had a though and a smile spread across his face.

"Te'lesu, can you pause this memory please?" he asked her.

Rain frowned and paused it. They watched while Alan ran back towards the front door. He went outside and returned ten minutes later with a grin on his face.

"Now, can you do me a huge favor. Back this memory up and play it again?"

"Why?" Rain said.

"Just…humor me, Te'lesu."

Rain glanced at the Doctor, shrugged and started the memory from the beginning. They watched while the drunken man pressed her up against the mausoleum.

"Hey there, cutie," the drunken man slurred. "You out with the ghost tour? Why don't I give ya a little something special as a souvenir?"

they blinked when Alan came around the corner of the mausoleum. They watched while he tapped the drunken man on the shoulder. He smiled at him when the man turned around.

"Hi there. Fancy being unconscious?" Alan said to him.

Without another word, he slugged him and knocked him out. Memory Rain stared at the unconscious man in shock.

"Bro? How'd you get here?" memory Rain said to him.

"I'm your guardian angel, Te'lesu. I have the ability to see you wherever you are, fly though the air all the way from Japan and knock out soused rapists in your defense. I'm just being a good little brother."

He patted his stunned sister on the head and whistling, he walked back around the corner of the mausoleum.

"Pause the memory, Te'lesu!" he called back over his shoulder as he turned the corner.

Actual Rain paused the memory and Alan walked back to them.

"How the hell did you do that?" Jack said.

"The simulation room allows you to program who you can interact with and how much you can interact with them. I walked outside and programmed this memory so I'd be visible and be able to interact with anyone in it so I could personally punch the git. I only did that for me which is why Rain's memory only saw me. Now that I've punched the wanker, I'll go back out and make myself invisible again. Excuse me."

He walked away. Jack stared at him in shock while everyone laughed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They viewed the rest of the ghost tour and groaned when they didn't see any ghosts.

"Not a sausage, Brother?" Alan said.

"Nope. No ghosts. But it was interesting all the same. Other than my wife being attacked, It was a pleasant evening."

"And I'm so glad the simulation room lets you interact with people. Felt good punching him," Alan said. "I'm sorry I startled you lot. We should have mentioned you can do that if you want."

"Actually, that's what the Rani did to us," Rain said to him. "She programmed it so if a Dalek hit us we really would die."

Alan sighed angrily.

"And I talked to Dad's eighth self as well," Jenny said.

"Really? And…" Alan said.

"He was nice but I didn't know it was Dad until this Dad talked to him and he called himself Doctor."

"That must have been odd for her. Two versions on yourself in the same space," Jack said to him.

"Well, I did have to hear her ask why I was wearing Edwardian clothes in the middle of a war zone," the Doctor said, eyeing Jenny while she giggled. "And how odd I looked and why wasn't I wearing camouflage and other rubbish like that. But yes, Rain and I knew you could do that while you're in here."

The Doctor paused and glanced at Alan.

"Yes, go on," Jack said.

"Well, um…after the honeymoon was when we had to go up and face the Valeyard and it wasn't very pleasant for us," the Doctor said. "Basically Alan and I switched places so the Valeyard tortured me and Rose while Alan fixed his TARDIS and freed it."

"And then Imiko revealed herself and brought Awinita and Mingxia on board so they could fix the TARDIS."

"And Rain came and got me," Donna said.

Jack stared at her.

"You were the one who got Donna? How? I thought you were in the other universe when this was happening."

"We were, but Imiko took me over to get his TARDIS," Rain said, laying her hand on the Doctor's shoulder. She showed it to me and turned me into a Time Lady and I asked her to do the same to Donna and everyone else."

"Wait, you were the one who had to confront Donna's mother?" Jack said, amused.

"Yup."

"Can we see that? I wanna see you trying to convince Donna to go back with you."

Rain grinned and showed them the memory.

"Oh thank heavens, you saw Wilf first," the Doctor said while they watched her talk to him.

They finished the conversation and watched while Wilf headed inside to get Donna. They laughed when he came out with Donna and a pissed off Sylvia.

"Oh my poor wife. You were on your tod facing Sylvia Noble. I'm glad you survived it without me."

"What is that? Is that one of those old police boxes?" memory Donna was saying to Wilf. "Are you having me on? Did Neris put you up to this…who're you?"

"Donna Noble, my name is Rain. I am the wife of the Doctor."

"Doctor who?"

"The Doctor, the man you once traveled with."

"Excuse me a moment," memory Sylvia said. "Look,young lady, I don't know what that man told you but he told us never to mention his name to my daughter or it'd kill her! Are you trying to kill my daughter?"

They laughed.

"Oh bugger, give me the Valeyard any day. I'd rather face him than Sylvia. Oh Latara, you were brave to go and face her especially after she made it clear she hated what I did to her daughter."

"What the hell is that thing?" memory Donna said, pointing at Imiko. "Where the hell did Neris find that ugly costume? I swear I'm gonna kill her!"

They laughed and the Doctor put his arm around Donna.

"I can only imagine how this must have been for you. You come out the door and there's a crazy woman and a fox thing trying to pull you into a police box," he said while she laughed and nodded.

"Not to mention mum was trying to pull me back," Donna added.

They laughed when Imiko yelled at Sylvia and she meekly submitted.

"Bless Imiko for doing that," Alan said. "No wonder she never wants to speak to us again. This happened!"

The Doctor squeezed Donna around the middle when they saw her memories restored to her and she became a Time Lady.

"And bless Imiko for taking my wife over there to get you," he said to Donna. "You needed to be with us just as much as they did."

"Yup. Our ginger sister, can't be a family without ya," Alan said.

"So, after that, you came back over?" Jack said to Rain.

"Yeah, came back to the TARDIS and met up with Alan, Mingxia and Awinita and he used the Doctor's TARDIS to boost the power of the other TARDIS so it could be free. But Imiko had also bonded with me which I guess kitsune can do so she was inside protecting me while we set a trap for the Valeyard."

She glanced up at the Doctor.

"Your turn, Love?"

"Well, um…yes, but I'm purposely skipping over the torture. I really don't want you seeing what he did to me and Rose because it's not pretty and I'm sure Rose doesn't want to see it either."

"No."

"So, I'll just say Nutty zapped us both and then did a mind probe on me and found out it was me and not Alan and was going to check on where Alan was when in walks Ginger Gal here…"

He started it from the point Donna walked in the room.

"Wow, that must have been freaky after being tortured," Jack said.

"Yes, very," the Doctor said. "As you just heard, I thought I was hallucinating her."

"So you had to make this big show of loving Rain to draw old ugly and nutty to ya," Alan said.

"Well, draw him to Imiko. She was the one who was going to destroy him," the Doctor replied. "And she doesn't remember it because I told Imiko emphatically not to let her remember her killing someone, even if the person she was killing was pure evil."

"And he never gave a shit until now about anyone except you and Alan and Rose," Jack said to the Doctor.

"Yup, but he really should have since he should have figured out that even if I were kept under his thumb, Alan's sisters would have fought for him. But that's why he's a stupid git," he said. "He made the mistake of underestimating them and he paid the price."

"So, he's gone now?" Jack said.

"Well, he's gone from the future. As I was telling my family, I'll still have to face him because centuries ago he kidnapped all thirteen of my lives to use as batteries to power these golems of his and obviously this life and the three after it will be taken sometime in future. Which means they'll have to witness it four separate times but that's a part of the past and can't be changed. As for future events, he won't be around to plague the universe any longer."

They finished watching the battle and the Doctor showed them the wedding in London for Jenny's benefit. When he was finished, everyone applauded.

"So now you know what happened basically from the time of the Crucible to the wedding," the Doctor said.

"This was brilliant," Jack said. "I mean, it's been a real eye-opener and I'm glad you did it while I was with you. Now I can go back and just bore the rest of my team with what I saw."

"Oh, you'll be doing much the same as Alan then," Donna said.

They laughed while Alan chased her around the room for a moment before he gave her a hug. After that, the Doctor ordered the simulation switched off and everyone exited the room together.


	66. Chapter 66

Chapter Sixty Six

"So this is the love hotel we spent the night in. Despite what Donna thinks, I'm not gonna show you the shagging but we were by ourselves in here while they went out to the spa and this odd theme park and we ended up getting this theme room. Which was all Rose's idea because they had a UFO room and she thought it would be hilarious for the half human to shag her in it."

He eyed Rose when she giggled.

"They had a Hello Kitty themed room but I would rather shoot myself in the eyeball than fornicate with a dozen of those freakish things gazing at me. Anyway, here's the room…"

They laughed when they saw the room.

"Wow, UFO bed and everything," Donna said, walking over to it.

"Love the whole green alien watching you from the corner," Jack said. "I oughta take Ianto to this place. You say they have this and Hello Kitty rooms?"

"They have regular hotel rooms as well. But they also had a medieval castle and a dungeon room and an undersea one and a few others."

"Dungeon room. I'll have to interest Yan in that one," Jack said, nodding.

Alan started the memory. The door opened and memory Alan and Rose walked inside.

"Oh hell no, Rose," Memory Alan said while the Doctor and his family laughed.

"Come on, Alan, it'll be fun. It's something different, yeah?"

"Well, sometimes different isn't good. I'm sorry, I'm not gonna perform for you with that daft looking alien in the corner."

"Oh, once we get going, you won't even notice it!" Rose said, waving her hand dismissively.

Memory Alan rolled his eyes while she shut the door.

"I can't believe you talked me into this," he said.

"And she talked you into the tattoo, Brother," the Doctor said to his Alan. "She just leads you around like a sheep, doesn't she?"

"Yup, I do," Rose said, patting his head while they laughed.

"Come on, love," memory Rose said, starting to take off his trousers. "Just relax and have fun with it, yeah?"

"Okay, we've seen enough of this," Donna yelled out. "Change to something else!"

"No, we wanna relive this memory," Alan said, giving her an evil grin.

"Well, I'm leaving then. You lot have fun!" Donna said.

Alan grabbed a hold of her and put his arm around her.

"Oh alright, Brother, show them what you lot were doing while I was shagging on a UFO bed."

"Um, we went to this spa to get pampered except we ended up getting walked on and got put in hot and cold water and sweated to death while our nostril hairs got singed. So no more of that ever," the Doctor said while the women giggled. "But after that, we decided to go to this theme park that had this bizarre statue towering over it. For some reason the statue was scowling. Um, so I'll show you this weird park we went to?"

"Even weirder than rip-off Disney?" Jack asked.

"Um…no, but it was weird enough," the Doctor said.

He closed his eyes and the scene shifted to the middle of the theme park. The Doctor pointed to the angry man statue in the distance.

"Ooookay," Jack said while they laughed. "What's the point of it? Hello, welcome to our theme park, now piss off?"

"Yes, you're probably right, Jack," the Doctor said.

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All of them were laughing hysterically while they watched them going through the rides.

"Okay, what's the point of the animals being frozen in the fake ice?" Donna said.

"It's Ice World," the Doctor said to her.

"And is it supposed to be a comment on what happens if global warming occurs?" Jack said. "I mean The Day After Tomorrow they had the killer ice. Is this the same thing?"

"I haven't the foggiest, Jack. I'm just showing you what we saw and we saw penguins and polar bears and seals half frozen in ice. I don't know what that signifies."

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"This is great! I love the whole PLEASE WASTE sign on the trash can," Jack said to the Doctor.

"Yes, but please waste what?" the Doctor said while they laughed.

"I like the log flume ride you can't get wet on," Donna said.

"Yes, that was a snooze and a half," Awinita said. "I don't know if Japanese people are afraid of getting wet but the point of the ride is to get wet not to sit there and stare out the Plexiglas windows.

The Doctor chuckled and he shifted the scene. The women giggled when they saw Panic Jungle.

"Panic Jungle? Sounds dangerous," Jack said.

"It's not, Jack, trust me," the Doctor said while the women laughed harder.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Everyone was in pain from laughter while they watched the lazy boat ride.

"Was this a joke, Dad?" Jenny asked.

"Um…I don't know, Angel. I have a feeling it wasn't. I have a feeling they were being very serious," the Doctor said.

"Wow, elephant statue, that's enough to make you panic right there," Jack said to the Doctor.

"I know, I couldn't stop my hearts from beating out of my chest when I saw it. Almost as horrifying as when Rain and I rode the catch the imaginary poacher ride at Disneyworld."

They all laughed at the shocked look on the Doctor's face when the ride ended.

"Um, I hope you recovered from the disappointment, Doc," Jack said to him.

"I did but it took several hours," he replied.

They watched while they walked over to The Dark. Jack snickered.

"What was this one, a series of dark rooms with nothing in it?"

"Actually no although you would think so after Panic Jungle," the Doctor said to him.

They went inside it.

"Oh, it's the ones where they just have horror scenes," Jack said, rolling his eyes. "You know, I've never ever found a decent haunted house that has actually scared me."

"Neither have I…although apparently Rose has."

He gave her a pointed look and she flipped him off while everyone giggled.

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"What the hell?" Jack said while they stared at the weird statues. "Who are these people? Especially the superhero with the toast head."

"And the one with the bowl for a head," Donna said. "Are these actual Japanese cartoon characters or something?"

"I have no idea," the Doctor said.

"Okay, where's Imiko when you need her?" the Doctor said. "I wanna know who white bread superhero man and bowl for a head is."

"Yeah, where was your little Japanese fox spirit friend?" Jack asked.

"Who knows? She told us she didn't want to go to the spa so she went somewhere else. We found out later the reason why she didn't is because kitsune's true selves are reflected in water and mirrors which is why she kept acting oddly when we'd wanna ride water rides and she didn't."

"She told us when she got back she went to the park for awhile," Rose said. "Dunno if she did or not but that was her excuse."

"Probably went home to the spirit world to visit her foxy family or something," Alan said. "Don't get me wrong, she was nice to us and she allowed everyone to become Time Ladies but before we found out who she really was, we though she was the oddest person we'd ever seen in our lives."

They finished with the theme park and moved on to the time spent at the capsule hotel. Jack, Donna and Jenny's mouths dropped open.

"You lot slept in coffin rooms?" Donna said while they laughed.

"They weren't that bad. They were actually comfortable for what they were but yes, they were teeny and us tall people had to kinda cram into them."

The Doctor switched to his memories and they watched while he and Rain talked to Aika.

"Blast, we never did take her up on her offer to spend the night with her, did we?" Alan said. "We need to go back for a visit. She's probably wondering why we didn't come visit."

"Well, I still have the numbers of the people I met in the baths and I promised to call them and never did," Rain said to them. "It's because we got the TARDIS back and just got caught up in traveling and I forgot."

"Eh, I'm sure giving out the phone numbers was more a courtesy thing," the Doctor said. "I'm sure they go to the baths all the time, meet people and give out their phone numbers to people who never call. Aika too. I doubt she's in her flat waiting patiently for us to come by."

He nudged Alan.

"If I were you, I'd skip the memory of the baths, I'm sure Jack's head will explode from seeing all the naked people."

"You know, Doctor, I can control my urges. I'm not horny 24/7," Jack said while they laughed. "You do notice that I haven't forced myself on the six women in this room, right?"

"I'm sure you're just waiting till we duck out to pee," Alan said.

Jack flipped them off while they laughed.

"Besides which, the memory of the baths involves us and the women being starkers and although you've seen me naked I'd rather not show you Rose and I'm sure the Doctor doesn't want you seeing Rain so I will skip it."

"Whatever, you two," Jack muttered while they giggled.

"Besides, Brother, we saw Donna's reaction the last time you were naked in front of her."

"Oh yes, that too!" Alan said. "Yes, I forgot the whole screaming at me to go get some kit on so yes, I'll skip it too for her benefit. But we got the geisha photos which were absolutely gorgeous and the family photo and then we went camping which was stellar."

He brought up an image of their campsite and gestured to it.

"See, we had everyone in a circle. Me and Rose, Doctor and Rain, Awinita and Mingxia and Foxy off by herself which is probably how she preferred it. Anyway, this is how we spent our nights. We'd leave the flap open and talk to each other and the Doctor and Rain would work on their little amusement park."

"We need to start that up again, Latara. I miss that," the Doctor said to her.

"Me too," Rain said.

"What amusement park, Dad?" Jenny asked.

The Doctor brought up his memory of them working on the DS game. He zoomed into the screen and showed them the memory. They stared at it while they heard memory Doctor and Rain discussing where to put things.

"And you build your own theme park?" Jack said, staring at it.

"Yes, it's called Roller Coaster Tycoon. She got a Nintendo DS for her birthday and this was one of the games they got her. It was really addicting. Although…"

He shifted the memory and Rain smacked his chest while they watched a roller coaster train go off the track, hurtle through the air and explode.

"This kept happening whenever Rain tried to build a proper roller coaster because she wouldn't listen to me about G forces!" the Doctor said while they laughed. "We kept losing people left and right because of her."

"Not again," they heard memory Doctor saying. "How many times am I gonna have to witness the slaughter of innocent holidaymakers because you can't build a working roller coaster?"

"I'm trying! Alright? I'm still trying to get the hang of this," they heard Rain say.

"And while you're trying to get the hang of it, you're scaring off everyone else."

"Oh…bite me, Doctor."

The Doctor froze the memory and smiled.

And that was our little theme park game that we played while we were out in the woods. So that was one of the ways we passed the time there. But moving on, I will now show you this memory…"

The scene shifted to the countryside. Alan and Rose laughed when he showed them the women skipping to Dancing Queen. They laughed harder when Rain fell.

"WOMAN DOWN!" memory Alan screamed. "STOP YOUR DAFT SKIPPING AND HELP HER!"

"Problem staying on your feet, Rain?" Jack said.

Rain flipped him off and he winked at her.

"So, you were basically acting like a bunch of barmy gits singing and dancing across Japan?"

"Yup," Alan said. "We had one aim in mind…to entertain the Japanese with our antics! But we weren't there long because we decided to go on to Kyoto in time for the Doctor and Rain's actual birthdays so we took the train and found a nice hostel and met two lovely British people called John and Sophia and while we were there, I convinced Brother to go ahead and propose to Rain."

The Doctor held his wife close and brought up the memory of their proposal.

"Oh good, we get to see them propose now," Rose said to her husband.

"Yes, we all went out to dinner and the other girls went to a nightclub with John and Sophia while this was happening."

They watched the Doctor and Rain sitting in the garden. They laughed when the Doctor went on and on and on explaining things to Rain.

"Ramble much, Doc?" Jack said to him.

"I was getting up the nerve to propose to her, Harkness."

"Well, I'm surprised Rain didn't fall asleep waiting for you to get up the nerve," Jack replied.

They let out an "Aw!" when he finally asked her and laughed when she pinched her arm.

"Oh blimey, I love the reaction you had, Te'lesu," Alan said, walking over and putting his arm around her. "That was classic."

"I'm sorry, I thought I was dreaming for a moment, Bro," Rain said.

"And the thought never crossed your mind that he took you out there to do that?" Mingxia said.

"Uh…no," she said while he laughed.

"She still had her low self esteem then, bless," the Doctor said patting her on the head.

"And you immediately got married. You don't waste time, Doc," Jack said.

"He convinced me to do that. Propose and have the secret wedding before the one you saw and I decided to take his advice," the Doctor said, pointing to Alan.

"Which was nice because we got to see their wedding but it wasn't like the one in London where we had all of you. We had us and we invited John and Sophia to it because you noticed ours was just four people and the wedding reception was lonely. And it wasn't much better since there were the six of us and John and Sophia. But this is their traditional Shinto wedding."

"If you show it, you have to show the reception when you were forced to sing for us," the Doctor said to him.

Alan rolled his eyes while they laughed.

"Sing?" Donna said.

"Yes, apparently it's traditional at a wedding reception to give a speech and sing a song for the bride and groom and we had to do that for them and the Doctor just loved it to death. Thank God we didn't repeat it in London. But yes, this is their wedding and the daft reception afterwards."

Jenny hugged her mother from behind.

"Oh, I love what you're wearing, mum," she said.

"I did too. It was nice and comfortable and your father looked so handsome that day," Rain said.

Jack watched the ceremony with interest.

"You know, I wonder if I could convince Yan to get married this way."

He shrugged when everyone gave him a shocked look. The Doctor paused the memory.

"Well, I do love the guy, you know," he said.

"So when are you gonna propose then?" Awinita said.

"I don't know. I don't know if he'll accept."

"Um…yes but that's the purpose of proposing, Jack. Finding out if he'll accept," Alan said. "The man loves ya. We can see that. Why not do it and get it over with?"

Jack shrugged.

"I might. I need a romantic setting though."

"I'll be willing to take you anywhere, anytime in the TARDIS," the Doctor said. "And if this is what you want then you can get married like we did in Kyoto. If you want to be married to him, I'll help out."

Jack considered that.

"Let me get back to ya, Doc," he said. "But let me see the rest of the ceremony first."

The Doctor shrugged and started up the memory again.

"This is a legal thing, right?" Jack said to the Doctor.

"I s'pose it's legal. I'm sure Rain and I aren't the only ones to get married this way. Why? Are you concerned if you don't say I do it isn't valid or something? Because many planets have weddings similar to this and it's legal and binding. I felt married to Rain after we did it. In fact, this felt more natural to me than the Christian wedding we had in London. Are you concerned if you did this it wouldn't be recognized in Cardiff?"

"Yeah, but I would rather have what you're doing here than a Christian wedding. This is beautiful with the water and cups of sake and the blessing."

"Well, if you're that concerned about it being recognized in Britain, ask before you do it. It doesn't matter to me because I don't live in England and I don't have to worry about Rain not inheriting my things if I die and other concerns like that. But in my mind, I got married twice to her and this was the first time. In the end it doesn't matter anyway. This is just words and rings and London was words and rings and signing a piece of paper. It just makes the love we have between each other official and legal but as I said, we could have just stood in a field and pledged to be husband and wife and it would have worked for us since we live here in the TARDIS."

"This is nice though. I think Yan would like it too. I definitely have to keep this in mind," Jack said to him when the wedding finished.

The Doctor giggled when Alan shot him a look.

"And now…on to your reception if you have the wedding in Kyoto."

They giggled at the speeches and songs while the Doctor and Rain sat on the stage.

"Yup, I am definitely gonna do this and make all of you do this to us," Jack said.

"Mum, if he does, can I go hide for the day?" Jenny asked Rain.

"Only if I can hide with you," she said to her.

Jack sniggered.

"Loved the humiliation everyone went through. I gotta do this to my team. I gotta see Martha, Mickey and Gwen tell us how fabulous we are and sing. That'll be great!"

The Doctor glanced at Alan and they rolled their eyes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So. Afterwards, Rain and I had two honeymoons. One in Kyoto and one that John graciously paid for where we went to Orlando and Disneyworld. So I saw what Brother and his family saw and rode the same rides and found out what all the fuss was about when he kept gushing about Expedition Everest."

"Brilliant ride," Alan said to Jack.

"And we did a bit more than they did because we went to a couple of Orlando attractions like Gatorland and this mystery dinner that was fun and we went to Typhoon Lagoon which they missed because of the hurricane. But we finished up early and went to Daytona Beach and went through a ghost walk the night we got there and…"

The Doctor whispered to Rain who nodded.

"Okay, just seeking my wife's permission to show this because this happened while we were in a graveyard there but…I'll let you see my wife's point of view since it happened to her."

Rain nodded and showed them the memory of her assault. Everyone watched in horror while the drunk man tried to rape her and cheered when the Doctor came to her rescue. Alan was livid thinking how close his sister came to being violated. He suddenly had a though and a smile spread across his face.

"Te'lesu, can you pause this memory please?" he asked her.

Rain frowned and paused it. They watched while Alan ran back towards the front door. He went outside and returned ten minutes later with a grin on his face.

"Now, can you do me a huge favor. Back this memory up and play it again?"

"Why?" Rain said.

"Just…humor me, Te'lesu."

Rain glanced at the Doctor, shrugged and started the memory from the beginning. They watched while the drunken man pressed her up against the mausoleum.

"Hey there, cutie," the drunken man slurred. "You out with the ghost tour? Why don't I give ya a little something special as a souvenir?"

they blinked when Alan came around the corner of the mausoleum. They watched while he tapped the drunken man on the shoulder. He smiled at him when the man turned around.

"Hi there. Fancy being unconscious?" Alan said to him.

Without another word, he slugged him and knocked him out. Memory Rain stared at the unconscious man in shock.

"Bro? How'd you get here?" memory Rain said to him.

"I'm your guardian angel, Te'lesu. I have the ability to see you wherever you are, fly though the air all the way from Japan and knock out soused rapists in your defense. I'm just being a good little brother."

He patted his stunned sister on the head and whistling, he walked back around the corner of the mausoleum.

"Pause the memory, Te'lesu!" he called back over his shoulder as he turned the corner.

Actual Rain paused the memory and Alan walked back to them.

"How the hell did you do that?" Jack said.

"The simulation room allows you to program who you can interact with and how much you can interact with them. I walked outside and programmed this memory so I'd be visible and be able to interact with anyone in it so I could personally punch the git. I only did that for me which is why Rain's memory only saw me. Now that I've punched the wanker, I'll go back out and make myself invisible again. Excuse me."

He walked away. Jack stared at him in shock while everyone laughed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They viewed the rest of the ghost tour and groaned when they didn't see any ghosts.

"Not a sausage, Brother?" Alan said.

"Nope. No ghosts. But it was interesting all the same. Other than my wife being attacked, It was a pleasant evening."

"And I'm so glad the simulation room lets you interact with people. Felt good punching him," Alan said. "I'm sorry I startled you lot. We should have mentioned you can do that if you want."

"Actually, that's what the Rani did to us," Rain said to him. "She programmed it so if a Dalek hit us we really would die."

Alan sighed angrily.

"And I talked to Dad's eighth self as well," Jenny said.

"Really? And…" Alan said.

"He was nice but I didn't know it was Dad until this Dad talked to him and he called himself Doctor."

"That must have been odd for her. Two versions on yourself in the same space," Jack said to him.

"Well, I did have to hear her ask why I was wearing Edwardian clothes in the middle of a war zone," the Doctor said, eyeing Jenny while she giggled. "And how odd I looked and why wasn't I wearing camouflage and other rubbish like that. But yes, Rain and I knew you could do that while you're in here."

The Doctor paused and glanced at Alan.

"Yes, go on," Jack said.

"Well, um…after the honeymoon was when we had to go up and face the Valeyard and it wasn't very pleasant for us," the Doctor said. "Basically Alan and I switched places so the Valeyard tortured me and Rose while Alan fixed his TARDIS and freed it."

"And then Imiko revealed herself and brought Awinita and Mingxia on board so they could fix the TARDIS."

"And Rain came and got me," Donna said.

Jack stared at her.

"You were the one who got Donna? How? I thought you were in the other universe when this was happening."

"We were, but Imiko took me over to get his TARDIS," Rain said, laying her hand on the Doctor's shoulder. She showed it to me and turned me into a Time Lady and I asked her to do the same to Donna and everyone else."

"Wait, you were the one who had to confront Donna's mother?" Jack said, amused.

"Yup."

"Can we see that? I wanna see you trying to convince Donna to go back with you."

Rain grinned and showed them the memory.

"Oh thank heavens, you saw Wilf first," the Doctor said while they watched her talk to him.

They finished the conversation and watched while Wilf headed inside to get Donna. They laughed when he came out with Donna and a pissed off Sylvia.

"Oh my poor wife. You were on your tod facing Sylvia Noble. I'm glad you survived it without me."

"What is that? Is that one of those old police boxes?" memory Donna was saying to Wilf. "Are you having me on? Did Neris put you up to this…who're you?"

"Donna Noble, my name is Rain. I am the wife of the Doctor."

"Doctor who?"

"The Doctor, the man you once traveled with."

"Excuse me a moment," memory Sylvia said. "Look,young lady, I don't know what that man told you but he told us never to mention his name to my daughter or it'd kill her! Are you trying to kill my daughter?"

They laughed.

"Oh bugger, give me the Valeyard any day. I'd rather face him than Sylvia. Oh Latara, you were brave to go and face her especially after she made it clear she hated what I did to her daughter."

"What the hell is that thing?" memory Donna said, pointing at Imiko. "Where the hell did Neris find that ugly costume? I swear I'm gonna kill her!"

They laughed and the Doctor put his arm around Donna.

"I can only imagine how this must have been for you. You come out the door and there's a crazy woman and a fox thing trying to pull you into a police box," he said while she laughed and nodded.

"Not to mention mum was trying to pull me back," Donna added.

They laughed when Imiko yelled at Sylvia and she meekly submitted.

"Bless Imiko for doing that," Alan said. "No wonder she never wants to speak to us again. This happened!"

The Doctor squeezed Donna around the middle when they saw her memories restored to her and she became a Time Lady.

"And bless Imiko for taking my wife over there to get you," he said to Donna. "You needed to be with us just as much as they did."

"Yup. Our ginger sister, can't be a family without ya," Alan said.

"So, after that, you came back over?" Jack said to Rain.

"Yeah, came back to the TARDIS and met up with Alan, Mingxia and Awinita and he used the Doctor's TARDIS to boost the power of the other TARDIS so it could be free. But Imiko had also bonded with me which I guess kitsune can do so she was inside protecting me while we set a trap for the Valeyard."

She glanced up at the Doctor.

"Your turn, Love?"

"Well, um…yes, but I'm purposely skipping over the torture. I really don't want you seeing what he did to me and Rose because it's not pretty and I'm sure Rose doesn't want to see it either."

"No."

"So, I'll just say Nutty zapped us both and then did a mind probe on me and found out it was me and not Alan and was going to check on where Alan was when in walks Ginger Gal here…"

He started it from the point Donna walked in the room.

"Wow, that must have been freaky after being tortured," Jack said.

"Yes, very," the Doctor said. "As you just heard, I thought I was hallucinating her."

"So you had to make this big show of loving Rain to draw old ugly and nutty to ya," Alan said.

"Well, draw him to Imiko. She was the one who was going to destroy him," the Doctor replied. "And she doesn't remember it because I told Imiko emphatically not to let her remember her killing someone, even if the person she was killing was pure evil."

"And he never gave a shit until now about anyone except you and Alan and Rose," Jack said to the Doctor.

"Yup, but he really should have since he should have figured out that even if I were kept under his thumb, Alan's sisters would have fought for him. But that's why he's a stupid git," he said. "He made the mistake of underestimating them and he paid the price."

"So, he's gone now?" Jack said.

"Well, he's gone from the future. As I was telling my family, I'll still have to face him because centuries ago he kidnapped all thirteen of my lives to use as batteries to power these golems of his and obviously this life and the three after it will be taken sometime in future. Which means they'll have to witness it four separate times but that's a part of the past and can't be changed. As for future events, he won't be around to plague the universe any longer."

They finished watching the battle and the Doctor showed them the wedding in London for Jenny's benefit. When he was finished, everyone applauded.

"So now you know what happened basically from the time of the Crucible to the wedding," the Doctor said.

"This was brilliant," Jack said. "I mean, it's been a real eye-opener and I'm glad you did it while I was with you. Now I can go back and just bore the rest of my team with what I saw."

"Oh, you'll be doing much the same as Alan then," Donna said.

They laughed while Alan chased her around the room for a moment before he gave her a hug. After that, the Doctor ordered the simulation switched off and everyone exited the room together.


	67. Chapter 67

Chapter Sixty Seven

After viewing the memories in the simulation room, the Doctor decided to take a break and go collect his mail and get a newspaper. He headed to the post office he used most frequently. Jack was taken aback while they walked inside.

"I didn't know you had a post office box, Doc."

"I have several actually, all throughout time and space. But this is where the majority of my mail goes to so I come here often."

"But who writes you? Your companions?"

"No, just friends I've met down through the centuries. They've never traveled with me but I like to hear from them and I like receiving mail."

He went to check his box while his family waited. Awinita was standing nearby when she felt Alan's arms wrap around her. She looked at him.

"DVDs?" he said hopefully.

She laughed.

"Not lately. I haven't ordered any more. Why? Do you wanna watch more?"

"Am I a clone of the man over there?" Alan said pointing to the Doctor.

"Dunno, is he a clone of you maybe?"

Alan grinned at her and leaned into her ear.

"I like to think so, Te'lesu, it makes me feel superior," he said while she snickered.

He leaned up and winked at her.

"I guess I could order some more. Do you want something?"

"You're asking me?" he said, delighted.

"Yeah, I mean I might as well ask everyone now since everyone watches them."

"Well, I'll have to think about what I want but you're so kind to do this, Te'lesu. You're a super stellar sister."

"I know," Awinita said airily while Alan kissed her cheek.

He noticed the Doctor had his reading glasses on and was reading a letter while everyone else milled around the room. He noticed more junk mail in his hand and he noticed one in particular. He sauntered over and took the junk mail from his hand. Turning, he looked at Rain.

"Oh Raaaain," he said to her.

She walked over and noticed the junk mail.

"No thanks, I learned my lesson the last time," she said while both brothers laughed.

"Yes, but this one is entertaining. And it doesn't scream at you, I promise. Watch."

Alan showed her one that resembled a brochure. On the front was a photo of a woman who was pure white with black zebra stripes running down her body. She had long white horse mane for hair and a bushy white horse tail. She had human hands and horse hooves for feet. She had on powder blue thong underwear and a sport bra. The caption above her read.

OPEN NOW AND SPEND AN EVENING WITH SHAWNA.

Alan and his brother shared a grin and Alan opened the brochure while the Doctor resumed reading. Alan laid it flat in his hands and a tiny hologram of Shawna popped up out of a disc inside the brochure.

"Hello there," she said in a sultry voice. "I'm Shawna. It's nice to meet you, Doctor."

Rain raised her eyebrows and looked at her husband.

"I have never spent an evening with Shawna. They get your name off mailing lists same as Earth and then they incorporate them into the little presentation to personalize it."

He went back to reading his letter while Rain watched Shawna.

"Have you ever fantasized about spending the night with a Centauron like me?" Shawna purred. "Centaurons are the sexiest horse humans in the galaxy and you can find that out if you act now."

"No thanks, Shawna, I have the sexiest Gallifreyan human in the galaxy right here by my side," the Doctor said while he kept his eyes on his letter.

"We Centaurons can go all night long!"

"You can?" Jack said, peering over Alan's shoulder.

The Doctor laughed while his brother groaned and eyed him. By now, the rest of the family was gathered around.

"Is this one a screamer too, Bro?" Awinita said to the Doctor.

"Nope, but it's a lewd, crude one, much to Jack's delight," the Doctor said, putting the first page of the letter behind the second one and reading on.

"We are the greatest lovers and I am the best. Wanna find out for yourself? Then say yes now."

"Don't you dare, Jack," the Doctor said, glancing at him.

"Don't answer it because it'll scream abuse at you," Rain said to Jack.

"No, it won't, Te'lesu. But watch what it does if you don't answer."

The Doctor rolled his eyes and sighed.

"You had to pick that one, didn't ya, Brother?" he muttered.

"Why? What's wrong, Love? What does it do?"

"Watch, Latara, so Brother will get his laughs," the Doctor said, glancing at her.

She watched along with everyone else. No one said a word and Shawna seemed to be waiting. Then she smiled seductively.

"You haven't answered yet, Doctor. Perhaps this will help in your decision," Shawna purred.

Their eyes widened when she began to pull off her sport bra.

"Oh hell yeah!" Jack said, resting his chin on Alan's shoulder.

The Doctor glanced over.

"Donna, move up a bit and block the view of Shawna disrobing so the whole post office doesn't get turned on," he said to her.

Donna nodded and moved in between Alan and Mingxia blocking the view. Shawna took off her bra and began to fondle her breasts.

"See these; these can be yours, Doctor, if you say yes."

They laughed at the exasperated look on the Time Lord's face. She began to finger her black nipples while she made a whinnying sound in her throat.

"Alien junk mail is fascinating. This beats Publisher's Clearing House any day," Awinita said.

"Do you want me? Say yes!" Shawna moaned.

"Close it, Brother. They've seen enough and they don't need to see her taking her knickers off now."

Jack groaned when Alan closed it.

"Can I have that?"

"No," the Doctor said to him. "Because it's something like 50 credits for a free peek at her doing lewd things and suddenly it charges 500 credits a minute while she goes further and that goes to my account. You get your own post office box and you can get Shawna all ya want."

Alan handed it back to him just in case and the Doctor put it inside his jacket while Alan opened the next piece of junk mail. A little holographic cartoon bubble popped up. It whipped a straw hat and wooden cane out of thin air and began to whistle cheerfully and tap dance for everyone. Once it was finished, it tipped its hat.

"Hello, Doctor, I'm Bubbly the wonder bubble. I'm here today with a song and a dance and a fabulous offer for you."

Rain, who was standing in front of the advertisement, was amazed when Bubbly walked over to the edge of the brochure and looked right at her.

"Hello there, are you Doctor?" he said to her.

Rain glanced at Alan.

"It's okay, you can answer this one," he said to her.

"Um…no, I'm not," Rain said to Bubbly.

"What's your name?"

Rain glanced at Alan who nodded.

"Rain."

"Rain, do you know the Doctor?"

Rain glanced at Alan who snickered and nodded. She gave Bubbly a wary look.

"Ye..eah," she said.

"Oh, I see. Would you like a free sample of Bubbl-eez, the wonderful cleansing detergent?"

"Um…yeah."

There was a flash and a small blue package of Bubbl-eez materialized at her feet. Rain picked it up and examined it for a moment before looking at Bubbly.

"Thanks," she said.

"You're very welcome. Enjoy," Bubbly said. "May I ask how you know Doctor?"

"Um…he's my husband."

"Husband? Ah, well, tell your bastard husband I've tried nearly 50 times to interest him in a free sample and the wanker didn't want it," he said pleasantly.

The Doctor eyed Bubbly while everyone else roared with laughter.

"Tell me something, sweet kindly Rain, is this your husband?"

A small photo came up. Rain's eyes bulged when she saw a headshot of her husband's sixth life. She looked at him and he shook his head and put his finger to his lips.

_The reason he has that picture is because I've been getting these adverts for centuries now and that's the most recent photo they have of me,_ he thought to them. _Just let him think that's how I look now, Latara._

_Well, I wouldn't be lying, I guess, _She thought back.

"Yes, that's my husband," Rain said to Bubbly.

"Really? He's quite ugly and very fat."

Rain's mouth dropped open while everyone giggled. She looked at her husband.

"What's the deal with these junkmail things abusing people who don't want their stuff?" she said to him.

"Just the way it is. Alien junk mail is much more aggressive than Earth junk mail. And I think our friend is trying to get your attention, actually."

Rain looked at Bubbly who was waving his arms while he stared at her. He smiled when she turned her attention back to him and produced a Biro out of thin air. He walked over to the photo of the Doctor and everyone except Rain laughed when he used it to draw devil horns and a Fu Manchu mustache on his picture. He turned back to Rain after he was finished and gave her a smug smile. Rain looked at Alan.

"I think I've seen enough," she said to him.

Alan closed it, put it in his pocket and opened the next one. He held it out while a smartly dressed holographic man appeared and clasped his hands in front of his stomach.

"Hello there, Doctor," he said with a somber look. "Thank you for taking the time to look at this advert. I'm here today to talk to you about purzey. Purzey is a crippling illness, a devastating one that affects men of all ages and yet not many people know about it. Are you aware of what purzey is, Doctor?"

There was a pause and the man seemed to be waiting. Rain glanced at the Doctor and leaned in.

"No, I'm not aware of what purzey is," she said.

The man shook his head sadly.

"Sadly, Doctor, you are not alone in your ignorance. Purzey is a devastating disease. What is it? Well, basically your genitals are sucked back up into your body where they travel up through your body into your esophagus and grow out your mouth where they stay permanently."

"What?" Rain said while they laughed. "Are they serious? People's genitals grow out of their mouth?"

"Um, I think so, yeah," the Doctor said, amused.

A little holographic ten year old boy appeared beside the man. Their eyes bugged out when they saw the boy's penis coming out of his mouth.

"This is Ellis," the man said, pointing to him. "Ellis has purzey and now he can no longer live a normal life. The poor soul is constantly teased. He is called Dickmouth and Genital Gob by cruel, heartless people. He needs to be fed through a tube in his stomach and has to wear underwear over his head with eye holes cut out of it so he won't be arrested for public indecency."

Everyone laughed in spite of themselves. The man seemed to hear and grew angry.

"This is no laughing matter, I assure you!" he said sternly. "Every year, ten more people are affected by this disease. Ten!"

"Wow, ten, that's alarming," Rose said dryly.

"Now, Starlight, have some compassion for Genital Gob there."

Alan grinned while they all tried to stifle their laughter.

"Please, Doctor, I implore you. Give generously to the Purzey Foundation. Every credit counts. Would you like to donate now?"

The man waited patiently for a response. Rain looked at her husband.

"You wanna help out Dickmouth, dear?" she said while they laughed.

"No," he said, winking.

"You sure, Doctor. You might end up with purzey if they don't find a cure," Donna said.

"I'll take my chances then," the Doctor said.

They looked down at the man who was still patiently waiting. Rain looked at Alan.

"If I say no, will I get screamed at?" Rain asked.

"Not sure, Te'lesu," Alan said.

"Just close it then. I don't want him telling my husband he's a heartless bastard because he won't give to the Purzey Foundation," she said.

Alan closed it up and put it in his pocket.

"Well, Brother, that's your junk mail for today and Rain got a free sample of something that'll probably turn your clothes blue."

Rain looked down at it.

"Have you ever used Bubbl-eez?" she asked the Doctor.

"No and Brother's right, I'm sure it'll turn our clothes several colors. I'd just leave it behind if I were you."

Rain nodded and sat it down on the floor before all of them followed the Doctor out the front door.


	68. Chapter 68

Chapter Sixty Eight

Rose walked through the corridor on her way to the console room. Alan was nowhere in sight and she wanted to interest him in a game of badminton. She stepped into the console room and noticed that the TARDIS had landed somewhere and the Doctor was fiddling with a small silver box that was resting on the jump seat. She glanced around but he was the only one in the room. Shrugging, she turned to leave.

"Going somewhere, my willing volunteer?"

She turned back around and saw the Doctor smiling at her with a gleam in his eye.

"That's why you're in here, right? To volunteer?" he said, winking.

"Depends on what I'm volunteering for."

"Oh it's nothing hard. I just need you to watch the monitor while I do a scan of the atmosphere on Rigel Seven. This device is old and a bit wonky so I wanna stay with it just in case it needs adjusting. I was going to send out a call and ask someone to help but then you graciously wandered in and here you are. Please help out, Rose? It'll take no more than thirty minutes and then you can resume whatever it is you were doing."

"Okay," Rose said, walking towards him.

"Splendid, knew I could count on you. You just have to do what you did when I was trying to trap the "ghost." Just keep an eye on the monitor for me."

Rose nodded. She stood by the Doctor while he inputted a few commands. Then he knelt down, opened a hatch and attached some wires to some circuits underneath the console. Then he grabbed the scanner and carried it out the door while a long black wire unfolded behind him. Rose sat down on the jump seat and kept her eyes on the monitor which for the moment wasn't registering anything. There was a flicker and she saw Ready To Scan on the monitor. It was written in Gallifreyan. She waited for something else to happen and leaned her head back after a few minutes when it still said Ready To Scan.

"Love? Are you in here?"

Rose looked over when Rain peeked into the room.

"He's outside," she said, pointing to the open door. "He's running some kind of atmospheric scan and he convinced me to keep an eye on the monitor."

"Where are we?" Rain said, keeping her eye on the open door while she walked over to her.

"Rigel Seven. He didn't say what he was scanning for though," Rose said, shrugging while she sat down.

Rain stared at the wire running from the console out the door. She glanced out the door.

"Looks like a nice sunny day from here," she said, shrugging.

Rose shrugged with her.

"Who knows? I was trying to find Alan to see if he wanted to play badminton and stepped in here and the Doctor spotted me. But he asked nicely and I told him I'd do this for him."

"Does he do this often?" Rain said. "This is the first time I've seen him do this since I've known him."

"Nah, he only did it one other time since I've known him and that was right before the Battle of Canary Wharf. Back when everyone thought the Cybermen were ghosts, he was trying to triangulate their position and he used this force field to trap one so he could get a reading. I was in here with mum doing what I'm doing now."

"Your mom was in here with you?"

Rose smiled.

"Yeah, she thought one of the Cybermen ghosts was my granddad, so she was upset with the Doctor because she thought he was ruining it for everyone who thought their loved ones had come back from the dead. She quickly found out they weren't ghosts though but yes, she was here beside me watching while I helped him and giving me a hard time about it."

"What did she say to you?"

Rose rolled her eyes.

"Told me that I was becoming more and more like the Doctor and pretty soon I was gonna be this strange woman that she wouldn't even know. We'd just gotten back from this alien bazaar and she told me eventually I'd be this alien woman on some bazaar somewhere and I wouldn't be Rose Tyler anymore, I wouldn't even be human."

"Well, she was right about the not being human part," Rain said while Rose smiled and nodded.

"Yup and I became Gallifreyan so I guess I did technically turn into the Doctor," Rose said.

"I don't understand though. Why did your mom say you wouldn't be you just because you were helping out the Doctor?"

Rose rolled her eyes.

"Because she used to act like Sylvia does now. She hated the Doctor for taking me away and showing me the universe when I should have stayed at home and gotten a job and grown up on a council estate like she did."

Rose smiled.

"Council estate is the British equivalent of The Projects in America," she said.

Rain nodded.

"So your mom wanted you to grow up being poor and being around gangs?" Rain said.

"Well…Powell Estate doesn't have that much gang activity around it but yes, that's pretty much what she was envisioning for me."

"I don't get you and Donna's mothers. I know Amber acted that way but not my dad. My dad was thrilled when I started traveling with the Doctor because I would have a better life. I mean, we weren't dirt poor but we weren't rich either and dad always wanted me to have it easier than I did. I thought that's what most parents wanted for their kids."

"Well, I can't speak for Donna and her mum but I think my mum is a bit jealous of me because I do get to travel time and space and not have any domestic responsibilities. What she doesn't understand is I have a larger responsibility now because now I have to worry about defending time and space especially since I am a Time Lady but that's my theory about why she resented me being with the Doctor. Out here I'm free just like we all are. We can go anywhere we like and do whatever we want because the Doctor can go anywhere he wants. Most people would kill for this kind of life and here we are living it day to day. Even with all the monsters and fear and death and torment we go through it's still better than working at McDonalds or something like that. My mum is middle aged and I'm sure she feels that she's past her prime and wasted her life and here I am living the kind of life she's only dreamed of with a man who can take me wherever I want to go and fulfill most of my hearts' desires. And she did fancy him too in his last life, don't know about this one though but she did think him handsome when she first met him so I'm also travelin' around with a good lookin' man. Course she has Pete now but still…she's the wife of a billionaire and she has to put on appearances and she has to go to parties and private functions with him and stand there meeting people I'm sure she doesn't want to meet and being bored all night while we're out here having a blast. That's what I think is going on and probably going on with Sylvia and Donna. But mum has kinda accepted the Doctor now and accepted Alan so there's not that bad blood that Donna has with her mum. I hope someday Sylvia will rise above her anger at the Doctor and reconnect with Donna but if not, she has all of us now."

They frowned when they heard a beeping coming from the monitor and turned their attention to it.

"Error," Rain said, reading the screen.

She rose and walked to the front door while Rose watched. The Doctor was standing with his back to the scanner while it sat on the ground. He was scanning the horizon and she noticed storm clouds were gathering in the distance. She headed towards him.

"Thete?" she said when she nearly reached him.

The Doctor turned around and smiled.

"Latara, hi!" he said.

"Thete, um…I was sitting with Rose and your monitor started beeping and it says Error on the screen.

The Doctor groaned.

"I knew it, this thing is misbehaving," he said, kneeling down.

Rain knelt down with him.

"What are you scanning?" she asked while he adjusted some knobs.

He pointed to the storm clouds.

"See that? Rigel Seven gets storms about once every ten years. I calculated when the next one was because I want to take a reading of the atmosphere when it happens. Unfortunately, this is the only scanner that will take the readings I need and the thing's seen better days."

He adjusted another dial.

_Rose, has the beeping stopped?_ He thought to her.

_Yeah, it's stopped now._

_Good. _

_Beeping? That doesn't sound good,_ Awinita thought to them.

The Doctor telepathically explained what he was doing.

Listen, you lot, he thought to them. I want to visually observe the storm while I gather the readings. The TARDIS detected a cave about a quarter mile away so anyone who wants to accompany me is free to do so."

"I will, Thete," she said to him while he smiled at her.

_I'll go,_ Rose thought to him.

_I'll go as well, Brother,_ Alan thought. _I had no idea you were doing this but I wanna observe the storm._

_I'll go too, might be interesting,_ Awinita thought.

_Donna and I are playing chess and we're in the middle of a game so we're gonna pass this time,_ Mingxia thought.

_I'll pass too. Storm watching isn't my thing,_ Jack thought.

_I'll go, Dad,_ Jenny thought.

_Okay. Everyone who is going with me meet me outside the TARDIS then,_ the Doctor thought.

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After making sure the scanner would work properly. The Doctor and the five family members walked away towards the cave. In the distance, thunder rumbled and lightning bolts streaked down from the sky.

"They tend to have violent storms which is why we have to take shelter," the Doctor explained while they walked. "They don't get them very often but when they do, they're whoppers."

"Will we be safe, Dad?" Jenny said.

"Oh yeah, we'll be fine and they'll be fine inside the TARDIS. She has a force field over the door so it can remain open without rain pouring inside. And the storm's still far off. We'll make it before it reaches us."

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"Ah," the Doctor said when they reached the cave and noticed the entrance was several feet up from the ground. There was an outcropping of rock jutting out and he noticed a few handholds.

"I'll give all of you a boost up and then you can help me," the Doctor said while they nodded.

He boosted Alan up and he used a few grooves in the cliff to climb the rest of the way up to the ledge. Then one by one, the Doctor and Alan helped the women up. Finally, all of them reached down and helped the Doctor while he climbed up. By this time, the storm was nearly over there and the thunderbooms vibrated their bodies. They turned and went inside the entrance of the cave. The Doctor and Alan pulled out flashlights and shone them around the spacious interior. Suddenly thunder cracked overhead and the women gasped.

"It's alright, we're safe in here," the Doctor assured them.

There was another crack of thunder and the sky lit up from the lightning. Then the rain came gushing down. It was falling so fast and so hard that they couldn't see anything past the ledge.

"Jesus, are we gonna get flooded?" Awinita said to the Doctor.

"No, the rain won't last more than a few minutes, trust me."

They gasped when another thunderboom shook the cave. Alan let out a low whistle.

"This one is really intense, Brother," he said. "Last one wasn't quite this bad."

"I agree. I hope it really does let up after a few minutes."

Jenny heard a squeak near her foot and looked down. She noticed a little purple puffball with huge eyes. It was nudging her trainer and squeaking.

"Dad?" Jenny said.

The Doctor turned and shined the flashlight on the creature when he noticed her pointing to it. Everyone gathered around and stared at it.

"What is that?" Alan said, bending down and shining his flashlight on it.

He held out his hand and the puffball bounced into it. It bounced up and down on his hand and squeaked while Alan stood up with it. Everyone gathered around and stared at it.

"What is this thing?" Alan said, looking at his brother. "I've never seen anything like this on Rigel Seven."

"Dunno, kinda cute though," the Doctor replied.

They petted it and the creature squeaked. It bounced from Alan's hand onto his shoulder and sat there squeaking. Alan looked at it and then looked outside.

"Rain's stopped," he said, pointing.

They looked with him.

"Good, I'm glad. Well, I s'pose we should head back then and bid our little friend adieu," the Doctor said.

The creature squeaked out a protest when the Doctor grabbed it and set it on the ground. It bounced up and down squeaking at them.

"So long, purple squeaky thing," Alan said while they all walked away.

They slowly climbed down the cliff and followed the Doctor back to the TARDIS. They were walking several feet when the Doctor heard Rose call his name. He turned and saw her pointing back to the puffball who was now following them.

"Oi, shoo! Be off with ya!" the Doctor said, walking up and pushing it away with his hands. "We have enough bodies on the TARDIS without you adding to it. Go back to wherever ya came from!"

The creature squeaked indignantly.

"I don't care if you're angry. We don't want ya on the TARDIS. Our dogs would make you into a dog toy anyway. Now shoo!"

He breathed a sigh of relief when the angry puffball bounced away.

"Now…on towards home," the Doctor said as they resumed walking.

They walked through the woods towards the clearing.

"Love," Rain said, looking behind her. "Um…there are more of them now."

They stopped and turned to see twenty puffballs of various colors following them. While they stood there thirty more bounced into view and all fifty swarmed around their feet squeaking and bouncing up and down.

"Oookay," Awinita said. "We're being harassed by rainbow colored dust bunnies now."

Their eyes bulged when fifty more bounced through the woods towards them.

"What the hell are these things?" Alan said. "Blimey, the buggers really do multiply like dustbunnies."

They were completely hemmed in by the creatures who were bouncing and squeaking at them. A few of them bounced up higher than the others and settled on their shoulders and heads. They looked at each other while those bounced along with their brothers and sisters. Their mouths dropped open when fifty more joined them and by this time they were shin deep in bouncing, squeaking puffballs.

"Right, I believe this has gone far enough," the Doctor said, reaching into his inside jacket pocket for his screwdriver.

He whipped it out, aimed it at the puffballs and turned it on. Immediately the one hundred and fifty puffballs stopped bouncing and stared at the light transfixed.

"I think they think the blue light's pretty but it's not driving them off," Rose commented.

The Doctor cursed and put the screwdriver back in his pocket.

"Right then, we just kick our way through before there's a trillion of these things and we're up to our noses in dust bunny things," he said.

They started goosestepping their way through the puffballs kicking them up into the air. They ignored the enraged squeaks while they tried to get past them. But the faster they kicked them up the more they crowded in and the more puffballs that came to join them until they were nearly hip deep in the squeaking creatures. The Doctor sighed.

_Donna, Mingxia, Jack, could you come outside the TARDIS and come into the woods in front of you? We have a teensy weensy problem,_ the Doctor thought to them.

They stood there, hemmed in by squeaking puffballs until finally they saw their three unencumbered family members coming through the trees towards them. All three froze when they caught sight of them.

"What the hell is that around you guys? Looks like a multicolored sea of shag carpeting," Jack said.

The Doctor plucked one of the puffballs up off the top level and showed it to him.

"These little menaces won't let us leave," he said. "We need help from you lot before more come and we're buried alive in fluff!"

"Did you try your screwdriver?" Donna said.

"Yes and they seem to like the blue light but that's it."

"So, what do we do?" Mingxia asked.

"I haven't the foggiest, Te'lesu," the Doctor said. "I was hoping you three could come up with a solution to this."

"LEAVE!" Jack screamed.

The Doctor raised his eyebrow when none of the puffballs moved.

"No, that doesn't seem to work either, Jack," he said while Alan snickered.

Jack ran towards them.

"BOOGA, BOOGA, BOOGA!" he screamed, flailing his arms around.

The squeaking stopped for a moment and all visible puffball eyes turned towards him. Then suddenly there was a small avalanche of fluff and Jack was completely surrounded by colorful squeaking puffballs. The Doctor raised his hands and clapped sarcastically.

"Bravo, Harkness, now we're down to two," the Doctor said to him.

Donna and Mingxia glanced at each other, at a loss as to what to do.

"We can't ask the TARDIS to land on them because it'll take these things with them," Mingxia said.

"Um…screwdrivers won't work, yelling and screaming doesn't work…" Donna mused.

"Kicking them out of the way doesn't work," Awinita said.

"What are they?" Mingxia asked the Doctor.

"I don't know. Once I get back to the TARDIS, I will classify them as furry menaces from Hell," the Doctor said to her.

"I don't know what to do, Donna. If we do the wrong thing we'll get swarmed like Jack did," Mingxia said.

"Get the dogs?" Donna said, shrugging.

"You honestly think our dogs would be able to chase them off? Jack got buried up to his hips, they'd be buried completely," Alan said to them.

"I would suggest throwing food if they had any mouths," Donna said.

"They'd have to eat, right?" Mingxia said.

"Not necessarily. There are some creatures who don't need external nourishment," the Doctor said.

Donna sighed.

"I don't know what to do except tell you to run as fast as you can and hope for the best."

"Leaf blower, do you have a leaf blower, Bro?" Awinita said to the Doctor.

"Um…I'm not sure. If I do, it's buried in a closet somewhere and by the time they found it, we'd be on our next lives."

"We're gonna have to run for it, Brother. We can't just stand here forever," Alan said.

The Doctor sighed.

"Alright, at the count of three, run as fast and as hard as you can towards the TARDIS and don't look back. Ready? One..Two…"

Suddenly the puffballs began to squeak excitedly and everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they all moved away from them, freeing their bodies.

"Well, apparently they became tired of us," the Doctor said happily. "So let's get back to the TARDIS and…"

Their eyes widened when they heard an enormous grumbling. They turned and saw a puffball 10 feet wide by 10 feet long coming through the woods surrounded by all the tiny puffballs.

"Oh shit, I have a feeling that's mama!" Jack said.

"Everyone, haul ass back to the TARDIS NOW!" the Doctor screamed.

Everyone ran hell for leather back towards the TARDIS. While they did, the baby puffballs tried to get in front of them with the result that they got stepped on or kicked up into the air. They ran faster when the mother puffball let out an enraged roar at the mistreatment of her children and rolled after them.

"That's it, I'm done forever with Rigel bloody Seven!" the Doctor screamed while they made a beeline towards and into the TARDIS.

Reaching down on the way back, the Doctor seized his scanner up, tucked it under his arm and jerked the wire while he ran. The puffball babies swarmed the time ship just as they shut the door and the mother roared while she tried to butt it. They all squeaked and roared in surprise when the TARDIS started dematerializing and the TARDIS vanished from view and flew back into the vortex.


	69. Chapter 69

Chapter Sixty Nine

Alan let out a sigh while he slumped on the sofa in the living room. For about fourteen hours now he had felt lousy and with each passing hour he felt more and more ill. His head was hurting and his stomach was slightly upset. He was trying to rest hoping it would pass but nothing he did made the sickly feelings go away. While he sat there, Rose passed by. She glanced in at him and smiled when she stopped and came inside. He smiled lovingly at her when she leaned down and kissed his forehead. She jerked her head back when she felt how warm his normally cool forehead was.

"Alan? Are you alright?" she said, sitting down beside him and putting her hand against his forehead.

"I feel terrible, Starlight. I'm ill," Alan said.

"Ill? I didn't think we could get ill."

"It's uncommon but not unheard of," Alan said. "I've just got a touch of Gallifreyan flu, I think. I'll be alright, my love. Just let me rest a bit."

Rose thought to the Doctor and told him what was happening. The Doctor appeared a few minutes later, concern etched on his face.

"How long have you had symptoms, Brother?" he said, sitting down on the other side of him.

"'Bout fourteen hours, give or take," he said to him.

"You should have told us sooner, Love," Rose said.

"It's nothing to worry about, Starlight, honestly. I'll be fine," Alan said.

"Well, if you don't mind, I want to check you just to be on the safe side," the Doctor said.

Alan nodded and they stood and walked with him to med bay.

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"Bollocks. Brother, I'm glad we caught this. It's not Gallifreyan flu, it's Marcovainian flu."

"And the difference is…" Rose said.

"The difference is Gallifreyan flu isn't deadly to him, Marcovanian flu is. Brother, we need to take you to the hospital. I don't have the medicines you need onboard and you need to be treated before you end up dead."

He put a hand on Rose's shoulder when he saw the distress on her face.

"Don't worry, we caught it in time. He'll be fine with a bit of tender lovin' care. I'll take him to the best hospital in the universe and we'll get him sorted out so he's back to his fun loving, happy self again."

He patted Rose on the shoulder and hurried out while Rose embraced her husband.

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Two hours later, Alan was checked into Crab Nebula General and was lying in a hospital bed with his family around him. He was in a light cotton hospital gown and had a drip running into his arm. Rose sat near his head stroking his hair while the nurse, who resembled a humanoid toad, checked his temperature.

"I'm afraid it's serious but not critical," the toad informed the Doctor. "Mister Timelord will have to be in hospital for two days at the minimum."

"Ugh! Bollocks!" Alan said, moaning.

"Sorry, Brother, it's for the best. You need to get well before you die," the Doctor said.

Alan sighed and nodded.

"I know but I'm still not happy about it."

"I'll stay with you, Love," Rose said.

"No, Starlight, don't spend all your time in the hospital with me. I'll be fine. Go and have fun with Brother and your family. I'm gonna be fine, honestly."

Rose nodded and they shared a loving kiss.

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The Doctor stood at his console and cast a series of worried glances back at Rose who was sitting on the jump seat worrying about her husband. Finally, he sat down beside her and took her hand.

"Rose, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you about the flu being life threatening. Alan is fine; I told him that to make him understand why he had to go in hospital. Honestly, he won't die so quit worrying, alright?"

She nodded and he smiled while he stroked her hair.

"Look, I think we're all upset and perhaps I can find something that will help to take our minds off the worry, alright?"

Rose nodded and the Doctor leaned back, staring up at the ceiling while he thought of somewhere to take them. A smile slowly crept over his face and he leapt up.

"Where?" Rose said to him.

"I want to show you all something amazing," was all he would say while he punched in some coordinates.

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Alan sighed angrily as he looked at the toad nurse.

"I'm sorry, Mister Timelord, but telepathic communication is forbidden for security purposes," the head nurse said. "If you wish to speak with your family you may use the phone but we cannot allow you to speak with them any other way…and believe me, if you do try to use telepathy, built in scanners inside our hospital will detect it and show us which bed the telepathy is coming from and you'll be in very, very big trouble. So I suggest you follow the rules and don't try it."

She walked away.

"Ah, bite me, Matron," Alan muttered under his breath as he flopped back on his bed.

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The Doctor smiled at his family who were assembled behind him while he stood in front of the front doors.

"I know all of us are concerned about Alan," he said to them. "But it won't do any good to worry and fret about him. He'll be fine, I promise you but to help ease your worry, I want to show you something amazing. Something very few people have seen before. And so without further ado…"

He threw open the TARDIS doors and they looked out into a multicolored swirling mass of gases.

"This is the inside of Jupiter," the Doctor said, pointing to the gases. "This is all there is, just gases. Toxic gases but the TARDIS is protecting us of course. But there is nowhere to land which is why we have to stand here. But isn't that brilliant?"

Curiosity replaced their worry and they inched down the ramp and gathered around the Doctor and the open door. They stared out at the swirling impenetrable gas around them. After a moment, the Doctor excused himself and went back to the console. He worked the controls watching through the door until he came to a huge red swirling dot. He used the handbrake and walked back.

"That, my family, is the legendary big red spot of Jupiter," he said, pointing to it. "It's a gargantuan hurricane of gases and it's been raging across the face of Jupiter for hundreds of years without showing any sign of stopping."

They stood and watched it in quiet wonder for a moment before the Doctor closed the doors.

"Now…while I was standing here, I had an idea for something else I could show you, "he said, hurrying back to the console. "Something nearby."

He put in the coordinates and released the handbrake. The rotor moved up and down for a minute and then stopped.

"Now this time we can go outside," the Doctor said, walking back to them at the door.

He opened it and they stepped outside into a large domed room that was made of steel. Aliens of every size and description were hurrying back and forth around them. Around the dome were little doorways and large Plexiglas windows. Looking in some of them, they could see shops and pubs and restaurants.

"This is the inside of Earth's moon. It's a transport café for interstellar traffic. There's a docking bay somewhere in here where the ships can land. The reason Earthlings don't see it is they come in and out on the dark side of the moon. But this is a lay-by of sorts for people coming through this solar system."

He closed the TARDIS doors and they walked around taking in everything. The Doctor ushered them into a restaurant and they ordered green colored fruit juice. They sat down in a booth, purposely picking one behind a couple of aliens. One alien had white skin with large black eyes and was wearing a black leather spacesuit. The other had brown skin with orange spots and was wearing a white spandex body suit. The Doctor and his family sipped their juice while they listened to them.

"Ai-yi-yi," white skinned alien said to his companion. "I need to contact my shipping company and tell them to get me out of the Sol 3 solar system. It's so backwater here."

"You're lucky. You just get to go through it on your way to Andromeda. I have to do research missions and study the backward primates. And let me tell you, Skora, it is not fun. They're smelly, loud and strange. Not to mention it's a hassle erasing their memories after we're done and we return them to Earth. I prefer capturing the long eared furry hoppy things. Those don't put up a fuss when we probe them."

"Hoppy things?" Skora said, taking a sip of beer.

"Yeah, weird little creatures. Have long ears, tiny furry bodies that are usually the color of our skins and they just hop around. Never say a word but they seem to be intelligent. In my opinion, they should be the dominant species on Earth, not those shrieking human things."

"I wouldn't wanna deal with anything there. It's an odd planet. All that war and death and devastation and hate. My people refer to it as the dark planet of insanity and I totally agree with that."

"Dark Planet of Insanity, perfect name for the mudball," Skora said, snorting. "Humans running around killing and torturing each other for nothing more than their religion or the color of their skin, idiotic if you ask me. We don't have that nonsense on Agipogia and we never will."

"Nope, nor will we. We Zephrox are peace loving. We learned eons ago that war was not the answer to anything. It's sad that those humans down there can't get it through their thick skulls that if they don't stop soon they might cause their own extinction. But then I won't shed a tear for them. Good riddance to the war-loving psychos and their messed up planet. Earth should be demolished and sold for manure afterwards."

_Bro, are these two species telepathic?_ Awinita thought.

_No, they're not,_ he thought back.

_Good, because it's sad that other aliens see us like that,_ she thought.

The Doctor shrugged.

_That's their opinion and they're welcome to it. They have valid points but what they and almost everyone else fail to recognize is how much good there is on Earth. They see only the bad things and because they don't spend time there like I do, they never see the imagination and compassion and love that exist there. Don't let it bother ya, Te'lesu. Their species were just as snobby as the Time Lords were. _

They sipped the rest of their juice in silence while the two aliens discussed shipping cargo and studying Earth.

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After a couple of hours of exploring the transport café, they headed back into the TARDIS and took off. Everyone except Rain went off to rest while the Doctor slowly walked around the console working the controls.

"Feels strange without Bro here," Rain said to him. "Not the same without his energy here."

The Doctor smiled and nodded.

"I agree. I miss him being with us which amazes me since a few months ago I wouldn't have given him a second thought. Now I can't imagine life without him, same as I can't imagine life without any of you. You are entrenched firmly in my life now and you're here to stay."

Rain smiled at that and sent love into his mind. The Doctor walked back around and kissed the top of her head. Suddenly, he heard a beeping on the monitor and looked at it. He knelt down underneath the console and lay down while he flipped open a hatch.

"Damn it, the stabilizer blew. I need to fix it, Latara. And this is a big repair. Could take hours."

"We'll wait while you fix it, Love," Rain said.

The Doctor thought for a moment, scooted out and sat up.

"Actually, I would rather you went somewhere. I know you're all still worried about Alan. I can feel it."

He clicked his fingers.

"Aswad, I can take you there. They have a nice resort with lots to do. Jack can go with you and once this is finish, I'll join you and we can spend the night before going back to pick up Brother. I will need a rest after I finish with this. So, how 'bout it?"

"Sounds good to me, Thete."

"Brilliant. Okay, hold on, my love. With the stabilizer out of commission, this will be a very bumpy ride to Aswad.


	70. Chapter 70

A/N: Part of this ficlet is based on the Doctor Who comic book The Forgotten.

Chapter Seventy

After warning the rest of his family about the loss of the stabilizer he flew them on to Aswad. Once the bumpy, shaky ride was done, the Doctor led his family off the TARDIS and walked with them to a large resort hotel.

"I'll go ahead and go with you so I can get a room for me and Rain," he was saying to them. "We'll get several rooms and when Brother is discharged we'll bring him back here so he can rest and relax with us."

They went up to reception and checked in, getting four rooms on the fifth floor. Once everything was taken care of, the Doctor hugged his wife.

"It'll probably take awhile to get everything fixed but don't worry about me. Go and have fun. Jack, watch over them, alright?"

"I wouldn't do anything less than that," Jack replied.

He nodded and kissed his wife on the lips and his sisters on the cheeks. Once he got through kissing Mingxia, Jack leaned in with a hopeful look.

"Kiss your brother?" he asked while the women giggled.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"Just makin' sure you spread the love around, Doc," he said to him.

"Yes, well, far be it from me to leave you out, Jack," he replied.

He gave his wife one last hug and waved at them as he exited the hotel. Once he was gone, Jack turned to his family.

"Okay, I just want to say again that despite what the Doctor thinks, I can turn my libido off so you women are in no danger of me jumping your bones, alright? I do think of you as my sisters and niece and although I'm into a lot of things, incest isn't one of them. So, just letting you know again that you're in no danger from me raping you, alright?"

They nodded and hugged him.

"On the other hand, having a family does have its advantages because I do get free hugs," Jack said. "But, enough standing around in the lobby, let's go figure out what they offer around here."

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Alan sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I'm bored, bored, bored, bored, BORED!" he yelled out.

He stared at the no telepathy sign and snorted.

"Security risk, I'm not a bleedin' security risk and neither is my family," he muttered to himself.

He noticed a toad nurse passing by and clicked his fingers.

"Sister! Sister!" he said to her.

The nurse stopped and walked over to him.

"Yes?"

"What do I have to do to get a blanket bath around here?" he asked. "I'm feeling a bit manky right now and I need something to occupy my time while I lay in bed."

"You received a shower earlier," the nurse told him.

"I know I did. But that was earlier and the mankiness started about a half hour ago so if you could get a couple more of your mates and give me a blanket bath, I'd be as happy as a sand boy."

"I'm sorry, I have other patients to attend to," the nurse said sternly. "You received a shower earlier, Mister Timelord. Now if you'll excuse me…"

Alan glared at her while she walked away.

"Can I at least have a flippin' magazine or something?" he said to her.

He sighed angrily when she ignored him.

"Ooooooh, this is just wizard, I'm stuck here while Brother and the rest of my family go off and have fun. I am so bleedin' bored, I'm about to rip my hair out at the roots and that's saying something since Rose would have my guts for garters if I did that to my fabulous hair."

He watched another nurse making her rounds and a smile spread over his face. He clicked his fingers at her when she passed by and she stopped and came to his bedside.

"Yes?" she said.

"I need to be taken to the necessary room," Alan said.

"The what?" the nurse said.

He smirked and secretly thanked the gods he had American sisters who were gracious enough to teach him their slang.

"I need to be taken to the john," he said casually.

"John? Who is he?"

"You know, the john, the head, the can. I'm feeling sick to my stomach and I need to drive the porcelain bus pronto. So take me to the crapper this instant."

He fought back his laughter at the confused look on her face.

"Hurry, I need to worship the porcelain god right now!" he said to her.

"I have no time for this foolishness," the nurse said as she started to walk away.

"Wait!"

She turned.

"I need to go to the loo."

"Well, why didn't you say so?"

An impish grin spread over his face.

"I just did…several times in fact," he said to her.

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After the nurse walked him to the lavatory, she walked him back and he lay back down in bed. Alan lay there, once again bored out of his mind. He glanced back up at the no telepathy sign and suddenly wondered what would happen if he violated it. With a grin, he reached out to his wife.

_Yo, homegirl, how's it hangin'?_ he thought to her.

_Alan? Love, are you alright?_ Rose thought back.

_Other than being bored out of my mind, yes. I'm just lying in bed wishing I was somewhere else. Actually, you aren't allowed to communicate telepathically for security purposes but I'm bored and I wanna see what happens if I do._

_Alan, stop it!_

_Oh, what are they gonna do, Amo'tiri? Throw me out in the street? At most Matron will probably give me a stern warning and then I'll be forced to find something else to do to occupy my time._

_God, Bro, you are bored, aren't ya?_ Awinita thought to him.

_Yes, I'm terribly, terribly bored,_ he thought to her. _Where are you lot by the way?_

_We're on Aswad,_ Awinita thought.

_The resort planet? You're on a resort planet without me? Oh, that tears it. Get Brother back here this instant!_

_We can't,_ Rose thought. _The stabilizer blew and he's fixing it while the rest of us find something to do._

Alan groaned.

_Damn and that'll take ages to repair,_ he thought bitterly.

_Well they won't release you until you're well,_ Rose thought to him. _So you might as well endure it until you're released._

Alan sighed. He looked around but there was no sign of the head nurse or any other nurse.

_No copper's come to arrest me. Apparently the little sign's just a bluff. Good, I'm glad because I need to talk to all of you. I miss you all terribly._

_We miss you too, Alan, _Mingxia thought to him.

He smiled.

_Rain?_ He thought.

_Yeah, Bro?_ she thought back.

_You better be glad I'm in here because when I get out I'm gonna be making up for lost time and giving you noogies and wedgies and Indian rope burns._

_P'eh, you just try it, Pizza Face,_ Rain thought back.

_I will try it, Butt Munch and I'll make you suffer for your insolence._

_Yeah, I'm just scared, Asswipe._

_You should be, Bunghole!_ Alan thought back.

_What the hell is this?_ Jack thought while everyone laughed.

_This, Jack, is friendly brother/sister teasing. Rain and I engage in this sort of thing all the time, don't we, Poopybutt?_

_Damn straight we do, Weinerface! _Rain thought.

_This taunting is usually followed by slap fights, tittie twisters and ice down the underwear. It's all in good fun and damn it, I miss our daily razzing. Don't ya, Fartblossom?_

_I certainly do, Douchebag!_

_Okay this is extremely weird now,_ Jack thought while they laughed.

_Just being a bratty little brother to my sister, it's what siblings do and…oh hell, the jig is up. Here comes Matron and she doesn't look too happy. Ah well, it's a fair cop. Wait a tic though, maybe she looks angry because she's gassy or something._

The head nurse walked up to him.

"Is there a problem, Matron?"

"You are using telepathy after it was made clear to you that is a violation of hospital policy."

_Ooops, I got caught, my family_, Alan thought to them.

_Oh no, he's gonna get kicked out of the hospital now,_ Rose thought.

"I am not using telepathy," Alan said to the head nurse. "I deny these false accusations…"

The nurse held out a small electronic monitor. Alan saw the words TELEPATHIC CONVERSATION IN PROGRESS and a blinking light over his bed. He sighed.

"Okay, I am talking to my family but be fair, I'm not a security risk."

"Telepathic communication is strictly forbidden," the head nurse said, sternly.

"Okay, so why can't I use telepathy but I can ring my family up and talk to them that way? What's the difference?" he asked.

"There is a chance you can influence others with your mind and put them under your control."

"Wait, mind control? You think I'm gonna enslave my family, which by the way I dearly love and protect with every ounce of my being, and make them into some kind of obedient zombies?"

"There have been instances in the past where telepaths who have had problems with family members reached out to them and hypnotized them into doing illegal things and in one instance, killing themselves."

"I won't do that to them. I love my family. I'm not gonna influence anyone. I'm just talking to them out of sheer boredom!"

"I'm sorry, but we cannot make exceptions. If we allow you to use telepathy then we'd have to allow everyone to do it and that is where the risk comes in."

"What if I think really, really quietly?"

The head nurse rolled her eyes and walked away.

"What? I can think really, really quietly so no one will notice!"

He sighed angrily and flopped back on the bed. He hazarded one more message quickly explaining to his family what was going on before cutting off communication. Angrily, he jerked the covers up to his chest and sullenly stared at the ceiling.

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The Doctor muttered curses in English and Gallifreyan while he tried to fix the stabilizer under the console. It was slow going and tedious and he was frustrated and upset that he was doing this and not out having fun with his family.

While he worked and kept his eyes on the underside of the console, he failed to see something slowly making its way towards him. It had just woke up after its hibernation under the ramp and seeing its prey, it slowly walked towards him on tiny feet. It stopped on the other side of the console from the Doctor watching while he worked and its long thin spaghetti-like tentacles undulated in anticipation. It watched for a moment and then it made its move. It scurried forward and before the Doctor could react, it placed its tentacles on his forehead using electrical energy to knock him unconscious. The Doctor's left hand which had been holding the screwdriver up to a circuit slumped to his side and his breathing slowed while the creature scurried up onto his chest and wrapped his tentacles completely around his head.


	71. Chapter 71

Chapter Seventy One

The being lay on the Doctor while he probed his prey's mind. So much life energy, so many memories inside this man's head. His kind feasted on life energy, draining every ounce from them until they expired and this man not only have enough energy for one life, there was also three other lives after it. After he was finished with him there would be enough energy to sustain him for several years.

He had first seen his prey when he was on the Crucible. He had been taken from his native planet as a curiosity by the Dalek scientists but had managed to escape and take refuge in the large cavernous vault. He had been weak, but he had still managed to hide there while he listened to the drama unfolding below him. He listened to the Time Lord, sensed the power that lay within his young body and he knew he had to have him, had to feast on him to restore his vitality, especially since the scientists had kept him imprisoned away from any other being and it had been a long time since he had fed. He had waited until the right time and snuck into the blue box in order to feast upon him and the ones Davros called "his children of time" but once he got inside and under the ramp, he found he was in danger of dying and went into hibernation, sleeping until his energy had been replenished enough to have strength to feed on the Doctor. He had no idea how long he had slept but when he woke and scurried out from under the ramp, there was his prey, all alone, and lying underneath a weird object sitting in the middle of the room. He was completely unaware of his presence and he took full advantage of it and the fact that he was lying on the floor, accessible to him.

Now he was searching through his mind and his memories. The Time Lord was trying to resist, instinctively throwing up blocks to deter him but his kind were experts at getting around them and breaking through them and his subconscious proved to be no match. He viewed the Time Lord's memories, happy memories of being with his family, being in love and having fun and horrifying memories of death and devastation, betrayal and the loss of loved ones. Then he went deeper and saw hidden fears. Fears that the Doctor had suppressed. He noticed one fear in particular. The one who was like him, his clone, the one he called Brother and loved dearly. He had once seen him commit genocide on the Crucible and there lingered a deeply suppressed fear that his beloved brother might turn evil. It was a deeply buried fear, so deep the creature doubted the Doctor was even aware of it now. He had seen many memories of him and his "brother" together and knew the love that existed between them and he knew that consciously he wasn't in doubt of his brother's goodness. But the fear was still there and the creature decided to use it for his amusement.

He often did this while he fed. Used his prey's memories to make them hallucinate and believe they were still awake. It kept them occupied and docile while he fed upon them. Normally he chose a happy memory for the victim to focus on but he wanted to see what would happen if this Doctor witnessed his beloved brother turning evil. With silent delight, he began to use the fear to construct a fantasy world in the Doctor's mind.

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"Okay," Jack said, taking a brochure from the rack beside reception and carrying it over to his family. "Let's see what this place has to offer."

He opened it up and they gathered around him. They looked at the list of amenities and recreational options.

"Some of these I have never heard of before," Jack said pointing to a couple of them. "But they do have swimming and beach volleyball. You girls ever play volleyball before?"

"I played it in gym in high school," Rain said.

"Yeah, I did too," Awinita said.

"I've played it before with friends," Rose said.

Jack looked at Donna and Mingxia.

"You?" he said.

They shook their heads. Jack glanced at Jenny.

"I know you haven't played it before," he said to her. "If you wanna try that for awhile, those of us who know can teach the others and…"

He frowned when the Doctor's mind blinked out in his own. He glanced at the women.

"Um, is it a bad sign that I suddenly can't sense the Doc?" he said to them.

They started to contact him to find out what was wrong when suddenly they felt him again. Rose rolled her eyes.

"I bet I know what that was. Alan was trying to be sneaky and put a privacy block around the Doctor's mind thinking no one at the hospital would notice and I'm sure they did and told him to stop it," she said.

They stood there for a moment but the Doctor's mind remained active. Shrugging, they went back to discussing what they wanted to do at the resort.

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Alan sighed and drummed his fingers on the bed while he watched the nurses walking by. Finally, he couldn't stand it any longer and got a nurse's attention.

"Oi, is there anything I can do besides lie here?" he said. "Is there magazines, holovision, hologames? Anything? I feel better now and I'm bored. I'm not used to lying in bed this long and I'm being driven out of my mind. Please help me."

The nurse sighed.

"I'll talk to Matron and see if she'll let you go into the recreation room for awhile. But you have to promise you'll behave."

"Good as gold, me," he said to her.

He sighed when she nodded and hurried to find the head nurse.

"Finally, something to do," he muttered.

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The Doctor opened his eyes and groaned while he put his hand to his head. He noticed the wire above him was sparking on the end of it and he guessed the reason he was knocked out.

"Damn it, I shoulda known better than to touch the tip of my screwdriver to a live wire," he muttered to himself.

He sat up, got his bearings and slowly got to his feet. He walked over and slumped down on the jump seat, resting a moment and shaking off the effects of the electrocution. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

"I need to have a rest before I go on with this. Maybe if I go out to the resort for awhile and find the others, maybe take a swim or lie down with Rain, I can have a little breather and come back to the problem refreshed."

He paused and took his hand away from his hair. He looked at it suddenly getting a very strange feeling. He looked at the console.

"Wait, I don't remember working on the end of a wire," he muttered.

He frowned, trying to remember why he had pulled a wire out in the first place. Something felt wrong to him, very wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. But the moment he thought that, something was telling him he was imagining things and urging him not to think about it. He sighed and shook his head.

"I need a breather badly," he mumbled.

He stood up, turned around to head back to the lavatory and froze. Rain was standing behind him, staring at him quietly.

"Latara? What are you doing here? I didn't hear or see you come in the door."

"I came back here to be with you, Love," she said, coming towards him.

"Oh. Well, don't you wanna go over to the resort? You and I can rest in our hotel room or maybe swim or go out to eat. I'm feeling a bit peckish and…"

"No, I want you to stay in here with me," Rain insisted.

"Why? We have a room reserved and there's a lot to do out there. I admit I still need to finish fixing the stabilizer but I can take some time off from it and play…"

"No, you need to stay in here with me," Rain said, taking his hands.

The Doctor frowned while he stared at her.

"Love, what's the matter?" he asked, gently.

He frowned when he noticed she was trying to say something but couldn't quite get the words out. Finally, she sighed.

"I just want to stay in here together," she said, stroking his cheek.

"O…kay," the Doctor said slowly.

Again, he noticed Rain was trying to say something but it seemed like something was preventing her from saying it. The Doctor, confused, embraced her and stroked her hair.

"Rain, what's really going on here?" he said to her.

She struggled again and finally got out…

"Alan. Don't trust your eyes. Fight it, Thete," she said, straining at the words.

"What does that mean? Love, what's wrong with you? Are you ill, sweetheart?"

Once again, she struggled to vocalize her words.

"Protect you. Mind. Protect. Alan. Illusion. Protect you, my love," she groaned out.

The Doctor stared at his wife fearfully watching her distress while she struggled to speak.

"Latara, come with me to the med bay. I want to examine you," he said, gently.

"I-illuson," she said, straining to speak. "Block…ing me. Mind try…ing…to…fight….made…me…protect…must f...fight…it, D…Doctor."

By now the Doctor was completely fearful as he listened to his wife's strained, disjointed words.

"Come, my hearts, I'm taking you back to med bay," he said, turning with her.

Just then, they heard several screams outside the TARDIS doors and the Doctor spun back around, his senses on red alert. He heard the sound of blaster fire followed by several more screams. He started to run towards the door when he felt Rain jerk his arm.

"NO!" she cried out. "Stay!"

"I can't, Latara, people are in trouble and I have to try to assist them."

He started towards the door but she got in front of him and held up her hand.

"No, you…can't…" she grunted out. "Illusion! Stay…with…me."

The Doctor stared at her, torn between her distress and the distress of people outside the TARDIS. He could hear more blaster fire and several anguished screams. He looked at his wife who was struggling to speak and his hearts nearly beat out of his chest with fear. Then he heard several people screaming for help and he knew he had to go outside and help them. He cupped his wife's face with his hands.

"I can't, Love. I have to go and help. But hear me, please. I want you to back to med bay and hook yourself up to the scanner. Let the TARDIS scan you and try to help you and I'll be back as soon as I can."

He started to kiss her on the lips but she jerked her head away. The Doctor watched anguished while she struggled to speak. Finally, after a Herculean effort, she said….

"Don't trust your eyes, Thete!"

She gasped and panted, drained by the effort to say those five words. She stood there, silently imploring him to listen to her. The Doctor nodded. He tenderly kissed her forehead and whispered to her that he would be back as soon as he could. Then reluctantly, he left her side while she stood and watched him go with silent anguish.

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The Doctor ran out the door, looking left and right, trying to take in everything. He could see people running away from the resort in panic, screaming in terror. He cast a glance over all of them and then he saw the gunman with his back to him. He was standing about fifteen feet away from the TARDIS, firing at anything that moved and laughing hysterically. The Doctor stared at the gunman, stunned into horrified silence. He knew who it was. Even with his back turned, he recognized the back of the head, the tousled brown hair on top and his hearts nearly stopped dead from shock and fear. The gunman paused after he shot a fleeing woman in the leg and watched her fall to the ground, her face scrunched up in agony . He turned around and the Doctor shook his head slowly in disbelief when he saw his brother gazing at him with a maniacal look on his face.

"Hello, Brother, come to join in the fun?" he said gleefully.


	72. Chapter 72

Chapter Seventy Two

The Doctor was staring at his brother, barely able to stand what his eyes were seeing. The brother he had loved and cared about, had taken into his TARDIS and shared his adventures with was now a crazed blaster toting maniac. All his fears about his brother becoming evil, the same fears that made him dump him on Bad Wolf Bay in the first place came to the fore and his hearts ached knowing he had been betrayed by Alan.

But while he thought that, he suddenly remembered his wife's words to him as he went out the door. He took that to hearts and started to be objective while his brother watched him silently.

"How did you get out of the hospital?" the Doctor saying, coming towards him. "You're in the Crab Nebula thousands of light years away. You have no TARDIS so how is it you're standing here before me?"

Alan chuckled.

"I had a little help, Brother. You see, several people learned I was in hospital and they took an interest in me after they found out I was a Time Lord and not just a Time Lord, but the clone of the most famous Time Lord of all. They took it upon themselves to convince me that I needed to fulfill my true destiny as the Valeyard."

"No, that's impossible. You're not the Valeyard. You're nothing like the Valeyard," the Doctor said, shaking his head.

But even while the words left his mouth, something inside him was trying to convince him he was. Alan laughed.

"Oh, but I am. You see, come to find out, I was the one that became the Valeyard, not you, Brother dear. All that rage and darkness I spent so much time suppressing, it was still there hidden deep down inside and it took my…benefactors to show me how silly I was for trying to deny it in the first place. The darkness is as much a part of me as it is you and no matter how much I turned away from it and tried to shove it down, it was always there waiting to emerge. And you know what, now that I'm not denying my true self anymore, I feel so much better. So now, why don't you do the same and together we can rule all of creation!"

"No!"

The Doctor turned and saw Rain behind him.

"Latara, no! Get back inside where the TARDIS can protect you!" he said.

Rain ignored him and walked to his side. Alan snorted disdainfully.

"How pathetic can you get?" he sneered. "You can't protect him, no one can."

Rain squared her shoulders.

"I can and I will, interloper. You will not harm the one I love. You will not drain…"

He chuckled when Rain couldn't finish the sentence.

"What's wrong, Te'lesu, cat got your tongue?" he said, gleefully.

"What's wrong with her?" the Doctor demanded.

He smirked.

"I'm using my handy dandy Time Lord abilities to shut the little bitch up. I never liked her anyway. Interfering tart. She and Rose are the ones who have tried to keep you from your true destiny."

"Rose? Where is she? Where's the rest of our family?" the Doctor said.

"Our? No, no, no, Brother. Your family. I don't want them now," Alan said. "All of them were a hindrance to me and if you have any brains, you'll kick them out of the TARDIS and go back to being little lonely boy."

"Leave him alone!" Rain yelled at him.

Alan rolled his eyes and aimed his blaster at her head.

"No!" the Doctor said, stepping in front of her. "Brother, come to your senses. You've been altered in some way. Whoever these benefactors are, they aren't your friends. You have to fight this, please!"

"It's not…"

Rain struggled to get the word out.

"Silence, bitch!" Alan snarled.

"I won't be silent. I will help the Doctor and save him from you any way that I can," she said.

She looked at her husband.

"Think. Use your mind," she said.

The Doctor stared at Alan who was giving Rain a disdainful look. Once again he thought of her warning not to trust his eyes and the nagging feeling that this was all wrong came back to him.

"Yes, Love," Rain said, nodding when she could see him trying to figure it all out.

Suddenly, the Doctor realized something when he searched his mind for his links to his loved ones. He could sense they were calm and at peace even though Alan had been right outside the hotel with a blaster shooting at everyone. Not once did he sense their anguish or fear. He took a quick count and sensed them all. Every mind was present and calm. He narrowed his eyes at his brother.

"Odd that you're out here raising hell and the rest of the family is perfectly calm and happy," he said to Alan. "Care to explain that to me, "Brother"?"

Alan glared at Rain and the Doctor looked over and saw a triumphant smile on her face.

"You can't defeat him," she said to Alan. "The Doctor is stronger than even the likes of you."

"Maybe but I can do everything in my power to make sure I succeed and that includes getting rid of you!"

The Doctor stepped back in front of her prepared to die and regenerate for the woman he loved. He noticed his brother's hesitation.

"Go ahead, Brother, shoot!" he said to him. "I've died nine times now so let's make it ten for shits and giggles, eh?"

He noticed Alan was conflicted for a moment before he lowered his blaster.

"Something wrong?" the Doctor said to him. "Shoot me, Brother. One blaster shot won't kill me permanently. In fact, keep shooting until I do become the Valeyard. What does it matter if I stay in this body? Shoot!"

Alan stared at him a moment and then tried to get around him to Rain. He quickly blocked his way.

"Why are you interested in her, Brother? Why is she such a threat to you all of a sudden? Why can't you kill me but you apparently have no qualms about killing her?"

Alan glared at him and now it was the Doctor's turn to smirk.

"I'm figuring it out, aren't I? Little by little, I'm seeing through this illusion. You see, my wife did manage to warn me not to trust my eyes and she did say illusion. And that's what this is, isn't it? That's why none of my family is panicking, why Rain is having trouble speaking and why you're not acting like yourself."

"This is my true self. You saw me kill the Daleks on the Crucible."

"Yes, but that act had good motives behind it. Alan did it to preserve the universe and save us all; he just went about it the wrong way and with too much haste. What is happening now is wholesale slaughter without any compassion and mercy towards others and my brother's mind overflows with both. It's true he killed the Daleks and committed genocide but I've seen far more heroic loving deeds from him, both in person and from viewing his memories. I also know that he would never harm his sister in any way. He's just as protective of her as I am and he and Rain are as thick as fleas. Never, ever, would Alan point a blaster at his sister's head, even if he was being controlled. You're not my Brother and I have a feeling this isn't really my wife. I have a feeling I'm not even awake and this is all an illusion like Rain said. So out with it, Illusion, who are you and what do you want? Who is this version of Rain, why can't she speak properly and why are you so intent on killing her? The game's up, Illusion, so you might as well speak to me and tell me everything."

Alan snorted.

"Very well, Doctor. You can't escape anyway and there is nothing she can do to protect you now. I s'pose it won't hurt to release the hold on your so-called wife and let her speak freely."

The Doctor turned to her.

"Who are you then?" he said.

Rain took a hold of his arm.

"I'm you, Doctor. I'm your subconscious. This creature has attacked you and is draining away your life energy. Your mind created me to help you, protect you and try to encourage you to fight against this. I couldn't speak to you properly because the creature was trying to prevent you from knowing the truth. Your mind used the form of your wife because it figured in this form I had the best chance of getting through to you and making you understand what was going on. You are right, Doctor, this is all an illusion. This isn't Alan. This is a deeply buried fear you have of him turning evil. A fear you've had since the Crucible. The creature uses its victim's memories and makes them hallucinate while it feeds on them. It saw your fear and decided to see what would happen if you actually witnessed your brother becoming evil."

"Whatever you are, I will show you no mercy for this," the Doctor said to "Alan". "My memories are not to be invaded and used against me and I will not allow others to warp my family members and use them in some sick fantasy for their amusement."

Alan laughed.

"You can't escape this, Doctor. Even if you know the truth, my hold on your mind is too strong. You are trapped here until you die and there's nothing you or your "wife" can do about it now! So if I were you, I'd prepare myself to go into the great beyond because that's where you'll end up when I'm finished draining you."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rain sat on a bench in the beach volleyball room watching while her family played. There were three on a team. Jack, Rose and Donna on one team and Awinita, Mingxia and Jenny on the other. She had been on Jack's team with Donna acting as the substitute but after a half hour she opted out and Donna stepped in for her. She had been cheering her team on but for the past ten minutes, she'd been thinking of her husband and wondering what he was doing. She missed his company. Now both he and Alan were gone and it felt strange not seeing them laughing and joking with each other and the rest of the family.

_How long does it take to repair the stabilizer? _She thought to herself. _Thete works on that console nearly every day. Surely, he's nearly finished now. I'll just go and check on him and see if he wants to take a break. He's been in there for a long time, I'm betting he's tired._

"Hey, guys," she said to her family. "I'm gonna go check on the Doctor and see if I can pull him away from the console for five seconds."

"Great idea, then we can have four person teams," Jack said to her.

"I'll be back. I just wanna say hello and let him know we haven't hitched a ride to another planet," she joked as she stood up.

They nodded and resumed their game while she walked towards the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor was on his knees, weakened, while the memory version of his wife knelt beside him. The mental version of Alan stood over them, silently gloating.

"Since you know the truth, I decided to just drop the charade and let you feel yourself weakening as I drain your life force away, Time Lord. And once I'm done with this one, there's three more lives left to go so you and wifey-poo will be here for awhile."

"Someone will come back. Someone will find me. You haven't won yet!" the Doctor said weakly.

"Why would anyone come back? They're out having fun and I've fixed it so they can still feel you. As far as they're concerned, you're right here working on your ship. By the time they wonder what's become of you, it'll be too late."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Thete?" Rain said, coming inside the TARDIS. "Hey, I hope I'm not bothering you but…"

She reached her husband and froze, shocked. There was a small creature sitting on his chest. It resembled a lobster but instead of claws, it had long spaghetti-like tentacles. The tentacles were wrapped around her husband's head and she could see the distress on his face and his brow furrowing. His breath was shallow and weak. Rage flooded Rain's mind. Not caring about her safety, she told her family what she found as she grabbed the creature by it's back end and began to pull it off him. The creature fought to keep his tentacles around the Doctor but she pulled harder and it suddenly let go and wound them around her head. Rain felt an electrical charge go through her mind before she fell back onto the floor beside the Doctor's body. The Doctor, free of the creature, blinked his eyes. He looked around and sprang to his feet when he saw Rain.

"An Es'cartrss, might have known," he said, using every last ounce of strength to stand up. "You tried to drain me but you won't drain my wife!"

He grabbed his screwdriver and aimed it at the creature. The creature gave out a shriek of pain when he turned it on and he kept it on him while he pulled it off Rain. He threw it to the corner and commanded the TARDIS to contain it. Once it was contained in a force field, he knelt down beside Rain and gathered her unconscious body in his arms. He smiled tenderly at her.

"You saved me, my love. Your mental image helped me see the truth and fight back and you pulled that thing off of me," he said to her.

He looked up when his other family members sprinted inside.

"Doctor?" Rose said, running to him. "Oh my God, is Rain alright?"

They all knelt down around him.

"Yes, she'll be alright in a couple of minutes. That thing over there is an Es'cartrss. It's from Callufrax Minor. They live by sucking the life energy out of others. It attached itself to me while I was working, got into my mind and made me hallucinate while it drained me. My mind made an image of Rain to convince me it wasn't real and help me fight back."

"What did you see, Doctor?" Donna said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

The Doctor debated for a moment whether or not to tell them the truth. He noticed Rose's worry and knew he couldn't tell her about what the thing did to her husband.

"Rain and I were in the resort having fun," he said to Donna. "Rain kept trying to tell me I was hallucinating it and I finally realized that after awhile. But it took the actual Rain coming in here and pulling the thing off me to wake me up. But it did drain me and now I do need to rest so thank heavens I did suggest a resort, eh?"

He looked down at Rain who was still unconscious. His family rose with him and helped support him while he carried her back to the med bay.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"'Bout bloody time!" Alan said to his family while a nurse wheeled him out of the hospital in a wheelchair.

He grinned at them and winked.

"Sorry, they apparently think I'm old and decrepit and I need to come out in my bath chair," he teased.

The nurse stopped and he looked up at her.

"Can I walk now or are you going to carry me to our ship?"

"No, you can walk now," the nurse said, testily.

Alan's family giggled at the look of innocence on his face verses the look of death the nurse had. With a sigh of relief, he got up from the wheelchair and embraced his family.

"I have never been more happy to see you in my whole life," he said while the nurse took the wheelchair back inside. "And I pledge never, ever to get sick ever, ever again! I would rather kiss a Dalek than go through that again."

He winked at his brother.

"And…those monsters wouldn't let me see the little shop either," he teased.

The Doctor grinned. He threw his arms around him and held him tightly. Alan smiled and returned the hug.

_I'm glad you're your old, silly self again, Brother,_ the Doctor thought to him. _Don't ever change, please._

_Same to ya,_ Alan thought.

The Doctor hugged him tighter and tousled his hair.

"Now, I believe I deserve a bit of fun time at this resort Awinita mentioned?" Alan said when he let go.

"Oh, I suppose!" the Doctor said letting out a mock sigh.

Alan grinned, put his arm around Rose and walked with all of them back to the TARDIS.


	73. Chapter 73

Chapter Seventy Three

"Yes, I'm finally free!" Alan said happily when they landed back at Aswad. "Now for a little R and R away from Matrons and sisters who disapprove of telepathy! I can talk inside my mind all I want and no coppers can arrest me."

He put his arm around Rose and they shared a kiss while everyone walked down the ramp out the door. Rain started to follow them but the Doctor grabbed her arm and held her back with him. He held up a finger and walked to the door.

"I'll be back. I gotta make a quick trip to Callufrax Minor to dump off lobster boy and I need Rain to keep an eye on it while I do."

They stopped and looked at him, nodding. Alan hurried back to him and gave him another hug.

"I'm glad that Es'cartrss didn't kill ya, Brother. I had to suffer being in hospital without you joining me. Just make sure that thing is put as far away from people as it can possibly get."

"Believe me; I have every intention of doing that. Just go ahead and have fun. I'll program the TARDIS so we're back in a trice to join ya."

Alan rubbed his back and broke away. They stood back and watched while he shut the door and the TARDIS disappeared.

"So, back to beach volleyball or do we wanna find something else?" Jack asked them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once the TARDIS was in the vortex, the Doctor took Rain's hand and led her back to the lab. The Es'cartrss was in a small Perspex cube. The moment they stepped up to it, the creature scurried to the edge and stared at them with little beady eyes on the end of stalks.

"I want you to know the truth, Rain," the Doctor said to his wife. "Because it was your form my mind picked to assist me and because you have a history of keeping my secrets for me. I didn't tell what this thing really showed me because I didn't want to upset Rose but I want you to know."

He told her about the hallucination. Rain was stunned and she felt rage towards the creature who was still staring at them.

"I thought that fear of my brother turning evil was dead and gone," the Doctor said when he finished speaking. "But it found a way to dredge it up and use it against me. This simple creature subjected me to one of my worst nightmares."

"But you don't believe that, do you, Thete? You don't believe Alan would ever turn evil?"

"No, I don't. I know him now and there's no chance he'd ever voluntarily turn evil and I'm pretty sure it would take a hell of a lot of effort to influence him enough that he would. Brother knows the danger in the darkness and that's why he's rejected it completely and taken measures to shield his mind from being enslaved as have I. I trust him with my life but this thing was doing its damndest to convince me otherwise and for several moments I did buy into the illusion until your memory self made me see reason. But, I can't take the risk any longer, Latara. I have to bury as many memories as I can deep within my subconscious to prevent this happening again. And when I say deep, I mean deep. And for that reason, I'm afraid our memory sharing is going to be one sided. I hate to do that because I love showing you my memories and sharing those personal moments but this thing got control of my memories because I didn't guard them carefully enough. I hope you understand. I don't want to do that but I have no choice."

"I understand, Thete," Rain said.

He kissed her lips.

"I don't think I could even show you my memories in the simulation room any longer because that would involve bringing them into my consciousness. But, there are other ways to share my past and I will still do that. But you will no longer be able to visually see anything."

Rain nodded and he held her close while he glared at the Es'cartrss.

"As for this thing, I want nothing more than to throw it into the nearest supernova…but, I can't. It did what it did because that's what it was designed to do. I was a food source for it and it drained my life energy because it was hungry. Even though I'm angry he did that to me and used my memories against me, I can't fault him for trying to ensure his survival. So I'm taking it back to Callufrax Minor and leaving it there. But if it has any sense in that lobster brain of his, it'll stay the hell away from me and you and our family in future because I won't be so kind next time."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After dropping it off on Callufrax Minor, the Doctor took the TARDIS back to Aswad. He grinned when he landed two seconds after they left. He took Rain's hand and they ran to the door. He threw it open and laughed when he noticed his family was still where he left them.

"Am I good or am I good?" the Doctor said, strolling outside with Rain and shutting the door behind him. "Now, I believe after all that has happened, a little rest is in order."

He looked at Rain.

"Then I have to fix the bloody stabilizer," he mumbled to her as he rolled his eyes.

He grinned at his family while Rain laughed.

"I'm sorry, did I mention stabilizer. Excuse me; I don't know why I mentioned the sodding thing. Anyway, let's go have fun!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

An hour later, the Doctor, Rain and Jenny were laying in deck chairs soaking up the heat of the twin suns while the other women swam in the swimming pool in front of them. Several feet away behind them, Jack and Alan were playing basketball with some other alien men.

"Ah, this is more like it," the Doctor sighed as he put his hands behind his head. "Taking a break from that stabilizer to relax in front of the lido."

"I'm just glad you're alright, Dad."

"Me too, Angel, meeeeee toooooo," the Doctor said, closing his eyes.

Jenny closed her eyes and relaxed in her swimsuit while Rain, in her swimsuit, read a book. The Doctor was still in his suit, although his jacket and tie was off and his shirt was opened up at the top revealing a bit of chest hair, a sight Rain enjoyed immensely as she looked from her book to him. She ruffled his hair and he smiled while he kept his eyes closed and sighed softly. Rain went back to reading her book. She was so engrossed in it that she was shocked when Alan flounced up and slammed his hand on top of it, lowering it to her stomach.

"I'm gonna go spend a penny now, Te'lesu. Just letting ya know that," he said to her.

"Okay, go spend a penny then," Rain said, shrugging.

The Doctor opened one eye and chuckled when Alan stared at her intensely.

"What is it, Butt Munch?" Rain said to him.

"You don't know what that means, do ya?"

"I suppose it means you're gonna spend a penny somewhere," Rain said to him.

"Where though?"

Rain smirked.

"Probably on a prostitute because with your ugly face, a penny whore is all you're gonna get!"

The Doctor roared with laughter at the shocked look on his brother's face. Eyeing her, he smacked her upside the head. Rain responded in kind and Alan poked her in the arm.

"So, Dickweed, was I right about you spending the penny on the ho?" Rain said, poking him in the chest.

"For your information, it means I'm going to the loo," Alan replied.

"So…is the penny for the whore so she can hold your puny pea-sized wiener while you go?"

The Doctor laughed hysterically and Rain winked when she saw Jenny's shocked look.

"Listen to her, Brother. Your wife has a foul little mouth on her!" Alan said to him.

"Yeah, but I love that. Keeps things interesting for me," the Doctor replied, pinching Rain's cheek.

"Gee, Anal Floss, you've been standing here awhile. I'm guessing you've peed your pants now waiting for me to get the whole spend a penny reference," Rain said.

She glanced down at his trousers.

"Yup, there's the wet spot," she said, pointing.

He looked down and she hit his nose with her index finger.

"Made ya look," she said to him.

The Doctor giggled when he raised his eyebrow and a grin spread over his lips. He looked at Jenny.

"Jen, got a riddle for ya," he said to her.

"Okay," Jenny said.

Rain tried to get up but Alan quickly shoved her back.

"What's wrong, Te'lesu, don't wanna hear the riddle?" he said with mock confusion. "Why are you frightened all of a sudden?"

"You better not, Bro. you do it in front of my husband and he'll kill you until you die," she said to him.

She got up but Alan grabbed her and seized her around the middle.

"Jenny, what's worse than a hurricane?" he said, holding the squirming Rain.

Jenny thought.

"I don't know," she said, shrugging.

"A titty twister!"

He tried to pinch Rain's nipple but she squirmed out of his grasp, ran to her husband's side and knelt down.

"Do a titty twister on me now! I dare ya!" Rain said to him.

"What's a titty twister?" Jenny said.

"Yeah, what's a titty twister?" the Doctor echoed.

"You wanna know what a titty twister is, Doctor?" Rose called from inside the pool. "It's where ya grab someone's nipples and pinch them as hard as ya can. Both she and Awinita taught that to him and he's done it to me. He did it once I might add because the moment he did that, I smacked him in the head. But once he does that, then he follows up with what's worse than a titty twister? He says two titty twisters and then you get both your nipples pinched. The two of them are worse than children sometimes!"

"Now, Rose…"

Alan had turned around to address her and Rain ran over, grabbed the back of his underwear and gave him a wedgie. The Doctor laughed while he tried to get his underwear out of his crack.

"That's it! All bets are off and hunting season is on!" Alan said, running after her. "I'm gonna tug on your knickers so hard they'll be coming out your nostrils!!!"


	74. Chapter 74

Chapter Seventy Four

After Alan got done chasing Rain, she went back to her deck chair and lay down. Alan went back to the basketball game but soon he and Jack tired of it and went to join them on the deck of the pool. As Alan walked past Rain, he smacked her left foot.

"Keep it up, Assface, and you'll live to regret it," Rain said, reading her book.

"Oooo, I'm sooooo scared. Rain's marked me for death. I'm just pissing my pants in fear," Alan said.

Rain glanced up at him.

"Talk to the hand," she said, holding her right hand up.

Alan walked over and bent down to it.

"Hello hand, I pity you because you're on this bi-yatch's arm."

He ducked when Rain tried to smack his head.

"You're gonna think bi-yatch in a moment."

"I repeat, I'm sooooo scared!" Alan said, walking over to Jack and sitting down.

"And I repeat, talk to the hand," Rain said, holding her hand up again.

"You two have an interesting relationship," Jack said to Alan.

Alan leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

"We're brother and sister, Jack. We're acting like a brother and sister would act. I tease her and she teases me. It's all in good fun, right ho-bag?"

"Yup, I tease the Wankmonster and he teases me back," Rain said while the Doctor chuckled.

"She and Awinita also have been teaching me American slang," Alan said to Jack.

"Really?" Jack said.

"Oh yeah. Actually, it started with Awinita. When she started to travel with us I was still trying to carve out an identity and distance myself from Brother and I listened to the way she talked and some of the folksy sayings and slang and I adopted some of her slang. I love language and slang fascinates me since we never had it on Gallifrey so I'm eager to learn any sort of slang and I asked them to teach me what they know. And I've adopted some of that too and use it now and again. I mainly use it on Awinita and Rain though since they know what I'm saying and we can converse back and forth and tease each other. But yes, I've learned a lot of hip hop slang, some cowboy terminology and they just recently taught me valley girl speak which is hilarious."

"Valley girl?" the Doctor said, glancing at him.

Rain giggled.

"Speak valley girl to my husband, Bro," she said to him.

"Yeah, I'm not familiar with valley girl," Jack said.

"Me neither," Jenny said.

Alan grinned and cleared his throat. Then in a high-pitched feminine voice he said…

"Okay, like my friends and I were going to the Galleria in the mall, ya know, and like, we saw this totally cute guy over by the Orange Julius and I was like, ohmigod, he is so gnarly and like, we went over and talked to him but he was such a total spaz and he had these grody pimples on his face and I was like, ohmigod, gag me with a spoon! But then we went shopping for clothes at the Gap and that was like totally tubular, okay?"

They laughed hysterically while Alan shrugged and put his hands behind his head. Rose came over to the edge of the pool and pointed at him.

"And just so you know, anything they teach him gets back to me and I have to hear it about a hundred times until I'm sick of it," she said.

"Yes, but you love me, Starlight," Alan said to her. "I provide you with love and hours of amusing entertainment and laughs and the payoff is I get to see your massive breasts in a cozzy."

He looked at Jack.

"Otherwise known as knockers, gazungas, breasticles, headlights, hooters, boobies and titties."

Jack looked at Rain who was giggling.

"Boy, you taught him a lot," he said, gesturing to Alan.

"Yes, he soaks everything up like a sponge, trust me," she replied.

Jack grinned at him.

"So, what else do you know, you Gallifreyan/British/American hybrid, you?" he asked him.

Alan raised his eyebrow.

"You want a list of things I know or an actual conversation?" he asked.

"Um, carry on a conversation with Rain," Jack said.

"Okay, one Americanese conversation coming right up."

He and Rain looked at each other.

"Should I start off or should you?" he asked her.

"I can if you want me to," she said.

"Go ahead, Te'lesu."

Rain thought for a moment while the Doctor watched with interest. She smiled and cleared her throat.

"Yo, homeboy, how's the hammer hangin'?"

"Short, shriveled and always to the left."

Jack's eyes bulged out while the Doctor laughed.

"That's American slang?" Jack asked.

"No, that's from that Jim Carrey movie, Liar, Liar. We taught him that," Rain said, gesturing to Awinita who had swum over with the other women to listen to them. She giggled when she noticed everyone looking at them patiently.

"Um, most of the time we don't have this large an audience," she said while the Doctor laughed.

Alan looked at Rose who was staring at him and pointed to her.

"See her? That's my lady and she is phat and fine," he said to them.

"I'm fat?" Rose said.

"P-h-a-t, Starlight. Not f-a-t," he said. "P-h-a-t means you're attractive and I'd love to tap your ass."

"Mmm," Rose said while everyone laughed. "Tap my ass, huh?"

"Yes, I'd love to tap your ass because you are the bomb, my flygirl."

"Geez," Donna said while they laughed.

"Now see, you are all my crew," Alan said, gesturing to them. "You are all my homies and I'm a major playa, yo."

"See, this is what I have to live with," Rose said while they laughed.

"Shut yo mouth, Rose, before I bitch slap yo punk ass cross the pool," Alan said.

"P'eh, you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, Dorkbutt," Rain said to him.

"Excuse me? Are you dissing me, bi-yatch?"

"Yeah, I'm dissing ya, so bite me, butthole," Rain replied.

"Screw you, skank," Alan replied while they laughed.

"No thanks, I'd rather screw my husband. At least he doesn't have a Vienna sausage and Raisinettes for genitals."

"Oh, no you didn't," Alan said while they laughed.

"Oh yes, I did, teeny wiener," Rain said, giggling.

"Don't go there! Do not go there!" Alan said to her. "I'll pull out my nine and pop a cap in yo ass!"

"Oh, you couldn't even shoot an elephant's ass if it was two feet in front of ya, you cross-eyed mofo!"

They laughed when Alan gave her the finger.

"Wow, is that your IQ?" Rain said, pointing to his finger. "Kinda high, don't ya think?"

She held up her little finger.

"Here, you aren't good enough for the middle finger, so you get this!" she said while they laughed.

Alan made an L with his fingers and put it against his forehead.

"Back at ya, Bro," she said, imitating him.

"You know this is incredibly disturbing and yet interesting at the same time," Jack said. "It's like seeing what the Doctor would be like if he were in a gang or something."

"You mean if the Doctor was a gang banger?" Alan said to him. "Riding around in his lowrider popping caps in people's asses?"

"Yeah, something like that," Jack said while they laughed.

Alan grinned.

"Straight outta Gallifrey! Time Lord in da hooooouse!"

Making a fist, he spun it around his ear while he made a woofing sound.

"Yeah, I am da man. I got pimp juice. I am sex on a stick. Right, babygirl?" Alan said to Rose.

"If you say so, Alan," she said while they laughed. "Whatever the hell pimp juice is…"

"Pimp juice, babygirl. Mojo. I got me mojo workin'."

"Oh," Rose said, rolling her eyes.

"Yup, I got my pimp juice flowing while I cruise around in my pimpmobile. My pimpmobile is pimped out, man. I go out and find my hoes and pimp slap them."

"Wow, that's a lot of pimp, Alan," Mingxia said.

"Yup, I'm completely pimptacular," Alan said, smugly.

"How many words did you teach him that have pimp in it?" Donna asked Rain and Awinita.

"Um, a bunch?" Awinita said.

"Yo, Rose!"

"What, "homie"?" Rose said.

"I wanna get a taste of your pink taco!"

Rose's mouth dropped open while Rain and Awinita laughed.

"My what?"

"You know, your pink velvet sausage wallet, the pink canoe, I want it," Alan said.

The Doctor laughed when he noticed Jenny was in hysterics.

"Do you know what that means, Angel?" he said.

"No, I'm laughing because I've never heard anything like it."

"Well, uncle Alan needs to educate you on some things."

"No, she doesn't need to know about pink tacos and canoes," the Doctor said while they roared with laughter.

"I wouldn't trust you to teach her anything anyway, Bro," Rain said.

"What'd ya mean? I'm edumacated. I be highly edumacated. Duh!"

"Duh!" Rain said.

"Der!" Alan replied, crossing his eyes.

"Der-roo!" Rain said, making a face while they laughed.

Jack looked at the Doctor.

"Did you know this went on between them?"

"Oh yeah," he said.

"And…do you join in?" Jack asked.

"Um…not to this extent. I do know a fair amount of American slang now and I tease Rain sometimes but I don't really use it like he does. Like he said, he does this to differentiate himself from me and I respect that. I enjoy hearing it though. I'm fascinated by Earth slang as well. Languages in general fascinate me. But yes, this is a little sibling thing the three of them do and although he does use British slang and words, he does sneak in an American word from time to time to be different. But this is something he and Rain mainly do between themselves. He has a different way of interacting with all the women and the teasing and bratty behavior and slang is what he and Rain do."

"Well, I like it," Jack said to him. "And I really do like that you're trying not to be the Doctor and be your own person. You two are as different as night and day because of all of this."

Alan smiled.

"Well, to be truthful, what we just did was exaggerated. Like Brother said, I don't constantly say the things I just said. I just like to occasionally pepper my speech with them like I do with British slang. I was talking like that because you asked us to do it and I was showing off what I learned from my two teachers."

"Pink taco, I like that. I can definitely guess what it is," Jack said while they laughed. "And pink velvet sausage wallet. I'll have to store that in my mind for future reference."

"Oh God, I can only imagine when you'll use it," the Doctor muttered, rolling his eyes.

He checked his watch.

"It's getting late. You lot wanna go and eat supper?" he asked them.

They nodded. The women got out of the pool while everyone else stood up and waited for them.


	75. Chapter 75

Chapter Seventy Five

They walked back to the TARDIS. The restaurant was elegant and they decided to dress up for the evening. Alan accompanied his wife back to their bedroom. He closed the door behind them and walked over to his closet.

"What to wear, what to wear," he mused, looking at everything.

He was looking through his trousers on the hangers when he felt eyes on him. He looked over at Rose who was smiling softly at him.

"Aren't you gonna get dressed up? I don't think the restaurant would appreciate you sitting in their chairs in a wet cozzy," he said.

Rose put his hand against his cheek.

"You know, you can be extremely irritating and exasperating at times and you do love to embarrass me but I can't imagine my life without you now and I'm so glad you're well and back with us. I missed you so much."

Alan wrapped his arms around her.

"I've missed you as well. I was bored out of my mind in hospital. I wanted nothing more than to "haul ass" back here and see you again."

She laughed when he winked and she gave him a kiss.

"And I agree with Jack. I love how different you are from the Doctor even if you do tell me you want to eat my pink taco," she said.

"I do and you can eat my pink burrito in return," he said, waggling his eyebrows.

"Mmmm, let me at it," Rose said seductively.

"Ooo, um…that's tempting but I think we're expected to go to supper with the rest of the family."

He pulled her closer.

"But, my love," he whispered to her. "There's always….afters."

"Then I'll be waiting for that," Rose whispered back.

They snogged for a few minutes before Rose broke away. Alan groaned and pulled her close when she tried to leave.

"Alan, we can't right now. They're waiting," Rose said, stroking his hair.

Alan sighed.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, letting go.

She kissed his cheek and walked over to her side of the closet. She pulled out a white strapless evening gown and held it over her body.

"Will this make you feel better?" she said.

He glanced down at his crotch.

"Yes and the little man agrees with me wholeheartedly," he said while she laughed.

"Good, I'm glad the little man agrees," she said, kissing him on the cheek while she walked past.

"Oh, he does. In fact, as soon as we get back here the first thing the swizzle stick will wanna do is take up residence in your shrubbery."

Rose feigned exasperation and smiled lovingly at him when he winked. He turned his attention back to the closet and selected a pair of black trousers and a maroon t-shirt with black trainers. He put everything on and looked down at his outfit. Rose walked over to him.

"I like that," she said.

"Yes, but it needs something more tonight," he said.

He looked through his closet but all he had were trousers and t-shirts. He looked up.

"TARDIS, can you give me a black jacket?"

There was a flash and a black jacket appeared in his hand. He put it on and Rose smoothed it out.

"I definitely approve," Rose said to him.

He looked at the white gown.

"Well, I approve of this," he said, gesturing to it.

Rose smiled and kissed his lips before heading into the bathroom to put up her hair and put on her makeup.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Wow!" Jack said when he came out in black trousers and a navy blue shirt. "All of you look incredible!"

Besides Alan and Rose, Rain and Jenny were wearing black strapless evening gowns. Donna had on a black skirt with black court shoes and white blouse. Awinita had on a long sleeved dark blue dress that came down to her knees and Mingxia was wearing a red oriental cheongsam. It was dark red with pink cherry blossoms all over it. She, Awinita and Rain had their hair up in buns and everyone had on light makeup. The Doctor was wearing his blue suit with a plum shirt and black tie and white trainers. He looked around at everyone and smiled approvingly. He looked at his wife and daughter.

"I hate to say this but I love the tattoos," he said, gesturing to their arms. "They actually accent their outfits."

"Thanks, Dad," Jenny said, while he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Well then, to supper," the Doctor said to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The restaurant was extremely elegant. The walls were white and covered with gold trimming at the top. There were golden torches spread out along the walls with electric lights in them that resembled flames. The lights were dimmed slightly giving the place an intimate feel. The place was crowded with patrons eating at round tables that were covered with white tablecloths with the same gold trim around the bottom but the maitre d found them a table at the back next to an enormous twenty foot wide by thirty foot deep aquarium. Inside the aquarium sat an enormous black frog that was about three feet wide by two feet tall. It sat on the white sand and stared at them quietly.

"Okay, that's creepy looking," Mingxia said while they sat down in wooden chairs around the round table.

"It's a…wumpus, right?" Rain asked the Doctor.

He nodded.

"Yes, the native amphibian here. They actually grow to be a lot larger than that fellow."

"What do they eat then because he's the only thing in the tank," Jack said.

"Oh, they eat almost everything. They're very voracious," the Doctor said.

"So basically they clear out entire ponds and rivers?" Jack said.

"Nah, they only mate about once every fifteen years and have one baby at a time and there are predators that are larger than they are so it all balances out."

The waiter came around and gave them their menus along with glasses of water. They ordered some fruit juices and he left. Both couples shared their menus. Rose giggled while Alan leaned on her and whispered suggestively in her ear before kissing the ear lobe. The Doctor rubbed his wife's arm while they both stared at the choices. Jack was looking at his menu when he noticed a man in a white chef's outfit bring a tall wooden ladder over to the side of the aquarium. In his hands was a cage that was covered with a red cloth.

"Doctor," Jack said.

The Doctor glanced at him and noticed him pointing over his shoulder. He and Rain looked back and saw the man climbing the ladder.

"Ah, I suppose it's feeding time for the little bugger," he said while everyone turned their attention towards the tank.

They watched while the man laid the cage on top of it and opened a hatch. He took the cloth up the cage and they saw a lizard that resembled a purple iguana. He opened the cage, took it out and dropped it into the water. The lizard swam around the top of the water while he closed the hatch. The wumpus leaned back slightly on its haunches watching the lizard while the man took the cage and climbed back down. Then it opened its mouth and a long thin tongue shot up, wrapped around the lizard's body and pulled it into its mouth. It closed it and leaned back up, staring passively at the Doctor and his family.

"I guess that's our suppertime show," Awinita said.

"Guess someone ate early," Jack muttered.

He glanced at the choices and shook his head.

"I don't know what these meals are. I trust you, Doc. Just order me something you'd think I'd like," he said, closing his menu.

The Doctor nodded. He and Rain went back to reading theirs.

"DOCTOR!"

The Doctor jerked his head up when he heard a high-pitched female voice yelling out. He looked over with Rain and groaned when he saw a short, rotund woman with a fat face, acne and mousy brown hair running towards their table.

"Oh no, not her," he muttered.

"Who is she, Love?" Rain said to him.

"Trouble," the Doctor said grimly.

Everyone stared at her in confusion except for the Doctor and Alan who softly groaned. Rain felt the Doctor stiffen his body which added to her confusion. To their surprise though, she lunged herself at Alan and planted a wet sloppy kiss on his cheek.

"Doctor!" she breathed in his ear.

"Oi! Get the hell off me!" Alan said, trying to push her away.

"Doctor! I can't believe you're here!" the woman said, hugging him tightly. "I am so glad to see you again."

"I wanna breathe!" Alan gasped out.

"Oi! Let my husband go! Back up off him!" Rose said, trying to get her arms off his body.

The women gave her an indignant stare.

"Who are you?" she said.

"I'm his wife, that's who I am. Now clear off!" Rose said, pointing over her shoulder.

The woman looked at Alan.

"You're married, Doctor?" she said with a hurt look on her face.

Rain looked at her husband.

"Who the hell is she?" she said to him.

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Bambi."

"Bambi? Her name is Bambi?" Rain said, staring at the woman who was trying to hug Alan tightly while he struggled to get free. "Who is she?"

"Sadly, she's a loose end I should have tied up, literally tied up, long ago," the Doctor said, rising. "Excuse me, my Latara. I need to go save my brother's bacon before she squeezes the poor sod into an hourglass shape."

They watched while the Doctor walked over and stood behind Alan.

"AHEM!" he said loudly.

Bambi looked up and blinked in confusion. She looked back down at Alan who was still trying to get free with the help of Rose. Bambi let go of him when she straightened up and Alan gasped and took air into his aching lungs.

"Doctor?" she said hesitantly.

"Yes, I'm the Doctor. The man you nearly crushed to death is my twin brother, Alan."

"DOCTOR, IT'S YOU!" Bambi screamed.

Everyone at the table blushed and looked around at the other people who were staring at them in shock. The Doctor grunted when Bambi seized him around the middle and hugged him tightly.

"I'M SO GLAD TO SEE YOU!" she yelled.

"Yeah, wish I could say the same," the Doctor grunted out. "Could you keep the noise level down before we're booted out of the restaurant."

He grunted when she hugged him extra tight. Rain sighed angrily and got up from her seat.

"Let go of him," she said to Bambi. "You're squeezing my husband to death!"

Bambi stared at her in shock.

"You're married too?" she said to the Doctor.

"Yes, now let go of me," the Doctor grunted out.

Bambi let go and the Doctor staggered towards his wife who got in front of him and protected him from the insane woman.

"Who are you exactly?" Rain said to her.

"I'm his lover!" Bambi said, pointing to the Doctor.

Rain's mouth dropped open. She looked at the Doctor who was shaking his head so hard it was threatening to snap off his neck.

"No, Te'lesu, he's not," Alan said, putting a hand on her arm when she saw the shocked look on her face.

"I am too. The Doctor is mine!" Bambi said to him.

"Look, lady, I don't know where the Doctor knows you from but we're married," Rain said, holding up her left hand and showing her the ring. "And I really don't appreciate you coming over here and interrupting our quiet dinner while you assault him and my brother."

"He belongs to me, he said so!" Bambi said, pointing her finger at him.

The Doctor and Alan groaned while everyone else stared at them both in confusion. While they were watching them, the waiter walked up and hesitantly asked them if they were ready to order. Alan quickly told him to give them more time and the waiter hurried away, visibly relieved to be out of Bambi's presence. Once he was gone, Rain looked at the Doctor.

"What's going on? What does she mean you belong to her?" Rain asked.

The Doctor sighed and glared at Bambi.

"Before I met you and before Brother was born, back when I traveled with Martha, I let her off to go visit her family for half a day and I went on a trip of my own to pass the time. I ended up being captured by this nutter scientist on Zaros and Bambi was his daughter. I was in danger of being disintegrated when I wouldn't be his lab rat and begged Bambi to help me when we were alone but she fancied me and told me she would only help me if I agreed to go on a date with her. I didn't want to be blasted into atoms so I told her I would and she freed me. Then while I tried to make a getaway, she latched on to me and did exactly what you just saw her do except the last time I had to resort to hitting her on the head and rendering her unconscious. I escaped and went on my way never figuring I'd see her again. I hated to lie to her but I had no choice. Do you hear that, Bambi? It was a deception because I wanted to get away from your father."

"But, you're mine! You told me you would be my lover forever!"

"Uh, no, I told you I would go on one date with you. That was a lie and I'm sorry I lied but…"

Rain gasped and blocked her husband when she tried to grab him again.

"But you belong to me! I helped you so now you have to marry me!"

"What? I never agreed to marry you and besides I'm already married!" the Doctor said.

He sighed when he looked around at the other people who were now hanging on every word they said.

"Then divorce her and marry me," Bambi said, pointing to Rain.

Rain snorted.

"P'eh, in your dreams you delusional…"

She refrained from saying bitch figuring it would only make things worse. The Doctor put his hands on her shoulders while Alan stood up beside her. Bambi stared at him.

"What about him? Can I have him?" she said to the Doctor.

"I would rather be eaten by the frog over there," Alan muttered.

Bambi crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm not leaving until I get one of you for my very own," she said.

The Doctor glanced at his brother.

"As much as I hate to do this…" he said to Alan.

He threw his hands up to Bambi's temples and closed his eyes. He found the memories she had of him and took them permanently out of her mind. Bambi slumped forward and the Doctor grimaced when he made the mistake of grabbing her bulky body.

"Brother, help me!" the Doctor groaned. "She's gotta weight 18 stone at least!"

He and Jack rushed over to help him. Everyone at all the tables watched while they sat her down in Alan's empty seat. The Doctor sighed and looked at his family.

"Right, obviously we have to go somewhere else to eat now," he said to them.

They groaned and glared at Bambi's unconscious body while they all rose and quickly followed the Doctor through the restaurant towards the exit.


	76. Chapter 76

Chapter Seventy Six

After eating at a less elegant restaurant, the Doctor and his family headed back to the TARDIS to change back into their normal clothes so they could spend the night in their rooms. The Doctor sighed while he stood by his closet and Rain sat on their bed.

"Thank God that got sorted out," he muttered to himself.

He glanced at Rain and raised his eyebrow when she began to giggle.

"I know you think it's funny."

"I'm sorry, Thete, but how many other women stalkers do you have out there?" she asked him. "I mean, are we gonna land somewhere and this crazy woman will jump out of the bushes and leech onto ya while she screams out her love?"

He smiled at her while he took off his tie.

"I think she's the only one, Latara," he said to her.

She chuckled and rose from the bed. She walked over to him and kissed his right ear.

"My poor beloved," she whispered in his ear. "Not only does he have to worry about Davros and Daleks and Cybermen attacking him, he also has to worry about fat delusional women squeezing him to death too."

He chuckled and kissed her temple. Rain came around and began to unbutton his shirt while he worked on his trousers. He got his trousers undone when he heard the mobile ringing in his pocket.

"Hmm? Wonder who that could be?" he said, while Rain reached into the pocket for the mobile.

"Maybe Sarah Jane wants to talk," Rain said, handing it to him.

"Could be. One way to find out," he said to her while she let his trousers drop.

He flipped it open and pushed talk while Rain helped him step out of the trousers.

"Hello?" he said into the mobile.

"Doctor?"

The Doctor's eyes widened in surprise.

"Grace, hi," he said, happily, "what a pleasant surprise. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine, Doctor but we have a problem here and I need your expertise."

"What's the problem?" the Doctor said while his wife straightened out his trousers and folded them up.

"Well, there's this strange new virus that's hit San Francisco. We've had several patients come down with it and we've never seen anything like it. They become violently ill before turning gold and then they seem to lose all their memories before they die. We've run tons of tests, every test we can think of but we can't make hide nor hair of what's happening and I was wondering if you could come to our hospital lab and have a look at some blood samples to see if you know what it is?"

"Yes, I can come take a look at it, Grace. Do you need all of us to come?"

"Well, obviously I need you to come but…are you doing something?"

"Well, we're at a resort on this planet called Aswad…"

"Oh crap, I'm sorry. I'm interrupting…"

"No, no, I'll come take a look. I'm in a time machine, Grace. I can take a look at this alien virus and be back to finish my holiday. But in the meantime I can leave the others here while I come take a look at it."

"Not me, Love, I wanna come with you," Rain whispered to him.

He glanced at her and nodded.

"Rain is coming with me as well."

"Oh good. I'd love to see her. Do you need today's date here?"

"Yes."

He walked over to a dresser and grabbed a pad of paper and pencil on top of it. He wrote down the date.

"Okay, Grace, I'll tell my family what's going on and then I'll come to San Francisco."

"I'll wait for you outside. There are some stone benches by the door. I'll be there."

"Okay, I'll see you when I get there then."

"Good. And thanks, Doctor. I appreciate this."

"Not a problem, happy to help," he said to her. "Goodbye."

He hung up and laid his mobile on the dresser.

"Right, gotta get dressed then," he said to Rain.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm coming with you, Brother," Alan said when the Doctor summoned everyone into the console room and explained the situation while Jenny and Awinita stroked the dogs fur and kept them calm. "I might be able to help out as well."

"And I'm coming with Alan," Rose said.

"I wanna come too," Jack said.

He shrugged when the Doctor looked at him.

"I can help also and I wanna meet this Grace. I wanna meet another of your companions. If you don't mind, I think we should go get Martha also. Perhaps another doctor can help out."

The Doctor nodded.

"Ring her up then and ask," he said to him.

Jack nodded and excused himself while he stepped away with his mobile. The Doctor looked at everyone else.

"You lot don't have to come but I would welcome it. If you wanna stay here and wait for us, that's fine. There's no pressure. Besides, I'll probably do what I did the last time and land a few tics after I left. Anyone else wanna come?"

They looked at each other and shook their heads.

"I don't think we all should go, Bro. We might get in the way of each other in the hospital," Awinita said.

The Doctor nodded.

"Well, I'm gonna use the Valeyard's TARDIS since this TARDIS's stabilizer is still out of commission. I don't wanna risk it and have the old girl crash into the building. So keep an eye on it for me, alright?"

They smiled and nodded. The Doctor looked down at the dogs and petted them while they jumped up towards his face.

"Besides, they might have places to take the mutts and you can give them a bit of exercise. I'm sure they'd enjoy a nice holiday as well after roaming the halls and defecating everywhere."

Jack came back over.

"Martha's agreed to come," he said to him.

The Doctor briefly scratched Blizzard and Rory's ears before standing up.

"Okay, then let's get this show on the road so we can get back here and finish our holiday," he said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Grace and Lee sat side by side outside the hospital patiently waiting for the Doctor to come.

"Are you sure they're gonna let him into the lab, Grace?" Lee said to her.

"Yes, because I've got a bit of influence at this hospital and I'm gonna use it. I don't know what's happening to all those people but if anyone can stop it, it's the Doctor."

She looked around and smiled when she saw the Doctor heading up the sidewalk towards them. He gave a wave and they stood and waved back. The Doctor bounded up the stone steps leading to the entrance followed by Rain, Alan, Rose, Jack and Martha. The Doctor gave Grace a hug and patted Lee on the shoulder.

"Wonderful to see you both again," the Doctor said. "You know Rain, Rose and Alan. This is my other brother, Jack Harkness and his associate and former companion of mine, Martha Jones. She's also a doctor so we brought her along."

"Nice to meet you," Grace said to Martha while she shook her hand.

"Likewise."

Lee said hello and shook her hand while Grace moved to Jack.

"Captain Jack Harkness at your service, Miss Holloway," he said with a winning smile.

The Doctor glanced at Alan and rolled his eyes.

"Pleasure to meet you; I'm glad the Doctor brought you along."

"Same here," he said.

She went and hugged Rain, Rose and Alan while Lee stepped in front of him. He cast an appreciative glance at him before shaking his hand and introducing himself.

Once the introductions were finished, Grace led them into the hospital.


	77. Chapter 77

Chapter Seventy Seven

"This way," Grace said leading them through the halls. "I just hope I can sneak you by everyone."

"You can. We took precautions," the Doctor said.

"You did?" Grace said, turning to him. "How?"

The Doctor showed her a key that was hanging from a string around his neck.

"This is a perception filter. We're all wearing one. As long as you don't draw attention to us, we'll go anywhere and no one will pay attention to us. We figured we might need to get into unauthorized places in here."

"And all I have to do is not tell people you're behind me and Lee?" Grace said.

They nodded. Grace looked at Lee. They shrugged and continued on their way.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Grace was stunned. She was leading them into restricted areas but true to the Doctor's word, no one gave any of them a second glance. Grace and Lee shared a look while the Doctor chuckled.

"Told you it would work," he said to Grace.

"You're amazing, Doctor. I shoulda known that TARDIS of yours was just the beginning though," she said to him.

They reached the lab door and Grace used her ID card in the scanner beside it. The door unlocked and she ushered them inside.

"I have some blood samples from people who have been infected with the virus," she said, putting on some latex gloves and a surgical mask. "If I were you, I'd protect yourself the way I'm doing."

"You better believe I'm gonna protect myself," Alan said. "I'm not about to go back in hospital again."

Grace gave him a concerned look.

"What were you in the hospital for?"

"Marcovanian flu. It's a rare flu strain. God only knows how I got it but I needed to be treated before it killed me."

"God, I'm glad you're alright," Grace said while everyone put on the gloves and surgical masks.

"Me too, Grace," he replied.

"What are the symptoms?" Martha asked Grace after she got the gloves and mask on.

Grace looked at her while she opened the refrigerator and brought out a small metal tray that had several test tubes on it.

"Well, the people have come in with flu-like symptoms," she said, bringing the blood filled test tubes over to a counter. "They usually are severe by the time they arrive since people assume it's just the flu."

She set the tray down by a high powered microscope and the Doctor sat down on a metal stool in front of it while he listened to her.

"The first people that came in with it, we assumed it was just a virulent strain of the flu but then their skin started turning gold and their body temperature would drop and their eyes would get very glassy. Then they started exhibiting symptoms akin to Alzheimer's, but much more rapid and this memory loss would continue until their nervous systems just shut down and they died. But from what I could tell it seemed like everything was being drained away until they were just empty shells. It was odd. We had a couple of patients at first but now there's more and today we got one that was flown in from Denver so it's spreading beyond San Francisco."

"You have someone that's alive?" the Doctor said.

"Yes, we checked her in this morning."

"I wanna see her after I'm finished here."

She nodded.

"I'll also take you to the morgue and show you the bodies. We haven't released them to the families yet because we still want to examine them and do autopsies."

"Good, I want to see them as well," the Doctor said.

He took an eyedropper, opened one of the test tubes and put a tiny amount of blood on a glass slide. Jack came over to Grace while he slid it under the microscope.

"This gold skin, you're saying they have a gold tint to their skin?" he asked her.

"No, it's more than a tint. They all have really gold skin, almost metallic gold."

"Metallic?" Rose said.

"Yes, it's got a kind of metal tinge to it. I'll show you when we go down to the morgue."

"Brother, look at this," the Doctor said to Alan. "Look at the blood cells."

He switched places with Alan.

"When you say gold skin, is it as gold as say…that scene in Goldfinger where the woman was painted all over with gold paint?" Jack asked.

"Yes, but it's more shiny than that," Grace said.

Alan looked at the Doctor.

"The blood cells are shrunken," he said to him.

"What does that mean?" Rain said.

"It means the blood cells are disappearing, I suppose. There are some that are tiny than normal blood cells and others who are nearly gone."

"We noticed that too. It's like the blood is being taken out of their systems," she said to him.

Martha noticed the Doctor deep in thought.

"Do you have an idea about what's happening?" she asked.

"I have an inkling but…can we see the bodies now?" he asked Grace.

"Yes."

She put the slide and eyedropper in a special solution to kill the virus and put the tray back in the refrigerator.

"I'm so glad you regenerated again, Doctor," Grace said, closing the fridge door.

"Why?" he asked.

"Well, these…perception filters, they aren't 100 percent foolproof, are they? I mean there's a chance someone could see you?"

"If we or you or Lee draw attention to us then they can."

"Well, Pete still works down there and the last thing he needs to see is your old self."

"Who's he?" the Doctor said, frowing.

The overweight orderly that was on duty when you busted down the morgue door."

"Oh! Him! The chap that fainted?"

"Yes and he nearly had a nervous breakdown from your little stunt."

"I was cold, Grace. I wanted out and there was a door in my way!"

"Doctor you knocked out a foot thick steel door in front of him!"

"I was cold!" he said while Alan sniggered. "I'm sorry but you lot gave me anesthetics and I nearly didn't come back to life. I woke up there, confused and cold, and I wanted to get out. I do have some enhanced abilities in the first 15 hours of my regeneration cycle including increased strength. I'm sorry I scared Pete but I wasn't gonna stand there in the freezer waiting till the man went on break. Anyway, as long as you don't tell him we're there, we'll just pass by him without him knowing."

"Good. Because I don't want to explain who all of you are anyway," Grace said. "But now that I've warned you about him, let's go on down to the morgue."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Both the Doctor and Alan had to keep their hands over their mouths to stifle their laughter while Grace and Lee were signing in at the morgue entrance. Pete was sitting there with a big bag of Frito Lay corn chips in his lap talking to her and both brothers wanted to say something to him. Rain looked at him.

_Is that him, Love?_ She thought to him.

_Yup, that's Petey-poo_, he thought back.

She glanced over at the morgue door.

_You knocked down that?_ She thought to him.

_I was cold, Latara._

Alan bit down on his lip when he heard that.

_Yeah, man was cold, give him a break,_ he thought to Rain. _Door was in his way and he had to get out, can you blame the poor sod?_

_This was your eighth life? _Rose thought to him.

_Yup, my eighth life started in a morgue freezer, everyone! I woke up and discovered I was becoming a fish finger so I escaped and gave Petey-poo a scare in the process. But he's safe and sound and back to eating his corn chips._

Martha frowned when she noticed everyone was trying not to laugh. Grace finished checking them in and they walked past him.

_Oh God, I wanna say something so badly,_ the Doctor thought to everyone as they went past.

_Maybe, when we come out we can yell and let him see us and then he'll wonder where these strange people came from,_ Alan thought back.

_Don't you dare, Alan, the poor man's been through enough already,_ Rose thought to him.

_Oh, you're no fun, Starlight,_ he thought back.

Grace opened the door and stepped aside. She waved at Pete, distracting him, while the extra people went through and then she shut it behind them.

"Ah, memories," the Doctor said as Alan sniggered. "Seems like only yesterday I was in here freezing my bum off and wondering where the hell I was."

"Seems like only yesterday you stepped outside your TARDIS and got shot down in a San Francisco gangbang," Alan said to him.

"Yes, how embarrassing for me. My seventh life went out in a hail of gangland gunfire, not my proudest moment. I learned a valuable lesson though…don't go outside in San Francisco without peeking out the door first."

Alan snickered. They walked into one of the rooms. There was a body lying on a metal table covered by a sheet.

_Ah, memories,_ the Doctor thought to Rain. _Seems like only yesterday I was on a metal table covered by a sheet freezing my bum off while I regenerated._

He pinched her cheek when she giggled softly. Grace pulled back the blanket and they gathered around to stare at the body. She was a young woman in her early twenties. Her entire skin was gold and even her hair was a shiny gold color.

"Blimey, you weren't joking when you said the body was gold. This is almost like Axon skin," Alan said.

He looked at the Doctor.

"You don't think…"

"Axons? If they are behind this, why did these people die then? What's the point of turning them gold before they kill them?" he said to him.

She took the woman's hand and pushed on the skin.

"Still soft. It looks like metallic gold but the skin isn't hard like metal so she didn't become a robot then."

"Is that a possibility?" Grace said to him.

The Doctor leaned over and examined her face.

"It's rare, but it can happen with the right technology," he said to her. "Thing is, I've never heard of a virus doing that. There's petrifold regression where people are turned to stone statues but that's not what this is."

He opened her right eyelid and looked at her eye.

"Still human," he said, closing it. "She resembles a human except for the skin and the shrinking blood cells. I have to tell ya, Grace. I'm befuddled. Perhaps if you can find a way to let me take one of these bodies back to my lab I can run tests there and find something you lot overlooked. I have technology not found on Earth and…"

He trailed off when he suddenly heard the woman exhaling and he saw her breath escaping from her open mouth. All of them stepped back in surprise and watched while the woman opened her eyes.

"That's impossible," Lee said. "She was dead. She had no vital signs, none!"

"Well, she has vital signs now," Jack said.

The Doctor stepped forward while the woman slowly sat up and looked around.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor, can you tell us your name?" he said, bending over and looking at her face.

The woman looked at him.

"Doctor? You are the Doctor?" she said.

"Yes, I am. Who are you? Do you remember your name?"

The women glared at him.

"You are the Doctor. The Doctor is the enemy of the Daleks. You must be exterminated!"


	78. Chapter 78

A/N: This chapter contains references to the Doctor Who quick read, I Am A Dalek.

Chapter Seventy Eight

They stared at the woman in shock.

"Dalek? She's not a Dalek!" Grace said.

"Dalek factor," the Doctor muttered to himself.

Alan and Rose groaned while Grace gave him a confused look.

"Dalek factor? What's that mean?"

Just then the women leapt from the table and seized the Doctor by the throat.

"EX-TER-MIN-ATE!" she screamed while she tried to strangle him. "THE DOC-TOR MUST BE EX-TER-MIN-ATED!"

Everyone ran to him. Rain and Rose grabbed the woman around the chest and stomach and jerked her away from him. Alan ran forward, put his fingers against her temples and put her to sleep. They laid her back on the table.

"Grace, how many bodies are in here?" the Doctor said. "They all need to be checked and restrained."

"There's five more, two women and three men."

"Show me. Brother, come with me. We have to prevent them from waking up. Jack, keep an eye on this one."

Grace and Lee led the Doctor and Alan out of the room.

"What the hell is going on?" Jack said. "Why does she think she's a Dalek?"

"Because of the Dalek factor," Rose said.

"What's that?" Rain said.

She sighed.

"Right after the Doctor regenerated, this woman called Kate was hit and killed in a traffic accident and apparently she regenerated like the Doctor does but she started acting like a Dalek and we found out that during the Time War, Daleks came to Earth and tried to turn some humans into Daleks by injecting them with something they called Dalek Factor. But they didn't turn completely gold like this woman did."

"Maybe this is another experiment that's similar to Kate," Martha said.

"Could be. But if she's anything like Kate, she'll think exactly like a Dalek including having an urge to kill everything around her."

"And there's five more in here including the woman upstairs," Rain said.

"Yup and Grace said they flew her in from Denver which means there's probably a lot of them scattered around the US and possibly the world," Rose said.

"Great," Jack said, sighing. "Is it too much to ask that we go five minutes without battling the Daleks or their offspring?"

The Doctor, Alan, Grace and Lee came back into the room.

"Rose explained this Dalek factor thing to us," Martha said.

The Doctor nodded.

"Yes, she and I met Kate who'd been infected with it. She did regenerate but she didn't get shiny golden skin and to my knowledge her memories weren't drained, just surpressed."

"Maybe the Daleks came back after the Time War and tried to improve on what they did," Rain said.

The Doctor nodded.

"That's possible. Especially since Rose did manage to bring Kate to her senses. No memories means no recollection of her life. Same thing Dalek Sec tried to do when he created the Dalek/Human hybrids. Have no clue why they needed to turn them gold though unless it made identifying the troops easier."

"And the shrinking blood cells?" Grace said to him.

"I'm guessing that eventually they'll become like a Dalek's shell. Perhaps the skin will harden into metal if given enough time and they'll lose their internal organs. If they do become shells, then they have no need of blood since there's no need for nourishment or to sustain the organs. Just a theory but I'm guessing that's what the bastards were planning. I'm guessing they tried again after I eliminated almost all of the Cult of Skaro. Maybe Caan came here first before he went back into the Time War so the Daleks could have a safety net if his plan to save Davros failed. Then when Caan saw the truth about the Daleks, I'm guessing he abandoned the experiments but the factor was on a time delay and now it's been activated and the troops are being changed and awakened. The woman upstairs, can you take us to her?"

Grace nodded.

"Good because we need to speak with her before she loses all her memories," he said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Madison?" Grace said as she stepped into her hospital room.

Madison was in her early twenties with long blonde hair and green eyes. She had dark circles around her eyes and a sickly pallor to her skin. She was in a white hospital gown and was sitting up in her bed. She was on the far side of the room, all alone, staring out the wide plate glass window beside her. The Doctor and the others had removed their perception filters so she could see him. Lee had gone off to take care of his patients but asked them to keep him informed of what was happening and call for him if they needed him.

They walked over to Madison who was staring at the newcomers in confusion.

"Madison, these are my friends," she said.

She introduced them and brought the Doctor forward.

"The Doctor would like to ask you a couple of questions, is that alright?"

Madison nodded and the Doctor pulled up a chair and sat down beside the bed.

"I'm here to help you, Madison. I want to help save you."

"Save me? All I have is the flu."

He shook his head.

"No, it's worse than the flu. Worse than you can ever imagine and if it's not stopped, you'll die and be reborn as something horrendous."

"What are you talking about?" Madison said.

"Look, I know it sounds crazy but believe me, we know what's going on. We just saw what will eventually happen to you downstairs and it's not pretty. I just want to ask you a question and please answer it truthfully even if you think it sounds ridiculous. Trust me; I'll believe anything you have to say, alright?"

"Alright," Madison said, hesitantly.

"Madison, have you been abducted by aliens in the past couple of years?" he asked.

Madison stared at him in shock. Her eyes went from him to everyone standing around her bed and back to him.

"You're serious?" she said.

"I'm very serious," he said to her. "No one here is joking, trust me. So, please be truthful because we'll believe you if you have been abducted."

"I…I guess…" Madison said, hesitantly.

She looked around and noticed no one was laughing at her or looking at her like she was crazy. She looked back at the Doctor who had a concerned look on his face.

"Who are you?" Madison said to him.

"A friend and someone who wants to help you," he said, gently. "Everyone here is your friend and we believe you when you say you've been abducted."

"Are you from the government? Like the Men in Black?"

He chuckled.

"No…although that was a very good movie, but no, I'm not with the government. I try to help people whenever I can. I'm just a roaming Good Samaritan, Madison. Now…tell me, what were the circumstances surrounding your abduction and what happened afterwards. Do you remember being on the ship? Tell us anything you remember, alright?"

"Well, I live in Denver; have lived there all my life."

The Doctor nodded and gave her an encouraging smile.

"Um…about two years ago, I was out driving home from work. I passed through a mountain tunnel and that's when I saw this huge spaceship above me."

"What did it look like?" the Doctor asked.

"Gold. Gold and kinda flat with little bumps under it."

"Yup, we know who that belongs to," Jack muttered.

"Go on," the Doctor said, gently.

Madison frowned and tried to remember and shook her head.

"I can't remember but I'm pretty sure I was abducted because I was back in my car and it was nearly one in the morning and when I first saw it, it was about a quarter to eight in the evening. You know, that lost time thing they always talk about in UFO abductions."

The Doctor nodded and stood up.

"I have a way to retrieve these suppressed memories of the lost time but I need you to trust me, can you do that?"

Madison stared at him. She had never met him before and yet, something about him made her want to trust him and it seemed like she instinctually knew he wouldn't hurt her and would help. She nodded and the Doctor smiled warmly.

"Good. Just hold still. This won't hurt, I promise."

He put his fingers to her temples and closed her eyes. Madison's eyes rolled back in her head. The Doctor kept his fingers on her temples for a few more seconds before opening his eyes and taking his hands away.

"Now, Madison, you have full access to all your memories," the Doctor said to her while she kept her eyes closed. "What happened after you saw the spaceship?"

There was a moment's hesitation and then Madison spoke in a soft voice while she kept her eyes closed.

"There was this bright light that came down from the spaceship. The light hit my car and pulled the car and me up into the ship," she murmured. "Then…I was in a dark room and there were these robots. They came up to the car and told me to get out or I would die. They had gun things on the front of them so I did what they said. There were three of them and I walked with them out of the room."

"Three?" Alan muttered. "There was more than Dalek Caan then."

"What happened then, Madison?" the Doctor said.

"These robots led me to this weird looking man. Some odd looking man who was sitting in the bottom of one of these robot bodies."

"So, it was after Dalek Caan went through the Time War," Rose muttered.

"He told me not to be afraid. That I was going to serve a great purpose for the Daleks," Madison said. "I asked him what that meant and he wouldn't answer. He ordered the robots to take me to the lab and I tried to run but one of them shot their gun at the wall and that scared me enough that I obeyed."

The Doctor seethed at that but kept silent.

"What happened then?" he asked her.

"They took me to this lab and these other humans took my top and bra off."

"Other humans?" Jack said.

"Who were these other humans?" the Doctor asked her.

"Just two men, young but their eyes were unfocused like they'd been hypnotized or something."

"Maybe they were like the pig slaves?" Martha said to Alan.

He nodded.

"Yeah, except they kept them human since they were probably only needed for a short time, probably ended up injected with Dalek Factor along with everyone else after they were no longer needed as slaves," he said.

"What happened then, Madison?" the Doctor asked.

"They forced me onto a lab table and strapped me down. Then one of them took a syringe and injected me with something. Some kind of clear liquid that burned like fire in my veins. Then a couple of the robots came back and watched these monitors for awhile. I was kept there for a couple of hours and then they let me get my clothes back on. They took me to this machine in the corner and the men hooked me up to it and then I blacked out. When I woke up, I was back in my car."

The Doctor shook his head.

"Thank you, Madison. I'm going to wake you up now and you'll have no recollection of these memories."

He put his fingers back to her temples and a few seconds later; Madison blinked her eyes and woke up. The Doctor took his fingers away from her head and looked at Grace. He nodded his head towards the door and she followed him outside where he pulled her a few feet away

"We need to get her and the others out of here and back to my TARDIS where they can be isolated from everyone else," he whispered to her. "I want to use the lab and see if I can come up with a solution but I have a feeling if this isn't contained and we don't find an antidote the country will soon be overrun with human Daleks who are programmed to kill and do nothing else. You have to try to convince the people around here that we're doctors or specialists and we need to take Madison and the others away for study."

Grace nodded.

"I'll go speak to the administrator and convince him that you're here to do that," she said.

"Thank you, Grace. I just hope you can get your boss to listen because if we don't stop this now the entire planet will soon be plunged into chaos."


	79. Chapter 79

Chapter Seventy Nine

The Doctor and the others stood outside the administrator's office waiting while Grace spoke to her boss.

"I hope this works," Alan said.

"Just get your psychic paper ready everyone," he said to his family. "I'm sure we'll have to show him our credentials before we can move Madison and the others."

Grace opened the office door five minutes later and she beckoned for them to come inside. The administrator was an elderly man wearing a great business suit, white shirt and black tie. He was sitting behind his desk with a stern look on his face.

"Grace has informed me that you wish to take Madison Reece and the bodies away for study."

Rain glanced at her husband.

_CDC, Love, tell him you're from the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta,_ she thought to him.

The Doctor glanced at her, smiled and nodded while he took out his psychic paper.

"Yes, I'm Doctor John Smith from the Center for Disease Control," he said with a southern American accent while he showed him his paper.

The administrator stared at it.

"I see, so the CDC has finally gotten involved then," he said.

"Yes, we believe this is a national emergency, an epidemic that if not contained and treated might go worldwide. We wish to move Miss Reece and the bodies to our labs for study so we can try to find a vaccine or cure."

"I see, well, you'll need to fill out some paperwork before they're moved. Are these your associates?"

"Yes, they are and we will also have need of Miss Holloway here. We need to interview her regarding the events she has witnessed."

The administrator was stunned.

"Now? She has a surgery in an hour, a heart transplant."

"Oh? Really?" the Doctor said.

"Thom can take over for me," Grace said quickly. "Doctor Smith is right, I need to go and give them any information I can before this gets out of control."

They noticed he was conflicted about that but finally he relented.

"Fine, just hurry back, alright?"

"Yes, sir," Grace muttered.

He motioned for them to go out and they followed Grace out the door. She closed it after them and the Doctor turned to her.

"Grace, if you need to stay for this heart transplant…" he started to say.

Grace held up her hand.

"Don't worry, Thom can handle it. It's about time the other surgeons pulled their load around here. Besides, this is much more important to me."

"He seemed hesitant to let you go," Rain said.

Grace snorted.

"Yeah, well, I didn't earn the nickname Amazing Grace for nothing," she muttered. "I'm the go-to girl for every complicated surgery which is why someone else can handle it for a change. I need a damn break."

"So you're going to stop a Dalek/human virus on your break?" Alan said, amused.

"Trust me, Alan. That'll be relaxing compared to a heart transplant," she said. "Now I assume you have a van of some kind since they're not gonna just let you pick up the people in the morgue and go out the front door with them in your arms."

The Doctor and Alan stared at her with wide eyes.

"Or maybe you were gonna do that," Grace said. "You're lucky, I have a friend who has a van and he owes me a favor after I treated his daughter for free. Let me call him and arrange for him to meet us at the back door of the morgue. I'll have Lee discharge Madison and bring her out the front door where we can pick her up there."

They nodded and Grace reached into her pocket for her mobile.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Twenty minutes later, the Doctor and the others were riding with Madison and the converted men and women to his TARDIS. The Doctor was driving, Madison was in the passenger seat and Grace and the others were in the back of the van keeping watch over the unconscious people. The Doctor smiled at her. She'd been dressed in her street clothes and had a brown leather purse in her lap. She was alert but he could tell she was severely ill. Lee had given her a couple of pain pills before they left and he had sat with her until they arrived. He apologized and told them he had to go back inside and told them that he wished them well if he didn't see them again. Then he went back inside.

The Doctor put a comforting hand on Madison's shoulder when he noticed the fear in her eyes.

"Don't worry, you'll be alright. I promise we won't let anything happen to you," he said, gently.

Madison nodded and he squeezed his shoulder before he turned onto the street the TARDIS was on.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Grace looked around when they walked into an alley. The only things in the alley were several trash cans and two dumpsters.

"This is the alley the TARDIS is in?" Grace said to the Doctor.

"Yup."

"Well, where is it then?" she said, looking around.

The Doctor chuckled.

"I'm using a loaner and it has a functioning chameleon circuit."

He walked up to the first dumpster, put his hands into a groove in the front of it and opened up a door.

"Ta-da, this is what a TARDIS is supposed to do when it lands, Grace," he said while his family and friends laughed.

He smiled at Madison who was staring at the interior with a mixture of fear and wonder. She looked at the Doctor and backed away from him.

"You're an alien too. You're all aliens," she said to him.

The Doctor put his hands on her shoulders.

"We're not like the ones who took you. We're here to help," he said. "Yes, I'm an alien and so are some of the others here but Martha, Jack and Doctor Holloway aren't. But they're my friends and my family and they can attest to my intentions. I promise you'll be safe. I'm trying to undo what the other aliens did, both to you and the others in the van. Please, trust us."

Madison looked at Grace.

"He's telling the truth, Madison. He's here to help. I sent for him because I knew he could help. He won't hurt you or anyone else."

Madison nodded and the Doctor breathed a sigh of relief. He and Grace helped her inside while everyone else went to get the people from the back of the van.

Grace looked around once they entered and noticed the metallic interior.

"I guess this is a loaner because it looks a lot different," she said. "How many different interiors can a TARDIS have?"

"Um, about fifty or sixty, I think," he said while they escorted Madison back to the lab. "I've only used a handful over the years so I'm not entirely sure."

"Well, if you had the last TARDIS in existence, who owns this one?"

"Um, well, it's a long, complicated story but it was owned by an evil Time Lord called the Valeyard."

"Evil like the Master?"

"Yes, but the Valeyard was far, far worse."

Grace's eyes bulged.

"Far worse than the Master? Glad I didn't meet em," she said. "You said "was" though. So he's gone?"

"Yes, he's been destroyed and unlike the Master I know he's gone for good."

He glanced at Madison who was listening to all this in confusion.

"Sorry, Madison. She helped me out several years ago and we're just talking shop," he said to her.

"Where are you from?" Madison asked. "Are you from Mars?"

The Doctor sighed.

"Why do you lot always assume I'm from Mars?" he muttered while Grace chuckled. "You need to quit watching all those bad sci-fi movies from the 1950's. No, Madison, I'm not from Mars and neither were your abductors. I come from a planet called Gallifrey that no longer exists now and your abductors came from a planet called Skaro. There hasn't been life on Mars for centuries now."

Madison nodded, not quite sure how to answer that. The Doctor led her into the lab and put a hand on her shoulder when she flinched.

"I won't hurt you. I'm here to help," he said.

She nodded and let him lead her over to the metal table.

"Just sit on this, Madison," he said.

"Are you gonna tie me down?" she asked, pointing to the leather restraints.

"No, I won't use those at all."

Madison nodded and sat down.

_Brother, where do you want the others?_ Alan thought to him.

_Put them in the holding cells and make them comfortable. I'm going to start with Madison and once I've finished examining her, I'll move on to them._

_Gotcha,_ he thought back.

"Grace, stay with her a moment and just make her feel at ease while I gather together the things I need to examine her," the Doctor said.

She nodded and put her hand on Madison's shoulder while the Doctor grabbed a metal trolley by the door and began to wheel it past the cabinets getting what he needed out of them. Madison watched him while he pulled out medical equipment and other objects and then looked at Grace.

"How do you know him if he's an alien and you're a human?" Madison said to her.

Grace rolled her eyes.

"It's a long story but I met him on New Year's Eve, 1999. I helped save the world from the Master, the Time Lord I mentioned. Trust me, I was also freaked out at first but he's an amazing man and he and his family and friends will help you, I swear."

Madison nodded and watched while the Doctor went around the room gathering his supplies. While he did that, the others came inside. Madison stared at Alan who noticed her and came over to her, smiling warmly.

"Hiya, I'm betting you're a bit overwhelmed by all this, but rest assured, this is a safe environment. And clean…very clean. Cleaner than ours by the looks of things. But we have two doggies that roam around and get into things."

"Dogs? You have dogs? You…experiment on them?" Madison said.

"Oh no, pets, they're our pets," Alan said. "Huskies, Rory and Blizzard, they're a bit pesky but we love em. Anyway, I'm sure you noticed I look like him over there. I'm the Doctor's twin brother, Alan. It's nice to meet ya."

"Yeah, you too," Madison said, shaking his hand.

"We're friendly folk. We like nothing more than to roam through time and space, meeting aliens and chewin' the fat with em."

He glanced at Grace.

"Interesting expression you Americans have by the way. Chewin' the fat. I like it."

He turned his attention back to Madison while Grace chuckled.

"Anyway, we're gonna do everything within our power to cure ya and the others who have been affected and find a way to prevent others from getting sick."

"Brother, are you rambling on to that poor woman?" the Doctor said, glancing over his shoulder while he brought down a couple of syringes from a cabinet.

"Yes, but you know me, I can talk the hind legs off a donkey…much like you can," he said smiling.

"Yes, but you might want to pause in your conversation and come over here so I can tell you what I want to do."

"Okey-dokey," Alan said.

He patted Madison on the shoulder.

"He's the older brother so I have to do what he says or he gets fussy and throws things at me, which is annoying as you might imagine since I have to run around the TARDIS avoiding objects the rest of the day. But, I love him. So, please excuse me."

Grace laughed while he walked away and Madison stared at him in wonder.


	80. Chapter 80

Chapter Eighty

Madison sat quietly while the Doctor examined her body, took some blood samples and used microscopes and some weird machines to run tests on her. True to his word, the Doctor was kind to her and made her feel at ease and in no time she trusted him completely. She had to admit though, she liked his brother a bit more. The Doctor seemed the more serious of the two while his brother joked with her and acted silly. She also had to admit that even though they were aliens, they were both cute. The human, Jack, was cute too and was very charming. The women were all busy helping the Doctor but they were laughing and joking with each other while they worked and the whole easygoing atmosphere helped to ease her fears and allowed her to be calm. She had no idea what the Doctor meant about her flu being far worse than she imagined but she had a sense that these people could cure her and she felt even more at ease knowing that.

She had no idea there were others either. She had seen them in the back of the van and the way they looked with the golden bodies terrified her. Was this what the Doctor meant about it being far worse? Because she hoped she wouldn't end up looking like that.

She watched everyone drifting in and out of the room. Occasionally, the Doctor would call Grace over. He had drawn some blood from her and from what he could tell he was mixing her blood with the tainted blood of one of the others seeing what would happen and if he could find a way to cure her or make a vaccine. He and Grace would confer in soft voices but she could still hear snatches of their conversation. He kept referring to something called Dalek Factor which unsettled her because it didn't sound good. Her blood ran cold thinking about that and she must have had the fear on her face because Alan came back in, saw her and walked over to her with a kind smile.

"Don't worry, we're doing everything possible to help," he said, patting her on the shoulder. "We won't rest till we find a cure for this."

She smiled at him. He pulled his left hand away and she noticed the wedding ring.

"Is that a wedding band?" she said, pointing to it.

"Yes, it is," he said, showing it to her.

"You're an alien."

"Yup and proud of it."

"Aliens get married?"

The Doctor sniggered softly while he looked at the blood samples under the microscope.

_I love how astounding that is to her, Brother,_ the Doctor thought to him. _As if Earthlings have been the only one to think up this ritual._

Alan stifled a laugh and smiled.

"Yes, aliens do get married, believe it or not," he said to her.

"He keeps saying Dalek Factor. Are Dalek Factor's aliens too?"

"Um, Daleks are. Dalek Factor is what's in your system."

"Do Daleks get married?"

This time the Doctor laughed out loud and turned around on his stool to face Alan.

"Dalek marriage. That'd be a sight to see," he said while he giggled.

The Doctor grinned at Madison.

"No, to my knowledge, Daleks don't get married. Daleks don't do anything except hate and kill and although I'm sure some married couples hate and wanna kill each other, they're not into marriage."

She noticed the wedding ring on the Doctor's hand while he rested it on his left knee.

"You're married too?" she said, pointing to it.

"Yes, I'm very happily married as is Brother and before you ask, Rose is his wife and Rain is mine."

"Oh! Well, congratulations. Um…how long have you been married?"

"Um…"

The Doctor looked at Alan with wide eyes.

"How long has it been? I've lost track of chronological time being in the TARDIS."

"So have I," he said while the Doctor laughed. "Um…it's been a couple of months now though. We travel a lot and the days sorta run into one another so we're not sure. But rest assured, our wives are probably keeping track of every single day since we got married and will beat us both in the heads the moment we forget our anniversaries."

Madison stared at them.

"You guys don't act like aliens."

The Doctor gave her a big toothy grin.

"And how are aliens supposed to act?" he said while Alan chuckled.

"Well, I mean…not this friendly."

"You mean, like Independence Day?" Alan said.

She was shocked.

"You've seen that?"

Both of them bent over laughing. Alan recovered first and patted her on the shoulder.

"Okay, um…firstly, Brother's been coming to Earth for centuries. Not to invade, mind, just because he loves your planet. So he's seen a great deal of Earth culture. Um…I haven't been coming here as long as he has but our wives in there used to be human before they became like us…complicated story, don't ask. But Yes, Madison, we've seen Independence Day and Alien and E.T. and Predator and a bunch of schlocky 50's sci-fi movies. I'm sorry if that startled you but we're very familiar with planet Earth. Now…um…we're not like the aliens from Independence Day or Alien or Predator. We're kinda like E.T. except we're not ugly and dim like he was. We're the good guys. We're not evil. We do love and are loved by others. We do have wives and we do have sex and occasionally procreate. There are millions of inhabited planets all over the universe, you lot are not alone, not by a long shot. Um…hmmm, I like your food. Our planet had crappy, dull food that would make you want to…how should I put it…hurl, yes, hurl is a good way to put it."

"We don't experiment on humans," the Doctor added. "We don't round them up for scientific study and put tubes in their body and probes up their bums. We don't experiment on anything, human, animal or alien. We're actually time travelers. This TARDIS here goes to any point in time and space. We explore and occasionally we stop to help others which is what we're doing with you and the others who have been affected. And yes, time travel is possible, no matter how fantastical that may sound. I started out traveling by myself and over the years I've had friends, alien and human and robot, who have traveled with me and helped me battle evil in the universe. Grace, wherever she and the others got to, has assisted me in the past. Rose and Jack and Martha used to travel with me quite extensively. Rain, I met through my brother and I fell in love and married her. I also have a daughter and three other sisters who aren't here at the moment. And yes…aliens can have families."

"So I hope that cleared up some things," Alan said. "We're alien but we're very down to Earth. In fact, we frequently do come down to Earth. Oh…and lots of aliens have senses of humor and crack jokes like I just did."

Rose came into the room carrying a mug of tea.

"And this is the little wife with a cuppa…"

"For you," she said, handing it to him. "We're in the kitchen having a rest and I brought this for you. Rain's coming with one for you, Doctor."

"Good."

"And yes, the TARDIS has a fully functioning kitchen," Alan said to Madison.

He noticed the odd look on Rose's face.

"Just informing her about what aliens do, some aliens anyway. She was shocked that we got married so Brother and I launched into a ramble about what aliens do."

"Oh! Yes, we got married when…"

She paused.

"I told her you and Rain were human."

"Did you tell her you were half human?"

"No, because I thought that might sound freaky to her."

Rose rolled her eyes and looked at Madison.

"We got married when I was human and he used to be a half human/half alien clone but he still loved me and became my husband."

"Clone?"

"I was trying not to mention that because that would involve another long ramble," Alan said to Rose.

"Oh! Um, yes, it's a long story but he's his clone. But he's not identical. He does have his own personality."

"Yeah, I can tell that just in the short time I've been here."

"Hey! Strangers can tell us apart now! My plan to be myself worked!" Alan said happily.

"Yay!" the Doctor said while Rose laughed.

"What are you yaying about, Love?" Rain said, entering with a mug in her hand.

"Madison figured out my Brother has a different personality from mine and he's happy so I gave him a brotherly cheer of support. Where have you been by the way? He's had a cuppa for five whole minutes...and 45 seconds!"

"I went to check on the others before I came here."

"And now my tea's cold?"

"No, goofball, I did that before I poured the tea. Far be it from me to bring you cold tea and hear you whine for two hours about my lack of domestic skills."

The Doctor giggled when he noticed Madison was staring at them with a mixture of shock and amusement.

"Yes and we also act like Earth married couples," he said, gesturing to her.

"Yes, the man may be an alien but he's like an Earth man in that he's a total slob. I spend just as much time picking up after him as an Earth woman would."

"And she may be an alien but she still leaves the toilet seat down and I spend just as much time putting it back up as an Earth man would."

They laughed when Madison shook her head and smiled at that.

"So basically it's just like being married on Earth except we're in outer space," Alan said.

Rain walked over to her while the Doctor took a sip of tea and went back to studying his slide.

"And I'm his sister, adopted sister; I know we don't look alike. But he's just like a bratty brother, causes me no end of grief."

"I wouldn't talk if I were you, Wedgie Monster," Alan said, eyeing her over the rim of his mug.

"I give him frequent wedgies when he's not looking," Rain said, smugly.

"And I give her noogies and Indian rope burns in return."

The mobile rang in Alan's pocket.

"And yes, the alien from outer space has a mobile phone," he said to Madison while he reached into his pocket.

He stared at the display.

"Donna or someone using her phone," he said to Rose.

Rose smiled at Madison.

"One of our sisters," Rose explained to her.

She looked at Alan when he didn't open the mobile.

"Are we ignoring our sister now?" she said to him.

"Te'lesu, that phrase you taught me…it's…"

He leaned over and whispered in her ear.

"Yup, that's it," she said.

"Oh no," Rose said while Rain giggled.

He opened the phone and hit the talk button. With a grin, he put it to his ear and said…

"CITY MORGUE, YOU STAB EM, WE SLAB EM, YOU KILL EM, WE GRILL EM!"

Rain bent over in silent laughter while the Doctor giggled from his chair and Rose shot an apologetic look at Madison who was in shock.

"City morgue, that's a good one," the Doctor muttered to himself between giggles.

Alan giggled at the silence on the other end of the phone.

"I'm assuming the situation is not dire since you seem to have time to be obnoxious," Donna finally said. "Then again, Alan, you and the Doctor do love to make a big joke out of end of the world events."

"Sorry Te'lesu, couldn't resist using that after Rain taught it to me. And we have things under control for the moment. And we have a few guests in our TARDIS including one very stunned woman sitting right here in front of me."

"What's going on then?" Donna asked.

Alan excused himself and went outside while Rain and Rose chatted with Madison.


	81. Chapter 81

Chapter Eighty One

After speaking with Donna on the mobile, Alan walked back to the Doctor who was still experimenting with the blood.

"I explained everything to them," Alan whispered to him. "They wanted to come here and help but I told them we were fine."

"I don't want them here unless it's an emergency. That wonky stabilizer was a handful for me and I've been flying the TARDIS for centuries. I don't want half my family dead because it goes out of control and crashes somewhere."

"I told them that, Brother."

"Thanks."

"How's the experimentation coming?"

"I've made a bit of progress. I've managed to slow down the infection, I think. When I mix the infected blood with the normal human blood and add a bit of Cromium solution, the infected blood doesn't infect the healthy blood as fast which means I might be able to slow the process in Madison over there but I still can't cure it completely."

"Brother, I've been thinking. What about our blood? Our DNA? After all, we have superior immune systems and the Daleks failed with the conversion because your DNA got mixed in with theirs."

The Doctor lowered his head and put his hands on his brother's shoulders.

"You know, sometimes it amazes me how dim I can be and how clever you lot are. I swear, my Brother, I think old age is catching up with me little by little. I was so busy trying to mix things into the human blood that I didn't pause long enough to think of our blood. I don't know what I'd do without you lot."

"Be a sourpuss?"

He grinned and ruffled his hair.

"Definitely," he said.

He started to unbutton his jacket.

"What are you doing?"

"Drawing blood from my arm."

"No, you're busy doing this. Take mine. It's a hassle trying to draw blood from yourself and you don't need to be working with a sore arm. I'm not doing anything significant right now."

He nodded and Alan cleared a spot on the counter and laid his arm out while Madison sat on the table and watched them. He put a rubber tourniquet on his right arm and after finding the vein drew a couple of vials of blood from his arm.

"You know I could be a right bastard and throw up a privacy block around my wife's mind and pretend to be in agony so she'd run in here."

"I wouldn't, Brother. Not if you want to live," the Doctor said to him.

Rain walked into the room and smiled at Madison while she passed by. She paused and watched the Doctor draw Alan's blood.

"Are you trying our blood now?" Rain asked.

"Yes, because Brother pointed out that not only do we have better immune systems, it was my DNA that prevented the converted humans in New York from becoming fully Dalek."

"Don't put that blood into Madison, she might end up acting like Alan."

"Oi!" Alan said while the Doctor chuckled.

He finished taking blood from his arm, withdrew the needle and took off the tourniquet and put a bit of gauze over the hole he made. He secured it with a plaster and Alan leaned back up.

"Cheers, Te'lesau," the Doctor said.

"No problemo, Brother of mine," he replied. "Hope that helps."

He turned to leave, paused and smacked Rain on the back of the head.

"I'm going to tell my husband something but you better believe I will get back at you for that one."

Alan made a big show of yawning while he walked away. The Doctor glanced at her.

"What d'ya wanna tell me, Love?" he asked.

She glanced at Madison and threw up a privacy block.

_It's the others, Thete, they're still unconscious but their skin is hardening now and it is becoming like metal._

The Doctor cursed under his breath.

_I was afraid of that, Latara,_ he thought back_. They're being made into literal Daleks. The question is, are they going to mutate into Dalek form or just be metallic humanoid Daleks? At any rate, I have to step up my efforts to cure them and everyone else. Who knows how many there are out there and I'm afraid while we've been in here more might have been discovered. I need to give Grace some kind of cure she can give to the authorities. I just hope mixing my blood works._

_Anything I can do?_

_Yeah, take Madison and let her rest. I don't need her now and I don't want in here listening to our conversations and becoming more fearful than she already is. Take her to the kitchen and get her something to eat and then a spare bedroom._

_Consider it done._

He smiled and they shared a quick kiss. She squeezed his shoulder and walked over to Madison while he went back to work.

"My husband doesn't need you anymore so if you come with me, I'll show you where you can eat and rest awhile," Rain said to her.

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Madison sat in the kitchen eating a ham sandwich and some crisps with a glass of milk while she talked to everyone. Everybody had been gracious to her and friendly and warm and she had even stopped thinking of the aliens as aliens and thinking of them as regular people since all of them acted just as human as Martha, Jack and Grace. She knew they were worried about her and occasionally Martha would check her vital signs to make sure she wasn't changing but other than that, she just sat at the table and listened to her new friends tell a bit about herself and she shared some of her life in return. She told them she had been married for about five years with a little three year old girl named Dorothy and she had a job as a legal secretary for a law firm. Occasionally, Alan or Grace would leave to check on the Doctor and the others and come back when they were finished.

After she was finished eating they insisted on her resting and Alan and Rose led her back to a spare bedroom.

"Thank you so much," Madison said when they reached the bedroom and opened the door. "You all have been just awesome to me."

"Well, we're glad you got over your fear of us," Alan said warmly. "And don't worry; we'll get you back home to James and Dorothy."

"I know you will," she said sincerely.

They smiled at her.

"Let us know if you need anything. The TARDIS is alive, believe it or not, and we communicate with her telepathically when we need to. She's keepin' an eye on ya and if you need something just speak to the ceiling and she'll let us know."

"Thank you and tell the Doctor thank you."

"We will," Alan said to her.

They watched while she went inside the room and then they closed the door behind her.

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After a half hour, Rain went back in to check on her husband. She found him at the microscope.

"Hey, any luck, Thete?" she said, walking over to him.

He turned to her with a huge grin on her face.

"I think I almost have it, my Latara. I've been using Alan's blood and combining it with a few chemicals and trying it on the infected blood and I've gotten to the point where it hardly affects it at all. Just a few more small adjustments and I think I might have it."

"Oh, that's great! I'm so glad," she said, hugging him from behind.

"Yes, there's just one problem though," the Doctor said.

"Yes?"

He sighed.

"The last time this happened with Kate, she had all her memories, they were just suppressed. These new creations in the holding cells have had all their memories drained and I'm not sure how to get them back. I'm not sure if this antidote will counteract the metal skin either, it'll just kill the Dalek urge inside them. What do we do with them?"

"Um, what happened the last time with Dalek Sec?" she said to him.

"Well, those Dalek Humans had their memories wiped but Caan killed all of them and committed genocide when they resisted and killed Thay and Jast."

"But they had free will?"

"Yes, once I interfered with the lightning strike, they did."

"If their memories can't be brought back, can you take them somewhere? Some uninhabited planet and let them live there? There are three men and three women, maybe they'll be able to procreate and create a whole new race…but wait, you said it was killing off their internal organs…"

"Yes, but there are other ways to procreate, I'm living proof of that."

He sighed.

"I hate this, Rain. I hate that once again we have to clean up the Dalek's mess. Davros and his creations couldn't leave well enough alone, they had to go and spread havoc and destruction wherever they could and now six innocent people have to suffer and their family and friends have to suffer because they can never go back to their normal lives. I'm thankful we can help Madison but I wish we could help them as well, truly help them, not just kill the urge to kill everything."

Rain put a hand on his hand.

"You're doing your very best, Thete. You have to do what you can and just hope for the best. Just think, Love…at least it's six and not six hundred that have to live with metal skin. If you get this cure back to Grace, she can get it out to the world and any other person who has it won't go through the advanced stages like they did."

He patted her hand.

"I know, Latara, but you know me, I beat myself up over every little thing," he said with a wink.

He tousled her hair.

"I've been thinking about something else as well," he said.

"Yes?"

"Well, I want to take Martha back to the resort since she did help out and I wanna take Grace as well. I don't like that they work her to death just because she's a brilliant surgeon and the woman obviously needs a break. I can take her to Aswad and bring her back almost to the time she left and no one would be the wiser. I think she deserves it a little holiday."

"Me too, Thete, I love that idea."

"Besides, she's never really gone anywhere with me except into the vortex and I owe her a trip somewhere. Also, I was thinking if Madison felt up to it, we could take her there too. I think she'll need time to recuperate and she seems to have accepted us. I can do the same thing with her. I can take her back home to her family in Denver since Lee checked her out of the hospital but I also want to make sure she's completely cured with no relapses. We'll be with her and so will Grace and Martha and we can keep an eye on her, plus I think the poor woman needs a break as well."

"I love that idea too. We've been talking to her in the kitchen and she's comfortable being around us now. I don't think she'd be freaked out if we took her to Aswad."

"Good, I'm glad you wanna do that. Besides, I know the others would wanna see Grace again and I want them to meet Madison since we've spoken about them to her."

Rain nodded. Suddenly, she and the Doctor felt the TARDIS nudging their minds urgently. The Doctor focused in on her.

_What is it?_ He thought to the TARDIS.

_Beloved, it's Madison. She's in her room but she's become violently ill in the past few minutes._

"Blast, I was afraid of this. Come on, Latara, we need to get her back in here and try the serum on her before she starts turning gold."

Both of them hurried out of the room while the Doctor thought to the rest of his family and told them to tell Grace and Martha what was going on.


	82. Chapter 82

Chapter Eighty Two

The Doctor and Rain joined the others on the way to Madison's room. They rushed in and noticed she was in the adjoining bathroom. She was on her knees vomiting into the toilet. The Doctor ran in and knelt next to her.

"Madison? Are you alright?"

She lifted her head and the Doctor was shocked by her appearance. She had been pale before, almost ghost white but he noticed with sinking hearts that her skin had a pale gold tinge to it.

"I feel so sick, Doctor," she moaned to him.

"It's alright, Madison. I'm gonna take you to the med bay and we'll make you better, I promise."

He nodded to Alan and he knelt down on the other side of her and rubbed her back.

"Do you feel well enough to walk?" he asked her.

"I don't think so."

"Carry her, Brother," the Doctor said.

He nodded and Madison wrapped her arms around his neck while he gathered her into his arms. The Doctor saw a flash and a small red plastic bucket appeared by his side. He smiled up at the ceiling and telepathically thanked the TARDIS while he and Alan stood up. Everyone else cleared a path while they hurried out towards the med bay.

_I've almost perfected an antidote,_ the Doctor thought to Alan. _It's not 100 percent effective, but I can't wait any longer. What I have will more than likely suppress the Dalek Factor and may kill it entirely but if I hold off giving it to her she might end up like the others._

Alan nodded.

They ran into the med bay and lowered her onto the table. As Alan sat her down, Madison suddenly felt the urge to vomit and the Doctor held the bucket under her chin while she vomited into it.

"I'm glad I didn't do that while you were carrying me," she said to Alan once she was done.

"Nah, it's only clothes. They can be laundered," Alan said to her.

The others ran inside and they laid her back on the bed. Grace and Martha started an IV while the Doctor ran out to get the serum he had made. Alan held Madison's hand trying to keep her calm.

"The Doctor's been working on a cure and he almost has it perfected but he's gonna try it anyway because we can't wait any longer. But just relax and rest, alright?" Alan said.

Madison nodded and Alan squeezed her hand. Once the needle was in her arm and the drip was started, Rain and Rose covered her up to her chest with a cotton blanket. After fifteen minutes, the Doctor returned with a syringe filled with a yellow liquid.

"This is what I've been working on," he said. "It nearly killed the infection so I'm hoping it'll do the same for Madison."

He smiled gently at her while he came around to the arm the IV was in. He stuck the syringe needle into the tubing and injected the serum into the saline solution. He sighed when he was done and disposed of the syringe.

"Alan, Jack, can you go get one of the others. I wanna try the serum out on one of them and see what it does."

They nodded and hurried out. The Doctor walked over to Madison while Awinita gently lifted her head and put a pillow underneath it.

"You'll be alright. I gave you the cure I'd been working on but now we just have to watch and wait and see what happens, alright?"

Madison nodded. The Doctor hurried back to the lab while Martha and Grace took vital signs and the rest of the women chatted with her, trying to keep her calm.

The Doctor hurried into the lab and mentally told Alan and Jack to bring the other victim there.

_We need to restrain them just in case,_ he thought to them.

A few minutes later, they brought in the woman who had tried to strangle the Doctor earlier. She was still unconscious but they used the leather restraints and secured her to the table. The Doctor felt her skin and cursed under his breath when he felt how hard it was.

"I hope the needle goes in," he muttered to them.

He breathed a sigh of relief when the needle finally went into her arm with some difficulty and he injected the serum into her body.

"Here's hopin'," he said when he finished and disposed of the syringe.

The three of them covered her with a blanket, put a pillow under her head and left the room to check on Madison.

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They were overjoyed when they came back in and saw that even in the few minutes since they had injected the serum there was a vast improvement. The gold tinge was gone and the pink color was beginning to return. She was more alert and smiling and talking with everyone. The Doctor put his hand on her shoulder.

"I need to take a blood sample, alright?" he said to her.

She nodded and he went to get what he needed while Alan and Jack walked over to the lab to check on the other woman. By the time the Doctor was ready, Madison looked even healthier and it warmed his hearts to see the pallor gone from her skin.

"I think we might have saved you, Madison," he said, putting the tourniquet on her arm.

"Good, I'm glad," she replied.

"Her vital signs have almost returned to normal, Doctor," Martha said to him.

"Good, good, I'm glad," the Doctor said to her.

He made a face.

"But now I've gotta poke your arm again. I'm just being a complete bastard today," he teased her.

"If you keep me from turning gold, you can poke my damn arm all you want," she said while they laughed.

The Doctor grinned at that and drew a vial of blood. While he was doing that, Alan and Jack came back in.

"You'll be glad to know that the gold skin on the woman is going away," Jack said.

The woman cheered while the Doctor grinned at that.

"Good, I'm so glad it's working," he said while Rain gave him a side hug. "Maybe it's enough to permanently kill the Dalek Factor then."

He finished the blood draw and put the gauze and plaster on Madison's arm. He hurried over to a microscope on a counter in the back and started pulling down what he needed to examine the blood. Rain smiled down at Madison.

"My husband spoke to me earlier and he was wondering if you'd like to come back to the resort with us when we're finished here so you can relax and recover for awhile? He has a time machine so you can spend a few days with us and come back to Denver rested and healthy. He just wants to make sure you're alright before he takes you home."

"Resort? Where is this resort?"

"It's on this planet called Aswad. And it's a nice resort with some Earth recreation and food so it wouldn't be totally alien. But he just wants to take you there to keep an eye on you and just because you've been through so much."

"And he can bring me back to the time I left?"

"Nearly to the time you left. He can land a few seconds after we leave but yes, you could be gone five years and he'd bring you back and no one would realize you were gone."

"I'd like that, not for five years but a few days."

"Splendid," the Doctor said while he looked through the microscope.

He looked around at them.

"And Martha and Grace, you're also coming with me. You both need a rest as well. Especially you, Grace. Bout time I took you somewhere and like you said, they can cover for ya."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Grace said. "I haven't had a real vacation in two years. I'll go with you."

"Good. And you and Martha can help keep an eye on Madison. Actually, I'm happy to report that her blood looks normal now but there's always a chance of relapse which is why I want you to come with us. Besides, I really gotta get the stabilizer fixed. I keep getting interrupted with that."

He walked over to Madison.

"But I see no Dalek Factor in your blood and your blood cells are back to normal and just in the time we've done this you're looking healthier than you ever have. I think what I did was enough to kill it."

"Good. Thank you, Doctor."

He grinned.

"My pleasure," he said while Rain sent love into his mind.

He told the women to keep an eye on her and he and Alan walked back down to the lab. They were pleased to see that the gold skin was nearly gone and the woman had dark brown hair.

"But have the memories returned?" the Doctor said to Alan while they looked at her. "Rain suggested taking them to a planet somewhere if they can't remember who they are."

"You might have to, Brother. Dalek Sec told you that when they wiped the human's memories there was no way to get them back. If the urge to kill is gone then they can do what the Dalek humans might have done if Caan hadn't killed them and become a brand new race."

He sighed.

"Well, I have to see if I can make them remember who they are. I have to try. So I'll wake this woman up and see if I can carry on a conversation with her."

He put his fingertips to her forehead and closed his eyes while he awakened her mind. The woman's eyelids fluttered and she stared at them while he took his hands away.

"Hello," he said to her.

The woman stared at him silently.

"My name is the Doctor, what's your name?"

The woman said nothing.

"Do you know your name?"

He sighed when she said nothing. He put his fingertips to her temples and scanned her mind.

"Oh God, there's not one single solitary thought that I can detect," he said to Alan while he took his hands away. "I think when I injected the serum, I not only erased the Dalek Factor but any programming that came with it. I think this woman is basically a mindless shell now."

Alan put his arm around him when he saw the stricken look on his face.

"Perhaps the TARDIS can give her an identity. Like the chameleon arch but without the biological change?"

"Do you think that might be possible?"

"I'm not sure but we can't leave the other four as they are and let them think they're Daleks. We have to use the cure on them as well, Brother."

He nodded.

"I know, I just wish that Davros and the Daleks would leave the rest of the universe alone and quit tearing apart people's lives like this."

"Well, I hope we've seen the last of them and no more people need suffer like this," Alan said. "At least we cured Madison completely and we'll save hundreds of others who won't have to go through this."

He nodded.

"I need your help then, Brother. We need to reproduce the serum five more times and see if the TARDIS can figure out a way to give this woman and the others new identities without using the chameleon arch. Then I need to give Grace a couple of vials of the serum to give to someone who can reproduce it and have it on hand for anyone else who ends up in hospital."

Alan nodded. He patted his brother's shoulder and the two of them walked over to the Doctor's stool and set about reproducing the serum.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

One by one the Doctor injected the others with the serum. The others returned to their normal human selves but with no memories or identity. While he was doing that, Alan was at the console programming the TARDIS to give them identities without using the arch. In the meantime, Madison was fully cured and was back up and talking with the others in the kitchen while they sipped tea. The Doctor was comforted by the fact that Madison had been saved and would go back to her husband and daughter after spending time with them and he knew that thanks to his efforts, hundreds more would be spared the fate of turning into human Daleks. But there was still that anger that six people would never return to their normal lives and it made him hate Davros and the Daleks even more. Secretly he was glad his brother had taken care of them and he hoped that would truly be the last the universe ever saw of them.

_Brother, I think I can bypass the chameleon arch and the TARDIS can give the six men and women new identities,_ Alan thought to him.

_Good, I'm glad. Let's try it on the first female then,_ he thought back.

He walked into the lab and walked over to the woman who was staring at him quietly.

"I can't give you back what Davros took from you," he said sadly. "I can't give you back the life you once had but I will give you a life and I hope something good comes of it."

He sighed sadly when the woman didn't reply and he began to unbuckle the restraints from her arms and legs.

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They managed to run a wire from the console and attach probes to either side of the men and women's heads. The TARDIS streamed the new identity through the wire into their heads and when she was done, the men and women finally spoke to them. All of them were cordial to them and had names and a back story but the Doctor still couldn't help but wonder who these people were once and he seethed inwardly once more at the loss of lives and families these people suffered.

The Doctor checked them all and found that Madison and the others seemed to be free of the Dalek Factor. The Doctor was going to take the six men and women to the hospital on New Earth where they could continue to be monitored and then start new lives there since the TARDIS had programmed that into their minds as their home. As for Madison, the Doctor kept his promise to her to take her to Aswad. He liked her. She had shown bravery through the whole ordeal and had even found the courage to laugh and joke with everyone even though she knew that she might end up like the other six. He hoped that she and her husband and daughter would have a wonderful life.

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After a couple of hours, the Doctor was satisfied that it was safe for him to take the six men and women to the hospital on New Earth. He took Grace aside and gave her a box containing three vials of the serum.

"When I get you back, see these get into the proper hands so they're reproduced and given to anyone who needs them."

"I will."

"I'm gonna bring you back about a day after you left so it looks like you did go to Atlanta with us. Just tell your boss that the CDC did manage to put together a cure for the Dalek Factor. But if I were you, I'd make us some name and call it a flu, don't call it Dalek Factor."

Grace nodded and he patted her on the shoulder.

"And thank you for alerting me in time so we were able to save Madison and at least cure the other six of the Dalek Factor. And now, for your valuable help to me, you get to go to a resort."

"Yeah!" Grace said while he laughed.

He put his arm around her and they walked towards the kitchen where everyone else was waiting.

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After taking the six men and women to New Earth in the year 5 billion and 63, the Doctor checked them in and told the staff what was wrong with them and what he had done. The nurses were familiar with Daleks so he told them the truth including the truth about the memory loss.

"Rest assured, we will help them assimilate into society here after we're done treating them," the matron said to him.

The Doctor thanked her and gave her a couple of vials of the serum in case they needed to use them. After they were done, the Doctor walked back to the TARDIS parked outside in the car park.

He went inside, shut the door and smiled at his family and friends who were standing around the console room.

"Right! That's sorted out. Now I just have to phone Donna and tell her to go drop the defenses on my TARDIS so we can land this one back inside it and then hopefully we can finally have a relaxing little holiday on Aswad!"


	83. Chapter 83

Chapter Eighty Three

After putting in the call to Donna, the Doctor told her to call back when she was finished dropping the shields. While they were flying in the vortex, the Doctor took Grace and Madison aside.

I just wanted to tell you both this because you two have never spent that much time around my whole family. You've seen a small sample of it while you spent time with us but you haven't seen us when we really get going. All of us are extremely close and most of the time it's like a huge party and we tend to get a bit raucous at times and we get very silly. Alan is the most energetic of all of us and he's a manic ball of energy once he gets wound up and it takes some time to get used to him but he's a wonderful guy and none of us can imagine life without him now, I know I certainly couldn't. He and Rain though are a couple of clowns and they like to tease each other whenever they get the chance and they're the ones who get really wild. But I just wanted to make you both aware of this because it's usually a shock to some people especially when they meet Alan because the man is a complete extrovert and he loooooves people. He loves a crowd and he loves to be in a room where things are happening and he can't stand being in one place for very long. We found that out when he had to go in hospital. But you've seen how loving and sweet and caring he is and that is the other part of him. He's a bit goofy but he's always there when you need him. Um…Rain is a sweetie, Rose is a sweetie and bless her, she has the patience to put up with Alan and rein him in at times although she will get as wild as he will on occasion. Jack's a bit of a playboy, but he has been behaving himself lately so I don't think you two have to worry but just a warning, he does like to flirt. As for my other family, Awinita is a bit of a wisecracker but she's sweet, Mingxia is a bit more serious but very gentle and sweet, Donna…um…she's a bit on the sarcastic side and that also takes some getting used to because she can be a bit pushy as well but she's also a sweet woman. And then there's my daughter, Jenny, who is also a clone in a way since she was taken from a tissue sample from my hand. She was programmed to fight wars and do nothing else, but we've all helped her overcome that and she's trying to be a normal adult woman now. But that's my family and I just couldn't imagine not having them now. We also have the two dogs and they're very affectionate and we love em and no Grace, you still can't have em," he said while she laughed.

He smiled at them.

"Anyway, just giving you a head's up on what you'll see when we get to the resort. Our kind only sleeps once every two weeks or so, so we're always up and about and looking for things to do and that's where we get kind of wild because we love to joke and tease and have fun with one another. But we also understand that going to an alien planet will be a bit overwhelming so don't hesitate to speak up and let us know if you feel uneasy about doing something or going somewhere because we don't want either of you to be uncomfortable. We're all there to have fun…except for the part where I have to get the bloody stabilizer fixed," he said, rolling his eyes. "But Alan promised he'd assist me with that and hopefully we'll get that done so we can have our TARDIS functioning again. This one's nice but I'm not used to it. It's more like a spare car when ours gets a flat tire."

He turned his attention to Madison.

"Now, this is entirely up to you, but I like you alot. I admired the courage you had and how calm you were facing all this and I really would like to keep in touch when you return to Earth. I gave Grace my phone number which is how she contacted me before and if you want, I can do the same for you. I know my family here would like to keep in touch with you and I'm sure Jack and Martha would like to as well."

"I'd like to, Doctor. I've become friends with everyone here and I'd love to stay in touch."

The Doctor grinned from ear to ear.

"Brilliant. Then I'll do that for you. I can give you both an address for a post office box I have on Earth and you can also write to me. I love receiving letters as well."

"You have a post office box?" Grace said in amusement.

"I have several scattered throughout time and space, you need to go ask my wife about the alien junk mail I get," he said to her. "I'm sure she'll have some very entertaining stories to tell you."

The mobile rang.

"And that will be my sister, Donna," he said, reaching into his pocket.

He talked to her for a moment and then hung up.

"The shields are down so if you'll follow me, we'll land this baby back inside my TARDIS."

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"Aha! Here's your ship!" Grace said when they stepped into the Doctor's console room.

"Yup, this is the one and only."

He smiled at his daughter and sisters who were waiting for them by the console. They rushed over and gave him, Martha and the rest of their family tight hugs. Then they hugged Grace before stepping back and smiling at Madison.

"Everyone, this is Madison Reece, our guest for a couple of days," he said to them.

The four women stepped forward.

"Hi, I'm Donna," she said, shaking her hand.

"Oh, the sarcastic one?" Madison said.

Everyone laughed when Donna eyed the Doctor.

"Just what have you been telling her about me?" she said to him.

"Just giving her a friendly warning about your gob?"

"Oi!" she said.

Everyone laughed when he ducked behind his wife. Donna rolled his eyes.

"Don't mind Skinny Boy, he thinks he's cute when he says things like that. It's nice to meet ya," she said to Madison.

"And you," Madison said.

Mingxia stepped up.

"Hi, I'm Mingxia," she said to her. "It's nice to meet you."

"And you," Madison said.

"And what'd ya say about her?" Donna said to the Doctor.

"I said she was the slightly serious but sweet one," the Doctor said.

"And I'm the gob?"

"You're a sweet gob," the Doctor said sheepishly.

Awinita stepped up to Madison.

"What am I, the wisecracking one?" she said to the Doctor.

"Um, yes, you are," the Doctor said in surprise.

Awinita rolled her eyes.

"Figured as much. I'm Awinita; it's nice to meet you."

"You too."

Jenny stepped forward.

"I'm Jenny. I'm his daughter and I s'pose he's already mentioned me being made from his hand, yeah?"

"Yes, he did."

Jenny looked back at the Doctor.

"She's gonna be staying with us so I figured I might as well be truthful from the start," the Doctor said. "I don't wanna lie and say I found you at an orphanage somewhere."

Jenny rolled her eyes.

"He's a bit odd but I love him, anyway it's nice to meet you."

"You too."

Once introductions were over, they all went outside. Grace and Madison stared up at the sky while the Doctor closed the door behind them.

"Wow," Madison said when she stared at the two suns high up in the slightly rose colored sky.

"Beautiful, huh?" Alan said to them. "It's one of the nicer resort planets."

"How many resort planets are there?" Grace asked.

"Um…not quite sure but there are several scattered throughout the universe," he said. "Some are seedier than others but this is among the best."

The Doctor came up beside his brother and put his hands in his pockets.

"Now, I suppose we'll have to extend our stay and get extra rooms for our three new people. Also…what does everyone want to do? Are you feeling well enough to go swimming or go out to eat, Madison?"

"We could try to go back to that one restaurant now that Bambi's out of the way," Jack said.

"Bambi?" Martha said to the Doctor. "Who the hell's Bambi?"

The Doctor blushed while everyone giggled.

"Um…remember when you were traveling full time with me and I dropped you off so you could see your mum?"

"Yeah."

"Weeeeeeeeell, I kinda got captured by a mad scientist and was gonna be experimented on and when I wouldn't comply, he was gonna disintegrate me and I managed to escape by convincing his portly daughter, Bambi, that I would go out on a date with her. And she helped me escape but I obviously didn't keep up my end of the bargain. So we were eating and Bambi found me…well, found Brother first and started squeezing the life out of us until I was forced to take away her memories of me."

Martha gave him an odd look.

"And that's what you were doing while I was visiting mum, eh?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

Martha looked at Jack.

"Shoulda known. I came back and asked him what he'd been up to and he said, "Oh, just things," and then he wouldn't elaborate. Shoulda known it'd be something like that."

"Aaaaaaaaanyway," the Doctor said while they laughed. "We could go out to eat or…we could just order room service and stay in the rooms for tonight and just talk and get to know each other. Believe it or not, they have Earth food here and I know they have pizzas and breadsticks."

Grace was shocked.

"Really?"

"Oh yeah. Earthlings don't come here yet but there are many human civilizations around here and they do like Earth style food so there's pizza, burgers and chicken in addition to more exotic foods. But if you lot wanna order pizzas for tonight, Madison can rest on the bed and get her strength back. Sound good?"

Everyone nodded.

"Splendid, Allons-y then!"

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Grace and Madison sat in leather chairs in the lobby waiting while the Doctor finished with the people at the front desk. The lobby was large white with ornate columns and a pink marble floor.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd think we were still on Earth," Grace said to Madison.

"Yeah, except for the green skinned bellhop," Madison said, pointing to a lizard-like alien standing by a luggage cart. "This is incredible. I never thought I'd ever be sitting in a hotel on an alien planet and being completely cool with it."

"Yeah, well back when I first met him he offered to take me with him and like an idiot, I turned him down. I coulda kicked myself after he left me behind for being so stupid. I'm glad he finally found me again."

The Doctor finished and thanked the desk clerk before heading over to them.

"There ya go, I got two extra rooms for you lot and Martha. I hope you don't mind sharing a room."

"Nah, it's fine, Doctor," Grace said.

"Thank you for doing this," Madison said.

He smiled warmly.

"My pleasure," he said.

They glanced over at Rain who was hurrying over to him.

"Hubby bubby…" she said, coming up behind him.

"Yes, Wifey doodles?" the Doctor said while Grace and Madison snickered. "Has Alan torn half the hotel down now?"

"No, surprisingly the little snotbucket is behaving himself at the moment," Rain said.

The Doctor turned and stared at her with wide eyes.

"Our Alan? Behaving? Did someone shoot a valium dart into his neck?"

"No, he's watching a wedding which is the reason why I came to find you."

"A wedding?"

"Yeah, um…Zithers, the blue snake people, right?"

"Um…yeah…those are Zithers."

"Well, there's this big ballroom down the hall there and two of them are getting married and they left the door open so a huge crowd's gathered there. We're all watching and I wondered if you guys wanted to see it too."

"Oh! Well, how 'bout it, ladies? You did ask if aliens did get married, Madison. Now here's your chance to see an alien wedding."

Madison and Grace glanced at each other, smiled and nodded. The Doctor took their hands as they got up and they followed Rain back down the hallway.

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All of them stood at the back of a large crowd of humans and aliens who were blocking the entrance to the ballroom while they watched the wedding. The ballroom was massive. The walls were painted a salmon color and there was a huge crystal chandelier hanging down in the middle of the room. There were 20 rows of chairs with a path down the middle of them. The chairs were all filled and there were several more people lined up against the back wall watching silently.

"Wonder who's with the wedding party and who's just gawking?" Jack muttered to the Doctor.

"Well, I'm sure the first two rows of Zither are with them. I'm sure the other people in the chairs are as well. It would be rude for strangers to sit down right behind the relatives while this is going on. Still…some people aren't aware of social conventions."

"Like you, Mister Fingers in the Marmalade?" Rose said.

Alan snickered when the Doctor shot her a look.

"What? You went right in and grabbed the jar and started eating without permission and you have the gall to stand there and rabbit on about other people being ignorant of social conventions."

The Doctor stared at the smug look and the tongue between her teeth.

"Blimey, is that little bugger out again?" Alan said.

Rose giggled softly when he tried to poke it back in. The Doctor smiled at them when they gave each other a kiss and turned their attention back to the wedding. All of them made a face when the Zithers picked up two tiny black rodents and fed them to each other.

"Boy, I'm glad we didn't do that at our wedding," Rain said while the Doctor nodded.

"Where'd you get married at?" Madison asked her.

"Um…well, we had two weddings since we met while I was traveling with Alan. We had this beautiful Shinto wedding in Kyoto, Japan and then we had a double wedding with Rose and Alan in London, England. But I loved the Shinto wedding more."

"So did I," the Doctor said while he kept his eyes on the wedding.

The couple picked up clear crystal goblets filled with a blue liquid. They passed the goblet to the other person and drank again while the staff minister, a white skinned humanoid with a rabbit snout, read from a brown book about being faithful to each other. They were watching them exchanging rings when they heard someone clearing their throat loudly behind them. They turned to see a Zither dressed in a black robe.

"Are you with the wedding party?" he said to the crowd.

Everyone shook their heads.

"Then you'll have to leave, this is a private ceremony," he said angrily.

"If it's private, why didn't you close the doors?" Alan said.

Everyone in the crowd snickered at that and a few people nodded in agreement while the Zither glared at Alan.

"Only saying, mate, you want a private ceremony, don't leave the doors hanging wide open," he said, shrugging.

"Just leave," the Zither said, angrily.

Everyone shrugged and left while the Zither went inside to shoo the other strangers out.

"I'm right. They want a private ceremony, they should have shut the bleedin' doors," Alan said to his family and friends while they walked to the elevator. "He had no reason to get mad at us since they were wide open and there was no sign saying it was a private ceremony."

"Ah well, we were at the end of it anyway," the Doctor said. "Let's just go upstairs now and order some pizza and breadsticks and just relax for awhile."


	84. Chapter 84

Chapter Eighty Four

After heading up to their rooms, they checked them out and then went into the Doctor and Rain and Rose and Alan's room. The moment they opened the door, Rory and Blizzard came bounding over from their dog bed in the corner.

"Oh, that's where the little buggers got to," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, come to find out they allow pets in the hotel," Awinita said.

The Doctor eyed her.

"And you put them in our room, huh?" he said while they giggled.

"No, we've been keeping them in our rooms too. We just put them in here so they'll be quiet and rest."

The Doctor looked around and noticed nothing was destroyed.

"Good, they didn't tear the place to shreds, that's a blessing," the Doctor said.

Rory and Blizzard went over to Grace and Madison who knelt down and petted them.

"Wow, they're gorgeous. But what happened to them?" Madison asked the Doctor.

"Um, a friend of ours found them in a dustbin. Someone did that to them, we don't know who but we figured no one would want them and we didn't want to see them euthanized so we adopted them."

"They've gotten a bit bigger since I last saw them," Grace said.

"Yup, they're growing by leaps and bounds every day," the Doctor said. "But why don't we put them in the other room so we can eat our food without them sniffing around it, eh?"

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An hour later, they were lying and sitting in his room eating and talking to one another. The Doctor had ordered four large pizzas, pepperoni, sausage, cheese and combination and breadsticks with garlic butter and pizza sauces and Cokes and Mountain Dews. Madison was sitting up in the Doctor's bed with a pillow propped up behind her and Grace was beside her. Rain and Rose were in the other bed and the other women were sitting in chairs while the three men sat on the floor by the beds. Madison was listening to them while they told her about their adventures. They started out with the Doctor explaining a bit about them and their abilities like regeneration and respiratory bypass systems and a bit about Gallifrey. Then he decided to let Grace start and tell them about the night she met him, but he asked her if he could set up the story first and she agreed.

"The reason I wanted to start first was because Grace doesn't know the events that brought me to San Francisco in the first place," he said while everyone ate and listened. "Unfortunately, Grace ended up helping me battle the Master."

"On your first meeting with him?" Jack said to Grace. "Ouch."

"Yup, but before she met him, he and I were actually on the Dalek's homeworld, Skaro because he was being put on trial for crimes against the universe and…"

"Wait," Rose said, holding up a hand. "Daleks have trials? I thought all they did was shout exterminate and shoot you in the bum."

"No. On occasion they do hold trials and they were putting the Master on trial for his evil crimes."

"Um…that's kinda the pot calling the kettle black, isn't it, Bro?" Awinita said while they laughed.

"Yeah," Rain said. "And when you say Daleks have trials, are these actual trials with attorneys and juries or judges or is it just one big farce for their amusement?"

"Um, well, they had a Dalek acting as a judge and they had a Dalek defending him and prosecuting him so I guess they were semi-serious about it."

"And you witnessed this personally," Donna said.

"Yes, I did."

"The Daleks who are supposedly your greatest enemies let you come onto Skaro and watch a trial without them shooting you dead," Jack said to him.

"We had a temporary truce because they needed a witness from Gallifrey and the Master requested that I come and witness the trial and his execution."

"And the Daleks actually honored the truce?" Rose said in disbelief.

"May I tell my story?" he said to his family.

They shrugged and snickered when he let out a sigh.

"Anyway, I went to Skaro and witnessed the trial and watched while the Master was convicted of his crimes against the universe."

"Again, pot calling the kettle black," Awinita said.

"Was Davros the judge, dear?" Rain asked.

"No, a Dalek was."

"Why wasn't Davros the judge?" Rose said. "Was he busy down in the vault or something?"

They laughed when the Doctor swatted her head.

"So they convicted the Master and sentenced him to death by disintegration."

"Huh? They didn't just shoot him?" Donna said.

"No, they formally execute prisoners in a disintegration chamber."

"I didn't think the gits did anything formally," Donna said to Jack.

She held up her hands when the Doctor eyed her.

"I'm sorry, Brother, go on with your story," she said.

The Doctor looked at Grace.

"Might as well go out and swim, Grace. It'll be midnight before they let you speak," he said while they laughed.

"So anyway, they disintegrated him until he was a pile of ashes and the Master did request that I take his ashes back to Gallifrey which I thought was a strange request given the enmity between us but I did it since he used to be my best mate so they put the ashes into a small casket and I took it onboard the TARDIS and flew off."

"Wait, the Daleks let you leave?" Mingxia said.

"They didn't shoot at you?" Rain added.

"No, as I said, we had a truce."

Rain looked at her family.

"Boy, the Daleks were really stupid!"

"OI!" the Doctor said while they howled with laughter. "You better be glad they did honor the truce since we never would have met otherwise."

"I am but they were still stupid for letting you go free and clear," Rain said, shrugging.

"Anyway, I put the casket in my secondary console room and settled down to read a book and while I was doing that, the Master somehow managed to escape, got into the console and fouled up everything and I was forced to make an emergency landing in San Francisco. I landed, not knowing that Lee was about to be gunned down by rival gang members. I landed in front of him, I think, which saved him but they were still there when I came out the door and the moment I came out, they shot me. That's when I was taken to hospital and ended up on Grace's operating table. And now I'll let Grace take it from here…"

They listened while Grace told her side of the story. The two of them went back and forth talking about their experiences. Everyone listened spellbound but especially Madison, Jack and Martha since Jack and Martha had never heard about Grace before they met her. Both of them were especially interested in hearing about the Master since they had also faced him. Madison was stunned though when the Doctor mentioned knocking down the morgue door.

"I've seen those doors on CSI and shows like that. They're thick steel doors. You actually knocked one down?"

"I was cold," the Doctor said while they laughed hysterically.

"That's gonna be his answer every time someone asks about the door, guys," Jack said to everyone. "So you might as well not ask anymore."

"When a Time Lord regenerates," the Doctor said to Madison, "they have enhanced abilities in the first 15 hours after it happens. Enhanced strength is one of them. When I first regenerated in front of Rose, I got my hand cut off in a sword fight and I grew another one. The hand eventually became Alan."

Alan held up his right hand and pointed to it.

"This little baby used to be on my brother," he said.

"But it's a good job I was able to get out of that freezer because I'm sure Pete wasn't gonna lend a hand," the Doctor said.

"Well, he was in shock, Doctor," Grace said.

"I sussed that out the minute his eyes rolled up in his head and his fat arse smacked the floor in front of me," the Doctor replied.

"Well, be fair, Doctor. You went in the freezer looking one way and came out looking another."

"I almost didn't come out of it at all. I told you not to give me anesthetic because that fouls up the regenerative process. If you had listened to me, I would have regenerated sooner."

"Yeah, on my operating table in front of everyone and then you would have been tied up, knocked out and sent somewhere for dissection. So in a way, I saved your life giving you the anesthetic, Doctor," Grace said.

"Wait, we can't have anesthetics?" Awinita said to him.

"You can't if you're in danger of dying," the Doctor said. "Because if you die, then you're not conscious enough to go through the regenerative process and if it's delayed too long it won't happen at all. That's what happened to me. I was out so long I nearly died permanently."

"Yeah, but if they were operating on you trying to get the bullets out…" Rain said. "Dear, you mean you would have just laid there and let them cut into you without any kind of anesthetic at all?"

"We can go into a deep trance where we don't feel any pain during surgery and if we do die then it doesn't affect the regenerative process because we aren't unconscious. I was trying to tell them that but they slipped the mask over my face and I went to sleep before I could get that part of it out. What I should have done was just crawled back into my TARDIS and let the regeneration happen there but Lee came over and saw me and got an ambulance. Then he apparently nicked my things when I wasn't looking. Anyway, we're getting horribly off track here so I'll go ahead and go on with what happened after I escaped from the morgue…"

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After a couple of hours, the pizza and breadsticks were done and they let the dogs back into the room. Blizzard and Rory got up onto the bed with Grace and Madison and lay by them while they stroked their fur. Both of them fell into a contented sleep while the rest of the Doctor's family continued to talk. Madison was amazed. Everyone in the room had their own stories to tell about their travels with the Doctor and with each passing hour she was more and more thankful that she had met him and he had allowed her to come back to Aswad with them. She was stunned when she heard the things they had all been through. She had witnessed some of what they mentioned. She had seen the Sycorax ship on the news and had a few friends who had been hypnotized and ended up on top of their roofs. She had heard about the Titanic ship that nearly crashed into London and the Adipose creatures and the Atmos devices that nearly choked the whole world. She asked the Doctor about that.

"Did you have something to do with the fire in the sky?" she asked him.

He grinned.

"Yes, I did. I ignited the atmosphere so that gas would be burned away.

"Um…okay, where were you when you did that?"

"Just outside London at this place called the Rattigan Academy."

"Well, I was in Denver," she said. "We had Atmos but it wasn't that bad for us since we were up in the mountains and the mountain breeze kinda helped to blow that away from us. But we all were wondering what was going on and we were sitting outside this café talking, me and a bunch of my friends when suddenly, WHOOSH, there's this huge fireball in the sky and we sat there thinking, what the hell?"

They laughed.

"And now you know who made the whooshy fireball above ya," the Doctor said to her.

"I saw it in San Francisco but we weren't so lucky. There was gas everywhere so everyone was forced indoors. We were looking out the window in the hospital and you could barely see San Francisco but then off in the distance we saw the fireball coming closer and closer and it went overhead and the sky cleared up. But unlike you, I knew the Doctor and I kinda had an inkling he was behind it. But yes, that was bizarre."

"So, it went across the world?" Madison said.

"Yes, it went around the whole world and cleared out all the gas."

"But where'd the gas come from?" Madison asked, while she petted Rory while she slept.

The Doctor told them the story about the Sontarans. After he was finished, they let Madison share some stories with them about her life. She had originally lived in New York, but moved to Denver when she got married so they could raise their children away from the crowded city. She was working as the legal secretary but wanted to go back to college to become a lawyer once her child was old enough to be in school.

"And yes, I know, I'll have to endure lawyer jokes for the rest of my life if I do become one," she said while they laughed.

"Well, you know, Madison, if you become one you can go to Skaro and held defend people from the Daleks," Jack said while they laughed harder.

"No, I think I'll stick with Earth courts, thanks," Madison replied.

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After another hour, they let Madison rest awhile while the rest of them stepped outside to take a break. They let the dogs sleep with her while all of them headed down to the pool.

"I think we talked that woman's ear off," Jack said while they walked to the elevator.

"Yeah, but I think she loved it. She seemed interested in what we had to say," the Doctor replied.

"Well, who wouldn't be? I traveled with ya and I was still interested in the stories I didn't know about," Martha said.

Rain felt someone grab the back of her bra through her t-shirt and snap it. She looked back at Alan who quickly put his arm around Rose and gave her an innocent look.

"I know it was you, Bro."

"Huh? What do you mean? I'm just walking with Rose. Musta been the Bra Fairy, little buggers love to mess with tit slings."

Rain rolled his eyes when he snickered. Alan kissed Rose's earlobe and bent in to it.

"Feel like doing a little moonlight flit?" he whispered.

"Mmm, I could," she whispered back.

"Let's blow this pop stand, homegirl, and get it on!"

Rose rolled her eyes and giggled when he began to suck at her neck.

"Um, Alan," Rose said.

"Mmmph?" Alan said with his lips still on her neck.

"Stop!"

Just then Alan ran into the back of Rain when she and the rest of them stopped to wait for the elevator.

"Oi, Casanova, hold off on the love bites until you get outside, eh?" the Doctor said. "We don't want you barreling into us every five seconds."

"Sorry, Brother," Alan said sheepishly. "And I'm sorry, Rain."

He grinned and snapped her bra.

"No, I'm not," he said.

He covered his head when she smacked it.

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Once they were downstairs in the lobby, the Doctor looked at Alan.

"Okay, now go and snog Rose's brains out," he said to him. "We'll all get out of your way."

"We won't go far," he said to him. "Maybe to the TARDIS. Just keep an eye on things…or try at least, I know things don't run smoothly if I'm not around."

The Doctor rolled his eyes and grinned at him and Rose.

"Have fun, you two," he said to them.

He walked away and took Rain's hand. Alan watched them go before spinning around and laughing evilly at Rose.

"And now, my concubine, you are mine to do with as I please," he said, rubbing his hands together.

"Concubine, eh? I thought I was your wife."

"By day, perhaps. But by night…"

He wagged his eyebrows and leered at her.

"Let's get back to the TARDIS before your erection splits your trousers in two," Rose said.

"Okey-dokey."

Rose giggled.

"Okey-dokey," she teased, using his voice.

She laughed when he slapped her ass hard and chuckled at Rose's red face when the staff looked their way. Rose took his hand and led him outside into the cold, dark night. The moon shown down on them. It wasn't like Earth's moon; it had more of a bluish tint to it. Rose laughed when Alan kissed and slapped and pinched her.

"Are you doing to me what you do to Rain?" she asked him.

"Why? You don't want wedgies and titty twisters?" he said, winking.

He put his hand on her right breast.

"Because I can make a titty twister very enjoyable for you," he purred in her ear.

Rose felt herself becoming aroused which made Alan chuckle.

"Oh yeah, you want a little titty twister, don't you, my love?" he said in a husky voice that made Rose ever more aroused.

"Alan, hold off until we get into the TARDIS."

"Why? You mean, I can't rip off all your clothes and bonk you on the grass?" he said.

"No, I think your brother would frown on us getting arrested for indecent exposure."

"How do you know they would arrest us for that? Lots of resorts permit the guests to bonk on the grass in full view of everyone. Come on, my poppet, let's give the people on the west side of the building a show."

"No, I don't want rocks digging into my back."

"Then, I'll lie on the ground."

He sighed.

"Alright, Starlight, we'll wait till we get in the TARDIS to make sweet love."

"Thank you."

She gasped when he suddenly scooped her up in his arms.

"But we gotta get there really fast because I really, really, really, really, really, gotta bonk you!" he said, running with her.

Rose laughed and held on to him.

"Don't you dare trip and fall, Alan Timelord!" she yelled in his ear.

"Trip? Fall? Moi? I have the agility of a panther, Starlight! I have the speed and swiftness of Mercury himself!"

Rose yelled when Alan pretended to stumble.

"Oh did I scare ya just then? A thousand million apologies, my sweet!" he said while she smacked him on the head.

They reached the TARDIS and Alan stopped suddenly in front of it making a screeching brakes noise as he did. He stared at the TARDIS doors.

"You gonna go in?" Rose said to him.

"I can't, your delectable body is in my arms."

"Well, put me down, ya nut," Rose said.

He held her tighter.

"And relinquish my hold upon you, not a chance."

"Well you're gonna have to put me down to open the door."

"Not necessarily, I can always try Brother's trick."

"Trick? What trick?"

He stepped back a couple of feet. Rose heard him click his fingers and her eyes widened when the doors opened.

"Well, smack my ass and call me a baby, it works for me too!" Alan said happily.

Rose looked at him.

"How'd ya do that?"

"I'm magical, my love. My pimp juice is so powerful it can open TARDIS doors."

"Then how come you said it was your brother's trick?"

"Um…his pimp juice is powerful too. Not as powerful as mine, of course, but….oh hell, why am I standing out here explaining this to you when my ding-dong is ready for action. So hold on, first mate, the HMS Weiner schnitzel is sailing in and docking at the Shrubbery!"

Rose laughed while he walked inside.

"Rain and Awinita have both corrupted you beyond repair," she said to him.

"What? I'm saying my gopher wants to go down your hole, is that alright? How is that being corrupted?" he said as they walked across the console room. "I just want to use my womb broom to sweep out your dark little tomb, how is that being corrupted?"

He smiled when Rose gigged and kissed his cheek.

"Don't tell the Doctor this, but you're a lot more fun to be around."

"Really?" Alan said, stopping.

"Yes, well, I'm sure Rain would disagree with me but I love how silly you act and the way you've changed since I first met ya. You're just so lovable, you know."

"If I say I know in a smug tone of voice, will you box my ears?"

"Um, naaaah."

"I know," he said, in a smug tone of voice.

Rose kissed his cheek while he moved into the corridor beyond the back door.

"Aren't you getting tired of carrying me?" Rose asked him while he walked.

"Are you kidding? Your body pressed up against mine? Hell no, I'm enjoying this!" he said.

Rose leaned up and kissed his ear and cheek and smiled when he growled low in his throat.

"Oh God, Starlight, better hold off on that because I really will drop you in a moment after I lose my mind here," Alan moaned.

Rose nuzzled his cheek. Alan finally reached their bedroom and kicked the door closed with his foot. The TARDIS sealed off the door while he sat her feet down on the floor. They began to undress each other while the TARDIS dimmed the lights and piped in romantic music overhead. The two of them began to kiss each other passionately.

"Oh yeah," Alan said while Rose kissed and sucked his neck, "just what I need after helping to cure the Dalek Factor."

"Help? You didn't cure it, the Doctor did."

"Now wait a moment, I gave blood. I sacrificed vials of blood and gave them to Brother and he made the antidote out of that! I helped."

"Oh, my poor love, you got your arm poked, you've been in the wars, haven't ya?"

He smacked her butt when she laughed and stuck her tongue out between her teeth.

"I'm gonna tape that mouth shut if that bugger comes out again, I swear I will!" he said.

Rose yelped and laughed when he pushed her back onto their bed. He quickly covered her with his body.

_OH YES,_ he thought to his family. _I GOT THIS LITTLE PUPPY RIGHT WHERE I WANT HER!_

"Alan!" Rose said when they heard their family's laughter in their heads.

_Oh goody, Bro, you gonna give us a play by play of all the action?_ Awinita thought.

_No, he isn't. We're throwing up the privacy block now!_ Rose thought back.

Alan laughed hysterically when they all groaned in disappointment.

_Sorry, mates, I gotta do what the misses says if I want more shagging in future,_ he thought to them._ And on that note, I'll say…see ya, wouldn't wanna be ya!_

Rose giggled as they both threw up privacy blocks.


	85. Chapter 85

Chapter Eighty Five

The Doctor and Rain left the others briefly and took a walk down to the lake. They giggled when they heard Alan yell out in their heads followed by Awinita asking if he was gonna give them the play by play. Everyone groaned mentally when they put up the privacy blocks.

_Damn, I was hoping they'd let us listen in for once,_ Awinita thought.

_Nope, I think Rose would kill him if he made her do that,_ Donna thought.

_Gee, what're we gonna do for fun now?_ Mingxia thought.

_I notice Bro is walking away with his wife, are you two gonna go at it now? _Awinita thought.

_Nope, just taking a quiet moonlit walk. No shagging here,_ the Doctor thought back.

He and Rain laughed when they groaned again.

_You know, there is holoporn on the holotelly if you lot are that hard up for erotic entertainment,_ the Doctor thought to them.

_No thanks, we'll do something else,_ Mingxia thought.

There was a pause.

_I know! Let's go up to the room and lock Dad and Mum out._

_You better not, if you know what's good for you_! the Doctor thought to Jenny while they laughed.

_And now we have to explain to Grace about our telepathy because I can tell she's wondering what we're all laughing about,_ Awinita thought.

_Better explain it to Madison too when she wakes up,_ the Doctor thought. _Anyway, we'll be back in a few minutes. We just want to walk along the lake and take in the night air._

The Doctor took Rain's hand and they walked down to the riverbank and walked beside it looking at the moonlit water. The Doctor sighed while they walked.

"Thete, what is it?"

"Just hoping that this time I actually get a holiday without something trying to drain me dry or having to go cure Dalek infected people."

"Well you do have to fix the stabilizer."

"Do not remind me," he muttered while she giggled.

"And you better believe that I'll be in there keeping an eye on you and I'm betting Rose will be keeping an eye on Alan. I'm not about to walk in on you and see something on top of you killing you."

"Yes, but I'm sure the Es'cartrss is gone now. I'm sure that was the only one."

"I don't care. I wanna be sure. Besides, we can keep you company in there."

"You'll be bored out of your mind, you know that, right?" the Doctor said to her.

"Nah, I'm never bored with you around."

"And of course you and Alan will be going at it while we're trying to work."

"I'll behave, Love, I can't promise he will."

The Doctor chuckled.

"What?" she said.

"You know, everyone on Gallifrey thought I was an oddball. I wonder what they would have made of Alan? I think they would have been terrified of him the minute he ran into the High Council chambers and screamed out, city morgue, you stab em, we slab em."

She laughed.

"That was a prank we used to play when we were younger and dad wasn't around. Someone called our house and we'd pick up the phone and scream that into the receiver."

"Wow, I bet everyone loved you two."

"They did. Actually one time we did that and it was leader of the tribal council at Window Rock. That threw him for a loop."

The Doctor chuckled.

"Which proves my point that once again, Earthlings are more fun to be around than Gallifreyans," he said. "If anyone had thought to do that on Gallifrey they would have been thrown in an institution. Which brings me around to my point of Alan being feared there. I don't think anyone would have touched him with a barge pole so there wouldn't have been any danger of him being sectioned. He would have just been allowed to roam free, laughing and singing and confusing people with his British/American slang words. And there wouldn't have been any chance he'd just go to the mountains and be a weird, crazy hermit like the one who used to tell me ghost stories. Nope, Alan will never be a hermit. He likes people too much."

"So…he would have been the village idiot of Gallifrey?"

The Doctor laughed.

"Exactly, Latara, the Time Lord village idiot. And eventually, if the planet had never been destroyed, he would have passed on into legend after a couple of eons. The legendary crazy dancing, singing Time Lord."

She giggled. They stopped for a moment and the Doctor put his arm around her while they stared out at the lake. He pointed to some paddle boats that were tied to a nearby dock.

"We could always do that tomorrow. Do a bit of boating and maybe go out to eat before I finally commit myself to that blasted stabilizer. I don't wanna fix it but it has to be done. I don't wanna stay here forever and I'm sure Madison doesn't either."

She laughed.

"We found another friend," she said to him.

"Yes, we did and I'm giving her my phone number and address so she can keep in touch with us."

"Good, because I like her."

"I do too. She's a very brave woman."

"Companion material?"

"Yeah, but she's married with a little one. She wouldn't come with us. You lot all were single without husbands and children so you were relatively free to come with me. She has a whole life of her own but who knows, maybe she'll enjoy a quick trip from time to time."

He looked down when Rain chuckled.

"What?"

She looked at him.

"You ever think that you would ever be such a people person? You kid Alan about being so open and friendly but you're the same way. I mean, you're not bouncing off the walls and getting in everyone's face but I know you're a lot more eager to spend time with people than you used to be."

"Yup, that's true. Imiko forced me to travel with you lot to see what I was missing and it worked. And yes, it does amaze me sometimes how willing I am to be so accessible now. I never used to do this. I used to bid companions goodbye and that was that. But now I not only have you lot, I have Jack and Torchwood and Sarah and her friends and Wilf and now Grace and Madison. And I'm actually thrilled when we can take extra people along with us like we did when we went to the drive-in cinema or having the DVD night. I'm a different man now and it's all thanks to all of you."

Rain snuggled up against him.

"Although, my love, I have a feeling we're about to lose Jack after this now that Martha's here," the Doctor said. "Jack was supposed to go with us just to get the parts he needed. I have a feeling Martha is not thrilled to find out he's been at a resort and I'm sure Mickey and Gwen and Ianto won't be either. I think Jack made a huge mistake when he told us to go get Martha because they won't like it if I drop Martha off and Jack stays with us."

"And Jack will wanna stay with us so he doesn't get the crap beat outta him by the others."

The Doctor laughed.

"Exactly, we're gonna become Gallifreyan shields for him in a few days time because he'll be hiding in some remote area in the TARDIS while they hunt him down. I'll have to ask the old girl not to hide him because I don't want her ripping her apart piece by piece searching for him."

"Well, you might have to keep an eye on Madison too, Love. I think she likes the dogs now."

"Well, she can buy some of her own," the Doctor said while she giggled. "Those two mutts belong to us and no one can have em. They're our Time Doggies now."

The Doctor kissed her on the head. He glanced up at the sky and noticed clouds were rolling in. He sniffed and smelled rain on the wind.

"I think rain is moving in, Rain."

"Or sprinkles, Sprinkles."

She laughed when he tickled her armpit. He gave her another kiss and turned with her.

"Come on, let's order some more sodas and see if Madison is awake now," he said to her while they walked back to the hotel.


	86. Chapter 86

Chapter Eighty Six

"Ah, that was incredible, Starlight," Alan said after they finished having sex.

"Yes, it was," Rose replied.

He grinned at her when she let out a contented sigh and he rolled back over on top of her.

"Rate me, scale of 1 to 10, how good was I?" he said.

"Um…'bout…a .09."

She laughed at the stunned look on his face.

"Oh, you did not just mock my manly prowess, Rose Timelord."

"Oh I just did, Alan Timelord."

He grinned as he held her tightly to him.

"Then I shall have to prove myself to you yet again!"

She giggled as he kissed her neck.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

By the time they got back to the hotel room, Madison was awake. She smiled at them when they came inside.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I should have told you how to turn on the holovision so you could do something besides sit there," the Doctor said.

"Nah, that's okay. I was just petting your dogs here," he said, scratching behind Blizzard's ear while she wagged her tail. "They're very good dogs."

"Yup, they are. We had them obedience trained at a very good academy and we've never had a problem with them since."

Blizzard walked over to him and put her paws on his stomach while he rubbed her back.

"This one fancies me a bit more than her sister," he said to her.

He finished rubbing her coat and walked over to Madison.

"Are you feeling alright?" he asked worriedly.

"Yes, I'm feeling great."

"Good, I'm glad to hear that. I think I really did cure the Dalek Factor within you then. Now…"

_Attention everyone in my family,_ Alan thought to them. _Rose has just rated me a .09 on the sexual performance scale! I protest that! On a scale of 1 to 10, I'm 100!"_

_Alan!_ Rose screamed in their minds before the privacy block was thrown up again.

The Doctor's family giggled while the Doctor stood by Madison's bedside with a surprised look and his index finger up in the air from the point he was just about to make. Madison stared at him.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Um…another thing my family and I can do is talk to one another telepathically and sometimes we carry on conversations that way. We can also feel one another in our minds and if someone wants privacy they can block their mind from the others. Alan and Rose are making love and they had this mind block up but Alan just lowered it to inform us telepathically that apparently Rose rated his sexual performance as .09 on a scale of 1 to 10 and then Rose screamed at him before she raised the block again. That's why I looked so shocked and why everyone was laughing. Trust me, either you or Grace, if you see us make weird faces at each other or we suddenly burst out laughing for no reason, that's why."

"And all of you can do this?" Madison said sweeping her arm around the room.

"I can't," Martha said, "which is irritating sometimes since Jack can and he hears everything they say and I've also seen him laugh out loud for no reason at all."

"Well, it's a bit irritating for us as well because if someone is away from the group and has something important to say to everyone and they tell us telepathically, we have to verbally tell you what they said," the Doctor replied. "We had to do that with Mingxia for awhile until she became a Time Lady."

"How'd you become Time Ladies if you were human before?" Madison said.

The Doctor went to pass out their drinks while the women explained it to her and Grace. The Doctor handed Madison a Coke and she sipped it while she listened to them. Once he was finished, he sat down on the floor beside the other bed and Rain stroked the back of his head while he sipped his Coke. Madison shook her head when they were done explaining.

"You know, it's odd how willing I am to accept all this but after everything that's happened on Earth the past few years and everything that's happened to me the past few days, hearing that some fox spirit changed you into aliens sounds perfectly logical to me."

_WHOOOOO-HOOOO, BET YOU LOT AREN'T HAVING NEARLY AS MUCH FUN AS I'M HAVING!_

_ALAN!_

Madison grinned when everyone except her, Grace and Martha burst out laughing.

"Was that your brother again?" Madison said.

"Yes, my brother is being an enormous pest and embarrassing Rose," the Doctor said, chuckling. "Next thing you know he'll be projecting what he's doing into our minds."

"If he does that, I'm blocking the boy permanently from my mind," Donna said, rolling her eyes. "I do love the man but sometimes he can be a huge pain in the arse."

"He does try to tone it down," the Doctor explained. "But that's just the way he is. Like I said, he's a free spirit, even more than I am, and it's hard for him to rein that in sometimes."

He raised his eyebrow and stared at Rain and Awinita who were lying on the bed beside him giggling.

"Of course, these two have a hand in it as well," he said while everyone laughed. "They're teaching him a heap of slang words and vulgar phrases and Alan just loves it and there's nothing he likes more than to try them out on all of us."

_Well, I'm spent and now I and the misses are moseying on back to the room. Are you lot up there? _Alan thought to them.

"He's just informed us that he's finished and now he wants to know if we're here, so excuse me a mo," the Doctor said to Madison, Grace and Martha.

_Yeah, we're all in here. So make your way back to the insane asylum,_ the Doctor thought back.

_Brilliant. Well you'll be happy to know that we saw no sign of other Es'cartrss in here. Which is a blessing since the last thing I want is one of those buggers to electrocute my brain right at the crucial moment. But I think that was the only one._

_Nevertheless, when you and my husband fix the stabilizer I'm gonna be in there watching,_ Rain thought to him. _I'm gonna make sure nothing happens to you._

_So am I,_ Rose thought. _Count me in as well. I don't wanna come in and find you both dead because you think the TARDIS is completely clear of those things. _

"Gee, I guess that means beach volleyball for the rest of us," Awinita said.

"Not on your life, Jenny's gotten way too good at it," Mingxia replied.

The Doctor looked at Jenny.

"You have?"

She gave him a smug grin.

"They taught me how to play it and I helped my team beat Mingxia's team."

"We annihilated them," Jack said, smugly. "So I definitely don't mind playing another round if I can be on Jenny's team."

"Well, if I were you, Jack. I'd get all the enjoyment you can from this holiday because I'm sure Martha will want you to go back with her."

"Too right I will," Martha said to him. "I thought you were going to get parts or something and now you're here at a resort?"

Jack gave her a sheepish grin.

"I…got a bit sidetracked?" he said.

"I'll say. We've been wondering where the hell ya been. Ianto's been a holy terror because he's been upset that you've been gone so long."

"Really?" Jack said.

"Yes, really, we don't know what happens to you when you're out in time and space. We have no idea if you've been captured and you're imprisoned somewhere. You never phone, Jack."

"I'm sorry, Martha, I got a bit sidetracked. I didn't mean to scare everyone. I woulda asked the Doctor to bring me back a few minutes after I left."

"And when would that have been, seven or eight years later?"

Jack gave her a shocked look while the rest of them snickered.

"I'm sorry, Martha, how many times do I have to say that? You know how addicting it is traveling with the Doctor."

"Yeah, I understand that but I also know that you have a team at home that needs your guidance and leadership."

"You can't look after yourselves for a few days?"

"It's been more than a few days, Jack. It was a week and a half when you landed."

"And…you can't take care of yourselves for a week and a half?"

"You might as well not waste your breath, Martha. You're not gonna get through to him," the Doctor said.

"I understand her point, Doctor. But I was also gonna come back a few minutes…"

The door opened and Alan and Rose walked in.

"Howdy-do, fellow holidaymakers, we have returned!" Alan said while Rose closed the door. "Anything happen while we were out?"

"Martha's found out that Jack's been playing hooky and neglecting his duties," Awinita said to him.

"I haven't been playing hooky, Awinita. I keep telling you I would have had the Doctor take me back a few minutes after I left."

"Yeah and since you're immortal, you could be gone a hundred years and we'd never know."

"What would it matter if I were gone a hundred years if I came back a few minutes after I left?"

"Ooookay, Starlight, I think perhaps we should go to another part of the hotel until this gets sorted out?" Alan said.

"No, Alan, stay. I admit I screwed up, alright? I shoulda called you while I was out traveling with the Doctor but I honestly didn't know you were that worried about me. I was perfectly fine and for the hundredth time, I'm sorry."

Martha nodded.

"Okay, but you better call Ianto because if you don't before you get back, he'll be finding creative new ways for you to die."

Jack nodded.

"In that case I'll go to my room and talk to him in private because if he's as mad as you say he is, there'll be a lot of screaming. Excuse me everyone."

He got up and Alan and Rose pressed themselves up against the wall to let him pass. They watched while he opened the door and closed it behind him.

"Jacky-boy got found out?" Alan said while he and Rose walked over to the Doctor.

"Yup. And he got an earful from Martha," the Doctor replied.

"Well, we've been wondering where he was," Martha said. "Shoulda known he would do more than just go to the shops for parts. I hope he calms Ianto down because he's not gonna like that he was at a resort."

_Oh Lord, I'm glad Martha said something. Ianto is not a happy camper,_ Jack thought to them.

"Jack just spoke to us. You're right. Ianto is furious," the Doctor said to her.

Martha shrugged.

"Serves him right. We've had to listen to him for a week and a half, now it's his turn."

The Doctor sighed and smiled at Madison.

"Don't worry; things will be sorted out before he goes back. Jack's a smooth talker," eh said. "Now for tomorrow, would you feel up to doing something outside the room? Rain and I saw some paddle boats and we're gonna do that in the morning and then we were thinking of going out to eat after I get the stabilizer fixed."

"Sounds good," Madison said. "I definitely feel better now and I'd like to do something besides lie here."

They smiled at that.

"Good. Um…do you lot wanna try that fancy restaurant again since Bambi is no longer a threat to me or Brother?"

They nodded.

"The restaurant requires you dress up but the TARDIS can supply you and Grace with clothes so that's no problem. But it supposedly has good food and…"

He looked at Alan who was giggling.

"Ought-oh, now what are you thinking of, Brother?"

"I dread to think," Rose said, rolling her eyes.

"You know," Alan said to the Doctor. "We oughta make sure Bambi doesn't know us just in case she decides to come back in the restaurant again while we're there."

"And your thought on that is…"

"I think we should find out which room she's in, go knock on the door and asks if she knows you."

"Well, of course that's what you wanna do," Donna said, rolling her eyes.

"I'm just saying if we're gonna go into the restaurant, shouldn't we make sure Bambi doesn't remember us?"

"Is that really the reason or do you just wanna play a prank on her?" Mingxia asked.

"Oh, little of both. But mostly because I was nearly squeezed in two the other night and I don't want that to happen again."

"How do we find her?" Jenny asked. "I mean, do you know her surname?"

The Doctor closed his eyes and thought.

"What was the name of her nutter father? Doctor…Doctor…"

"Benzarick, wasn't it?" Alan said.

"Yes, Benzarick. So yes, Bambi Benzarick."

"So are you gonna go through with this daft scheme now?" Donna said.

The Doctor glanced at his brother and Donna groaned when a smile slowly spread over both faces.

"I hope we don't get arrested for this," Donna muttered.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they informed Jack of what they were doing, he quickly ended the conversation and walked to the elevator with them.

"Ianto's mad but I apologized and I think I calmed him down," Jack said to them.

"Good because we got tired of him being moody," Martha said.

They got in the elevator and went down to the ground floor. They walked over to the front desk.

"May I help you sir?" said a white skinned male alien that was dressed in a business suit and black tie.

"Yeah, hi," the Doctor said. "Look, I'm looking for the room of an old friend. Bambi Benzarick? We wanna surprise her and say hello."

The man looked up her name on his computer.

"She's in 1023, sir."

"Thank you."

"Shall I ring her and tell her you're coming?"

"No, no, we want this to be a surprise," he said while everyone fought to keep their laughter in.

"Certainly, sir. Anything else I could get you?"

"No, that'll be all. Cheers."

The man nodded his head and the Doctor walked away. He looked back at his family and friends.

"Follow me to 1023," he said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Bambi was watching the holovision when she heard a knock on the door. Sighing, she got up from the bed and walked over to the door. She opened it and saw a group of people standing there. Her gaze swept over all of them but she didn't recognize anyone.

"Yes?" she said.

"Hi," the Doctor said, "do you know who I am?"

Bambi stared at him for a moment.

"No, should I?"

"No, you shouldn't," the Doctor said while everyone tried not to laugh.

"Who are you then?"

The Doctor stared at her with wide eyes. Alan quickly stepped up beside him.

"Hiya, we're the resident hotel choir. Our job is to go around and serenade the guests. It's all part of the fabulous Aswadian holiday the resort's provided for you. So would you like your free song?"

Bambi stared at the odd assortment of people who all had smiles plastered on their faces.

"Yeah, I'd like a song," Bambi said, hesitantly.

"Brilliant, um…"

Alan turned around to his family and friends and thought for a moment.

"Um…everyone know Dancing Queen?" he asked.

They nodded and he spun back around.

"Okay, for your entertainment, we present Dancing Queen. And a 1 and a 2 and…"

Everyone looked at each other before they looked at her and sang…

"Friday night and the lights are loooow…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they were done singing, Bambi thanked them and closed the door. All of them ran as fast as they could towards the elevator. Alan jabbed the button repeatedly and when it finally opened they all crammed into it. Once the door was closed they finally let out their pent up laughter.

"Hotel choir?" the Doctor said to Alan. "Brilliant! I never would have thought of that."

"Oh my God, that was the woman you offered to date in exchange for your life?" Martha said to him.

"Yes, that was Bambi and thank God she doesn't remember me anymore."

He grinned at Madison and Grace who were standing beside him.

"This is what I was talking about when I said we get a little wild sometimes," he said while everyone else laughed.

"Yes, wild and crazy, that's us," Rain added.

They finished laughing and sighed contentedly when the elevator stopped at their floor and they got out.


	87. Chapter 87

Chapter Eighty Seven

After they got back to the rooms, Madison, Grace and Martha decided to turn in for the night. Everyone bid them goodnight and watched while they left the room.

"Well, I think I'll take a whiz and have myself a zizz," Alan said, strolling to the bathroom.

"Really? You're tired as well?" the Doctor said.

"Nah, just rhyming words and bein' silly," Alan said to them.

Whistling, he walked into the bathroom and shut the door. The Doctor looked at Rose.

"You musta satisfied him," he said, hooking his thumb at the door while everyone laughed.

"What you lot laughing at out there?" Alan called from the bathroom.

"I said, she musta satisfied ya!" the Doctor yelled.

A few minutes later, the bathroom door opened and Alan strolled out.

"Indeed she did," he said. "This little woman over here is a marvel. I am definitely over the moon at this very moment. So what about you lot? What were you doing when I was out proving my virility to the missus?"

They laughed when Rose blushed at that. Alan patted her on the head.

"They asked, I told, Starlight. Simple as that," he said, lying down beside her on their bed.

"Well, while you were out, we were just chatting with one another and Madison was having fun listening to us and telling us stories," the Doctor said.

"I'm glad she's alright," Alan replied. "She's a nice woman and she's fun to have around."

"I agree. I'm glad she's used to us by now and…"

The Doctor trailed off when Alan got out of bed and walked over to his bed. He leaned past him and stared at Rain.

"By the way, I haven't finished with you yet and…"

They laughed when Rain smacked his cheek hard.

"When my husband speaks, everyone pays attention and shuts their mouths!" she said sternly.

She smiled sweetly at the Doctor.

"Continue, Love," she said sweetly.

They laughed when Alan flipped her off.

"Wow, your IQ's two, you went up a point, Bro," Rain said.

"Oh brother, here we go," Donna muttered.

"No, we'll control ourselves, Noble," Alan said, lying back down on his bed. "I'd hate to have you leave our presence because of my shenanigans."

He looked at the Doctor.

"Go ahead, Brother. You were saying…"

"Yeah, what was I saying?" he said while they laughed. "My wife slapping your cheek kinda startled me and made me forget what I was gonna say."

"Sorry, dear."

"Nah, it wasn't that important, just another ramble. Besides, I'll probably remember what I wanted to say eventually. But…in the meantime, everyone up for a few rounds of poker?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, the Doctor woke up the three women and Jack who also decided to go to bed around three in the morning. They went downstairs for a light breakfast and then they split up into two groups, the Doctor and Rain and Alan and Rose and Madison and Grace headed for the paddle boats while the others went off to play beach volleyball. After renting three boats for an hour, the two couples and Grace and Madison climbed into the boats and used the foot paddles to head towards the middle of the lake. Each boat had a hand rudder and a button that activated a magnetic field on the bottom of the boat. There was another magnetic field under the lake and both fields stopped the boat and acted like an anchor to hold it in one place. The Doctor and Rain paddled out to the middle of the lake where a cobblestone bridge spanned it. They stopped near the bridge and looked around them at the multicolored fish swimming through the crystal clear lake.

"I wonder if you can fish in here?" Rain said.

"I think you can. I think the reason there's so many fish is because they stock the lake."

She looked at him.

"Do you like to fish?"

"Occasionally," the Doctor said, shrugging. "If I do it, I prefer netting the fish, the hook in the mouth is too cruel, I think."

Alan and Rose paddled by them. Alan noticed them and used the rudder to steer around to the front of their boat so Rose's side was facing them. He stopped.

"What's wrong?" he said, feigning alarm. "Oh no, Brother, are you out of petrol? Do you need help?"

"No, Brother, we're fine," the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Well, if you want, I could use a rope to link our boats and be your little tugboat and tug you back to shore."

"No, we're fine, thanks," the Doctor said.

"Okay, just give a holler if you need our assistance."

"Will do, Brother."

"Gee, you're not gonna challenge my husband to a boat battle to the death?" Rain said, sarcastically.

Rose giggled when Alan considered that.

"I don't know, think it'd be hell on our legs paddling that fast, eh Starlight?"

"Definitely."

"Um, I think I shall give water jousting a miss just this once but you better believe the moment we find some high powered speedboats, the duel is on!"

He smiled.

"But for the moment, I'm your friendly neighborhood petrol supplier so if you need some petrol give me a ring-y-ding. We'll be off now. Toodles."

Alan deactivated the magnetic field and he and Rose pedaled off. The Doctor and Rain watched while they went under the bridge. He got under the stone arch and stopped the boat. He looked at Rose.

"I'm afraid of the dark. Hold me," he said.

Rain giggled when they clutched each other. While they were watching, Grace and Madison came up beside their boat and stopped.

"Yup, Alan is definitely not your exact clone, is he?" Grace said to him.

"No, he's not and for that I'm thankful in a good way," the Doctor replied.

Alan looked back at them.

"I would snog ya but we have an audience," he said gesturing back to them.

"Like that's stopped ya before, Mister Announce to the Others I Rated Your Performance," Rose said.

"Merely making a comment to the others on how unfairly I was rated, dear," he said to her.

Grace deactivated the magnetic field and she and Madison paddled the boat under the bridge.

"Oi! You two!" Alan said while they passed by. "There's a ten pound toll for passing through here!"

The Doctor and Rain laughed when Alan took off after them.

"I WANT MY TEN QUID, DAMN IT!" he yelled at Madison and Grace while they laughed.

He quit after a few feet and he and Rose kissed while they turned to the left and paddled away. The Doctor released the magnetic field, turned around in a U turn and headed back the other way. They both paddled leisurely while they watched the sky.

"So after we get done here, you have to go and fix the stabilizer?" Rain asked.

"Yes. I don't want to but it has to be done. If I put it off any longer, I won't do it at all."

He glanced at her.

"You sure you wanna come and keep watch over me? It'll be boring."

"I'm sure. I can find something to do. Besides, I love being around you, you know that."

The Doctor stopped the boat when a large white seabird landed on the water in front of them. The bird resembled an albatross sized duck. They were admiring its beauty when suddenly a huge blue fish rose up out of the water and swallowed it in one gulp before it went back down.

"Jesus, how big do the fish get in this lake? Are we gonna be next?" Rain said, looking down into the water.

"Nah, I think that's the biggest one. I think we're safe. They wouldn't have boating on this lake if they had fish large enough to swallow us whole."

"Unless they have a sadistic sense of humor, Thete."

He chuckled.

"Possibly, yes, but I doubt it. I think it'd get out that they have man-eating fish in their lake and the people would go elsewhere."

Alan came up beside them.

"Blimey, that monster fish certainly had himself a tasty meal," he said to the Doctor.

He looked back and couldn't see Grace or Madison.

"I don't think our guests saw that. I think they're on the other side of the bridge now," Alan said to him.

"Brother, after this is finished, I'm gonna go tackle the stabilizer. If you wanna do something else and join me later…or you don't have to join me at all. I can handle…"

Alan held up his hand.

"No, I told you I'd help and I will. Besides, with both of us working on it, it'll get done faster."

"Good because I don't want our wives sitting there for hours while everyone else has fun. They came here to relax just as much as they did."

Rose glanced at the Doctor.

_Hey everyone_, she thought to her family. _What are you lot doin' right now?"_

_Beach volleyball,_ Mingxia thought back. _Why?_

Rose grinned.

_The Doctor and Alan are gonna go fix the stabilizer in about twenty more minutes. They're upset about me and Rain wanting to keep em company but you know what, why don't we all keep em company and move the party to the TARDIS. Then when they're done, we can get "tarted" up and go to dinner with em, what d'ya say?_

The Doctor and Alan grinned when everyone answered in the affirmative.

_I asked Martha and she's okay with that too,_ Jack thought to them.

Alan looked around and noticed Grace and Madison were coming back towards them.

_Well, Grace and Madison are out here with us and coming back towards us. I'll ask em but I'm sure they'll say yes,_ Alan thought.

_So, meet ya out by the lake in twenty minutes?_ Donna thought.

_Yup, meet us by the dock,_ the Doctor thought.

Rose smiled at the brothers when the conversation ended.

"See, we know how to bring the party to the men when the men won't come to the party," she said.

She glanced at her husband and deliberately put her tongue between her teeth.

"ARGH! There it is again! When will you learn to keep that inside the mouth!" Alan said, tickling her armpits.

Once he was finished, he deactivated the magnetic field, turned around and they paddled over towards Grace and Madison.


	88. Chapter 88

Chapter Eighty Eight

By the time everyone paddled the boats back to the dock, the others were there waiting for them. They had brought both dogs and they leapt up excitedly and strained against their leashes when they saw them climbing up the small ladder to the dock. They leaned down and petted them affectionately for a moment before they all headed back to the TARDIS. They were almost there when they noticed there were two aliens staring at the side of it. Both of them had sky blue skin, bald heads and big black eyes. One of them was wearing glasses with circular frames and thick lenses that magnified his eyes. The one with the glasses was wearing a pale red bodysuit and the female had on a pink dress.

"Look at this box, my dear," the male was saying while he rubbed the wood. "Isn't it just exquisite?"

"Quite," the woman replied.

The male noticed everyone walking towards them and turned his gaze to them. His eyes looked freakishly large from the magnified lenses but he smiled warmly at them while he gestured to the box.

"Look at this, it's so beautiful. I wonder what it is," he said to them.

"Um, it's an outhouse," the Doctor said. "We're the greenkeepers for the resort."

"Oh! I see, well it's a beautiful outhouse," the male said, walking over to them. "Nice to meet you. I'm Zaz and this is Yabit. This is our first time to the resort and we're just having a nice little stroll across the grounds."

"Well, enjoy your stay then," the Doctor said, shaking hands with them.

"Thank you, Sir, we will. Come along, Yabit; let's get out of their way. Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon," they said in unison while they walked away.

"Nice couple," Alan said while they walked towards the TARDIS.

They opened the door and went inside.

"Ugh! I am not looking forward to this," the Doctor said. "But you lot go ahead and make yourselves comfortable and get something to drink and…"

"Incredible."

They turned around and saw Zaz was just inside the door looking around in amazement. He gave them a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, couldn't resist a tiny peek," he said to them while Yabit walked up behind him.

They stood and watched while he slowly walked up the ramp looking at everything.

"I say, this is an unusual outhouse," he said while he looked around.

He walked over to the support column nearest the ramp and rubbed it.

"What sort of material is this?" Zaz asked the Doctor.

"Coral."

"Coral. It's beautiful. I love the design. It's nice to know the resort makes everything look lovely, even down to the outhouses."

He and Yabit strolled over to the console. They stared at it silently for a moment before Zaz looked at the Doctor.

"What does this do?" he asked, pointing to it.

"That," Alan said, "controls the fountain out back and the lights and the irrigation system."

"Marvelous," Zaz said. "Don't you think so, my dear?"

"Quite," she said.

Zaz stared at it for a moment more and then gave them a sheepish smile.

"Terribly sorry, I'm being intrusive, you have work to do," he said to them.

"No, no, you're fine," the Doctor replied. "So, where are you from?"

The women giggled softly when Zaz pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose with his finger.

"We're from Zadron One."

"Ah, in the Capricorn Galaxy," the Doctor said.

"Quite. I just retired from my computer analyst position with Zwork and Filsar and my wife and I decided to take a nice relaxing holiday. Aswad came highly recommended and I can see why. Everyone is friendly and the grounds are lovely. So much to do and see."

"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying your stay," the Doctor said.

Zaz smiled broadly.

"Thank you, Sir. Well, we'll be off now, let you get back to your work. Have a great day."

"You too," they said in unison.

Zaz turned and took Yabit's hand.

"Come, my dear, let's go see if anyone is performing any plays in the theater," he said to her while they wandered back out.

They waited till they were clear of the TARDIS before the Doctor walked down and closed the doors.

"See, not every alien is evil like the Daleks," he said to Madison and Grace. "Occasionally you find very nice ones like Zaz and Yabit."

He sighed as he stared at the console.

"Well, as I was saying, if you lot wanna settle in, Brother and I will round up the tools we need and get started with this."

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"Blimey, at this rate we'll never get done," the Doctor said to Alan.

They were lying side by side under the console while their family and friends sat and stood by them laughing and joking and teasing them. Blizzard and Rory had been taken back to the park room so they wouldn't bother them while they worked. Madison and Grace were sitting on the jump seat sipping sodas while everyone else talked to them. Occasionally they made a big show of hunting for Es'cartrss and groaning when they couldn't find any.

"Although, if we find one, we'll bring Rory and Blizzard back out here and let them have a new chew toy," Awinita said after they looked again.

Grace knelt down beside the Doctor. She set her glass of Coke down beside her and lay down beside him while she looked at the wires they were working on.

"Need any help? You know I tried to help you the last time I was in here," Grace teased.

"No thanks. The last time you tried to help you ended up a possessed zombie and I nearly had my lives taken from me," the Doctor said while Alan snickered.

"Will I be bothering you if I ask a question?" Grace said to him.

"Not at all, ask away."

"When you work on things like this stabilizer, did you have to study what the different parts of the TARDIS are or do you just know instinctively what to do?"

"Um, little of both. I did learn the parts of a TARDIS at the academy but I've been working on the old girl so long it's all second nature now. I know my way around her circuits blindfolded. The problem with the stabilizer is there are a lot of complicated connections to other systems and you have to know what you're doing in order to fix it which is why it's taking us forever to get this done."

"Although with both of us here, we're finally making progress," Alan added.

Rain knelt down beside Grace when she sat back up.

"What amazes me is it's busted. My husband practically lives here and he's always fixing something. I'm shocked he doesn't have permanent marks on his back from lying on this grating all the time."

"She's old, Latara. I hate to say it but she's seen better days and now old age is starting to catch up with her."

Madison knelt down beside them.

"How old is she? It is a she?"

"Oh yes, every TARDIS has a gender and this is female. She's also alive and sentient. Um…as for how old she is, I'm not entirely sure. I took her from a dry dock and by then she was eons old and that was about 1000 years ago so eons and eons. But she's still got an eon or two left in her. She's not finished yet. I'd equate this repair to a car's engine though. When the stabilizer blows, it's a big job. Every other time I've worked under here has just been tune-ups and upgrades."

Jenny knelt down beside Grace.

"Dad?"

"Yes, daughter who won't leave me alone like everyone else?"

"Fine, I'll leave ya alone then."

He laughed and patted her arm.

"What, Jen?"

"Do you and Uncle Alan want something to drink?"

"Well, how nice is that?" Alan said. "Um, I could do with a cuppa now that you mention it."

"Make it two cuppas, Angel."

"Gotcha. Be back in a minute."

Jenny got up and left the room. The Doctor smiled at Madison.

"Our family, always taking care of us," he said to her.

"Wish I had as close a family as you have," Madison said.

He frowned.

"You don't?" he said.

"Oh, I mean my brothers and sisters get along but nothing like you and your family. I'd rather be in your family than mine."

"Hey, hear that, Brother? We're fun to be with," Alan said.

Rain lay down beside the Doctor, put her hands behind her head and stared up at the wiring.

"I thought you were searching for the Es'cartrss," the Doctor said to her.

"I'm taking a break," she replied.

Jenny came back in the room and knelt down holding out two mugs of tea.

"Brilliant," Alan said. "Can you set them under the jump seat, Jen and we'll drink them in a few minutes."

She nodded and sat them down under the jump seat before standing up again. While she was doing that, Jack came over and knelt down.

"Doc, the dogs are hungry. Where do you keep their food or treats or whatever?"

"Um…their kibble is inside the first cabinet on the left side of the refrigerator. If they have dog food, then there's a box of Bonio in the cupboard above the cabinet."

"Gotcha. How are repairs coming along?"

"Slowly but surely," Alan replied.

Jack nodded, leaned back up and left. Rose came over, bent down and laughed when she noticed Rain was lying next to the Doctor. She knelt down and lay down beside her husband.

"You do realize that if you lot are here we won't be able to concentrate on repairs," Alan said to her.

"And that's a bad thing?" Rose said.

"Normally I'd say no but we have to get this finished."

"I agree," the Doctor said.

"Well, of course you agree, dear. He's your clone," Rain said.

The Doctor eyed her and Grace and Madison giggled when she poked his side.

Mingxia and Awinita walked up and bent down.

"Hey, if we put a CD in your player up here will that electrocute you?" Mingxia asked.

"No," the Doctor said.

"Do you mind if we listen to a CD?" Awinita asked.

"Nope, go right ahead."

"Thanks," Awinita said.

She and Mingxia leaned back up. They heard her putting a CD in the slot and a moment later they heard Don't You Want Me by Human League over their heads. The rest of the family came inside and all of the women and Jack began to sing along while the Doctor and Alan grinned. They joined in and everyone sang while they worked on the stabilizer.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After a couple of hours of singing to 1980's hits, the two brothers finally finished working on the stabilizer and leaned up amid the applause of their family members.

"Thank God, it's finally fixed," Alan said with a sigh.

The Doctor hopped up and ran a diagnostics check on the monitor while Alan stood up and stretched his back. The Doctor smiled when the check came back positive.

"It's fixed!" he said, pumping his fist in the air. "Thank the heavens; the sodding thing is finally fixed. I'm free!"

They laughed when he ran around the console room shrieking, "I'm free, I'm free!" over and over. Alan looked at everyone.

"I think Brother's gone a bit cuckoo in the noddle! It's the realization that the stabilizer's fixed, the poor man's mind has snapped."

Rose gasped when the Doctor seized her from behind and looked into her eyes.

"I'm free, Rose," he said to her.

"Um…good for you, Doctor," she said while they laughed.

Alan came up to the front of her and hugged his brother.

"Hey, lookie, Rosie Doodle's in the middle of a Doctor/clone sandwich," he said.

Everyone laughed when the two of them just stood there pressing her in. Rose looked at them when they continued to stand there.

"Are ya gonna let me out?" she finally asked.

"Nope," the Doctor said.

"Nope-piddy-nope-nope," Alan said. "Why, aren't you enjoying your sandwich?"

"Well, I have to admit that having him behind me is a bit creepy now since we aren't lovers anymore."

"Yes, but I'm here only in a platonic sense, Rose. I'm keeping your backside warm while Brother tends to the front and together we'll keep you protected and roasty toasty."

Everyone laughed when Rose rolled her eyes.

Jack walked over and laid his head on top of Rose's.

"Now what are you s'posed to be, Jack?" she asked.

"The Mayonnaise in this sandwich," Jack said. "I'm like mayonnaise in that I love spreading the love."

"Well if that's true, the whole universe oughta be Miracle Whipped by now," Awinita said.

They laughed when Jack flipped her off before he laid his head back on Rose's head. While they were doing that, Rain walked up with her hands behind her back.

"Need some help?" she asked Rose.

"Desperately, Sis."

She brought her hand around and showed her a wrench.

"This was in their toolbox. I was thinking of using it to help you out," she said.

"What, are you gonna pry our arms apart?" Alan said.

"No, I was gonna bash it on all three of your heads if you don't let Sis go."

The men looked at each other and backed up. They laughed when Rose ran around the console room screaming, "I'm free, I'm free!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After the brothers put the tools back in the closet, the women led Grace and Madison to spare rooms where they could get ready for supper. They asked the TARDIS to give them both outfits they could wear and both women were stunned when there was a flash and their empty closets were filled with dresses and shoes, trousers and t-shirts and jeans.

"Do they fit?" Madison asked.

"Oh yeah, the TARDIS can measure your body dimensions and give you clothes that fit precisely," Rose said to her. "There's more in the chest of drawers as well. You have a full wardrobe and if you both come back and visit us these will be your rooms just like Martha has her own room waiting for her when she visits."

Both Grace and Madison thanked them and they smiled and went to their rooms to get ready.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

All three men grinned when they saw the women. Everyone was wearing the same clothes they were wearing the other night. Grace and Martha were wearing black evening gowns while Madison chose a powder blue one. The Doctor let out a low whistle.

"We really need to convince everyone to wear dresses full time," he said to Alan who nodded.

Martha's eyes boggled when she saw Rain's arm.

"Hold up, when did you get a tattoo?" she said, walking over.

"A few days ago. Me and Jenny and Mingxia and Jack got tattoos. The only ones who don't have tattoos in our group are the Doctor and Donna."

Martha chuckled.

"Yeah and that's the two people I figure wouldn't get one."

"I'm working on him," Rain said, patting the Doctor's shoulder. "I'll convince him to get a tattoo eventually."

The Doctor let out a "HA!"

"That'll be the day," he added. "You can try all you want but I'll never get a tattoo anywhere on my body."

Martha and Rain shared a knowing smile.

"Anyway, I like it. I like the rose, it's beautiful," Martha said to her.

"Thanks, I like it too. Now…if only my husband had one to match it," she sighed wistfully.

They laughed when the Doctor eyed her.

Martha looked at Jack.

"What did you get?" she asked him.

"An eagle on my right arm."

Martha nodded.

"D'ya think Ianto will approve?"

"I talked to him and he said he would as long as it wasn't something creepy. I figured an eagle wasn't creepy," he said.

"Well, I have one as well so now we have to work on the rest of Torchwood," Martha said, pointing to her butterflies.

"What is this, the tattoo club?" the Doctor said while they laughed.

"I don't have one, Doctor," Grace said.

"I don't either," Madison said. "Although I have thought about getting one before."

"You want one, we can take ya straight away," Rose said.

They laughed when the Doctor let out an exasperated sigh.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As luck would have it they got the same table they had before. They snickered at Martha, Grace and Madison's shocked looks when they saw the wumpus.

"That is one big frog," Madison said.

"It's called a wumpus," the Doctor said. "It's the local amphibian."

"Um, Doctor, there aren't dinosaurs on this planet, are there?" Grace asked.

"No, what makes you say that?" the Doctor said.

"Well, that's one huge frog."

"Yeah, elephants are large as well but there are no dinosaurs on Earth now, are there?" the Doctor said.

"You have a point," Grace said.

The maitre d gave them their menus and glasses of water and left.

"Would you like me to help you find something to eat? Rose asked the three women.

They nodded and she discussed what the choices were while Alan sat beside her and perused his menu. He glanced up and noticed the Doctor was looking around every so often.

"Bambi doesn't remember you, Brother. We proved that last night," Alan finally said.

"Just keeping my eyes open for any other "admirers"," he said to him.

After choosing what to get they gave their orders to the maitre d and he left them alone. Grace and Madison looked around. Madison noticed Zaz and Yabit sitting near the front. They saw her and waved while she waved back. Everyone looked where she was waving and waved with her. Zaz got up from his table and walked over. He was wearing a black robe with a shiny gold collar.

"Hello, my friends," Zaz said to them. "Enjoying a meal after a hard day's work?"

They nodded.

"We just got done playing Frushball in the gymnasium and had a shower before coming here. We're both very tired."

"So you didn't find any shows?" Alan asked.

"No, unfortunately, the shows don't start until nighttime but we secured a couple of tickets to My Alpha Centauri Sweetheart. It sounds very good."

"We might see that as well," the Doctor said.

"Oh, do you get a discount being a staff member here?"

"Yes, we do," the Doctor said. "We get a 45 percent discount on all shows and recreation."

"45 percent. That's marvelous. I'm glad they give you such good bonuses when you work here."

"Yup, me too," the Doctor said.

He pointed over to Yabit who was signaling to Zaz. He turned and saw the maitre d putting several bowls down in front of her.

"Oh, I see our meal is here. It was nice talking to you again."

"And you. Enjoy your meal."

Zaz beamed and bowed his head. They watched while he went back to his table before they turned their heads and talked quietly amongst themselves.


	89. Chapter 89

Chapter Eighty Nine

After they ate, they headed back to their rooms and played a couple of rounds of poker and euchre while they talked and told more stories. Eventually Madison and Grace decided to go to sleep and everyone bid them goodnight. After they were gone, they turned back to their poker game. They had been playing for a couple of hours when Grace and Madison suddenly burst into the room.

"Are you alright?" the Doctor said, concerned.

"Doctor, there's a ghost in our room," Grace said.

"There is?" the Doctor said while everyone glanced at each other.

"Yes, there's a ghost of a woman. She was standing right in front of our beds," Madison said.

"Whoa, maybe this hotel is being haunted just like Mary was haunting the one in Tennessee," Awinita said to Alan.

The Doctor laid his cards down facedown on the table and got up.

"I told you before Grace I don't believe in ghosts so I'm gonna check this "ghost" out and make sure that's what it really is," he said to them.

Everyone else got up and followed Grace and Madison. They led them down the hall to their room. Once inside, the Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver, set it to scan and slowly swept the room while everyone stood back and watched.

"Where did this ghost appear?" he asked Grace.

She walked over to her bed and pointed to it. The Doctor pointed his screwdriver at the spot and the light on the tip began to blink rapidly.

"Hullo, a ghost shouldn't excite the screwdriver like this," the Doctor said.

He turned up the intensity and suddenly a Caucasian human woman with long dark hair, blue eyes and a black eye flickered into view. The image was faint, almost ghostly but they could tell that she had been abused by the bruises on her arms and shoulder. She was wearing a dirty white strapless dress and there was a small crest tattooed on her left shoulder. The Doctor's eyebrow raised when he saw the crest.

"Planet Faust. This is one of the royal family of Faust. If you're being haunted, you're being haunted by royalty then."

He noticed the woman start to speak but no sound was coming out. He adjusted the settings and turned on his screwdriver and suddenly they could hear her.

"…ever can hear this, I implore you, please help me," the woman said. "I am Princess Terina of the Faustian Royal Family. I have been kidnapped and I'm being held against my will on Mordos. I have sent out this transmission in the hopes that someone will hear it and help me. Please, there isn't much time before my captors…"

They watched while she jerked her head behind her and then she turned her head back with a panicked look on her face.

"They're coming, I can't stay but I hope if this reaches someone out there, please tell my family that I'm alive so they won't worry."

She jerked her head around again, pushed a button that was at foot level and then ran out of view. The transmission faded.

"Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope," Donna said.

"Indeed," the Doctor said. "This is not a ghost, sorry girls; this is a sort of message in a bottle transmission. Someone sent this out into the cosmos with the hope that someone will listen and come to her aid."

"So do we go to her aid?" Rain asked.

The Doctor thought.

"Not sure. Mordos is a very dangerous place. A dark planet teeming with sinister types. If anyone wanted to kidnap a princess, Mordos would be a perfect hideout for them since an average person would be insane to live there. There's no way to tell for certain how old that transmission is. It could have been drifting through space for centuries for all we know and just happened to finally find Madison and Grace."

"So it knew we were there?" Madison said.

"Oh yes, that kind of transmission is designed to play whenever someone happens upon it which also means a hundred people could have viewed it before you. Also, the file was a bit corrupted which is why I had to repair the sound with the screwdriver which leads me to believe it's very old."

"So how do we find out for sure if it is an old transmission?" Jack said. "I mean, if the girl's in trouble, shouldn't we help?"

He noticed Martha eyeing him.

"Come on, Martha, the Doctor has a time machine. He can take us back to any point in time. Shouldn't we help the girl if she needs help?"

Martha sighed.

"I s'pose, but you deal with everyone else once we get back to the Hub."

"Happy to. So…are we, Doc?"

The Doctor was conflicted between wanting to help and knowing that he could be leading his family and friends into a very dangerous situation by landing on Mordos. He knew that the planet was populated with hundreds of thieves, murderers, assassins and kidnappers, all of whom wouldn't hesitate to do them harm. He glanced at Madison and knew he couldn't take her into that. But on the other hand he had to be sure the girl was safe or dead. Then he got an idea.

"I have a way to check. We could go to Faust and speak to the royal family and see if Terina's been returned or been killed. That way we don't just go off searching for her if there's nothing to search for now."

He looked at Madison.

"Um…I'm not going to prevent you from coming with us. You're an adult and it's your choice but just know that while Faust is a safe place, Mordos is not. I'm having qualms about going there and I've been battling evil for centuries. But it's up to you if you wanna come along. If not, I can take you back to Denver. You've had no relapses and I think the Dalek Factor is gone from your system for good. So, your choice."

Madison thought.

"Can I at least come with you to Faust and see the royal family if that's safe to do?"

He nodded.

"You can. Grace, how about you?"

"I wanna come with you to Faust also."

"Martha, Jack?"

They nodded.

"Okay, well, there is one thing we have to do then if we're going to visit royalty and that's getting dressed up and looking presentable. Since the majority of us are Time Lords and Ladies, we're all going to be wearing the robes and regalia of our race. And yes, I know they're hot, stuffy and odd looking to you lot but it's a sign of respect to present yourself to the court in the native outfit of your planet and I'm sorry, but hoodies and t-shirts and jeans aren't native outfits. So if you lot will come with me, we'll board the TARDIS and leave here for Faust. While the humans get some rest, Brother and I will go first and see if we can beg an audience with the royal family. If we can, then we'll come back and you can go with us but I want the humans of our group to be well rested before we go because they won't appreciate you yawning and nodding off in front of them. So follow me and we'll check out of the hotel."

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Once they entered the TARDIS, Jack, Martha, Madison and Grace went to their rooms to sleep while everyone else accompanied the brothers to the wardrobe room. Everyone giggled at them when they got dressed in orange robes and full Time Lord regalia.

"I wouldn't laugh if I were you," Alan said. "Because next thing you know you'll be wearing this as well."

"I hope you guys can get an audience with the royal family because I'd turn your goofy looking asses away the moment I opened the door," Awinita teased.

"I'll show you goofy lookin'" Alan said, chasing after her.

"Help Sis, I'm being attacked by an orange monstrosity!" Awinita said, running behind Rain.

Alan stopped in front of them.

"I'll find your underwear through that robe and give you a monster wedgie if you touch her, I guarantee that," Rain said.

He gave her an arrogant look and sniffed while Rain rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, you're just high and mighty now; all dressed up like a gigantic candy corn," Rain said.

The women giggled when Alan gave her a shocked look.

"Candy corn, indeed," he said, walking over to the Doctor. "I hope we do gain an audience with them so Rain is forced to wear five of these robes. Then she'll see who's the candy corn."

"Now, now, you two. We'll have plenty of time for teasing later on. Right now, I want all of you to get some rest because if we do have to go to Mordos, all of you will need your wits about you and you need to be awake and aware because I'm not joking about the danger. So will you do that for us while we do this?"

They nodded and gave them both hugs and kisses before they went their separate ways.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I hope the Faustian Royal Family will be receptive, Brother," Alan said to the Doctor while they walked along a moonlit path towards the royal palace.

"Well, if they aren't, they're thick. Especially since we just saw their kidnapped princess begging for help in a transmission," the Doctor replied.

"How old do you think that transmission was?" Alan said. "It was old enough that the transmission was slightly corrupted."

"Not sure, but I really don't want to ignore it if the woman really does need our help. But I want to make sure because you know how dangerous Mordos is."

Alan nodded.

"Yes and I share your hesitation. I really don't fancy taking Rose or anyone else onto that planet without just cause."

They walked over a hill and saw the royal palace. It was large and made of a shimmering blue marble with gold trim. It had three tall towers with rounded gold domes that resembled minarets. The entire palace was surrounded by a high stone wall with a golden gate that had the royal crest stamped onto it. Several spotlights were installed at key points around the grounds and they shone on the walls illuminating the palace in all its glory. About a mile behind it, further down the hill, they saw thousands of lights of a major city twinkling in the night. Aside from the occasionally distant hum of a hover car the air was still and silent. Both brothers held their heads high and threw back their shoulders while they approached the guards at the gates. The guards were dressed in black leather with black leather trousers and boots. The royal crest was sewn onto their black leather tops and was also on their black metal helmets. Both of them held pikes in their hands which they leveled at the intruders as they approached.

"Halt! State your names and business!" one of the guards said.

"My name is the Doctor. I am a Time Lord from Gallifrey, a member of the Prydonian Chapter. I seek an audience with the Royal Family because I have news about their daughter Terina."

"My name is Alan Timelord. I am a Time Lord from…"

He paused.

_Do I tell them I'm from Gallifrey, Brother?_ He thought to the Doctor.

_Yes, that's your heritage. _

_Just checking before I open my gob._

"I'm a Time Lord from Gallifrey. I seek an audience with the Royal Family because I also have news about their daughter, Terina."

The guards glanced at each other.

"I'll go and inform the family. Keep an eye on them," one guard said.

The other guard nodded and he went inside the compound while the other guard kept his pike leveled at them. When the gate shut behind him, he relaxed and raised his pike back up to the vertical position. The two brothers put their hands behind their backs and whistled What What in the Butt to themselves while the guard eyed them warily. Finally, the guard came forward.

"You say you're Time Lords," he said to them.

"Yup, we are," the Doctor said.

"How can that be? The Time Lords died out in the Time War."

"Not all of them."

The guard raised his eyebrow.

"You're saying some survived?"

"Yup, that's exactly what I'm saying," the Doctor said.

The guard thought for a moment.

"You say you're the Doctor?" he finally said.

_Oh God, here we go, recognition time_, the Doctor thought to Alan.

"Yes, I am," the Doctor said.

_You are?_ The Doctor thought to Alan in a sarcastic tone of voice. _But you don't exist except in the myths and whispers of the higher species._

"I've heard tales about you, Doctor. Here on Faust your exploits are legend."

_You don't exist,_ the Doctor continued to think to Alan. _Even though you're standing about five feet in front of me bleedin' nose. But I'm the Shadow Architect and I know everything and I know you can't possibly exist. _

"I had no idea you survived the Time War, Doctor," the guard said, unaware of the telepathic sarcasm the Doctor was shooting towards Alan. "But if you did, then perhaps that is a good thing because you are here making the universe safe for us all."

_Oh Doctor darling, be a dear and help me and my rhino bozos wage intergalactic war so if I make a dog's dinner out of all creation and destroy reality, I can point to you and say it was all your idea._

Alan was on the verge of losing it completely.

_Brother, what are you doing?_ He thought to him.

_I'm engaging in a bored, caustic ramble to counteract the fawning guardy boy is doing at this very moment,_ he thought back. _I've heard this fawning speech half a trillion times from people all across the universe and I'm tired of people falling to their knees and feeling they have to venerate and worship me because I was brave enough to get off my bum and do something while they hid behind their sofa and didn't lift a finger to help. _

The guard lapsed into silence when he noticed the Doctor hadn't said anything in reply to his statements, only staring straight into space at a point above his head.

"Doctor?" the guard said hesitantly.

The Doctor blinked and focused his attention on him.

"Hmm?" he said.

"Um, I was just saying it's a good thing you're still around to protect the universe," the guard said.

"Yes it is, cheers," the Doctor said, distractedly while he peered up at the palace. "Um…is your friend coming out soon?"

"It will be a few minutes. It's late and the family will be asleep. They need to be awakened and get dressed in the proper clothes and assemble in the throne room."

_So we're in danger of more fawning then,_ the Doctor thought to Alan_. I'm gonna have a kip then. Nighty night, Brother. Keep an eye out for the other guard._

Alan fought to keep from laughing when the Doctor lowered his chin to his chest and closed his eyes. The guard frowned.

"Is something wrong?" he said to Alan.

"No, he's just…meditating. A wise and venerable sage like the Doctor needs to do frequent meditations to keep himself centered and one with the universe. It's how he hears the cries of the helpless and the screams of the defenseless."

The Doctor bit his lip to keep from laughing.

_Just what I need Brother. More fawning from you_, he thought.

_Hey, I'm bored as well,_ he thought back.

"The Doctor frequently gets knackered during his crusade for truth, justice and the Gallifreyan way so he has to have time outs to get his chi back in balance."

The Doctor shook with silent laughter.

_Truth, justice and the Gallifreyan way?_ He thought to Alan. _So now I'm Superman?_

_Might as well be the way some of these people act around ya._

_True, very true,_ the Doctor thought.

"Who are you then? You look just like him," the guard said to Alan.

"I'm his less accomplished twin brother. I follow my brother around in slavish servitude proclaiming his greatness to the heavens, carrying his weapons, protecting his body when arrows fly and making him coffee."

The Doctor had to spin around and cough to conceal his laughter. Alan patted his back.

"I also pat his back when his asthma acts up, poor lamb," he said to the guard. "It's a dirty, thankless job but I'm honored to be the servant of the legendary Oncoming Storm."

The Doctor quickly glanced around and was floored when he noticed the guard was taking his jest seriously and was nodding along in agreement.

_Oh God, please get the other guard back here and get us away from this nutter, _he thought to Alan.

They were relieved when a minute later they saw the other guard opening the door.

"The Royal Highnesses will see you both," the guard said.

Breathing sighs of relief, the two of them followed the guard through the golden gate into the courtyard.


	90. Chapter 90

Chapter Ninety

(And now, a brief intermission…)

There is a wide empty room, completely white with only a couple of chairs and a coffee table for furniture. For a moment, that is all that is seen and then Alan leans in and stares at the audience reading this fanfic.

"Hi," he whispered. "It's just little ol' me. I know when you last saw me we were going into the Faustian palace to talk to the royal family. But I decided to call intermission because there's something I've always wanted to do."

He grinned and stepped into view.

"I've noticed you lot while I was going back and forth acting out these stories for your amusement and I know you're not supposed to break the fourth wall, but you lot know me by now, I'm an impish little scamp who loves to cause mischief."

He came close to the camera and leaned in with a huge smile on his face.

"Howdy! Nice to meet all of you. I hope you're enjoying the story thus far. I have to tell ya, it's exhausting being me. As you may have guessed by now, I'm more manic and energetic than my brother and it's tiring running to and fro being a silly little bugger. I do have my more quiet moments but not as much as Brother does. Still, if it brings a smile to your faces, I'll continue to run rampant and be a whirlwind of fun for your amusement."

He looked around and leaned in closer.

"Not supposed to be doing this. If anyone found out I was talking to you lot…"

He paused and thought.

"Hmmm, not sure what they'd do actually. Donna would probably box my ears and Rain might give me wedgies but that's probably it. Speaking of Donna, she's being a bit of a wet blanket, isn't she? Constantly rolling her eyes while sarcasm flies out of her gob. Makes me want to smack her. But I'd never smack her because she's my sister. Unless…you lot want me to smack her because you know I aim to please my fans. I better belt up though because I'm sure old fuss and feathers is listening in somewhere. Anyway, I've been thinking lately about something and I want to run it by you lot because I believe there's been a grave injustice done to me. And what is that grave injustice you might ask? Well…I don't have my own show! My brother has his own show. My other brother, Jack, has his own show. Sarah Jane has her own show. What about me and Starlight? In the telly world, Starlight and me just got dumped out on a beach and left to stare at each other. And incidentally, I had this odd look on my face when I was staring at Rose. I either interpret that look I gave her as "What do we do now?" or more likely, "I need to pee pee, where's the nearest loo?" I'm thinking I was making the I need to pee pee face at that point because you never see a loo on board the TARDIS, do ya? No wonder my poor Brother is always sad and depressed on his show. He's been holding his urine in for donkey's years. Let the poor sod pee, I say!"

He leaned in closer.

"And doesn't it burn you up seeing my poor brother being made to suffer. The poor man never catches a break, one crisis and heartbreak after another. It's a wonder he isn't stringing up nooses all over that bleedin' ship of his. Thank God we're all here giving him the love and support and family nurturing he deserves because his telly self is in danger of being sectioned if they don't let up. Which brings me to my next topic, you see, there are many fine charities out there on planet Earth. Charities that are in need of funds so they can help people. Well, I have decided to start a charity of my own. My foundation is called Give the Doctor Some Huggies. Because that's what my telly brother needs, huggies and lots of em. My foundation will ensure that every Doctor Who fan is transmated into the TARDIS for five minutes of huggies with my brother. All I need is funds to get the transmat up and running so please join me in making sure the telly version of my brother has tons and tons of huggies and love to get him through those dark times the writers keep throwing his way. Perhaps eventually I'll have a night like Children in Need does where we have bunches of skits and performers all raising money for huggies for my brother. That's my first foundation, I'm also considering starting another called Give Me and Starlight Our Own Sodding Show! I mean, come on, don't you wanna know what happens to us? Aren't you the least bit curious to know what happened to us once I got done making the I gotta pee pee face and found a loo? In fact, let's give every single companion and friend the Doctor's ever had their own show and then the telly will be filled with nothing but Doctor Who themed shows. Or at the very least, we could finally realize our dream of having the Doctor Who channel. "All Who All The Time!" Think of it! We could finally rule the airwaves at last and…"

"Brother?"

Alan trailed off and slowly turned to see the Doctor standing behind him.

"There you are, what are you doing?"

"Nothing much, just miming."

"You were talking to someone."

"I know, that was me. I talk to myself when I mime. I'm rubbish at miming. Never could get the hang of it and…"

The Doctor came up beside him.

"Who are all these people?" he said, looking at the audience.

"They're…delusions. Just visual delusions from my wonky brain," Alan said.

"Wait a tic; this is the audience reading this fanfic. You've broken the fourth wall, haven't you?"

Alan gave him a sheepish grin.

"It's a fair cop, but come on; you've seen them as you've passed by. Didn't you want to stop and talk to them?"

"Well, I suppose but I've been waiting for you back at the Faustian palace. You said you had to go to the lavatory and now you're here talking to people?"

"I just wanted to say a quick, cheery hello."

"Well, we're all waiting for you so come on, time's wastin', Brother," the Doctor said.

He looked at the audience and waved.

"I'm sorry, but we really have to go so we can get back to the action. But it was nice meeting all of ya and I'm chuffed that you're reading our adventures. So…I want to wish you all a pleasant good morning, afternoon, evening or night, whatever time of day it happens to be on planet Earth. Please enjoy the rest of the story and…cheers."

He looked at Alan.

"Come along, Alan," he said to him. "Faustian Royal Family is waiting for us."

Alan nodded. He watched while the Doctor walked off and looked back at the audience.

"I also want to say goodbye but since I'm a little more rambustious than my brother, I'll say my goodbyes this way."

He grinned at the audience and said…

"SEE YA, WOULDN'T WANNA BE YA!"

Waving, Alan turned and whistling, walked off to join his brother back at the palace.


	91. Chapter 91

Chapter Ninety One

The guard tapped his foot impatiently while he glared at the Doctor who was standing a few feet away from him.

"Where is he? I thought he had to go to the lavatory," the guard said to him.

"He's coming. He just has a touch of diarrhea. It's all that spicy food he ate on Aswad," the Doctor said.

"Where?" the guard said.

"Place we just came from. A resort planet."

"I wish I could go to a resort planet. I keep getting shuffled around from story to story. One moment I'm Palace Guard One, the next I'm Dungeon Guard Six. I haven't had a holiday in years. And I do have a name too. I'm not just called Guard."

"Really? What's your name?"

"Bazonk."

The Doctor stared at him with wide eyes.

"Really? Bazonk's your name?"

"Yeah, why? Is something wrong with that?"

"No, no, Bazonk's a nice name," the Doctor said.

They heard huffing and puffing and the Doctor turned to see his brother running towards them.

"Sorry," he gasped. "Long way back, even when you run all the way."

He stopped and took in air while he leaned on the Doctor.

"Not to mention these outfits are hotter than hell," Alan added.

"Well be thankful they aren't leather," Bazonk said. "You think you have it bad? My crotch is severely chaffed from this getup."

"My condolences, mate," Alan said.

He swallowed hard and straightened up.

"Okay, I'm ready," he said.

"Brother, this is Bazonk," the Doctor said to him.

Alan stared at Bazonk.

"Really? That's your name?"

"Yes, what's wrong with it?"

"Nothing, nothing, Bazonk's a good name," Alan said.

"Are we ready to get on with the story?" Bazonk asked.

The two brothers nodded.

"Okay, well, follow me then," Bazonk said, turning.

Alan glanced at his brother while they walked along and leaned into his ear.

"Bazonk? Poor sod," he whispered to him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The brothers followed Bazonk down ornate passageways to a large throne room. The room was massive with massive double golden doors that were about twenty feet high. Inside the throne room, the floors were gleaming polished white marble and on the walls were painted numerous murals showing men doing battle against assorted aliens. The men all wore the crest so they assumed they must be the king or past relatives of him. A huge ornate crystal chandelier hung down from the ceiling and from the door to the dais where the thrones were placed was a large red carpet. The thrones were made of gold and white marble and the king and queen sat side by side on them. Both king and queen were middle aged. The king had a touch of gray showing on the sides of his brown hair and he had a full brown beard with gray in it. He was plump and was wearing lavender shirt and pants with black leather boots and a darker purple cloak trimmed with white animal fur. On his head was a large golden crown with several jewels around the brim and the crest at the front. The queen was thinner, her face slightly lined with age. She had long brown hair and was wearing a long white dress and the same purple cloak her husband had. Her crown was smaller but it was a replica of the one the king wore. Both royals were bored and when Bazonk entered they turned their attention to him.

"Sire, I have brought the Time Lords to see you," he said, bowing.

"Show them in."

Bazonk nodded and turned to them.

"Follow the red carpet and stay on it. When you get to the dais, kneel and show respect to the king and…"

The Doctor held up his hand.

"I think I can suss out what we need to do, Bazonk, thanks," he said to him.

Bazonk nodded. He stepped over to the side of the door and assumed his guard stance while the Doctor glanced at his brother. They adopted the same confident, proud demeanor they had before and entered, taking care to follow the red carpet to the front of the dais. When they were two feet in front of the dais both of them knelt down and bowed their heads. The Doctor noticed the king was watching them with fascination and he also had a bit of a sneer while he looked them over.

"Prostrate yourselves before me, Time Lords. Show me true respect."

The Doctor felt Alan's anger in his mind.

_No, Brother, do as he says. Let the sod gloat,_ he thought to him.

Alan seethed while he and the Doctor both bent over and put their foreheads to the floor.

_Good job our wives aren't here to witness this,_ Alan though to the Doctor. _They'd be beating the crap outta him._

"Look at that, Laticia, two high and mighty Time Lords bowing at my feet," the king said to his wife.

Both brothers were seething now.

_I figured that's why he wanted us to bow before him,_ the Doctor thought to Alan.

_I wouldn't gloat if I were him,_ Alan thought back.

They waited for him to tell them they could get up and waited and waited. Alan felt his anger increasing with each passing second.

_Come on, ya wanker, we're here trying to give you information about your daughter and you're wasting time showing your wife how you can make two Time Lords bow,_ Alan thought.

_I don't know if I wanna bring everyone else here now, _the Doctor thought back. _I don't think any of them would stand for this treatment, especially Donna._

_Oh God, Donna would get us all beheaded, _Alan thought.

"Okay, you may rise now," the king finally said.

They got up off the floor but both of them saw the smug expression on the portly king's face. They both kept their anger in check and both of them adopted a passive expression on their faces.

"I am His Royal Highness, King Jasper of the Faustian bloodline," Jasper said to them. "I am the 545th in an unbroken line of Faustian rulers."

_And are we s'posed to be impressed by that?_ Alan thought to the Doctor.

_Just let the man speak, Brother,_ the Doctor thought back_. He's doing this because he's trying to make himself seem as important as the Time Lords. Let the man's gob run its course. _

"I dare say we have been here almost as long as the Time Lords themselves," Jasper said.

_Oh puh-leeze, give me a break_, Alan thought.

"I was under the impression the Time Lords were extinct," Jasper said. "Killed off in that idiotic little war they had with the Daleks."

_You wouldn't think it was so idiotic if the Daleks had won,_ the Doctor thought.

"So how did you escape the destruction of your planet?" Jasper asked.

"It's a long story," the Doctor said. "The reason why we're here is because we found a transmission from prin…"

"You didn't answer my question sufficiently," Jasper said. "You Time Lords may think you own time and space but in my throne room I am the ruler. So tell me how did you escape the devastation of your planet?"

Alan couldn't hold back any longer.

"Listen, your Highness, we found a transmission from Princess Terina saying she'd been kidnapped and was being held hostage on Mordos. We're here to offer our assistance in rescuing her but we wanted to make sure she was still being held hostage before we went headlong into danger."

Jasper stared at him silently and for a moment the Doctor figured he was going to berate him for interrupting him when he was trying to find out how they'd survived the destruction of Gallifrey. But instead he and his wife leaned forward slightly.

"Why does my daughter's abduction concern the Time Lords?" he said to Alan.

"We are dedicated to helping those in need. My family and I have made it our lives mission to…"

Jasper interrupted the Doctor.

"Wait, family, there are more of you?"

The Doctor forced back his anger.

"Yes, there are nine Time Ladies and another Time Lord besides the two of us," he said.

"How did you escape the destruction of your planet then?" Jasper said.

Alan was in complete shock.

"Do you care that your daughter has been kidnapped and might possibly be in danger?" he said angrily.

"Of course I care, why do you, Time Lord?" Jasper said to him.

"We just told you why we care," Alan said, his anger threatening to bubble over.

"Yes, but the Time Lords are a bunch of pompous idiots who do nothing but sit around and act like they are the masters of the universe, so why are you not sitting around acting like they are?"

The Doctor reached behind his brother and put a calming hand on his back when he noticed he was about to jump up on the dais and throttle the smug couple.

_It's a trap, Brother. He's baiting you; don't fall for it,_ the Doctor thought to him.

_You know what, Doctor,_ he thought back. _We're not gonna get anywhere with these gits. Let's just go back to the TARDIS and go somewhere else. It's obvious the man doesn't care that much about his daughter or he would have shown concern by now._

_I agree, there's something else going on,_ the Doctor thought.

"Well, aren't you gonna answer me?" Jasper said when neither one said anything.

"No, I believe we're finished here. We apologize profusely for wasting your time," the Doctor said curtly. "It was daft of us to think we could lend a helping hand to your problem. You seem to have it all sorted out. Good night."

They turned and walked away.

"I don't recall dismissing you, Time Lords," Jasper said to them.

The Doctor spun back around, his anger nearly at the breaking point.

"Just for the record, I'm the Doctor and he's Alan. Our names aren't Time Lords, thank you very much and as for you dismissing us, we're obviously wasting your time and keeping you from your beds so if you don't mind, we'll take our leave of you and this place. Good luck recovering your daughter if she's still alive. Good night, your Highness."

They turned and walked away.

"Wait, I want to see these Time Ladies of yours and this other Time Lord. Please come back in the morning and be my guests while I have my servants prepare a banquet for you."

"Listen," Alan said, spinning back around. "Just answer us this. Is your daughter still alive or not?"

"I have no idea. She went missing a year ago."

"And you're not frantic with worry?" the Doctor asked.

"I have servants and spies out searching the galaxy for her."

"Have you tried Mordos then because that's where she claimed she was," the Doctor said. "And if she is there, you better pray she's still alive because that's one of the most dangerous planets in the universe. So if I were you, I'd drop the smug demeanor and accept help no matter where it comes from."

"Come with the others in the morning, we'll talk over a hearty meal. Both of us are tired and we need our sleep. Come at 0800 hours and my guards will usher you inside. Until then…"

He clapped his hands twice and Bazonk came into the room.

"Escort these Time Lords to the gate. Good night, Doctor and Alan. We will chat more tomorrow."

Both brothers glared at him before they turned and followed Bazonk out of the throne room.


	92. Chapter 92

Chapter Ninety Two

Once they were out of earshot, Jasper summoned another guard.

"Take a few more guards and follow them. If they are Time Lords, they have a TARDIS somewhere. Once you find the TARDIS, bring it into the palace and secure it with a temporal clamp. I don't want them to leave."

"Yes, Highness," the guard said, bowing.

Jasper waved him away and looked at his wife.

"Come Leticia, let us go back to bed now. We'll speak to our guests in the morning," he said to her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well, that was a complete time waster," Alan said as he and the Doctor walked back to the TARDIS. "Pompous nutter. I hope for his sake, his daughter is still alive."

He glanced at the Doctor who was deep in thought.

"What are you thinking about, Brother?"

"I'm thinking there's more here than meets the eye. I'm thinking the king might possibly have a hand in his daughter's abduction."

"I had that thought as well. The question is…why?"

"Why does any ruler murder his family? They're a real or imagined threat to his power. The man obviously doesn't have all his oars in the water. I imagine he thought Terina was going to challenge him and had her abducted so no one would suspect he had a hand in her death. It's a theory but it's peculiar that he was more interested in us than in the information we had."

"So we should just go?" Alan said to him.

He sighed.

"I hate to leave her but we're not gonna get anywhere with her father and I really don't want the rest of my family around him. He's dangerous, I can deduce that much. I have a feeling if we stay, we'll end up being hostages along with the princess. We'll just go back in the TARDIS and be on our way. Maybe we can think of something else to do before we take Madison back since she wanted to meet alien royalty."

They reached the TARDIS and the Doctor unlocked the door. They went inside and paused when they saw Rose and Rain sitting on the jump seat. The Doctor sighed angrily.

"I told you two to get some sleep," he said, closing the door. "We're both fine, honestly."

"Then why were you so angry?" Rain asked, getting up. "Rose was asleep and I was making sure the dogs pooped in the park room before they slept with me in our bed and while I was doing that, I suddenly felt all this anger from the two of you. I was concerned so I went and woke Rose."

"What happened?" Rose asked, coming up behind her.

The Doctor sighed and told them what happened. Both women were in shock.

"So, they don't give a damn about Terina?" Rose said.

"Apparently not. They seemed to care more about us being alive than their daughter being alive. But the man's off his trolley and I'm not gonna risk you lot going back there," the Doctor said to them. "Once I get the TARDIS into the vortex, we'll go back with you to our bedrooms, have a rest and go somewhere else. I have a feeling if it's been a year, Terina's dead and…"

Suddenly the entire console room was turned on its side. All four of them flailed backwards while the others screamed in the distance. The Doctor and Alan grunted when they hit the wall beside the ramp. Rose hit the floor and slid down on the other side of the ramp. The Doctor's eyes widened when he noticed Rain fell back and, in what seemed like slow motion, fell towards the ramp railing. The Doctor and Alan yelled her name when her head connected with the right rail and she smacked into the door, unconscious.

"Rain!" the Doctor said, using the rail to go up and around to his wounded wife.

He called her name but she was unresponsive. Her head was slumped against her left shoulder and blood trickled down the right side of her head to her chin.

_What the hell is going on?_ Donna thought to them. _Why is the TARDIS on her side?_

The Doctor didn't answer as he went around the railing and slid down to his wife. He held her to him while he checked her head injury.

_Why are we on our side?_ Awinita thought. _Can't someone right us? What happened to Rain? Why can't I feel her?"_

_The Doctor and I are in here now. I think someone is carrying us,_ Alan thought back when he felt slight vibrations. _We can't reach the room stabilizer controls because they're on the console and we're by the front door. The Doctor isn't answering because Rain fell back against the ramp rail and was knocked out._

He felt his family's distress at that and he tried to telepathically calm them down while he and Rose kept a worried gaze on Rain.

"Is she gonna be alright, Doctor?" Rose asked.

"I think so. I need to get her back to the med bay if the TARDIS ever rights itself again," he said, holding her close to him.

He looked at Alan.

"I think someone is definitely carrying us. I can hear faint voices chatting outside," he said to him.

"I'm gonna murder that blubberbutt," Alan growled.

_Is everyone else alright? Is anyone else injured?_ The Doctor thought to his family.

Everyone answered back that they were alright and the Doctor looked at Alan.

"Well, at least no one else needs to be taken to med bay after this," he said to him.

They noticed movement near the back door and saw Jack peeking through it.

"Doctor, Alan, Rose? Oh God, Rain, is she alright?" Jack said.

"I think she'll be alright if I can get her back to med bay. The problem is the room stabilizer is on the console and we can't reach it," the Doctor said.

They watched while Jack sat up and dangled his feet through the door

"Jack, what are you doing?" Alan said.

"Trying for the console," Jack said, fixing his gaze on the railing on the right side of the console. "Rain's hurt and bleeding and we can't wait for the TARDIS to be righted."

"Just be careful or you'll end up knocked out like she was," Rose said.

"Got it all under control, Rose," Jack said.

He paused a moment and then kicked his legs out while he let himself fall towards the railing. He managed to angle the fall and grabbed the inside of the railing. He put his foot on the crossbar and clung there.

The stabilizer is beside you, Jack," the Doctor said to him. It's that little silver switch near the back.

Jack searched the console and found it.

"I'm sorry if I damage your console doing this, Doc," he said.

He leapt over and managed to grab a hold of the part of the console rim that divided the different sections. Hanging there he used one hand and flicked the switch. Immediately the room righted itself and Jack grimaced when he lay sprawled across the top of the console.

"Ugh, you got too much crap on here, Doc," he said, rolling off it. "Now my back hurts like hell."

They felt the rest of the family's relief at having been righted and the Doctor gathered Rain into his arms and headed back to the med bay with her. Rose hurried back with him while Alan went over to Jack who was slumping down on the jump seat.

"Are you alright, Jack?" Alan asked.

He nodded.

"Yeah, just came down on a bunch of switches and buttons and other assorted odds and ends, I'll be fine in a minute. What's going on? Why did we suddenly tip over?"

Alan explained the situation to him. Jack cursed when he finished.

"So this bastard king is apparently inviting us all to be his guests?" he said to him.

"That's my thought. I s'pose he's really adamant about wanting us to eat with him in the morning."

He looked over when Grace and Madison came through the back door.

"What's going on? What happened?" Madison asked.

Alan sighed.

"All of you come with me, I'll gather everyone together in the kitchen and explain the situation that way," he said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rose helped the Doctor get Rain stabilized in the med bay. She didn't have to feel his anger to know how furious he was. His eyes were pitch black while he tended to his wife's wound and Rose figured he was imagining all the things he would do to Jasper once he got his hands on him. The wound wasn't as severe as they first thought but that didn't lessen the Doctor's anger and Rose kept silent while they worked, knowing from experience with his ninth self that it was best not to say anything when he was in this state.

Finally they finished up. The Doctor smoothed back Rain's hair and kissed her tenderly on the forehead before he picked her back up.

"I'm gonna put her in bed back here and I'm gonna restrain her just in case something else happens. The last thing I want is for her to go flying across the room again."

Rose nodded and she followed him to the bed. While they walked over, the Doctor gave her a guilty look.

"I'm sorry if I'm angry, it's not directed at you obviously."

"Doctor, you have every right to be angry. I understand. Don't worry about it, yeah?"

She pulled back the covers while the Doctor laid her gently in the bed.

"She has a concussion. I'm thankful she doesn't have more than that after hitting the railing as hard as she did. I think she'll be alright but I'm not about to have her attend that git's banquet in the morning. I doubt she'll be able to sit up with the massive headache she'll have when she wakes up."

Rose put a hand on his arm when he let out several Gallifreyan curses under his breath. He sighed and got his anger in check while she rubbed his back. He smiled at her gratefully and finished restraining her.

"I want to stay in here for awhile and wait till she wakes up since she'll be disoriented and scared when she finds herself restrained," he said, covering her up. "Plus, I wanna make sure she really doesn't have any massive head trauma. Just tell Alan to keep an eye on things in the meantime."

"You don't have to tell me, I heard," Alan said, walking inside. "How is she?"

"Concussion as far as I can tell. I restrained her and made her comfortable."

He noticed Alan sigh angrily.

"She'll be fine, Brother," the Doctor said.

"No, it's not that. Jack and I went back out to the console room after we assembled everyone in the kitchen and told them what was going on. We didn't hear anyone outside so we opened the door and took a peek. We're in some kind of storage room and…"

He sighed again.

"They put a temporal clamp on the side of the TARDIS, Brother."

The Doctor let out a stream of Gallifreyan curses.

"I'm gonna have that bastard's guts for garters come morning," he said to Alan. "I don't know what Jasper's game is but we're not gonna play it. He better let us go if he knows what's good for him."

He sighed.

"In the meantime though, just keep an eye on everything. Don't open the door for anyone or anything until morning. On second thought, just deadlock seal the door and you and Rose get some sleep. I have a feeling you'll both need it."

Alan nodded. He patted his brother's shoulder and took Rose's hand. The Doctor watched them go before he went and got a chair so he could keep a vigil over Rain.


	93. Chapter 93

Chapter Ninety Three

"Damn that bastard. I'm gonna put my fist in his fat gut the moment he shows his face in that storage room," Alan growled while he and Rose got ready for bed.

"Alan, just calm down, alright? Being angry isn't gonna solve anything."

"I'm sorry, Starlight, but the bastard needs to be knocked on his ass. Rain's lucky she didn't break her neck or fracture her skull when she hit the rail. He's up to something and I'm sure it's more than just inviting us to dine with him. Not many people own temporal clamps and he's not the type to have one. I'm guessing he got it from someone shady and I'm guessing the someone shady resides on Mordos. I think he is responsible for his daughter's abduction. And if he thinks he's gonna come in here and abduct you lot, he better think again."

"He can't come in here, the door is deadlocked sealed."

Alan laughed mirthlessly.

"My love, if the man has the connections to purchase a temporal clamp, I'm betting he has something that can disable the deadlock seal and get the door open. Don't put all your faith in that protecting us. If he's that adamant about us being here with him, I'm sure he has the means to get in here and get us out."

"What d'ya think he'll do to us if that happens?" Rose asked.

Alan walked over and held her around the waist.

"He won't harm you, Rose. He won't harm any of you, I won't let him. If he tries to make a grab for ya, I'll break both his hands off at the wrists and have Jack stick them in jars. If he thinks he can own the last Time Lords and Ladies in existence, he needs to think again."

He stroked her cheek and kissed it.

"Go to sleep, my beloved. I'm here," he whispered.

Rose kissed him and walked with him to their bed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Everyone sat in the kitchen sipping tea and calming their frazzled nerves. Blizzard and Rory were on the floor with Jenny who was trying to calm them down. Both dogs were shaking after their ordeal and Jenny whispered soothing words to them.

"These people, what do they want with us?" Mingxia asked while she sat at the table with the others. "Alan said they put a temporal clamp on the TARDIS so we can't go anywhere, right?"

"Yup," Jack said. "We're stuck until someone punches in the code and takes it off and I'm sure we'll have to fight to get the code to it."

"But we're safe right?" Grace said. "They can't get in?"

"In theory, but not many people have temporal clamps," Jack said. "They were mainly used by civilizations that had time machines and they used them like police officers use wheel clamps on vehicles that need to be towed. There are a lot of them on the black markets all over the universe and one black market is right smack dab on Mordos. I'm beginning to think the princess's abduction was orchestrated by the parents. We're safe in here, again in theory, but there are ways to get in here. The Doctor said as much when we were captured by the Daleks on the Crucible and I'm sure if he took the TARDIS, he has a plan to get us out of here if we don't come out of our own volition."

"So, we might have to fight," Jenny said.

"Yes, Jen, I'm pretty sure we'll have to just to get the damn clamp off the TARDIS. Until we can do that, we're stuck in his palace with nowhere to go."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor stroked Rain's hair. He was trying to keep calm, trying not to let his anger get the best of him but the image of his wife hitting the rail kept repeating over and over in his mind and with each replay he felt more and more anger rise up within him.

He heard a noise and saw Madison peeking into the med bay. He smiled at her.

"Hi," he said. "Come on in, you're fine."

Madison walked over to him.

"Will she be alright?" she said.

"I think so. She hit her head pretty hard but she'll recover. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, had a bit of a scare but I'm fine now. Everyone else is in the kitchen except for Rose and Alan; I think they went to bed. Jack was talking about the king getting the clamp from the black market on Mordos?"

"More than likely. Faust doesn't have time travel so there's no use for it here. Although why he would buy it puzzles me but I'm sure we'll find out the answers in time."

"He also said that they might have the means to get through your front door," Madison said.

The Doctor looked up at her and saw the fear in her eyes. He stood up and put his hands on her arms.

"Listen to me, if that happens, I want you to go and hide. You're not an experienced alien fighter like we are. I want Grace to do the same. Both of you let the TARDIS guide you to a safe place where she can seal you away."

"What about you though? Why can't all of you hide with us?"

"Because if he's looking for us, we have to give ourselves up or have enough of us surrender to satisfy him, otherwise he and his goons will swarm all over the TARDIS tearing her apart piece by piece in their search to find us. I can't let them do that to my ship. I won't sacrifice her to save my bacon. Whatever Tubby has in mind, I've faced far worse. But you haven't which is why I want you to go and hide, alright?"

She nodded and he gave her a smile.

"Don't worry. Believe it or not, this is routine for us," he said.

"Yeah, I guessed that from the stories you told on Aswad," she said.

They glanced down at Rain when they heard her moan and the Doctor knelt by her side and stroked her hair.

"Love, it's alright, it's me. You're safe," he said to her.

Rain groaned and slowly opened her eyes.

"Ugh, Thete?"

"Yes, my love, I'm here," he said gently.

"Oh God, my head's pounding like a bass drum."

He kissed her forehead.

"I'll get you some pain meds. Just relax."

"Why am I tied down?"

"I did that. I was afraid the TARDIS would be tipped on her side again and I didn't want you getting injured further. I'll release you in a second."

Rain nodded and shut her eyes while the Doctor went over to the cabinet for some pain medication. Madison followed him over.

"Thete?" she whispered.

He smiled.

"It's her secret name for me," he whispered while he took down a bottle of pills. "It's a variation on an old academy nickname I had. I don't particularly like the nickname but I let her use it because she uses it respectfully and wanted to call me something other than Doctor. She's the only one who's allowed to use it though, only Brother knows about it and that's because he accidentally heard her use it like you did. So don't tell anyone else, alright?"

"Alright."

"Normally, she doesn't use it unless we're alone but she's disoriented and she saw me and figured we were alone which is why this is the first time you've heard her call me that."

"I won't tell anyone else, I promise."

"Thank you, we don't have many private things but that's one of them."

Madison nodded. The Doctor got down a plastic cup and filled it with water. He shook two ibuprofen out of the pill bottle, put the lid on and put it back. He and Madison walked over and he sat the water and pills on a small table while he undid the restraints.

"Oh, I didn't know you were in here," Rain said.

"Yup, I came in here several minutes ago to check on you," she said, smiling.

Rain's eyes widened.

_Oops, I said the name when she was in here, didn't I?_ she thought to her husband.

_You did, but I explained it and she won't tell,_ he thought back.

"Are we still moving?" she said aloud.

"No, we've stopped. We're currently in a storage room in the palace."

"Why?" Rain asked while the Doctor helped her sit up so she could take the pills.

"I don't know but they want us to stay because they put a temporal clamp on the side of the TARDIS which means we can't leave."

"Not even to get out of the storage closet?"

"Nope."

"Have you killed them yet for doing that to the TARDIS?" Rain teased.

"No, but give me time, I'll get around to it," he teased back.

Rain finished swallowing the pills and the Doctor helped her lie back down. She grimaced when her head hit the pillow.

"You need to put foam rubber on those rails," she said to him.

He chuckled.

"After today, I think I will."

Rain glanced at Madison.

"Wow, you're getting quite a lot of excitement out of going to a resort planet, huh?"

"I know, I was going there to recover and all of a sudden I've been kidnapped along with everyone else," she replied.

"Well, I told her that she and Grace are to go hide if they find a way to break in here which might be a possibility if they have a temporal clamp. And that goes for you; I don't want you out there trying to defend me."

"Are you kidding? My head feels like 200 drummers are holding a jam session right now. I can barely sit up."

"Good, well if they do find a way in, I'm gonna have everyone come in here and have the TARDIS seal it off while me and Alan and Jack hold them off. Hopefully, that won't happen but it doesn't hurt to have a contingency plan."

He kissed her forehead.

"Now get some rest and Madison, come with me. Both of us need to rest as well just in case all hell does break loose in the morning."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning the Doctor woke everyone and had all the women gather in the med bay. Jenny took the dogs inside and both of them hopped up on the bed with Rain and lay with her while she petted them. Once they were all inside, the three men stood at the door.

"It's nearly 0800 so we're putting you lot in here just in case. And we're sealing it up as well. I know you wanna be out there with us but we want you in here where it's safe. We can handle them, trust us. In the meantime, just relax in here and we'll let you know when it's safe to come out."

They smiled and stepped away from the door. The women sighed when the doorway was sealed up.

"I just know it, they're gonna get their little asses in trouble and we're eventually gonna have to go out there and help em," Awinita said.

"Well, just in case something happens, I think we should come up with a plan of our own," Mingxia said.

The women nodded and all of them moved closer to Rain while they quietly talked amongst themselves.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The three men stood around the console staring at the front door. The Doctor checked his watch.

"0801, it's past the deadline," he said.

"Well, where's the welcome wagon then?" Jack asked.

"Oh, I'm sure the asswipes will be rearing their ugly little heads soon enough," Alan said.

"Actually, I'm kinda hoping we get captured or at least get an audience with Tubby so we can find out how he laid his grubby little fingers on a temporal clamp. I still think he's in league with others on Mordos."

There was a knock on the door.

"We're in the bath, come back later!" Alan yelled.

"King Jasper requests your presence at his banquet table!" a guard yelled.

"King Jasper can take his banquet and ram it somewhere where the sun don't shine!" Alan yelled back.

"No thanks, we're not in the mood for drugged or poisoned food," Jack yelled.

"Open the door this instant and come peacefully or we'll come in there!"

"I wouldn't if I were you. You don't wanna mess with a Time Lord and his TARDIS," the Doctor said.

"This is your last warning! Open up now!"

"And this is your last warning, take the temporal clamp off my ship and let us leave or face the consequences!" the Doctor yelled.

There was a pause and then someone tried to open the door. The Doctor grinned when he heard the guard let out a stream of curses. Then he heard a click and he tensed himself.

"I knew it, they have a way to open deadlock seals and there's only a handful of civilizations who are capable of that."

"Daleks?" Jack said.

"That's one of em. There are a few others though. But brace yourselves, Brothers; the welcome wagon is coming inside."

There was a short pause and they saw the door lock click down. All three men came around the console and tensed their muscles. The door flew open and several guards ran inside. The three men let out a yell of rage and barreled at them. All three of them began hitting and knocking the guards out. The Doctor and Alan used their Venusian aikido on them while Jack decked anybody who came within range of his fists. More guards streamed in while they fought.

"TARDIS, seal the back door!" the Doctor screamed out.

The back door disappeared and the three men fought back the wave of men that were coming through the door. Then one man came in with a stun gun. The Doctor saw him aim it at the back of Alan's head.

"Alan, behind you!" he screamed at him.

Alan spun around but it was too late, the man shot a stun beam at his head. Alan stood for a moment, his body vibrating while the beam short circuited his mind and then he fell to the floor, unconscious.

"No!" the Doctor screamed.

He karate chopped a guard in front of him trying to reach the one with the stun gun. The guards pressed in around him and the man aimed at his head and fired. The Doctor's body jerked for a moment and he dropped to the ground beside Alan. Jack let out an enraged yell and began punching furiously. The guard leveled the gun at him.

"Stop or you'll join the other two!" he yelled at him.

Jack, deciding that it was best to stay conscious, stopped fighting and held his hands up in the air.

"Just take us, please!" he begged.

The guard snorted.

"Search the TARDIS for the Time Ladies!" he said to the guards who were still on their feet.

Two guards pulled Jack's arms down and behind them and secured the wrists with a circular force field.

"You'll never get into the back area," Jack said to them.

"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure, Time Lord," the guard with the gun said, smirking.

He pulled a circular metal device out of his pocket and walked to the back wall. Jack watched while he put it on the wall and punched a code in on the tiny keypad on it. Jack's eyes widened when the door reappeared.

"We now have complete control of this TARDIS. Any doors that have been sealed off have been reopened and with the help of sensors that pick up artron energy, we'll soon find the females. You see, Time Lord, you're not the first TARDIS that King Jasper has penetrated."

"What do you mean? What do you want with us?" Jack said.

"You'll find out in time, Time Lord. For the moment though, I believe you and your fellow Gallifreyans will be taken to the dungeon. Since you refused the request to eat with his Highness, you will get no meal. Take them away and tag them."

Jack fought against his captors while four other guards lifted up the Doctor and Alan and carried them out. While they were doing that, two guards tended to their unconscious friends. Jack turned his head and his heart sank when he noticed five guards were going through the back door in search of the others.


	94. Chapter 94

Chapter Ninety Four

The ladies all sat around the bed discussing strategies. Both Martha and Mingxia had been with UNIT and Jenny had her soldier training so they were the ones who were trying to come up with battle strategies. They knew something was wrong the moment they felt Alan's mind wink out.

"Damn it, I knew they were gonna get in over their heads," Awinita said.

"What's wrong?" Grace asked.

"Alan's down. We can't feel him anymore. I hope to God it means he's just unconscious and he's not…"

They gasped when the Doctor's mind winked out.

"And now the Doctor's down too," Awinita said.

"This is it, girls. We might have to fight," Rose said to them.

"Well, at least Jack is still conscious," Mingxia said.

"Well, for the moment the door is sealed off so if they look they won't find us," Donna said.

The moment the words left her mouth, the door suddenly appeared. They stared at it in shock.

"Okay, what the hell just happened," Awinita said. "Is it safe to come out now?"

They heard unfamiliar voices in the distance.

"I don't think so," Rain said.

"Well, why the hell did the door come back?" Donna said. "TARDIS, seal the door up."

Nothing happened.

"TARDIS, close the door," Rose said.

_I can't, my beloveds, the men have used a device to enslave me. I can't do anything_, the TARDIS thought to them.

"Oh crap," Mingxia said.

"What's wrong?" Madison said.

"They've done something to the TARDIS and took control of it," Mingxia said. "She can't seal up the door. She can't do anything now. She's helpless."

They heard the voices coming closer and Blizzard and Rory growled deep in their throats while they lay with Rain. She groaned while she sat up.

"No, Rain, stay there," Rose said, putting a hand on her arm.

"Rose, they're coming. I might as well get up and fight. Besides, we need to put the dogs in the storage closet over here. I'm not gonna let them hurt them. They're just puppies."

Rose nodded. She and Jenny scooped up the dogs, ran over to the storage closet on the side wall and put them inside.

"Stay!" Rose said to them.

Both dogs sat down and stared up at her. She looked at Madison.

"Madison, you wanna come in here with them?"

"No, I'm gonna help you guys. I'm in this just as deep as you are and I'm not gonna cower in a closet while you're in danger."

Rose nodded and closed the door on the dogs. The women helped Rain to her feet and once she got her balance back, all of them went over to the door and pressed themselves up against the wall on either side of it. They watched the door and listened while they heard the men coming closer to them. Jenny and Mingxia were on either side of the door and they stiffened their muscles when they heard them coming down the hall.

"I'm getting a reading, the women are in there," they heard one of them say.

There was a pause.

"Time Ladies, surrender yourselves! We're just outside the room you're hiding in and reinforcements are on the way. Give yourselves up and no harm will come to you."

Jenny shook her head and put her finger to her lips. Rory and Blizzard began to bark and growl and scratch at the door. While they stood there, Rain noticed a metal stool beside her. She picked it up and held it in front of her. Rose noticed and nodded.

_You need the extra protection, Sis, after the blow to the head,_ she thought to her.

The other members of the family heard her and looked over. Donna saw another stool a few feet away from her. She grabbed it and gave it to Madison.

"This is your final warning, Time Ladies, surrender!" the guard yelled.

Awinita glanced over at the counter. She had helped the Doctor in the med bay before and knew where a lot of his equipment was. She quickly ran over, quietly opened a drawer and pulled a scalpel out. She silently shut the door and ran back over to stand with the other women.

"Very well, we're coming inside!" the guard yelled.

By now the dogs were frantic, barking and scratching on the door. The women braced themselves and flattened up against the wall. They let most of the guards get inside the room before they all fell on them, punching and kicking and hitting them with the stools. One guard turned and Awinita sliced his cheek with the scalpel before kicking him in the face.

"That's what you get for invading our home, bozo!" he said to him while he fell.

All five men were subdued within seconds.

"Come on, girls, he said more were coming," Rose said to them. "We need to get further back into the TARDIS, somewhere more secure."

Mingxia and Donna ran to the closet door and opened it.

"Heel!" Mingxia said when the growling dogs immediately went for the fallen guards.

The dogs followed them while they ran out of the room and down the hall. They could hear more yelling behind them and they guessed there were probably at least ten guards if not more following them. All of them ran towards the park room hoping they could hide themselves in the large room. Suddenly, a wall was thrown up in front of them, blocking the corridor.

"What the hell is this?" Donna said.

"It's the TARDIS, they're controlling her," Rose said. "Back the other way, hurry!"

They turned around but the guards were already rounding the corner towards them. All the ladies screamed and charged towards them while Donna commanded the dogs to stay put. Rain looked at the stool in her hand and flung it at the guard in front. It smacked into his head and he fell to the floor, stunned. The other guards behind him tripped over him and each other in a domino effect. The women ran to them while the dogs followed and began to pummel them while the dogs bit at their arms and legs, knocking them all out except for one guard at the back who leapt up and began to run away. Jenny leapt over the pile of bodies in front of her and took off after him. She did the same maneuver she did when she went through the circuits on Messaline, quickly catching up to him and then with a grunt, she flipped up and over him, landed in front of the stunned guard and punched him hard in the face, making him reel back. She shoved him up against the wall while the other women ran up and disarmed him.

"Where's my father and uncles?" Jenny snarled at him. "Tell us before I snap your bloody neck!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor groaned and opened his eyes.

"Alan, Jack?" he mumbled while he struggled to regain consciousness.

"I'm here," Jack said.

He looked around and noticed they were all naked while they sat together in a dank, moldy prison cell. Alan was still unconscious and the Doctor quickly moved to him, he checked his pulse and breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the double beats. He looked at Jack and noticed he had a small, thin plastic tag hanging from his left earlobe. It had a number on it. He felt his ear and Jack nodded.

"We all have it. It's been punched through our earlobe. I guess Jasper wanted us to have earrings," he said, dryly. "Don't ask me what it's for, they didn't tell me. They haven't told me anything. They just did that and dumped us in here. I'm guessing we'll find out in time though. I'm sure Jasper will gloat about it before we die."

"Yes, given the fact Brother and I had to grovel before him last night," the Doctor said.

_Doctor? Are you alright?_ Rose thought to him.

_Yes, I'm alright, Jack and Alan are too. We're in the dungeon though with ear tags in our earlobes,_ he thought back. _Are you lot okay?_

_Oh yeah, we just took out fifteen guards together,_ Rose thought smugly.

The Doctor glanced at Jack who had a big grin on his face.

"That'll teach them to home invade," Jack said.

_Doctor, we kept one guard conscious and he's told us what he wants to do with us. Do you lot know what Jasper's plans are?_

_No, I just woke up and Jack's been told nothing. We all have ear tags in our ears though._

_Alan, is he…_

_He's still unconscious but he's fine,_ the Doctor thought. _What are their plans?_

_Um, you know Alan was talking about that black market on Mordos?_

_Yes._

_Well, you're about to go there and be sold at auction. Us as well. Apparently there's a huge demand for Time Lord and Lady body parts, according to this guard. Especially the pituitary and adrenal glands. Some cultures use them as aphrodisiacs. _

Jack was stunned.

_The Time Lord heads are stuffed and sold as trophies and the hearts are ground into powder and mixed with herbs and sold as an elixir that cures a dozen different illnesses. Apparently, the king and queen have been doing this for years and his ancestors as well. His family kidnapped Time Lords and Ladies and sold them on the black market where they were slaughtered like cattle and cannibalized for body parts. _

_That would explain why he has temporal clamps and the means to enter TARDISes_, the Doctor thought back. _It would also explain why he was so interested in us last night and interested in our family._

_There's more though, Love, _Rain thought_. It wouldn't have mattered if just the men had surrendered because according to this guy, Time Ladies are just as valuable. The uterus of a Time Lady is supposed to slow down aging or something and it fetches thousands of credits on the black market. But since we're the last of our kind, ours would be worth millions now. But he apparently doesn't know everything about our kind because the guard said the king was talking about keeping a pair of us for breeding purposes._

The Doctor snorted.

_Good luck with that little venture, _he thought._ So after everything you've told us, I'm assuming the ear tags are to identify us during the slave auction when we get to Mordos. _

_I think so, yeah, _Rose thought.

The Doctor glanced at Jack.

"That is just sick beyond belief," Jack said to him.

"Well, you lot on Earth put a lot of stock in rhino horn so I guess it's not a stretch to imagine that someone would think Time Lord body parts had magical powers."

They looked down when Alan groaned and slowly opened his eyes.

"How was the banquet?" he muttered when he saw the Doctor. "Was the toast soggy?"

_Alan? Oh God, Love, are you alright?_ Rose thought to him.

"I see the wife is alive and kickin'" Alan muttered to the Doctor.

_Yes, Starlight, I'm here. I have a headache the size of Russia but I'm here,_ he thought to her.

"While you were unconscious, we learned from the ladies why they're so eager to keep us here," the Doctor said.

"Yeah? Why?"

The Doctor explained it to him.

"Sorry," Alan said when he finished. "I value my body parts. I'm not about to have my baloney pony pounded into dust and made into tea by some toff who thinks he'll get a bigger boner from it."

He shook his head.

"Interesting that they want a Time Lady's uterus since that part of the anatomy is useless," Alan said, slowly sitting up. "Well, they're not getting my wife's uterus or lower intestine or butt hole or whatever else fetches credits. I like her intact and alive."

He felt his ear and ran his finger down the tag.

"I'm gonna have a few words with Blobbybutt about them putting this in my ear," he said to them. "Bad enough I have a tattoo without getting my ear pierced on top of it."

He tried to take it out but the plastic backing wouldn't come off and Alan winced when his pulling on his lobe hurt him. He cursed and brought his knees up to his chest. He looked down at his naked body.

"Um, why are we without kit?" he said to the Doctor. "We're they inspecting the merchandise?"

"Nope, they just stripped us and put us in here," Jack said.

"So you were awake during all this?" Alan said.

"The Doctor got knocked out after you and they were threatening to do the same to me so I figured it might be better if I didn't join you guys."

"What about our family?" Alan asked. "Are they alright?"

"I spoke to Rose and she informed me that all of them together knocked out fifteen guards that came into the TARDIS," the Doctor said.

Alan grinned.

_Really?_ He thought to the women. _All of you took out fifteen guards?_

_Yup, we did, Bro,_ Awinita said. _All of us, including Madison._

All three men's eyes widened.

"Hey, Madison's becoming another little alien fighter," Alan said to them.

_We disabled this control thing they used to make the TARDIS obey them,_ Awinita thought. _After that, we took everyone to the holding cells and that's where they are right now._

_I'm proud of you lot,_ the Doctor said. _All of you, tell Grace, Martha and Madison that._

_We will, Bro. Do you want us to look for you?_

_No, stay there. We'll find a way to escape, _the Doctor thought. _Just keep an eye on things and we'll be with you present…_

He paused when he heard men's voices just outside the cell.

_Gotta go, I think they're coming to get us. Just stay put and we'll be back in a trice,_ he thought to them. _Just hide yourselves in case more guards come into the TARDIS._

He was hoping for a response back from them but he never got it because as soon as the guards came up to the cell door, they fired stun beams at all three of their heads.


	95. Chapter 95

Chapter Ninety Five

The Time Ladies sighed when they felt the Doctor and Alan's minds wink out again.

"Right, that settles it. We're not staying in here while they're in danger," Rose said to them. "I love that he's protective of us and wants us to be safe but the Doctor's gonna have to realize that there's more than himself now and we're more than capable of taking care of ourselves. I'd rather do something and risk his wrath than just sit back and let our men be hacked to pieces and sold at auction. Making us sit in the TARDIS is what got them into trouble in the first place. You lot can stay in here if you want but I'm going to get our men."

"I'm going with you," Donna said.

Everyone agreed with that and Rose smiled.

"We just demonstrated that we can be a team and work together so let's do it again and get our men back here in the TARDIS where they belong. But we better get the dogs in the park room before we go."

They nodded and scooped the dogs up. The TARDIS erased the wall blocking the corridor and they went on.

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The men gasped when they smelled smelling salts that someone had put under their noses. All three of them opened their eyes and noticed they were lying in the front of the dais while Jasper sat on the throne watching with an amused grin. Behind them several guards stood with their pikes in a vertical position.

"Welcome, Time Lords," Jasper said while they struggled to get up. "I believe I told you to join me for a banquet several hours ago. It was very rude of you to decline."

They started to get to their feet but three of the guards stuck the blades of their pikes in the back of their necks and they fell to their knees.

"Now, prostrate yourselves like you did last night," Jasper said sweetly.

He looked at Jack.

"Oh, a thousand apologies, you weren't here last night. Well, you see, you must pay me respect and the way you do that is by bending over and putting your forehead to my floor. It amuses me to see the great and mighty Time Lords debased after they went around the universe lording their magnificence over one and all. And…I see that for great and mighty Time Lords, you don't have very large manhoods, do you?"

_Aha, now we learn why we're starkers_, Alan thought to them.

"So prostrate yourselves in reverence to me, Time Lords and then I shall tell you my plans for you."

"You're gonna sell us at auction on Mordos and people will carve us up and take our body parts and turn them into useless remedies," the Doctor said.

Jasper was shocked.

"How do you know that?"

"My incredible Time Lord powers of deduction. This old noddle isn't just for show, you know," he said, pointing to his head. "So let's skip the phony reverence, how many of our people have you killed over the years?"

"Years, dear Doctor? I and my ancestors have been hunting and harvesting your kind for centuries. We've captured thousands of your kind and sold them for profit. Perhaps if you weren't so busy flying all over time and space you would have noticed that."

He smirked.

"Yes, I do know who you are, Doctor. I know the legends but unlike a lot of people, I don't view you as a champion of the weak and protector of the defenseless, I view you as a threat and a menace and trust me, I've hoped and dreamed along with my father that one day we would be able to auction you off. I was upset when I heard that Gallifrey was destroyed since not only was a source of steady income eliminated but I also lost the chance to acquire you….or so I thought until last night. Imagine our surprise when you show up in our throne room offering to find our daughter."

"Where is your daughter?" the Doctor said.

Jasper snickered.

"You are in danger of being sold into enslavement and torn apart for your innards and you still worry about my daughter? Very well, last I heard she was still alive. She's a concubine for a couple of my buyers on Mordos. You see, she, unlike the rest of my family, disagrees with my selling people on the black market. She lacks vision, you see, as well as financial acumen and unfortunately she was going to go behind my back and try to dethrone me with some of her friends but I found out her little plot and killed her friends and sold her into slavery and now she's a whore, a little plaything that caters to my buyer's every desire."

He smirked when he saw the fire in the Doctor's eyes.

"The legends are true. You put everyone else above yourself and care for strangers you have never met. You are not like your high and mighty brethren, which poses a problem since you and your family members are a threat to me and my friends on Mordos. Unlike the other Time Lords, you and your family have fought back. You know, your people were so easy to catch. It's that complacent nature. Most of them were docile like sheep and I had no trouble with them. It was even easier to break their will. Of course women were highly prized and children even more so. Oh yes, I and my associates caught many young children and sold them at auction.

The Doctor started to get up but the guard behind him put his blade in his back and he fell back to his knees. Jasper chuckled at the anguished expression on his face.

"Oh come now, Doctor, what's one Gallifreyan child or ten or a hundred? After all, everyone except you was sitting around on their asses doing nothing at all. I gave them purpose in life. Because of their sacrifice, clients are living longer and having fuller, richer sex lives. Doesn't that please you?"

"I'll see you suffer for this, I swear I will!" the Doctor snarled at him.

Jasper chuckled again.

"Guards, bring in my trophy and show these Time Lords "My Little Darling"," he said.

Two of the guards bowed and left the room.

"What do you mean?" the Doctor said.

"I want to show you My Little Darling as I call her," Jasper said, shrugging. "While they're doing that, I want to ask you about the women of your group. Your family, yes? The Time Ladies who travel with you. I will make you an offer, Doctor. I only want their uteruses. Let me extract them since it's a non fatal operation and I'll let them live and go free, how about it?"

"I'd rather die," the Doctor growled.

"You would? Well good, because I want you to die. Glad we're in agreement on something then," he said.

He looked over their shoulders.

"Ah, here is My Little Darling," he said, pointing.

All three men turned and their hearts nearly stopped. The men were wheeling in a Plexiglas box and inside was the pickled corpse of a small naked child. She was three years old and her brown hair jutted out from her face in all directions while she floated in a liquid preservative. The Doctor swallowed hard guessing the child's species and he fought to keep himself under control.

"You bastard," Alan snarled softly.

The Doctor could only stare at the floating corpse in stunned silence. His throat went dry as he imagined the child being alive and innocent. He guessed by the age she was probably in the nursery when she was taken. The child's eyes were shut and the body was so well preserved she looked like she was sleeping.

"Isn't she beautiful? A credit to your species, I think. I kept her as a curiosity. I was considering doing the same to you but you're far too valuable. The Doctor, the legendary Time Lord, will bring me millions of credits on the auction block. People will be falling all over themselves just to have you.

The Doctor was still staring at the child in shock but he jerked his head around when he heard Alan snarl a curse at him and saw Jasper had seized his face.

"This one though, your brother, he looks just like you. Perhaps I'll preserve him and pretend he's you since you look exactly alike. Then again, two "Doctors" on the auction block, perhaps a week apart, so no one will know it's your brother? I'll be rich beyond my wildest imagination."

He noticed the Stitch tattoo on Alan's arm and tsked.

"Wait, you have a flaw that people would notice. Maybe I should mummify you after all," he said.

Jack started to get up to attack him and grimaced when the guard behind him jabbed him with his blade. Jasper chuckled at him while Jack glared at him silently. He looked at the guards.

"That'll be all, take My Little Darling away," he said to them.

The Doctor and Alan's eyes were both coal black as anger clouded their minds. Jasper regarded them both coolly. His eyes went down to their hands. He saw the wedding bands on their fingers and Alan's birthstone ring. He eyed them with interest.

"I don't know what the ring with the jewels represents but I do know the other rings. They are the kind that is given in wedding ceremonies, yes? So you both are married."

He bent down until he was eye level with the Doctor.

"And is your wife among the Time Ladies?" he said.

The Doctor glared at him silently. He smirked.

"She is, isn't she? Your beloved is in that TARDIS hiding, isn't she? Hmm, interesting, perhaps I should auction you as a pair then. The wife of the Doctor must be worth something."

The Doctor's eyes narrowed which made his smirk widen.

"She is there, I can tell by your expression. Is his there too? Are both your wives cowering in terror along with the rest of your women? You call them family. What are the others in relation to you? Sisters, daughters, second and third wives? Is that what you did? Gather up your family and flee Gallifrey while you let millions burn to death?"

The Doctor's patience was at an end. Snarling, he started to leap up towards Jasper. But he seized hold of his ear tag and violently jerked on it sending pain rocketing through the Doctor's body. Alan and Jack started to get up but he mentally commanded them to stay put. He flinched figuring Rain probably felt that and was worrying about him now. He only hoped she and the others would stay put inside the TARDIS, although he knew at the moment his ship didn't offer them much protection. The odd thing was usually his wife would have been distraught and calling out to him in his mind, or at the very least upset, but all of the women were calm. The calmness filled him with fear but he kept a poker face, determined not to let Jasper know he was frightened for them.

_Um, anyone else think it bizarre that no one reacted to Brother's painful ear pull?_ Alan thought.

_I was thinking that as well,_ the Doctor thought to him._ I hope they're alright._

"Why so silent, Doctor?" Jasper said. "Thinking of your precious wife on the auction block or perhaps in someone's bed servicing them? I'm curious now to see what she looks like, what both of them look like. I'm sure your mate has to be a princess or some kind of royalty as befits the great and glorious Doctor."

The Doctor couldn't hold back the eye roll. He grunted when Jasper seized his face.

"Don't roll your eyes at me, you pompous sack of body parts. I can have someone fetch a scalpel and divvy you up right here in front of the others and then when I'm done harvesting this body; I'll wait for the next regeneration and harvest that and so on and so on. Because that was the other great thing about Time Lords and Ladies, they regenerate and you start all over again. They're the gift that keeps on giving. The children were especially lucrative, twelve regenerations and thirteen lives worth of body parts so you can imagine how upset the Faustian Royal Family was when Gallifrey burned to a crisp and turned all those precious Gallifreyans into ash."

Alan let out a mirthless laugh which caused Jasper to glare at him.

"Find something funny, Doctor Reject?" he snarled.

"Just realized the irony of the situation is all."

"What irony?"

Alan leaned in and looked him right in the eye.

"Tell me, your Highness, have you ever heard of the Earth story of Faust?"

Jasper was intrigued.

"No, I had no idea there was a story on Earth that featured my family's name. What's it about?"

Jasper glared at the Doctor and Jack when they chuckled after realizing what Alan was on about. Alan gave him a smug grin.

"Faust is about a man who sells his soul to the devil in return for power and riches beyond his wildest dreams. Which is exactly what you and your family and ancestors have done, eh? Sold your souls and corrupted your natures and killed countless innocents for power and riches? The interesting thing is Faust thought he got the sweet end of the bargain but at the end of the story, it was all just an illusion and the devil got Faust's soul while he got nothing but eternal damnation. Cheery little tale, doncha think? How many more lives will be ruined because of this devil's deal you've made, Faust? How many more will have to die before you realize that all you've done is corrupted yourself and your kingdom. You might have been able to get rid of Terina but how many more are waiting in the wings to take her place? How long before all the riches and power are snatched away from you and you're left with nothing but your personal damnation?"

_Damn, Brother, you're good,_ the Doctor thought.

_Yup, I have my moments,_ he thought back.

Alan leaned forward and stared at Jasper intently.

"By the way, I and my brothers and family are the last of the Time Lords so I'd think very, very carefully before you sell us off for parts because once we're gone, that's it and then where will you get your credits from?"

"I will breed two of you. I will breed the Doctor and his mate," Jasper said to him.

"We're sterile, mate. You never hear of the curse of the Time Lords? Or were you too busy snatching children to learn our history and culture?" Alan said to him.

Jasper looked at the Doctor.

"It's true. Find yourself a good Gallifreyan encyclopedia and look up Curse of the Pythia," the Doctor said. "You can't mate me with my wife. It won't work. Why people would want our female's sterile uteruses is beyond me, frankly."

"Then there must have been other ways for you to breed. You did breed, didn't you?"

"Yeeeees. And noooooo, I'm not telling you how. I couldn't reproduce our method of breeding anyway so you might as well turn my gallbladder into a keychain because I'm not going to be your brood mare."

He smirked at Jasper's anger.

"And yes, I'm aware I'm being a pompous arse. Sorry, I can't help it. It's what my kind do. Just lay around on the settee all day long being pompous and lazy. Pomposity is second nature to me. Speaking of nature, it's calling to me, can I use the loo? And could I get a blanket? My bits are frozen now from sitting on my knees listening to you taunt me. And get one for my brothers as well because I'm sure their wedding tackle is threatening to retreat up into their bodies, eh mates?"

"Abso-bloody-lutely," Alan said. "How dare you treat us this way? We're your guests not your doggies. Speaking of, have you got a nice big garden for our mutts to run around in? We like the dogs to have a bit of exercise while we're being drawn and quartered. We usually try to multitask like that. Do the ironing while we cook the porridge. Leaves more time for fun things like sitting around being pompous towards the lower species. Yup, pompous and anal, that's us. Nothing better than to travel around time and space while we point and laugh at the lesser ones. I love landing in the TARDIS, going up to a small child and telling him he's a wanker and then letting out a hearty laugh while he cries. I get my jollies from that all the time. Then when I'm done laughing at em, I pickle them in formaldehyde and display them in the living room right beside the telly. It's an ice breaker at parties. People point to it and say, "Oi, what's with the mummified corpse child?" and I say, "Weeeeell" and then I ramble on about the petrified child that I called a wanker and laughed at and I rabbit on and on and on while I drink Mad Dog 20/20 and get totally soused and end up with a lampshade on my head teetering around the room while I sing Oops, I Did It Again loudly and off-key. I'm a hit at every party I go to. Do you go to parties?"

The Doctor and Jack were trying not to laugh and they were barely succeeding. Alan gave Jasper a smug grin when he saw how red his face was.

_I have to admit, Brother, you're an even better rambler than I am,_ the Doctor thought to him.

_Well, I learned from the best,_ Alan thought back.

Jasper leaned back up.

"Guards, get these idiots out of my sight! Take them down to the dungeon and keep them there while we find the women. Then once they are together, all of them will be heading straight for the auction block on Mordos."

"Oh good, do they have loos there because nature's still callin'," the Doctor said.

All three were jerked to their feet and rushed out of the room while Jasper tried to calm himself down and regain his composure.


	96. Chapter 96

Chapter Ninety Six

Rose jerked her head back when she saw the Doctor, Alan and Jack being herded out of the throne room followed by five guards. She motioned to the others and they quickly ran into a room beside them when she noticed they were coming their way. All of them managed to get inside the room moments before the guards turned the corner. Rose kept the door opened a crack and watched while they walked past. Once they turned the corner several feet away, she opened the door and all of the slowly followed them.

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The three men let out grunts when the guards shoved them to the floor of their cell.

"Maybe you'll think twice about your flippant tongues when you're on the auction block on Mordos," one of them said.

They started to shut the door when they all jerked their heads and stared off to their right in shock. A moment later, the Doctor, Alan and Jack watched while their family and friends ran up to the five guards and quickly knocked them out.

"I know what you're gonna say," Rose said when they came into the cell. "Save your breath about risking our lives, you obviously needed our help so here we are."

She knelt down next to Alan, Martha ran to Jack and Rain and Grace knelt down next to the Doctor.

"Oh God," Rain said, looking at the ear tag. "It looks like the tag they put in cow's ears."

"Yeah, I finally have an earring now, Latara," he quipped.

Grace looked at it.

"We're gonna have to treat your ears when we get these tags off because I have a feeling all of your ears might become infected if we don't."

"Nah, there's no need. I have a tissue regenerator that can heal wounds. We'll use it on our ears and they'll be as good as new."

He sighed while he looked at the unconscious guards.

"Well, I suppose as long as you're here and willing to fight we should get these guards in here and go confront Jasper. There's something I need to get from him before we go on to Mordos."

"We're going there then?" Donna asked.

He nodded.

"Terina is alive and being used as a sex slave. I need to find out where she is so we can go and free her. Once we're done with Jasper and Leticia, there'll be a power vacuum since they're the only royals I've seen. She's the rightful heir to the throne and she opposed the sale of body parts on the black market which makes her a worthy candidate in my eyes. But we have to hurry before someone figures out what's happened here."

"And you need to find your clothes too," Awinita said.

"Yes, please," Donna muttered.

She glanced at Alan.

"Why do I always end up seeing you naked?" she asked.

"Just your luck, Te'lesu," he said.

He winked at her when she groaned and shielded her eyes from his private parts.

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The Doctor and Alan rushed the two guards guarding the throne room and knocked them out before they could cry out. Everyone quickly carried them back to the room the women had hidden in earlier and the Doctor locked the door with his screwdriver. Once that was done, they went back to the throne room. They peeked inside and noticed no one was inside. They all went inside and shut the door behind them.

"If we hide behind the dais we can ambush them when they come back in," the Doctor said. "Besides I want that bastard to tell me what he did with "My Little Darling."

The women frowned.

"My Little Darling?" Rain said.

He sighed and told them what Jasper had told them. All of the women were horrified beyond belief. When he finished, he looked at the women.

"The point where I said he tugged on my ear, you didn't feel that?" he asked.

"We felt it but we kept calm because we were trying to keep you lot from worrying about us," Rose said. "But it took a lot of effort."

"And yet, you managed to keep calm. I'm impressed. You lot are learning more self control every day," he said proudly.

He sobered up.

"But I want that little girl back so we can give her a proper cremation. I won't have one of our people spend eternity floating naked in a Perspex box for someone else's amusement."

They heard someone coming and all of them quickly ran behind the dais and knelt down. The Doctor hazarded a glance over the top of it and saw Leticia coming into the room alone.

_It's Queenie_, he thought to his family. _And no guards as far as I can tell. Now's the time to grab her. I want some answers and we're gonna make her talk. So on my signal, all of us leap up and grab her._

His family nodded and whispered the instructions to the others. They knelt there, waiting and watching while Leticia moved up to the dais. She was about to sit down when the Doctor telepathically gave the signal and Rose nodded to the others. Everyone leapt up from behind surprising the queen. Jack threw his hands over her mouth while the Doctor got in her face.

"Scream and you'll be sorry," the Doctor snarled softly at her.

They took her behind the dais and made her kneel down.

"Sorry we're not bowing and licking the ground before addressing you. I've really dropped a clanger, haven't I?" the Doctor said, sarcastically.

Jack took his hand away from Leticia's mouth.

"You won't get away with this," she said.

Her eyes widened when the Doctor leaned into her face, his eyes dark and menacing.

"No, you won't get away with this. I have half a mind to snap your neck for what you and your husband have done to our people."

"I…I had to go along with it. I would have been killed if I didn't," she protested.

The Doctor sighed angrily.

"I get so tired of that weak little excuse," the Doctor said. "It's the oldest one in the book. I was just following orders, is that it? That's the reason why a lot of atrocities get committed because people are too afraid to stand up for what's right. You saw what was going on but unlike your daughter you chose to stay silent which makes you just as guilty as your husband."

"And you're the judge, jury and executioner of the whole universe?" Leticia said. "I know the legends about you. You land somewhere and impose your morals on the people there."

She gasped when he grabbed her dress and leaned into her face.

"I haven't seen any evidence of morals yet so I might as well impose some because I have a feeling my people weren't the only one to suffer under your barbarism. In fact I'm sure of it if your daughter managed to scrape together a small rebellion. What you and Jasper are doing is horrific. You kidnapped innocent people and sold them into slavery so people could rip them apart and sell their body parts. You are a soulless beast in my eyes and you deserve the same fate as my people. But killing you would lower me to your level so I won't do that. But I will take you and your husband to the roughest prison planet I can think of. The kind of prison planet where they make you do hard labor. Perhaps while you're breaking rocks you'll have time to reflect on your crimes and why you didn't stand up and speak out against the atrocities you saw. Now before I send you there, I want a few answers, namely where is your daughter so I can go rescue her and where is that Gallifreyan child so I can give her the proper funeral and cremation that she deserves and what is the code for that bloody temporal clamp because I want it off my TARDIS this instant! And you'd better comply and answer all my questions because I can take you to the most horrific prison planet in the universe and leave you there without any problem, trust me."

Leticia looked into his eyes and swallowed hard when she saw his hard, cold expression. There was no doubt in her mind that he would make good on his threats and she slowly nodded.

"Alright, I'll tell you what you want to know."

"Brilliant."

He leaned in closer.

"But I'm warning you, no tricks or else…"

His eyes bored into hers for a moment before he leaned back and nodded to his family. They stood up and she stood with them.

"Firstly, where's the child?" the Doctor snarled at her.

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Blizzard and Rory lay side by side on the jump seat, sleeping. They had passed by the holding cells and growled menacingly at the guards and tried to get to them but the TARDIS shooed them both away. After using the bathroom in the park room, they decided to wait for their masters and mistresses in the console room and keep watch in case any more strangers came to harm them.

While they were sleeping, they heard someone at the door and their ears perked up. They lifted their heads and wagged their tails but then they heard strange voices as the TARDIS doors unlocked and both of them jumped down to the floor, growling. The doors opened and their growling grew louder and they bared their teeth when three guards stepped inside and froze in shock. Both man and dog stood still for a few seconds staring at each other and then the dogs leapt into action barking furiously while they went for the intruder's legs. The men yelled and turned tail running back out the door as fast as they could. The TARDIS rumbled out a laugh while she threw up a force field over the door. The dogs pawed at it, barking and whining, wanting nothing more than to go after the intruders and strip the flesh off their legs. The TARDIS soothed and calmed them and the dogs whined a moment searching the storage room for any sign of their masters and mistresses before they finally turned and headed back to the jump seat.

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"Oh my God," Rose said when they walked into the storage room the houses the remains of the child.

All of the women's stomachs turned as they came forward and looked at it.

"Oh God, you sick bastards," Madison said, shaking her head. "How could you. She's just a baby."

The Doctor and Alan shared a look when the women all turned as one and gave Leticia looks of death.

"You made a mistake now, mate," Alan said to Leticia. "You don't mess with a woman's motherly instincts."

"I agree, I was afraid to do anything is no excuse for this," Mingxia said angrily while she pointed to the child. "You think you're so much better than the Doctor but you're lower than pond scum and I hope they do dump your ass off on a prison planet and make you do hard labor for the rest of your pathetic life."

All three men hid their smiles at that.

_Gee, are we gonna have to protect her from the women now before they rip her apart?_ Alan thought.

The Doctor stepped between the women and Leticia.

"Let's draw and quarter her later, yeah? Right now, we need to wheel this box to the TARDIS and get it safely onboard so we can clean it and get it ready for cremation later."

He turned to Leticia.

"You're coming with us. You're gonna give me the code so I can remove the temporal clamp and then you're gonna be our "guest" and rest in a nice holding cell along with your toadies and there you'll stay until we take you to a prison planet of my choosing."

She started to open her mouth to scream but she quickly closed it when the Doctor got in her face and bared his teeth.

"Do it and die," he snarled at her.

She stared at him meekly and he snorted.

"Coward," he muttered under his breath.

He nodded to Alan and Jack. They grabbed her arms and all of them escorted her out of the room while the women pushed the box.


	97. Chapter 97

Chapter Ninety Seven

The Doctor managed to keep Leticia quiet all the way to the storage room. There were a few guards along the way but they were quickly knocked out and Jack and Alan slung them over their shoulders so they would join the others in the holding cells. They opened the door to the storage room and noticed the doors were wide open.

"If any of your goons are in there tearing apart my ship, I'll have your guts for garters," the Doctor growled at Leticia.

The dogs saw them approach, leapt off the jump seat and ran to them. They pawed the force field over the door whining to be let out.

"Just a minute, mutty mutts, we'll be in there in a couple of tics," Alan said to them.

The Doctor directed Alan and Jack to bring Leticia over to the temporal clamp.

"Code!" the Doctor barked at her.

Leticia swallowed hard.

"967549872," she said.

The Doctor imputed it and stepped back when the clamp fell to the floor. He snatched it up and nodded to his family and friends. The Doctor went in first and knelt down while the dogs jumped up and licked his face.

"Hello, my lovelies, been behavin', have ya?" he asked.

The TARDIS telepathically told him what they did and the Doctor grinned at that and rubbed their backs vigorously.

"You two are gonna get a couple of nice big steaks tonight," he said to them. "But for the moment, you need to follow me so you can get out of everyone's way."

He stood up, whistled at them and they followed at his heels while Alan and Jack forced Leticia inside and the women brought up the rear pushing the box inside. The TARDIS scanned the child inside the box and everyone sensed her anguish and anger when she realized the child was Gallifreyan.

_I'm glad you caught one of the people responsible for this atrocity, my beloveds,_ she thought to them.

"We'll catch the other one soon enough," the Doctor said to her while the TARDIS rumbled in agreement.

He stepped back and commanded the dogs to do the same while they let Jack and Alan pass by with Leticia and the unconscious guards. He looked at the women.

"Follow me, I'll show you where we can store her for the time being," he said to them.

They nodded and followed him to a storage room near the room where he prepared bodies for cremation. Once they were inside, the Doctor sat the temporal clamp down on a table and he put his hand on the box while he stared at the little girl inside it.

"Finally, this poor dear will get the respect and dignity she deserves," he said softly. "Before we do go to Mordos, we will stop off somewhere and cremate her."

They nodded. The Doctor turned, picked up the clamp and the women followed him outside. He took one last look at the child before closing the door. While he was doing that, Jack and Alan walked back.

"The bitch and her toadies are now secure," Alan said, proudly.

"Good, now all we have to do is get the bitch's husband and the rest of the toadies and drop them off at a hard labor prison planet," the Doctor replied.

"First though, I suggest we go to our rooms and get some kit on," Alan said. "Unless all of us want to parade around in the nude."

"No, get some clothes on now!" Donna said.

Alan walked over to her.

"But Donna," he said, thrusting his hips out. "Don't you enjoy the view?"

"Get away from me with that thing before I rip it off!" Donna said, averting her eyes.

Alan let out a mock sigh.

"Oh, very well, we'll get some clothes on before they all have a thrombo. Come along, Brothers, to our bedrooms."

The women laughed while the three men made a huge show of covering their crotches and ran off toward their bedrooms.

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The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief when he slipped on his brown pinstriped trousers. It felt good to be clothed, although he made a mental note to force Jasper to tell them where their original clothes where since he still had his screwdriver and psychic paper in the other trousers. As he dressed, he glanced over and smiled at Rain when she came into the room.

"Darn, no more nakedness," she said while he chuckled.

"Nope, it's back to clothing for this Time Lord."

He sighed contentedly when she came up to him and kissed his cheek.

"Oh my love," she whispered while the Doctor sent love into her mind.

She gently touched the ear tag.

"Are you going to remove this before you go back out?"

"Yes and I'm going to use the tissue regenerator on it so my earlobe will heal back up."

"I'm glad you have that."

"Yes, so am I."

He finished with his shirt and Rain selected a black tie for him. He stood still while she tied it for him.

"I'm glad you got that little girl back," she said while she tied the tie.

"So am I. God, I didn't even know that was going on. All that time and that'd been going on behind my back."

"It's no different from human children being snatched and being sold as sex slaves on Earth," Rain said.

He nodded.

"Yes but to think that my people were being rounded up and slaughtered for body parts. Oh God, it makes my flesh crawl just thinking about it."

"I have a thought, Thete," Rain said as she finished with his tie and smoothed it out.

"Yes?"

She reached into the closet and grabbed one of his jackets.

"I assume that if we go to Mordos, we're going to stop the black market there along with rescuing the princess?" she asked, handing the jacket to him.

"Yes, I want to do that so no more people have to suffer the fate of our people."

"Well, I know it's been years since the Time War ended and this might be a long shot but I'm assuming if there is a chance we find some body parts of some other Gallifreyans that we'll also bring those back and give them a proper cremation too?"

"I'd like to," the Doctor said. "But since we won't know for sure, I'd like to try to gather up all the body parts we find and just cremate them as a mark of respect for any species they happen to belong to."

Rain nodded and smiled.

"Good," she said.

She smoothed out his clothes while he stared at her lovingly.

"You're gonna try to get your other outfit back, right? I assume it had your screwdriver and psychic paper in it."

"Yes and yes," he replied.

"Well we can't have that. You need those things," she said with a wink.

"Yes and not only that, they're expensive and time consuming to replace as well."

She finished smoothing out his clothes and admired him.

"Gorgeous as always."

"Thank you, Love, I'm glad I have your personal stamp of approval."

They kissed.

"It's a good thing no more guards got inside her while we were gone," Rain said while he took her hand and they walked out of the room.

"Oh, that was the dog's doing. The TARDIS said they chased three of them when they tried to come inside. I told both my mutts that they're getting a big steak dinner tonight."

"Good because they deserve it. They also helped us take down the ten guards who tried to come after us earlier."

"They did? Well both doggies will be getting two steaks apiece then," he said as they walked out the door.

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"Hold still, Brother, this will hurt a bit," the Doctor said to Alan while he sat on the examination table in the med bay.

The Doctor was taking the backing off his tag. He had a long silver device with an adjustable hole at the end. He put the hole over the backing, tightened it and pushed a button. Alan winced when the device pulled the backing off. The Doctor took the tag out and they winced at the bloody hole in his earlobe. The Doctor examined it.

"Yes, I'm glad I do have the tissue regenerator because this definately would have become infected. Damn them," the Doctor said.

He threw the tag and backing away in a rubbish bin, walked over to a table and picked up the pocket sized tissue regenerator that Alan had finished working on. He brought it back over and held it against his ear. He turned it on and smiled when the flesh began to grow back and closed the hole. After a few seconds he took it away and except for a few blood spots there was no sign the ear had been punctured. He put the device down beside his brother, got a cotton ball, put some rubbing alcohol on it and walked back over. He cleaned the blood off.

"There you go, good as new," he said when he was finished.

Alan touched his ear.

"Thanks muchly, Brother," he said.

"Anytime. Jack, your turn," he said to him.

Alan hopped off and Rose embraced him while Jack took his place and the Doctor repeated the procedure on him.

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Once everyone had the ear tags out and their ears were healed. All of them headed out again to confront Jasper. Along the way, they kept running into guards. They knocked them out and carried them back to the holding cells before going out again. After a couple of rounds of this, they didn't see any more guards and they moved around the palace unopposed.

"We still have the lot in the cell in the dungeon but we'll get them last," the Doctor whispered to the others. "The guards are just as guilty as the royals are so they're also going away. Besides, I don't want one of them seizing power while we're gone."

They nodded and headed back to the throne room. They found no one inside so they went back behind the dais and knelt back down. Once they were safely hidden, the Doctor looked at Madison.

"After we get done here, do you wanna head back to Denver?" he asked her. "Because we can drop you off before we head to Mordos."

"Um, actually, I wanna go with you."

The Doctor stared at her in shock while the other women giggled.

"Blimey, you have a taste for adventure now, eh?" he said, amused.

"It's because you represent freedom, dear," Rain said as she sat beside him.

The Doctor frowned at her.

"Freedom?" he said.

"Yes, I mean there are dangers traveling with you but there's also freedom from the constraints of society and you don't have that many responsibilities except for protecting the universe."

The Doctor looked at the other women who nodded in agreement.

"Is this why you lot keep trying to find me? Because I'm freedom from your ho-hum existences?"

The women giggled and nodded. The Doctor looked at Alan and Jack.

"Wow, news to me."

"Why do you think I like taking a break from Torchwood and traveling with ya," Jack said.

The Doctor looked at Martha.

"Even you, Miss Jones?" he asked.

She shrugged.

"I know I said I didn't want to do it anymore. But I meant full time, I do love traveling and having adventures like these every once in awhile," she said.

The Doctor looked at Alan.

"I had no idea I was a symbol for freedom from restrictive life," he said to him.

Alan shrugged and grinned.

"You have to admit being out here is an adrenaline rush," he said. "I found that out when I was stuck in hospital with nothing to do."

The Doctor looked at Madison.

"I thought you wanted to get back to James and Dorothy," he said to her.

"Eh, they can wait."

The Doctor blinked in surprise while the other women sniggered.

"You better keep her around, Bro. She does fight," Awinita said to him while the other women nodded.

"She fights well too," Rose said. "She and Grace are dangerous once they get in a fight."

"Yeah, I don't think you have to worry about them on Mordos. I think everyone else will have to worry about them," Rain added.

"I think that's why you prefer women over men, Brother," Alan said. "Because women fight and fight dirty."

The men chuckled when the women all nodded emphatically at that and giggled. All of them shut up when they sensed someone coming into the room and saw Jasper heading towards the dais.

"Well, what'd we have here? It's Porky Pig," Alan whispered.

The Doctor looked at the women.

"Okay, you lot, show me what you got," he whispered to them.

They nodded and tensed their muscles.

"Wait till Jabba gets up to the throne, girls," Rose whispered to them.

_Oh, this oughta be good, mates_, Alan though to the Doctor and Jack.

They watched while Jasper climbed the steps and walked over to his throne. Rose looked at the women and mouthed, "Count of three," to them. They nodded. Rose held up one finger, then two and then on the third finger, she pointed it at Jasper who was just about to sit down and with a shriek all of them leapt up onto the dais and shoved the shocked Jasper down into his seat.

"Hi, you were searching for us Time Ladies?" Donna said. "Well, here we are! Unfortunately we're not gonna go to auction block quietly!"

"But you are gonna go quietly back to the TARDIS with us or we'll be opening ya up and selling off your body parts," Jenny snarled at them.

She drew back his fist to hit him.

"Hold off, Angel, on that," the Doctor said, standing up. "I need to ask him a few questions first."

Jenny nodded and lowered her fist. She and the other women kept him in the throne while the men hopped up on the dais and walked around to them.

"Yup, here are our women, now try to enslave them," the Doctor said gleefully.

He folded his arms on Rain's back and leaned down into his face while they kept him restrained.

"Now before we haul your pompous portly arse off to a prison planet, I have a few questions for ya," he said.


	98. Chapter 98

Chapter Ninety Eight

"Firstly, I would demand respect from you seeing as how we're greater than you are morality wise but I don't want a creep like you bowing and groveling before us so we'll skip that and go straight to my Q and A session."

"Guards!" Jasper yelled.

"Yes, call for them. We dispatched a great number of them and we want the ones that are still active because they're also gonna go to the prison planet along with your wife, which by the way we have imprisoned in the TARDIS."

He smirked at the shocked look on his face.

"Yeah, we caught her the same way we caught you. Hid in here and waited for her to come in. She told us the location of the Gallifreyan child and she's safely onboard my TARDIS where she'll eventually have a proper cremation, which is what she deserves, and the temporal clamp is finally off my ship. Now all that remains is the location of our clothes and your daughter because after you lot are dropped off we're gonna bring her back and she's gonna be the ruler of Faust."

Jasper tried to get up but the women shoved him back down.

"Don't even think about it, buddy," Awinita snarled at him.

"Answer his questions and answer them NOW," Donna yelled in his face.

Alan let out a low whistle.

"Better do it, mate. You don't wanna anger Donna Noble, trust me," he said to Jasper.

Just then, two guards entered the room.

"Oh look, more prisoners," Jack said gleefully.

"Don't worry, Dad, I'll handle them," Jenny said.

They watched while she ran off the dais, screaming at the top of her lungs. The guards stared at her, stunned. By the time they recovered enough to mount a defense, Jenny had reached them. She jumped up, did the splits in mid-air and hit them both in the face with her feet. She landed on her feet while they hit the floor unconscious.

"Blimey, Jenny's an army all by herself," Alan said while the women laughed and cheered her.

The Doctor smiled proudly at her while she walked back to the dais.

"Jack, Alan, you wanna go deposit these two in the holding cells while I question their shocked and slightly scared leader?" the Doctor said while the women laughed.

Jack and Alan saluted him and jumped off the dais while the Doctor turned his attention back to Jasper who was staring at Jenny in a stunned silence.

"My daughter, since you were wondering what my relationship was to these women. I told you to try and enslave them. Especially her since she was programmed to do nothing but fight. But anyway, enough chit-chat, answer my questions before I let Jenny work you over."

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After Jasper answered his questions, the Doctor telepathically told Jack and Alan to stay with the TARDIS and they forced Jasper to walk to the storage closet where he had stored the men's clothes. Grace and Madison and Martha gathered them up and walked back out.

"Now, before we go any further. Are there any other pickled specimens of my people around here?" the Doctor said to him.

He shook his head.

"You better be telling the truth because once you're safely secured in a cell, we're gonna search the castle and grounds for the rest of the guards and if I find someone you're gonna be shoved into a teeny tiny Perspex box and spend eternity in my living room, got it?"

Jasper nodded.

"Okay, ladies, walk him back to the TARDIS," he said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once he was safely secured, all of them went back out in search of the other guards. They gathered up the ones that were still inside the dungeon cell, knocked them out and brought them back. After that, they found only five more guards protecting the palace and the grounds. Once they were satisfied that everyone had been rounded up, the Doctor took them back into the vortex. Once they were safely in flight, he turned to everyone who was standing with him in the console room.

"I don't need everyone's help but a few who would be willing to help me prepare that little girl for cremation?"

"I will," Rain said.

"Me too," Rose added.

"And me," Alan said.

"I will, Bro," Awinita said.

He nodded.

"That's all I need. Everyone else just rest and relax in the meantime."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they got the fluid drained out of the box, the Doctor opened it up with the screwdriver and they gently put the child into a blanket and carried to her to the preparation room. They gently cleaned her off and put scented oils on her body, trying to erase the smell of the preservatives. Rain found a brush and tried to brush out her tangled and wet hair while the others worked to move her limbs into the right positions. Rain got out most of the tangles and they lifted her head and shoulders while she smoothed out her hair under her. Once she was done they laid her back down and wrapped and tied her securely.

"Right, that's done," the Doctor said. "Now on to the cremation site."

They washed their hands and left the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He chose a site on a planet called Moondrop in the Callium Galaxy. When they landed it was night and they were in the middle of a dry clearing in the forest.

"Perfect," the Doctor said when they stepped outside.

They carried several axes with them and all of them helped to chop down some wood and prepare logs for a funeral pyre. Once they were finished the logs were stacked up, the Doctor took an old rag, tired it around a piece of wood and put a bit of oil on it for a torch while the others carried the body out and carefully set it on top of the pyre. Once they were done and oil had been poured on the wood, they assembled around the pyre while the Doctor held the torch.

"Firstly, I want to say how relieved I am we found this little girl and that her body can finally be given the proper funeral rites she deserves," he said to them. "If her soul is with us then I hope she has found peace and if not, she can finally find peace after this. Secondly, Grace, Madison, Martha and Jack, I noticed that not once did you ever say you were human to anybody. You pretended to be Gallifreyan and that warms my hearts because you four stood as one with us and I know you're just as angry about what happened to this little girl and to our people as we are. So, I'd like to make you all honorary Gallifreyans and you three women, if you don't mind, I'd like to do the bonding ceremony and welcome you into our family as sisters."

The three women smiled when the other girls cheered.

"Lord knows Martha's been around long enough to earn it," the Doctor said while they laughed. "But just the fact that all of you are standing here with us, mourning with us tells me that you may be human but you are Time Lords and Ladies in your hearts and although I don't have the power to physically change you into Gallifreyans and I have no idea how to get in touch with Imiko still I know I will think of you as Gallifreyan and I'm sure the others will too."

"Yup," the women and Alan said in unison.

"So once this is done, before we go on to Mordos, I want to conduct our bonding ceremony and make you true sisters to us."

The three women grinned while the other women cheered. They quickly hushed up and let the Doctor speak. He spoke a eulogy in high Gallifreyan and the three women listened loving the sound of the words even though they had no idea what he was saying. He spoke for about ten minutes and when he finished he bowed his head in reverent silence and everyone followed suit. A moment later, he raised his hand and backed everyone up. He lit the pyre and stepped back when the oil caught fire. Then he laid the torch on the top and all of them gathered together and watched it burn for several minutes before they headed back into the TARDIS.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Okay, if we're gonna do this, we might as well all gather together at once while Rose reads the paper because if we bond with them one by one it'll take ten hours," the Doctor said while they laughed.

He chuckled when Rory and Blizzard leapt up on him when he knelt down.

"And I haven't forgotten you, my lovelies," he said to them. "We'll be getting your two steaks apiece dinners once we get done with this."

"Two steaks?" Martha said.

The Doctor smiled and explained what had happened with the three guards and everyone cheered and petted the excited canines.

"I knew it was a good decision bringing them in here," Alan said, scratching Rory's ear. "You mutts are Gallifreyan as well, aren't ya?"

He smiled when they licked his hands and he settled them down. The Doctor motioned for Grace to kneel before them and looked at Rose who was kneeling between both groups.

"Okay, Rose, start the ceremony," he said to her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they were finished, everyone hugged their new family members tightly. The Doctor grinned at Madison.

"This is just gettin' weirder and weirder for ya, isn't it?"

"Just slightly," she said while he laughed.

"Well, I'm happy you joined us, my honorary Gallifreyan sister."

"Me too, my Gallifreyan brother," she said to him.

He looked at Grace and Martha.

"Now, um…I need to teach you the Gallifreyan terms for beloved brother and sister since we use those frequently amongst ourselves," he said to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they were finished the Doctor left the room and returned with a handful of perception filters.

"Now, my family," he said, smiling at all of them. "All of you except Madison know what these are so I'll explain it to her."

He quickly explained how the perception filters worked and Madison nodded when he finished.

"I want us to wear them because like I said before, Mordos is a dangerous planet and we need to be as inconspicuous as possible. Especially me. I'm not sure how well known this incarnation is but they do know the Doctor there. I'm a target and that means you'll be a target by association and the last thing I want is for my family to be in danger because of me. I managed to get the truth out of Tubby about where they took Terina. At least I hope it's the truth, we'll find out soon enough. And speaking of him, I'm taking all of them to a prison planet before we go. I wasn't kidding when I said I'd take them to one where the prisoners did hard labor. It's what they deserve for slaughtering thousands of our people."

He smiled at Jack, Grace, Madison, and Martha.

"And your people as well, honorary Time Lord and Ladies," he added while they smiled and nodded. "But if he is lying, we'll have to get the truth from someone else. I also told Rain I'd like to try to shut down the black market there and if there are any body parts left from our people or any species, I want to recover those and give them a proper funeral and cremation."

They nodded and he passed the keys out to everyone.

"Just keep these on your person for the moment till we get to Mordos. It's late as well and I'm gonna let the human side of our family get some sleep before we go in since you'll need to be alert at all times. If you want, you can go ahead and go to sleep while we drop them off, alright?"

The four humans nodded and he slapped his hands together.

"Right, anyone have anything they need to say?"

They all shook their heads.

"Then family meeting is officially over and for those of you who are heading to bed, good night and we'll see you in a few hours."


	99. Chapter 99

Chapter Ninety Nine

After the four human members of the family went to sleep, the Doctor hurried out to the kitchen.

"Gotta get the steak dinners for our doggies before I forget. They earned them tonight," the Doctor said to the others.

He whistled and Blizzard and Rory flanked him while he laid down two plastic placemats.

"TARDIS, give our Gallifreyan guard dogs some well deserved steaks," he said.

There was a flash and two T-bone steaks appeared on each of the mats. The Dogs dug into them and the Doctor rubbed their backs affectionately before he stood back up.

"Right, follow me," he said to the others.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They walked over to the cells containing the guards, Jasper and Leticia. They walked over to Jasper who was sitting on the floor of his cell glaring at them.

"I'm taking you all to Crag Tagok, it's the roughest prison planet in the universe," the Doctor said matter of factly.

Jasper snorted.

"You think by doing this you're better than me?" he said.

"Oh, trust me, there were a lot of worse things I could have thought up for you and your wife and toadies. Compared to what I could have done, Crag Tagok is a walk in the park. Be thankful I restrained myself because after what you did to our people you deserve the most excruciating demise I can think up."

"What about my wife? Doesn't she deserve mercy?" Jasper said.

"No."

"She did nothing."

"Oh, on the contrary, she did a lot. She sat there and remained silent and let all of this go on instead of doing the right thing like your daughter did and stood up against the atrocities being committed. And don't act like she didn't benefit from the sale of the body parts. I'm sure she enjoyed the riches just as much as you did. She and the guards stood by and allowed everything to happen which makes them just as guilty as you are. And if you think I'm being a pompous holier than thou Time Lord by doing this, I don't care. If my doing this means no more family and friends have to suffer by having their loved ones taken from them then I'll live with the consequences of my decision. Now I'm going to put you all to sleep so you'll give us and the prison guards no trouble and when you wake up you'll be in your cells so nighty night!"

The Doctor walked over and pushed a button besides the cells.

"You won't get away with this, Doctor!" Jasper screamed as sleeping gas flooded into their cells. "I'll find a way to get even with you. You haven't heard the last of me!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the Doctor muttered as everyone succumbed to the gas and fell asleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they dropped the prisoners off at Crag Tagok and made sure they were secure in their cells, the Doctor went back into the vortex. Everyone went off to their rooms to rest. The Doctor took off his suit while Rain undressed.

"Fancy a shower before we rest, Love?" he asked her.

"Yup."

He smiled and finished undressing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Both of them showered together, stroking and fondling each other while they talked.

"I'm glad you did that, Thete, made them members of our family," Rain said as she lathered his hair.

"Me too. The more the merrier," he said.

She smiled.

"Thought you were supposed to be a loner?" she said, winking.

"Yeah, me too. Odd, huh?" he said while she laughed.

He sighed.

"I just wish I had a way to make them full Time Ladies so we could feel them and speak with them in our minds."

Rain thought for a moment while he rinsed the shampoo out of his hair.

"Thete, what you did with me when I was human. You opened my mind up so I could at least feel you. Can't you do that?" she asked him.

The Doctor blinked.

"Yeah, I did, didn't I? I s'pose I could do that so we could at least feel them and know if they were safe or not. Still, I hate that they wouldn't be able to communicate with us. I hate being messenger boy for people who aren't plugged in like we are. And going to Mordos, it would be essential for us to keep silent there, especially with the perception filters. We're gonna have to practically whisper in their ears so there isn't a chance someone will notice us. Still, the opening up of the minds is a good idea. I'll do that in the morning before we go."

He grabbed Rain's banana scented shampoo and then noticed she was deep in thought.

"Why do I sense a brainstorm on the horizon?" he asked.

"I'm thinking about Imiko. You said you didn't know how to get in touch with her, right?"

"Yeah."

"But…didn't the Valeyard's TARDIS find her in the first place? I thought she was the one who searched for a protector for us. Couldn't she or your TARDIS find her again so you can ask her to make Martha, Grace and Madison into Time Ladies."

The Doctor stared at her while she grinned.

"I know, I know, I'm an idiot for not thinking of this while my wife did. That's what's going through your mind now, right?"

"You know me so well, Latara," the Doctor said, lathering her hair. "Question is will she want to be found?"

"Only one way to find out," Rain said, shrugging. "Worst thing she could say is no and then you could just open up their minds and that's that. I'd rather chance it and gain three new Time Ladies than do nothing at all."

"Same with me. I don't want them to be just honorary Gallifreyans. They deserve the chance to be full blooded Gallifreyans and if my TARDIS can direct us to…"

He trailed off and glanced up at the ceiling.

"TARDIS, you're listening to us, correct?"

_Yes, my beloved, I will search for Imiko and summon her to you. I also want my human family to become Time Ladies. I will do it now._

"Thank you, Girl," the Doctor said while Rain smiled.

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By the time they got out of the shower and got dressed, the TARDIS had located Imiko. The Doctor asked her to go to her and then he and Rain quickly roused the humans and assembled everyone. He told them what they were doing and everyone cheered.

"You mean that fox spirit that made them into Time Ladies might do the same thing for us?" Madison said.

"Yes, if you want, I'm not gonna force this on you. At the very least, I wanted to ask her to open your minds up so you can communicate telepathically with us the way Jack can. If we're going to Mordos we need to be quiet and that means relying on our telepathy," the Doctor said.

"I don't know about you lot, but I wanna do this and become a Time Lady," Martha said.

"Yeah, me too. Although I better stay at home and just travel with you at times. I still do have a family."

"That's fine, Madison. You're always welcome here and I'll give you the means to contact us. Plus, if you have telepathy you can contact us that way as long as we're in the same universe."

She nodded. They looked at Grace who shrugged.

"Ah, why not, might be fun," she said while they cheered. "But I also need to go home for awhile, just till I make sure Lee is comfortable working in the hospital. Then I'll travel with you full time."

He nodded.

"And actually," Jack said. "I think I might ask her to make me one but keep my immortality with it."

They looked at him and he grinned.

"Well, you guys are always griping that I don't have all this Time Lord knowledge and if I can communicate with you, I might as well just go ahead and go all the way."

The Doctor grinned and gave him a hug.

They felt a vibration and the TARDIS stopped.

"Well, here goes nothing," the Doctor said while they walked to the console room.

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The Doctor stepped outside the TARDIS into a wooded area that he assumed was Japan. His family followed close behind him while he looked around.

"Imiko?" he said, hesitantly.

"I'm here, Doctor-san."

He turned to his left and saw her standing on the left side of the TARDIS. She bowed and he did the same.

"Your TARDIS has told me what you wish done and I will be happy to grant it if that is what the women want," she said.

The Doctor looked at the four humans who stepped forward. The three women confirmed that they did want to be transformed and the others stood and smiled while Imiko changed each of them and they felt their minds one by one join the others. When it was done, they hugged them tightly. Imiko looked at Jack.

"TARDIS also said you wish to become a Time Lord?"

"Yes, but only physically. I don't want to regenerate. I still want my immortality," Jack said.

"Very well, come forward."

She changed him over and he thanked her when she was done.

"Okay, now let's kill him and see if he regenerates," Alan said while everyone laughed.

"Thank you, Imiko-san, thank you for once again doing this for me," the Doctor said.

"There is more, Doctor-san, please wait. I have a gift for you," she said.

There was a flash and she disappeared.

"Wow, freaky," Madison said.

There was another flash and Imiko returned carrying a jeweled casket. The casket was red with gold trim and a gold dragon on top.

"I figure that your family will grow yet again in the future and there will be others who may wish to become Time Lords and Ladies," she said to him. "This box contains thirty small crystals that contain my power. If one who is not like you wishes to change, give them a crystal. If they break it open the power will surround and transform them. That will save you numerous trips in the future."

The Doctor was stunned while tears came to the women's eyes.

"I can't thank you enough, Imiko. I can't begin to even express how grateful I am for this gift."

Imiko bowed.

"It is nothing, Doctor-san, your mission to bring light into the universe is vital and there are others who will join you. Besides, a great injustice was done when your planet and people were destroyed, now your people can live again."

Alan put his arm around his brother and they both brushed tears out of their eyes.

"Now, I must go, Doctor-san. Good luck in your journeys and enjoy your bigger family."

"Wait, can I ask you something before you go, Imiko?"

"Of course, Alan-san."

"Um, what lives are all of us on, besides the Doctor, I mean. I'd really like to be sure."

"You are all on your first lives, Alan-san."

"Thank you. Finally we know for sure. Um, also…I'm the Doctor's clone, if I regenerate, are we gonna get the same bodies?"

"No, Alan-san."

"Yippee!" Alan said while his family laughed.

Imiko smiled at that and bowed deeply to them. They all bowed in return and watched while she disappeared. They gave each other a big group hug before they got back in the TARDIS and the Doctor took them back into the vortex.


	100. Chapter 100

Chapter One Hundred

Once they were back in the vortex, they gave each other another big group hug.

"Um…if you go back to your family, Madison, I hope you're planning on explaining what's happened to you because we don't age so while your family grows old, you'll remain as you are now…unless you want to make them into Gallifreyan because after all I have thirty little power balls now."

"Yeah but you should save those since there are only thirty," Madison said. "I'll ask but I don't see James as being someone who would want to live centuries and centuries. My daughter might though."

"Yes, but I'd wait till she was old enough to make that decision," the Doctor said. "Wait till she's an adult and make sure she wants to be a Time Lady."

"I will," Madison said. "This is so cool though. I have all this knowledge now and I can feel all of you."

"I know, how does it feel?" the Doctor asked.

"Feels good," Madison said.

"And I can finally join the telepathy club," Martha said to Jack. "Are you gonna ask everyone else in Torchwood if they want to be Time Lords and Ladies now?"

"I don't know if they'd want to. I'd want Ianto to be one for obvious reasons," he said.

"Well, we won't let Gwen be our sister. We asked her at that funfair and she refused. That was her one and only chance," Alan said while they laughed.

"Yeah, he's right. Gwen's too high and mighty to be our family member," the Doctor said.

He paused.

"Not so sure I'd want Mickey-boy to be my brother," he said.

"Hey, Mickey's not a bad kid," Jack said while they laughed.

"I'm kidding, Jack. Jackie, however, can stay human. Bad enough I'm related to her through Alan and Rose. I'd dread to think what the universe would be like if she became a Time Lady."

He winked at Rose when she shot him a look.

"On a serious note, Doctor, what about Sarah Jane?" Rose said. "What about offering to make her a Time Lady and making her a sister?"

"Hey, that's not a bad idea, Brother. Sarah certainly deserves it," Alan said.

"I'll ask her but after we get back from Mordos because I wanna hurry up, get the rescue over with and get out of there before we get nabbed and end up on the auction block after all. Now you four are just as valuable as we are since you are truly Gallifreyan. But before we do it, I just want to make sure you lot understand how to speak telepathically and a few other things."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor had the three women practice telepathy and throwing up privacy blocks. Once he was satisfied they had the hang of it, he gathered them in the console room and set a course for Mordos.

"Keys on, everyone," he said to them.

All of them put their keys around their necks. The Doctor thought for a moment and then reached into his pocket.

"Speaking of keys…" he said.

He brought out two TARDIS keys on chains and gave them to Madison and Martha.

"These are yours to keep. They're the key to the front door. Everyone else has one and now you do as well. It's so you can let yourselves in when you need to and it's a symbol that this is now your true home even if you have to go back to Earth life for awhile.

They smiled, nodded and hugged him tightly. He hugged them back and sent love into their minds. A few minutes later, the TARDIS landed and the Doctor slipped his key over his head.

"Okay, from here on out use telepathy unless you absolutely have to talk to someone," he said to them. "Hopefully we'll be in and out of here without drawing any attention to ourselves. But mind your surroundings. Keep alert at all times."

They nodded and walked with him to the front door. He opened the door, peeked out and then nodded. He opened the door wider and all of them stepped out into a thick forest. The Doctor let them all pass and then closed the door behind them.

_Okay everyone, from here on out, telepathy only unless we have to vocally say something,_ he thought to them.

They nodded and walked with him through the woods. The woods were devoid of any animals save a few birds and owls in the limbs above them.

_Kinda reminds me of The Wizard of Oz when they were walking through the woods to the witch's castle,_ Awinita thought.

_Yeah, it's about as creepy as those woods_, Rose thought.

_I'm surprised they have forests here,_ Donna thought. _They didn't cut all the trees down and sell the wood on the black market?_

_Give em time, Te'lesu, I'm sure once they're done killing every other species in the universe they'll move on to plant life,_ Alan thought.

They reached the edge of the woods and saw a small town. The buildings were made of wood and most of them looked ramshackle and hastily built.

_Okay, Tubby-boy said that the entrance to the hideout his cronies have is located in a pub in this town, the Doctor thought to them. He said there was a secret entrance and we were supposed to ask the barkeep where it is. Doubtless he was hoping we'd get caught when we asked him but I have a plan. Jack, I want you to pose as a parts hunter or whatever these bastards call themselves. You take off your perception filter and we'll follow you in and stay around you while you talk to the barkeep and tell him you have captured a few Gallifreyans and you need to talk to someone who'll buy them from you. Hopefully that'll get you into the secret hideout. If not, run outside and put the key back on before someone nabs you. Got it?_

Jack nodded.

_That's the best plan I can come up with. Just mind your surroundings. But if you do get into trouble and someone attacks, your immortality is your best defense._

_Which is why you want to use me, _Jack thought.

_That and the fact that I don't know if they know my current incarnation and Alan and I would be in danger and I seriously doubt that women would be hunters, they'd more than likely be the prey which leaves you, I'm afraid. But we'll be behind you so you won't be alone._

_Just leave it to me. Won't be the first rough pub I've walked into, _Jack thought.

They walked out of the forest and headed into town. They passed by several people who paid no attention to them.

_So far, so good,_ Alan thought to them. _Thank God we have these things._

They passed by a wooden stage and the Doctor stopped them.

_I think that's the so-called auction block,_ he thought to them.

They walked over to it and their stomachs turned imaging all the Gallifreyans and other poor souls who had been sold over the years. They stared at it for a moment before they forced themselves to turn away and move on.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They finally found the pub and walked around to the side of it. Jack took off his perception filter and stuck it in his pocket.

_Go in first and we'll follow you,_ the Doctor thought to him.

He nodded.

_Here goes nothing then_, he thought back.

He slipped around the corner and the others followed him. He walked inside and the others let a few drunken people come out before they went in. The place was dark, dingy, smoky and filled with nothing but men, most of them rough looking with scars all over their faces and bodies.

_Oh blast, Brother, we should have put fake scars on Jack,_ Alan thought to the Doctor_. He looks too pretty._

_Thanks, I'm glad you think I look too pretty_, Jack thought to him.

Everyone stopped and stared at him. The Doctor noticed with relief that no one was looking their way.

_Just like the Wild West,_ Awinita thought. _It's the new stranger in town so everyone stops and stares at him. _

_Well, as long as they don't start a gun battle they can stare all they like, _Donna thought.

_Easy for you to say, you're not the one they're staring at,_ Jack thought.

He walked up to the bar and sat down on a stool while everyone else clustered around him.

_Remember mind what's going on around you at all times_, the Doctor thought. _Don't let anyone run into you and "see" you._

"Barkeep!" Jack said in a rough voice to the thin man at the other end of the bar.

The man turned and they saw he had a long dueling scar from his temple down his right cheek to his chin. He was a human Caucasian with a bald head and a hard chiseled face.

"Yeah," he growled at Jack.

Jack looked at the selection of whiskeys on the shelves of the back wall.

_You said that Time Lords can't get drunk unless they want to, right?_ Jack thought to the Doctor.

_That's right._

_Good, because most of these whiskeys are strong and I better drink something,_ he thought.

"Give me three fingers of Cartesian Red Eye," Jack said, pointing to a red bottle across from him.

The barkeep walked over, grabbed the bottle and a shot glass, opened the bottle and poured out some alcohol.

"I also need some information," Jack said to him.

The barkeep snorted.

"That costs extra and I mean extra," he said to him.

The Doctor quietly passed him his credit stick. Jack took it and held it up.

"I can pay," he said to him.

"What d'ya wanna know?" the barkeep said.

"I happened upon some Gallifreyans that had been hiding on a distant planet after the Time War ended. I want to sell them for auction."

"Really? And are these Gallifreyans Time Lords?" the barkeep said.

"They are."

The Doctor narrowed his eyes when he saw the interested look on his face.

"I have several buyers that might take these Time Lords off your hands," he said.

_Tell him you mainly deal with the Faustian Royal Family and you want to talk to their buyers,_ the Doctor thought to him.

"I mainly hunt for the Faustian Royal Family," Jack said to the barkeep. "I understand they are very interested in the profit from Time Lord body parts so I'd like to talk to the buyers associated with them."

"And do you have the merchandise with you?"

The Doctor and his family seethed at the word merchandise.

"I do. They're in my ship, secure and ready for transfer as soon as I negotiate a price with the buyers," Jack said.

"The buyers will want to see the merchandise first and inspect them before settling on a price," the barkeep said.

Doc, what do I tell them? Jack asked.

_Doctor, let some of us pose as the captives,_ Rose thought to him. _You can keep watch over us and attack anyone who tries to hurt us._

The Doctor was ambivalent about that but he knew he had no choice.

_Tell him you have three Time Ladies and you'll show them the merchandise but you'll bring them to the pub. That way we won't have to produce a ship,_ the Doctor thought.

Jack relayed the Doctor's words to the barkeep. He perked up at that.

"Time Ladies? Well, well, that's even better. You'll get a handsome price for them."

_Okay, Te'lesu, who wants to be the captives then?_ The Doctor thought.

_I will,_ Rose thought.

_Me too,_ Donna thought.

_I will,_ Martha thought. _No offense to the rest of the family but Rose, Donna and I are the three veterans so we should be the ones in danger._

Rose and Donna nodded in agreement. The Doctor glanced back at Alan.

_Alan, is it alright with you if Rose does this?_ he thought.

_Starlight, be careful, I mean it,_ Alan thought.

_I will. _

She gave his hand a quick squeeze.

_Jack, keep him talking or drink awhile while I take the women back to the TARDIS and prepare them. When we're ready, I'll call for you and you come and get the women, alright? _

_Yes, Doctor._

_Alan, Jenny and Mingxia, stay with him and guard him while I take them back to the TARDIS, alright?_

They nodded and the Doctor beckoned to the other women. They followed him out of the pub while Jack downed his whiskey and ordered another shot.


	101. Chapter 101

Chapter One Hundred and One

"Come on," the Doctor said to his sisters as they headed to the TARDIS. "We have to be quick about this before something happens to Jack."

They reached the TARDIS and opened the door. He smiled when the dogs jumped down off the jump seat and ran to them.

"Aha! You've figured out if you guard the door successfully they'll be more steaks for ya," he said, reaching down to rub their backs.

Rose closed the door and the women and dogs followed him out of the console room.

"I'm gonna take you up into the attic," the Doctor said to them. "I have a collection of restraints, chains and manacles. I don't know what slave hunters use here but I have a pretty good idea."

"Wait, you have an attic?" Martha said while they walked.

"Yes, I do. Actually, Rose, Rain, Donna and Awinita have seen it before. The TARDIS had a cold about a fortnight ago and we had to go up to get some nanobots to cure her and I finally took up that ball with the Carrionites in it and stored it for safe keeping."

"You still have them?" Martha said.

"Well yes, what do you think I'm gonna do with them, put them in a jumble sale along with other odds and ends?" he said to her. "Now, these four women know this but I'll tell the rest of you. Do not wander off. There are dangerous things up there and you could get hurt. Stay where I can see you, alright?"

They nodded and he led them down a couple of corridors to the attic door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Martha, Madison and Grace looked around them in shock when they saw how vast the attic was.

"Jesus, where are the walls?" Grace said, looking around.

"They're somewhere in here. He doesn't know where though," Awinita replied.

"Precisely, now follow me; I think I know where my slave stuff is."

"Slave stuff? You have slave stuff?" Madison said while they laughed.

"Only for instances like this. I'm not going to enslave you lot, I promise."

"He has a guillotine too," Grace said as they walked past.

"Purely for show, unless you make me really angry of course," the Doctor said airily.

The women looked at each other and rolled their eyes. The Doctor led them over to a large wooden trunk and opened it.

"Ah, here we are," he said.

He glanced at Rose, Martha and Donna.

"I s'pose what you're wearing will have to suffice. You can't wear Time Lord robes. They're mainly ceremonial and it'd be daft for you to wear them on another planet. I guess you could have hidden on Earth since you're former humans so the clothes you're wearing would seem plausible."

"Good, we don't have to wear the robes," Donna said.

Their eyes widened when he reached into the trunk and pulled out a steel neck collar with a long chain attached. Hanging off the side of it was the key and the Doctor took that and put it in his inside jacket pocket before walking over to Rose.

"Let me know if this becomes too uncomfortable," the Doctor said while he opened the collar and put it around her neck. "I want it to look convincing but I don't want it to be so convincing you can't breathe."

She nodded and he walked around behind her, pulled up her long hair and brought the collar together.

"Is this alright?" he said to her.

"Yeah."

The Doctor locked it with the key and put the key back in his pocket.

"I want you all to be careful doing this," the Doctor said to them while he went to get the second collar. "I know if anything happens to you, Rose, Alan will kill us both. You for volunteering for this and me for letting you come to harm. And while I'm doing this, I want to give you all a word of caution. As you've heard from Blobbo, Time Lords and Ladies were known for being complacent and timid and that was true for the most part. That means that you are to conduct yourselves in that manner which means no matter what happens there is to be no flipping people off, cursing them out, being a smart arse or fighting. Is that clear because I know all three of you are known for fighting back and speaking your minds."

They nodded.

"Good because once again the object is to not draw attention to yourselves and invite a beating. So no matter what they do to you or how they treat you, resist the urge to be belligerent. Is that clear?"

"Yes," the three women said in unison.

The Doctor finished with Donna's collar and moved on to Martha.

"Welcome to your first day as a Time Lady, Te'lesu, aren't you thrilled?" he said, holding up the collar.

They laughed when she rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah, I don't know why I waited so long to become one," she said while the Doctor chuckled.

He pulled up her long black hair and locked the collar behind her.

"I'll give the keys to Jack and of course we'll all still be behind you watching over you. Hopefully, he'll lead us to where Terina is," the Doctor said. "Rose, Donna, you better give me your screwdrivers and psychic paper because if they don't search ya I'm sure they'll strip you at some point."

They nodded, reached into their pockets and gave him their screwdrivers and psychic paper. He looked at the other women.

"Which reminds me, you three need one and I have to ask Jack if he wants one as well. Although he made fun of it the first time I told him I had a screwdriver," he said while Rose giggled. "I'm sure if I ask, he'll make a quip about becoming a cabinetmaker or something like that. And I have to get you lot psychic paper. Blimey, I better just stock up ahead of time since every time I turn around, there's another family member. But we'll worry about it later. For now, we have to get back to Jack so he can present you three to the barkeep. So, follow me."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After mentally checking with Jack to make sure he was alright, the Doctor and the others returned to the side of the pub. They wore their keys while the Doctor telepathically told Jack they were ready.

_Remember,_ he thought to Rose, Martha and Donna. _Act timid and afraid._

_Yes Rose,_ Alan thought, _for the love of God; don't tell the barkeep to fuck off or something like that._

_I won't, Alan, I promise, _she thought back while he kissed her cheek.

Jack headed out the door with Alan, Mingxia and Jenny. He slipped the key on when no one was looking and they came around the side of the pub.

_So, these are my captives, eh,_ Jack thought with a wink.

_Yes,_ the Doctor thought, _and please don't get them killed. Especially Martha, I don't want her regenerating two hours after she became a Time Lady._

_Got it all under control, Doc. I've been chatting with the barkeep and actually got the guy in a very good mood. I think he might take me back to the hideout. _

_Good. That's what we want. Because if he takes us somewhere else we'll have to spend time getting out and getting back here. And I don't wanna spend one minute more than I have to here. I don't like them doing this but you have to show him something in order to get us back there._

_Trust me, if someone breathes wrong on them…_

_No, show a bit of restraint. If they start to rape them or try to kill them, then you can intervene but you're supposed to be in league with this lot and it'll look strange if you start throttling them the moment they breathe wrong on them._

Jack nodded. The Doctor glanced around the corner.

_Another five minutes, then we all go back inside, _he though to him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Get in here!" Jack said to Rose, Donna and Martha while he tugged on their chains.

All of them kept their eyes to the floor while they followed him into the pub. The rest of the family followed behind them. Alan glanced around and seethed when he noticed that the men were staring at all of them with lust and saying crude things about them under their breath. Instinctively he drew near to his wife, determined to protect her if necessary. Jack took them up to the bar and rattled the chains while he pointed to them.

"Here ya go, bunch of Time Sluts for sale," he said to the barkeep.

_Time Sluts? _Donna thought, raising her eyebrow. _Jack better be thankful this is playacting. _

The barkeep grinned and came around the bar while the others hooted and hollered.

"My, we got quite a selection too. A blonde, a ginger and a brown skinned beauty. I love a bit of variety in my ladies," the barkeep sneered.

The Doctor and the other women backed up slightly making room for him while he passed by. Alan balled up his fists when the barkeep grabbed Rose's face and jerked it up. She fought to keep from passing out from the smell of alcohol while he leaned in and leered at her.

"So, you're a Time Lady, eh? You're very beautiful. I've never seen one up close before. It's been years since we've had one on the auction block. Too bad you and your friend's luck ran out, my little beauty."

Alan gritted his teeth when he shoved his lips onto hers and gave her a forceful kiss while the others hooted and hollered.

_Gee, Brother, I don't know If I'm gonna be able to restrain myself if Romeo does more than just kiss her_, he thought.

_Don't, Alan, just bear it for now, _the Doctor thought.

The Doctor glanced at Jack and could tell he was almost ready to punch the barkeep too when he saw her begin to fondle Rose's breasts.

_If we find Terina, I vote we come back here and bash this sod's face in,_ Donna thought while she and Martha cast subtle glances on him and Rose.

He finally let go of her and smacked her face hard which made Alan ball up his fists until his knuckles were white. The Doctor put a calming hand on his shoulder.

"Okay, come with me, I'll show you where the buyers are at," the barkeep said to Jack.

"Excellent," Jack replied.

The barkeep pinched Rose's cheek hard.

_I also vote to come back here and bash his face in,_ Rose thought.

Alan sent love into her mind and stroked it while Jack followed the barkeep to the back of the pub.


	102. Chapter 102

Chapter One Hundred and Two

(And now before we continue with the action, we pause for a few commercials…)

ALANCULA!

"The most terrifying name in recent years. The name of the man clone Doctor person who became a vampire king. Alancula, the undead ruler of the night! Alancula, many fear his very name and tremble at his approach. Behold, Alancula, the dark prince of the night!"

The camera cuts over to Alan who is dressed as Bela Lugosi complete with slicked back hair and widow's peak.

"I don't like this outfit. It's hot and it's itchy," Alan whines to the camera.

Alan looks up as ALANCULA spreads out in an arch over his head in huge blood red block letters. He stares at it for a moment and then faces the camera.

"Alancula? You lot couldn't come up with a better name than that? How lazy can you people get?"

The announcer ignores him and continues on with his spiel while Alan sighs angrily.

"How did this one loving, caring man become the undead scourge of the night?" the announcer says melodramatically.

"A better question is why did this undead scourge suddenly decide to wear hot, itchy outfits. Where's my t-shirt and trousers at?"

"To answer that question, we must go back in time…"

"Are you lot even listening to me?" Alan says in an annoyed voice.

The camera cuts to a night scene.

"Apparently not," Alan says while the camera zooms down and focuses on the pavement.

The camera zooms over and focuses in on the Doctor and Alan who are walking side by side on a moonlit night. The Doctor is on the outside nearest the road and Alan is on the inside.

"Not too long ago, two brothers were walking side by side through a nice residential area," the announcer said. "When suddenly they came upon a mysterious spooky graveyard."

The two of them walk past the graveyard. As they walk, the Doctor looks over at it.

"Say, Brother, I have a good idea. Let's take an unnecessary stroll through this dark, spooky and possibly vampire infested graveyard!"

"Okey-dokey."

The two brothers turn and walk through an open gate. As they walk, they whistle What What in the Butt in unison.

"Suddenly," the announcer said dramatically, "a vampire leapt from the shadows!"

Both brothers gasp melodramatically as a vampire leaps up from behind a gravestone and attacks the Doctor.

"Alan, the valiant clone, comes to his brother's defense."

Alan pauses while he's trying to pull the vampire off the Doctor.

"You know, I'm getting tired of being referred to as "The Clone". Can't you lot just call me Alan and…GAH!"

"The vampire, seeing that Alan was distracted, leapt on him and bit him directly in the neck," the announcer said breathlessly.

The Doctor leaps up and goes into slow motion while he shouts, "NOOOOOOOOO!" in slow motion.

The Doctor pauses for a moment in mid-step wondering why he's in slow motion when everyone else is at normal speed. He shrugs and decides he doesn't wanna know and goes to help his brother. But when he reaches the vampire there is an enormous 'POOF!' and the vampire vanishes leaving Alan dazed and disoriented with a bloody neck.

"Wow, this has been one pisser of an evening, eh?" Alan said to him.

"The Doctor took his brother back to the TARDIS," the announcer said. "But that was his first mistake. For you see, Alan was already transforming into ALANCULA!"

Cut to the Doctor carrying Alan in his arms. Alan looks at him.

"You know I can walk. Getting bit in the neck doesn't mean I can't walk," Alan said to the Doctor.

"The Doctor ignored his brother, desperate to save his life. So he took him back to his med bay and with much effort, saved his life…or so he thought."

Cut to the Doctor carrying Alan through the TARDIS corridors.

"No, really, I can walk," Alan said to him.

"For about a week, the transformation slowly happened. Everyone ignored the signs, not wanting to believe their beloved brother, uncle and husband was becoming an ugly, hideous bloodsucker. But the signs were there nonetheless."

Cut to the kitchen, Alan is sitting and eating corn flakes with Rain and Donna. While Alan eats, he taps Rain on the shoulder.

"Hey, Buttsnot, mind opening a vein for me? I need some blood on my corn flakes."

"Yes," the announcer said, "the signs were there! But by the time everyone accepted the truth, it was too late and Alan was transformed into…ALANCULA!"

Cut back to Alan in the Bela Lugosi outfit with the block letters above his head. Alan is scratching furiously at his clothes.

"ARGH, HOT AND ITCHY!" he screams.

"When that week was finally up, the nefarious newly crowned king of the vampires made his move! First, he began a slow seduction of his wife with the purpose of making her his vampire bride for all eternity."

Cut to Alan. He walks into their TARDIS bedroom where Rose is putting some socks away in their dresser. He taps her on the shoulder and when she turns around he thrusts his finger at her and stares at her intently.

"OBEY!" he screams.

Rose's eyes glaze over and her arms shoot out in front of her like a zombie. Alan stares at her triumphantly for a moment and then has a thought. He looks at the camera.

"Oh wait; you said slow seduction, didn't ya? Eh, whatever works!" he said, shrugging.

He walks away and Rose follows him with her arms outstretched.

"They tried to leave the TARDIS but the Doctor saw them and tried to stop them, still holding out hope that his beloved brother could be saved!"

Cut to the Doctor carrying Alan back to the med bay.

"You know, this carrying me like I'm some kind of sodding baby is getting very annoying!"

"But then, Alan revealed another surprise to the startled Doctor…"

'POOF!'

The Doctor gasped when Alan suddenly transformed into an enormous vampire bat with a ten foot wingspan. The Doctor stared at his bat brother while he hovered in front of him.

"Bitchin', huh? See, I don't need to be carried everywhere by you and now, I bid you and the TARDIS crew adieu. Except for my zombified vampire bride wife, she's coming with. Ta-ta!"

Alan flew over the Doctor's head to the console room. He flew over Rose who followed him. He burst through the door and the two of them fled into the night.

Cut back to Alan and the block letters.

"Since then, life has been hard for Alan and his bride!"

"You're tellin' me? I apparently went off my trolley and decided hot and itchy clothes were the perfect thing to wear! Argh! Want my t-shirts and trousers back!"

"Try as he might, Alan couldn't find employment. The other vampires found him too wacky and so this poor soul was forced to go on the dole because no one wanted him as a leader. And because he was on the dole he couldn't provide the basic necessities for his vampire bride."

Cut to Alan walking along with Rose following him. She has her arms down now but still has the glazed look. She is wearing a long diaphanous gown. They walk for a minute and then Alan stops her and put his hands on her shoulders.

"Starlight, I hate to break this to ya but I can't afford a proper coffin for ya. See, coffins cost money and being on the dole I can't afford to pay for one. So until I save up enough to get you one, I'm afraid you'll have to sleep in the filing cabinet."

He leads her to a metal filing cabinet. He pulls the bottom drawer out about five feet, picks Rose up and puts her inside.

"Good night, sweet wife, see ya in the evening!"

He closes the drawer back and walks off.

"But there are also benefits to being a vampire king!" the announcer says.

Cut to Jackie and Pete walking home from a gala function. Jackie is wearing a Christian Dior dress and Pete is wearing a tux. Jackie is rambling on and on, talking Pete's ear off while he lets out a bored sigh.

"So anyway, I was saying to Beryl why would you shop at Maurices when you can get better dresses at Bertram's shop," Jackie said. "I mean, the frocks at Maurices are positively grotty."

The camera pulls out to reveal bat Alan a thousand feet above Jackie's head. He's flying along keeping pace with her while he stares at her intently.

"Oh yeah, I've always wanted to do this!" Alan says to himself. "Watch out Jackie Tyler, that fabulous dress is about to get bat scat all over it! 1…2…3! GUANO AWAAAAAAAAAY!"

Cut back to Bela Lugosi and block letters Alan. Alan is now in his Y-fronts and his clothes are scattered all around him.

"There, blessed relief from the hot, itchy clothes," he sighs.

"So grab your family, friends, pets, associates, strangers and anyone else you can snatch off the street and bring them directly to the cinema to see…ALANCULA, THE SCOURGE OF THE NIGHT!"

Alan looks around.

"Are we done now with the idiotic trailer? Can I go back to the TARDIS and relax now? Well, if I can't, tough! I'm tired and hot and I want a cuppa!"

Alan walks off grumbling to himself about coming up with a better name than Alancula.

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(Cut to the next commercial…)

The Doctor is sitting on a wooden stool as he smiles at the camera.

"Good day, I'm the Doctor," he said pleasantly. "I'm taking a break from my adventures to talk to you about a problem you may have. Are you like me and most of planet Earth? At some point have you had a hand cut off and then it eventually grew into a clone of yourself? It's a very common occurrence but what may not be common is how your clone acts. You see, my clone brother, Alan, was touched by my sister, Donna, which triggered a change in him and now because of that and his own efforts to be different from me, he is very hyperactive and is always up for a party."

The camera pans out and Alan is sitting beside the Doctor on an identical stool.

"Good day," Alan says pleasantly. "I'm Alan, an inexhaustible whirlwind of mischievous fun!"

The camera focuses back on the Doctor.

"Don't get me wrong, I love my brother dearly but sometimes he can be a bit of a handful."

The camera pans back out. Alan's in his Y-fronts with a lampshade on his head. He points to the lampshade.

"See, I'm a wacky little git," he says.

The camera pans back in to the Doctor.

"There are times when Alan gets so revved up, it's hard to get him to slow down and take a breather."

The camera pans back out and Alan is not on his stool. There is a pause and then suddenly there is a SPRONG, SPRONG sound from off camera. Alan comes into camera view bouncing along on a pogo stick.

"Wheeee!" he says, bouncing back out of camera shot.

"Yup, Alan loves to have fun!" the Doctor says.

Alan bounces back into camera view.

"Wheeee!" he says, bouncing back out.

"I love his energy, don't get me wrong. It's a nice change from the gloomy emptiness of the TARDIS when I was all alone and emo."

Alan bounces back in.

"BOING-A, BOING-A, BOING-A, BOING-A!" he yells as he bounces back out of camera view.

"But there are times I need to get something done and Alan is unfortunately a distraction."

There is a scream and Alan laughs as he runs back into camera view. Rain follows him shaking ice cubes out of her left jean leg.

"You'll pay for that, Douchbag!" she said, shaking her fist at him before she walks out of camera view.

"That's why I have put my brilliant mind to work thinking up a way to keep Alan content and contained," the Doctor said while Alan stepped back into camera view and stuck his tongue out at Rain. "And I finally found the solution. I have dubbed my solution Happy Hamster Fun Ball!"

Alan frowns when he suddenly finds himself contained inside a gigantic plastic hamster ball.

"What the hell is this?" he says, looking at it.

"This ball allows total freedom of movement while restricting Alan to the ball."

"Hey, Brother, what the hell is the deal with the giant hamster ball?" Alan says, yelling at the Doctor.

"And to keep my dear brother amused, I have installed a bell in it."

A tiny golden bell appears inside the hamster ball. Alan stares at it for a moment while it hangs down in front of his face. He pushes it and giggles softly when it rings. He pushes it again and giggles.

"See, the bell keeps him amused and it always stays upright even if he moves inside the ball so he can be entertained and I can perform vital calibrations on my TARDIS while his energy is contained and expended. It's a win-win situation!"

"Hey, Brother, you gotta try this bell," Alan said to him.

He rings it again and giggles. Just then Rain walks over to him.

"Thanks for inventing this, Love."

Alan gasps when she suddenly shoves it, knocks him on his ass and she begins to roll it around while the bell rings.

"This'll teach you to put ice down my pants!" she said, rolling it around.

"Rain! Stop! I'm sorry I put ice down your trousers! STOOOOP!"

"Course that doesn't stop my wife from exacting revenge on my brother and making him sick to his stomach while she rolls him around but then again no invention is one hundred percent perfect. But if you would like your own hamster ball for your hyperactive clone, please write or ring the BBC and they'll be sure to contact me so I can get the ball to you."

"BROOOOOOTHER, MAKE YOUR WIFE STOP ROOOOOOLING ME!"

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go calm down the wife so Brother doesn't vomit all over my invention. Have a good day!"

(And now, we return you to our regularly scheduled program…)


	103. Chapter 103

Chapter One Hundred and Three

_Aha, finally the inner sanctum,_ the Doctor thought when the barkeep raised a floorboard and a secret door slid open.

"Clever," Jack said.

"Yes, we think so. Now follow me and I'll take you to the buyers," he said to him.

Jack tugged on the chains.

"Get a move on, bitches!" he said, gruffly.

Donna raised her head slightly and glared at him.

_I mean bitches in a loving way_, Jack thought to her.

_I hope we find this Terina quickly because I don't think I'll be able to stand the insults much longer,_ Donna thought to them.

The barkeep led them down some stairs and into a dimly lit corridor. On either side of them were concrete cells with iron bars in the front. Each cell had dirty straw laid out and in several of them were aliens and human females of different colors and sizes. All of them were in varying degrees in health. There were a couple who looked healthy and were glaring at the barkeep while they sat on the straw but most of them looked ill and were coughing and moaning. The barkeep noticed Jack looking at them and shrugged.

"As long as the innards are intact who cares how sick they are on the outside," he said.

_Oh, you bastard,_ Madison thought.

_Donna's right, it's gonna be really hard not to beat the shit outta this guy_, Awinita thought.

_If you women lose it and do beat the shit outta him, save some for me_, Jack thought.

_And me as well,_ Alan though, keeping his eyes on Rose.

The barkeep led them around a corner. This hallway didn't have cells inside it and the walls were devoid of any decoration. There was a door at the end of the hall and the barkeep led them to that. He opened it and they walked into a darkened room. There was nothing on the walls in this room either. The only furniture was a round wooden table with several wooden chairs and in the chairs sat several men with hoods covering their heads.

_That figures,_ the Doctor thought. _Conceal your identity from the hunters. Cowards. _

The Doctor looked over when Rain tapped his shoulder. She was at the end and he was near the middle and she was waving him over to her vantage point. He walked over and froze when he noticed there was a woman crouched on the floor near the man sitting at the back of the table. She was bruised and her hair was in a mess but there was no mistaking her identity.

_Terina,_ the Doctor thought.

Everyone glanced at him and everyone except Jack walked over and looked at her. She had her eyes downcast and was shivering, whether from fear or the cold they couldn't tell. The Doctor's hearts went out to her and he was glad they were here to save her. She had on ripped and torn clothing and a leather dog collar was around her neck. The leash went up to the man's hand and he held it while he rested his fist casually on his leg. The Doctor wanted so much to reveal themselves to her, to let her know there was hope but he knew he couldn't and all of them were forced to stand by and watched while the hooded men negotiated with Jack.

One of the men stood up and walked over to Donna. Once he got close enough, Jack could see that the hood was made of light filmy material that allowed the wearer to see while still being masked. All three women stood quietly while he looked them over.

"Where'd ya find these Time Ladies?" he asked Jack.

_Earth, Jack, tell them Earth,_ the Doctor thought to him.

"Found em hidin' on Earth of all places," Jack said to the hooded man. "Seemed a bit strange since supposedly Time Lords and Ladies are supposed to be above backwards apes but I guess they figured it was the last place anyone would look."

The man chuckled.

"Kneel, sluts!" he said to the three women.

All of them seethed silently while they fell to their knees. The man reached up under his hood and scratched his chin thoughtfully while he stared at them. He bent down to Rose and grabbed her face.

"The one who calls himself "The Doctor", is he still alive?" he snarled at her.

_Yup, I figured they'd be asking about me sooner or later,_ the Doctor thought.

_What do I say?_ Rose thought.

_Tell him you don't know. I don't want this lot searching for me and the rest of us._

"I d…don't know," Rose said, trying to be as timid as possible. "We left before Gallifrey was destroyed and headed for Earth. I d…don't know if he survived."

"How many are left?"

"Just us," Rose said.

Rose could sense he didn't believe her and she tried to keep calm and her face passive taking comfort in the fact that her entire family was behind her and they outnumbered the man and his associates. The man stood quietly staring at her for a moment before he stood up and turned his attention back to Jack.

"Normally, Time Ladies fetch about 50,000 credits apiece but since these are the last that we know of I can raise the price to a million credits apiece."

"Excellent," Jack said. "Who do I give my credit stick to?"

The man held up his hand.

"First things first, we put these sluts in cages and then you come with me and my mates for a drink, eh?"

"Sounds good to me," Jack said.

The man looked back at the one who was holding Terina.

"Tek, put the mutt in her cage for the time being. You can play with her after we get through discussing business."

Tek stood up and jerked on the leash.

"Get up, you useless waste of space," he growled at her.

Everyone fought to restrain themselves when Terina gagged and slowly got to her feet. The man talking to Jack shook his head.

"Don't know why you still want that whore, Tek," he said to him.

"She amuses me. The bitch may not look like much but she's still a good shag," he replied.

The man shrugged. Everyone backed up and let him pass by with Terina. Again, the Doctor's hearts went out to her and he knew he had to let her know that help was here. He quickly devised a plan.

_Okay, he thought to everyone. We split up into two teams. I'll head up one and Alan heads up the other. My team stays with Rose, Martha and Donna and tries to talk to Terina. The others protect Jack and keep us informed if anything important happens._

They nodded. Jenny, Grace, Mingxia and Awinita decided to go with Alan while Rain and Madison opted to stay with the Doctor and free Rose, Martha and Donna when no one was looking. Alan beckoned to his team and they got behind Jack.

"Bring the sluts along, we'll put them in cages on the way up to the pub," he said to Jack.

Jack took a deep, calming breath through his nose and nodded. The Doctor and his team waited and watched while almost everyone left. Then before the last person left, they quickly slipped through before he closed the door behind them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once Rose, Martha, Donna and Terina were put in separate cages, Alan's team went with Jack while the rest of them stayed behind. The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief when they were gone and went over to Rose's cage. He used his screwdriver to unlock the door and opened it just enough to let her pass before closing it again. He did the same with Martha and Donna and gave Rose and Donna back their screwdrivers and keys before they walked over to Terina's cage. She was sitting on the floor in the corner, a hopeless expression on his face.

_Stay out here, I'll go in and talk to her,_ he thought to his family.

They nodded and stood out of her view while the three women put their keys around their necks. He quietly unlocked the door and slipped inside. He closed it gently and headed over to Terina while the women kept watch. The Doctor knelt down beside her.

"Terina," he whispered, putting his hand on her shoulder.

Terina looked up and gasped when she suddenly saw the Doctor.

"No, it's alright, I won't hurt ya," he said, gently. "We got your message. That transmission you sent."

She blinked.

"That was a year ago," she said with a dry scratchy voice.

"I figured as much. The transmission had been corrupted with age and I had to fix it but we came to rescue you."

"We?" Terina said, looking around.

"My family and I. Show yourselves to her."

They stepped into view and entered the cage. Terina's eyes focused in on them and she stared at them in shock.

"You're the three Time Ladies," she said pointing to Rose, Donna and Martha.

"Yeah, we let ourselves be the bait so we could find ya," Rose whispered. "I'm Rose and this is Donna and Martha. This is Rain and Madison and this is the Doctor."

"The Doctor…wait, you're the one they were asking them about," Terina whispered.

"Yes, I'm quite well known," he said.

Terina nodded.

"I've heard a little, some stories before about you and your bravery. Why are you here though? I thought you traveled time and space."

"I do but we were at a resort when Madison and another sister of mine named Grace found your transmission."

"Where's this Grace then?"

"The rest of my family is with Jack. He's the slave hunter. He's actually with us. As to why I'm here…you're in need of our help and that's what we do, help people. I've already taken care of your mother and father and his toadies and sent them to a prison planet for what they did to our people and to you and countless others. If you want it, the throne is yours…that is, unless you have any other brothers and sisters..."

"No, I'm the only one. But it's really true, you stopped my parents?"

They nodded.

"Yes and we hope to stop the people here and crush the black market."

"Heh, good luck with that. Mordos is a large planet, you know."

"Yeah well I've deal with large planets before. It's obvious they're keeping an eye out for me if they asked my sisters if I'm alive or not. They know what I'm capable of. But for the moment, I want to get you out of here and then let my sister, Martha, examine and treat you."

She nodded.

_Oh shit! Brother, run, it's a trap! They know about us!_

Terina frowned when everyone let out a gasp.

"What? What is it?" she asked.

"The part of my family that's with Jack is in trouble. But we can't help them right now. We gotta get outta here and formulate a plan before we end up imprisoned with them. Terina, I'm gonna stand you up and put this key I'm wearing around your neck. Just keep close and keep quiet no matter what happens, alright?"

"What about you? You don't have a key now," Rain said.

"Then I'll draw them away if they see me. Just as long as you lot are safe, I don't care. I'll be able to handle myself. Now hurry before they come in here."

The Doctor took Terina's hand and all of them quickly ran out of the cell and headed for the exit.


	104. Chapter 104

Chapter One Hundred and Four

The Doctor exited the room with the cells and noticed the secret door was starting to slide open. They quickly hid underneath the stairs and listened to the footsteps of the people above them.

"I hope to gods you are all Time Lords and Ladies," they heard Tek say as they came down.

_Brother, where are you?_ Alan thought.

_I'm here, under the stairs with the others_, the Doctor thought back. _Are all of you alright?_

_Yeah, we're fine. One of the hooded men has a cybernetic eye that can detect body heat. That's how he knew we were there,_ Alan thought._ I managed to hide my rings in my pocket before they noticed so they won't suspect I'm married. And speaking of married, just look after Rose for me, alright?_

_Alan, I'm here. I love you._

_I love you too, my Starlight, so very much. Don't worry about me; just concentrate on not getting caught. I'll be alright, I promise. In the meantime…_

The Doctor saw Alan's key sliding back towards them.

_For Terina, Brother. As long as you avoid these men, you can make it out, just get her to safety,_ he thought.

_Thank you, don't worry. We're getting all of you out of here. I'm not gonna have half my family killed by these maniacs. Just stay calm all of you._

The Doctor waited till they went through the door before recovering the key and slipping it around his neck. He waited a few minutes and glanced up at the empty stairs before looking back at the women and coming close to them.

"Stay here for the moment and keep silent. If someone comes by, keep absolutely still. I'm gonna go and see if I can help get the others to safety. Just guard Terina for me, alright?"

They nodded. Rain gave him a quick kiss.

"Be careful," she whispered.

He nodded and squeezed his family's hands before he slowly came out from behind the stairs and hurried back into the other room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alan grunted when Tek slammed him down in one of the chairs. The other men went to secure the women in the cells before coming back to report that Terina, Rose, Martha and Donna were gone. Now the men were clustered around Alan.

"We know who you are so don't deny anything," Tek said while the other men kept a close watch on Alan. "We have spies all across the galaxy and we know what you look like. You're the Doctor, aren't ya?"

"Yes, I am," Alan said.

"Good, you didn't deny it. But on the other hand, we would had fun torturing the truth outta ya. But on the other hand, we can still torture ya. Now, where are those Time Ladies and my pet? What did you do with them?"

Alan kept silent.

"Oh, so now you play the silent type, eh? That figures. The Doctor, who puts himself above all others, of course you're not gonna tell us where you took em. Well, perhaps if we torture your friends in there, that'll loosen your tongue."

"No, you deal with me and me alone," Alan said.

"And what if we don't wanna deal with you and you alone," Tek said mockingly. "What if we enjoy torturing people and hearing them scream? But then again, that's what you hate, isn't it, Doctor? The sound of people suffering?"

Alan grunted when he balled up his fist and decked him hard in the face. The men held him while he shook his head in a daze.

"You don't know how long I've been waiting to do that, Doctor," Tek sneered. "Feels good to finally get my hands on ya, ya little troublemaker. Figured sooner or later you'd be snooping around here wanting to shut our operations down."

He leaned down into his face.

"You know, you alone would be enough to give us all a cushy retirement if we put you on the auction block. We could get millions, maybe even billions of credits out of you. But there's a chance you might escape and come back here to plague us further so sadly, we're gonna have to execute you. Now I know for a fact that you have to kill both your hearts so you won't regenerate. Learned that fact from kidnapping your kind. We could harvest their organs and keep them alive as long as we didn't touch both hearts."

Alan tried to lunge at him but the men held him in the chair.

"These other Time Ladies, were you hiding them, Doctor? The last survivors of your race? Is that why they were on Earth? These others we just caught. Are they Time Lords and Ladies as well? You might as well answer us because a simple medical exam will confirm it. Are there more like you, Doctor? More that you're hiding?"

"No."

Tek snorted.

"Why don't I believe you? You like saving people. I bet you saved a heap of Time Lords and Ladies and scattered them throughout the universe to keep them safe, didn't ya?"

Alan remained silent and grunted when he hit him again.

"Answer me, Time Lord!" Tek snarled. "Answer or die now!"

"I'd rather die than tell you," Alan snarled back.

"Very well, we can arrange that now! And just to make sure everyone knows you're gone, we'll take you to the auction block, build a pyre and burn you alive. That'll burn up the hearts, won't it? Last chance, Time Lord, where are the others at and where are you hiding the rest of your kind?"

Alan said nothing. Tek sighed.

"Burn the bastard, boys. And make it nice and slow so he'll die slowly and painful and keep on regenerating until he dies."

They grabbed him under the arms and jerked him up.

"I hope you realize your so-called sacrifice gets you nothing, Doctor. You'll die and all those people you've sworn to protect all across the universe lose their defender. Keep that in mind when the flames are consuming your flesh and turning you to ash. Take him away!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor had been listening by the door. He had let his family in the cells know he was there but he decided not to free them yet so no one would suspect there were more. He had been listening to the conversation in the other room with heavy hearts. Knowing his brother was willing to pose as him and condemn himself to death warmed his hearts and deepened his affection for him even more. He knew he was doing it and sacrificing himself so they could get away but the Doctor wasn't about to let any more people die in his name and that included his brother. Once he heard Tek order the men to take him away, he backed up into the shadows and watched while the door opened and the men escorted him out. The Doctor waited and watched. He could see his family coming close to the bars watching in silent anguish as he was led past them. Suddenly he felt a privacy block being thrown up around his mind.

_Brother,_ Alan thought to him while they went through the door into the other room. _Please look after Rose. Keep her safe and make sure she's loved. Tell her I loved her with all my hearts._

_Don't talk like that, Alan. I'm not abandoning you,_ the Doctor thought back.

_No, please. Everyone will come to watch me die and you'll be able to get everyone away from here. They think I'm you so if I die, they'll stop looking for the Doctor. Just get the others to safety and forget about me. I'm happy to die if it protects my family_.

The Doctor felt his eyes mist over.

_No, my Te'lesau, you know me and you know I'd never leave you. I'll have everyone else get back to the safety of the TARDIS but I won't leave without you. You're a part of this family now and everyone would slaughter me if I let you die. Just keep calm and don't antagonize them. I won't let you down just as you won't let me down. _

_Just get everyone to safety first before you come for me. _

The Doctor smiled.

_I will, don't worry, _he thought to him.

_And Doctor…_

_Yes, Brother?_

_If you can't get back to me in time, tell Snotbag I'll be giving her wedgies from the other side until she's drooling and climbing the walls in an insane fit, okay?_

The Doctor chuckled in spite of the tear that ran down his cheek.

_I will, Brother. I'll tell Snotbag just that, _he thought.

_Thanks, I can go to my grave now knowing Assmunch knows that, _Alan thought.

The Doctor felt the privacy block being dropped.

"This isn't goodbye, Alan. Not by a long shot," the Doctor muttered to himself before he got up and freed the others.

The moment he let Jack out of the cage, he started to go after the men.

"No, wait, Jack. Not yet," the Doctor hissed at him.

"Doctor, they're gonna kill him."

"I know but we can't all go barging in there and get caught again. I'll get him while you take the women to safety. If I need you I'll call for you but we need as few people as possible because there'll be a mob there watching Alan die. And I mean a mob since I'm sure every cutthroat on this planet wants to see the Doctor burned alive. Just do that, Jack, please before Terina or the others fall into their hands and are lost to us forever."

Jack nodded.

"Doctor, please get Bro back," Awinita said.

"I will, Te'lesu, don't worry," he said, hugging her. "I'm not letting him die, I promise. Just go with Jack and take the others that are in here. Take them to the med bay. Grace, you and Martha tend to them."

Grace nodded.

"Now, let me go before it's too late for Alan," he said to them.

He hurried towards the door while Jenny, Mingxia and Awinita used their screwdrivers to quickly free the other captives.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor paused by the stairs, went underneath it and told them what he had heard. He held Rose's hand when she turned ashen and she shook her head emphatically when he told them to go with Jack and the others.

"No, I wanna go with you to save Alan."

"No, Rose, go with Jack. I need to go alone. One person has a better chance of slipping by the crowd than eleven does. I won't let him die, I swear that to you."

Rose nodded and he cupped her cheeks.

"He told me to tell you that he loves you and he always will."

Rose nodded and the Doctor brushed a tear from her cheek. He looked at Rain.

"And he has a message for you as well, Latara."

"Yes?"

He grinned.

"He told me to tell Snotbag that he'll be giving her constant wedgies from the other side until she's drooling and running up the walls in an insane fit."

They giggled.

"Oh yeah, well tell Douchebag to try and do that to me when you see him," she said.

He grinned.

"Will do. I'll be sure to tell Douchebag just that," he said.

He slid out from under the stairs, went up and slid open the secret door a crack. He breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't see anyone and looked down at his family. The ones under the stairs came out and stood with the others who were carrying the wounded and weak captives in their arms while the few prisoners that were strong enough stood beside them.

"All clear, get them to the TARDIS," The Doctor said. "And if anyone tries to stop ya on the way there, render them unconscious. Don't let anyone or anything get in your way."

They nodded and the Doctor opened the door wider and let them go through. Once they were out and through the pub. The Doctor came out and closed the door behind him.

"Now, to go save my brother," he muttered to himself.


	105. Chapter 105

Chapter One Hundred and Five

By the time the men got Alan to the auction block, word had begun to spread that the "Doctor" was going to be burned alive and a crowd was growing with more coming every second. Thirty of them headed off into the nearby woods to chop wood for the pyre while another handful of people helped the men guard Alan. They had gotten some rope and tired his arms around him before securing his legs and winding the rest around his chest, rendering him immobile. Alan knew the moment Rose had learned of his impending death because he could feel her anguish in his mind. He smiled softly when he felt her pouring love into his mind and stroking it and he did the same in return, being comforted by the fact that his wife and family were safe and being led away from the frenzied mob.

As the men constructed the pyre, the men began to work him over landing punch after punch on his face and body. Alan endured it silently knowing as long as they were doing that they weren't out looking for the others. The men who weren't hooded were laughing at him and spitting in his face, jerking on his hair and ears and taunting him for being a sentimental weakling. He bore it all stoically, preparing himself in case it really was his day to die.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, the Doctor had been keeping to the shadows watching in silent anguish and rage while the men abused his brother. He fought to keep his emotions under control so he could keep a level head. He was looking for the right opportunity and finally he saw it. He heard one of the hooded men tell the others to go and check on the prisoners to make sure they were still there. He smirked thinking the man's hood would make a very nice disguise for himself. As the man jumped off the stage and made his way through the crowd, the Doctor shadowed him watching with a keen eye while he hurried back to the pub. He waited till the man entered before he followed him in. The man was so intent on getting to the secret door that he didn't realize that he was being followed. The Doctor paused and waited till he lifted the floorboard and went in before he followed him. He let him get back to the cells, let him see they were all empty and smirked, imagining the shock on his face. He let him take in the empty cells for a moment before he cleared his throat loudly. The man spun around and saw him standing there, his face hard and his eyes cold and dispassionate.

"What? How did you get free? How did you change clothes so fast?" the man said.

"You didn't know? I'm the Doctor and I have powers beyond your imagination," he said to him.

He smirked when he noticed the man trembling at that.

"You can't defeat me, you berk. Didn't anyone ever tell ya that?" the Doctor said, walking closer to him. "I'm the invincible Time Lord that survived the destruction of Gallifrey. I can be everywhere and nowhere, in everything and everyone and I can take control of any mind I desire, including yours."

The man was visibly shaking now which made the Doctor glad. He was glad he could make the heartless bastard quake with fear for a change.

"I am your worst nightmare. You deepest darkest fear made flesh," he said ominously while he drew nearer. "I can escape any trap, cheat death just by blinking my eyes. I am invincible and you, you are my prisoner now!"

"No, let me go, please!" the man begged.

"Hmmm, how many people have said that to you over the years?" the Doctor said, drawing nearer. "How many have begged for mercy at your feet and received none. You think after all you've done, I will show you any?"

The man finally found the strength to move his muscles and run. He tried to run past the Doctor but he was on him as quick as lightning. The man grunted when he threw him against the bars of the nearest cell and stared at him with dark impenetrable eyes that held nothing but hate and contempt.

"How many have lain in this cell behind you, awaiting their fate?" he snarled. "How many innocent lives were torn apart by you and your friends' butchery? How many of my people perished? HOW MANY?"

The man gulped under the hood and the Doctor snatched it away. He noticed gleefully it was the one with the cybernetic eye which meant he wouldn't be on the stage detecting him while he moved through the crowd with the perception filter on. The man was relatively young, late twenties, early thirties with a few battle scars crisscrossing his face. But the Doctor had no compassion for the trembling man.

"You and your friends will be stopped. I will stop each and every one of you and I won't quit until no creature has to suffer the auction block any longer. Now, know this, before I render you unconscious. The man you have tied up on that stage isn't me. He's my twin brother."

He smirked when the man stared at him in shock.

"Oh yes, there are two of us who are dedicated to fighting scum like you. And many more besides us. I have a family who has sworn to protect others as I have and we will not let these atrocities go unpunished. You will pay for your crimes, we will see to that. But enough talking, I have a brother to save and you have a prison planet to wait on. So I bid you goodnight!"

He grunted when the Doctor cricked his neck and sent him into unconsciousness. He gave him a disdainful look for a minute before he began to take off his clothes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Where is Jez?" Tek muttered to the other men. "We can't keep this crowd under control for much longer."

He was holding on to Alan who was by now a bloody mess. He had been punched, kicked, stoned, spat on, pinched, poked and abused until he was barely conscious. He knew though that they would never show him that mercy. He knew he'd be conscious when the flames reached his body. He could feel his family's anguish, feel his wife's torment and he tried to comfort her as best he could but it was hard to focus after the punishment he had received. He didn't want to block them since he knew they might interpret it as his death but he knew eventually he would have to when the bonfire started so they wouldn't have to suffer with him in his final moments.

He could see the mob was reaching a frenzied pitch with each passing second, could hear them baying for his blood and demanding he be killed immediately. He shook his head wondering how someone got to the point they enjoyed watching other people suffer and die and he thanked numerous gods he came from a man who loathed that kind of thing.

"Well, it's about damn time!"

Alan looked up and saw through his one unblackened eye that Jez was hurrying back through the crowd to join them. He lowered his head preparing himself to go into a waking trance so he wouldn't suffer on the pyre and go quickly into the great beyond. Vaguely he felt the Doctor's anguish increasing and he lifted his head looking for him out in the jeering crowd. His eye swept over the crowd but he couldn't see him anywhere. Figuring he was hiding just out of view he lowered his head back. Then he felt Jez's fingertips on his back and he frowned when he felt him rubbing it. That gave him pause. He glanced up at "Jez" and noticed him subtly waving his fingers at him.

_Brother?_ Alan thought after throwing up a quick privacy block.

_Yes, Alan, I'm here now,_ he thought back. _Just don't let on that I'm here._

Alan nodded slightly and lowered his head back, smiling slightly when he felt his brother quickly rub the back of his head before he took his hand away.

"Alright, the other guy is here now! Now burn him!" Someone in the crowd shouted up at them.

Alan felt the Doctor's anger in his mind before he felt him gently grab him under the arms and help him to stand. He gathered him up in his arms and the crowd cheered while the Doctor carried him to the pyre and set him on top of the wood. He pretended to prepare him while Tek addressed the crowd. He secretly withdrew his screwdriver from Jez's trouser pocket and burned through the ropes around his legs loosening them enough so Alan could get free. Then he did the same with the other ropes, trying to look like he was trying to prepare him.

_Brother, can you stand?_ The Doctor thought to him after throwing up a privacy block. _Will you have strength enough to get off of here?_

_I'll find the strength, _Alan thought back.

The Doctor finished fixing the ropes.

_They won't get away with what they've done, I swear that,_ he thought angrily.

_Just as long as our family is safe, I really don't care that they did this to me,_ Alan thought back.

The Doctor smiled under the hood and patted his arm.

_Stay strong, Brother. Just relax and watch big brother unload a can of Gallifreyan whoop ass on them._

Alan smiled and relaxed while the Doctor turned away. Tek was still addressing the crowd and the Doctor listened to him.

"This man behind us has meddled in the affairs of hard working men like us. Men who are only trying to earn a decent living," Tek said.

The Doctor snorted.

_Ironic he used the word decent just then to describe his living_, he thought to Alan.

_Yeah, well, I wouldn't expect the bastard to do no less since he's rationalizing his actions,_ Alan thought back.

_The one I knocked out was the one with the cybernetic eye._

_Good. I'm glad. What about them? The crowd?_

_We'll deal with one thing at a time. First, I need you to get you off his pyre and get you to safety. _

_How? _

_With our help._

The Doctor heard Jack think to him and saw his family peeking up over the edge of the stage behind the pyre. All of them were wearing their keys.

_Terina and the others are resting. Martha and Grace at tending to them so we thought we'd come and lend a hand,_ Jack thought. _I have Terina's key. We can put it on Alan and hide him._

_Good, get up on stage then and be prepared to pull him off and get him to safety. _

They all slowly climbed up on the stage. Rose hurried over to Alan and touched his face.

_Oh my love, look at what they've done to you,_ she thought.

Alan smiled weakly at her. Rose leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Meanwhile, the others were looking around. They stared at the crowd that were hooting and hollering and demanding Alan die. Awinita looked at the houses surrounding them and looked at her family.

_Can we do what we did in Edo and create a distraction? Start a fire in one of the houses so everyone will be lured away from Alan? _

They looked at her.

_You guys did that?_ Jack thought.

Rose nodded.

_Yeah, there was this one man being executed and we started a fire and yelled and everyone went to put it out and left him alone. We can do that again. As bloodthirsty as they are, I'm sure this lot doesn't want their town to burn to the ground. _

_Do it then. Create a distraction. I'll stay here with Alan and guard him, _the Doctor thought.

_I'm staying with ya, _Rose thought.

_No, Starlight, I'll be alright, _Alan thought._ Just go and help the others. I promise I won't die. Brother will keep me safe._

Rose kissed him again and nuzzled his cheek while he sent love into her mind.

_Go, my beloved, hurry, _Alan thought.

Rose nodded. She and the others jumped off the stage and hurried off. The Doctor noticed Tek had finished his speech and was using a lighter to light a torch.

_We might not have time for them to create the distraction_, Alan thought.

_I'll make time,_ the Doctor thought back_. It's time these nut jobs learned about the grave mistake they made._

_What d'ya mean, Brother? _

_Just watch._

Tek turned and walked back to the pyre with flaming torch in hand while the crowd's yelling reached a fevered pitch.

"At last, the Doctor dies!" Tek sneered. "Say your prayers, Time Lord."

"Stop!" the Doctor said in Jez's voice.

Tek froze and looked at him.

"What d'ya mean, stop?" he asked him.

"This man is not the Doctor," the Doctor said in Jez's voice.

Tek stared at Alan, completely confused.

"Yes, it is. That's the Doctor. I've seen pictures of him and so have you. That's his current incarnation, ya idiot!"

"No, this man is an imposter!"

The Doctor turned, grabbed Alan's sleeve and showed them the Stitch tattoo.

"This man is not the Doctor. The Doctor would never put such a daft looking thing on his arm."

_That's right, Brother, get in a few insults while you're at it,_ Alan thought to him.

The Doctor chuckled in his mind.

_Just pointing out to the crowd how naff your tattoo is,_ _Alan,_ he thought to him.

"If that's not the Doctor then who is he?" Tek said.

The Doctor pulled off his hood.

"My twin brother, I'm proud to say," he said to him.

There was a gasp from the crowd.

"Two of them?" Tek said in disbelief.

"Yeah, there are two of us. This is my brother, Alan, who very stoically took the abuse that was meant for me and he would have died for me if I hadn't intervened. But I love him far too much to watch him burn alive so I'm here to stop it and you."

The Doctor smirked when he saw how quiet the crowd had become.

"What's wrong? You can hurl insults and abuse the Doctor when you think he's at your mercy but when he's standing right here, healthy and ready for a fight, the cheers die down? Unfortunately for all of you, you tortured my brother, a brother whom I love dearly and that means I won't show any of you lot mercy!"

He turned his attention to Tek who was still holding the torch in his hand.

"Go on, coward, burn me alive. I'm standing right here!" he snarled at him. "Try to burn me up and see how close you can get that torch to my body before I snap your hand off at the wrist!"

_Bro,_ Rain thought to Alan. _Are you alright?_

_Yeah, the Doctor just revealed himself to everyone. He's buying time for you lot._

_Well, get ready. We found dynamite in a shed and we're about to set it alight._

_Brother, did you hear that? _Alan thought to the Doctor.

_Yes, I did. I'm ready for it._

_Go ahead, Rain, make the room go ka-boom,_ Alan thought.

_One house demolition comin' right up, Bro,_ she thought back.

"Well," the Doctor said to Tek when he didn't make a move, "aren't ya gonna try your luck? You're so eager to kill me. Have at it! See if you can get to me before I stop ya!"

Just then there was an earth shattering KA-BOOM and everyone saw a house in the distance explode.

_Oh yeah, house go boom!_ Awinita thought.

Everyone's attention was focused on the explosion including Tek. The Doctor seized the opportunity to lunge at him, wrench the torch from his hand and knock him out with a punch to the face. The crowd turned back and saw him standing there with torch in hand, daring all of them to fight him. Their mouths dropped open when Alan suddenly broke free of his bonds and slowly slid off the pyre.

Suddenly there was another loud boom and a house several feet from the first one exploded.

"Gee, someone is razing the town to the ground, it seems," the Doctor said casually. "Perhaps you lot better go check it out before everything is destroyed."

There was a third explosion near the second house and another house burst apart. The crowd looked at the Doctor and Alan for a moment before running to stop the demolition.

_They're coming, my family, get outta there,_ the Doctor thought to them.

_Heading back to the stage now, _Mingxia thought to him.

_Damn, I was hoping it'd go on a bit longer. That was fun,_ Jenny thought.

Alan snickered at the shocked look on the Doctor's face.

"It's that soldier programming, Brother. You know we'll never be able to totally override it," he said to him.

There was another explosion several feet away from the stage.

_That one's just for good measure,_ Jack thought.

A minute later, the Doctor and Alan saw them running towards the stage carrying sticks of dynamite in their hands. They leapt up onto it and Rose dropped the four sticks in her hands and embraced Alan.

"Are you alright?" she said.

"Well, apart from the bruises, cuts, bloody nose, split lip and the big nasty black eye. I'm just peachy, dear," he replied.

The Doctor slipped his key back on while Rose put Alan's key back around his neck and picked the dynamite back up. The Doctor looked at the torch in his hand.

"Now, since they were so eager to light this pyre, I say we oblige them and burn it and this stage to the ground and keep on destroying their little town including the little pub over there," he said.

He looked at his daughter.

"I know you fancy doing that," he said while they laughed.

Rose and Rain led Alan away from the pyre while he lit it. They noticed someone running back and everyone froze. The man focused in on the Doctor and glared at him when he saw the burning pyre.

"What are you doing?"

"Dismantling your black market and making sure no one else ever suffers," he said.

He studied the man's face but he didn't seem to see anyone else on the stage. His assumption was confirmed when he said.

"Where's this so-called brother of yours?"

"Safe and sound which is more than you'll be in a few minutes," the Doctor said.

_Good we can ambush the bastard if he comes up here,_ Jack thought.

_Just stay perfectly still, _the Doctor thought to them. _Let him come up here to me before you make your move because once you do something he'll see ya. _

"Is that's who's causing the trouble? This family of yours?" the man said while he slowly climbed the steps to the stage.

"Oh yes, they love making things go ka-boom," the Doctor replied.

"Well, we're searching for them and we'll kill all of them on the spot, Time Lord and Lady or not," he said to him while he stepped up on the stage.

"You mean you're not gonna force me to watch their torment as they expire?" the Doctor said mockingly.

The man inched closer to the Doctor and he held the torch out.

"Don't, unless you wanna get barbecued in my brother's place," he said.

"You don't scare me, Time Lord."

"I don't? You and your friends seemed terrified of me before. You don't think I have ways to keep you lot from destroying any more lives?"

The only life that'll get destroyed is yours. I'll use that torch to burn that pretty face of yours off your skull!"

He started to lunge at him when suddenly all around him was an animalistic yell of rage. He froze and suddenly saw seven women and one man running towards him out of what seemed like thin air. He had no time to react as they slammed into him and punched him all over his body. He fell to the stage unconscious.

_Wow, glad that wasn't me,_ Alan thought while he stood at the perimeter watching them.

Move him off the stage, the Doctor thought. As much as I'd like to leave him here and burn with the stage, I won't do that. We'll take him, Tek and Jez to the same prison planet Jasper went to. In the meantime, we'll finish our little demolition and send a message to this lot that the Doctor doesn't approve of them and their activities. Rose, Rain, get Alan back to the TARDIS so he can be tended to while we finish up here.

Rose and Rain nodded and walked over to Alan. He put his arms around them and they led him off the stage while Jack gathered Tek in his arms and followed them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they were free of the stage, the Doctor set the sides alight and they walked around setting some houses on fire and blowing some up after yelling warnings inside them for anybody to get out. The crowd by this time had returned but all of them watched silently noticing the fury on the Doctor's face while he and the others razed their town to the ground. A few of the braver ones attempted to stop him but the Doctor noticed them and turned his steely gaze towards them. They saw the darkness in his eyes and instantly shrank back into the crowd while the Doctor snorted derisively. He walked over to Awinita who was pulling some bedding out onto a porch for the Doctor to light.

"Awinita, you notice that no one is challenging us, right?" he said to her while he lit the bedding.

"Yeah, I kinda noticed that, Bro," Awinita teased.

He glanced at the crowd who stood quietly while they watched and looked at Awinita while they hopped off the porch and moved to the next house.

"Did Alan ever tell you about River?" the Doctor said while they went up on the porch of the house next door.

"He told us the story of you meeting her in The Library, yeah," Awinita said while they went inside the house.

"THIS HOUSE IS ABOUT TO BE BURNT TO THE GROUND SO IF THERE ARE ANY PEOPLE INSIDE HERE, GET OUT NOW WHILE YOU STILL CAN!" the Doctor yelled.

"Did he ever tell you what she said to me, Te'lesu?" he said to Awinita.

"Um…he said River kept insisting you weren't the real Doctor, Bro," she said while they moved through the house.

"Did he tell you what River told me the real Doctor could do?" the Doctor said to her while they went into a bedroom and started stripping a bed.

"Um…he said she told you that you could face whole armies and they'd just turn and run away and also that you could open the TARDIS by snapping your fingers."

The Doctor nodded.

"Right outside this door, Te'lesu, there's all these men standing there, enough for a small army, and yet, my presence alone is holding them at bay. I didn't believe River before when she said my future self could do those things but I tried the clicking of the fingers and the TARDIS doors did open and now…"

Awinita followed him, carrying the bedding while they walked back to the front door.

"Look at me, Te'lesu; I'm not that physically imposing. Most of those men out there have muscles as big as my head. I'm guessing all or most of them have been in fights before judging from all the scars on their body. Yet, little ol' me is enough to scare them. And it's only me because they didn't seem to have any trouble roughing Brother up. It just puzzles me, you know. I really can make whole armies turn and run without a fight?"

Awinita set the bedding down by the door and the Doctor lit it before they walked out. Awinita looked at the crowd who were still about thirty feet away watching them. The Doctor noticed them too. He put a hand on his sister's shoulder.

"Wait, small test," he said softly to her.

He paused a moment and then let out a bloodcurdling scream while he ran towards them. He stopped after a couple of feet and noticed the crowd had backed up considerably. Shaking his head, he walked back to Awinita.

"Ya see, why can I do that? Why aren't they attacking us? We're destroying their whole bleedin' town and they just stand there because of me?"

"I think part of it, Bro, is this whole legend that's been built up around you. I mean, you're well known and people know you as the Oncoming Storm and other names like that. I'm sure people like them whisper to each other about how ruthless and bloodthirsty you must be and things like that."

"Chinese whispers, yes, I can see that," the Doctor said while they moved to the next house.

They paused when they heard an explosion and saw a house being blown apart about twenty feet from them. The Doctor and Awinita quickly backed up when some debris rained down near them for a couple of seconds.

"I think you also have a lot of power within ya," Awinita said while they moved on. "I think you have this power that exudes from ya, Bro, and people pick up on that. I think that's what Rain talks about when she says she can smell time and space on ya and see it in your eyes. Bro is you but he hasn't been around as long as you have so they can't sense it on him like they can on you. I don't know if that's the correct answer but it's just a theory."

"Yes, but that makes sense. I see your point," the Doctor said while they entered the next house.

He yelled out his warning for the occupants to leave before they moved further inside.

"I can't pick up on the whole smelling like time and space thing but then I haven't been in bed with ya and had sex with ya. Sis is closer to you than I am and maybe that's why she can see it when we can't. But I do think she's right and I think it's your power she's sensing. Besides, I don't know if you know this but you do look scary when you get really angry. Your eyes turn almost black and your face turns hard and even a complete fool would know better than to mess with ya. You can look menacing when you want to, Bro. And I'm betting ya that once we're finished here, everyone here will be running to another planet because I'm sure they'd think twice about staying here after this."

The Doctor nodded.

"Yes, they'll just go and set up their operations somewhere else. I realize I'm only hindering them not stopping them completely but perhaps I can send a warning to them and they'll spend the rest of their pathetic lives looking over their shoulders watching for me."

"Or send someone to kill ya."

The Doctor shrugged while Awinita stripped the bedding off the bed.

"Won't be the first assassin who's gone after me, Te'lesu, and it won't be the last. I can go all over time and space where they can't track me so it doesn't worry me. If they do happen to stumble onto me, I just handle them there. But I don't spend my lives worrying about things like that. If I did, I'd never have a moment's peace."

Awinita nodded while she carried the bedding and the Doctor followed her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

By the time they came back out of the house, the crowd had dispersed and vanished.

"Oh, I see they finally wised up and hid themselves," the Doctor said while he lit the bedding. "I was hoping we could keep them together until we were finished and then round them up. But oh well, they know now what happens if they get on my bad side and two of their mates will be going to Crag Tagok. I can stop by the Shadow Proclamation and inform them what's going on here and let them handle it. Although, what goes on here isn't exactly a secret," he said, rolling his eyes. "What matters is we rescued the princess and the others who were imprisoned with her so at least we accomplished that goal. I just hope she'll be more merciful than her parents were."

"She seems nice, Bro. I think she will be," Awinita said.

The rest of the family walked up to him.

"All the dynamite is gone except for four sticks," Jack said. "Those are for the pub and the secret lair."

"Good, then let's finish the job and head on to the TARDIS. I'm tired and I wanna make sure Brother and the others are alright."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor walked into the med bay after they finished blowing up the pub and got the TARDIS back into the vortex. He smiled when he saw Alan was asleep in the bed in the corner. Rose was beside him, fast asleep, with her hand on his chest. The Doctor quickly checked them and left the room. He mentally asked the TARDIS to show him where the others were resting and she led him to the other aliens first who were sleeping in spare rooms, their bodies washed, wounds cleaned and dressed and drips running into their arms. The last one she showed him was Terina. She also had been cleaned up with her wounds tended to and an IV drip in her arm. But she was awake and smiled at the Doctor when he entered the room. He smiled in return and came up to her bedside.

"How're you feeling?" he asked her.

"Better. Your sisters treated all of us and put this drip in my arm and told me to rest."

He nodded.

"Everyone is safe onboard. We destroyed the town and captured your master and two of his cronies. I'm taking them to a prison planet but there were many others that got away."

"Don't worry about it, Doctor. If you're taking me back home, I can use Faust's army to come back and get rid of the black market there once and for all."

"They might have scarpered by the time that happens."

"Then I'll have my army pursue them wherever they hide. I'm not letting any more people suffer like I did. I'll use all the resources at my disposal to end the black markets and the sales of body parts once and for all."

"Good, I'm glad," he said, smiling. "I'm sorry I couldn't do more or capture more…"

She held up her hand.

"You did all that you could, Doctor. You're only one man and even with the help of your family you couldn't stop every buyer and seller on Mordos. I will take over now, Doctor. You and your family have earned a rest."

The Doctor smiled and nodded.

"Speaking of, is your brother alright? Grace said they had beaten him until he was nearly unconscious."

"He's fine. He's asleep now. His wife is sleeping with him now."

"Good, I'm glad he's alright. I know what those men are capable of and I feared for him once she told me they were going to burn him alive. I'm glad you and your family are safe."

"Thank you, your Highness."

"Terina, you and your family don't have to call me Highness," she said. "And I hope you won't mind if you come back to the palace with me and stay as my guests for a few days. I want you all to be my special guests at my coronation and dine with me. It's my way of thanking all of you for your efforts."

"That's not necessary, Terina."

"I know but you deserve a rest, all of you."

"Then we'll be happy to accept your invitation."

"Good. Now could I perhaps trouble you with one request before you leave?"

"Anything."

"Could I have a glass of water?"

He smiled and nodded and left the room to fulfill her request.


	106. Chapter 106

Chapter One Hundred and Six

After about an hour, Alan woke up and lay in bed watching Rose while she slept beside him. The pain from the abuse was lessening and he could feel his body healing rapidly. For the first time in a couple of hours his wife and everyone else's mind was calm and at peace and for that he was grateful. He held her protectively, stroking Rose's mind while he stared up at the ceiling.

He noticed some movement by the door and turned to see Rain peeking in. She threw up a privacy block around his mind.

_Ugh, you survived,_ she thought with a wink.

_Yeah, unfortunately for you, Buttmunch, I am still around to plague you with more wedgies and rope burns,_ he thought back.

Rain entered and knelt down beside him.

_How're you feeling?_ She thought.

_Been better. But I'm recovering rapidly thanks to our heightened healing abilities. So I'm much better than I was before._

_I'm glad. Rose was beside herself with grief. We finally opted to come and do something because we couldn't stand it anymore._

_I'm glad you did. The whole blowing the buildings up was genius. It got them away from us long enough for us to escape. _

_Listen, I know you made that tissue regenerator. Do you want me to try to use it on you and heal you a bit?_

_I'd appreciate that, Te'lesu, any healing is a-okay with me._

_Okay, be back in a jiff._

_Okey-dokey, I'll be right here suffering in silence._

_Yeah, yeah, yeah, _Rain though while he giggled softly.

She kissed his forehead and left the room. Alan turned his attention back to the ceiling. A few minutes later he noticed Donna walking into the room. He watched while she came up, bent down and kissed his forehead.

"Don't ever do that to us again," she whispered.

"Do what?"

"Upset us with your whole I must go to my death routine. I don't like feeling you being punched over and over," she whispered.

"Well, I don't like being punched let alone you feeling it," he whispered back.

Donna kissed him on the forehead again.

"And quit being suicidal. You are a pain sometimes but we do want ya around," Donna whispered.

"I wasn't being suicidal. I was protecting my family. I love all of ya and if that means I have to die for you then I'll do it. The Doctor would do the same and Jack as well. Nothing to do with suicide."

Rain came back in and smiled at Donna.

"Got the tissue regenerator, Bro," she whispered.

"Oh yeah, good idea," Donna whispered.

She held it over his blackened, swollen eye and turned it on. Immediately the swelling went down and he opened his eye and smiled.

"Yay, I have depth perception again," he whispered.

Rain slowly ran it over his face, healing his skin while Donna watched. Once his face was healed, she pulled back the covers slightly and lifted up his t-shirt healing the bruises she found. While she was doing that, Awinita and Mingxia peeked into the room and entered. Alan's eyes widened when he noticed Awinita was carrying a crystal vase filled with purple flowers. She paused when she noticed his face was healed and what Rain was doing.

"Oh," she whispered, "you're not gonna be in here long then. Well we'll just take these back to the TARDIS garden then."

"Hey, you bring those back," Alan whispered while they giggled. "I would like to look at something other than the ceiling."

Awinita gently set the vase on a table beside the bed and she and Mingxia bent over. They ruffled his hair and kissed his cheek.

"Hmmm, maybe I should get injured more often with treatment like this," Alan whispered.

They all noticed Rose stirring and quickly stepped back.

"What are you lot doin'?" Alan whispered.

"We don't wanna wake her up," Mingxia whispered.

Alan watched while Rose blinked her eyes open.

"Too late now," he said to the women.

Rose looked at them.

"Oh, hi," she said.

"We didn't mean to wake ya," Donna said.

"You didn't. I woke up on my own."

She smiled when she saw Alan's healed face.

"Look at you, you're all better," she said, happily.

"Yeah, I got my beauty sleep," Alan said.

"Beauty sleep and this," Rain said, showing her the regenerator.

"Thank God you guys invented that," Rose said.

"Yes, that's come in quite handy-dandy," Alan said. "I can actually see in stereo now which is very useful. And I have ladies fawning over me which is even more useful. All in all I'm quite content at this very moment."

"Good, I'm glad," Rose said.

She looked up at the women.

"What about the others?" she said.

"I know Grace and Martha are still checking up on Terina and the others," Rain said. "I think Madison went to her room to have a nap and I'm not sure where Jack and Jenny got to. As for my husband, I'm guessing console room."

Just then the Doctor strolled into the room.

"Then again, my guess about the console room could be totally wrong," Rain said while they laughed.

"What's that, Love?"

"Just guessing where you were at, dear," Rain said to him. "I guessed the console room."

"Nope, sorry, not this time," he said, tousling her hair.

He looked at Alan and noticed his healed face. Rain held up the regenerator.

"Thank you, I was just going to do that and you did it for me. You're a very helpful lives mate," he said, patting her on the head.

"I try," she replied.

"I assume after Rain healed you, you are feeling better then?" the Doctor said to Alan.

"Yes, much better."

The Doctor laid his hand on Rose's head.

"How 'bout you? Are you alright now?"

"Much better as well," she said.

"Good. I talked to Terina while you were resting."

He told them what she'd said to them.

"Good, I'm glad she's gonna help stop these black markets," Mingxia said when he finished. "They need to be stopped for good."

"So I'm hoping if we do spend some time with Terina as her guests that nothing will happen in the meantime?" Alan said. "We've already had several major crises happen while trying to relax on Aswad."

"You know us, trouble finds us wherever we go," the Doctor said.

"Don't I know it," Alan said.

Grace and Martha came into the room.

"We just checked the patients and they're doing fine," Grace said.

"Good."

He repeated what Terina had said to him.

"Good, could use a rest after all this," Martha said.

"Grace, while I'm here and you're here, let me see your mobile. I want to give you universal roaming," he said to her.

Grace handed him her mobile and he took out his sonic screwdriver.

"I have to do this for Madison as well when I see her," he said while he pressed the buttons.

He finished up and handed it back to her.

"There ya go, now you can call anywhere in time and space. So as long as we're here in the universe, you'll always be able to reach us."

"Good, I'm glad, I don't wanna lose touch with you especially if I am a part of your family. And speaking of my cell phone, I better check my voice mail while I'm here."

She fiddled with her phone getting to her voice mail.

"Hmm, I have three new messages," Grace said to them.

"GRACE, WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?"

Everyone winced and Grace jerked the phone away from her ear when they heard the administrator shouting at her.

"Argh, my sensitive hearing did not need to hear that after everything that's happened," Alan said.

"I NEED YOU TO CALL ME AND REPORT TO ME! WHAT'S HAPPENING? WE NEED YOU TO COME BACK AND DO YOUR JOB! THERE ARE SEVERAL SURGERIES THAT NEED TO BE PERFORMED AND YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN DO THEM! NOW GET BACK HERE IMMEDIATELY!"

The Doctor seethed at that. They listened to the next two messages which were basically the same screamed threat from her boss. Grace apologized when they ended and she put her cell phone back in her pocket. The Doctor took her hands.

"Grace, don't go back to that hospital. They work you to death there and I don't want to see my sister die and regenerate because they think they can't live without ya. Let me take you further into the future to a more advanced hospital where they have non-invasive surgeries and lighter workloads. Plus, they'll be more accepting of you being a Gallifreyan. Take the cure back to him but resign there, please. If you need to take Lee, we can but just please humor me."

Grace thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Actually, that sounds good. The man is a real jerk and I'm tired of busting my butt for him."

They all sighed with relief.

"Thank you, Te'lesu, I think you'd be happier somewhere where you'd be appreciated and have more leisure time. Besides, you and Martha both have knowledge of alien anatomy and diseases now so it wouldn't be odd for you to treat any alien patients. I just want you to be happy and fulfilled and not be a slave to this git who thinks you're the only person on the planet Earth who can perform complicated surgeries. And like I said, if you're among other aliens, there won't be a danger of someone finding out you're Gallifreyan and sending you somewhere to be dissected or something. Just let me know when you're ready to leave and I'll find you somewhere and help get you settled in and Lee if he wants to come as well," the Doctor said. "Now, before I forget, I better do the same to Madison and let her hear James scream at her. Can't let ya have all the fun."

He winked at her and patted her back before leaving the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After telepathically asking Madison where she was, he found her in her room.

"Did I wake you?" he asked.

"No, I was just resting awhile. I guess we don't need much sleep anymore, right?"

"Right," he said, sitting down beside her when she sat up.

"Alan, is he alright?" Madison said.

"Oh yeah, he's fine. He invented this compact tissue regenerator which heals damaged skin and tissue and Rain used it to heal his face and body. He's actually back to being his old self again."

"Good, I'm glad. I'm glad they didn't burn him alive."

"Me too, Te'lesu."

She giggled.

"What?" the Doctor said amused.

"It's just funny hearing you call me that. I mean, I never dreamed when I went in the hospital I'd come out of it with a new family and becoming a brand new species."

"Well, I'm glad you did. I'm glad you're here and you did decide to become our sister. We're glad to have ya. And I know for a fact now that there is no Dalek Factor since your immune system would have taken care of the last remnants of it. I wanted to talk to you though because I wanted to know if you have a mobile."

"Yeah, I do, why?"

"Well, you see, I can fix your mobile so it can call anywhere in time and space. Which means as long as you have our number and we're in this universe you can call us no matter where we're at. I just did that with Grace and we listened while her boss yelled at her for not being there. I offered to take her into the future to a better, more advanced hospital and thankfully she accepted so now she won't have to work as hard and there won't be a danger of her alien anatomy being discovered. But I wanted to do this now before I forget so if you don't mind…"

"No, that's fine," Madison said, reaching into her pocket.

She watched with fascination while the Doctor fixed her phone and gave it back to her.

"And I really can call anyone in time and space?"

"Yes, call James and give it a try," the Doctor said.

He frowned when he noticed her hesitation.

"What's wrong?" he said.

"I'm kinda scared to call him now. I mean, what's he gonna say? I'm not even human any more, Doctor."

"Let me tell you something. I have another son that I haven't told you about. His name is Dex and he's in treatment right now at a mental institution."

"Oh my God, why?"

The Doctor briefly explained what had happened.

"Oh my God, he tried to do to your family what that mob tried to do to Alan?"

"Yes, but it wasn't his fault, not really. He wasn't in his right mind because my first wife from long ago told him all sorts of lies and half truths and turned him against me. He's at the best facility in the universe though and actually he's recovering rapidly because they have alien technology and techniques not found on Earth and he's come to a point where he has accepted me. But while he was human, he married and has a wife, Patience, and two girls, Amelia and Opal, and all of them have accepted that he's a Time Lord now and Patience wants to remain married to him. So it is possible for some humans to accept us as we are. I've had many companions over the centuries who have been human who accepted me as I am. I know it'll be hard explaining it to him but if you like I'll go with you when I take you back and help. The only drawback will be watching them grow old and die if they don't want the crystals and he'll have to watch you stay young while he grows old and frail. But if by chance he won't accept you anymore and wants to end the marriage you have a home here with us and Dorothy does as well if you bring her with you, alright?"

She nodded.

"Will you go now?"

"Do you wanna go home now? Terina's invited us to her palace for a couple of days to relax and…because she wants to honor us which I'm not entirely comfortable with but I'll grin and bear it. If you wanna leave now, that's fine but you don't have to. I can take you back to any point in time so you could be gone for years and still come back to the moment you left the hospital in San Francisco."

"I wanna come with you but at the same time…"

"You wanna get it over with so you'll know?"

She nodded.

"But no matter what he says I still wanna go with you to Faust. I mean, I am invited too, right?"

"Course. She invited us all."

"Then I just wanna do this and get it over with," Madison said. "At the very least, I wanna tell him I'm okay."

"Okay, well, since we're doing that we might as well pop on over to San Francisco afterwards so Grace can give her boss the cure and tell him to go to Hell."

She laughed and he squeezed her hand.

"Come with me then, Te'lesu, and let's get this over with," he said to her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor assembled everyone in the console room and told them what he wanted to do.

"Um…Doc," Jack said when he finished. "I agree about not everyone going with you to Madison's house but I think you should take Rain with you when you go."

"Why?" the Doctor said.

"Well, don't you think it'll look a bit weird for Madison to walk up to the door with a strange man? If you have Rain with you, at least the guy won't be thinking she's having an affair and making up her I'm an alien now explanation."

"He has a point, Love. I don't know if he's the type who gets suspicious of other men but it wouldn't hurt to have me go along. I can help explain too. I think he might be more receptive if a woman's there with you."

He nodded.

"Okay, you and I will go with her to her house and then afterwards I'll take Grace back to the hospital to deliver the cure and her resignation."

"Wheee, that'll be as much fun as Madison telling her husband she's an alien," she said while they laughed.

The Doctor asked Madison for her address and punched it in while everyone watched.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they landed, everyone wished Madison good luck and she, the Doctor and Rain headed out into the cool Denver night. They landed on a side street in a nice suburb and the Doctor and Rain looked around while they walked.

"Nice neighborhood," Rain said to Madison.

"Yes, we like it. It's nice and quiet here. Different from New York," she said.

They neared her single floor house that was perched up on a hill. It was painted white with a black slate roof. Stone steps led up to the porch. Madison stopped and stared up at it. The Doctor put a hand on her shoulder.

"We're here if he gets violent or tries to ring a scientist to come and get you," he said to her.

Madison nodded and took a deep breath.

"Here goes nothing then," she said.

They followed her up the stone steps and onto the porch. Madison knocked on the screen door and rocked back and forth on her heels while the Doctor and Rain stood beside her. There was a pause and then the door opened and a chubby three year old blonde girl looked up at her.

"Mommy!"

"Hey, hon. I thought I told you not to answer the door by yourself," she said while Dorothy came outside onto the porch.

The Doctor and Rain smiled when she scooped her up and held her. Dorothy stared at them in confusion.

"This is Dorothy, if you hadn't guessed," Madison said.

"Aw, she's adorable," Rain said.

A stocky built man came to the door. He was in his late twenties with short brown hair, two day old growth and green eyes.

"Maddie?" James said, staring at her in disbelief. "How'd ya get back from San Francisco? They said they checked you out but I assumed you were staying at a hotel…and who is this?"

"This is the Doctor and his wife, Rain," Madison said.

"Doctor? Oh, one of the doctors actually drove you back. Doctor who though?"

"Just the Doctor," the Doctor said.

James stared at him.

"Okay…um…Doctor," he said to him. "Well, I'd like to thank you and your wife for bringing my wife back here. We missed her and I'm glad she's better and…"

"There's more though, James. Um…can they come in with me? I need to explain something to you."

"What is it, Baby? Are you still sick?"

"No, actually, I never felt better," Madison said.

"Well, why do they…"

"Just…please, let them come in with me."

James sighed.

"Alright, come inside. You want something to drink?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After getting them some coffee, the Doctor and Rain sat with Madison on the sofa while James put a Barney DVD in for Dorothy to watch.

"Okay, what's this all about?" James said.

Madison glanced at her brother and sister, took a deep breath and began to explain.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor was glad he and Rain decided to come along because he could tell James was having a hard time believing his wife's story. She had explained everything to him from the Dalek Factor to his curing her to their travels and adventures and finally finishing up with him making her his sister and her transformation into a Time Lady. He thought it admirable that he was actually sitting and listening to her instead of ringing for the insane asylum or throwing him and Rain back out the door. He guessed it was because of the events in recent years that he was more open to the idea of aliens. But still, he could see that this was gonna be an uphill battle to convince him his wife was still the same person even if she had changed physically. Madison managed to get through her explanation without needing their help and after an hour and a half she was finally done with her story. James sat there afterwards in stunned silence for a good ten minutes before finally speaking.

"So what happens now if you're this…Time Lady?" he said to her.

"Well, I'd like to stay married to you, James," Madison said.

"Yeah, but the whole thing about you staying young while we grow old…how's that gonna look in a few years, Maddie?"

"The Doctor has crystals that can turn you and Dorothy into a Time Lord and Lady if you want to do that."

"Wait, become alien like you?"

"Yes."

James raised his eyebrow.

"Maddie, what the hell kinda joke are ya playing because it's not funny."

The Doctor groaned inwardly.

"It's not a joke, James. I just told you the truth. All of it."

"He's an alien too," James said, pointing to the Doctor.

"Yes, he and his wife are Gallifreyan."

"And…what, they kidnapped you and made you into…"

"No one kidnapped me. I went with the Doctor because he was the only one who could cure me. I would have turned into one of those Dalek things if he hadn't saved me and being turned into a Time Lady was my choice. It was offered to me and I took the offer."

"You…willingly turned yourself into a freak."

Rain put his hand on the Doctor's hand when she sensed the anger in his mind.

"I'm not a freak. They're not freaks. They're Gallifreyans and so am I."

"Okay, why? Why did you become Gallifreyan then?"

"Because I wanted to. The Doctor and his family have treated me like one of their own and I had fun traveling with them. They adopted me and a few others as honorary Gallifreyans and made us brothers and sisters and then we found someone who could turn us into Gallifreyans and we all accepted it. I'm still the same person I was before, James. I have physical differences now but it's me. I'd rather be this than the Dalek I would have turned into if the Doctor hadn't intervened."

"Maddie, have you gone insane? You barely knew these…people, if you can call them that."

"They are people, James," Madison said angrily. "And I got to know them. All of them."

"So what…they come here in their spaceship picking up people and offering to turn them into their kind?" James said.

_Let me take over from here, Te'lesu,_ the Doctor thought to her.

Madison glanced at her and nodded.

"Why'd you nod at him?" James said.

"She nodded at me because Gallifreyans have the ability to communicate telepathically. I told her I want to talk to you for a minute and she nodded in agreement. There was nothing sinister about what we did. To answer your question, my family and I are travelers in time and space."

"There's no such thing as time travel."

"Yes, there is," the Doctor said evenly. "Earthlings haven't discovered the technology yet but it is possible."

"Okay, so you're time travelers, go on."

"From time to time, I have guests who travel with me and share my travels. I assure you that these guests were not abducted or held against their will in any way. All of them accepted of their own free will to come into my ship and Madison did the same. I did not kidnap your wife. I offered to help cure her and she accepted. After that, I offered several times to take her back home and she wanted to keep on traveling with my family and me. When she wanted to come back home, she told me she wanted to come back and I took her here. When she chose to become a Time Lady, that was done of her own free will. Nether I nor Rain nor anyone else has ever coerced her into doing anything. The reason I am here is because she asked me to be because she was ambivalent about telling you all this and wanted a bit of support from us. If you need proof that she's an alien, I have a stethoscope in my pocket. She has two hearts now like we do and you can hear them quite clearly. If you need more proof, I can go get more family members to vouch for her. My wife here used to be human like Madison and she also opted to travel with me and was also transformed into a Time Lady, again of her own free will. I realize there have been aliens trying to attack the planet in recent years but I'm not like those aliens. I love Earth and I look after it and defend it if it's in danger. I also help other planets and people and my family does the same and Madison was actually helping me out and doing a damn good job of it, to be honest. Your wife has a lot of courage, I'm not sure if you realize that, but she does and you should be proud of her for what she's done. The reason I offered to make her my sister was because of what she did for us even though she didn't have to and no one expected her to help out. She's become close to me and everyone else on my ship and we wanted to keep in touch with her after she left us. And she still wishes to keep in touch with us now. And all we ask is you let her come with us if she wants to go. Once again, there's nothing sinister going on, no mind control of any kind. This is entirely her decision and…"

James held up his hand.

"I've heard enough. I'm sorry but I don't think I wanna deal with all this."

The Doctor's hearts sank into his stomach. He'd been secretly dreading this and hoping it wouldn't come to pass. He could see the shock and disbelief on Madison's face and he was glad that she would have a home with them since he had a feeling this was the end of Madison's marriage.

"James, come on, it's me. I swear I'm the same per…"

"I don't care. I don't want an alien in my house. Bad enough those Dalek things were out on the streets without an alien in here raising my daughter. You made your choice to be with these things, now go! I'll have my lawyer draw up the divorce papers in the morning and don't even think about asking for custody of Dorothy. I'm not about to let her go with aliens and no court would give you our child once I told them the truth. Now get out of my house and never come back!"

The Doctor's hearts ached when he saw the pain in Madison's eyes.

_Come, my beloved sister, it's time to go,_ he thought to her.

Madison rose with them.

"Thank you for taking the time to hear us out," the Doctor replied politely.

"Yeah, whatever, just get the hell out of my house and take her with ya," James mumbled as he rose up and walked over to his daughter.

The Doctor and Rain stood on either side and squeezed her shoulders while she watched James scoop up Dorothy and carrying her away while she shrieked and protested about watching Barney.

"Go, I said!" he yelled at them.

_Come, Te'lesu,_ the Doctor through.

Madison nodded. Tears flowed down her cheeks while the Doctor and Rain put their arms around her and led her towards the door.


	107. Chapter 107

Chapter One Hundred and Seven

After getting several feet away from the house, Madison finally broke down and cried. The Doctor held her close, his eyes misting over at his sister's distress. The others, feeling her anguish, asked what was going on and Rain told them while the Doctor held Madison and rubbed her back.

"I'm sorry, Madison, I'm so sorry," the Doctor said to her. "I'm sorry. Maybe it would have been better if we'd taken you home after we cured you."

"No," Madison said. "No, I love being a Time Lady. I don't regret it for one second. Don't blame yourself, Doctor. None of this was your fault. I'm glad I met you and everyone else."

"You have a home with us," the Doctor said, holding her close. "And wherever you wanna go, I'll take you and help you get settled in like I will with Grace. We won't abandon you."

"Thank you, Doctor. Thank you," Madison said.

The Doctor could feel his family's sadness when Rain finally got done explaining everything. They stood there for a moment more until Madison had calmed down and then they put their arms around her while they walked with her back to the TARDIS.

As soon as they got inside, the whole family gathered around her and held her tightly. Madison smiled when she felt them pouring love into her mind and telling her that she had a home with them. She thanked them and assured them it wasn't their fault and that she was happy about what she did.

"You know," Grace finally said. "The Doctor's gonna take me further into the future and if you wanna share an apartment with me there, you can. Just till you can get everything sorted out."

"Thanks, I'd like that. I'd rather live in the future anyway," she said.

"Okay, we'll take you to the year 100 trillion when everything is dying out," Alan said.

"Not that far, thanks," she said while they laughed.

"So, I guess now we'll go and confront my boss?" Grace said.

"Well, wait…" Martha said. "Doctor, could you make a quick stop at Torchwood so I can tell the rest of the team what the hell is going on before they kill me and Jack?"

"Sure, I want them to meet Madison and Grace anyway," the Doctor said. "Is that alright with you, Grace?"

"Anything that delays me talking to my boss is okay with me, Doctor," she said.

"Okay, besides I think Madison needs to see a few friendly faces at the moment," he said while Madison nodded in agreement.

He gave her one more hug before he went over to the console.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well, look who finally decided to come back to Cardiff," Ianto said when Jack stepped out into the Hub. "Interesting diversion you took while getting some parts."

"Yeah and there's more. I am now officially a Time Lord and Martha's a Time Lady," he said.

The other three members of Torchwood did a double take.

"You are?" Gwen said to Martha when she stepped out behind Jack with the others.

"Yes, we found Imiko again and she made me into a Time Lady and made Jack into a Time Lord but he's still immortal so he'll never regenerate. And there are two others she changed and you haven't met them yet so…"

She took Grace and Madison's hands and introduced them and explained who they were. After she was done, the three of them walked up and introduced themselves to them.

"And there's more," Jack said when they were done. "You see, Imiko gave the Doctor a gift this time. He has crystals that can turn people into Time Lords or Ladies and he's graciously offered to let me have some if you want to become Time Lords and Lady."

"We'd become a real Time Lord?" Mickey said.

"Yup," the Doctor said.

"Nah, I don't want to. I don't fancy livin' and dyin' and livin' again," Mickey said. "Thanks though."

"Yeah, I'm not sure I want to either. One life has been quite enough for me," Gwen said.

They laughed when Jack slammed into Ianto's back and gave him puppy dog eyes.

"Let me guess, you want me to become a Time Lord," Ianto said to him.

"Mm-hmm."

"What if I don't want to?"

"I'll be sad?" Jack said.

"Now, Jack, let him make the decision without any pressure," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, get the hell off me, Harkness," Ianto said.

Jack backed up several feet but still kept the puppy dog eyes on him. Ianto sighed.

"Let me think about it, alright? It's a big decision and you know me, I like to take my time."

"Don't I know it," Jack muttered under his breath. "Let me have a crystal for him, Doc. In case he does come to a decision."

The Doctor walked inside the TARDIS. He returned with the casket a moment later, opened it up and handed the crystal to Jack.

"Thanks, Doc," Jack said. "I…"

He trailed off when he noticed the Doctor was staring into the casket with a frown.

"What is it?"

"The crystal just replaced itself. I still have thirty," the Doctor said.

They looked inside and saw thirty crystals.

"Maybe they never run out," Awinita said. "Maybe she fixed it so no matter how many you give out they'll always be thirty."

They grinned when they saw the slow smile spreading over the Doctor's face.

"Goody! We can do what the Sontarans did and make Earth into New Gallifrey!" Alan said.

"I don't think so, Brother," the Doctor said while they laughed.

Gwen came up to Madison.

"I'm sorry about what happened between you and your husband but you know, you'll always have a second home with us here in Cardiff. We're very accepting of aliens if you hadn't noticed. You and Grace are both welcome here anytime."

"Thanks, Gwen," Madison said.

"You better accept her since she has a brother and sister that work here now," Jack said to Gwen.

"Yes, you'll have to come back and visit them, won't ya?" Gwen said. "That is, if they ever come back since they both seem to enjoy flying around with the Doctor."

"We have one more thing to go to. This princess we rescued invited all of us to be her guests in her palace for a few days. After that, Martha and me will be back."

Gwen looked at Martha.

"Make sure he comes back this time."

"Oh I will, trust me."

Jack threw up his hands while they laughed. He paused a moment.

"Are we gonna go visit Sarah Jane and Wilf too? I mean, I'm sure they'd wanna meet Madison and Grace."

"We can do that," the Doctor said, nodding. "You will love them. They're both very kind people and right now you need all the support you can get."

"Speaking of support, I have a thought," Jack said, putting his arm around Madison. "I know you probably don't want to deal with this divorce but it seems you don't have a choice."

"No, I wanna get it over with. If James wants a divorce and wants custody of Dorothy then I won't drag it out in court. I just wanna sign the papers and move on with my life."

"Well…Yan, come here. Ianto here can pose as your lawyer and Gwen, Mickey and him can negotiate everything and have his lawyer send the papers here while we're on Faust. When we come back, you can sign and get it over with if you like."

"Yes, I'd like to do that."

"Yan here is very good at posing as a lawyer. He knows a lot of legal terms," Jack said while he nodded. "Just give him your address so they can go into the database and try to find out what lawyer he's using. It shouldn't take too long if you're not going to contest anything."

"Thank you, I appreciate you doing this," Madison said. "Especially since it would be awkward explaining to a real lawyer about my being a Time Lady."

"Precisely why I want Ianto to do it. I don't know if your husband will say anything about that. I wouldn't if I were him because I'm sure people might think he's nuts and maybe he'll realize that and keep quiet but you never know."

"But…"Ianto said. "I can leave a note with his lawyer that if Dorothy ever does want to get in contact with you in future to give us a call and we can tell you."

"Yes, I'd like that."

They nodded.

"Yeah because he might not wanna see ya anymore but she probably will. Sooner or later, she's gonna start asking questions about where her mom went to," Jack said.

"I just hope he doesn't do to Dorothy what my first wife did to my son and fill her head with lies and turn her against her mother," the Doctor said. "But I'm hoping Dorothy does want to reconnect with you in future. It's not fair to tear her away from you just because he doesn't trust ya anymore."

"Yeah, well, he's just being petty, I guess. Afraid I might have some kind of alien disease or something," she said while the Doctor put his hand on her shoulder. "Makes me wonder what he would have thought of me if I really had become a Dalek."

She sighed while he squeezed his shoulder.

"But I can't worry about it now. Just move on and let everything play out the way it should," she said.

"Well, like I said, hopefully Dorothy will wise up one day and come find ya," Jack said.

"Yeah, me too."

Donna came up beside her.

"And I know what it's like. My mum won't accept me either, partly because of becoming a Time Lady but also because she hates the Doctor came back and got me…well, Rain actually came back and got me but she probably just lumps us all together into "The Doctor" But my granddad still visits us and you'll love him."

Madison nodded.

"What about you, Martha?" Grace said. "You have Tom, don't you? Are you gonna tell him?"

They looked at her.

"Um, I s'pose I'll have to but I'm not sure how he'll react to it. I guess I should just do what Madison did and just ring him and get the suspense over with."

"No offense, Martha, but if Tom doesn't accept you, I have a feeling it won't be that big of a loss because I don't really think the man is ready to commit to marriage anyway," Jack said.

"Yeah, we keep waiting for him to set a date and he never does," the Doctor said. "I know I talked to you on that ride at the funfair but I agree, if the man has waited this long, I don't think he's really open to marriage. Perhaps you should just quietly start looking around for someone else just in case?"

Martha sighed.

"I have a feeling you're right but I really do love him. He just keeps telling me he's too busy right now."

"Yeah but I told ya busy people find the time to get married as well," the Doctor said.

"I think the bloke's a bit marriageaphobic," Alan said.

"Yeah, why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free?" Awinita said.

Martha chuckled.

"Except he's not even taking advantage of the milk. I haven't seen him in months. Perhaps I should ring him and tell him just to see what he says."

"I would, Martha. I mean you deserve someone who wants to spend time with you and be devoted to you. I realize the man is busy but surely he's not that busy that he can't ring you up or have you fly over there to see him," the Doctor said.

Martha nodded. The Doctor smiled at everyone.

"Well, if you lot wanna go back inside, we'll go to the next phase which is Grace telling her boss to go to hell."

They laughed and embraced each other before everyone got back into the TARDIS. Ianto, Gwen and Mickey stepped back and watched the TARDIS disappear before going back to work.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Okay, let me go with Grace and the rest of you keep Madison company," the Doctor said when they landed in San Francisco. "We don't all need to go in and Madison does need the company…"

"Guys, um…sorry, Doctor but you know, you guys can call me Maddie if you want. My family and friends call me that," she said to them.

The Doctor smiled.

"Okay, well, keep Maddie company then and I'll be in charge of dragging Grace away from her barmy boss if he tries to drag her in to do more surgeries."

"Which he probably will," Grace said while they laughed.

"And we'll also talk to Lee and see if he wants to come along with us into the future," the Doctor said. "But just rest and relax and we'll be back shortly."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor followed Grace to the administrator's office. She held the little box containing the cures while she took a deep breath.

"Do you need me to go in with you?"

"And say what? Hi, I'm an alien and I made your star surgeon into an alien and I'm taking her into the future?"

"Yeah, something like that."

He poked her back while she chuckled.

"No, just stay out here and I'll yell if I need you."

"Alrighty then."

Grace took another deep breath.

"Here goes nothing," she said, walking up to his door and knocking.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"YOU'RE WHAT?"

The Doctor winced when Grace's boss screamed at her after he heard her telling him she was resigning. She had started out by giving him the cures and making him promise to give it to the proper authorities before she dropped the bombshell on him.

"GRACE, ARE YOU INSANE? I NEED YOU!"

"I'm sorry, Mister Jenkins, but I quit. I'm burnt out and I need to relax awhile before I have a nervous breakdown!" Grace said calmly.

"But what'll I do without you?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Bloody hell, there are other surgeons in the world besides her," he muttered to himself.

"I'm afraid you'll have to rely on the other surgeons. They're just as competent as I am. This is what I'm talking about when I say I'm burnt out. I have no social life. I barely have time to come home, eat and sleep before I'm back to work. I want to rest before I have a heart attack and end up on my own operating table!"

"I suppose you want a reference then," Jenkins said in a snotty voice.

"I'm so glad you decided to leave this place, Grace," the Doctor muttered to himself.

"It would be nice, yes. Especially since I have been a good employee and have done a lot for this hospital."

"Fine. I just hope you know what you're doing, Holloway!"

"Oh trust me, she knows exactly what she's doin', "the Doctor muttered to himself.

There was silence and the Doctor reached out to his sister.

_Problem?_ He thought to Grace.

_Nah, just working on a reference letter for me. Everything's under control,_ Grace thought back.

_Good, I'm glad he's letting you go without much of a fight. I'm glad you're getting away from him. The man's an arse._

_Tell me about it,_ she thought.

_Don't worry, I have several hospitals you can apply to that will appreciate you and you will have a lot more leisure time,_ he thought.

_Good._

_And thank you for offering to take Maddie with ya. I really don't want her to be alone and she needs someone who isn't gonna condemn her for being a Time Lady.  
_

_Exactly why I asked her to come with me,_ Grace thought_. I've lived by myself except for the occasional jerk boyfriend so I'd love to have a roommate. And maybe I can get her on at the hospital and we can work together. _

_That's brilliant,_ the Doctor thought.

_Okay, he's finished with the letter now, thank God. Just have to politely thank the jerk and then we can go find Lee._

_Good. _

"Thank you," he heard Grace say.

"Yes, you're welcome. Just go," Jenkins said bitterly.

The Doctor saw her outline behind the frosted window in the center of the door and then she opened it, strolled through and shut it.

"I'm free," she said to him.

"Good," the Doctor said in a hushed voice. "Now let's go find Lee so we can get out of here."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You're leaving?" Lee said in disbelief.

"I can't stay here, Lee. You know they work me to death. The Doctor's gonna find me a better hospital somewhere in the future. But if you want to come with me, you can. The Doctor will take you too," Grace said to him.

Lee looked at the Doctor.

"It's up to you, Lee," he said to him.

"I appreciate the offer, Doctor. But my heart is here and I'd rather stay in San Francisco. I grew up here and I really don't wanna go somewhere else."

The Doctor smiled and nodded. Grace hugged him.

"You have my cell phone number. The Doctor fixed my phone so it'll call anywhere in time and space. Give me a call and keep in touch."

"I can do the same for your phone if you want," the Doctor said.

Lee nodded. He handed him his mobile and watched while the Doctor used the screwdriver to activate the universal roaming.

"There ya go. Universal roaming."

"Thanks. I better keep this to myself then or everyone will want to use my phone."

"Wise decision," the Doctor said.

He hugged him.

"Take care of yourselves," he said.

"And you, Lee," the Doctor said.

"Don't let that bastard work ya to death," Grace said to him.

"I won't and thanks for all the help you've given me. Both of you."

They nodded.

"Well, I better get back to work now. I'll talk to you two later," Lee said.

They waved and watched him walk down the corridor before they turned and headed back to the TARDIS.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The moment the Doctor opened the TARDIS doors he noticed that his ship was playing the Bee Gee's Night Fever while everyone stood around the console chatting. They smiled and waved.

"Whose idea was it to turn my console room into a '70's disco den?" the Doctor said.

Alan gave him a cheesy grin when everyone pointed to him.

"Sadly, that doesn't surprise me in the least," the Doctor said while they laughed.

He closed the doors behind Grace.

"The deed is done. Grace is officially on the dole," the Doctor said.

"What about Lee?" Mingxia asked.

"He didn't want to come. He likes San Francisco too much. Me, I can take it or leave it," she said, walking over to them.

"I hope he'll be alright working there," Rain said.

"I think he will. He's not the star surgeon so they're not gonna work him to death like they did me," Grace said.

"Okay, make room for me so I can fly us to Sarah's place," the Doctor said.

They backed up and he walked over to his monitor and inputted the coordinates.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"More?" Sarah Jane said when they laughed. "You certainly are keeping the photography studios in business."

"Well, we actually haven't gotten the family photo updated but yes, we'll be getting that taken care of eventually," the Doctor said as they finished hugging outside his TARDIS.

"Well, it's nice to meet you both," she said to Grace and Madison. "The kids are in school so come on in for a cup of tea and an update on your adventures."

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"Aw, I'm sorry to hear about your husband, Madison. But my home is always open to you and Grace just like it's open to all of them," she said when they finished updating her on everything.

"Thank you," Madison and Grace said in unison.

"And I'm glad he got that Dalek Factor out of your system. That's the last thing you wanna be turned into," she added.

"Yeah, I saw a few of those things and no way in hell do I wanna be one," Madison said.

The Doctor squeezed her shoulder.

"How's Patience and the children?" he asked Sarah Jane. "Are they adjusting to London?"

She nodded.

"The children are adjusting quicker than she is but she's settled in and made a home for herself."

"Good, I'm glad."

Sarah Jane shook her head.

"That just amazes me though. Patience accepted Dex and she's from 1863 where they didn't have all these alien invasions and her husband couldn't do that."

"I think it's the Daleks. He referred to them. I'm sure the Dalek invasion probably influenced him and when he heard alien he automatically assumed Maddie was the same way or would become like them," the Doctor said to her.

"Well, actually we've had a few rough spots in our marriage before this. Not that he didn't love me but we've had a few colossal fights. The last one was a few weeks ago over his spending money on luxury items we couldn't afford. If I hadn't done this, I'm sure in a few years time we would have divorced anyway. We married a bit young I think."

"Well, I think when you're ready the right person will come along," Sarah Jane said while everyone nodded in agreement.

She turned her attention to the Doctor.

"I assume you're gonna go see Wilf as well?"

He nodded.

"If he's home. Have you spoken to him lately?"

"About a week ago. He was asking about Donna, of course. I asked about your mum and there's still no change in her behavior."

"Eh, I have a feeling she'll never change," Donna said, shaking her head. "Mum's stubborn like I am. I don't see her accepting the Doctor, not even if he personally saved her life. I'm not even worried about it anymore. I have this lot and you and Torchwood and Dex's family and my granddad. Her rejecting me doesn't concern me any longer."

"That's also why I wanted to bring Madison here and let her meet everyone so she does know that even if James rejects her, we won't," the Doctor said. "Not every human is anti-alien."

Sarah Jane chuckled.

"I better not be anti-alien since I traveled with you," she said. "No, not everyone is against you, Madison. You have all of us to care for you and you and Grace get to be with your family for a long time to come since you became Time Ladies."

"Which brings me to what I wanted to ask ya," the Doctor said. "You see, Imiko left me crystals that will change anyone who wants it into a Time Lord or Lady. Would you like to become one?"

Sarah stared at him in shock.

"Me? A Time Lady?"

They nodded and smiled. Sarah Jane thought for a moment and then shook her head.

"I'm sorry, Doctor, but I really don't want to. I don't fancy living multiple lives. But I appreciate you thinking of me."

"Would you become our sister then? We can do a bonding ceremony and make you an honorary Gallifreyan," he said.

She beamed.

"Now that I am open to," she said while they cheered.

The Doctor looked at Rose.

"Blimey, I need to memorize this bonding ceremony since we use it so often," she said while they laughed.

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After they were done with the ceremony and chatted awhile longer, the Doctor finally told her they had to go. They all hugged their new sister.

"Thank you all for doing this. I'm glad I have all these sisters and brother's now and a niece as well," she said, looking at Jenny. "So are you offering this to Wilf?"

"Yes and if he doesn't want to become a Time Lord, we'll also offer to bond with him," the Doctor said.

"Well, I don't see him wanting to become a Time Lord either but I'm sure he'll go through the bonding ceremony. But I'm glad all of you are safe and keep comin' round to visit. I love seeing all of you."

"We will. And if in future, Luke, Rani or Clyde want to become Time Lords or Ladies, they have that option as well," the Doctor said.

"I'll tell them but I'll wait till they get a bit older because I'm sure all three will say yes now and they need to grow a bit and gain some wisdom."

The Doctor nodded. They all gave her another hug and waved at their sister while she watched them go back into the TARDIS and leave.

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"Doctor, great to see ya again," Wilf said as they stepped outside the TARDIS. "How have ya been?"

"Can't complain. Just traveling the stars and seeing the sights," the Doctor said.

Wilf noticed Grace and Madison.

"I see some new faces," he said.

"Yes, this is our sisters Grace and Madison. This is Wilfred or Wilf."

"Just Wilf. Wilfred's a bit too formal," Wilf said. "It's nice to meet you both."

"You too," Grace and Madison said in unison.

"Would you like to come in for a cuppa and a chat?" the Doctor said to him.

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Wilf shook his head when they finished telling him everything. They were all sitting in the living room drinking tea. Blizzard and Rory were lying beside Wilf while he stroked both of them.

"Sweetheart, I'm sorry your husband did that to ya," Wilf said to Madison. "I can understand him acting like that but to take your own child away from ya is heartless. Some people are just cruel. And we dealt with the Daleks here in London and saw what they did to people and I'm glad the Doctor saved you from becoming one. The Doctor's wonderful. Heart of gold, him."

The Doctor blushed while everyone around him rubbed his back and tousled his hair.

"My Donna's going through the exact same thing with her mum. She won't accept the Doctor or her because of what's she's become. It's sad but there's no changin' some people's minds so it's useless to try."

"Which is why I just wanna get it over with and move on with my life," Madison said.

"Well, you're welcome to visit here with him anytime you want. Course he's not allowed in the house but I always come in here to see Donna and chat with everyone. And occasionally do fun things with him like that DVD night."

They giggled.

"Yeah, we need to do that again for Grace and Madison," Alan said as everyone nodded in agreement.

"So what are you gonna do now?" Wilf asked.

"Well, Terina invited us back for a few days as her guests in gratitude for saving her life and then I'm gonna find somewhere for Grace and Madison to live since Grace needs to find another hospital."

"I'm glad you did that as well, Sweetie. You don't wanna be somewhere where they work you right down to the bone. You can't waste your life like that…or lives, I guess."

"I know. I wanna have some fun now and then," Grace said. "Besides I'm kinda curious to see what the future's like and what medical breakthroughs they have."

"And all the wonderful new diseases you'll see," the Doctor said.

They laughed when Grace rolled her eyes.

"Well fortunately I know about all these new diseases and how to treat them thanks to this Time Lady mind."

"Yup, same here," Martha said.

Wilf looked at her.

"Are you going with Grace into the future then?"

She shook her head.

"No, Jack and I will continue to work at Torchwood," Martha said. "They need us and I've got my family in London. I don't wanna leave em. Besides, we can both use our new knowledge to help our team out."

_Do you want me to ask Granddad about becoming a Time Lord now? _Donna thought to the Doctor.

_If you want, Te'lesu,_ he thought back.

"Granddad, I wanted to ask you something on the Doctor's behalf," Donna said to Wilf.

"Yes?"

"Well, when Imiko made them into Time Lords and Ladies, he gave the Doctor crystals that allow others to be changed and we're offering it to our friends and family and I just wanted you to have the chance to become a Time Lord if you want it."

Wilf was shocked.

"And be like you?" he said to them.

They nodded. Wilf thought it over.

"And make your mum even more angry?" he said.

They laughed when Donna nodded and grinned.

"Would I have to travel with you?" Wilf said to the Doctor.

"You can if you want to. Like Martha said, she and Jack are staying behind at Torchwood and traveling with me occasionally. You can do the same. But whatever you choose, we'd like to make you our brother with this bonding ceremony we have and make you an honorary Gallifreyan if you don't want to become a Time Lord."

Wilf thought it over and smiled.

"You know what, I think I will become a Time Lord," he said.

They all cheered.

"But we won't tell your mum, alright?" Wilf said to Donna. "I mean, I won't change my appearance, right?"

"I don't think so. You won't until you regenerate. But you'll definitely live a long time and I'm sure she'll began to suspect something after twenty or thirty years," the Doctor said. "But this way you'll be able to feel Donna in your mind and she in yours along with the rest of us and you'll gain the ability to think to her and speak telepathically."

"So I could be washing up in the kitchen and just carry on a conversation with Donna and Sylvia wouldn't know it?" Wilf said.

They smiled and nodded and giggled when they saw the gleam in his eyes.

"I like this more and more the more I hear," Wilf said.

The Doctor excused himself and hurried out of the room while Donna embraced him.

"See, Granddad, now you get to live out my dream," she said to him.

He nodded and hugged her back.

"So if I regenerate, I'll become younger?" Wilf asked.

"You should," Alan said. "You have some control over your age. Not an exact age, more like an age range, but yes, you can make yourself younger."

"Good because I don't fancy regenerating into a crusty old body like this," he said while they laughed.

The Doctor entered with the casket.

"Okay, now we'll know for sure if this thing really does replenish itself," he said, sitting back down.

He opened the casket and handed Wilf one of the crystals. He watched and another appeared in its place.

"Yup, they do," Alan said while the Doctor grinned from ear to ear.

"Bless Imiko! I need to give her foxy face a kiss," the Doctor said while they laughed.

Wilf stared at the crystal.

"What do I do with it?"

"Break it open, Granddad."

They moved back while Wilf broke open the crystal. The golden light surrounded him and they smiled when they felt his consciousness inside their heads. The light faded and Wilf blinked. He looked down at his hand.

"Blast! I'm still an old codger," he said while they laughed.

They embraced him.

"Now if don't mind, we'd like to bond with you and make you our official brother," the Doctor said.

They cheered when Wilf nodded.

"Here I go again," Rose said while they laughed.

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After chatting with him for a few hours and letting him practice telepathy with them, Wilf told them he had to go. They stood up and embraced him.

"I'm so glad you did this," the Doctor said. "If anyone deserved it, it's you."

"Well, I enjoy being able to feel you in my mind now. It's a nice feeling."

"It is. Very nice feeling."

"It's too bad Sarah Jane didn't want this."

"Eh, I understand. We made her a sister anyway so she's your sister now through us."

"Well, you'll forgive me if I don't run in there and scream to my daughter that I've become a Time Lord. But I will definitely tell Sarah Jane."

"Just be careful who else you tell because we don't want to rescue you from the dissection table," the Doctor said. "And if Sylvia does eventually figure out and tosses you out of the house, call us and we'll come and take you somewhere else."

"I will. Goodbye, Doctor."

"Goodbye, my brother, I'll see you after I find more Time Lords and Ladies."

He laughed and they embraced. He hugged Donna tightly and gave her a kiss wishing her goodbye telepathically. Then he hugged everyone else once more and with a wave, he stepped back and watched while the Doctor shut the door and left.

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"Right, I guess that's all taken care of so it's time to head back to Faust?" the Doctor said to his family while they stood in the console room.

"Are you sure we should, Dad? What if it's a trap?" Jenny said.

The Doctor looked at her with wide eyes.

"What makes you think it's a trap, Angel?"

"I'm just thinking of all the possibilities, Dad."

"I think you've become so used to danger around every corner that you automatically think everything's a trap now. Which isn't a bad mindset to have, given what we do. I don't think it is though. Why would she set a trap for us when we just got done rescuing her? I don't think we have to worry, Jen. I think she's on our side."

He kissed her head and gave her a squeeze.

"Is everyone ready to go back then?" he said.

They nodded and he set the coordinates.


	108. Chapter 108

Chapter One Hundred and Eight

The Doctor landed the TARDIS in the palace courtyard and peeked out.

"Hope she doesn't mind us landing right in her garden," he said.

He stepped aside and let everyone out before closing the door.

"Hopefully things will be different this time as well," Alan said.

"I honestly think we won't be seized the moment we get in there, just quit worrying all of ya," the Doctor said.

He blinked when a raindrop hit his nose. He glanced up at the darkening sky.

"I guess we better go inside before the rain comes," he said to them.

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After meeting Terina in the foyer, she escorted them to their rooms. She had showered, fixed her hair and was wearing a long flowing white gown.

"I would have my guards do this but you got rid of all my guards, Doctor," she said to him.

"Well, I considered them just as guilty as your parents and I didn't want anyone threatening you when you came back," he said.

She smiled and nodded. She led them down a wide corridor. The walls were white with gold trim at the top and white marble floors. She gestured to several doors on either side of the hallway.

"These are the guest bedrooms. Just settle in and I'll be back in about an hour to escort you to dinner," she said.

They thanked her and she walked away. The Doctor walked up to the first door, opened it and they stepped inside.

"Wow," Awinita said when they looked around it.

It was also white with gold trim but the floor was covered with a thick white shag carpet. The furniture was all white with gold trim and the bed resembled a Swan with the body as the bed, the wings outstretched on both sides and the head arcing over the bed. Above them was a small crystal chandelier that provided the light.

"Very posh," Martha said.

Rain walked over to the bed and rubbed her hand over the swan's neck.

"I love this bed," she said.

She noticed the eyes were made of white crystals. She leaned over and touched them and was shocked when it glowed with a white light.

"Wow! That's beautiful," she said, staring at it.

"Turn around, Latara."

Rain turned and noticed the eye was projecting a small film on the wall. The Doctor turned out the light and they watched it. The film was a river scene in a forest with several swans floating along the water.

"We need to figure out a way to steal this bed," Awinita said.

"Are all the beds like this?" Jenny said.

"One way to find out," Alan said.

The Doctor turned on the light and everyone filed out except for him and Rain. Rain touched the eye and the movie shut off.

"Is that for lovemaking?" she said, gesturing to the wall where the film was.

The Doctor shrugged.

"I have no idea, Latara. It's nice though. Very peaceful."

Alan strolled back in.

"Next room has a dragon bed. The misses claimed it and the room for our own."

"Does it play a movie?"

"Yup, flying dragons. It's interesting. Rose is in there watching it but I wanted to come back in and tell you that not all the rooms have swan beds."

"Mine has a frog," Madison said coming in behind him.

"Does it have a film to go with it?" Alan asked.

"No but I think the eyes are solid gold. They look gold to me," she said. "My room has green walls with white trim and carpeting. It's very nice. I can't believe I'm staying in a palace."

"And you're not in the dungeon of the palace," Alan said.

"Yes, that's even better," she said while they laughed.

She walked over to the swan bed and rubbed the beak.

"Do they have swans here?" she asked the Doctor.

"Not sure. They might have gotten the bed for the design. I know some planets near here have Earthlike colonies that have swans. Probably went there, saw the swans and the bed, liked it and brought it back along with the dragon and frog."

"Or they were there hunting someone," Rain said.

"Well, I wasn't going to say that but yes, I'm sure they were also trying to find some "merchandise" along with the shopping trip."

"Have you guys checked out the closet?" Madison said. "Mine has men and women's clothes in it but I haven't tried any on. I guess we get dressed up for dinner?"

The Doctor walked over to the closet that was several feet on the left side of the door. He slid it open and they looked at the selection. There were several dresses in different colors and styles and some men's tuxedos. The Doctor and Alan made a face at the tuxedos. Rain pulled out a sea green strapless dress and held it against her body.

"I think this is gonna be too small," she said.

"We can go down to the TARDIS and dress there," the Doctor said. "I'm not wearing a dinner jacket."

"Neither am I," Alan said.

Rain put the dress back and closed the door.

"Well, if she's coming in an hour, I guess we should go ahead and go down then?" Rain said to the Doctor.

He nodded and telepathically told everyone what they were planning.

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They went back out to the TARDIS and went to their bedrooms to get dressed. Alan chose a white t-shirt with the black trousers and jacket while Rose wore her white dress and put her hair up.

"Your hair is getting long again, Starlight," Alan said. "I like it."

"Do ya want my hair to get as long as Rain's then?"

"Abso-bloody-lutely," he said while she laughed. "I love long hair."

"Is that why the Doctor got so upset when I cut it after he regenerated?"

"Yes. You had beautiful hair back then and it's even lovelier since it's longer now than it was before."

He walked over to her and kissed the side of her neck.

"I need to buy you a diamond necklace or something like that so you'll be tempted to wear this dress more often," he breathed in her ear.

He put his arms around her and held her close to him.

"You know I won't. I don't like wearing dresses," she said to him.

He cupped her breast and she closed her eyes.

"But I love you in dresses, my Love," he whispered. "Why do you think Brother got so excited in his last life when you wore that beautiful Victorian dress? Ooooh, just thinking of the way you looked in that dress…"

"So is this your fetish then? Mine is your hair and yours is me in a dress."

He grinned and nipped at her earlobe.

"Yes," he hissed in her ear.

He chuckled when he heard her breath quicken. His hand went up around her neck and he kissed her cheek.

"With the hair up, I have easy access to your cheeks too," he said between kisses.

"Mmmm," Rose moaned, closing her eyes.

_Okay, I'm guessing both Rose and Alan are making out without a privacy block or Alan's watching Alien Virgins From Outer Space again,_ Awinita thought.

They laughed along with everyone else.

_Just having an intimate moment, Te'lesu,_ Alan thought back.

_I noticed that when the two of you got really, really happy,_ Awinita thought.

_Just be sure to cut the intimacy short because we do have to go back for the dinner, Brother, and I think it'd be a bit rude if your womb broom was poking through your trousers at the royal table,_ the Doctor thought.

_Okay, we're hurrying up,_ Alan thought. _I just couldn't resist the sight of my wife in a dress._

_Then we share the exact same problem, Brother, because I love my wife in a dress as well._

_You guys like women in dresses? _Madison thought.

_Looooove women in dresses! _Alan thought back._ Too many jeans and t-shirts around here. We need dresses!_

_Just be careful, Grace and Madison, _Jack thought._ They get one look at you and they might lose control and pounce on ya! _

_Oh, we will not, _Alan said while they laughed.

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After getting dressed in the outfits they wore to the restaurant, all of them headed back inside. They were met by Terina in the foyer and she gave them all appreciative looks.

"This is nice but I should have told you to just stay in your clothes since it was us. There was no need to dress formally," she said.

"And deny the Doctor and Alan the sight of us in frocks, are ya kidding?" Donna said while they giggled.

"Follow me; I managed to hire a few chefs from the city who once worked for a highly respected restaurant. I told them to spare no expense making your dinner."

"Sounds good," the Doctor said.

She led them into a formal dining room. The room was long, about fifty feet long by thirty feet wide. There was a long wooden table in the middle of the room that had about fifty chairs around it. The table had a white tablecloth with gold trim to match the walls and on the table was a covered silver soup tureen, a large silver bowl filled with salad and a silver platter filled with bread. They sat down around the table while Terina sat at the head of it. The chefs came in and served them a brown potato soup from the tureen and bread and salad for first course. They waited till the chefs left the room before they spoke. Terina told them about growing up in the palace. How she'd been abused and bullied by her parents from a young age and witnessing the capture and imprisonment of various alien species.

"I was very young when the Time War happened so I don't remember the imprisonment of your people," she said to them. "I only know about the pickled child my father had."

"We made your mother take us to her and we gave her a proper funeral and cremation," the Doctor said.

"Good, I'm glad. I was horrified he had that. Did he show it to you?"

"Yes," the Doctor said angrily.

"He showed it to everyone. He took a perverse pride in it," Terina said, shaking her head. "I thought it was the most disgusting thing I'd ever seen in my life. I'm glad you took her back but I hate that he showed it to you. Gloating, I guess. Gods, I'm glad he and my mother are in prison. Did you go down to the city below?"

They shook their heads.

"Well, people down there are living in poverty because of what went on up here. My parents kept all that black market money for themselves and didn't invest it back into the planet's economy."

"Thought as much," the Doctor said.

"Yes, I'm hoping with them gone we can finally bring about real change now."

The second course was served. Roasted beef with potatoes and greens. While they ate Terina asked them how they escaped the destruction of Gallifrey and this time the Doctor was happy to tell her what happened. Terina listened in silence while she ate.

"I'm in awe of you, Doctor," she said when they finished telling her about themselves.

By then they were on to the third course of cake and tea.

"Like I told you, I was aware of some of the things you did but to destroy your own planet to save the universe from the Daleks. I don't think I could do what you did and still have my sanity. And for all of you to forsake your humanity and join him, I commend all of you for having the courage to do this and keep the universe safe. And of course thank you for saving me and those others. I promise I'll return the favor and flush out the rest of the slave traders and end the slave markets wherever we find them."

They thanked her for that and continued to talk while they finished their meal.

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After they ate, Terina invited them to explore the castle while she rested. They split up into groups and walked around. Rain, Jenny, Rose and Awinita split up into one group and went into the west wing of the castle. They found several other guest rooms, an enormous library and a den. They walked on, talking to each other until they reached a closed door. They stood and stared at it.

"Are we allowed to go inside?" Awinita said.

Rose shrugged.

"She didn't say we couldn't," she replied.

They opened the door, walked inside and froze. It was a large trophy room and though there were heads of animals on the walls there were also alien heads as well. All of them felt revulsion at the sight. They forced themselves to walk over to the wall that had the alien heads on it and they teared up at the different species represented but one in particular made them cry. They noticed a man near the end of the bottom row of heads who was wearing the skullcap and frill of the Time Lords and the gold plaque underneath identified him only as Time Lord without any name. He was a Caucasian in his early forties with slight wrinkles on his face. His eyes were closed and he looked like he was asleep. Rain shook her head.

"We have to get the Doctor in here to see this. He's gonna want to cremate these too," she said.

They nodded and she called to her husband telepathically, trying to determine his location while she ran off to find him. Meanwhile, the others were looking at the plaques under the heads. All of them had a species designation but no name and the three women found themselves growing angrier with each passing moment. Jenny got to the end of the rows and noticed there were more empty wooden backings with more plaques on them. She knelt down and noticed the plaques listed more species that weren't represented on the wall.

"He was anticipating killing more people," Jenny said holding up one of the backings. "I guess he had a list of what he wanted to put on his wall."

"The guy was one sick fuck," Awinita said.

They heard Jenny gasp and they spun around.

"Jenny, what is it?" Rose asked.

Jenny held a backing up to them and their blood ran cold when they read the writing on the plaque.

THE DOCTOR  
TIME LORD

"Dad is the only name I've found so far," Jenny said, fighting off the revulsion she felt.

Rose knelt down next to her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I thought he wanted to sell Bro in the slave market, not put his head up on the wall."

"The slave hunters also wanted to burn him alive," Rose said. "I'm betting the bastards considered several options and couldn't decide what he'd do if they nabbed the Doctor. We'll have to show him this when he comes in here."

"Rain won't like it, so get ready for her being upset," Awinita said.

They heard Rain's voice in the hall and turned to see her, the Doctor and Alan entering the room. Both men paused at the doorway and took in the room in shocked silence. They turned their heads to the wall with the alien trophies and Alan let out a curse and the Doctor mouthed a curse silently to himself. The three of them followed Rain over and she pointed out the Time Lord head to them.

"Damn him," Alan said. "Damn that bastard to Hell. I hope they make him suffer."

"Dad."

The Doctor looked at Jenny. She walked over and showed him the backing with his name on it. The Doctor put a hand on Rain's arm when she paled at the sight of it.

"Yeah, well I got to him before he got to me," the Doctor finally said, handing it back to Jenny.

He sighed angrily.

"We need to take all these. These need to be cremated," he said to them. "I'm sure Terina won't mind if we take them. I doubt she'd want to look at them. I'm glad you found this room before we left. Now we'll have to make sure we search the palace thoroughly just in case there are more rooms like this. But for the moment, come away from here. You don't need to be in here looking at these."

He took Rain's hand and Alan took Rose's hand and they all walked out of the room.

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They found the rest of the family and told them what they found. All of them were horrified and their horror deepened when he mentioned the backing with his name on it.

"It was the only one that had a name," Rose said. "Everything else just had the name of the species."

"You lot didn't find any rooms like that, did ya?" the Doctor asked them.

They shook their heads.

"Well, just keep your eyes open and see if you can find more so we can collect all the heads and bodies he has," the Doctor said.

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"Yes, of course you can have the heads for cremation," Terina said after they found and told her about it. "I certainly don't want them. You're welcome to take any heads or bodies that you find here."

"Thank you, Terina. So far that's the only room that has any heads or bodies in it," the Doctor said.

"And I'm sickened he had one made for you. I hope you take it and burn it as well."

"Oh I will, don't worry."

"One question though, Doctor," Terina said.

"Yes?"

"I know that Time Lords regenerate. If my father were to take your head, would you have regenerated? Because I can see him taking your head then selling you or killing you when you regenerated."

"Um…I'm really not sure if we can survive a beheading. I've never had that happen to me. If both our hearts are damaged beyond repair, that can kill us permanently, but I couldn't tell ya if I would have survived a head chop. But I'm betting that was what your father was thinking of. Take my head, have me regenerate and sell me. But if there are no other rooms or bodies, I can land the TARDIS in that room so we don't have to walk out to the garden over and over."

"Whenever you're ready to do it, go ahead," Terina said.

He bowed his head. Terina excused herself and they watched while she walked away.

"Right, let's go explore a bit more, shall we?" the Doctor said to his family when she was out of earshot.


	109. Chapter 109

Chapter One Hundred and Nine

After Terina left, the Doctor suddenly hit on the idea of using his screwdriver to scan for any Time Lord artron energy.

"Artron energy is radiation which means it'll take eons and eons to dissipate completely even if someone is dead," the Doctor said to his family while he adjusted the settings. "It won't pick up any other species just Time Lords but at least we can be sure we have all of our kind when we leave. Now I'll adjust it so it won't pick us up since the screwdriver would be going off nonstop otherwise."

He finished his adjustments and turned it on. The tip radiated a steady blue glow.

"If we find any traces of artron energy the tip will blink rapidly," he said to them.

They continued their exploration as a group walking away from the west wing and heading into the east wing. They found more guest rooms, bathrooms, a study, another smaller library, a sitting room and what looked like a dojo with weapons of every size and description mounted on the walls but so far there was no trace of artron energy. They turned a corner and saw several large portraits on either side of the walls. The Doctor snorted at the portraits of Jasper and Leticia.

"Wonder if Terina will let us have these to burn," he said to his family. "We could make a bonfire and have a frankfurter roast.

They paused at the next one and saw a plump looking elderly man that resembled Jasper. He was wearing a purple top and trousers with a long cape that resembled the one Jasper wore and the same gold crown he had. He was scowling.

"Jasper's dad?" Rose said.

"Probably so. He looks as much fun to be with as Jasper. I'm glad I have you lot. I'd hate to be at their family get-togethers. I'm sure they were reeeeeeally cheery affairs."

They glanced at the other portraits. All of them were plump men and women who resembled Jasper and Leticia. All of them were wearing the same purple outfits and dresses with the same robe and crowns and all of them were scowling.

"Yup, I agree, I'm sure Crimbo with this family was a hellish time for Terina," Rose said.

"Probably got a head for her Christmas present," Alan said.

"Followed by a beating and bread and water," Mingxia added.

They turned the corner and entered another room. They paused when they saw what was inside. Covering every inch of space on the walls were photos and drawings of the Doctor in all ten of his incarnations.

"Obsess much?" Jack said.

At the back of the room was a metal table and chair with several manila folders stacked on them. The Doctor walked over and opened one. He sped read the contents and looked at the others after five pages.

"Me. It's all about me. Fact and fiction. I'm guessing intelligence gathered on me over the years. You're right, Jack, this man was a wee bit obsessed with me."

"Considering what he was doing, I think he had a right to be," Jack replied, staring at the photos.

Grace scanned the wall and smiled when she found a drawing of the Eighth Doctor.

"Aha, I found the you I remember," she said, pulling it down.

The Doctor walked over and looked over her shoulder. It was a drawing of him from the shoulders up.

"Fairly good likeness too. I wonder who drew it. I didn't pose for a drawing like this."

Intrigued, he wandered the room with the others looking at the photos and drawings. Rose pulled one down of the Ninth Doctor and brought it over to Madison and Grace.

"This is what he looked like when I met him," she said to them.

The Doctor and Alan wandered over and glanced over their shoulders with everyone else.

"This was your ninth life?" Grace said, glancing at the Doctor.

"Yes."

"You were quite handsome. Very rugged looking," Grace said.

"Big ears though," Madison said.

They giggled when the Doctor gave her a playful poke in the arm. He bent in closer studying the photo.

"Where was this taken?" he muttered. "Wasn't taken by Rose, that's for certain."

Alan looked with him.

"I can't make out the background that well, Brother," he said.

"I can't either. I'm trying to remember when someone snapped a photo of me but Rose did it so many times it's hard to recall. I looked unhappy though."

Rose snorted.

"Doctor, you were unhappy 80 percent of the time back then," she said.

Madison pulled down another photo and stared at it. She showed it to Grace and they giggled.

"What?" the Doctor said to them.

She held up a photo of him in his sixth life.

"Please tell me this is a Halloween costume you're wearing," she said to him.

The Doctor sighed when everyone else laughed.

"No, that was my wonky sixth life and yes, that was the outfit I wore," he said to her.

"What'd ya do? Wear a white outfit into a paint store and ask them to throw every brand of paint they had on ya?" Grace said.

They laughed when the Doctor chased her for a couple of feet and grinned while he walked back.

Rain wandered away from the group looking at the photos and drawings of her husband with interest. Suddenly she saw one that made her blood run cold. She snatched it off the wall and stared at it in shock.

"Love, come here, look."

The Doctor walked over and looked over her shoulder. His eyes widened when he saw the photo. It was he and Rain standing in the queue outside the Tower of Terror.

"How the hell…" the Doctor muttered.

He took it from her. He and Rain were standing in the queue talking to each other unaware their picture was being taken. He took it over to Alan and Rose.

"This was taken on our honeymoon at Disneyworld," he said to them. "We never posed for anyone there. So who took it and how did Tubby get a hold of it?"

Alan's throat went dry while he stared at his brother and wife.

"He did say he had spies out searching for you, Brother," Alan said.

"On Earth? At Disneyworld? How did he know?"

Donna pointed to the screwdriver in his hand.

"How are you searching for the Time Lord bodies now?" she said to him.

The Doctor held up the screwdriver and stared at it and then stared at the picture.

"Damn it, I was being tracked and didn't even know it. And if they had temporal clamps and all this other Time Lord hunting equipment, they probably knew to scan for artron energy. Bloody hell, my own honeymoon…"

He had a thought and walked back over to Rain's side, scanning the walls for more photos of him and her together. The others helped him look. Rose was on the other side from the Doctor when she saw another photo of them. She jerked it off and hurried over to him.

"Us, all of us, in Osaka during the kuidore," she said to him.

They gathered around him. It was a photo of them the night they went out to the restaurants in Kyoto. They were outside one of the restaurants chatting and the photographer was across the street in an alley. The Doctor sighed angrily.

"I'm glad all they did was snap our photo. Bad enough the Valeyard was trying to track us and kill us without Jasper's toadies joining in."

"Oh…shit!"

They all turned when they heard Jack and saw him holding up a photo.

"Seen this before in the simulation room. Your wedding day in Kyoto," he said, pointing to it.

"Then he knew you were married," Rain said to him.

The Doctor walked over and studied the photo. It was the one taken in front of the little bridge and the temple.

"It looks like he was close but then again…telephoto lenses," Jack said.

The Doctor, angry beyond belief, walked back over to the folder he had been perusing. He quickly read through it searching for any mention of his wife or family. He was relieved to find that a great deal of what had been written were myths and fanciful tales about him but there were a few items written about him that made his blood run cold, a few instances that had been recorded when he was sure he had been alone or only with his companions. It was an eye opener for him when he realized just how closely watched he had been over the centuries. The rest of the family took the other folders and helped him scan.

"Look for any mention of yourselves," the Doctor said to them. "I wanna know if he knew I was married and had a family. He acted like he was surprised I was alive but that could have been playacting."

"Brother, if he has pictures of you in Osaka and Disneyworld, that was in the other universe. He was able to get spies over there as well?"

"Void crossers. He might have captured some high ranking Time Lords that had them or had knowledge of them. That's the only explanation I have for that. One thing's for sure; Jasper was fully prepared and outfitted to capture our kind."

Rain tapped him on the shoulder and handed him a piece of paper. He read it.

SUBJECT WAS LAST SEEN IN THE COMPANY OF SEVERAL COMPANIONS. TWO BROWN SKINNED FEMALES, THREE ASIAN FEMALES AND ROSE TYLER (USING SURNAME TIME LORD, SAME AS SUBJECT). SUBJECT IS STILL USING THE ALIAS, "ALAN".

"Brother, they got confused and trailed you for a bit. They thought you were me using Alan as an alias," the Doctor said to him.

"Three Asian females though," Rain said, pointing to it in the document.

"Me, dear. Remember, Morana was part Chinese?"

"So even these spies couldn't detect ya when you were in disguise," Alan said. "Imiko knew her stuff, that's for sure."

"Rose, they named you by name. It said Alan was in the company of two brown skinned females, three Asians and then it lists you by name."

"So they didn't know their names?" Rose said, walking over to him and gesturing to her sisters.

"More than likely, they weren't as concerned with them yet since they hadn't traveled as long with me as you did. I'm willing to bet if Donna and Martha had been with us, they would have been named as well.

"Doctor," Jack said, walking over.

He handed him another piece of paper and pointed to the passage he wanted him to look at.

SUBJECT'S CURRENT LOCATION IS ON THE RESORT PLANET ASWAD. HE IS WITH HIS FAMILY AND THE DUPLICATE DOCTOR KNOWN AS "ALAN". MARTHA JONES HAS JUST JOINED HIM AS WELL AS GRACE HOLLOWAY AND AN UNKNOWN BLONDE FEMALE. THE SUBJECT WAS…

"They know me by name?" Grace said in disbelief.

"I'm beginning to wonder if these files are just the tip of the iceberg," the Doctor said. "I'm wondering if he has files on anyone who has ever traveled with me or helped me. I'm sure eventually they would have compiled a file on Madison as well. We have to find every file he has if we can and take it back to the TARDIS before this falls into the wrong hands again. Hopefully, word got back that I cottoned on to what was going on here and the spying will stop because if I find one of these spies of his, I'm gonna put my fist through his face. Come on, let's continue the search."

They walked out and stepped into the next room and froze again. This one was also covered with photos and drawings except it was the Doctor's companions. There was also another table that had manila folders stacked on it. The Doctor felt like he was gonna be sick staring at the faces of his friends that had shared the TARDIS over the centuries. Once again they wandered around the room looking at the photos. Rose found several photos of herself with the Doctor and his ninth life and Jack, Martha and Donna did as well. Donna felt sick when she saw several photos of Wilf that looked like they were taken from far away.

"They were spying on my house," Donna murmured to herself.

"Mine too," Martha said, showing her a photo of Francine. They had snapped a photo from across the street. Looking through the window they could see her mother talking on the phone.

"And mine," Rose said, showing them photos of the Powell Estate and the mansion in Pete's world.

"They have photos of the rest of the team although I don't see the Hub. They must have followed us when we were out on assignment," Jack said.

Rain paused at one. The background looked futuristic but the woman in it was wearing '60's clothes and a beehive. She pulled it off and showed it to her husband.

"That's Barbara Wright. The one I told you was Susan's teacher and she and Ian were my first official companions."

"Is Susan here?" Rain said, gesturing to the photos.

The Doctor glanced around and finally found a black and white photo of her up near the top. She pulled it down and gave it to her. She was standing near the TARDIS looking away like she was waiting for someone. The others came up behind her and stared at the photo.

"You had a granddaughter?" Madison said.

"Adopted granddaughter. We weren't blood related," he said to her.

"Whoa, who's the cutie in the kilt?" Awinita said, pointing at another black and white photo.

"That's Jamie McCrimmon," the Doctor said.

Rose tapped him on the shoulder and he turned to see her giving him a wry smile.

"Could he possibly be Doctor James McCrimmon from the township of Balamory?" she said sweetly.

Alan laughed when the Doctor blushed.

"It was a Scottish name," he said. "I had to think of something before we got shot."

Rain let out a gasp and everyone walked over to her.

"I don't think this is a telephoto lens, Love," she said, handing him a photo.

The Doctor took it and his eyes bulged when he saw a photo of him and Rain having sex in their hotel room in Kyoto. They were lying together in bed with the covers off them. Rain was on the bottom, her eyes closed and her mouth hanging open while the Doctor stared down at her lovingly.

"No, please don't tell me they were invisible and snapping photos right beside the bleedin' bed," the Doctor said.

"They found out the room you were staying in and set up a hidden camera while you were out?" Jack offered.

The Doctor's hearts fell into his stomach. One of the most intimate moments of his honeymoon was seen by Jasper. He resisted the urge to go get him, snap his head off and mount it on the TARDIS wall. He walked over to the manila folders, terrified of what he would find. He opened one and saw bio sheets on his companions. Each page had a photo of one of his companions with their vital statistics and extra notes noting any family, friends and the current whereabouts. He saw one on Romana and noticed in the notes it had listed her as POSSIBLY DECEASED. Leela's had the same notation on hers. Adric's had DECEASED on his. The Doctor was flabbergasted at the amount of spy work people must have done to obtain all the information he was seeing. He found Rose's and glanced through it. He looked at the notes section.

SUBJECT SEEMS VERY CLOSE TO THE DOCTOR, POSSIBLY IN A ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM.

Then further down…

SUBJECT IS CURRENTLY MARRIED TO THE DUPLICATE DOCTOR AND IS CURRENTLY TRAVELING WITH THE ORIGINAL DOCTOR. SUBJECT IS NOW A TIME LADY ALTHOUGH SHE WAS FORMALLY HUMAN.

He laid it down and continued to look through. He found one on Donna and it had the same notation about her being a Time Lady when she was formally human. He found Jenny's and read through it. He noticed her age had a question mark in the box for it. There was also a question mark beside planet of origin. He took notice of that.

"Angel, come here," he said to Jenny.

"Yes?"

"I don't think they found us on Messaline. The TARDIS acted on her own and pulled us there so I doubt they would have had time to track us. They don't know your planet of origin and in the notes, they write that I call you my daughter but they confess they don't know where you came from. They don't even write that I found you again; they just seem to think you showed up one day from out of nowhere. So the spies aren't everywhere and don't know everything about us but what they do know is enough to give me nightmares. I don't care if they tracked me but to track every single friend and family member I've ever known terrifies me because I wonder who else out there has this information and what they might do with it. We have to tell Terina about this and ask her to look for similar rooms if her and her troops find others. We have to destroy all of this before someone uses it against us."

He ran his hand through his hair.

"In the past, the TARDIS had a randomizer in it. It's a device that scrambles the TARDIS coordinates so we keep landing at random times and places. I put it in there and used it for awhile after I found this Key to Time and fought this eternal called the Black Guardian while I was looking for the individual pieces. I feared he'd seek revenge after I defeated him so I installed it and it would take me to random locations so he couldn't track me down. I turned it off after a couple of centuries and dismantled it to use the parts in another device. I never replaced it but now I might have to get another one and install it again. I don't know how far-reaching this spy network is but the less chance they have of pinpointing the TARDIS the better."

"So, if you do replace it and turn it on, there's a chance we won't ever land in London again and see Sarah Jane or Wilf?" Rose said.

"No, I can turn it off and on. I can turn it off when I want to go to a specific location but at other times it'll send us to wherever it chooses or if I do want to go to a specific place like Earth it'll send us to a random year in Earth's history. I don't wanna use it because it was unpredictable and annoying but if it prevents the spies from finding us, I'll do it again. Donna, I want you to tell Wilf someone might be watching him and Martha and Jack, you do the same with your friends and loved ones. Like I said, if they're on the run maybe they'll back off on the surveillance for now but we can't be sure and it doesn't hurt to be cautious. Same with Madison and Grace, when I take you to your new home, keep your eyes open at all times for anything suspicious and let me know if you do find someone spying on you or taking pictures."

They nodded.

"We need to tell Terina to interrogate any captives and see if they'll tell her the names of the spies," Mingxia said.

The Doctor nodded.

"Yes, we have to do all we can to stop this before we all end up dead or imprisoned somewhere. If Terina keeps at em then maybe they won't be able to regroup and send more spies out. I hope they keep on looking over their shoulders and thinking I might be on to them at any minute and don't press their luck spying on us. But I am glad we came back here now since we found all this and are aware now that they were spying on us. But for now, let's leave this and continue the search."


	110. Chapter 110

Chapter One Hundred and Ten

The Doctor continued to feel sick to his stomach while they continued the search. He was terrified now what they might now about his family and friends and what they would do to them. He felt a tap on his shoulder and looked back at Alan.

"Brother?"

"Yes?"

"I have a thought. We should do what we did before and wear bio-dampers. We also should dampen the TARDIS so we can have extra protection."

"Yes, good idea. And not just us but Sarah Jane and Wilf and everyone else who has recently been in the TARDIS."

"You mean we have to find every companion you've ever had?" Rose said.

"No, just the ones we've traveled with in the past few years. I don't think they'd target the ones I haven't seen in years, just the ones who help us out now."

"That's still a lot of dampers you guys will have to make," Awinita said.

The Doctor chuckled.

"We don't have to make them, Te'lesu. I know Brother made yours, but that's because they don't sell bio-dampers on Earth. We can get them when we get the parts for the randomizer."

"Well make sure you got a lot of bio-dampers, we have a lot of family and friends," Alan said.

The Doctor nodded.

"We might as well do it now so we can be protected. I don't want anybody tracking us back here and we can use the down time here to install the randomizer and dampen the TARDIS. We can come back here but we need to do this now."

They nodded and followed the Doctor when he turned and led them back to the TARDIS.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor flew the TARDIS to a couple of planets to get the parts and dampers he needed. He ended up purchasing forty bio-dampers. The dampers came in several different designs of rings including the wedding ring he had given Donna. But he chose sterling silver ones that were engraved with a swirling design.

"I don't want to give you lot the ones that resemble wedding rings since you eventually want to find boyfriends of your own," he explained. "And I certainly don't wanna give Wilf a wedding ring and have Sylvia ask him all sorts of questions about it. When we do give it to him, we'll tell him to tell Sylvia that you brought him the ring as a gift," he said to Donna.

After purchasing the rings, they put them on the ring fingers of their right hands. After that, the Doctor took them to another electronics store on a different planet to buy the components for the randomizer. He brought enough for two of them, one for each TARDIS. In addition to that, he also got parts for the sonic screwdrivers he needed to make for Grace, Martha, Madison and Jack. Once they were done, they headed back to Faust and landed ten minutes after they left. Once they landed, the Doctor gave his screwdriver to Rain.

"Go ahead and continue the search. Alan and I will be in here working on dampening the TARDISes and assembling and installing the randomizers and then after that we'll tackle the screwdrivers."

"We'll be busy little boys," Alan said.

"If you lot do find more of our people, contact us telepathically and also be sure to tell us when Terina wants us."

They nodded. Rain and Rose kissed their husbands and all of them left the TARDIS while the Doctor and Alan went to work.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The rest of the family went back to the rooms that contained the information about them and continued their search from there. They didn't find any more rooms with pictures or information about them but as they neared the end of the corridor, the screwdriver suddenly began to blink.

"Oh God," Donna said.

Rain studied the little display on the side of the screwdriver and used it while they walked to a room with a locked heavy metal door. Rain unlocked the door and all of them reeled back when she opened it. The smell of death and decay was nearly overpowering and they had to switch to their respiratory bypass systems to keep from gagging. They stood back waiting for the room to air out a bit before going inside. The room was made of stone with a dirt floor. There were several corpses and skeletons in the room. A few of the bodies were chained to the walls by their necks; their bodies slumped against the walls. The rest were unchained and sprawled out on the floor. They could tell they were Time Lords and Ladies now only because of the artron energy signatures but also because some of them were wearing the remains of the Time Lord robes. Four of the nine bodies were skeletons and the rest had been mummified, their skin brown and stretched like old leather. It appeared to them that the females were unchained while the males were chained to the wall. They noticed on the mummified corpses there was tiny writing tattooed on their cheeks. They were pleased to find that part of the tattoo was the victim's names. While they made an examination of them, Rain telepathically told her husband and Alan about their findings.

_Make a note of the location, Latara, and any other location you find. _

_We will, Love,_ Rain thought.

_Whatever you find, we wanna take a look at it as well, the Doctor thought to them. It'll still be awhile before we do that. We're about done with dampening the TARDIS but we still have the other things afterwards. But I'm glad you found more of our people. Keep going._

They finished communicating with the two men and headed back out. They closed the door behind them and continued their search.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They didn't find anything further until they were near the back of the palace. Rain picked up another signal and they followed it to an unadorned stone wall.

"What? Are more buried in the wall?" Jack said.

"I don't think so. I think the signal's coming from the other side of the wall," Rain replied.

"So we need to find a back door then," Jenny said.

"I hope to God there is one," Awinita said. "I really don't wanna walk all the way back and go around the outside to this spot."

"Let's keep going and maybe we'll find a back door," Rose said.

They headed on, going downwards. The stone walls became more prevalent and they could smell the musty, moldy smells of the dungeon.

"I have a feeling we're not gonna find the entrance down here," Mingxia said. "I think we're going back down into the dungeon."

Rain sighed.

"Yup, I think you're right. I think we will have to go back and go around."

They groaned.

"Sorry, guys," Rain said. "Don't blame me. I didn't build the place."

They turned and headed back the other way.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

By the time they reached the courtyard, Alan was outside the TARDIS resting against the side of it. He saw them and waved.

"Finished with the dampening of this TARDIS. Just taking a break before we tackle the Valeyard's TARDIS. But at least this one is safe. Find anything else?"

"Yes, there's something in the back yard of the palace," Awinita said. "We were back in the dungeon area but we couldn't find a back door so we had to walk up here and now we gotta walk back around to find it."

"Outside?" Alan said.

"Yeah, the Doctor's screwdriver read six more artron energy signatures but they were outside the walls," Rain said.

"Wait a tic," Alan said.

He went back inside and came out a few minutes later with the Doctor.

"Alan and I want to walk with you and see what's on the outside of the palace. I was resting inside so we can use this time to suss out what's going on and take a look at that room you found."

They nodded and the brothers followed them while Rain led them back towards the palace.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they reached the back of the palace they stayed close to the walls. Rain picked up the signal again after a moment. They looked around but there was nothing on the outside except grass and a few trees and shrubs. The Doctor had a thought and walked up to his wife.

"Aim down," he said to her.

She aimed it at her feet and the blinking increased.

"Oh, they're buried," Rain said.

"Seems so," the Doctor said, kneeling down with Alan.

"Mass grave," Alan said.

The Doctor nodded and ran his hand along the ground. He picked up some of the dirt and examined it.

"You're just picking up the radiation from our kind," the Doctor said to Rain. "There might be even more buried under here."

"Do we dig them up then?" Jenny asked.

The Doctor shook his head.

"No, they're covered up. As long as they're buried, I don't care. It's the ones who are in rooms and on display that I'm concerned about. Those are the ones who need a proper funeral. No, I don't wanna go digging up Terina's garden. We'll leave them as is. Now about this room you found..."

"We'll have to go back around and go back inside," Awinita said.

"Hmmm, maybe not. I see another gate over there. Let's see where it leads to."

They walked over and Rain unlocked the gate. They opened it and saw a little path leading down to a large lake. There was a dock with a small rowboat tied to the wooden post. Across the lake another dock and a dirt path were leading away into a forest.

"My guess is they ferried some of the captives across the lake from here," the Doctor said. "And if that's true, then they need a door back here so they don't have to walk them through the palace. I'm betting there is a door, it's just hidden. But if you let me adjust the settings on my screwdriver, we can find it."

Rain handed him the screwdriver and he adjusted the settings. He took a hold of Rain's hand while they walked back over to the wall. He kept the screwdriver aimed at the palace wall. After a few feet, the light began to blink and they stopped. The wall looked solid to them with no seams or cracks to indicate a door. They glanced at each other and pushed on the wall but it didn't budge.

"Well, can't open it that way," Donna said.

"Maybe there's a trigger that opens it," Alan said. "A false section of wall that you push on and it slides open."

The Doctor reached into his pocket and grabbed his stethoscope. He gave his screwdriver to Rain and used the stethoscope while he knocked on the wall searching for a hollow spot. After a few minutes, he grinned.

"Found it," he said.

He pushed on the section of wall and the stone door groaned as it slowly slid open. Beyond it were ten stone steps that went down. The Doctor put his stethoscope back in his pocket, grabbed his flashlight and they went down.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The women and Jack led the Doctor and Alan back through the dungeon to the room. Both of them sighed angrily when they entered it and saw the bodies.

"How many corpses did Jasper have in here?" Alan said.

"This is like that murder house in Chicago," Rose said.

Alan snorted.

"Yeah, I'm surprised he doesn't have the lime pit and dissection table somewhere."

"He might, Bro, we haven't finished our search yet," Awinita said.

Rain put a hand on her husband's shoulder while he knelt down and looked at the females.

"Do you know any of the ones who have names?" she asked.

He shook his head.

"No I don't, Latara. I'm puzzled as to why he'd feel the need to tattoo their names on their cheeks since the child and the head didn't have this."

"I have a thought," Jack said.

"Let's hear it," the Doctor said.

"Well, this is obviously a cell of some kind. What if these men and women tried to escape or fight back and were thrown in here to die and perhaps they had their names tattooed on them in case they did escape and needed to be caught."

"I can see that," the Doctor said. "Your explanation would fit the tattoos as well. Especially since they were put on the face where they can't be easily hidden. I'm sure if someone tried to help them and were caught they'd also be put to death."

"They've been in here awhile," Grace said. "How long ago was the end of the Time War?"

"Eighteen years plus the Time War lasted twenty two years so it could have been any time during that or even before it."

"Dad?"

He glanced at Jenny.

"Hmm?"

She knelt down and pointed to a skeleton near the wall.

"There's something under this one," she said, leaning over and looking. "Something brown."

The skeleton was lying in its side in a fetal position. The Doctor and Alan walked over and gently turned it on its side. Once they did that, the other arm was uncovered and they saw a little brown book and a pen in its skeletal hand. Jenny picked up the book and opened it.

"Um…Darjabrextartelion, is that a man or a woman?" she said to the Doctor.

"Woman."

Jenny turned the page and read aloud to them.

"I have started this journal to record my thoughts and feelings because it seems as if the whole universe has gone mad," she read. "We are in the fifth year of the Time War and it seems as if the Daleks will never be defeated. The Doctor has held them at bay thus far and they have not invaded Gallifrey but he is only one man and I fear that not even he can hold them back much longer. Madam President Romana has ordered an emergency meeting to discuss actions to take should the Daleks gain a foothold on the planet."

"She was on the High Council then," Alan said.

"I fear that nothing but the most drastic of measures will be able to stop them. We have received news that planet Cavlak was lost today and the Daleks have swarmed onto it unchecked.

"I know when she wrote this then," the Doctor said. "I wasn't there at Cavlak. I was fighting another battle with the Daleks on a nearby planet but we couldn't reach them in time and nearly everything on Cavlak was wiped out."

Jenny flipped through the pages and headed towards the back.

"I'll see if she wrote anything about being in here," she said while she sped read through the pages.

She found a page near the back and began to read to them.

"I have managed to find the time to quickly jot this down. Today I was apprehended heading back to my house from the council chambers. I tried to call for help but the man slipped a handkerchief over my face and I was rendered unconscious. I woke up in a cell on a spaceship with several other unfortunates who were also snatched. I don't know what these people have in mind for us but I pray someone finds us soon before it's too late."

Rain squeezed the Doctor's shoulder when she felt his distress in her mind. Jenny flipped through, reading more. She stopped after a few minutes and read again.

"Eight of my fellow Time Lords and Ladies and I are attempting a daring escape plan. I have no idea if it will succeed but we can't sit here and wait for these madmen to sell us for our body parts."

"So you were right, Jack," the Doctor said.

Jenny flipped through a few more pages and nodded.

"Yeah, he was right, Dad. They got across that lake out there but they were caught in the woods after a fight and got thrown in here as punishment."

She read silently.

"And apparently they meant to kill them since she said they never had any food or water," Jenny added.

"Must have been quite a fight if they allowed Time Lords to die," Alan said.

Jenny nodded.

"Yeah, says that one of the men hit one of Jasper's men in the jaw with a tree limb and broke it."

"Good, I'm glad one of them did that," the Doctor said.

"Even still, to let all these Time Lords and Ladies die…" Jenny said to the Doctor. "Even if one of the men did do that."

"I'm sure he figured any resistance would carry over to the slave market and it was better to just get rid of them. Gallifrey hadn't been destroyed yet so they could always go back and get more victims," the Doctor said to her.

He noticed Jenny frowning while she read.

"What is it, Angel?"

"Says here that they were made examples for the rest of the Time Lords. That they would let other Time Lords and Ladies see them in here as a warning and they'd also take them out to the back and whip their backs while the others watched."

Alan glanced at the Doctor. He walked over to one of the mummified corpses. He and Jack lifted him up and they pulled up the robe. The Doctor sighed angrily when they saw old whip scars across his leathery back.

"Jesus, these people were depraved," Awinita said, shaking her head.

"Makes me wonder if the ones in the mass graves got the same treatment and didn't survive it," Alan said.

"Or they just executed them on the spot," the Doctor said. "I dread to think that there might be other rooms like this out there on other planets with more dead Time Lords and Ladies in them. If there are, I hope Terina finds them."

They pulled down the robe and gently laid the body on the ground. The Doctor used his screwdriver to take off the neck collars and they laid them on the ground with the others.

"Come on, let's go back to the TARDIS for awhile and get away from this place," the Doctor said when they finished.


	111. Chapter 111

Chapter One Hundred and Eleven

After they got back to the TARDIS, all of them rested except for the Doctor and Alan who went into the spare room to work on dampening the Valeyard's TARDIS. Rain went to her bedroom and lay down on their bed. She stared up at the ceiling thinking over everything they had seen so far. Anger and sorrow filled her mind while she glanced down at the bio-damper on her finger. The ring was pretty but just the fact that she and her family had to wear them again to hide from yet another threat depressed her. She lowered her hand and stared up at the ceiling, lost in her thoughts.

"Oi!"

Rain was jerked out of her reverie by her husband's voice and she lifted her head. He was standing at the end of the bed staring at her.

"You wanna stop the maudlin thoughts, Latara, you're harshin' my buzz!" he said.

Rain blinked.

"Harshin' your buzz? Um…Love, buzz is what you get when you're drunk or high," she said to him.

He grinned and came over to her.

"Well, you and our family's thoughts are like a buzz in my mind so it fits," he said, winking. "So quit harshin' my buzz with your depression."

He walked around the bed and flopped down beside her.

"Not that you're the only one who is harshin' it since everyone is depressed," he said. "And I understand completely but it's hard to work when the whole TARDIS is in the doldrums. Alan has gone to stop his wife from being down in the dumps. He was gonna come in here and smack you in the head but I said no. so I saved you from a few minutes of sibling torment."

"Well, thank you for that," she said while he ran his index finger up and down her bare arm.

"No problemo. Now, you know, I used to do this sort of thing all the time. Lie around moping, depressed and withdrawn, and that's what got me into trouble. Someone…well, actually a whole mess of someones taught me it's better to talk to someone and let your feelings out. Not to mention staring up at the ceiling doesn't look like much fun. Especially since there's nothing up there. So talk to me, my hearts, tell me what you're thinking."

"Does it need to be spelled out?"

"Not really. I know what's bothering ya but I want you to say it and get it out of your system."

"Well, first off, I hate that we have to wear the bio-dampers again. It just kinda hammers home the point that we're being hunted."

The Doctor smiled sadly.

"Yes, it does. But it's nothing new to me. I told you before that I installed the randomizer because I thought the Black Guardian was gonna come after me. The way I see it, it's not that big an inconvenience. It's just a ring. It's not like you have to wear an invisibility blanket over your head at all times. I know you're thinking of what it symbolizes but be thankful we have a means to avoid detection, several in fact, and we can get on with our life and have fun roaming the universe. Granted for the most part our roaming will now be a big old mystery but hey, could be fun. I'm sure you've guessed this by now, my wife, but the ability to adapt to circumstances is a must for us. We'll be alright. We just have to take extra precautions but I'm sure we'll be so busy running for our lives from other people that we'll have no time to think about running for our lives from Jasper's lot. So what else is nagging at your mind?"

"Finding our people like this. All those poor people, how they must have suffered."

"Now you see why I despise horror movies."

"Yes, I'm beginning to share your hatred of them."

"You know what's odd for me?" the Doctor said, turning on his side to face her.

"What?"

"You've seen my memories of my time on Gallifrey and I've told you about how I was treated. I couldn't wait to get away from that place and all the people who treated me like dirt and yet here I am, being a caretaker of the last remnants of my people and culture. It's odd that I'm doing that since I'm now protecting a people who for the most part wanted nothing to do with me."

"It's even odder for me since these weren't my people to begin with," Rain said.

"But it actually makes me happy that you did that since you've fully embraced who you've become. You and everyone else have done so much to learn about your new heritage and who you are and the fact that you are this upset and depressed is a sign that you no longer consider yourself human. Especially you and the ones who have been with me the longest. I'm sure it'll take awhile for Madison and Grace and Martha and Jack to think of themselves as completely Gallifreyan but even so, they still are grieving with us and even though you lot are harshin' my buzz it makes me glad that you are doing that because I no longer feel like I'm the last now."

"Good, I'm glad," she said, stroking his cheek.

"But I'm glad you're also willing to open up to me and get this out in the open because I don't want any of you to do what I did and compartmentalize your feelings just so you can go on with your daily life. The last thing I want is for you to become like I used to be, any of you. All of you have such spirit and love and joy inside you and that's what makes it so fun being around you. If I wanted moping, I'd kick you all out and do it myself and I don't wanna be by myself anymore. So…quit your maudlin behavior and let's have a smile."

She grinned at him.

"Ah, there's the Rain I know and love," he said.

She smiled and gave him a kiss. While they were kissing, Alan came into the room, walked over to her side of the bed and stared down at her with mock anger. Rain finished kissing him and saw her husband glancing upwards.

"Let me guess, Creepy's behind me," she said.

"Explain yourself," Alan said to her.

"Yup, it's Creepy all right," Rain said while the Doctor giggled.

"I said, explain yourself."

"Explain what?" Rain said, rolling on her back so she could look at him.

"Explain your depression and why I must endure feeling it."

"Aw, you poor baby," Rain teased. "Well, if you must know, Snotbag, I did this so you would feel it."

"I thought as much. Well, you will cease and desist immediately. I've already had to give my wife a good hard smack to get her to stop bringing me down and you will cheer up before I have to do the same to you."

"P'eh, try to smack me with him here," Rain said, gesturing to her husband.

She gasped when he suddenly gathered her into his arms.

"Very well, I shall move you away from your protector," he said, heading towards the door.

"Hubby, stop him!" Rain said while the Doctor and Alan laughed.

"I can't, my hearts, he has me pinned to the bed by some kind of invisible voodoo Incan force field," the Doctor said to her.

He laughed when Alan went out the door and a few seconds later, Rain came running back inside and flopped down on the bed.

"Oi, I wasn't done with ya, missy!" Alan said, running back to her.

He tickled her armpits while she held onto the Doctor and squealed with laughter. Both men smiled when her happiness spread to everyone else's minds and they cheered up. The Doctor threw up a privacy block.

_Brother, you're a miracle worker,_ he thought to him.

_Just lightening the mood around here_, he thought back.

Alan gave Rain a kiss on the cheek.

"Now quit being so down. We don't like it."

"Yes, it's harshin' our buzzes," the Doctor said.

Alan grinned.

"Yeah, we don't like feeling your sadness. We want bunnies and song and dance and rainbows coming from that noggin of yours. Now come with us and you can keep us company under the TARDIS while we dampen it. We need a few laughs while we do that."

The Doctor got up with Rain and Alan gave her a hug and sent an extra big dose of love in her mind. The Doctor took her hand and they walked outside. They paused by Alan's room and he marched over to Rose who was sitting on the bed.

"Up! Out! Come with us! You're not gonna be in here crying your eyes out as well!" he said, taking her hand. "We are gonna have fun and laughter and candy canes and sunshine around here."

"I see they got to you as well," Rose said when they walked out the door.

"Yup, I'm also s'posed to think of kittens and sunshine and lollipops and daffodils on pain of death," she said to her.

"Too right, misses, now march!" the Doctor said to her. "And keep those happy thoughts a brewing in your noddle or I'll give you a smack bottom."

He threw up a privacy block.

_Puh-leeeeeze, please, please, pleeeeease, do something that will force me to give you a smack bottom,_ he thought to her.

Rose looked back at Rain when she sniggered.

"Down boy," she said aloud.

"Oh Lord, I can just imagine what he just said to ya," Rose said while she giggled.

They passed by Jenny's room and Alan saw her lying on her bed.

"Ah! No! Up! Now! Get up and come with us! No lying around moping! We're not havin' it!" Alan said, walking into her room. "Up this very instant!"

She laughed when he tickled her armpits.

"Get up, Jen, we're not having doldrums on this TARDIS!" he said to her.

"Okay, okay, I'm coming!" she said.

One by one they passed by the rooms and got their sisters up and forced them to come with them.

"No depression on the TARDIS! House rule!" Alan declared while they walked along. "I appreciate you grieving for our fellow Time Lords and Ladies but they died years ago and there's no need to cry over what's happened and the fact that they're musty dusty bones and moldy oldie mummies. We're here, we're alive and we're gonna have fun for a change. Jack, this includes you!" he said when he reached his closed door.

He threw it open and everyone laughed at his wide eyed expression when they noticed Jack was on his bed masturbating.

"I'm a bit busy, Alan!" he said to him.

"Bang on, so you are, good day to you then," Alan said.

They laughed harder when he slammed the door and Jack shouted at him about knocking first before entering.

"Right, Jack's cheering himself up it seems so the rest of us can head on to the TARDIS," Alan said while they roared with laughter.

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"Right," the Doctor said when they entered the Valeyard's TARDIS. "Like Alan said, we are going to have a pleasant time and have fun. This means no discussing what we've just seen or have been through the past few days. Brother's right. These people are our kind but they died long ago and it's no use mourning for them now. We can mourn when we cremate them. For the moment we wanna hear laughter and see smiles while we work on dampening this TARDIS. So go ahead and have a hen party while we work and let us reap the benefits of your happiness. Put on some music in here, sing, dance, laugh, chat and have a merry old time. Understood?"

They all nodded.

"Good. Now let's make with the merriment, shall we?"

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After making some tea in the Valeyard's TARDIS kitchen, the women put some music on and ate some cookies while they talked. They brought a couple of cups of tea and a plate of cookies for the men and the two of them happily worked on the TARDIS, loving the feeling of contentment and peace and happiness that was pouring into their minds. While they worked, Madison came over and lay down beside the Doctor.

"Howdy, Te'lesu," he said to her. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm doing fine," she said.

"Good. Because you have something extra to be sad about," he said to her.

"Well, like you said, what's done is done and I can't let it drag me down. I just have to hope for the best."

"Well, you have a family here that loves you and you have Grace when you leave here," he said to her.

"Yeah, I know. That's why it's easier to bear everything. And I don't regret becoming a Time Lady, not for one moment."

"Good, Te'lesu, I'm glad," the Doctor said.

Madison watched them work under the console.

"Is this complicated, this dampening?" she said.

"Not too complicated. Just takes a bit of time to adjust everything," the Doctor replied.

"And then you have everything else you have to get done after it."

"Yeah, but the randomizer doesn't take that long to assemble and install. The screwdrivers take the longest which is why we're saving them for last."

The Doctor glanced at her and explained what they were doing while they worked. Madison lay next to him listening quietly. After about ten minutes, she giggled and the Doctor gave her an amused grin.

"What?" he said.

"I actually understand all this technobabble. I couldn't even set my VCR clock before I became a Time Lady."

He and Alan laughed.

"Well, if you really must know, Brother and I have never figured out how to do that either," the Doctor said with a wink.

"Yes, give us parts and we can make a randomizer but tell us to set the clock on the video and our heads go splody," Alan said.

The Doctor looked at him.

"Splody?" he said while Madison giggled.

"Rain's doing," he replied.

"Well, I figured that," the Doctor said while Madison laughed harder.

He winked at Madison.

"Rain's gotten to him along with Awinita and he now alternates between British and American slang so don't mind him."

"Well, Grace and I will have to help them then."

"Oh heavens no!" the Doctor said while Alan laughed. "Don't you dare. Rose would kill me if you corrupted him further."

"But he's fun to be around," Madison said.

"Exactly the point I was trying to make to Brother the other day over tea and scones. I said to him, I said, Brother, I'm a fun guy and he said, leave me alone I'm busy being a legend in my own mind and I said, okey-dokey and then I went to the necessary room and dropped some trouser chili."

Madison laughed while the Doctor looked at her and feigned exasperation.

"See what Rose and I have to put up with, Maddie?" he said to her.

"Watch this, Maddie," Alan said.

Madison's eyes bulged when she suddenly had an image in her mind of Alan on the toilet yelling with relief while multiple sounds of splashing could be heard underneath him.

"ALAN, STOP THAT!" Rose yelled from the kitchen while the Doctor and Madison laughed.

"See, that's another lovely thing about being able to talk in our minds, we can share images as well," Alan said gleefully. "Observe…"

Another image flashed into Madison's mind. Alan was butt naked, dancing around and using a banana for a microphone while he sang Mamma Mia. Madison laughed harder when she heard her sisters and niece screaming at him to stop.

"See, it's a unique talent we have, this ability to share images," Alan said while the Doctor sniggered.

Another image flashed into her mind. Alan was fully dressed this time and standing in a field. He was staring ahead with a wild look in his eyes.

"Near," the mental Alan said.

He zoomed back to the very back of the field ala Roadrunner.

"Faaaaaaaaar!" he yelled.

He zoomed back.

"Near," he said.

He zoomed back to the back of the field.

"FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!" he screamed.

By this time the Doctor had stopped working on the damper and grinned at Madison.

"I can't think with him doing this, so I'm waiting for him to finish," he said while she giggled.

Another image appeared in her head. Alan was doing the near, far thing but while he was doing it, Donna appeared at the edge of the image holding the Doctor's mallet in her hand. She waited till he got back to the front of the vision and then suddenly she came up behind, smacked him in the head and knocked him out.

"THERE, NOW WE CAN HAVE SOME PEACE AND QUIET FOR A CHANGE!" the mental Donna yelled.

Alan lay there wide eyed while everyone else laughed hysterically.

_What the hell are you people doing? I'm trying to spank the monkey and I keep seeing images of Alan dancing naked and running around and getting hit on the head by Donna,_ Jack thought to them.

"Brother, if I were you, I'd take the whole vision of Donna rendering you unconscious very, very seriously," the Doctor said to him.

"Yes, I agree. I'll keep my wacky imagination to myself now," Alan said.

The Doctor grinned at Madison and went back to work while she giggled softly.


	112. Chapter 112

Chapter One Hundred And Twelve

After awhile, Mingxia left the TARDIS to find Terina in case she wanted them to come to supper with her. She returned about twenty minutes later and knelt down beside the Doctor and Alan who were finished up with the damper.

"Terina wants us to eat with her in two hours time in the dining room and she told me to tell you not to dress up this time. She said she's made arrangement and her coronation will be at eleven in the morning."

The Doctor nodded.

"Thank you for doing that, Te'lesu; I didn't want her to think we'd abandoned her. You lot keep an eye on the time then. We're about done here but we might start work on the randomizers."

Mingxia nodded.

"I also told her we found the other bodies and she wanted to be shown them and the heads when you were ready."

The Doctor sighed.

"Blimey, I'll be glad to get away from here and get this over with. I hate feeling depressed," he said to her.

"Same here, Doctor."

"This whole idea to go to the resort planet hasn't been very relaxing has it, Mingxia?" he said to her. "The moment we got there it's just been one crisis after another."

"I know. I'll be glad when we can actually get some relaxation and…"

She trailed off when she suddenly heard Afternoon Delight playing in her mind. She was about to ask the Doctor if he was doing it before she saw the shocked look on his face. She glanced over at Alan and saw he was trying not to smile.

"Alan, what are you doing?" Mingxia said.

"Entertaining Rose," he said.

He feigned shock.

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't put up the privacy block, did I?" he said.

"Alright, where is he?" Donna said, coming into the console room.

The Doctor laughed when Alan quickly slid out from under the console room and sprinted out the door.

"You better keep on runnin', Handy, before I bash your face in!" Donna screamed out the door.

"Be fair, Donna, Afternoon Delight isn't the worst thing he could have projected in your mind," the Doctor said to her while she walked back.

Donna walked over to him.

"Doctor, am I really that bad?" she said to him. "You don't act that annoyin'. And it can't be the part he got from me. Where is he gettin' it from?"

"Part of it is his need to be different, I think. The other part is my wife and Awinita. But I actually quite enjoy it, beats him stomping around the TARDIS in a snit, don't you think?"

"I s'pose so but sometimes the boy needs to stop," she replied.

"I don't think he means to be annoying. I think he's trying to keep everyone happy. We've had too many depressing things happen to us over the past few days, here, Aswad, Madison's marriage crumbling. He just wants to cheer everyone up, especially Madison."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she said.

The Doctor patted her leg.

"Cheer up, Donna. Like I said, there are worse things he could do than project Afternoon Delight into your head."

He sighed with relief.

"Damper is done. This TARDIS is shielded now. The only things that should be giving off artron energy here are the dead bodies."

Donna and Mingxia stood up and helped the Doctor to his feet. He groaned and stretched his back.

_Brother, I'm finished. It's safe to come back here, Donna won't slaughter ya,_ he thought to Alan.

He groaned and stretched his back. Suddenly, he plopped his head down onto Mingxia's shoulder.

"Why? Why must I build two randomizers? Why, Mingxia, why?"

Donna laughed when Mingxia stared at him in shock. A grin spread over her face when the Doctor began to giggle softly.

"I guess…because you have to?" she said to him.

"Argh, don't wanna! I need rest and sleep. I want my bed!" he moaned.

He giggled again when Mingxia said, "Oookay." He raised his head, smiled and gave her a kiss on the forehead.

"Don't mind me, I'm just griping about my lot in life, Te'lesu," he said to her while he lowered his head onto her shoulder.

"Aw, poor Doctor," Mingxia said, rubbing his back.

He paused a moment.

"That's nice, keep doing that," he said while she and Donna laughed.

He looked up when Alan and Jack came into the TARDIS.

"He's done now," Alan said to him.

"Yes, no thanks to you," Jack said. "Knock before you come in my room next time."

"Knock so I don't have to watch you wanking off in the TARDIS, got it," Alan said.

Alan threw up a privacy block around the Doctor's mind.

_Don't know why he was griping about envisioning me naked while he was wanking off. I'm betting he enjoyed it,_ he thought to him before he dropped it.

The Doctor suppressed the smile.

"So, do you wanna start on the randomizers before we go to dinner?" the Doctor asked Alan.

"Not really, but I s'pose we'll have to tackle it sooner or later," he said. "Might as well start on them. Besides, it's the screwdrivers that I'm dreading."

"Yeah, same here," the Doctor said.

He picked up the empty mugs and plate and carried it back to the kitchen.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They worked for about a half hour getting the randomizers half finished before they decided to quit and go back into the palace for supper.

Terina met them in the dining room. They were served a lighter dinner with just steaks, some greens, the brown potato soup and some beer. Terina asked about what they found and the Doctor reluctantly told her. He kept his face passive and he was polite but secretly he wished they would talk about something other than corpses at the dinner table. He was glad when Terina gave him permission to take them and promised to keep an eye out for any more bodies and more files on him and his family during their searches.

While they were eating, Alan glanced over at Madison across the table and grinned when he suddenly had an idea. He threw up a privacy block around her mind and projected an image of himself dressed as Jennifer Beals in Flashdance dancing like her while Maniac played. Madison choked on her soup and smiled when she saw him dancing around in his ripped shirt and purple leg warmers. The other members of the family noticed the privacy block and saw her desperately trying not to laugh. Rose looked at Alan.

_Dear, what are you doing?_ She thought to him.

_Making my new sister smile, _he thought back.

They grinned watching while Madison tried to eat and keep her composure.

_What are you doing to her?_ Rose though to Alan.

Alan let her into the privacy block and projected the image into both their heads. Rose bit her lip watching her husband beating on a chair, leaping up onto a chair and pulling on a chain, arching his back while water splashed down on him.

_Thanks dear, now I'll never get this image out of my mind_, Rose thought to him.

Alan grinned when he let the Doctor in and sniggered at the shocked look on his face while he was chewing his steak. The Doctor looked at him.

_That's what Maddie is seeing?_ He thought to him.

_And Rose,_ he thought back.

_Okay, seeing you dressed as Jennifer Beals is beyond disturbing, Brother_, the Doctor thought.

Alan grinned. He dropped the privacy block completely and continued to project the image of him in Flashdance. Grace gave him a shocked look while Awinita put her napkin over her mouth to keep her laughter in. Mingxia and Martha bit their lips, Donna and Jack gave him raised eyebrows and Jenny gave him a confused look. Alan sat and ate calmly pretending to ignore everyone. He smiled and winked at Madison when he finally stopped and just concentrated on eating.

"I hope you are comfortable here even if it has been very sad," Terina was saying to them.

"We've enjoyed your hospitality," the Doctor said.

"Good, I've enjoyed your company. It's not often one dines with a legend."

She noticed the Doctor's unease at that.

"You don't like being called a legend?" she asked.

"No, I don't like being singled out for adoration or praise or worship," he replied.

"But after all you've done, you deserve it."

"Perhaps, but it still makes me uncomfortable. I do this because it's the right thing to do not because I want fame and fortune. I'd rather just do what needs to be done and go on to the next thing."

Terina stared at him in wonder.

"I've never met anyone like you before, Doctor. Of course, I grew up around people who were completely selfish and wanted riches and glory but you…you're different."

He shrugged.

"Not really. There are many other unsung heroes out there besides me standing up for what's right," he said.

"But I believe that's why people adore you and speak of you. Because you don't want to be noticed. Your humility endears you to others. I hope you and your family continue your sacred mission throughout the ages."

The Doctor nodded politely and he quickly changed the subject to something else while he and his family ate.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ugh! I hated that," the Doctor sighed when they came through the TARDIS doors. "First we had to discuss the corpses and then I had to listen to how much of a legend I am. I'm dreading the coronation tomorrow. I just know she's gonna single me or us out at it."

"Just grin and bear it, Brother. Be polite and when it ends you can go," Alan said while he came up behind him.

He nodded.

"Back to the randomizers then?" he said to him.

"Might as well."

They headed back to their lab while the others went into the kitchen for tea and conversation.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You know, I'm dreading tomorrow too," Mingxia said while she and the other women sipped their tea. "I don't want to sit there in a stuffy dress with a bunch of strangers. And I'm beginning to think like the Doctor, I don't want to be fawned over either."

"Yeah, same here. I'd rather just sit there and leave afterwards," Awinita said.

"I don't wanna wear a dress although I'm sure Alan will love it," Rose said, sipping her tea. "But the sooner we can get the coronation over with, the better."

Jack hurried into the kitchen with a big smile on his face.

"Ladies, I have wonderful news," he said to them. "Specifically for Madison."

"Yes?" Madison said.

He went over and put his hands on her shoulders.

"I just talked to Ianto and tried to get an update on the divorce. Turns out that James is gonna sign away his parental rights and give you full custody of Dorothy."

Madison's mouth dropped open while the others stared at him in shock.

"Why did he do that?" Madison finally said.

"Well, Ianto talked with his lawyer and he was gonna say you were an unfit mother but he couldn't give a reason why so his lawyer told him that no judge was gonna accept that. Ianto thinks the only reason he could give for you being unfit in his eyes was you're an alien and he wasn't gonna admit that to the lawyer which was why he gave no real reason. His lawyer informed him that you and he could have joint custody of Dorothy and you could have visitation and he told the lawyer he didn't want to see you and to give you full custody of Dorothy and sign away his parental rights. Ianto's handling the paperwork but you have Dorothy free and clear, Maddie."

Everyone cheered while Madison teared up.

"Oh God, have you told the Doctor and Alan?" she said.

"No, I came in here right after talking to Yan."

"Excuse me then, I have to go tell them."

Jack stepped back when she got up. She gave him a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"I can't wait to see Ianto to tell him he's the best," Madison said to him.

They cheered again when she ran out the door towards the lab.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Yes!" the Doctor said, leaping from his seat after Madison told him the news. "Oh yes, I knew he couldn't tell people you were a Time Lady without everyone questioning his sanity. I'm so glad you have her back especially since I was so afraid he'd turn her against ya. This is wonderful new, Te'lesu!"

"So after the coronation tomorrow, we go and get her?" Alan said.

"Well, stop off in Torchwood and see if she has to sign anything but yes, afterwards we go and get Dorothy back!"

He gave her another tight hug.

"Finally, a bit of good news after all the sadness over the past few days," the Doctor said. "I can't wait to see her. I'm so glad she'll go into the future with ya so you don't have to keep coming back to see her."

"It's sad that James is willing to abandon his daughter just because he doesn't want her in her life now," Alan said, pointing to Madison.

"Eh, it's his loss," Madison said. "It's his decision. I don't care as long as I have my little Dot."

"Dot? That's cute," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, you guys can call her Dot if you want. That's her nickname."

"Dot, brilliant," the Doctor said.

He and Alan both gave her hugs and kisses.

"Thank you for the news, Te'lesu. Now we can finish the randomizers in high spirits," the Doctor said.

He patted her on the back and they watched while she walked out of the room on cloud nine. When she was gone, both Brothers high-fived each other and went back to work.


	113. Chapter 113

Chapter One Hundred And Thirteen

For the rest of the night, there was a huge celebration in the TARDIS. Both the Doctor and Alan loved the whole party atmosphere while they finished the randomizers and installed them in both TARDISes. They were playing music, singing and being happy while the men sat and worked on the screwdrivers and reaped the benefits of the sudden change in mood. Feeling the happiness made their work easier and the two of them sang along to the music being piped throughout the TARDIS. About two hours into their work, Rain and Rose brought their husbands some Cokes and a small bowl of crisps. Both men rewarded them with kisses.

"How's the party coming along?" the Doctor asked as he took off his glasses.

"It's rockin'," Rain said. "You need to hurry up and finish so you can join us. And put the glasses back on. You know I like seeing you in them."

Rose kissed Alan on the cheek. He was also wearing glasses.

"And you wore your glasses as well," she said to him.

"Yeah, well this is delicate work and I'm wearing magnifying specs so I can see all the little tiny parts."

"Bollocks, I figured you'd finally wised up and decided to wear your glasses full time," Rose said.

"Nope, sorry, hon," Alan said.

"Well, hurry as fast as you can so you can come out and join the party," Rain said to them.

"Trust me, Latara, we're not spending one moment more than necessary in here," the Doctor said to her.

They gave them kisses and the men smiled while they watched their wives stroll back out of the room.

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After three more hours they were finally done with two of the screwdrivers and leaned back to take a rest.

"Half finished," the Doctor sighed.

"Yup, another five hours and we'll be finished with everything," Alan said. "That is, until Wilf wants one."

"Well, we'll wait till Wilf moves out of his house," the Doctor said to him. "Until then he can borrow Sarah's sonic lipstick if he needs to."

Both men stood and stretched their backs. While they did, Martha peeked in and knocked on the wall.

"Hey, another partygoer has come to visit us," the Doctor said. "You're just in time. We have two screwdrivers done. Come and get one and your psychic paper."

She walked over and he handed her one of the screwdrivers and psychic papers.

"Wow, I get to be you now," she said to him.

"Now, don't let it get to your head," he teased.

Martha kissed him on the cheek.

"Thank you for this, Doctor. This'll come in handy with Torchwood."

"Are you and Jack gonna make the others jealous now?" Alan said.

"Ummmmmmm, probably," Martha said.

"Well, here's the other finished screwdriver and psychic paper. Give it to the first screwdriverless person you see," Alan said, handing her the other screwdriver and psychic paper.

"I will," Martha said.

"So, what brings you back to the one place in the TARDIS that isn't rockin'," the Doctor said while he and Alan set back down.

"Well, I phoned Tom," Martha said while they gathered the parts they needed into two separate piles.

"And?" the Doctor said.

"And I'm not sure what to think," Martha said.

The Doctor pointed to a spare chair and Martha grabbed it and pulled it up to the table.

"We're listening and we'll talk but we also wanna work at the same time, so don't think we're tuning you out," the Doctor said while they began working on the screwdrivers. "So why are you not sure what to think?"

Martha turned the second screwdriver over and over in her hand and sighed.

"I admitted what happened to me right from the start just to get it out in the open, ya know," she said.

"And what did he say?" Alan said, glancing at her.

"He was surprised but he didn't act like James did and start callin' me a freak," she said.

"Good, I'm glad he didn't do that at least," the Doctor said.

"But I sense a "but" coming on the horizon," Alan added.

"Yeah, he wasn't that shocked but he still acts like he really isn't that interested in me."

"I think the man is stringin' ya along, Martha," Alan said.

"Yeah, I mean I'm sure he's a nice bloke but he doesn't seem all that interested in you. Unless he's afraid he won't be able to find someone else and is just keepin' ya around because he knows you'll stay," the Doctor said.

"I thought of that as well," Martha said. "The thing is, Doctor. It's rough because I know what happened to him during that whole year but I'm afraid to tell him that because he might think I'm some sort of nutter."

"But he just accepted you being a Time Lady," Alan pointed out. "So why couldn't he accept that he was once part of a rebellion and tried to help you defeat the Master."

"Well, it's because I'd have to tell him he died," Martha said to him.

The Doctor looked at her.

"Yes, but he's alive now so why would that be so disturbing?"

"Because he has to hear he died, Doctor."

"Yes, but he doesn't remember it. Besides, did you tell him about the fact that you'll die and regenerate now?"

"Yeah, I did."

"Well, you'll be dying and regenerating twelve times. I'd imagine that'd be a bit more disturbing for him to hear than hearing about his dying in an alternate reality."

"Well, it might be a moot point anyway," Martha said.

"And why is that?" the Doctor said.

"I finally asked him if he was serious and wanted to get married to me."

They both looked at her.

"And?" Alan said.

Martha rolled her eyes.

"I wanna marry ya, Love, but I keep tellin' ya, I'm busy right now and I have to find the time," Martha said mockingly.

"Martha, move on. He's not right for ya. He's leading you by the nose. You can do better," the Doctor said to her. "You need someone who is gonna be more committed to ya than that. I don't know if he's wedding shy but he does sound like a workaholic and that's just as bad because you'll never get any time with him. Let him go, Martha. Two years is long enough to know if someone is right for you."

"Yeah, I think you're right," she said to him.

"You'll find someone better, Martha," Alan said. "There's someone for everyone. Just keep looking and you'll find them."

"Thanks, Alan," Martha said.

She ruffled their hair.

"I'll let you get back to work and I'll give this one to Madison. Thanks for listening."

"No problem, Te'lesu," the Doctor said.

"That's what big and little brothers are here for," Alan added.

She smiled at them and ruffled their hair once more before she got up and left the room.

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After another five hours, they were done and handed the other two screwdrivers and psychic paper to Grace and Jack.

"Now, the women can show you how to use them because frankly, Alan and I need a severe lie down. And don't ask us to assemble or modify anything else for at least a century."

They laughed and gave them hugs and kisses. They returned the hugs and walked off to their bedrooms to rest. After awhile, their wives joined them and they lay together with them snuggling with their husbands while they rested their weary eyes and minds.

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The next morning, Mingxia went to find Terina and reported back that the coronation was going to be held in the palace's ballroom.

"We're supposed to be dressed in our finest, her words," Mingxia told everyone.

They groaned.

"Hot, stuffy dresses, here we come," Awinita groaned.

"Tuxedos, ugh," Alan said.

The Doctor sighed.

"Well, if we're supposed to be in our finest, maybe we can find something up in the wardrobe room since I'm sure she means pouffy, fluffy dresses and stiff tuxes. So come on and let's get this over with."

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The men climbed to the first level of the wardrobe room which was the men's section. The women climbed further up to the women's section. While the men selected their outfits, the women perused the dresses. The dresses ranged from the simple evening gowns all the way up to 1700's ball gowns and everything in between. The women picked through them trying to find something that looked elegant and still would be comfortable. They had tried on several things but they still weren't happy with them.

Rain was doing the same thing. She had tried on an 1800's party dress that resembled the ones worn in Gone with the Wind but it was too confining and tried a tight black strapless evening gown but thought it wasn't elegant enough. She was reaching for a long sleeved blue dress when she suddenly saw a salmon colored Indian sari beside it. The salmon colored outfit had pink trim with pink embroidered flowers on it. She stared at it for a moment and then grabbed it. She walked over to a large leather bound book on a stand in the corner. The book listed different styles of clothing and how to wear them. She found the page that instructed how to wear a sari and followed the directions while she put it on. The others stopped and watched her.

"Wow, that looks great on ya, Sis," Awinita said when she finished with it and covered the back of her head with a long veil made from the same material.

"Wear that," Rose said. "That looks beautiful and it looks very formal."

"Yeah, make the Doctor drool all the way through the coronation," Mingxia said.

"It's comfortable. There are some more, guys. Wear them. Don't wear those big stuffy ball gowns. Wear this."

They picked up the gowns they tried on, put them in a pile and walked over to the saris that were left.

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The men's jaws dropped when the sari clad women came down the stairs.

"Va-va-va-voom," Jack said.

"Saris, I never would have thought of that, but I'm sure glad you lot did," the Doctor said. "You look beautiful."

His eyes bulged when Rain walked up to him.

"This needs to be glued to your body permanently," he said to her while they laughed.

"Told ya he'd like it," Mingxia said.

Rose walked up to Alan. She was wearing a dark blue one with a blue veil. Alan stared at her with barely contained lust.

"My little Indian princess," he said to her.

"You look good," she said, smoothing out his tux and adjusting his bow tie.

"I might look good but I don't feel good. This is hotter 'n hell. And I hope the old tux jinx doesn't kick in."

All three men were wearing tuxes. Besides Rose and Rain, Mingxia had on a red sari, Awinita and Martha had on brown ones, Jenny had on a lavender one, Donna had on a white one, Madison had on a green one and Grace had on a sky blue one. The men gazed at them approvingly.

"You all look stunning," the Doctor said. "So now that we're ready. Shall we go to the coronation?"

They nodded. The Doctor took Rain and Jenny's hands and Alan took Rose's hand while they all walked down the stairs.


	114. Chapter 114

Chapter One Hundred And Fourteen

"We are the luckiest guys on the face of Faust," Alan said. "We are surrounded by beautiful sari clad women. Heads are gonna turn."

"Well as long as they do nothing more except turn their heads," the Doctor said. "I don't wanna beat them off my gorgeous wife. And I am going to glue this to your body, so be prepared."

"Yup, the Doctor is gonna be drooling through the whooooole coronation," Awinita said.

"Yes, I am, so get ready for the puddle," the Doctor said to her.

They headed into the palace and noticed a throng of people dressed in their finest. A man dressed in a tuxedo saw them and walked up.

"The Doctor?" he said to him.

"Yes."

"Come this way, Ternia wanted me to escort you and your family to the ballroom. You're sitting up front."

He nodded and they followed him through the crowd of people.

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He led to them to seats on the left side of a large stage. There was a huge gold throne with the Faust crest in the middle of it. All of them sat down and looked around. So far they had been the only ones seated and were the only ones in the room. There were twelve rows of chairs behind them, each row had thirty seats and across the wide aisle was the same configuration.

"Looks like there's gonna be a lot of people," Jack said.

"Just as long as they hurry and get it over with so we can get outta here," Awinita said.

"Why, Awinita, you're beginning to sound just like me," the Doctor teased.

"I know. I've been hangin' around ya too long, Bro. Besides I'd rather go and get Dorothy than be here."

"Although," Madison said, "I'm sure there's gonna be a big fight the moment I get up to the door."

"I'll come with you," the Doctor said. "I'll keep out of sight because I don't want him yelling at you right from the start but if he does say something then I'll show myself. I don't want him screaming at you in front of Dorothy and calling you a freak. I won't tolerate that. He's an adult, he can act like one."

"Damn straight," Rain said. "I can't believe the idiot would sign away his parental rights so he doesn't have to see Maddie anymore. What a moron."

"Hey, if he wants to do it, let him. I'm wishing Sylvia would sign away the rights to Wilf so we didn't have to go to her house to see him."

They snickered while the Doctor looked around at the empty ballroom.

"We're the only ones in here so far. Time for a quick snog with the wife."

She giggled when he leaned over and began to kiss.

"What a jolly good idea, Brother."

Alan grabbed Rose and began to kiss her. Jack looked around.

"I'm free, girls! Have at me!" he said to them.

"You're our brother," Awinita said.

"And my uncle," Jenny added.

"So, we can be kissing cousins or kissing siblings or even kissing uncles and nieces."

The women glanced at each other and talked amongst themselves while the two couples giggled.

"Fine, I'll find someone else then," Jack said, looking around.

He stared at the Doctor and Alan who were kissing their wives passionately.

"Are you gonna be doing that all through the coronation?" he asked them.

"More than likely," Alan replied before he went back to kissing Rose.

"Won't that be a bit rude?" Jack asked.

The Doctor glanced at him.

"Oh like you haven't done rude things in public, Harkness," he said.

Jack glanced over when an elderly man and woman came into the room and walked down the aisle towards them. The Doctor saw them and groaned.

"Playtime's over, Brother. Here come the toffs," he said to him.

Alan sighed and broke off the kissing.

"Blast, I hope this doesn't last twelve or thirteen hours," he muttered while he sat back in his chair.

The couple sat down behind the Doctor and Rain. They stared at them for a moment and then tapped the Doctor on the shoulder.

"Vander Cobb," the man said to him. "This is my wife, Purley."

"The Doctor. This is my wife, Rain."

Vander stared at him for a moment.

"The Doctor as in the Time Lord Doctor?" he said.

_Oh boy, here we go again,_ the Doctor thought to his family.

"Yes, that's me," he said to Vander.

"There's talk in the city that you're the one that got rid of Jasper and his associates," Vander said.

_Wow, news travels fast here,_ Alan thought to him.

"Yes, we did actually. My family and I," the Doctor said.

"I'm glad you did, sir. Thanks so much for doing that," Vander said.

"My pleasure."

Vander relaxed in his seat and chatted with his wife.

_See, that wasn't so bad, was it?_ Rain thought to the Doctor.

_Yeah, but thankfully he didn't keep on and on about my being a hero like some people do, _he thought back.

_Just grin and bear it, dear, and we'll be out of here soon,_ she thought to him.

A few more people started to drift in and take their seats. All of them were elegantly dressed. The Doctor and his family talked amongst themselves, trying not to pay attention to them. The Doctor leaned over and looked at Grace and Madison.

"Just so I know, do you want to stay on Earth when we go into the future or go to an Earthlike planet? Because I know some good hospitals both on Earth and on other planets."

Grace looked at Madison.

"It doesn't matter to me, Grace. I figure this is my starting over time so it doesn't matter where we go," she said.

"You wanna be adventurous and try another planet?" Grace said.

"Yeah, let's be adventurous."

The Doctor grinned.

"That's my girls. Okay, I have a few possibilities in mind then. Now do you want a flat or a house? Because if you're gonna have Dorothy with ya, I figure a house might be better."

"Can we afford a house?" Grace asked.

He held up his hand.

"Don't concern yourself with that. I'm paying for everything. I brought Dex's family a house in London and my credit stick has unlimited credit. If you lot want a house, I'll get ya one."

The women looked at each other and grinned.

"Okay, we want a house then," Grace said.

"Your wish is my command."

"Can I have a house too?" Jack asked.

"No."

Jack pouted while the women giggled. Awinita had a thought and went over to the Doctor.

"Hey, how big is your TARDIS?" she whispered to him.

The Doctor shrugged.

"I don't really have any idea, Te'lesu. It gets bigger and bigger every day. Why?"

"Hey, you guys," Awinita said to Grace and Madison. "You could just move really, really far into the back of the TARDIS and pretend you're on a different planet."

They laughed.

"Yeah, he has that park room with the simulated trees and grasses so you could just move to a simulated city inside the TARDIS somewhere," Rain said.

"I don't know about that," Grace said. "I think I'd rather live on another planet and visit you like Jack and Martha do."

"Darn, I thought that'd be kinda interesting," Awinita said, walking back to her seat. "Have you guys live in the TARDIS but we'd pretend you were on another planet."

"And go get Wilf and have him live with ya in the TARDIS," Rose said.

"Yeah, me and Madison and Dorothy and Wilf all sharing a house somewhere deep inside the TARDIS," Grace said.

"And then one day the TARDIS will plunge into another zed neutrino core and you'll walk out the door and wonder why lava is pouring into the city," Donna said while they giggled.

"Why is the sky bursting around us, Grace?" Alan said. "I don't know, Maddie, what is this yellow burning stuff oozing down the road?"

"Why is the TARDIS screaming inside our heads?" the Doctor added. "I don't know, Maddie, maybe she has indigestion. Come on, let's go inside and watch the telly."

They all laughed and quickly shut up when the other guests started giving them odd looks.

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_God, Love, I've never wanted to snog you so much in my whole life,_ the Doctor thought while they watched the coronation. _I'm about to fall asleep now._

They were listening while some religious official was reading aloud from a religious text. Terina hadn't made an appearance yet although a few high ranking people from the city had been introduced and they listened to long winded speeches about prosperity and new beginnings. The ballroom was filled to capacity now with elegantly dressed men and women all listening quietly. The Doctor and his family listened with them but all of them shifted around, uncomfortable, bored and hot and eager to leave. It had been a couple of hours since the whole ceremony started.

_Are they gonna let everyone in the town have a speech before Terina gets in here?_ Alan thought.

_I wouldn't doubt it, Brother,_ the Doctor thought back_. I'm about to nod off and I don't need that much sleep. I'll be glad to get away from this place. I wish we hadn't agreed to this. This tux is killin' me._

_You look good while It's killin' ya, _Rain thought.

_Love, you think I look good in everything. Is there any point where I wouldn't look good to ya?_

_Um…well, maybe if you got this big zit on your face that went out of control and filled up and took up half your face and it had fluid in it that sloshed around when you walked…maybe then I would find you repulsive._

The rest of the family fought to keep silent while the Doctor gave her a disgusted look. Rain smiled and patted his face.

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After another hour they heard a trumpet fanfare and a march was played as Terina walked down the aisle. Everyone turned to look at her. She had on a snow white ball gown, white gloves, white shoes and the gold Faust crown with the crest in the center. She caught the Doctor's eye and smiled at them while she walked past up onto the stage. The priest came back up onto the stage and read some more from the religious text while she listened quietly. Then another man came up and handed her a gold scepter that had the crest on the end of it and jewels around the orb at the top.

"By the power invested in me, I now declare you ruler of Faust and bestow upon you the official title of Her Royal Majesty, Queen Terina of the planet Faust."

Everyone stood and applauded while Terina walked to her throne and sat down in it. The applause died down and everyone sat down.

"Thank you, my subjects," Terina said. "I appreciate you being here today and I vow to live out to your expectations. I vow to reverse the damage my parents have done and bring prosperity and renewal to our planet. This day marks a new beginning for our planet and I will be your humble servant and not only fix the damage here but together we can try to make the universe a better place."

She smiled at the Doctor and then looked at the audience.

"Now I know he doesn't want me to say anything but I must thank my rescuers and benefactors who helped make this day possible. Many of you have heard of him before in stories and tales but I've had the chance to get to know him beyond the myths and legends and I'm pleased to report that he is everything the stories say and more. The Doctor who is sitting in the front row and who I know is silently cursing me now for singling him out because he and his family do not seek glory or riches or praise for what they do but I cannot sit here and keep silent. I'm sorry, Doctor, but without you and your family I would not be sitting here today. I owe you my life and I am eternally grateful for everything you and your family have done. I won't embarrass you by asking you to come up here but please know that your good deeds do not go unnoticed and I hope you will remain an example to all who wish to fight evil and tyranny in the universe."

The Doctor blushed when his family and everyone else applauded him.

_Shall I leap up and make the acceptance speech in your stead, Brother,_ Alan thought to him.

_No, that won't be necessary. I dread to think what you'll say,_ he thought teasingly while the others giggled.

He smiled and bowed his head at Terina when she winked at the Doctor. She turned her attention back to the audience.

"Okay, now the Doctor can relax because I won't embarrass him further," she said while the Doctor mimed relief and his family sniggered.

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"What a relief," the Doctor said after the coronation ended after another hour.

They were back in the TARDIS heading towards the wardrobe room. On the way there, the Doctor stopped Rain.

"Nope, go to the bedroom and change. This sari will be worn again," he said while they laughed. "You look absolutely gorgeous in it. It's perfect for you. You look like an Indian maiden."

"Well, I should, dear. You know, there is a reason why Christopher Columbus called us Indians," she teased.

"Exactly my point. So don't put this back in the wardrobe room.

"And that goes double for you, Starlight," Alan said.

"And that goes triple for everyone else," Jack said.

They looked at him.

"What? They all look good in them. They need to wear them often," he said.

"I agree. So to your rooms, all of ya. You're keeping these," the Doctor said. "Shoo, shoo, shoo."

"What if I want you to keep the tux then, dear?" Rain said.

"Tough, now go!" he said while they laughed.

Rain gave him a kiss on the cheek. She started to walk away and then stopped and mimed belly dancing.

"Oh, you cheeky little monkey, get in the bedroom before I throw you down on the floor!" he said while they laughed.

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After dressing in their regular clothes, they found Terina who was dressed in a casual dress.

"I know this is painful, Doctor, but please show me what you found earlier," she said to him.

They led her to the trophy room and Terina looked at the walls with disgust. Her disgust deepened when she saw the wooden mount with his name on it.

"My father never let me see these rooms so I had no idea this existed. Although sadly I'm not surprised he had them," Terina said to them. "It fills me with disgust that he wanted your head and all these other heads. How could they come in here and even look at them? Take it all, Doctor. I don't wanna see them. After you rid the room of all this I'm gonna have a priest come in and clear it of all negative energy and bless this room and the others in the castle. I only hope the ghosts of these unfortunates aren't haunting this place."

The Doctor nodded politely. They walked out and led her down to the dungeon room. She put a handkerchief over her mouth and nose while the others used their respiratory bypass systems.

"I hope you don't think I had anything to do with this barbarity, Doctor," Terina said. "Because I really didn't know this room existed."

"I know you didn't," he replied.

"Good because I'm even more disgusted. Rest assured, Doctor, I will have my men search for other rooms like this and give the victims proper cremations."

"Thank you."

"Is there anything else you found?"

He hesitated a moment and then led her to the rooms with the information about him and his companions. Terina stared at it in shock.

"How long has this been going on?" she said to the Doctor.

"I'm not sure but it's continued until fairly recently because they managed to sneak a camera into our hotel room on our honeymoon a few months ago and snapped a photo of my wife and I having sex."

Terina stared at him in shock.

She looked around at the photos of his lives.

"I'll have my men search for this as well and have it destroyed. I'm thankful they didn't act on the information they found."

"So am I."

"Are you taking steps to protect yourselves?"

The Doctor nodded. They showed her the bio-dampers and told her about dampening the TARDISes and putting the randomizers in them.

"Good, I'm glad you have some protection. I just hope after Mordos they'll think twice before spying on you again."

"So am I," the Doctor said.

"Is there anything else you've found?"

"A possibly mass grave behind the palace but they're buried so we're not gonna disturb them."

Terina shook her head.

"Perhaps I should raze this place to the ground and build somewhere else just to get rid of all the negative energy," she said to them while they left the room. "This place is a place of evil and a symbol of cruelty for my people. I need to build a new palace to quell my people's fears that this kind of evil won't happen again. In the meantime though, you are welcome to stay for as long as you wish and you are always welcome here as my permanent guests."

"Thank you, Terina, but we have some things that need to get done and we really need to get going. But we will keep this place in mind and visit again."

"Good, I'm glad. I would like to see you again. You have been my first true friends and I'd hate to lose contact with you," she said. "Go in peace and be careful wherever you go."

They thanked her. Terina called on one of her new guards and ordered him to round up some others to help the Doctor and the others carrying the heads and bodies back into their TARDIS so they could leave.

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After a couple of hours, the bodies and heads had been carefully moved to the cremation preparation room and put inside the freezers. Then they went back to the spy rooms and took all the files and every single picture down from the walls. Once that was done, the Doctor and his family hugged Terina tightly and promised to return.

"Take this," Terina said, handing him a large black stone. "It is syrine, native to this planet. It's believed to ward off evil and provide protection. Put it in your TARDIS so you'll be safe."

"Thank you," the Doctor said, taking it from her.

They wished her well and Terina waved goodbye while they stepped inside the TARDIS and dematerialized.

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Once inside the Doctor put the syrine on a level place on the console and looked at Madison.

"Do you wanna go back to Torchwood and see if they have any papers you need to sign before we go get Dot?" he asked her.

She nodded and the Doctor set the coordinates for Cardiff.


	115. Chapter 115

Chapter One Hundred And Fifteen.

After landing in Torchwood, the rest of the team gave Madison a hug.

"Thank you so much, Ianto, for doing this for me," Madison said when she hugged him.

"My pleasure. I decided to try to get your daughter back if I could since I don't think it was right that he took her from you the way he did," Ianto said. "Luckily, I found out that if I pressed him for joint custody he'd ease up on keeping her from you. Course he had to be a pigheaded arse and give up his parental rights but that's his choice. Like I said, you have us, your family, Sarah Jane, Wilf so don't worry about him."

"I'm not. I have my daughter now so he's out of sight, out of mind as far as I'm concerned."

Ianto nodded and smiled. He handed her some papers.

"These are the divorce papers. All they need is your signature and I'll fax them back to his lawyer's office. He's already signed the papers giving up his parental rights so you're free to go get Dorothy at any time."

"Thank you so much, Ianto."

"Not a problem. Happy to help."

Madison carried the papers over to a desk, sat down and carefully looked through them while she signed them.

"I guess I'll have to make a call to James while I'm here and tell him we're coming so he can have Dorothy ready," she said while she signed.

"I'm still gonna go with ya so don't worry about him confronting you," the Doctor said.

"Thanks, Doctor," she said to him.

He smiled and squeezed her shoulder.

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After she finished signing and he faxed the papers back, the three other members decided to come along to see Dorothy. The Doctor explained to them what they had found and handed them their bio-dampers and the photos and fact sheets of them from the files. All of them looked through the photos in disbelief.

"Some of these photos, I could have sworn we were alone when they were taken," Gwen said to Jack.

"They took one of the Doctor and Rain having sex in their hotel room on their honeymoon so I'm guessing they have remote cameras," Jack said to her.

Gwen did a double take and looked at the Doctor.

"They had a photo of you and Rain having sex?" she said.

He nodded and Gwen cursed under her breath.

"I need to go to Sarah's and Wilf's and gave them bio-dampers as well and I'm giving Sarah bio-dampers for the teens. I don't want to take any chances," he said to them.

"Well, go ahead and do that now because I'm sure Sarah Jane and Wilf will wanna see Dorothy too," Jack said. "And they might wanna be present when we cremate the bodies."

"Good idea," the Doctor said.

He set a course for Sarah Jane's house.

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Sarah Jane and the teens stared at the photos in disbelief.

"Some of these photos go back to my travels with you," she said to the Doctor. "How did they know?"

"I'm guessing they've had a spy network for years and maybe even centuries. The abduction of our people probably went on for centuries and I'm sure they wanted to keep an eye on me in case I ever did get wind of it."

"Well, I'm gonna wear this bio-damper and I want you kids to do the same. Maria's in Washington D.C. though, should I send her one as well?"

"Wouldn't hurt although I didn't see any photos of her or them. They might not have cottoned on to them yet but it doesn't hurt to take precautions."

"Well I can also ask Mister Smith to keep an eye on our house, Patience's house, Wilf's house and Torchwood and report if there is any suspicious activity around them."

"Good," the Doctor said.

"And I do want to go with you to get Dorothy. I'm glad Ianto got her back for her and I want to be present at the cremations as well."

"Good."

"Should we go find Patience and the children then? To give them bio-dampers?"

"Yes, I'd like to do that as well," the Doctor said.

"Wait, right here I'll use my car and go get them," Sarah Jane said.

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"Papaw!" Amelia said as her and Opal came running up the ramp.

"My dears, it's good to see you again," the Doctor said, kneeling down and embracing them.

He grinned at their jeans and hoodies.

"You like London?" he asked them.

"I love it here. It's fun," Amelia said.

"Yeah, I've made lots of new friends," Opal added.

"Good, I'm glad. I have some new relatives I want you to meet," he said.

"Do you have the doggies?" Opal asked.

"Yeah, somewhere in here. Why don't you go with Alan and he'll lead you to them?"

Amelia and Opal ran to Alan who embraced them.

"Come on, you two, let's go find the mutts," he said, taking their hands. "And you can also meet Grace and Madison."

They walked away while the Doctor hugged Patience.

"How are ya, Patience?"

"I'm doin' well, Doctor. How's my husband?"

"He's getting better. He should be out soon."

"Good, I'm glad. I'm glad ya'll are well."

"Would you like to come in for a cup of tea?" the Doctor said.

She nodded and everyone followed them to the kitchen.

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Patience stared at the ring while the Doctor explained what it did.

"And these men are spying on us?" she asked when he finished.

"I'm not sure. I didn't see any photos of you or the children or Dex but I'm not taking any chances. I don't want someone spying on you in future. This is just like an ordinary ring but it cancels out the harmless background radiation you pick up when you travel in here. I'll have the TARDIS shrink two of them for Amelia and Opal and I'll give one to Dex when I see him again but this is just a precaution."

Patience nodded and slipped the ring on her finger. After she did that, the Doctor introduced her to Grace and Madison.

"My, you found more family members?" Patience said to him.

"Well, not so much found as made," the Doctor said while they laughed. "And Martha's an official family member now. I just love a large family. And now we're going to go and get Madison's child, Dorothy. She's three but would you like to come and meet her after we go pick up Wilf?"

"I'd love to, Doctor," she said.

He squeezed her hand.

"Great, sit here and drink your tea and I'll take the bus to the next destination," he said while they laughed.

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After they picked up Wilf, the Doctor explained about the spies and handed him the photos of him and his fact sheet.

"I can't believe someone went through the trouble of doing this. I've never really helped you, Doctor. I just visit with you from time to time."

"I know but apparently the fact that you associate with me is enough for them," he said. "But I wanted you to have these photos of yourself."

"Donna, were they keeping an eye on her as well?"

He nodded.

"And Rose and Alan and Rain…the whole family, Sarah Jane. They had information on all my companions."

Wilf stared at the ring.

"And this'll protect me?"

"It cancels out the artron radiation. I have a feeling that's how they've been tracking us so this will prevent that from happening. I told Donna that if Sylvia asks you about it to tell her that Donna got it for you as a gift."

He nodded and put it on.

"What about Sylvia though?"

"I don't think she's in danger. I didn't see any photos of her and she's never ridden in the TARDIS so she wouldn't have any background radiation."

He nodded.

"And I also want to go with you and witness the cremation," Wilf added. "I'm sorry that happened, Doctor. Those people are despicable. What you described sounds a lot like the things the Nazi's did to people in World War 2."

The Doctor nodded.

"And I wanna see this Dorothy as well. I'm glad Madison got her back."

"Me too. So if you wanna come into the kitchen with everyone else, we'll go get her," he said, putting his hand on Wilf's back.

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"Well, I finished talking with James," Madison said to the Doctor. "I told him I signed the papers and they were faxed back to the office and we were coming to get Dorothy, so have her ready."

"Good. Was he polite to ya?"

"Sorta, he's angry but he didn't blow up at me or call me a freak or anything," Madison replied.

"Good, I'm glad he was somewhat civil to you. Dorothy doesn't need to hear that. But I'm still coming with ya just in case," he said while he set the coordinates.

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Everyone waited in the console room while the Doctor walked with Madison towards their house. The Doctor noticed a large tree near the house and stopped.

"I'll stand here, Te'lesu, if he starts getting belligerent I'll show myself," he said.

Madison nodded. She squeezed his hand and walked up to the house alone while the Doctor leaned against the tree and kept watch. She climbed the steps and knocked on the door. There was a moment of silence and then James opened the door. The Doctor smirked when he looked around for any sign of her family before looking at her.

"I hope you're happy," he said to Madison.

"I'm very happy. It wasn't right for you to do that to me. I've done nothing wrong. And don't whine to me. You didn't have to sign away your rights as a father, that was your decision. Now can we remain civil long enough for me to get my daughter?"

He sighed angrily and walked back into the house.

_So far, so good,_ Madison thought to the Doctor.

_Yes, but it isn't over yet,_ he thought back. _He's already blaming ya for giving up his rights. _

_Well, he can blame me all he wants. No one asked him to do it._

The Doctor put his hands in his pockets and watched while James came back to the door. He smiled when he heard Dorothy yell "Mommy!" and watched while his sister picked her up in her arm while she grabbed something else with her free hand.

"Who was this lawyer of yours?" James said to her. "My lawyer said he sounded British."

"He's a family friend that specializes in divorce cases," Madison replied.

James raised his eyebrow.

"Family friend? Which family? Yours or your new freak family?"

The Doctor sighed angrily and stepped out from behind the tree. James did a double take and glared at him. The Doctor raised his eyebrow and gave him a warning look. James turned his angry gaze to his wife.

"Just go, Madison, and don't come back."

"Happy to, divorce papers are signed and faxed to your lawyer's office. I hope you have a great life and find someone else to love."

"Yeah, just you and the Doctor go," James muttered.

The Doctor rolled his eyes when he slammed the door. Madison started down the steps and the Doctor saw a pink Barbie suitcase in her free hand. She walked up to the Doctor.

"Charming man," the Doctor said.

"Tell me about it."

She looked at her daughter who was staring at the Doctor with wide eyes.

"Remember him, hon?" she asked Dorothy.

"No."

"No?" the Doctor said while Madison giggled. "I'm insulted, how could you forget a face like this?"

He glanced up at the house and saw James staring at them through the curtains.

"Come on, Te'lesu, let's go before your former hubby calls the cops on us," he said to her.

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The Doctor opened the doors of the TARDIS and everyone let out an awwww when they saw Dorothy.

"Here she is, our newest family member," the Doctor said as they stepped inside.

Madison brought her inside and they smiled when she looked around in wonder.

"Big, huh?" Madison said to her. "It's strange, isn't it?"

Dorothy started to wiggle while the Doctor closed the door. Madison set her down on the ramp and she tentatively walked around staring at everyone. Everyone waved and smiled at her while she slowly walked to them.

"I'll have to have the TARDIS shrink down a bio-damper for her as well," the Doctor said to Madison. "Now that she's in here and traveling with us."

Alan whistled loudly and a moment later, Rory and Blizzard came into the console room.

"PUPPIES!" Dorothy shrieked while the dogs raced over to her.

"Oh, bad move, now she'll want them," Madison said while the Doctor chuckled.

He went over to the console with Madison while everyone knelt down and spoke to her gently. Dorothy petted the dogs while she looked at everyone. The Doctor walked to his monitor and saw a flash beside it. He smiled when he saw the TARDIS had made a tiny velveteen rabbit with a little red bow.

"Welcoming gift, old girl?" he said to the ceiling.

The TARDIS grumbled a yes. He took the rabbit and held it out to Dorothy.

"Welcome, little adventurer," he said to her.

Dorothy's eyes widened and she took the rabbit. She held it close and followed the Doctor when he walked back to the console.

"Curious about me or you just think I have more toys?" he said to her while they laughed.

He rubbed Dorothy's back when she came closer and watched what he was doing. He took the TARDIS back into the vortex and once they were safely in it. He walked away and bent down to her.

"Would you like a cookie?" he asked Dorothy.

She nodded.

"Let's go get some cookies and milk then," he said while Madison took her hand.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After getting her and the other children cookies and milk, the Doctor and his immediate family along with Wilf, Sarah Jane and Torchwood went to the preparation room to wash and dress the bodies. The Doctor, Alan, Rose and Rain washed the bodies and bones while the rest took the heads off the mounts and helped to wash them. They laid them in fresh dressing and wrapped them. When they were ready for the skeleton of the council member, the Doctor laid her journal on her rib cage and they closed it up and tied it tightly. After a couple of hours, they were done and had everyone ready for cremation.

"We'll have to make several pyres to hold everyone," the Doctor said to them. "We'll go back to Moondrop and do it. So is everyone ready?"

They nodded and followed him outside the room.

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After landing on Moondrop, the Doctor asked Patience to watch over Dorothy, Amelia and Opal while the rest went into the woods and gathered wood for the pyres. Once they were done constructing them. They carefully carried the heads and bodies out and laid them on top. They made four large pyres, each of them spaced about five feet apart from the others. They put kerosene on the wood and then the Doctor made a torch and lit it. As before, they stood and listened while the Doctor performed the eulogy except Jack, Grace, Madison and Martha could understand his Gallifreyan and they were just as moved as the rest of them. Once he was finished, he lit each of the pyres and they stepped back and stood together watching the fires in silence for about twenty minutes before they finally stepped back into the TARDIS and left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After chatting for awhile, the Doctor stopped and dropped off Wilf, Patience and her kids, Sarah Jane and the teens and finally went on to Torchwood.

"Argh, I don't wanna go back to real life," Jack said, stepping off with Martha and the others.

"You had your fun, now it's time to get back to work," Mickey said to him.

"Fun? I didn't have that much fun since there was one thing after another," he said to him.

He sighed and hugged his family.

"Come back soon, I'll be bored to tears without you," he said to them.

"Gee, thanks Jack," Ianto said while they laughed.

Martha hugged all of them before finished up with the Doctor.

"Thanks for accepting me and Jack into the family," she said to him.

"Thank you for becoming Gallifreyan," he replied. "You and Jack and everyone else take care now. And be sure to give the bio-dampers and the pictures to Francine and Tish."

"I will. I'm gonna visit them over the weekend and I'll tell them everything and make sure they wear them."

She hugged him tightly before she let go. They waved at everyone while they walked back in the TARDIS and watched while they vanished into thin air.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Wow, our numbers have diminished and we're back to being the only two men on board," the Doctor said to Alan while he and his family stood in the console room.

"Yes and now we have three more leaving us for now," Alan said.

"But not just yet. We have to get them set up and get them entered in the database of the planet of their choice so they can start their new lives. And speaking of…I believe a little meeting is in order so I can tell you what planets I have in mind and tell you the pros and cons of each and let you both pick. So back to the kitchen everyone."

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After a few hours of the Doctor explaining the different planets he had in mind and everything he knew about them, they finally decided on one called New Hope in the Andromeda Galaxy. The Doctor nodded.

"Good choice. Andromeda is a nice galaxy and like I said, I'll be taking you to sometime in the 42nd century where they have the 2nd great and bountiful human empire so there'll still be enough Earth things for you to be familiar with but at the same time there will be influences and technology from the other planets in the empire that it'll be new and different and exciting. And I'll take you to a time after 4126 when the Ood are no longer enslaved. But there is a city on New Hope called Nova and they have the best hospital in the empire, very advanced and the city is very cosmopolitan with lots to do and I believe they have the best school system in the empire as well so Dorothy can get an excellent education. So shall we go and see your new home and help you set up there?"

They nodded. Madison and Grace gave each other an excited look while they followed their family back to the console room.


	116. Chapter 116

Chapter One Hundred And Sixteen

(New Hope, 4180…)

"Here we are," the Doctor said as he and his family stepped out of the TARDIS.

They looked around the downtown area. The office buildings were made of marble and were clean and sparkling. Hover cars zoomed through the air above them and rumbled through the streets.

"Wow, very Back to the Future," Madison said, staring at the flying cars.

"Yup, I'll get you one. I'm a very wealthy bugger," he said while they giggled. "But for the moment, let's go back inside and peruse the local internet to find a place for you to live."

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The Doctor sat in the living room at the family computer searching the property listings with Grace and Madison trying to find them the perfect house the other members of the family were off entertaining Dorothy.

"I'm trying to find one that has basic furnishings in it so you won't have to buy everything and we can just buy what we need like Dot's bed and some toys and clothes. I can have the TARDIS make some clothes and toys for her as well and we can take those in. And I want something that's close to the hospital so you don't have to spend hours commuting."

They heard laughter and watched Alan run in followed by a giggling Dorothy and the dogs following her.

"I see the big kid has found the little one," the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Any luck?" Alan said, walking over while Dorothy played with the dogs.

"Few possibilities. We're just discussing what they want," the Doctor said.

"Well, get her a biiiiiiig bedroom so we can fill it with toys and spoil her rotten," Alan said, picking up Dorothy.

"You're gonna hate it when she leaves, right?" Grace said.

"Yes, she's a cutie and I'm glad she's away from the potential brainwasher back in Denver. She doesn't need to grow up hating her mum, do ya?" he said to her.

Dorothy stared at the Doctor. Then she leaned over and grabbed his hair.

"Argh, someone's got my hair!" the Doctor said while they laughed. "Help! Tiny toddler took my tousle!"

Dorothy giggled. Alan brought her around and lowered her to him. The Doctor stared into her eyes.

"Good day, miss," he said to him.

His hearts warmed when a smile spread over her face. She reached out and grabbed his hair again.

"Argh, someone's got my hair again," he said while Dorothy squealed with laughter. "I'm hoping these hands don't have jam on them or marmalade or some other sticky substance!"

"What you doin?" Dorothy asked him.

"I'm helping your mommy and aunt look for a whoooooole new house for you," he said.

"Why?"

"Because."

"Why?"

"Because," he said while they laughed.

"Why?"

"Because I said so."

They stared at each other and Dorothy laughed when the Doctor crossed his eyes.

"Why?" Dorothy said.

"Who, what, when, where," the Doctor said while they laughed.

Dorothy touched his nose.

"You silly," she said to him.

"I know. I can't help it."

Dorothy opened her arms and the Doctor leaned his head into them. Dorothy gave him a kiss while everyone awed.

"Sod Nova, I want this beauty on my TARDIS full time!" the Doctor said to Grace and Madison.

"Why?"

"Because!" the Doctor said, jerking his head around.

They laughed when the two of them stared at each other.

"You silly."

"I know. I can't help it."

Dorothy giggled at that and the Doctor tousled her hair before he went back to perusing the rental listings.

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After deciding on a three bedroom house about a mile from the hospital, the Doctor printed off the information and phoned the rental agency to inquire about it. The agent told him she could give them a tour in two hours and the Doctor agreed. In that time, the Doctor took Dorothy to a spare room and had the TARDIS make her some clothes and toys. Madison unpacked the clothes that James had packed for her and chose a little pink shirt and a pair of jean bib overalls along with white socks and white Reeboks. After she got her dressed, Madison took her head and led her back to the kitchen to the rest of the family.

"Aw, she's so cute, we're gonna miss her," Rose said, smiling at her.

"Why?" Dorothy said to her.

"Because!" the Doctor yelled as he sat beside Rain.

They laughed when Dorothy giggled and ran over to him.

"And don't ask why anymore because "Because" is the only answer you're gonna get!" he said to her.

Dorothy climbed up on the Doctor's lap. She paused and stared at Alan.

"Are you seein' double?" Alan asked her.

They laughed when she looked at him and looked at the Doctor.

"I'm magic. I can be in two places at once!" the Doctor said to her with wide eyes.

"You siiiiiiiiilly!" Dorothy squealed.

"I knoooooooooooow! I can't heeeeeeeeeeeeeelp it!" the Doctor squealed back.

They all bent over laughing at the shocked look on her face.

"I think you're gonna have to beat both of them back just to get Dorothy off the TARDIS, Maddie," Donna said to her.

"Yup, she's fast endearing herself to us," Alan said.

"That she is," the Doctor said, holding her close.

Dorothy looked up at him.

"Hi," she said to him.

"Hiiiiii," the Doctor said while they laughed. "Are we being introduced again?"

"You silly."

"I know. I can't help it!" everyone said in unison.

He tousled her hair.

"Quit," Dorothy said.

"Oops, you just lost her friendship now," Awinita said.

"I'm sorry, little Ladybird, can you forgive me for messing up your gorgeous locks?" the Doctor said with mock sadness.

"You silly."

They laughed hysterically when the Doctor threw his hand up in the air and Dorothy giggled at him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After another hour of bonding, they set out for the rental agency. The woman named Clarice was a young thin woman in her late twenties with red hair that came down to her shoulders and green eyes. After they made introductions, she took them in a hover mini-van out to the house. It was made of white stucco with a brown slate roof. There was a covered porch on the front and a large belowground pool in the back yard. They went inside and she led them around while they looked at the bare white walls and dark brown wooden floor.

"You like this, Baby?" Madison asked Dorothy while she carried her through the house.

Dorothy held onto her while she stared around in wide-eyed wonder. Clarice led them upstairs to the bedrooms. Each bedroom was large with brown carpeting and white walls, a walk in closet and a bathroom. There were large windows in each giving the rooms ample light from the twin suns. The Doctor dropped back to Madison and Grace.

"What do you think, Te'lesu?" he asked them.

"I love it," Madison said.

"So do I."

"So do you wanna get it?"

The woman looked at each other and nodded.

"I think we'll take it," the Doctor said to Clarice.

"Excellent, I can draw up the papers and we can settle on a mortgage."

"That's not necessary. I'm paying with full credits now," the Doctor said.

They stifled their laughter at the shocked look on her face.

"Yes, sir," she said to him. "I'll draw up the papers right now."

She left the room.

"House is yours, free and clear. No payments, no worries," the Doctor said to them.

He hugged both his sisters. When he finished hugging Madison, he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to see Rose grinning at him.

"Blast, I don't get to say you're gonna get a mortgaaaage," she said.

He and Alan snickered.

"Nope, don't do mortgages and never will," he said to her. "I don't want anyone to pay for anything. I want you and Grace to concentrate on your new lives here and be a family without the hassle of house payments."

"Too bad you dropped off Jack. I'm sure by now he'd be saying where's my house?" Awinita said.

"Yes, that's why I dropped him off before we came here," the Doctor said while they laughed.

Clarice came back inside with the papers and the Doctor gestured to Grace and Madison.

"They're actually the homeowners, not me. I'm just paying for it," he said to her.

Madison handed Dorothy to Alan so she could sign with Grace. While they were doing that, the Doctor gave her his credit stick so she could run it through her scanner and then pulled out his pad and pen and inquired about furniture stores and car dealerships in the area. Clarice gave him some information while the others looked around.

"This is your home now, Dot," Alan said to her. "You get one of these great big bedrooms all to yourself."

Grace and Madison finished signing and everyone grinned when Clarice handed them the keys.

"Welcome to your new home," Clarice said to them.

They laughed when Grace and Madison squealed with delight. Clarice handed the credit stick back to the Doctor and gathered up her scanner and valise.

"Thank you for choosing Supernova Realtors," she said to them. "If you need anything else in the future, just call."

The Doctor thanked her and they waited until she left before they all turned and hugged each other.

"Right, we have a bit of furniture in here," the Doctor said. "Now let's go out and find some more and get it delivered to your new home."

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There was a furniture store four blocks from their house. The Doctor and his family walked around with Grace and Madison and let them pick out furniture for Dorothy's room and theirs and some chairs and a holovision for the living room along with some other furniture. He paid for it all with his credit stick and told them to deliver it in the morning. After they were finished with that, they walked over to a car dealer three more blocks away. The Doctor let them pick out a blue hover mini-van and he paid for that. Once that was done and the papers were signed and the temporary license tag was put in the back window, they used the button on the car's keychain to fold all the seats behind the driver and passenger side into the floor and everyone climbed in the back while Madison and Grace got in the front. The Doctor knelt in between the two women and instructed them on how to drive and fly it. They drove to a nearby park and both women practiced flying around over it and landing. When they both got the hang of it, the Doctor told them to go to an address he had printed off with the information on the house."

"I want to go eat and celebrate but first we have to go back to the TARDIS and get dressed up because the place I have in mind is very posh," he said.


	117. Chapter 117

Chapter One Hundred and Seventeen

After the women got dressed up in the saris and the Doctor and Alan changed into the blue suit and the black suit and trousers, they took the hover mini-van to the restaurant. When they landed, their eyes bulged out of their head when they saw the familiar golden arches.

"Wait a minute; this is McDonalds, isn't it?" Madison said to the Doctor.

"Yes it is. But it's not like any McDonalds you've ever been in. you see, about a thousand years ago, they decided to change from a fast food restaurant to an upscale posh restaurant. So fancy dress is now required here."

The women laughed at that.

"This I gotta see," Awinita said, as they got out of the back of the mini-van.

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As soon as they entered, a little silver orb robot with a big red eye, long slender metal arms and large metal hands flew over to them.

"Welcome to McDonalds," he said. "I am Zzzt, your head waiter. How many in your party?"

"11," the Doctor said.

The robot lowered down, grabbed some menus and raised itself up.

"Follow me," he said to them.

The women looked around while they followed Zzzt. The interior resembled a four star restaurant and not McDonalds. The lights were dimmed low with soft music overhead and there were wooden circular tables with tablecloths on them that had little McDonald's arches around the hem. There was a little waterfall along the back wall and a small rock garden around it. Zzzt led them through a door that was shaped like the golden arches and to their amazement, the golden arches was made of actual gold. They went into a more secluded dining area with long square tables that had the same white tablecloths on them. Zzzt hovered over one and everyone sat down at it while he set the menus down. Once they were seated, Zzzt zoomed away and returned a moment later with a tray filled with glasses. He sat a glass down in front of everyone and they all stared at him in shock when he hovered over each glass and water poured into it from an opening in the bottom of him.

_He's peeing into our glasses,_ Awinita thought while they laughed mentally.

Once he was finished, he hovered in the center of the table.

"May I get you something? A drink perhaps, an aperitif? Some alcohol?"

"They have alcohol at McDonalds?" Rose said.

"Of course, madam, would you like to see the wine list?"

Rose stared at him in shock while the Doctor and Alan sniggered.

"Yes, I'd like to see the McDonald's wine list," Rose said while everyone fought to keep from laughing.

"Very well, madam, would you like an appetizer with it?"

"Um, can I have a moment to look over the menu?"

"Of course, madam, I'll be right back with the wine list."

Zzzt grabbed the tray and zoomed off while everyone let out their giggles.

"Wow, I wonder what McDonald's wine tastes like?" Mingxia said.

"It's actually very good, very high quality," the Doctor said.

"What, you've eaten here before?" Donna said.

"Well, not here, but I've eaten at one like it. They still have franchises all across the empire," he said to her.

Zzzt returned with the wine lists and handed them out.

"Are you ready to order?" he asked them.

"Not yet, give us a few minutes," the Doctor said.

"Very good, sir."

Zzzt flew up while everyone looked at the wine lists.

"Order what you like, I'm payin'" the Doctor said.

"Well, aren't you mister moneybags," Awinita said while they laughed.

"Yes, I'm rollin' in the dough," the Doctor said, winking at her. "Or rollin' in the credits at any rate."

"Um…" Mingxia said, leaning over to him. "This number here after the wine, that's the date it was bottled, right?"

"Yes."

"And it's 4180, right?"

"Yes."

"This chardonnay is from the year 2243?" she said to him.

He glanced at the menu.

"Yup."

He laughed when Mingxia gave him a shocked look.

"Wow, that's some old wine," she said to him.

Grace started laughing.

"What?" the Doctor said with a grin.

"Oh nothing, just the fact that they have filet mignon quarter pounders," she said while they giggled. "And goose liver pate? Jesus, I'm glad you're paying for this, Doctor."

"I'm kinda partial to the filet-o-fish bouillabaisse myself," Alan said.

"Yes and the French fry vichyssoise is good too," the Doctor said.

"They do have chicken mcnuggets or something like that, right? I mean, I don't think Dot will like vichyssoise," Madison said.

"Dunno, I'll ask if they have a children's menu though," he said.

He pushed a little red button on the table and a little metal pole went up from the center of it. It flashed a red light and a moment later, Zzzt came back and deactivated it.

"Yes, sir?"

"Do you have a children's menu? We have a three year old," the Doctor said, gesturing to Dorothy.

"Of course, sir. I'll be right back."

Zzzt zoomed off.

"Thank God for that," Madison said.

Zzzt came back and handed Madison a menu. She glanced at Dorothy who was sitting beside her mother staring up at the robot in wonder.

"Thank you. Do you have Coke here?"

"Yes, we do, madam."

"Could you get her a Coke please?"

"Of course, madam."

Zzzt flew off while Madison studied the children's menu.

"Do you want a hamburger or chicken, Baby?" she asked her.

"Cheeseburger!" Dorothy said.

"Okay, I'll get you a cheeseburger and French fries then," she said to her.

Zzzt returned with the glass of Coke and set it down in front of Dorothy.

"Mommy, look!" Dorothy said, pointing at Zzzt.

"I know, it's cool, isn't it?" Madison said while Zzzt hovered in the middle of the table.

"Is everyone ready to order?" he asked them.

Madison ordered for her daughter.

"And I'll have a seafood salad and French fries and a Coke," she said to him.

He moved to Mingxia.

"Um... I'll have the sushi and a glass of the chardonnay galactica 2243."

"An excellent choice, madam. Anything else?"

"No, that's all."

Zzzt moved to Donna.

"I'll also have a glass of the chardonnay galactica 2243 and the chicken breast meal with garlic potatoes and the side salad with the balsamic vinegar dressing."

"Very good, madam."

Donna sniggered with Mingxia while he moved on.

"Can't believe this is bleedin' McDonalds," Donna said to her.

"I know," she replied.

Zzzt moved to Awinita.

"And you, madam?"

"Um, I want a glass of champagne and the Kobe beef tips in the white wine sauce with French fries and the same side salad she's having."

Zzzt moved on while Awinita joined in the giggling with Donna and Mingxia. He moved to Grace.

"Um…" Grace said, trying to keep her composure. "I want the chardonnay they ordered and the chicken mcnugget fettuccini alfedo with extra sauce."

"Very good, madam," Zzzt said.

He moved to Rose.

"And you, madam?"

"Um… I want a McDonalds Mai Tai and the filet mignon quarter pounder with cheese and French fries."

"Very good, madam."

He moved to Alan.

"And you, sir?"

"I'd like the Ronald McDonald with extra vermouth and the vichyssoise with a side order of French fries."

Zzzt moved on while Rose buried her face in her husband's arm and giggled. He moved to Jenny.

"And you, madam?"

"Um…I want a Coke and the filet mignon quarter pounder with cheese and French fries."

Zzzt moved to the Doctor.

"And you, sir?"

"I would like the Hamburglar Hambertini and the beef tips with red wine and Portobello mushrooms and a small side salad with vinaigrette dressing."

He moved to Rain.

"And you, madam?"

"I'd also like a hambertini," she said while the others snickered, "and the egg mcmuffin omelet with extra cheese and a small salad with ranch dressing."

All of them snickered while he collected the menus and flew off.

"Hambertini?" Rain said to the Doctor.

"You mean to say you got it just because I got it, Latara?"

"I was gonna get a glass of champagne but then you said hambertini and my curiosity meter rose several points."

"It's good, a bit greasy tasting but that's to be expected when you order a hambertini," he said with a sniff.

He stared at Rain and both of them began giggling hysterically.

"Actually I've never tried one so this will be a new experience for both of us," he said to her. "I hope you didn't get it because you thought I'd had it before."

"Well, actually…" she said while they laughed.

"I brought you here so you don't go strolling into McDonald's thinking it's the same as it is in your time," the Doctor said to Grace and Madison. "And because I figured we could have a laugh."

"I'll say, I never thought I'd be saying wine and McDonalds in the same sentence," Awinita said.

"Or filet mignon and McDonalds in the same sentence," Rose added.

"You know, I just had a thought," Grace said. "James is long dead by now."

"I know, I had much the same thought," Madison said while they laughed. "Oh well, comes from not being a Time Lord, I guess."

She ruffled Dorothy's hair.

"But I won't speak ill of him around her. I'll take the high road. I'm better than that," she said to them.

"Mommy, I'm hungry," Dorothy said.

Alan walked over and bent down to her.

"I am too, what we gonna do?" he whined.

"You silly," she said while they laughed.

"Is that your daughter's catchphrase?" Alan said to Madison.

"I think it's fast becoming her catchphrase with you and the Doctor around, yes," she said to him.

Alan walked back to his seat. Dorothy stared at him for a moment and then slid off her seat and walked over.

"Hi, again. Are you being nosy?" Alan said to her while she stared at his water glass. "Want a bit of robot pee pee water?"

He gave her a bit of his water.

"Are you having fun at posh McDonalds?" Alan asked when she finished drinking.

"Yes."

"You are? So am I."

Dorothy stared to walk off.

"Dot, get back here," Madison said.

"Pee pee!" Dorothy said.

"Oh! Okay, hon, let's go find the bathroom then," Madison said, getting up.

They watched while she took Dorothy's hand and they walked off.

"She's so cute," Rose said. "I'm glad she's with us now."

"Me too," Alan said.

"I hope she becomes a Time Lady someday," Awinita said.

"So do I," the Doctor said. "She'd make a stellar one."

Zzzt returned with a tray filled with their drinks. He sat them down in front of them and zoomed back off. The Doctor glanced at Rain and they laughed. Their hambertinis were in martini glasses. They were clear and each of them had a paper umbrella with the arches on it and a plastic hamburger on a thin stick. They took the umbrella and hamburger out and tried them together.

"Not bad," the Doctor said.

"No, it's not bad at all. Tastes like a liquid Big Mac but other than that…"

"And the wine doesn't taste like cheapo drink it from a paper bag wine, I'm impressed," Awinita said.

Madison brought Dorothy back to her seat.

"Oh, the drinks came, I see," she said, urging Dorothy to sit down.

"Yup and the alcohol is decent," Donna said.

While they drank and chatted, Zzzt passed by. He stopped, backed up and went over to the Doctor. The Doctor paused in mid-sip while Zzzt stared down at him intently from above. He lowered his hambertini glass and looked up at him.

"Is there a problem?" he said.

"Your hair is mussed up, sir, perhaps you should comb it?"

They all laughed at the shocked look on the Doctor's face.

"My hair is perfectly fine. This is the way I wear it. Now could you fetch our food and mind your own business?"

Zzzt shrugged and moved off while everyone giggled hysterically. Zzzt moved around the table and stopped over Alan's head.

"And I wear my hair exactly the same so clear off!" Alan said to him.

Zzzt shrugged again and moved on towards the kitchen.

"Wow, McDonald's has a fascist dress code now," Rose said.

"Well, just imagine the uproar we would have created if you'd walked in here in jeans and t-shirts," the Doctor said to her.

Zzzt came back to them carrying nothing except a small black plastic comb in his hands.

"I'm sorry, sir, but you must comb your hair," he said to the Doctor.

"My hair is combed!" the Doctor said angrily while everyone laughed. "I told you to mind your own business and get our food. And I'm warning you if any robot spit is found in it, I'll dismantle ya and sell ya for scrap. Now piss off!"

"Very good, sir," Zzzt said while everyone snorted out laughter.

He moved away while the Doctor stared at Rain.

"These robots are a bit too stringent," he said to her.

"Well, what you need to do now is really mess your hair up and make it all askew and watch R2D2 throw a conniption fit when he comes back out."

The Doctor considered that for a moment and then with an evil grin, he ran his fingers through his hair while everyone laughed hysterically.

"Here, Love, let me help you!" Rain said.

She dipped her fingers in her water and made a long thin spire of wet hair in the middle of his head.

"There ya go, Alfalfa, now you look 100 percent better," he said while they laughed.

"Now when he comes back, Brother, and protests, pretend you don't know what he's talking about," Alan said.

The Doctor gave him a thumbs up and chatted casually waiting for the moment when Zzzt returned.

Five minutes later, Zzzt returned pushing a large metal cart filled with the food. The Doctor kept his eyes turned away from him as he pretended to make small talk with Rain. He stared into his wife's eyes and noticed she was glancing at Zzzt and smirking. Then he felt Zzzt above him again, staring at him intently and he kept his composure while he continued to talk.

"Excuse me, sir," Zzzt finally said, tapping him on the shoulder.

The Doctor feigned innocence while he looked up at him.

"Yes?" he said.

"Your hair is mussed up."

"No, it's not. I keep telling ya, this is the way I wear it. Now serve us before I report ya to your supervisor."

He turned his head and grinned when Zzzt let out a sigh and went to get their meals.

"You are such a rebel, Love," Rain said to him.

"Yup, I am," the Doctor said, nuzzling her cheek and giving her a kiss.


	118. Chapter 118

Chapter One Hundred and Eighteen

After eating there, they headed back to the house. They went inside while the Doctor and Alan went to get the TARDIS so he could park it inside the house.

"Since you don't have any beds yet, we'll spend the night in the ship so we can be here for the delivery tomorrow," the Doctor said to them.

They ran to get it while the women went around the house admiring the interior and trying out some of the high tech appliances in the kitchen and bathrooms. They ended up out back at their pool. There were two metal tables with umbrellas above them, shading them from the suns. Four metal chairs with plush cushions were around each one. Madison held Dorothy close while the women grouped the chairs together and sat down.

"This place is amazing," Jenny said. "I'm so glad Dad found it for ya."

"Me too, but I'm gonna miss you guys so much," Madison said.

"Yeah, it's been interesting finally traveling around with you," Grace said.

"Well, you're welcome back any time you want. You can travel and still hold down a job since the Doctor can bring ya back to nearly the time ya left," Rose said. "And we'll miss ya too. I'm so glad we got to know ya."

"Yeah, it's fun having more women than men in the TARDIS," Donna said. "Keeps the men on their toes."

"No honey," Madison said when Dorothy started to go towards the pool.

She grabbed her hand.

"Mommy, look!" Dorothy said, pointing.

"I know, hon, don't go in there."

"We need to find a way to keep the doors locked with her around," Grace said.

"That is if my husband doesn't spirit her away when we leave," Rose said.

"Or mine," Rain added.

"Nah, we'll keep her right here with us and when she's old enough, we'll see if she wants to be a Time Lady," Madison said, urging Dorothy onto her knee.

They paused when they heard a wheezing sound coming from inside the house.

"There's the men folk," Awinita said.

"Quick, hide," Rain said.

They laughed and ducked down. They kept quiet waiting.

_Okay, where'd you lot go?_ Alan finally thought to them.

They giggled.

_Look out the back window, dear_, Rose thought back.

They all turned their attention to the back of the house and saw the Doctor part the curtains in the living room. They laughed when they saw him beckoning to Alan and he looked with him. The Doctor dropped the curtains and a moment later, they stepped out the back door onto the concrete deck around the pool.

"So there you are," the Doctor said, shutting the door. "Having a swim while we go and fetch our house?"

"Yes and put it in your house," Alan said to Grace.

"We're just talking about the house and how much we'll miss you guys," Grace said.

"Well you're welcome to come with us anytime you like," the Doctor said. "Just ring me and I'll come get ya. We don't want this to be goodbye forever. I have this little niece I have to see on occasion, ya know. But before we go we're gonna enter you three into New Hope's database so you have an identity here and can apply for all the necessary ID's you need. I'm sure you'll need those when you go apply for work. But I mean it, anytime you wanna travel with us let us know and we'll come back from wherever the randomizer threw us to and come get ya. We're gonna miss ya too. It'll feel weird now without you in the TARDIS just like it feels weird not having Jack around."

"We need to get another family portrait done," Alan said. "For the house before we leave."

"Yes, good idea," the Doctor said. "So you won't forget our smiling faces."

He bent over to Dorothy.

"And you won't forget my silly face, eh?" he said to her.

They stared at each other.

"You silly," they said in unison while everyone laughed.

"See, I got this little one figured out already," he said while they giggled.

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They eventually moved back into the TARDIS and the Doctor and Alan worked at their monitor, putting Grace, Madison and Dorothy's information in the New Hope central database. While they were doing that, the others sat in the living room and watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban on the TARDIS's cable TV. After two hours, Alan wandered in.

"Finished. You three are officially entered into the planetary database," he said to them.

Madison held out her arm and gave him a hug.

"Thank you for everything."

Alan smiled and hugged her back.

"You're welcome. I'm glad you're with us and we found this place for you. Anything we can do to help you out while you're stuck on the slow path waiting for us to get back to you."

He patted her head.

"And bless you for wanting to live in a house on a planet because I'd be driven bonkers. It's why Rose and I went travelin' in the first place. Course the other universe had Jackie which made it a bazillion times worse but still…"

He giggled when Rose swatted his head and he gave her a kiss.

"I'm civil to your mum but I don't have to be buddy buddy with her," he said to her.

"Well, as long as you're civil, I guess," she said.

Alan grinned.

"You never got the pleasure of meeting Jackie Tyler, did ya?" he said to Grace and Madison. "Actually, you never got the pleasure of meeting Rain's sister, Amber either."

"I didn't know you had a sister," Madison said to Rain.

"Well, we don't acknowledge her because she acts like James does."

"Oh!" Madison said while they laughed.

"But you have to meet my dad sometime. He's wonderful," Rain added.

She had a thought.

"Are we giving bio-dampers to my family and Rose's family?" she said to him.

"I s'pose we have to. Do you want to come with us before you stay here and meet her dad and Rose's family?"

"Sure," Grace and Madison said in unison.

"Wait a tic, I'll inform our fearless leader," he said, hurrying out.

Alan came back ten minutes later with the Doctor behind him. He smiled and kissed Grace and Madison on the cheeks.

"Anything my brother can do to keep you with us is a-okay with me," he said while they laugher. "But yes, I'll have to give Rose's and Rain's families bio-dampers since apparently Jasper's lot has been over there. I don't know if Amber will wear it since the woman is thick in the head but I'll give it to John to give to her. But yes, we can make a quick trip over there and back because I do want you to meet John. He's one of the few companion's family members I do genuinely like. We're done inputting your information so you wanna hop over to the other universe and hop back before morning."

They nodded and the Doctor headed out to the console room.

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They headed to Monument Valley first and John met them at the door.

"Doctor, Alan, everyone it's good to see you again," he said to them.

He noticed Madison, Grace and Dorothy.

"Let me guess, Star Child, you added more to your family since we last talked," he said while they laughed.

"Yes and actually we also added Martha and they're all Time Ladies and now Jack has become a full Time Lord. So yes, our family is growing by the moment. This is Grace Holloway, Madison Reece and her daughter Dorothy."

John greeted them warmly.

"You're welcome here, just like they are," John said. "I take it you want to spend some time here and go to another state fair or something?"

"Actually, we need to talk to you. We had a complication arise," the Doctor said.

"Oh? What complication would that be?"

"Can we talk inside?" the Doctor said.

"Of course, come in," John said.

They all walked inside and the Doctor and Alan instantly looked around for Amber. They breathed a sigh of relief when she was nowhere to be found.

_Probably ran and hid in a hogan the moment she heard the TARDIS_, Alan thought.

John led them out to the kitchen and made some tea. They sat and stood and John listened while the Doctor described what had happened on Faust. John poured them tea while he continued to listen.

"So you think we might be in danger?" he said when the Doctor finished speaking.

"I don't know but you've traveled in the TARDIS, you and Amber, and if they're tracking the artron energy, they might be spying on you," he said. "We would like you to wear this bio-damper ring and that'll cancel out the radiation and keep it hidden. We didn't find any pictures of you but there was surveillance on Rose's flat and the mansion in this world and I'm sure eventually they would have started here."

John examined the rings and nodded.

"If it keeps Rainshower safe, I'll do it," he said. "And Amber's at her classes but I'll speak to her when she gets home."

_Yeah, watch her willingly wear the thing,_ Alan thought.

_I bet she will. I bet John will make her wear it if he's concerned about Rain's safety,_ the Doctor thought.

"There's something else, Dad," Rain said.

John looked at her.

"Yes, Rainshower?"

"Well, you see, when Grace and Madison and Martha and Jack were changed, Imiko gave the Doctor crystals that would allow him to change anyone that wanted it into a Time Lord or Lady and Wilf has done it and I was wondering if you wanted to, Dad."

Everyone looked at him, hoping he would accept.

"I would become like you?" he asked.

"Yes, but you could stay here. Wilf stayed in London and Jack and Martha stayed with Torchwood," the Doctor said. "But we're just asking our friends and family members if they'd like to become like us, some have accepted and some haven't but we won't think of any less of you if you don't want to do it."

John looked at Rain.

"I'm sure you want me to do this, Rainshower," he said to her.

"Yes, Dad. It's wonderful being this way."

He thought for a moment and then grinned.

"How could I pass up an opportunity like this?" he said. "Alright, you've talked me into it!"

They all cheered and Rain hugged him.

"I'll be right back then," the Doctor said, running out of the kitchen.

He came back in a moment later holding the crystal. He gave it to him.

"Just break it open and let it do its magic," the Doctor said.

They watched with huge smiled on their faces while he broke it open and the light surrounded him. The smiles widened when he felt his mind enter theirs and then the light stopped. John blinked.

"That's all?" he said to them.

"That's it. You're a Time Lord now."

Rain squealed and hugged him tightly.

"Wow, my friends will never believe this," John joked while they laughed. "And I can feel all of your minds now."

"And we can feel yours and if we're over here, you'll know it the moment we cross the void because you'll have that sensation in your head."

"Yeah but…"

The Doctor looked at Rain.

"Yes, Latara?"

"Dad, come with us to the other universe. We're usually over there. I mean we only come over here to visit you or Rose's family and you're not gonna feel us unless we cross the void."

"But where would I live, Rainshower?"

Madison and Grace looked at each other.

"Live with us. We just got a house and Maddie and I can share a room if you want to take a bedroom."

"And you're living on a different planet?" John said.

"Yes, it's this planet called New Hope in the Andromeda Galaxy in the year 4180. It's a little futuristic but it's nice. Rain's right, come and live with us and keep us company now. You can help us look after Dot."

"And it's a wonderful house. It's not a futuristic as you would think and it has a big pool out back," Rain said.

"Pool? Well, I'm definitely coming then," John said while they laughed.

He thought.

"What about Amber though?"

Rain raised her eyebrow.

"Seriously, Dad, I doubt she'll wanna become a Time Lady. She's scared of my husband."

"Really? How so?"

Rain explained to him what happened when she was alone in her room. John nodded.

"I suspected something happened. Amber wouldn't say but I guessed she had a confrontation with her. My daughter means well, Doctor, it's just that she never got over her mother dying and she took it out on her little sister since she died giving birth to her."

"I suspected as much," the Doctor said.

"She's always been a bit jealous of Rain for coming along and upsetting her only child status," John added. "I know she's been jealous of her for finding you. I'm sorry that she's now carried all this over into her adult years and hates you when she has no real reason to."

"Well, Donna's mother hates me and Maddie's ex-husband hates me so it's nothing new," the Doctor said, shrugging.

"My, you're having a lot of trouble with in-laws," John said.

"I know," the Doctor said while they laughed. "I never used to have this trouble. Rose's mum was the first family member I had to deal with on a regular basis and luckily I've made peace with her and I get along with Martha's family now but you and Wilf are the ones I like the most."

"Well, thank you. And I like Wilf too. He's a good man. I'm pleased to hear he also accepted this gift. But getting back around to what we were talking about. I agree with you, Rain. I doubt your sister will want this change."

"Well, just let her have this house, Dad. It's paid for, right? Leave her some money and let her keep running the business. She's old enough to make her own way in the world and she almost has her degree. She'll be fine."

"Well, let me talk to her, Rainshower, while you go and see Rose's family and by the time you come back, I'll be ready to go with you to New Hope."

They smiled and hugged him. He kissed Rain on the cheek and walked with them out to the TARDIS. He stood back and waved while they vanished.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Rose, honey," Jackie said when she opened the door. "I haven't seen ya in donkey's years. You never phone."

"I know, mum. That's because we're hardly over here," Rose said. "We prefer to stay over in the other universe since the majority of our friends are over there."

"Well come inside, all of you, and I'll make tea. Pete's gone out to the shops with Tony but he'll be back shortly."

She noticed Grace, Madison and Dorothy.

"Let me guess, more family members," he said to the Doctor.

"Yup."

He made introductions and Jackie hugged them.

"Nice to meet ya and you too," she said to Dorothy. "How old is she? She's about as old as Tony is, I imagine."

"She's three," Madison said.

"Oh, well she's exactly the same age. Tony'll be chuffed to see her. But come inside so we can chat awhile."

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They made small talk for awhile and let Madison and Grace get to know her until Pete and Tony came home. They let Dorothy and Tony play with each other while they told her and Pete about Jasper's spies and showed them the photos and fact sheet about Rose.

"Oh my God," Jackie said, staring at the picture of their mansion. "But if they're keepin' that close a watch surely they know Rose is with you and not here."

"They might have that just for the fact file," the Doctor said. "That's the only photo we found of this house. They had one of the Powell Estate as well."

"And these damper things will keep the radiation hidden?" Pete said.

"Yes, we suspect that's who they've been following us," the Doctor said. "Since the artron energy is unique to TARDISes it's a sure way to track us. But if you would wear that just as a precaution. I don't know if they'd do anything with the information they have, but I don't wanna take any chances."

They nodded.

"I can ask Torchwood to keep an eye here and on John's place. I know you said he's going with you but if her sister is still there, we can still keep an eye out for her," Pete said.

"Thank you, I appreciate that," the Doctor said.

"But all this information, why didn't they ever do anything with it?" Jackie asked.

"My theory is they were just keeping tabs on us and making sure we were far enough away from their black markets. I'm sure if I had gone close enough they would have kidnapped someone or attacked," the Doctor said. "That's the only theory I can come up with for why they followed us and didn't do anything."

"Makes sense. I'm sorry that happened to your people, Doctor. That's horrible for any species but to have that happen to your own is sickening," Pete said.

The Doctor nodded and smiled.

"Um, before we leave here, I think Rose wants to ask you both something," he said to them.

They looked at Rose and she explained about the crystals.

"You mean like John just did?" Pete asked when she finished.

"Yeah and Wilf as well. It would change you into Time Lords and Ladies like us."

"Um, I don't really fancy doing that, Rose. I'm sorry. I don't wanna live multiple lives," Pete said.

"I don't either, hon. I'm glad you did it but it's not for me. But thanks for offering," Jackie said.

"That's fine," Rose said. "We're just offering all our family and friends the chance to do it and some have said yes and some have said no. If you don't want to, that's your decision. I just wanted to give you a chance to become one if you wanted to."

"Well thanks, Rose," Pete said. "But I'm happy being human."

"But you don't mind if I ask Tony when he becomes an adult?" Rose said. "So he has a chance as well?"

"No, I don't mind, Love. When he becomes an adult, it'll be his decision, same as yours. I'm glad you're waiting till he becomes an adult to turn him into one though."

"Well, we're doing the same with Dorothy and my son's children and the teens as well," the Doctor said. "According to Imiko, everyone that's been made into a Time Lord and Lady is on their first life and usually when you're on your first life, you only have one heart and you age naturally. It's when you regenerate for the first time that you gain your second heart and look the same. So she's circumvented that with her magic and I'm afraid if we turn the children into us now they'll stay children until they regenerate and I don't want that."

Jackie nodded.

"Plus," the Doctor added. "The think I love about all of them is they were human and have that human experience and human thoughts and emotions and it carried over and I think they're better people for it so that's why I also want to wait because they need to have that human creativity and imagination ingrained in them while they grow up. That's what I love about them. They can think up things I'd never think of in a million years and it's more fun being around them plus sometimes they can think up creative ways to get out of trouble."

"Well, Tony might want to do it when he gets older," Jackie said. "He loves Alan. He's always askin' 'bout him. Drives me round the bend sometimes."

Alan grinned.

"Hey Pollywog! I'm here now! Why aren't ya payin' attention to me!" he yelled at him.

Alan stopped playing with Dorothy and walked over to him.

"Alan!" he said happily.

"Hey, he can pronounce his L's now," Alan said.

"Yup, my little boy is growing every day," Jackie said fondly.

Alan set him on his lap while Madison rubbed Dorothy's back. They sipped their tea and went back to making small talk.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"It's good seein' ya again, sweetie," Jackie said, hugging her goodbye. "I'm glad you're safe and everything is alright."

"Everything's fine, mum," Rose said to her. "We're keepin' each other safe, just like always."

"Well, I'm glad you met Grace and Madison. They're sweet and I love Dorothy."

"Me too, mum."

Jackie smiled and chuckled.

"What, mum?"

"You know, when you were a little girl, you were kinda a loner. You didn't wanna be around many people and now look at ya; you're travelin' around with this large adopted family of yours."

"Well, I figured out like the Doctor did that it's wonderful having a lot of people in your life."

Jackie nodded and hugged her.

"Come and visit us again, Love."

"I will, mum. You sure you and dad don't wanna come to the other universe?"

"Nah, we're happy here."

"Well, we don't get along with Rain's sister so you're gonna be the only reason why we come over here now once John goes with Grace and Madison."

"Well just as long as you do come see us and we'll wear the rings. I don't wanna take any chances of someone hurtin' my baby girl and her family."

"Thanks, mum."

She hugged her tightly.

"Keep that husband of yours in line, Rose."

She laughed.

"I try, mum. Although sometimes it's a little hard," she teased.

Jackie gave her a kiss and she, Pete and Tony waved to her as she walked back to the TARDIS with her family.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor landed back at John's house seven hours after they left so Amber would have time to come home. The sun was setting and the lights were on in the house. John opened the door when they came up on the porch.

"Come in. I want you to hear this," he said to them.

They came inside and saw Amber sitting on the couch. They said a polite hello and she nodded to them. John shut the door and nodded to Amber.

"She has something she wants to say," John said to them.

"Rain, I'm sorry for what happened between us after you got back from the State Fair," Amber said. "I've been a bitch to you all these years and I really didn't have a reason to be. Dad and I have been talking and he told me about becoming a Time Lord and moving and we've been discussing a lot of what's happened over the years and I did confess that I did treat you poorly but I want to put that behind us and start anew and become real sisters again. Could you forgive me and do that?"

"Yes, Sis, I forgive you and I do understand. Growing up without mom has been hard on both of us. I want us to be close. We have enough trouble with Donna's mother being an ass to my family without you adding to it. I'll bury the hatchet if you will."

Everyone smiled when she nodded. Amber stood up and they embraced one another.

"And I'm sorry too, Doctor, for the way I've treated you," Amber said. "You had nothing to do with any of this. I guess I was jealous of Rain finding you and going off into time and space while I had to stay here."

"But you don't have to stay here, Amber," Alan said. "You could have come with us as long as you treated Rain with love. You don't have to stay anywhere you don't want to. If you don't wanna go to college, don't go to college. No one will think any less of you for it. Be the person you were born to be not the one you think everyone wants you to be."

"Well, we've been talking and I was wondering if you'd let me be a Time Lady and come with Dad. I can get an apartment there since their house will be a bit crowded but I'd like to become a part of your family."

They grinned at each other.

"If you really want that, I can help you get a flat there and get you set up since I'm mister moneybags," the Doctor said while they laughed. "But if you are willing to accept us and Rain, then yes, I'd love to have you officially in our family."

"I'd love to and I will," she said.

"Then let me go get another crystal," the Doctor said while everyone cheered.

Alan hugged Amber.

"And now you won't need college because you'll have the knowledge of the universe like Rain does," he said to her. "And not only will John be there but Grace and Madison and Dorothy so you'll have family there. And anytime you wanna travel with us, we'll give you our mobile numbers, phone us up and we'll come get ya."

"Thanks, Alan," she said.

"Not a problem, welcome to the family at last, Te'lesu," he said.

"Huh?"

"Gallifreyan for beloved sister," Alan said.

"Oh! Thanks," she said.

The Doctor came back and handed her the crystal.

"Just break it open and join us," he said.

"Does it hurt doing this?"

"Nope," the Doctor said. "It's completely painless."

They watched while she broke it open and her mind joined theirs. The light faded and they cheered and hugged.

"Welcome home, sister," the Doctor said to her.

"Thanks, Doctor."

"Blimey, it's a good thing we didn't get the family photo yet," the Doctor said.

He rubbed the back of his head while he looked around.

"Um…are we taking any of this stuff along? I have unlimited credit so I can get both of you new furniture."

"The furniture might stay but there are heirlooms that would need to go."

"Of course, just tell us what needs to go and we'll help get it in the TARDIS. And Rose, you better call your mum and dad and tell them Torchwood doesn't have to watch this house any longer."

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While everyone moved things into the TARDIS storage, John made a call to a family friend to tell him he was moving.

"My daughter found a house for me and Amber and we're gonna move to be close to her," John said over the phone. "It's a little sudden but we wanna go so can you look after the house? Or if you wanna sell it and the business that's fine. You can keep the money for yourself, we'll be fine….where are we moving? Um…overseas…to England to be with her husband's family. Yes, I'll be sure to call from time to time…please take care of yourselves and I'll see you when I'm able to. Alright, go ahead and come over in the morning then, I'll leave the house key under the porch steps and you just go ahead and do what you need to do. I will and I'll tell Rain and Amber you said hi. Okay, Randy, bye."

John hung up and went to find the Doctor.

"House is taken care of. A friend of mine, Randy, is gonna take it over and I told him to do whatever he wants with it," he said to him.

"Brilliant. I'm glad someone will look after it so the whole place doesn't get looted or vandalized. It's a nice house."

"That it is. But it's time to move on and head into the future…literally."

The Doctor laughed and John joined them in the kitchen where they were packing up the dishes.

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After four hours, they finally got everything loaded into the TARDIS that John and Amber wanted to take and Rain got the remainder of her room cleared out. While they were doing that, Amber made a call to the college and left a voicemail message with her advisor telling her she was dropping out.

"Not that it matters if they flunk me," she said to the Doctor after they finished. "Not like I'll need college now."

"Nope. Definitely not."

She gave him a hug.

"Thank you for forgiving me. I'm sorry for the way I treated you."

He hugged back.

"Water under the bridge, Te'lesu. I'm just glad we finally came to this point and became a real brother and sister now. Like I said, I have enough grief from Donna's mum without you adding to it."

Amber nodded and he put his arm around her while they headed out the door to the TARDIS.

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"Right," he said when they were finished and in the TARDIS. "Back over the void to your new homes."

He turned on the void crosser and set a course for Nova. They went over and landed there a few minutes after they left. They stepped out into the house and John whistled.

"This is it?" he said.

"Yup, Dad, this is your new home."

John looked around.

"I like it," he said, nodding.

"Everyone, give them a tour and I'll go back in and see if I can find Amber a flat near here," the Doctor said, walking back into the TARDIS.

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He managed to find an apartment three blocks down from the house. He called the number that was listed and arranged to see the manager in the morning.

"Okay, so some of us stay here to wait for the furniture and the rest go to the block of flats to see if we can let one for Amber," he said after he was finished. "In the meantime, we can relax in here since there isn't much to do."

All of them headed back into the TARDIS to relax.


	119. Chapter 119

Chapter One Hundred And Nineteen

While his family talked to one another in the kitchen, the Doctor sat at the computer in the living room entering John and Amber into New Hope's database. While he did that, he felt arms around him and smiled while he sent love into his wife's mind.

"Busy again?" Rain asked, leaning her chin on his shoulder.

"Always, Latara," he replied. "Just entering our new family members into the database so they can have ID's here."

He smiled at her.

"I'm glad Amber finally wised up," he said to her.

"So am I. I'm glad she came here too. I hope she finally has some happiness in her life."

"So do I."

"Thete, I've been thinking," Rain said.

"Yes, about what?"

"Our daughter's vision. Your eleventh self said that we would have many more family and friends by the time you regenerated."

"And it's starting already, isn't it? We've gained far more than we had when you lot went in and viewed that," he said. "Makes me wonder how many we'll have when that finally happens especially since the crystals never run out."

"But I had another thought, dear."

"Yes?"

Your eleventh self said these people who tried you never identified themselves and they wore hoods. Hoods, just like the slave hunters wore…"

His eyes widened and he leaned back in his chair in thought.

"If they had Time Lord technology then they would know about the void crossers and might have one. He never said how they banished me, did he?"

"No, Love, just that you were banished without your TARDIS."

"So after two centuries or more perhaps Jasper's lot suddenly decided to get me out of the way once and for all?" he speculated.

"Maybe because Terina will do such a good job finding them."

He nodded.

"That would explain the hoods and the fact that they never identify themselves. They'd have knowledge of the Time War from studying me and our people. Oh Latara, I'm betting you hit the nail right on the head with this."

"But there's another thought I have," Rain said.

"Yes?"

"If they are still spying on us and we do what we said we were gonna do and hide the void crossers, what if they are watching and go back when we leave and take them and that's why you were able to be banished?"

He thought about that and nodded.

"And that leads me to another thought. Leave a void crosser with Grace and Madison and have them guard it. Surely they don't know that we're here yet especially since we're wearing the dampers and the TARDIS has one."

The Doctor smiled.

"Have I ever told ya how I love that you think too much, my love?"

He kissed her.

"In order to do that though, we'll have to explain the vision so they'll understand why we're doing that," he said. "So after I'm finished here, we'll assemble everyone and explain it."

He kissed her again and nuzzled her nose.

"My wife, always thinking," he said to her as he tousled her hair.

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After he finished putting the information in the database, the Doctor gathered everyone together in the living room. Once he started explaining the vision, the others joined in and the ones who hadn't heard it listened in stunned silence. When they were finished explaining the vision, Rain explained her theory and all of them groaned.

"So eventually our luck might run out with the spies," Alan said. "Bollocks, I'm betting you're spot on about that, Rain. It would make sense with the hoods and the never telling us who they are."

"But if this is supposed to happen, Doctor, we'll be happy to guard one of the void crossers for you. The last thing we want is for you to be separated from us for 1000 years," Grace said.

"Can I keep one too just as a backup?" Amber said. "I mean, if we get the apartment tomorrow."

The Doctor nodded and smiled.

"So you are gonna let them kill you and make you regenerate?" Madison asked.

"Yes, if it means they'll leave us alone for good, I'll do it."

"So you guys saw what he's gonna look like?" Grace asked.

They nodded and Rose projected the image of his eleventh self into their minds. Grace raised her eyebrow.

"You're younger," she said to him.

"Yup, seems so."

"You're not bad looking actually," Madison added.

"Thanks," the Doctor said. "Actually that's the first time Alan and I have seen him since they only told us and didn't show us. I'm a bit predisposed to wearing black the next life, I need to keep that in mind and not wear so much."

"And that'll happen to all of us eventually?" Amber asked.

"Yes but according to Jenny's vision, Awinita's the first to go," the Doctor said.

"Rah, me," Awinita said while they laughed. "As soon as it happens, I'll let you all know how painful it is."

"Oh, I told ya before it's not that bad. You won't know what all the fuss was about after it's over and done with," the Doctor said, ruffling her hair. "But before we leave here, I'll give you a void crosser and give Amber one and you both guard them with your lives."

"I will," all three women and John said in unison.

"Good because you better unless you want me to take a thousand year holiday away from all of ya," he said. "And I'll leave one at Torchwood since I know we can trust them and it seems secure since they didn't have any photos of the Hub. And Jack and Martha will live a long time so I know they'll be around to guard it in two centuries time."

"But besides that, you said this…Valeyard guy will come and get you too?" Madison said.

"Yes and as I told them before that cannot be avoided," the Doctor said. "But if you lot are around when he comes don't fight him and risk getting captured, let me go because I do come back safe and sound thanks to my seventh self. Unfortunately, then it happens again in my eleventh and twelfth and thirteenth life since he kidnapped them all so it'll be a tad annoying for all of us watching me get kidnapped over and over and over but that's wibbly wobbly time for ya. But apparently that won't happen for two centuries either so we have plenty of time to relax."

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The next morning, the Doctor, Rain, John and Amber went to meet with the manager of the apartment while everyone else waited for the furniture. They met the man in his office. His name was Bill and he was in his late forties with slightly graying brown hair that was slicked back into a ponytail. He was pudgy and short and was wearing brown trousers and a red t-shirt and white tennis shoes. They followed him out the door and he led them to an apartment building that was a half a block away. It was three stories and made of gleaming white marble with balconies and porches that had a Plexiglas barrier around them. They went inside and up to the second floor to a one bedroom apartment. The walls were white with brown trim around the bottom. There was tan shag carpeting in every room and all of the rooms were spacious and well lit by large windows. The kitchen was modern with the same kind of high-tech appliances the others had in the house. The overhead lights were small plastic bubbles that glowed with a white light when the switch was turned on.

"What'd ya think?" the Doctor asked Amber.

"I love it."

"You want it?"

Amber nodded and John and Rain put their arms around each other while the Doctor and Amber filled out the paperwork.

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"Thank you," Amber said to the Doctor when they finished.

The Doctor paid two years in advance for her and Bill handed Amber the keys.

"My pleasure," he said after Bill left them alone. "Now let's go to the furniture store and get you some furniture so you don't have to sit on the floor."

He took them back to the furniture store and told Amber to pick out what she wanted. He and Rain followed behind Amber and John while they discussed what to get and also what he wanted to get for his bedroom. While they slowly walked through the store, the Doctor threw up a privacy block around his wife's mind.

_Good job I have all this unlimited credit,_ he thought to her. _I've never brought so much furniture in my life. _

_Not to mention two houses and an apartment. _

_Yes, that too. For someone who's anti-domestic, I'm purchasing a lot of domestic things now. _

_Yes, but you're thinking of your family. _

_I know but I'll miss them when we go. Especially Grace and Madison. It won't be the same without them. _

_Maybe someday they'll wanna travel full time with us. It's better for Madison this way since she has to raise Dorothy. Maybe when Dorothy gets old enough and becomes like us then they'll travel with us and leave this place behind._

_Yup, but in the meantime just as long as we get to see them, I'm happy._

_Even Amber? _she thought teasingly.

He smiled.

_Even Amber, _he thought, winking.

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After they got done with that and asked for John's furniture to be delivered the same day and Amber's the next day, they went back to the car dealership. Rain giggled when the man they had talked to the day before was overjoyed to see him and his credit stick.

_You're gonna be quite popular around here, Dear_, she thought to him.

_Don't I know it,_ he thought back while she laughed.

He let both Amber and John pick out cars for themselves. The man was even more overjoyed when he paid in full for both.

"I came into a large inheritance," the Doctor said to the salesman while Rain giggled.

_A very, very large inheritance,_ Rain thought to him.

_Limitless inheritance,_ he thought back while she laughed harder.

_Um…can you hear me when I do this? _Amber thought_._

_Yes, welcome to the wonderful world of non-verbal communication, Te'lesu, _he thought back_. How are you?_

_I'm fine, Doctor, _Amber thought while they giggled. _This is freaky._

_Yes, but you'll get used to it,_ Rain thought. _It's fun when you can do it and everyone wonders what you're laughing at._

_And we can do this at any time?_ John thought.

_Yup, you can communicate with us unless we're over the void somewhere or if we're unconscious and obviously if we're dead you can't talk to us but you'll be able to feel us as long as we're in this universe although the further away we go from here the harder it'll be to feel us but we'll never totally disappear if we're in this universe. And if you'll excuse me the nice man who loves me to death now has just come back with the paperwork and the keys._

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"Hey! It came," the Doctor said when they entered the house and looked around at the new furniture.

"Yes and John's bedroom stuff came right after it actually," Awinita said.

"Good. I'm glad. We got her flat and we got them cars and all the shopowners of this city love me now," the Doctor said while they laughed.

He walked over to a recliner and sank down in it.

"And I'm spent. I've brought enough domestic goods to last a lifetime. So goodnight all, kip time!"

They laughed when he closed his eyes and snored loudly. Dorothy toddled over and climbed up into his lap.

"Hey, you wake up now!" she said.

The Doctor snored louder while they laughed.

"Quit!" Dorothy said.

"Leave me along, Ladybird, go sleepy," the Doctor said with his eyes closed. "I'm worn out from being domestic. Need beddy-bye!"

Dorothy settled back against him and looked at her shoe while she sang to herself. The Doctor grinned and looked at Madison.

"That tears it, child is coming with me, you can't have her," he said while they laughed. "I need a cute child sitting on my lap and singing while I'm flying through the vortex. I'll give you the dogs if you give me the girl."

"No, I'd rather have Dot."

"Damn. Sorry, Dotty, gotta stay with mummy for now, I suppose," he said, holding her tight. "But one day you'll be flying through time and space with silly boy here."

She looked at him.

"You silly," she said.

"Exactly my point," he said while they laughed. "I'm Silly Boy and you're Ladybird."

"No."

"No?" he said as they laughed harder. "Okay then, I'm the Doctor and you're Dot."

"You're Uncle Doctor," Rain said.

"Yes, I'm your Uncle Doctor. Blimey, that sounds bizarre when you say it like that," he said while they laughed harder.

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After awhile, they ordered some Chinese food and had it delivered to the house. Afterwards, they sat in the TARDIS living room and watched some movies while they ate it. The Doctor glanced at his wife sitting beside her sister and his hearts warmed knowing that years of enmity between them were over. He was glad now that both Amber and John had made the choice to become Gallifreyan so they could be with his wife through the ages. His mind drifted back to what his wife had said earlier about the mock trial and how his eleventh self had told them that there would be many family and friends who would be there pleading for mercy for him. He started to wonder if it was going to be a long trial since his family was growing more and more every day.

After a couple of movies, Alan became bored and drifted over to the computer near the back of the room to surf the internet. Madison put Dorothy to bed in her room and allowed the dogs inside to lay with her and keep watch before returning to the living room. All of them chatted and got to know Grace and Madison a bit better.

While they talked, Alan got up walked over to Rain and stood behind her staring down at her.

"What d'ya want, Creepy?" Rain said without looking at him.

"I found something interesting online," Alan said to her.

"Yeah, what? Your brain?"

She giggled when Amber gave her a shocked look.

"Everyone," the Doctor said when he noticed her shock. "These two are brats and they tease each other constantly like a brother and sister so just be warned that they run around giving each others wedgies and noogies and ice down the trousers and insult one another like this. It's nothing new to those of us who have been here a long time."

"Yes, I'm having a bit of fun with the old toerag at my feet, aren't I?"

"You got it, Blisterbutt, now what do ya want?"

"I have been surfing the net searching for new ways to insult ya and make your life pure hell."

"Mmmm, and what did ya find, Peabrain?"

"Well, I found an Americanese slang site and I came across an intriguing American slang phrase."

"Yes?"

"Yes and I found the phrase, get the poop on someone."

"Yeah…and?"

"Well, as our former British humans will tell ya, the corresponding phrase in Britain is get the gen on someone."

"Mmm, I didn't know that."

"Well, you should and you should refrain from getting poop on people because it's very rude for you yanks to smear feces on others."

Rain put her head in her hands and groaned while everyone else laughed. Alan grinned while he poked her repeatedly.

"Don't you agree, eh? It's rude of you to get your poop on people. Quit getting the poop on people, Rain. It's not right to put poop on people!"

"See what the Doctor means about him being a pest?" she said while they giggled.

"I'm only saying it's not right to get the poop on people," Alan said, poking her. "It's very rude of you colonials to get poop on people, eh? Eh? Quit getting poop on people!"

"Okay, I won't get the poop on people anymore! Go away you maniac!" Rain said while they laughed harder.

He patted her on the head. He started to walk back when he paused by the Doctor.

"Can you imagine, Brother? Rain used to go around throwing her poop on people, how rude can you get?"

"Shame on you, Rain for getting your poop on people," the Doctor said sternly while they laughed.

He looked at John while Alan walked back.

"This goes on constantly in here. Part of why I love traveling with this lot," he said to him.

"I can see why you do. I'm glad there is a lot of happiness in here especially if you are out battling evil out there," John said.

They giggled while they went back to watching the movie. Eventually Alan wandered back over to Rain.

"Oh hell no, now what have you found, ya creep?" she said while they laughed.

"Phosphate," Alan said.

Rain frowned.

"Yeah, it's a chemical. What about it?" she said, looking up at him.

"According to this site I found, it's also an old slang term for soft drinks."

Rain frowned.

"Phosphate was a slang word for soft drinks?"

"Apparently so."

She looked at Awinita.

"You ever hear someone call soft drinks phosphates?"

"No, never."

She got up from the floor and walked back over with Alan. She looked at the site with him.

"Some of these I'd never heard before. This must be really old slang you found, Bro. I mean no one I've known ever referred to morning as aforenoon. I think a lot of these were slang terms from the '30's or something."

John wandered over and looked at it.

"You hear someone say any of these, Dad? I've heard people say light bill and goose egg and monkeyshines. Monkeyshines is what geeky here specializes in," she said while they laughed. "But copacetic for OK? Never heard that one before."

"I've heard some elderly folks say some of these when I was younger. I think you're right, Rainshower, these are things people used to say in the 1920's and '30's."

"Update yourself, Bro, you went too far back," Rain said, smacking his head.

"This from the woman who thought it'd be cute to teach him to speak Valley Girl," the Doctor said aloud while he watched the TV.

"Yes, but Valley Girl isn't as far back as phosphate, dear!" she said to him.

"Gag me with a spoon," Alan said in a female voice while he looked at the site. "Like, totally, fer sure, like, like, like, like, like!"

Rain smacked him on the head while they laughed. Alan grinned when he saw an entry.

"Hey, they used to say comfort station instead of loo. I'll use that instead of necessary room."

"Oh God, get off that site now, Bro!" Rain said while they laughed.

"Well," Alan said, getting up. "I gotta go to the comfort station to drop some trouser chili, I'll return in a mo!"

"Oh Christ, here we go; now I'm gonna be hearing comfort station out of his gob every five minutes!" Rose said while Alan raced out the door giggling hysterically.

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The next morning the Doctor had the TARDIS duplicate the void crosser and gave it to Grace.

"You lot guard this with your lives," he said to them.

"You better believe we will. We're gonna check every day to make sure this is here," she replied while Madison and John nodded.

After that, the Doctor moved the TARDIS over to Amber's apartment and they took a look around it while they waited for her furniture to be delivered.

"And after they finally bring the furniture, we can bring out her stuff, set it up, get our photos taken and then I'm afraid it'll be time for us to hit the open vortex."

"But you'll be back soon right? We'll see you two seconds after you leave?" Madison said.

"Yes, but by that time, five hundred years might have passed and I might come out the door as my eleventh self," he said to her. "So be prepared."

"I doubt if you'll be able to wait that long," Grace said.

"Yeah, you're right, I won't be able to," he said, winking.

After an hour, the furniture finally arrived. They stepped back and let Amber tell them where to put it. After an hour and a half they were done and all of them looked around at her newly furnished apartment.

"This is sweet, I've never had new furniture before. Thanks Doctor."

"What are big brother's for? Just don't come crash on my TARDIS sofa demanding more credits," he said.

He gave her a kiss and headed back into the TARDIS. He came back out with another void crosser.

"Guard it," he said to her.

"You better believe it. I'll kill anyone who touches it."

They laughed when the Doctor jerked his hands away and feigned fear. He gave her another kiss on the cheek while they walked back in to get her personal effects.

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After they were done setting everything up the way Amber wanted it, the Doctor quickly searched the internet and found a photography studio. They all dressed neatly using clothes from their individual rooms. Afterwards, they all walked downtown to a little photography studio and had their photo taken together. The Doctor ordered ten copies of the photo and had three of them mounted in frames. They walked back to Amber's apartment and helped her hang it on the wall in her living room. They stood back to admired it as a family.

"Oh God, I'm gonna miss all of you," Madison said when they were done looking at it and the Doctor announced it was finally time to leave.

They gave each other hugs.

"We'll miss ya too. I hope you come and stay with us often. It won't be the same without you and Grace onboard since we've gotten used to you being around," the Doctor said to Madison, hugging her tightly. "All of you have my number, right?"

They nodded.

"And I modified all your mobiles?"

They nodded again.

"Good, well just remember that as long as we're in this universe you can also phone us just to chat. We're always available. I'm so glad you lot are together here since this'll be a new experience for ya but I wish you all the very best of luck until we see ya again. Keep us updated often on everything."

He handed them all credit sticks.

"I made these for you. They have unlimited credit so you can buy what you need and not have to worry about what it costs," he said to them.

"You're a good brother, you know that?" Madison said.

"Well, I do my best," he said while they laughed.

They hugged again.

"Be careful, all of you," Grace said.

"We will. You lot as well. Keep your eyes open for any spies or any suspicious activity."

They nodded and hugged them again. The Doctor hugged Dorothy.

"You be good, Ladybird, until I see ya again, alright?"

"Don't go."

His hearts melted and his eyes misted over while he hugged her tightly. He gave her a big kiss on the cheek and kissed Madison's cheek when she came to pull her back. All of them waved at the Doctor and their family when they went back into the TARDIS and closed the door. They stood close together and watched with heavy hearts while it wheezed and slowly faded away.


	120. Chapter 120

Chapter One Hundred And Twenty

Rain sat on the computer surfing the net. It was several hours after they left part of their family behind and she was already missing Grace and Madison. She had been looking at different sites just for something to do when she suddenly had a thought. She realized that even though her husband had brought her a necklace and bracelet, she had never gotten him anything in return. Wondering if there was something nice she could give him she found several sites with men's jewelry and looked through them.

While she did that, Rose wandered into the room to get her copy of Cosmo and smiled when she saw her.

"Hey, find something interesting, Sis?" Rose asked her.

"Rose, can you come here a minute, I need your opinion."

Rose walked over and pulled up a chair.

"What d'ya need an opinion on?"

She explained what she was doing.

"That's nice of you to do that but I'm sure the Doctor would tell ya that you already gave him jewelry when ya married him," she said.

"I know he would and I know he doesn't care but still, I'd like to be a bit romantic with him and give him something."

Rose giggled.

"So he'll snog ya?" she said with a wink.

"Or more," she said while she laughed. "But I wanna show you what I found and see if you like it."

She showed her an image of a sterling silver men's ring. Around the ring were words engraved in ancient Celtic.

"That's pretty, what does the inscription say?" Rose said.

"It says in Celtic, I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine."

"Ooo, I love it and I know he would as well. Get that for him," Rose said.

"Yeah but the question is if I order it would I get it? I mean, this is an Earth store. Would they send it to that post office we always go to…"

She stopped short when Rose grabbed her arm. She pointed and Rain saw the ring in front of the monitor.

"The TARDIS just did that for ya," Rose said to her." I have a feeling it's in his size."

Rain picked up the ring and examined it.

"Thanks TARDIS," she said, looking up at the ceiling.

_Always happy to help, my beloved_, the TARDIS thought back. _Now go and give it to him._

"Better do as the ship says," Rose said to her. "In the meantime, let me look at the site and see if they have anything I'd like that she can duplicate."

She nodded, squeezed her sister's shoulder, got up and hurried out of the room to find her husband.

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The Doctor and Alan were sitting side by side on the jump seat, their feet up on the rim while they talked to each other.

"Remember Florentine from the Spiral System?" Alan said to him.

"Yeah, she was quite a dancer. I had fun at that dancing contest."

"She should be quite a dancer, Dorxals have four legs, ya know," Alan said.

The Doctor grinned.

"Yup, it was difficult keeping up with her but I did it by God," he said.

Alan glanced over when Rain entered the room.

"Remember your weirdo wife who pesters us 24/7?" Alan said to the Doctor.

"Get bent, Bro," Rain said, walking up to them.

"You haven't been out getting the poop on someone, have ya?" Alan said to her.

"I'll get my poop on ya if you don't shut your yap," Rain said while the Doctor snickered.

"Well, be brief, you're interrupting our reminiscing," Alan said.

"Reminiscing about what?"

"Well, he has my memories so occasionally we talk about things I did in the past and have a little walk down memory lane," the Doctor said. "It gives us something to chat about when there's nothing else we can think of."

"We were just thinking about Florentine, a Dorxal dancer from the Spiral System who had four legs and gazungas a mile wide," Alan said to her.

"Oh well, figures you'd talk about that since you're a couple of men."

She laughed when they both glared at her.

"Oh like you don't fantasize about George Clooney," the Doctor said.

"Um, no I don't, ew," she said. "So who was Florentine? An old girlfriend?"

"Dancing partner. I entered a dancing contest with her and we won quite handily if I do say so myself," the Doctor said, sniffing.

"Didn't her mile long gazungas make it hard to dance with her?" Rain said dryly.

"Nah, I just sat on top of them and she did all the dancing while I cheered her on," the Doctor said while Alan sniggered.

"Okay, moving on before the image of that burns itself into my brain forever," Rain said. "I came out here because I got you something."

"For me?" Alan said, leaping up. "Oh, my Rainbow, you're so generous!"

"Not you!"

"Well then fuck you, ya cheapskate skank!" Alan said, sitting back down.

The Doctor laughed when he covered his head while she smacked it several times.

"I'll deal with you more in a minute," Rain said to Alan, walking past him. "No, I got you something, my husband."

"Really? What for?" the Doctor said.

"Because I love you. I decided to get you something special because you've gotten me special gifts in the past."

"Yes, but you didn't have to do that, Latara. You're a special gift in and of yourself."

Rain looked at Alan.

"See, he's a smooth talker unlike you," she said to him.

"Blah, blah, blah, lips are flappin' but the sounds all run together into one big incomprehensible noise," he said, opening and closing his hands.

He giggled when she swatted his head and turned his attention back to her husband.

"So, you close your eyes and I'll give you your big surprise."

"And I'll snatch the surprise out from under your eyes if you're not wise," Alan said.

"You do and I'll rip my husband's former hand off your wrist and sew it to the top of your head, Bro," Rain said. "Close your eyes, Doctor."

The Doctor closed his eyes. Alan watched while she took his left hand, opened it so the palm was facing up, put the ring in the palm and closed his fingers around it.

"Okay, open em."

The Doctor opened his eyes and opened his hand. He stared at the ring, saw the inscription and turned the ring while he read it. A smile spread over his face and he pulled his wife down to give her a kiss.

"I love it, Latara, thank you," he said to her.

Alan looked back at the back door.

"Where's my wife? I'm faithful and true, where's my reward?" he said.

He turned back around and smiled when the Doctor took the damper off and put the ring on in its place. The TARDIS thinned the damper until it was a thin band and the Doctor thanked his ship while he put the damper back on top of the ring. He admired it a moment more and then kissed his wife again.

"There, now you got me jewelry and I did the same for you."

"You didn't have to but I love it just the same. I love the Celtic inscription. Where did you get it?"

"I saw it on a website and our wonderful ship duplicated it for me."

The Doctor glanced up.

"Thanks girl."

The TARDIS nudged his mind and rumbled affectionately. Rain looked at Alan.

"Rose is back there looking on the site for something for her. If you kiss her and act all lovey dovey, maybe you'll get your reward," she said to him.

Alan glanced at the Doctor.

"Well, two's company and three's a voyeur. I'll take this subtle hint and skidoo so you can have snog time with the generous, loving wife," he said.

He glanced at the ring and read the inscription.

"That is beautiful. I love it," Alan said to Rain. "I'm glad you found it for him."

"Me too."

"Well, I'll be moseying off to parts unknown so have fun playing tonsil hockey with the Doctor."

"I will. Have fun being a general nuisance, Bro!"

"Always!" Alan said over his shoulder as he walked off.

He winked at her and she sent love into his mind before she turned her attention to her husband and they began to passionately kiss.


	121. Chapter 121

Chapter One Hundred And Twenty One

After a bit, the women all met in the kitchen for tea and conversation. Rose told them about the ring and they all ooed and ahed when the TARDIS showed them a hologram of it.

"So did you score some points with hubby?" Awinita asked after they looked at it.

"Major points," Rain said, grinning.

"And of course Alan was back there saying, where's mine? I said, we got ya a birthstone ring. Yeah, but that's for everyone, where's my special something, I love ya, Rose, where's my ring at?"

They giggled when she rolled her eyes.

"I told him I'd get him one when he wasn't expecting it and then I snogged him a bit to make him feel better. My little Alan is sensitive, ya know."

She winked when they giggled.

"So, I guess now we get to go to parts unknown," Mingxia said while they sipped their tea.

"Yeah, I hope this randomizer thing doesn't land us in the middle of a bleedin' sun," Donna replied.

"I hate we have to do that. I mean I know Dad likes to go to strange far off places but I'd rather be aware of what we're getting into," Jenny said.

"Yeah, I don't feel like stepping out the door and getting instantly grabbed by blue cannibals or something," Rose said.

Rain grinned.

"I have an insane thought," she said.

"Yeah? What?" Awinita replied.

"Partly a delaying tactic but also partly for fun. We oughta park the TARDIS near an airport and hop on a plane somewhere, just for fun, you know. Go to the Caribbean and go to the beach for a couple of days and behave like Earth tourists."

"You mean go slumming it like Earthlings," Awinita said while they laughed.

"Yeah, go slumming it and ride an airplane like average human schmucks," Rain replied.

The women looked at each other and grins spread over their faces. They slammed down their mugs and ran off to find the men.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Remember Theodora, the erotic poet on Syphax Nine?" Alan said while he and the Doctor sat on the jump seat.

"Love!" Rain said while the women came into the room.

"Or remember that wife of yours who is still being an interrupting pest?" Alan added.

"Oh stuff it, Bro," Rain said to him while they walked up to the Doctor.

"Is there something the female population of this TARDIS needs?" the Doctor said, glancing at all of them. "I would venture to say menstrual products except you're all sterile and don't have need of them."

"Okay, hear us out before you say yes or no," Rose said to him.

"Bloody hell, now they want piercings in odd places. Tattoos weren't enough for them now they're slowly going Goth on us," Alan said to the Doctor.

Rose put his hand over his mouth.

"No," she said while they laughed. "Just hear us out, yeah?"

"I'm listening," the Doctor said. "Go ahead with this monumental thing you're about to say."

"Okay, before you turn on that randomizer we want one last trip that isn't unknown," Rose said.

"Um…you know, I can turn it on and off, it's not like we're gonna be catapulted out into the furthest reaches of space and never get back to civilization. But anyway, continue…"

"Rain had this wacky idea."

"You're getting piercings and going Goth," Alan said through her hand.

"No, Alan. We have an idea for something to do."

"Let's hear it."

"Land near an airport on Earth and let's fly in an aeroplane somewhere," Rose said.

Alan glanced at the Doctor and snickered at the wide-eyed look on his face.

"See this, Rose," the Doctor said, gesturing wildly around him. "This is a TARDIS, it can go anywhere we want and unlike an aeroplane it takes us there in comfort, meaning I'm not cramped in a small space with my knees up to my nose while small children vomit on me and babies wail in my ear!"

"Yes, but you're always looking for something to do," Rose said.

"Yes, but I had my time being stuck on Earth and flying in the aeroplane. I did that because my TARDIS was stuck back in this universe."

"Yes, Love, but we were thinking we could do it and have a load of laughs in the meantime," Rain said. "Jenny and Donna have never been on an airplane before."

"Donna went to Bahrain," the Doctor said.

"That was my friend, Veena," she said.

"Oh yeah, sorry. But you mentioned you went on package holidays when we were on the Oodsphere."

"Yeah, but that was in Europe and I took the train across the chunnel and all through Europe. I never flew," Donna said.

"Well, you're flying now!" the Doctor said waving his arms around while Alan giggled. "And Jenny's flown…space shuttles, but she's flown. Besides, what are we gonna do? Get off the aeroplane, say "Well, we've flown!" and get back on?"

"No, we wanna go somewhere," Mingxia said.

"And the somewhere would beeeeee…"

They looked at each other.

"Well, we haven't decided that yet but we're workin' on it," Rose said.

"So at the moment we're just at the take a plane to somewhere stage," the Doctor said.

He waved his arms around.

"You do realize that I can take you anywhere to any place in here, right?"

Alan laughed when they all imitated his waving arms and said, "Yes, we do!" in unison.

"Blimey, you lot really are in sync with each other now," the Doctor said, shaking his head. "Okay, if we go to an airport, where's the TARDIS gonna stay? I want to make sure it's safe while we do this."

They thought for a moment.

"Jack!" Jenny said.

"Yeah, go to Torchwood, leave the TARDIS in the Hub and we'll take the train into London and take off at Heathrow. That way we can have fun on the train," Rose said.

They laughed when the Doctor gave them an odd look.

"So now we're adding trains to this little adventure, eh?"

"Jenny's never done it," Rain said.

"If I jumped off a cliff, would you make Jenny do it because Jenny's never done it?" the Doctor said while Alan laughed.

"If you jumped, I'd be right behind ya," Rain said.

"Oh, I know you would," the Doctor teased. "Because you and I are practically Siamese twins now."

"Well, I'd be lonely without you."

The Doctor pointed to Alan.

"Why would I do with that?" Rain said, feigning disgust.

They laughed when Alan hopped up and she ran. He sat back down beside the Doctor.

"You know, Brother, this could be fun. Let's go on the train and plane and act like our usual nutty selves and see how long it takes for us to get kicked off em," Alan said to him.

"To where though? Where do you wanna go? I wanna go and stay somewhere if we're gonna do this," the Doctor said.

"Well, we kinda mentioned the Caribbean when we came up with this idea," Rose said.

"Sun and sand?" Alan said to the Doctor.

"I'm surprised they didn't say Disneyworld since Jenny's never done it," he replied.

"Do you wanna go to Disneyworld, Jen?" Rose asked her.

Jenny shrugged.

"Makes no difference to me. Just as long as we go somewhere," she said.

"You know, Brother, we could go to India. Saris and all," Alan said, nudging him with his elbow.

The Doctor considered that and grinned.

"Or we could go back in time and go on a plane in the 1920's and '30's and see if they like flying," the Doctor said.

"Hey, that's a good idea. I wanna see how many of you vomit on those rickety little planes they had back then," Alan added.

"On the other hand, we'd have to suffer the rickety plane with them," the Doctor said.

"Not necessarily, we could let them go on the plane and take the TARDIS to wherever they're going and meet them at the airport."

"Nope, you're coming with us," Awinita said.

"Nope, we're coming with them," Alan said while they laughed.

"Nice try," the Doctor said to him.

He looked at the women.

"If we go along with this mad little idea of yours, we are going first class so I can have legroom. I'm not about to sit several hours on a plane like I did when we flew from Japan to Florida and stumble into the airport because my legs are numb and then fall over dead because I have twenty blood clots that zoomed up into my brain the moment I stood up. Now I repeat before I change my mind, where are we going?"

The women looked at each other. Awinita giggled.

"Antarctica," she said to them.

"In that case, you're flying solo, Harris," the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Someplace nice and warm like the beach," Rain said.

"I vote Disneyworld so I can go ride Expedition Everest…" Alan said.

Rose leaned over him.

"Is there any way the TARDIS can recreate that sodding ride in here so he can go ride it whenever he wants and I don't have to hear him whine about missin' it?" she said to the Doctor.

He glanced at his brother.

"He whines about it that much?" he said.

Rose rolled her eyes.

"Hon, when can we have our second honeymoon so I can ride my faaaavorite roller coaster again?" she said, imitating his voice.

"It's a brilliant roller coaster," Alan said defensively.

"Well, if we do that, let's do other things beside it," the Doctor said. "I liked Disneyworld but not enough to go back several thousand times."

"Well, why don't we go through Florida and just kinda explore?" Rain said. "Get another minivan and go to different cities and go all the way down to Key West."

The Doctor considered that.

"Yeah, because Donna and Jenny never got to ride in the minivan with us and have the fun we had," Awinita said.

"Well, actually the Doctor and Mingxia didn't either since they joined us in China after we ditched it," Rain added. "I mean they saw it in the simulation room but it's not the same as being there."

"And with eight people it oughta be even more of a party," Alan said.

"Are there people carriers that would hold eight people?" the Doctor said.

"Yeah, we can get one that large," Rose said.

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"So let me get this straight, you wanna go to Cardiff, take a train to London, fly to Florida, rent a people carrier and just drive around the state?"

The women looked at each other and nodded with huge smiles on their faces.

"You lot are completely bonkers," the Doctor said while Alan laughed. "Completely off your trolley, mad as a hatter, needs to be sectioned bonkers."

"Yes, we wanna do that and go slumming like Earth tourists," Awinita said.

"Could be fun, Brother. Would be interesting," Alan said.

"Mad, you are all mad, completely mad," the Doctor said while they laughed. "And I have one more question. How're we gonna get out of Cardiff without Harkness tagging along? Because the moment he hears this he's gonna be begging us to take him."

"Take him then," Awinita said.

"And sit him where? On the bleedin' bonnet?" the Doctor said to her.

"There are people carriers that seat more than eight," Rose said.

The Doctor stared at her.

"So should we get our whole Time Lord family then and drive this monster vehicle all over Florida?" he said while they laughed.

"No but if Jack wants to come, let him," Mingxia said.

"Oooh yeah, that'll go over like a lead balloon with the rest of his team. Especially since he finally got back there," the Doctor said. "You honestly think they're gonna let him leave with us? They'll be throwing themselves against the front door and dismantling that lift of theirs. Not to mention shoving us back in the TARDIS and screaming at us to leave."

"Just…let me ring them and see what they say," Rose said, pulling out her mobile from her pocket. "At least give them advanced warning that we're gonna do this."

"Watch, Brother, he'll be hangin' onto our legs begging us to go," the Doctor said while she dialed Torchwood's number.

"Jack? Hey, how ya doin?" Rose said. "Um, we have this small request for you and your team…"

"Wait for it. The moment she says what the request is there'll be this enormous scream of delight and we'll hear him screaming over the mobile for us to take him," the Doctor said to Alan.

They sat on the jump seat with their feet on the rim listening while Rose told them what they wanted to do.

"Any second now, take me, take me, take me," the Doctor said to Alan.

"Well, um…" Rose said. "You can but what would your team say?"

"See, I'm right," the Doctor said. "Mind reader, me."

Rose lowered the mobile.

"He's gone to ask em," Rose said to the Doctor.

"I'm betting they'll say no. I'm betting they'll tie the boy down to his chair and guard him while we're there," the Doctor said to her. "No way they're gonna let him go swanning off to Florida while they have to stay in Cardiff and work."

They waited.

"I don't hear any screams of protest yet," Alan said to the Doctor.

"I'm sure he took them somewhere in the back so we can't hear him begging," the Doctor said.

Rose held up her finger when he got back on the phone.

"You can?"

Both the Doctor and Alan were shocked and they stared at her in amazement.

"They're letting him go?" Alan said.

"Hold on, Jack."

Rose lowered the phone.

"He made a deal with em. They'll let him go if he gives them all a holiday in return," she said. "He said yes and they said yes."

"Is Martha coming with us as well?" Alan said to her.

"Martha will ride with us into London and see us off at the airport but she wants to spend time with her family," Rose said. "She's not interested in Florida but she'll go another time with us in the TARDIS."

"That's fine, we'll have fun on the train then," Alan said to her.

"What about the others then?" the Doctor asked.

"Gwen wants to spend time with Rhys. Mickey just wants to go to his flat and relax. He doesn't fancy traveling around Florida in a people carrier and Jack is desperately begging Ianto to come with us and told us to go ahead and come to the Hub while he does that," Rose said.

The Doctor got up.

"Tell him we're coming after I stop off at an intergalactic bank and change a heap of my credits into cash," he said to Rose while he input the coordinates.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Have I ever told you that you all are Godsends," Jack said when they stepped out into the Hub. Florida, never been, but I'm anxious to go and the rest of the team gets to relax in the meantime. And…I got Ianto to agree! I told him he needs to loosen up a bit."

He leaned forward.

"Also still working on him about the whole Time Lord thing," he said quietly. "I have the crystal so he doesn't throw it away and I'm gonna take it with us. But I'll get him to join us sooner or later, trust me. And I'll get on the computer here and make arrangements for the plane if you tell me where you want to land at in Florida."

They looked at each other.

"Wanna start in Orlando?" Awinita said, shrugging. "That way the airport is central if we go up or down."

"Sounds good to me," the Doctor said.

"Right, I'll see what I can do then."

"Get us all first class if you can," the Doctor said to him.

"You can use my credit card," Rose said, handing it to him. "I haven't used it in a while and it's paid off."

"Gotcha, be back in a minute," Jack said.

They watched while he ran off. While they did, the cog door opened and the others came inside.

"Well, normally we would be upset Jack's leavin' again except this time we get a holiday as well, so bless ya," Mickey said to them.

"Not a problem, I'm glad I got you lot a little holiday of your own. Trust me, this wasn't my idea, it was theirs," the Doctor said, hooking his thumb back at the women.

He smiled at Martha.

"Sure you don't wanna come with us to sunny Florida?" he said to her.

"Nah, I'm sorry. I love being with you but I haven't seen mum and dad and Tish for awhile and they've really wanted to see me. Plus, I gotta give them the dampers. But I will ride with you to London and come to the airport to see ya off like a good sister."

He smiled at her and looked at Ianto.

"And you got talked into it, I see."

Ianto rolled his eyes while they giggled.

"Yes, Jack was practically licking my shoes begging me to go," he said.

"We'll have fun though, Ianto. The four of us had fun the last time we did this," Alan said to him.

Jack came back in the room.

"Got seats for us. The plane's leaving at 5 a.m. tomorrow but they're all first class and all of them are next to each other."

"Good, thanks!" the Doctor said to him. "Now we have to get a hotel room in London for the night and make sure we can get a people carrier big enough for us when we get to Orlando and…could one of you that isn't going look after the dogs for us since we don't know when we're coming back?"

"I will," Gwen said. "Rhys loves dogs so it won't be a problem."

"Thank you, Gwen, I appreciate it," the Doctor said. "I don't wanna leave them here in the TARDIS, they need to get out and have a bit of air and I don't wanna leave them in here because I'm sure that pterodactyl will eat them."

"Nah, she wouldn't," Jack said. "She's a good girl."

"All the same, Jack, I don't wanna leave them in here with her. I love our dogs and I don't want them ending up as pterodactyl poo."

Jack shrugged.

"Well, if we know when we're leaving, Rose come with me and we can arrange for the hotel rooms and the transportation here so we'll have it when we get to London and when we land. And we need to book seats on the train into London also"

Rose nodded and they walked off. The Doctor looked at Alan.

"I can't believe we're doing this willingly," he said while he laughed.


	122. Chapter 122

Chapter One Hundred And Twenty Two

After everyone packed for the trip and the arrangements were made. The Doctor and his family said goodbye to the dogs, put them on leashes and gave them to Gwen. After saying goodbye to each other, the Doctor and his family headed off to the train station.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I can't believe I have willingly left my TARDIS behind," the Doctor said when they sat down on their seats on the train.

They noticed that they were the only ones sitting in their car.

"It'll be fun, Love," Rain said as she sat next to him. "This is what we did before we met ya and we had a blast."

Alan leaned up over the seat in front of them.

"Yes, I'm actually glad we are doing this. I did miss the whole road trip and the fun we had," Alan said. "And now there are more of us to share the fun."

"Did you find a people carrier large enough?"

Rose leaned up beside Alan.

"I found one that seats twelve," she said to him.

"Twelve?"

"Yeah, we had space on the last one we had for snacks and our rucksacks and if people wanted a lie down," Rose said.

"Well, good. I'm glad we won't be crammed together nose to nose while we're doing this," the Doctor said.

Awnita stood up and leaned over the seat in front of Alan.

"Did we get one with a child seat for the one year old?" she asked Rose.

"No, we got one with a seat on the top so you can sit outside the people carrier," Alan said to her.

The Doctor glanced at Jenny and Donna across the aisle from them.

"This, Jen, is a train. It takes people places along a rail system," he said to her.

"No!" Jenny said in mock disbelief while they laughed.

"Yes!" the Doctor said with wide eyes. "This handy dandy invention carries people to far flung destinations much like our TARDIS except it's small and cramped and has other people in it besides us."

"And we can actually see out the windows," Mingxia said, standing up beside Awinita.

"Eh, windows are overrated," the Doctor said.

"Actually, no they're not," Jack said, leaning up over the seat behind him. "They're very useful and make the trip less boring."

"Um, if you're implying that it would be interesting seeing out the TARDIS windows, then all you would see for the most part Jack is swirling multicolored winds of the time vortex."

"At least that's more colorful than your drab console room."

"My console room is not drab, Harkness," he said while they laughed.

The train lurched and began moving. The Doctor looked at Jenny.

"This is the forward motion of the train, my daughter. We are traveling along the aforementioned rail system."

"No! Really, Dad?" she said while they laughed.

"Yeah, isn't that nifty difty, Daughter? This is how humans travel."

"You mean like the man sitting beside me?" Jack said to him.

"Yes, like the man sitting beside ya. We are now entering his complicated and mysterious world."

Jack bent over laughing with everyone else. He looked at Martha sitting beside him.

"Just think, Martha, a few days ago we were like Ianto here."

"I know, it boggles the mind," Martha said with wide eyes. "Now we're like them!"

Jack looked at Ianto.

"Tell us, Earthling, how do you cope with rail travel?" he said while they laughed harder.

He nudged Ianto when he rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Yan, have fun. Everyone here loves having a party. Join in and play along and you'll see how much fun it is being with them."

The Doctor stood up.

"It is fun being with them, believe me. I used to be a bit of a downer as well and they lightened my life. I acted like I didn't wanna do this but in reality I think it'll be fun. Just as long as I'm with them and we can act our usual silly selves, I don't care where we go. But just do what we do, take the mickey out of each other, laugh, frolic and ignore the shocked looks of the people around us."

He looked at Martha.

"Sadly though, one will not be coming on our fabulous road trip through Florida."

"I'm sorry, Doctor. I will come with you other times but mum really wants to see me. Besides…"

She went across the aisle and showed him her hand. He noticed no ring on it.

"You called it off?" he said to her.

She nodded.

"Yes, I took your advice. Actually, I took my own advice since I told ya about that friend of mine that pined away for a man that didn't love her. I tried to be gentle about it."

"He was upset though," Ianto said. "We could hear him over her mobile."

"You listened in?" the Doctor asked him.

"We all did once she told us she was gonna do it," Jack said. "He was very upset and kept telling her it didn't matter if she was a Time Lady."

"I told him that wasn't the reason; I just didn't think we were right for each other. But we agreed to remain friends."

"Good, I'm glad," the Doctor said. "You'll find someone else, Martha, I guarantee it."

Jack threw up a privacy block around the Doctor's mind.

_If Mickey has his way, it'll be him,_ he thought to the Doctor.

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

_He fancies her?_

_Oh yeah, he told me that secretly but he didn't say anything to her because she was engaged but I think he's glad she broke up with Tom, although he hasn't said that to her and I think he's waiting till she gets over him but I definitely think he'll be waiting in the wings for her. _

_Mickey and Martha? Might be a good match, _the Doctor thought to him._ Keep me updated.  
_

_Will do, _Jack thought before he dropped the block.

"Will you sit down, Infant?"

The Doctor glanced at Rain and noticed Alan was leaning way over his seat, ruffling her hair.

"I wouldn't talk about being an infant, Rain. You're just as bad as me," he said to her.

"Rose, could you do some pest control please?" Rain called to her.

Rose stood up.

"What did I tell you about bothering your sister?" she said sternly.

"That it was not only acceptable but encouraged?"

"No," she said while they laughed. "You need to be a good boy and stop harassing her before I go tell the engine driver to turn the train around and take you back to the TARDIS."

"I want to see you do that, Rose. I want to see this entire train turn around on the rail and go back. Do it now!" he said while they laughed.

"How about if I give you a boiled sweet, will that stop you from teasing your sister?"

"You have one?"

Rose thought.

"No," she said while they laughed.

"Then how will you get me one? Is the engine driver gonna give ya one when he turns the train completely around?"

"Do they have one of those sweet carts on here like in Harry Potter?" Awinita asked.

"Yeah, Rose, go find the sweets trolley and get me some Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans so I can feed Rain a dirt flavored one. And I would love a butterbeer. So go, my wife, and find the Hogwart's Express sweets trolley!"

Rose rolled her eyes and sat back down.

"Oi! Get your arse up and go tell the engine driver to turn the train around and find the Harry Potter sweets trolley," he said while they laughed.

"She's a woman, she doesn't take orders from men," Rain said to him.

Jack stood up.

"You're a man; you don't have to stand for that! Get her!" he said to him.

"Ooo, yes, I am a man and I won't stand for that at all!" Alan said walking into the aisle while everyone laughed. "Apologize Rainy or face your doom!"

Rain let out a big melodramatic yawn and laid her head against her husband's shoulder.

"Love, there's a bee buzzing around me. Get rid of it," she murmured.

The Doctor snickered at the exasperated look on Alan's face. Alan looked at Jack.

"Well?" Jack said.

"She has her guard dog with her," Alan said while Rain snickered. "I have to wait until he's in his kennel before I can get my revenge."

"And when will that be since he's always with her?" Donna asked him.

"Not always. He's…um…good point, Brother, when are you not with her?" Alan said to the Doctor while they laughed.

"I told ya before, Siamese twins, so you're out of luck I'm afraid," the Doctor said.

"Bollocks, sorry Jack, I'm not that brave. You face the Doctor," he said, going back to his seat.

The Doctor looked up at Jack.

"Well, face me," he said to him.

Jack stared at him.

"Yan, you're a brave lad!" he said to him while they laughed. "Get up here and get Rain away from the Doctor."

"You do it, Jack, you're family," Ianto said to him.

"Well, so are you."

"If you have your way, that is," Ianto said.

"Exactly, now stand up, future Time Lord, and face the Oncoming Storm!"

The Doctor stood up.

"Grrrr," he said while they laughed. "I am the fearsome Oncoming Storm! Face me!"

"Hubby!"

The Doctor jerked his head around and saw Alan reaching for Rain's arm.

"No fair, you told!" Alan said, going back to his seat.

"Well, anyone wanna face the Oncoming Storm?" the Doctor said, looking around.

Donna stood up and came across the aisle to him. She leaned in and looked him square in the eye and everyone laughed when he quickly sat down.

"I give up, Donna's too much for me," he said while Donna gave him a playful nudge on his head.

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After getting off the train at Victoria Station, they hugged Martha after she got a cab.

"Have fun, everyone. Take care," Martha said to them. "I'll be back and waiting in the lobby when you lot are ready to leave. Around three in the morning, yeah?

"Make it two thirty so we have plenty of time to get there and get through security."

"Gotcha! See you then!"

She hugged them all and they waved when she got in the cab. They waited till it left before all of them headed over to their hotel room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they got in the hotel rooms, they opened up the communicating doors between the rooms and chatted for awhile before Alan and Rose headed out to get some pizza for them. They walked along hand in hand glancing around at the people who were heading to and from places.

"This is so wonderful," Alan said to Rose. "Just like the old days."

"I know. We get to ride in the people carrier again except there'll be more this time."

"Is that why you wanted to do it, Starlight?"

"Well, it wasn't my idea. It was Rain's but I am glad she thought of it. I love travelin' in the TARDIS but I missed riding around and being silly in the car and seeing all the great sites along the way. I'm glad the Doctor isn't angry we did this."

"What? Oh Rose, he was havin' ya on! He was happy to do this. He's happy doing anything as long as we're together. He was just givin' ya a hard time for a laugh. We keep tellin' ya to come up with ideas for us. And I know he loves it when you come up with things like this that he would never think of in a million years. You know, he could have stopped ya if he wanted. It is possible for the Doctor to stop six women, believe it or not. Quit worryin', he's having a grand old time."

They walked into the pizza shop.

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"There they are!" the Doctor said when they came back in the room carrying pizza and sodas.

"Did you miss us while we were gone?" Alan asked them.

"Rain did, she had no one to rag on," the Doctor said.

"Oh no, did ya miss me, Snotsucker?" Alan said to her.

"Terribly, Buttlicker," she said.

He set the pizzas down on the table along with the Cokes and ruffled her hair.

"Little brother has provided for his Time Lord family and the lone human on the bed over there," he said to them. "Come and get em while they're hot!"

All of them walked over and grabbed some napkins. They had a choice of pepperoni, combination and cheese pizzas and Coke and Mountain Dew in 2 liter bottles. Alan sat down beside the Doctor and whispered what Rose had said in his ear. The Doctor gave him a shocked look and walked over to her.

"No, I'm not angry you lot thought of this. I really was havin' ya on."

"Well, I know how much you love your TARDIS, is all," Rose said.

"Yes, but I love even more to get out of the TARDIS and explore. I have to admit when I saw Brother's memories of you in the people carrier I was a bit disappointed I came too late for that. Now I get to have all the fun you lot did, so quit worrying. I love being with all of you no matter what we do, full stop."

He kissed her cheek and walked back to the bed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After eating pizza, all of them played cards for awhile until Ianto announced it was time for bed. Jack laughed when they booed him.

"Human!" Alan said. "Boo! You humans give out too easily! You need to become one of us so you can stay up all night."

The Doctor and Jack laughed when everyone else chanted, "One of us, one of us!" in sinister voices while they pointed at him.

"You really want me to change, don't you?" Ianto said.

The Doctor and Jack laughed harder when they chanted louder.

"You're outnumbered, Yan," Jack said. "Come on, come over to our side and see how much fun it is."

Ianto stared at them.

"He has the crystal and Rose has the bonding ceremony memorized now," the Doctor said.

"Too right I do," Rose said, rolling her eyes.

"Come on, Ianto. Not only will you get to be with me but you'll get to be with them. You'll have this loving family; you'll get to speak telepathically with us..."

"I'll get to die and be reborn," Ianto said.

"Yes but as I keep telling Awinita, it's not as bad as ya think. It's your choice but we would love to have you be a part of us."

"Then we can go convince Gwen and Mickey to do it and we can all live through the ages," Jack said.

"Wheee," Ianto said dryly.

He sighed.

"If I say no, you'll just keep at me, won't you?" Ianto said to Jack.

"Oh, I might back off…a bit," Jack said. "Come on, Ianto, it's really wonderful being like this."

"This coming from the man who isn't exactly like us," the Doctor said.

"So I don't regenerate, I'm like you in every other way. Come on, Ianto."

"Oh alright, you've talked me into it!"

They cheered.

"Is it painless changing over?" Ianto asked.

"Completely," Jack said. "And when you do it, you'll feel our minds inside your head and vice versa."

"And if you want, you can bond with us and become another brother, we need more men," the Doctor said.

"You want me to become your brother?" Ianto asked.

He was taken aback when everyone yelled, "YES!"

"Okay then," he said while they laughed.

Jack ran to his suitcase to get the crystal.

"You won't regret this, Ianto," Alan said.

"No, I don't think I will," Ianto said, smiling. "Although it means he's gonna bother Gwen and Mickey now."

"Jack, don't bother Gwen and Mickey," the Doctor said to him when he came back inside with the crystal. "They made their choice to be human and you need to respect that."

"I will. I was just kidding about that," he said, handing the crystal to Ianto.

"So, I just break this open?" Ianto said.

"Yup, break it open and join us!" Jack said.

They grinned when Ianto broke it open and was enveloped by the light. They cheered when it faded and hugged him.

"Thanks, Ianto," Jack said, hugging him.

"You're welcome," he said, hugging him back. "So now the bonding ceremony?"

"Rose, if you'll do the honors…" the Doctor said to her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So now Time Lords outnumber humans at Torchwood," Jack said when they finished the bonding ceremony and they resumed playing cards. "And now Ianto, you're also a brother to Wilf and Sarah Jane and Grace and Madison."

"And John and Amber," the Doctor said.

Jack blinked.

"John and Amber did it?" he said in disbelief.

"Yup and John is living with Madison and Grace," Donna said.

"And Amber's in an apartment a couple of blocks from them," Awinita added.

"Wait, Amber? Bitch from Hell Amber?" Jack said.

"She…she's not like that anymore. We reconciled," Rain said. "Dad had a long talk with her while we visited him and she decided to forgive us. Dad became a Time Lord while she wasn't there and was gonna move in with Maddie and Grace and let her have the house but she decided to become a Time Lady and move with him."

"So they're in this universe now," Jack said.

"Yes, the only ones left in the other world is Rose's family and they didn't want to change. Although I told Jackie to let Tony decide when he gets old enough and she agreed," the Doctor said.

"Okay so how many are there now?" Jack said. "There's the ten of us, Martha, Wilf, John, Grace, Amber, Madison, Dex…so 17 of us now."

"18 if you count the Rani," the Doctor said.

"Well we won't count the psychopath," Jack said. "So 17 decent Time Lords and Ladies now. You are definitely not the last."

"I know, it's wonderful," the Doctor said happily. "And not only that, I'm a husband, brother, father and uncle. And if you count Sarah who is our human sister and honorary Gallifreyan that makes 18."

"We have one big family," Mingxia said.

"Yeah, I was an only child and now look at me," Rose said.

"So was I," Donna replied.

"I am too," Ianto said.

"Not anymore, Yan," Jack said.

He sighed.

"It's too bad Grace and Madison left. I loved having them around."

"So did we," they said in unison.

"But they promised they'd come back and travel with us from time to time like you do and as far as I can tell just from scanning their minds they're all happy at the moment so I'm not sad," the Doctor added.

"But Amber, that was a surprise. I'm glad she did it though. You have Sylvia mad at you without her joining in."

"Wonder if Sylvia will ever reconcile with us like Amber did?" Jenny asked.

"I think it'd take something monumental before she ever did that," Alan said. "Then again, Amber changed her tune with one conversation from her dad, so Donna…"

"Oh no, I'm not touching that with a barge pole. My mum can come to me if she wants to reconcile, I'm not going in there and gettin' in an argument," Donna said. "But I'm guessin' eventually we'll have to go and get granddad because she'll cotton on sooner or later."

"Oh, I know she will after twenty or thirty years and he doesn't die," the Doctor said.

"No, I mean before that. Mum is nosy and she'll be noticin' the changes in him, I just betcha she will. And truthfully, while she's actin' like this, I'd rather he went and lived on New Hope so we could go there and not have to deal with her peeking through the curtains and glarin' at us."

"Well, I told him when the time came to phone us and we'd come and get him," the Doctor said. "And while we're on this topic, I need to ask a favor of you, Jack and Ianto, because I want you to hide something for us."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jack was stunned after he got done explaining about the vision and what Rain had theorized.

"Son of a bitch, so it's possible those slave hunters will catch up to you…and after two hundred years? Jesus, they waited a long time, didn't they?"

"Well, if what my wife thought of is correct, perhaps the randomizer and bio-dampers was enough to thwart them and maybe they just get lucky and nab me on some planet."

"But not Alan," Jack said.

"He never really said much about him except that he was allowed to leave with us and he could get the Doctor in a thousand years time," Rose said. "Maybe the Doctor hid him somewhere and he isn't at the trial or maybe gettin' the Doctor was enough for them. What his eleventh self said was very sketchy."

"Probably didn't want to give too much away in case they did something rash and time was damaged beyond repair. But we all think this vision came to Jenny as a warning to do something and that's why I want you to hide a void crosser in Torchwood in case the spies are still watching, see us hiding them and take them when we go. I have one with Grace and Madison and Amber has one and I want to leave one with you."

"Of course, we can lock it away where no one can get to it," Jack said while Ianto nodded. "And there are now three of us who will be able to keep an eye on it until this happens. Just leave it to us."

"Thank you both. I'm hoping the fact that they didn't have photos of the Hub is a sign they can't get in."

"I'm betting they can't. It would take a brilliant mind to get past our security systems now, especially since Gwen got past them before. And I'm betting these spies are clever, but not that clever. Besides we have Myfanwy. Can we feed the spies to her?"

"You have my permission on that one, Jack," the Doctor said while they laughed.

All of them finished eating the pizzas and drinking the sodas while they continued playing cards.


	123. Chapter 123

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Three

After practicing the telepathy with Ianto and the privacy blocks, they finally packed up everything, got rid of the trash and went down to meet Martha in the lobby.

"Oh my God, you really did it?" Martha said when they told her what happened. "You're a Time Lord now?"

"Yup and we're sister and brother now apparently."

He grinned when Martha squealed and hugged him.

"I'm glad you did it. It takes some getting used to but I love being this way."

They walked out so they could get a night bus to the airport.

"Mum and dad and Tish are fine," Martha said to them while they waited. "I told them about the spies and showed them the pictures of the house and it terrified them. Mum and Tish are gonna wear the dampers."

"Good, I'm glad. Sarah's computer, Mister Smith, is keeping an eye on all the houses in London and Torchwood so tell them that."

"I will."

She hugged Ianto tightly and he smiled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After getting to the airport, checking in and getting through security, they all sat and waited in the seats the lounge area for their plane to arrive.

"Look at us, we're Earth tourists!" Alan said while they laughed. "We're waiting for an aeroplane like Earthlings."

"And now we really are all Earth tourists since Ianto changed over," Jack said.

"How are you feeling?" the Doctor said, looking over at Ianto.

"Pretty good. A bit odd, this whole feeling you in my minds but I like it."

The Doctor shielded his mind from theirs.

_Count of three, my family, let's give him the old dose of love and show him how really good it feels to be us._

He dropped the block and counted to three really fast. They poured their love into his mind and laughed at the shocked look on his face.

"Now how do you feel, Yan?"

"I feel really, really good," he said while they laughed.

They looked at Rose who was giggling.

"Hey look," she said, pointing to a McDonalds on the other side of the huge pathway. "Wonder if they have robot head waiters in there?"

They laughed.

"Or vichyssoise," Awinita said.

"What are you talking about?" Jack asked them.

They told him and Ianto and they laughed.

"Seriously, McDonalds becomes a ritzy restaurant in the future?" Jack said.

"Yup, very upscale," the Doctor said.

"Honey bunny, I want another phosphate. Be good and fetch me one from the non-posh McDonalds," he said to Rose while reaching into his rucksack for his money.

"Why can't ya get the phosphate yourself?" Rose asked him.

"Because I'm very lazy and I don't want to take the trouble of gettin' off my fat clone bum to get it. So would ya, my loving, do anything for me wife?"

"Rain, will you come with me since lazy boy won't go."

"Sure, Sis."

"Loving, do anything for me wife…" the Doctor said.

"I know, you want one too," Rain said.

He handed her a five pound note.

"Devoted and subservient, just the way I like ya."

They laughed when she swatted the back of his head. He gave her a kiss and watched while they left with Awinita and Jenny. While they did, the Doctor noticed Jack leaning over and staring at his right hand.

"You got a new ring," he said to him.

"Yeah, the misses got it for me," he said, taking off the damper and the ring.

Jack took it and read the inscription.

"Aw, that's wonderful," he said. "And I can read ancient Celtic too, hurray for me!"

Ianto and Martha who were sitting beside them took it and read the inscription.

"That's beautiful, I love it," Martha said. "Where'd she get it?"

"Some website. The TARDIS duplicated it for her," the Doctor said.

"Can she duplicate it again? I wanna give Ianto this," Jack said.

He noticed the shocked look on his face.

"What, it's beautiful and you are my beloved," he said to him.

Ianto smiled and they kissed before Jack handed the ring back to the Doctor. He put it and the damper back on and relaxed while Alan watched the news on the TV mounted above their heads. The Doctor turned his head and chatted with Donna and Mingxia. Suddenly he felt someone sit down beside him and noticed the shocked looks on his sister's faces. He turned his head around and noticed two young women sitting in Rain and Rose's places. They were early twenties, one had short bobbed blonde hair and the other had long dark hair. They smiled warmly at him.

"Hi!" the dark haired one said with a cockney accent. "I'm Teresa and this is Tiffany. What's your name?"

The Doctor glanced at Alan who was watching the scene play out with interest. He grinned.

"My name is Dexter," he said, putting his hand over his wedding ring while his family fought to keep from laughing.

"It's nice to meet you, Dexter. Are you from around here?"

"No, I'm from Detroit. I'm going back there. Good old Motown, you know."

"You have a cockney accent though."

"Mum, she was originally from here, I'm visiting her. She moved back here when I came of age. She wasn't into Motown music. By the way, this is my twin brother, Alan."

They looked at him.

_I'm not letting you pass up this golden opportunity to be silly, my Brother,_ the Doctor thought to him.

Alan covered his ring with his other hand.

"Yes, I'm Alonzo, but you can call me Alan," he said, giving them a winning smile.

"Twins, well, you two are very cute twins," Tiffany said.

_Rose and Rain are gonna kill ya when they come back,_ Jack thought to them.

_Nah, we're just having a bit of fun in the airport while we wait for the plane,_ he thought back.

"Takes a lot of work to be this cute," Alan said to Teresa and Tiffany.

"Oh, did you have work done?" Teresa asked.

"Oh yes, we were born Siamese Twins, joined at the sternum and we both had enormous growths on the sides of our heads that resembled baked potatoes. Here, let me show ya."

He reached into his pocket, grabbed his psychic paper and flipped it open.

"This was us on our tenth birthday," Alan explained while he showed it to them.

Everyone bit their lips when they saw what he had projected onto the paper. It was an old black and white photo that looked like it was from the 1800's. The Doctor and Alan were dressed in one large, black Victorian dress with enormous growths protruding from the sides of their heads. Both of them were crying and holding ice cream cones.

"We were unhappy because mum promised us a clown and it never came," Alan said.

He put his psychic paper away ignoring the shocked looks on the women's faces.

"But as you can see, we're separated and the growths are gone. Although we have one kidney each, half a stomach and we have trouble digesting food and we have tremendous gas after we eat. But it's a blessing to be alive."

"Yeeeah, well it was nice talking to ya," Teresa said, as she and Tiffany quickly got up.

"Is something the matter?" Alan said, feigning ignorance.

"No, we've got a plane to catch. It was nice talking to ya though."

"And you. Have a wonderful and super blessed day," Alan said happily.

"Yeah," Teresa said.

Everyone bent over in silent laughter when they quickly hurried away. The Doctor gave his brother a high five.

"Knew I could count on ya to scare them off," the Doctor said.

"What do you mean? I thought that photo was genuine, Brother," Alan said with mock confusion.

He grinned and they all giggled insanely. They were still giggling when the women came back holding cardboard containers containing the drinks and a couple of French fries.

"What? What's so funny?" Rose said to them.

They explained it to her and Rose rolled her eyes while they laughed.

"Count on you lot to scare the humans," she said while they passed out the drinks.

"Well, it was either that or leave them alone and let you beat on them for chatting us up," the Doctor said.

He took the Coke from Rain and kissed her.

"Thank you," he said. "I do appreciate you doing this for me."

"I know you do and I'm happy to get it," she said, taking one of the fry boxes while Rose took the other one.

"And you brought chips as well. You're a wonderful woman. So…did they have robot waiters inside?"

"Nope and no hambertinis either."

"Blast, I was in the mood for one. Ah well, gives us incentive to go back to New Hope and…"

_Donna?_

They paused when they heard Wilf calling to Donna telepathically.

Donna glanced at the Doctor.

_Yes, granddad?_ She thought.

_Thought that was you. You were faint for awhile and now you're suddenly coming in clearer. _

They chuckled.

_That's because I'm in London, Granddad, we're at Heathrow on our way to Florida,_ she thought to him.

_Heathrow? Why would you need to be there if you have the TARDIS?_

They laughed.

_Because we decided to take a plane this time and travel like Earthlings,_ she thought.

They heard him laughing in their minds.

_Well, I guess you lot must be really bored then,_ Wilf thought.

_Yeah, we are, actually,_ Donna thought while they laughed out loud. _We do all kinds of crazy things like this for fun. But the closer we are to you the stronger the connection between minds is which is why we're coming in so clear for ya now. _

_Well, I'm sitting here reading the newspaper while your mum is watching the telly and I'm talking to ya right under her nose._

They laughed.

_You're a sneaky old coot, Granddad, _Donna thought fondly.

_Don't I know it. This is really handy. I can talk to ya and don't have to listen to her badmouthing you or the Doctor._

They glanced at each other and rolled their eyes.

_She's that bad? _Donna thought.

_Well, I try to get her to shut up but there are times I can't. You know your mum, sweetie, she's hard to stop once she gets goin'._

_Yes, I know, _Donna thought, rolling her eyes.

Ianto looked at Martha.

"So I finally can understand all your secret conversations now," he said while she grinned and nodded.

_So is everyone with ya?_ Wilf thought.

Donna took a sip of her Coke.

_Well, mostly, Grace and Madison and Dot went to live on New Hope but Jack and Martha and Ianto are here. And Ianto just became a Time Lord and our brother so now he's related to ya. _

_Another one. You need to send me lists of the family members now every other day, _Wilf said while they laughed.

_Yup, we're now on a mission to repopulate the universe with Gallifreyans, Granddad._

_Well, keep at it. I like this whole feelin' ya in my mind; it's very soothing feeling your happiness. _

_I know, we like it as well. _

_Is the Doctor right there with ya?_

_I'm here, Wilf. We're all here waiting for our flight._

_Are you about ready to leave?_

_Um…yeah, flight should be here any moment now._

_Well, have a good flight and take care._

_We will, Wilf. Keep Sylvia at bay._

_I am, trust me, _he thought while they laughed. _Donna, love, you have a good time._

_I will, Granddad. I think we're coming back here when we get done but you should still feel us pretty clearly in Florida. _

_Well, I won't bother ya, you just go and have some more fun with your family and I'll talk to you later…or think to ya later._

_Okay, Granddad, I…_

They noticed an airplane slowly coming up to their gate outside.

_Flight's just come in, Granddad, so it shouldn't be too long now before we board_, Donna thought to him.

_Well, I'll let ya go then. Have a safe trip, all of ya!_

_Bye Wilf, _everyone thought in unison.

_Bye!_

He cut off communication with them and everyone stood up and readied themselves. They hugged Martha tightly and she gave them all kisses on the cheek before waving goodbye and headed off towards the exit.


	124. Chapter 124

Chapter One Hundred And Twenty Four

"Ooooh yes," the Doctor said when they finished stowing their rucksacks in the overhead compartments and sat down. "Blessed leg room."

Rain sat down next to him and Jenny sat down next to them. On the other side, Donna sat with Rose and Alan. Behind the Doctor was Jack, Ianto and Mingxia and Awinita sat across from them.

"I'm, sorry we didn't do this before, but Dad was paying for it, you know," Rain said to him.

"Nah, it's alright. I didn't expect your dad to go into stook for us. But since I have unlimited funds we can afford to do this in style."

"And then when we crash and burn halfway through the flight we'll have plenty of room to die."

They laughed when the Doctor looked back at Awinita.

"Ever the optimist, aren't ya, Harris?" he asked as they laughed harder.

"It's a possibility, you know," she said.

"Well, if we do crash and burn and regenerate, you won't be the first anymore," he said to her. "We'll all be first then."

"Not you, you'd done it before," Rain said.

"Okay, everyone save me will be first," he said while they laughed.

Rain reached into her pocket and smiled when she withdrew her Nintendo DS.

"Care to work on our amusement park, darling?" she said to him.

He grinned.

"Oh yes, I would love to."

Jenny frowned.

"What's this?"

"This is that game system, hon. The one you saw us playing in the simulation room," Rain said.

"Oh! Can I help?"

"Sure," the Doctor said. "We can all argue about where to place things."

"Oh Lord, they have that again," Rose said while Alan laughed.

"Yeah but I'm glad they're doing that again," Alan said. "Brings back happy memories of them in their tent arguing while the fire blazed."

"Well, we've been so busy that I haven't had time to fiddle with it until now," Rain said to him.

"Yup, but now we can just sit back and relax and play it."

"Until they tell you to turn it off while the plane takes off," Mingxia said.

"Nah, we'll keep on playing. We're rebels and besides this is first class. We should be the exception."

"And then the plane will go down in flames when they do keep on playing."

"You're really cheery today, you know that, Awinita," the Doctor said while they laughed. "If the plane does crash I'll be sure to blame it on ya because you said it'd happen."

"I don't think a video game will bring us down, Awinita, "Jack said to her. "With him on board, don't be surprised if we get hijacked by Daleks and they start glidin' down the aisle."

"Well in that case, you can be my shield," the Doctor said.

He sighed when the female flight attendant came to the front and began her safety lecture.

"Put it away for now, Latara, until we're in the air," he said to her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After the fasten seatbelts signs were turned off, Rain pulled the DS back out and the three of them worked on the game while the others moved around and talked to one another. Alan was sitting across from Rose talking to her when they suddenly heard the toilets flushing in the game. They started laughing.

"Someone's in the tiny comfort station dropping trouser chili," Alan said to her.

"Someone's where doing what?" Ianto said while they laughed.

"Don't mind him. It's his way of explaining the flushing noise on their game," Rose said to him.

They smiled at Jenny who was giggling while she watched the game.

"Our Jen's come a long way from Messaline," Alan said softly to Rose. "She's just a normal woman now. No more of that soldier nonsense."

"Wanna bet? Try telling those guards she knocked out that."

"Well, okay, there are exceptions," Alan said while she laughed.

"So this is flying in a regular aeroplane," Donna said to Mingxia.

"Yup, don't feel bad. The first time I flew in one was when I followed all of them back to Japan. I'd never left China before that."

"And you were only supposed to be their guide," Donna said.

"I know. It's amazing. And we're just gaining more people every day, I really do wonder how many we'll end up with by the time the Doctor's trial comes around."

"Yeah, well let them try to take him," Donna said. "I say we attack before they even have a chance to make him regenerate."

"Yeah," Awinita said softly. "I don't want him wasting a life like that on them. If it's the slave hunters he shouldn't have to change. We'll kick their asses, us and whoever is with us by that time. I'm sorry but I'm not looking forward to Bro changing, either of them. I want them to stay the way they are."

Donna and Mingxia nodded.

They gasped when the plane hit some turbulence. Rain glanced out the window while the Doctor stroked her mind.

"Okay, now I'm worried," Jenny said. "Suddenly I don't like that Dad's not in charge of the plane."

"I'm flattered you think I could do better, Angel," he teased. "But don't worry, we'll be alright. Just a bit of wind, we'll be through it in a moment."

"Unless, there's a monster on the wing," Rain said to him.

She giggled when his eyes widened.

"What do we do then?" Rain said.

He raised his hand, made a fist, punched his hand and lowered his hands to his lap. He smiled at Jenny's confusion.

"This was something he did when we were coming to Chicago on our honeymoon," Rain said to her. "This mime routine. Ignore…"

The Doctor gently took her face and turned her head back to him. They stared at each other intently.

"Can I talk to my daughter?"

He shook his head.

"Please?"

He shook his head.

"What the hell?" Rose said as she and Alan looked over.

Rain turned her head.

"It's this mime joke he did when we were flying…"

The Doctor turned her head back again and gave her a stern look while he wagged his finger at her.

"I'm talking to Rose," Rain said.

He shrugged.

"Can I talk to Rose?"

He shook his head.

By now Jack and Ianto were looking over the seat and everyone else was watching him. He grinned, looked at all of them and covered his eyes with his hands.

"Are you shy?"

He nodded with his hands over his eyes.

"Wow, Doc, I didn't know you did a Marcel Marceau impression," Jack said, watching him. "Can you walk against the wind?"

He lowered his hands and pretended to walk against the wind while sitting. He did it for thirty seconds and covered his eyes again while everyone giggled. Rose glanced at Alan, got up and leaned over.

"Hey," he said, tapping him on the head.

The Doctor took one hand away, waved it around and then put it back over his eye.

"You're not gonna look at me?" Rose said.

He shook his head while they laughed.

"Now see, this isn't a side of the Doctor you saw when I first traveled with them," Jack said to Ianto. "It's having a family that's done this to him."

The Doctor took his hands away and gave him a big toothy grin.

"So do you do a lot of miming then?" Ianto asked.

The Doctor shook his head.

"Nope, this is the second time he's done this," Rain said.

The Doctor nodded at that.

"He was bored and cramped on the plane ride to Chicago and he started doing this to me."

The Doctor yawned and then mimed his legs hurting, then he pointed at Rain and nodded. Everyone laughed when he grinned.

"Are you ever gonna talk again?" Rose asked.

The Doctor tapped his chin while he thought and then shrugged.

"I'll get him to talk," Donna said, getting up.

They laughed when the Doctor's eyes widened and he shook with silent fear while he clasped his hands and pretended to beg for his life. He smiled when Donna chuckled and ruffled his hair affectionately. He pointed at her and drew the outline of a heart in the air with his index fingers.

"Aw, right back at ya," Donna said. "You know, you need to do this for mum, make her even more mad at ya."

The Doctor thought and nodded. He made an angry face, flipped the vees and then mimed strangling Sylvia. He then drew a halo around his head while he gave them a sweet look. Jack giggled when he held his index fingers behind his head like devil horns. They laughed when the Doctor looked at him with a raised eyebrow and mimed strangling him.

"Doesn't bother me, I'll come back to life and have the same body unlike you," Jack said.

The Doctor shrugged. They looked over when the flight attendant entered their section with the meals.

"Whoops, dinner's here, dear," Rain said.

They laughed when he grabbed an airsick bag and mimed vomiting in it.

"Well, we should have gotten dinners like we did in Chicago," Rain said to him.

He did a face palm and they laughed. Everyone went back to their seats when the flight attendant reached them with the food.


	125. Chapter 125

Chapter One Hundred And Twenty Five

"Aw, at last we've landed back on terra firma," the Doctor said when they entered Orlando's airport.

Rain looked around.

"It's not the same airport in the other universe. It's a little bit different," she said to him.

"Yeah, it is, isn't it?" the Doctor said, nodding.

"Wonder how different everything will be then," Awinita said.

"Well, only one way to find out, I guess," Jack said.

"Yup, let's go get the people carrier," Rose added.

They walked off in search of the exit.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After Rose got done paying for the rental car, they all stepped out in the parking lot and looked at it. It was a red 2006 Chevrolet Express with DVD player and Onstar. Alan giggled when she mentioned it had the DVD player.

"Brilliant. We can go buy another copy of Alien Autopsy," he said.

"No, we won't," Rose said while they laughed.

The Doctor shook his head.

"This is huge," he said.

"Yup, Brother, now we can ram the other cars off the motorway along with small animals," Alan said. "Everybody better get out of our way now."

"Okay, so I guess we go to a Wal-Mart first and get snacks and supplies," Rose said while they all climbed inside.

She got in the driver's side while Alan got in the passenger side. Rose looked back at everyone.

"So are we staying here first?" Rose said to them.

"Let's go somewhere else besides Disney first," the Doctor said. "I'd rather see something I haven't seen before we do that."

"Yeah, me too," Awinita said.

"Well, how about we just go down to Key West and come back up," Rain said, shrugging.

"Sounds good to me," Alan said.

"You lot wanna do that?" Rose said.

They nodded.

"Okay, we'll go all the way down and then come all the way back up," she said, starting the car.

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They found a Wal-Mart nearby and drove into the parking lot.

"Sod the other cars, ram this monster into em and knock em out of the car park!" Alan said while they laughed.

"No, I'll be polite," Rose said, pulling into a parking spot.

She turned off the ignition and they got out.

"Okay, everyone use the buddy system. Stay together so child molesters don't get us," Awinita said while they laughed.

"Mind the child then," Rose said, patting Alan on the head.

He looked at them with wide eyes.

"I'm innocent and I'll gravitate towards the first strange man I see that has sweets for me," he said in a childlike voice while they laughed harder.

They headed for the entrance.

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Once they were inside they split up to get snacks and toiletries and anything else they might need.

"Everybody get what you want," Rose said to them before they split up.

The three couples stayed together and took trolleys. Awinita and Jenny went with the Doctor and Rain while Donna went with Alan and Rose and Mingxia went with Jack and Ianto.

"So here we are back in Mickey Mouse land," the Doctor said to them while they walked along.

"Yeah, except it's in a different universe now," Awinita replied.

"Well, we'll have fun seeing if there are any differences then," the Doctor said.

"You know, dear, we're all Time Lords and Ladies now which means we don't need that much sleep so we could just keep on driving and driving if we wanted," Rain said to him.

"Yeah, that's true. Probably wear out the car but who cares, we'll drive all over Florida and terrify them with our silliness," the Doctor said.

After getting some big bags of potato chips, some candy and 2 liter bottles of Coke and Mountain Dew they headed over to the books and magazines.

"Better get Rose her Cosmo," Rain said, grabbing one and putting it in the cart.

The Doctor sighed while he looked at the magazine selections.

"I wish I could do the same and be entertained by Earth magazines but I just can't," he said.

They looked over at Awinita and Jenny who were looking at a big paperback book.

"Rain, come here," Awinita said.

"Ought-oh," the Doctor said when she walked over to them.

He watched while they stood in a huddle giggling to themselves. Then Rain walked back over to the Doctor with a sorrowful look on her face.

"Love, I have to be truthful," she said.

"Oh?" he said.

"Yes, I wanted to come to Florida not because I wanted us to have a vacation but because…"

She let out a mock sob and flung herself into his arms.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry!" she wailed while Awinita and Jenny laughed.

"Okay, now what are you lot up to?" the Doctor said.

Awinita showed him the book. The title was…

THE IDIOT'S GUIDE TO NURSING HOMES.

"I'm sorry, Bro," Awinita wailed. "We brought you here to retire you and send you to the nursing home. You're 1200 years old and it's time you understood that you're not young anymore and you need care."

The Doctor laughed while all three of them ran over and clung to him.

"I'm sorry, Love, but you know Florida is where all the old folks go before they die," Rain said.

He smiled fondly at them while they laughed.

"No, you can't do this to me! I have rights!" he said, playing along.

"I'm sorry, this is for your own good," Rain said, solemnly. "You're getting old and senile now and you're gonna crash the TARDIS and kill us all. You need round the clock care."

"Don't crash the TARDIS and kill us all, Dad!" Jenny wailed.

"No, get away from me, ya young whippersnappers!" the Doctor said in an old man's voice.

Alan, Rose and Donna stopped by the aisle when they heard all the laughter. They came up to them.

"What's goin' on now?" Rose asked.

Awinita showed her the book.

"The jig is up. We had to tell the Doctor we brought him here to stick him in a nursing home," she said.

Alan bent over laughing and put his hand on the Doctor's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry, Brother, but this is for your own good. You're getting on in years and you need to retire to Florida with your little golf cart that plays the jaunty banjo tune!"

"No, you lot get away from me, I'm still in the prime of life! I don't need the old folk's home. My mind is as keen as ever!"

He looked at Rain and blinked in confusion.

"Who are you again, strange woman that keeps following me? I keep forgetting," he said.

"There, you see, you're senile, Bro," Awinita said while everyone else bent over laughing.

"Quick Rose, get a walking frame before the old geezer falls and breaks a hip!" Donna said to Rose.

Awinita ran to the Doctor and whispered in his ear.

"Really?" he said to her.

"Yeah, it's the catchphrase of an old commercial," she said to him.

The Doctor shrugged.

"I've fallen and I can't get up!" he wailed while Awinita and Rain laughed.

Jack, Ianto and Mingxia peeked around the corner.

"What the hell are you doing?" Jack asked.

Awinita showed him the book and explained the joke.

"Well, gee, better put Jack in there as well. He's just as old as he is," Ianto said.

"Hey that's right, Jack needs to go in the old folk's home too," Alan said.

"No! You can't make me! Although…sharing a room with the Doctor and driving the aides crazy, could be fun."

He grinned at Ianto.

"This…is why I love traveling with them now," he said while they came into the aisle.

Rain handed Rose the Cosmo.

"Ah, thanks Sis, I was gonna get that," she said, putting it in her trolley.

"Why do you read that?" Alan said.

"Because it's interesting. I may be a Time Lady but I'm still human in some ways."

They looked through the magazines while Awinita put the book back on the rack and looked through the rest of them.

"It's no good buying any of these. I can speed read through them in under an hour or less, it's not worth the money," she said, walking away.

"Not even your steamy little romance books?" Alan said.

"They don't have any here," she said, shrugging.

"Well, I'm gonna look elsewhere if you wanna follow me," the Doctor said to Rain, Jenny and Awinita.

"Make sure he holds onto the trolley. We don't want granddad falling and cracking his rib," Jack said.

"I won't fall and crack my rib, ya whippersnapper," the Doctor said while they laughed. "Now where's my nappies, I'm incontinent and I need to catch my urine before I wet myself and drop a clanger right in the middle of Wal-Mart!"

The three women giggled and walked off with him. They went into the next aisle and noticed it was toys. They went down it, turned the corner and noticed there were more toys and a section with coloring books and children's activity books. The Doctor lazily pushed the trolley, gazing at the colorful stuffed animals when he heard more giggling behind him. He smiled and looked back at the women who were looking through the coloring books.

"Aren't you a bit old and advanced for that?" he said, walking over to them.

"Yeah, but we're just looking at the pictures," Rain said.

He showed him a My Little Pony coloring book.

"I used to have some of these when I was a kid. I didn't know they still made them," she said.

The Doctor stared at it with interest, smiling at the whimsical ponies dancing in a field.

"You know, I used to color in coloring books even as an adult," Awinita said to her. "It's very relaxing."

"Yeah, it is. It's actually a great stress reliever," Rain said. "It's a bit childish…"

"But you should often indulge the child within," the Doctor said. "I've never done this but I can see how it would be relaxing, especially since Earth is a stressful place."

Alan, Rose and Donna came into the aisle and stopped by them.

"Bit old for this, aren't ya?" Alan said.

"No, we were just saying that we used to color in coloring books as adults and the Doctor just said you should indulge your inner child from time to time," Awinita said to him.

"And then there's Alan, the perpetual child," Donna said while Alan gave her a playful nudge.

Rose smiled and picked up a Care Bears coloring book.

"I used to have Funshine Bear when I was small," she said to them.

"I had Bedtime Bear. I liked him," Awinita said.

"Bedtime Bear, sounds nice," Alan said.

Rose flipped through the pages in the coloring book until she found him. She showed him the picture of him with a nightcap on fast asleep on a smiling crescent moon. Alan and the Doctor smiled at that. They stood behind the women listening and smiling while the women looked at the coloring books and talked about their childhoods. While they did, the other three came into the aisle.

"Are we all two years old?" Jack asked.

"In our hearts," Donna said to him.

The Doctor told them about their conversation and Jack nodded.

"I agree, you need to act like a kid and just have fun sometimes," he said. "Granted, I never had coloring books but still I agree, I can see how it would be a stress reliever at times even for an adult."

He looked at the little games and toys behind them.

"You know, we had something like these electronic toys growing up on the Boeshane Peninsula except they were a bit more advanced than this. Grey and I used to just play with balls and sticks and rocks though. We were more outdoorsy types. We used to go down to the beach and swim."

He smiled and became lost in the memory for a moment.

"We had electronic toys in the nursery but they were waaaay more advanced that this. And we never had imaginative things like coloring books, that was beyond most Gallifreyans, too abstract for their minds."

"You didn't have a very fun childhood, did ya?" Jack asked.

"I had fun. I did what you did and wandered around outdoors, climbed the mountain we lived on, ran, swam, that sort of thing. Gallifreyan children had fun but the toys were meant to stimulate the brain and we used logic rather than creativity. We never had things like Care Bears and My Little Pony."

"Aw," Rose said, ruffling his hair. "You didn't learn about caring and sharing? That's what the Care Bears teach."

"No, we learned caring and sharing because the head of the nursery commanded us to care and share," he said as they laughed. "There were no cuddly bears involved."

The women giggled when they put some activity books in the cart.

"We're weird," Awinita said when the Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"Let me guess, Jenny's never done it," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, I've never had activity books," Jenny replied.

"It's all part of her Earth education, dear," Rain said, patting her head.

They laughed when the Doctor rolled his eyes and grinned. He put his arm around Rain while all of them headed towards the next aisle.

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"So that's everything, yeah?" Rose said when they got up to the front.

She swatted her husband's head.

"I can't believe you got the Lilo and Stitch DVD," she said.

"I'm getting it for Jenny so she can learn the story behind my tattoo," he said to her. "Besides we got a few other DVDs."

"Okay, so we got snacks, magazines, toiletry items, soft drinks, DVDs and a lap rug if anyone needs it," she said, looking through the trolleys. "And someone got the electronic Patience game?"

"I did," Rain said. "I like playing Solitaire from time to time."

"And now she can ignore Brother even more," Alan said.

Rain gasped when the Doctor seized her from behind.

"Let her try and ignore me," he said with a grin.

"Well, I guess that's everything then. Let's buy all this and then head out for Key West," Rose said as they got in the queue for the checkout.


	126. Chapter 126

Chapter One Hundred And Twenty Six

After they got the bags into the minivan, Rose climbed back in and fiddled with the Onstar for a moment before she finally backed out of the parking space.

"Turn right and go .05 miles," the male voice said on the GPS.

She got to the end of the parking lot.

"Turn left and go .02 miles," the male voice said.

Alan snickered as he sat in the passenger seat and looked back at everyone else.

"Now go right a zillion miles," he said, imitating it while everyone laughed. "Now go in reverse a zillion miles because you went the wrong way, you git. Now die and go 1.5 miles to Hell. Now you are in Hell. Now you will burn there for approximately 4.5 billion years."

They got on the road and Alan opened up his little bottle of Coke.

"Ah, a refreshing phosphate treat," he said. "Would you like a sip of phosphate, my wife?"

She smiled and took it from him. She took a sip and handed it back. He giggled at the Onstar when it spoke again.

"Isn't that annoying, Brother?" he said to the Doctor.

"Even more annoying when it's trying to send you to a watery grave," the Doctor said.

He chuckled.

"And turn you into a Sontaran," he said while the Doctor nodded.

"Ugh, Atmos," Donna said. "I'm so glad we got rid of those sodding things. Poor Granddad nearly died because of it."

"When did that happen?" Jack asked.

Donna turned in her seat and told him and Ianto what happened when she was with the Doctor. Meanwhile, Rain pulled out her DS and she, the Doctor and Jenny worked on it while they sat in the seat directly behind Rose and Alan. Behind them, Awinita and Mingxia chatted while Donna talked to Jack and Ianto in the seat behind them.

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After an hour, everyone stopped for a restroom break and then headed on the road again. By this time, the Doctor, Rain and Jenny had switched places with Awinita, Donna and Mingxia and they were all laughing hysterically while Awinita held up one of the activity books. She was showing the Doctor a page that had three circles and a square on it. The caption above it said…

WHICH ONE IS DIFFERENT?

The Doctor was pretending to be stumped while he stared at the page in wide-eyed silence.

"Come on, Bro. You can do this!" Awinita said while they laughed.

"Um…" the Doctor said, tapping his chin. "Blast, they all look the same to me! I can't decide which one is different!"

They laughed harder when he raised a trembling finger and pointed to a circle.

"This one?" he said hesitantly.

"No!" Awinita said as they bent over laughing. "It's the square!"

"Bollocks! I can't believe I didn't see that! Confound this seemingly simple Earth activity book. It's managed to outwit me and my superior mind!"

He settled back in the seat in wide-eyed shock.

"Can it be I really am ready for the old folk's home?" he said in a soft voice while they all laughed. "I thought I knew what a square was. I was sure I knew. Can I really be losing my mind?"

He looked at Rain with mock horror while she snorted out laughter.

"Am I going insane, Latara?" he said while they howled with laughter. "I couldn't tell a square from a circle. What's next? I'll think up is down and down is up? Where am I? Why am I in this strange vehicle in the middle of nowhere and who are all you people? Who am I?"

"Rose, go to the nursing home, pronto, before Bro attacks us with his cane!" Awinita said to her.

"I can't, Onstar is telling me to stay on the motorway!"

"And we know what happens if you disobey Onstar," Alan said in a sinister tone of voice.

"People die?" Jenny asked.

"Yes!" he said while they laughed. "Ask your father about that."

"Actually, if you obey it, you die. You've got it backwards, Brother."

"Oh yeah, well in that case, don't obey it, Rose!" Alan said. "Otherwise, it might plunge us into a lake or something."

Jenny's eyes widened when she saw a sign out the window.

"Wait a tic, did that sign just say Gator Crossing?" she said.

The Doctor chuckled.

"Yes, Angel, there are gator crossings in Florida."

"You mean we might hit a flippin' alligator crossin' the motorway?" Donna said.

"Seems so, Te'lesu," Alan said.

Donna looked at Mingxia.

"How many alligators are there in Florida?" she said to her.

"Um…enough to warrant a sign warning about them crossing the motorways?" she said.

"Actually, keep an eye open for the next one and pull off when you see it. I wanna get a photo of all of you in front of it," Jack said.

"Okay," Rose said. "Alan, help me."

"Keeping my peepers peeled for gator crossin' signs, ma'am," he said, saluting her.

"And while you're at it, keep your peepers peeled for the actual gators," Donna said to him.

"Will do, Te'lesu," Alan said.

Jenny looked out the window at the scenery while the Doctor rubbed her back. She noticed several groves of orange trees.

"Oh look, satsumas," the Doctor said, looking with her.

"Good, if we find any Sycorax, you can throw it at them," Rose said, glancing back.

They were looking at them when they felt the car slow down and Rose pulled off.

"Okay, Jack, found the gator crossin' sign," Rose said.

They laughed and opened the doors. Rose and Jack both grabbed their cameras while everyone else walked over and stood in front of it. Donna looked down at the ditch beside them.

"Watch, while we're standing here a gator will jump up and eat us," she said to them.

"Nah, Brother will wrestle the beast barehanded," Alan said.

"Who says?" the Doctor said while they laughed.

They huddled close together and Rose came up to stand with them while Jack readied his camera. He glanced at the cars zooming past.

"I bet people are watching us as they drive past and thinking we're all a bunch of morons," he said to them.

"Eh, let em think what they like, we're havin' fun!" the Doctor said. "Just snap the photo."

"Right! Everyone say gator chow!"

"GATOR CHOOOOOOW!" they said while he took the picture.

He took another picture and then switched places with Rose.

"Okay, everyone say gator poo!"

"GATOR POOOOOOOO!"

She took a couple of pictures. While she did, a tan Honda Civic pulled up behind them and stopped. A woman on the passenger side rolled down her window.

"Ya'll need help?" she yelled.

"No, we're from England and we've never seen gator crossing signs. We're just getting a family photo! We're fine!" the Doctor said to her.

The people in the car laughed.

"Well, welcome to Florida then!" she said, waving.

They waved back and the man in the driver's side glanced back and quickly pulled back into traffic.

"Come on, everyone, before the whole state of Florida pulls over to offer us assistance," Jack said as they hurried back to their van.

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"This is weird," Jenny said while they watched Lilo and Stitch.

Alan had switched to the back seat and was watching it with the others while Rose drove.

"Yes, Jen, this is the movie that influenced Rose to suggest I get a Stitch tattoo. Because as you see, Stitch was a bad alien that became good."

"Stitch was also blue with a big head, huge eyes, a large tongue, four arms and he pretended to be Lilo's dog. Is that you as well, Brother?" the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Lilo kinda looks like mum too," Jenny said.

"She does actually. Maybe this is really supposed to be about me then," the Doctor said.

"So does that mean you're getting a Stitch tattoo?" Rose asked him.

"No, we won't go that far," he said while they laughed.

"You don't talk like Stitch either," Jack said to Alan.

"Yeah, Stitch sounds like he's eating helium or something," Ianto added.

"I didn't mean Alan literally resembled Stitch," Rose said. "It was the whole symbolism of the movie, geez."

"Yes, I'm just a little blue, Elvis-loving, genetic experiment who is wacky and full of fun," Alan said. "This is how the misses views me."

They laughed when she flipped him the vees.

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After the movie, they all relaxed and talked for awhile while they sipped their little bottles of soft drinks. While they did, a little blue Volkswagen passed by the van. Awinita grinned and slapped Rain on the arm.

"Slug-a-bug blue!" she yelled.

"Huh?" the Doctor said while Rain laughed.

"Car game you play. You look for those little Volkswagen bug cars and when you see one, you have to be the first one to slap someone in the car and yell out "Slug-a-bug" and the color of the car. It was a way to pass the time and the one who got the most slug-a-bugs won."

"Really?" Alan said. "You mean I get to slap Snotburger on purpose?"

They laughed when Rain dropped down in the seat and held on to the Doctor while Alan leaned over the seat and gave her an evil grin.

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After a half hour, they pulled into a truck stop and got out to use the restroom and stretch their legs. They walked into the little combination restaurant and souvenir shop. After using the restroom, they wandered around the souvenir shop looking at the items. Most of the items had oranges or alligators on them. The couples followed each other while they looked at the items on the shelves. The Doctor and Rain were looking through a little spinning display of postcards. Suddenly, the Doctor stopped and grinned when he found one showing the Gator head over the entrance to Gatorland. Rain laughed.

"We oughta have them go there, Love. So they can see all the gators," she said to him.

"And let them eat gator nuggets?"

Rain nodded.

"I think I'll get this just as a small remembrance of our honeymoon," the Doctor said.

Rain drew close to him and he put his arm around her. Suddenly Awinita came up behind her and put a hat on her head. The Doctor looked at it and his eyebrow rose when he noticed it was a foam hat in the shape of an alligator head.

"There ya go, Sis, get that and go gator," Awinita said.

Rain took it off and looked at it while the Doctor snickered.

"I'll buy it if you want it," the Doctor said.

Awinita laughed when Rain gave him an odd look.

"Why?" she said.

"Um…indulging the inner child within?" he said to her.

She grinned and nodded. The three of them laughed while they headed up to the cash register.

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"I can't believe you got that thing," Jack said to Rain.

They were all sitting in the car laughing at Rain who had the hat on.

"I didn't get it, Hubby did," she said.

Jack looked at him.

"I can't believe you got that thing," he said to him.

"I was just indulging her inner child," he said to him.

Jack grinned, snatched it off her head and put it on Ianto's head.

"Oh, that is definitely you, Yan," he said while they laughed.

Ianto took it off and smiled while he examined it. They laughed when he put it back on his head and slumped in his seat.

"Um…I think you just lost your nifty new hat to Ianto, Rain," Jack said to him.

"Wear it, Bro, and everyone watch the expressions of the people as they drive by us," Awinita said.

They giggled and Rose started the car and pulled out.

"Turn right and go 1.5 miles," the Onstar voice said.

"Then turn left and get back on the motorway so people can gawk at the gator hat," Alan said, imitating the voice as he sat beside Ianto.

Rose got back on the road and everyone kept their eyes out for the other cars. They laughed when they saw some of the people doing double takes and laughing and pointing at it while Ianto calmly relaxed.

"Hey, Bro, do you know how to make semi's drivers honk their horns?" Awinita asked the Doctor.

"No, how?"

He watched while Awinita waved at a semi driver behind them and mimed pulling down on the cord. They cheered when the guy driving it grinned and honked his horn for them.

"Now try it if another one comes up behind us," Awinita said to him.

The Doctor nodded. They watched while the semi passed them and another one came up behind him. He did the same thing Awinita did and grinned when the driver honked the horn.

"The Doctor knows how to make artic drivers honk their horns," Rose said while they laughed.

"Yup, I've learned another valuable Earth skill," the Doctor said while Rain patted his shoulder.

They laughed when Alan, Jack and Ianto made another semi honk behind them. They laughed harder when the man driving it pointed at Ianto's hat and gave him a thumbs up.

"You're the hit of the motorway, Yan," Jack said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Rain, I'll give you twenty quid for the hat," Ianto said to her.

"Um…I didn't buy it, he did," Rain said, gesturing to the Doctor.

"Want twenty quid, Doctor?" Jack said.

"Would you be terribly heartsbroken if I gave away your gator hat?" the Doctor asked Rain.

"Nah, I can always get another one, dear."

"Okay, give me the twenty quid," the Doctor said, holding out his hand.

They laughed when Ianto handed him twenty quid and he whistled while he pocketed it.

"Okay, I have a nice postcard here of the Gatorland entrance," the Doctor said, holding it up. "Five quid for the postie here! Any takers?"

"Let me see that," Alan said, reaching for it.

"Five quid, Brother."

"Okay, don't let me see it," he said, shrugging.

The Doctor handed him the postcard.

"Wait; is this that place where you ate the gator meat?" Jack said, glancing at it.

"Yes, it is. I got it as a memento of our honeymoon," the Doctor said.

"You guys wanna go to it when we go through Orlando?" Rain said.

"Is there anything in it besides alligators?" Jack said. "I mean, we already saw it in the simulation room."

"I didn't," Ianto said.

"Yes, but Yan, it's mainly alligators. It's a big, huge alligator farm. We watched them just walk along this metal walkway and all around them were gators."

"Yes, but there were also birds there. We saw flamingos and they had other reptiles."

"Oh wow, be still my beating hearts," Jack said while they laughed. "Let's just turn around and go back there right now. I have this insane urge to see gators and see them now!"

All of them relaxed and went back to chatting with one another while the afternoon slowly began to turn into dusk.


	127. Chapter 127

Chapter One Hundred and Twenty Seven

The people in the van were laughing hysterically. Rose had turned on the radio and The Backstreet Boys 'Drowning' was playing. All the women were being theatrical while they sang it as loud as they could. Donna and Jenny were laughing as the Doctor and Rain clutched each other passionately while she sang it and Jack and Ianto pretended to snog to it. Alan had switched to the passenger seat and Rose was laughing while he faced her and mimed begging while he yelled the chorus to her.

"I hope Rose remembers to keep us on the road while she laughs her ass off," Awinita said while Rose laughed hysterically.

Rose went up the off ramp and pulled into a McDonald's parking lot. They laughed while she took deep breaths trying to calm down.

"Yup, I definitely missed this," Rose said while Alan leaned over and kissed her cheek.

By now the sun was setting in the sky and the lights were on in McDonalds. She glanced at it.

"Um, I pulled in here to stop laughing but if you lot wanna get something, I'll wait," she said to them.

"Actually…" Alan said, pointing to the Wendy's beside it. "I feel a bit peckish and I want some Biggie Fries."

"Oh no!" Rose said while he laughed. "Not this again."

"What about Biggie Fries?" Rain said.

"Rain, hon, biggie is what little kids in Britain call their poo," Rose said.

She and Awinita and Mingxia snickered.

"Really, wow, that's good to know," Rain said. "I won't be looking at Wendy's fries the same way again."

"Anyone want anything? I'll be nice and go get the food if you lot want to sit here," Alan said.

The Doctor handed him a pen and his pad of paper when everyone started to tell him what they wanted. He wrote it all down and shook his head when the Doctor handed him money.

"I'll get it, Brother," he said.

"You're a sweetie," Rose said.

"I know. I just wanna be out of sight so I can shite in Rain's burger. Be back, Sis!" he called to her as he jumped out.

"You better not crap in my burger, you pest!" Rain yelled while they laughed.

Rose leaned back in her seat and sighed.

"Do you wanna switch with someone, Rose?" the Doctor said.

She looked back at them.

"If someone wants to, yeah, it doesn't matter."

"Let me drive for awhile, Rose. Have a rest, you earned it," the Doctor said.

"Thanks, Doctor," she said, getting out.

"Excuse me, my wife and daughter," the Doctor said moving past them.

He got out and Rose switched places with him. He settled into the seat and drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. A few minutes later, Alan came out, sacks in both hands. He went around to his side and got in.

"Okay, Rose, I got the…Rose, you look exactly like Brother, how'd ya manage that?" he said while they laughed.

"I have graciously offered to switch places with your exhausted wife for awhile," the Doctor said to him.

"That was kind of you, Brother."

He took his and the Doctor's food out and handed the bag back to Donna who began passing out the other things.

"I hope you'll forgive the dump I took in your wife's burger, Brother," Alan said to him.

"You better not. You better not have spat in it either," Rain said, taking the burger and fries from Donna.

"Spat in it, why didn't I think of that?" Alan said to the Doctor as he slapped his forehead.

"Donna, smack him for me, would ya?" Rain said.

The Doctor laughed when Alan ducked as Donna tried to hit the back of his head.

"I tried, Rain, sorry."

"That's okay, I'll get the snot later," Rain said to her.

Alan turned on the map light and held up his big yellow box of biggie fries. He pointed to the word, Biggie, on the box.

"Ya see, I'm not makin' this stuff up," he said while they laughed. "Chips made outta poo, isn't America wonderful?"

He turned the map light out and they ate while the Doctor drove them out of the parking lot and headed for the motorway.

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After another hour of driving, the Doctor decided to pull over into another truck stop. He looked at everyone.

"Um…just asking this before everyone goes to the loo and stretches. Are we getting a hotel room for the night since we don't need to sleep? Because if we are, I should be looking for one soon since it's not much further to Key West. Are we going to find a hotel in Key West then?"

"Are we far from Key West?" Rose asked.

"Not far, another couple of hours, I think?"

"I think we should go on and find a hotel there. It's night, none of the tourist attractions will be open besides the pubs and restaurants and clubs," she said, shrugging.

"Let's get a hotel. I want a shower. I don't wanna go through Florida without spending the night somewhere and be all manky by the time we get back to England," Donna said.

"Yeah, I'm kinda cramped in here," Jenny said.

"Okay, I'll drive us to Key West then and we'll spend the night there," the Doctor said. "Just wanted to make sure we were doing that before I started looking around for hotels."

They all got out to use the restroom.

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About an hour later they were on the stretch of highway that led out over the water to the island of Key West. Everyone watched out the windows while the Doctor drove. The bridge went on and on and on.

"This is one big bridge," Alan said while they laughed. "Key West seems to be a bit far from the rest of Florida."

"I would have hated to live out here before they built this bridge," Rain said.

"Well you lot said you wanted to go to an island when you first asked to do this," the Doctor said. "Here's an island for ya."

"With a long, long bridge," Alan added. "Okay, everyone stop right here and let's get out and stretch."

"And cause a hundred car pileup behind us, I don't think so, Bro," Awinita said.

"Just a suggestion," Alan said, shrugging.

He put his armrest up and slowly made his way back to sit beside Jack and Ianto.

"Hi there, get bored of the Doctor?" Jack said to him.

"Nope, longing for the wife and wanting easy access to her," he said, leaning over and stroking her cheek.

"Seat's empty, Latara!" the Doctor yelled.

"Skidoo, Rainy, I want to be with my significant other. Go be with yours and keep him from nodding off while he drives on the bridge from Hell."

"Coming, my love, before Bro throws a conniption fit because I'm in his spot," Rain said, getting up.

She got up to the passenger seat and sat down while Alan quickly went around and sat down between Rose and Jenny.

"Let me guess, you want me to move as well," Jenny said to him.

"You don't have to. I'm just going to caress the misses."

"In that case…"

They laughed when Jenny went around to sit beside Ianto.

"What is this, minivan musical chairs?" Awinita said to Donna while she shrugged.

Alan pulled Rose close to him and rubbed her leg while she rested her head on his chest and sighed. She closed her eyes while Alan watched her lovingly. He threw up a privacy block around her mind.

_You are my Starlight, my only love,_ he thought to her.

_And you are mine,_ Rose thought back.

He kissed her cheek while he sent love into her mind. Rose sighed while he rubbed her arm. He chuckled.

"What?" Rose said.

"Brother can't be intimate with his wife because he's driving," he teased.

"Actually," the Doctor said, "there is this thing on the turn signal that says Cruise Control. It seems to be some kind of automatic pilot thing. I'm assuming it'll drive the van if I activate it and then I can snog my wife to my hearts' content?"

"No, dear, that allows you to drive at the same speed until you turn it off, it doesn't drive the whole car," Rain said.

"Damn," he said while they laughed. "See, this is why humans need TARDIS technology. I put my TARDIS in the vortex and it'll stay there while I go off and have a snog with the wife. It's not fair my brother is back there having fun while I drive over this impossibly long bridge."

"I would snog Ianto but we have a refugee with us," Jack said.

"Here, Jen, come back here with us so they can snog," Alan said to her.

"I was kidding," Jack said when she switched seats. "We can wait till we get to the hotel, you know."

"If we ever get to the hotel," the Doctor said. "I'm beginning to wonder if we made a wrong turn and we'll end up in Cuba."

"Hey, Havana! Might be fun," Alan said. "And Cuba's an island. Course it's not the island we were headin' for, but it's an island."

"Well according to the sign back there, we're on US 1, so I'm assuming this will go to Key West and not Cuba," the Doctor said.

"Unless the Americans are having a laugh and built US 1 to Cuba so they can sit back and watch all the tourists drive into Havana and wonder where the hell they are," Alan said.

The Doctor turned on the radio. They laughed when 'Maniac' started playing and Alan projected the image of himself dancing into their minds.

"What the hell is this?" Ianto said when they laughed harder.

Alan turned and explained the joke to him.

"You can project images into people's heads?" Ianto said.

"Yeah, Yan, we can talk telepathically or project images," Jack said.

"And Alan has a tendency to project weird images into our minds so be prepared for that," Mingxia said.

"You know, I'm glad we all went to the loo before we got on this bridge," Rose said. "By the time we get to Key West it'll be mornin'."

The Doctor glanced at the readout on the Onstar.

"Not far now, trust me," he said, glancing back.

They gasped when a group of teenagers suddenly swerved in front of them.

"Yeah, not far if we don't get in an accident," Donna said, angrily. "Bloody teenagers; think they own the whole road."

The Doctor saw the driver raise a brown glass bottle to his lips and take a swig. He slowly eased up on his speed putting distance between him and the other car.

"He's drinking, isn't he? The one that's driving," Rain said, pointing.

"I think so, Latara, that's why I'm slowing down."

Rain reached into her mobile and called 911. They listened while she told the police about the car and gave them the license plate number. While they did, the teen suddenly veered to the left and narrowly missed hitting a semi before they swerved back.

"Right, I'm getting away from them. You gave the police all the information they need and I'm not staying behind this guy while he's drink driving," the Doctor said. "Just pray that he won't slam into us when I pass him."

He found an opening and quickly passed the car. They breathed a sigh of relief when they didn't hit them. They looked back and noticed a police car was coming up behind them and they pulled over to the side of the road.

"Good job, Love, you got them off the road," the Doctor said, smiling at Rain.

"Yeah, well, they don't belong on the road and certainly not on a road that's over water," she said to him.

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Finally, they reached Key West and they drove around until they found a Holiday Inn that was on the beach. They breathed a sigh of relief when the Doctor pulled in and turned the car off.

"Wow, we finally made it," Jack said.

"Yup, we're at the very tip of the US," the Doctor said. "Now we can go back up."

He gave them an evil grin.

"Back…onto the bridge from Hell," he said ominously while everyone laughed.

They all got out, got their stuff out of the back and once the van was locked, they all walked into the hotel lobby to get rooms for the night.


	128. Chapter 128

Chapter One Hundred And Twenty Eight

The next morning, they all took showers and got ready for the day. Rose and Alan and Rain and the Doctor shared a room. The other women shared the room beside them and Jack and Ianto had the room beside theirs. Both Rain and Rose had taken their showers first and were dressed in t-shirts and shorts. Rain's outfit was a pink t-shirt with jean shorts and Rose had a powder blue t-shirt with khaki shorts. They were using the mirror over the dresser and were combing their hair and getting ready for the day. Alan was in the shower while the Doctor went to talk to the concierge and get some information on tourist spots.

_Is Brother still in the shower?_ he thought to them.

_Yeah, but I think he's about finished, Love,_ Rain thought.

_Okay, I have a list of some things we can do here so I'm heading back to the room._

By the time he came back in a few minutes later, Alan had turned the shower off. The Doctor gave Rose the pad of paper with the information on it.

"Keep this safe while I take a shower," he said.

"Okay," Rose said, putting it in her pocket.

"We are gonna take advantage of the beach and go out for a bit, right?" Rain said.

"Do you want to do that this morning? We can go have a swim and then do something in the afternoon."

"I'd like to," Rain said.

"Me too."

The Doctor telepathically asked everyone else if they wanted to go on the beach and everyone answered in the affirmative. He reached into his rucksack for his swim trunks while Rose and Rain got out their swim suits.

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"Oh my God, I'm actually seeing the Doctor's bare legs," Jack said when they all met in his room with their swim suits and trunks on.

"Um…technically you actually saw his legs already when you saw me naked in the TARDIS in my memories," Alan said.

"Yeah but…Jesus, Doctor, have your legs ever seen the light of day?" he said, staring at them. "I mean, ever?"

"Yes, Jack, they have," he said while they laughed. "Your legs aren't exactly tanned either. So are we gonna go to the beach or are we gonna stand here and make fun of my legs?"

"I vote make fun of the legs," Awinita said.

They laughed when the Doctor ran over and slammed his hand over her mouth from behind.

"What's that? Go to the beach you say? Okay," he said.

He kissed Awinita on the top of the head and winked when he let go of her mouth.

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The Doctor sat on one of the hotel towels watching with a smile while his family laughed and splashed in the surf. He breathed a contented sigh enjoying the happiness that was flooding into his mind and the fact that for the first time in awhile they were able to just enjoy where they were at without being attacked by creatures or having to prevent catastrophic alien viruses or shutting down body part black markets. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes soaking up the sun. He opened his eyes when he felt someone tousling his hair.

"Hey, beach bunny, come and play with me," Rain said. "Besides Jack is making rude comments about how the sun is glaring off your skin and blinding him."

"He is, eh? Well, I'll soon sort him out," the Doctor said, getting up.

He took her hand and they headed towards the beach.

"Argh! The sun is coming closer!" Jack screamed, holding his hand over his face.

"See, dear, he's making fun of you."

"Well, he's about to die an underwater death, excuse me, Love, our brother needs to be taught a lesson."

They laughed when the Doctor sprinted towards Jack. He tried to run but the Doctor quickly scooped up some sand, grabbed him from behind and put it down the back of his trunks. He quickly ran back to Rain while Jack squatted down and pulled down his trunks so he could wash the sand away. He took Rain's hand and they walked into the water several feet from him.

"Hopefully there won't be any drowning kids today," Rain said to him while they walked further out.

"Nope, sorry, Lifeguard Doctor is off duty today," he said to her.

They swam farther out.

_Use your respiratory bypass and swim with me, Love_, he thought to her.

They both used their respiratory bypass systems and sank under the water. They swam side by side looking around at the coral and undersea life. While they did, the Doctor saw something out of the corner of his eye and saw Alan waving at him while he and Rose swam nearby.

_We heard you and decided this was a great idea,_ Alan thought to him.

_It's really lovely under here,_ Rose thought.

_Yes, the coral reefs are lovely,_ the Doctor thought back.

_Dad, where are you? I wanna come with you,_ Jenny thought.

The Doctor held up a finger and Rain nodded. He went back up and tread water while Jenny swam towards him. When she reached them they used their respiratory bypass systems and went back under. The five of them swam close to one another exploring and commenting telepathically on every thing they saw. They swam out for about a quarter of a mile and then headed back towards shore. Alan grabbed Rose's arm and pointed to a manta ray swimming several feet away from them.

_It's a shame the camera won't work underwater,_ Rose thought to him while they swam on.

_This is what I like, Brother,_ the Doctor thought to Alan. _Animals in their natural habitats with no fences or cages or enclosures._

_Same here, I don't mind viewing animals this way._

_Bro, where are you? _Awinita thought.

_Which one? _Alan thought.

_Either one. You have to see this. We're on shore and we found a dead horseshoe crab. Thing has purple blood._

They all stuck their heads up above the water and noticed they were about ten feet from shore. They stood up and walked to the beach. They saw the other women twenty feet away. Awinita was waving at them and they, Jack and Ianto headed over.

"We were walking along and saw it and thought it was alive but it didn't move and we came over to examine it and turned it over and it has purple blood," Awinita said when they walked up.

The Doctor and Alan bent down. The Doctor picked it up and examined it with him. Everyone else bent down with them.

"It's fascinating," Alan said. "Very prehistoric looking."

The Doctor nodded.

"I wasn't aware they had purple blood though," he said to Awinita.

He turned it over and examined the legs while Rose moved the long spike-like tail on the back.

"Watch, it's not really dead, it's just asleep and it'll wake up and bite ya," Jack said.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's dead, Jack," the Doctor said, pointing to a gaping hole in its abdomen.

He set it down and they stood up.

"Did you find anything interesting underwater?" Donna asked.

"Oh yes, there's coral out there and all sorts of sea life, you should have come with us," he said to her.

"Any sharks?" Mingxia asked while they walked along the beach.

"Nope, I didn't see any. Jaws didn't show up," the Doctor said.

He put his arm around Rain while they walked along. They stopped occasionally when they found some unusual shells or pebbles and examined them. Rose found an empty conch shell. She picked it up, poured the sand out of the opening and put it to her ear. Alan grinned and put his lips against the outside.

"You're a sexy woman and I wanna shag ya," he said.

Rose feigned confusion while she took the shell away and looked at it.

"Rain, if you put this to your ear the sea sounds like a very rude, randy Alan," she said while they laughed.

"Really? Let me see."

She took it and put it to her ear. The Doctor grinned and put his lips to the shell.

"You're my life and I couldn't imagine being without ya now," he said.

"Odd, I hear a romantic Alan when I put it to my ear, Sis."

The Doctor poked her when they laughed and she handed the shell back to Rose.

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After spending a couple of hours on the beach they decided to head back inside and go out for the day. All of them took another quick shower to get the sand off them. Rose and Rain paired up with the Doctor and Alan who took advantage of the duel shower for a quick snog with their wives. Alan and Rose went first and Rose changed back into her outfit while Alan wore similar khaki shorts and a black t-shirt. While they were putting on their shoes, Rain came out with a big grin on her face.

"What is it, Sis?" Rose said.

"The Doctor has really loosened up today," Rain said to her while she went to get her shoes.

"What d'ya mean?"

"Go and take a look."

Rose walked over to the bathroom door and froze. The Doctor was in black shorts and a maroon t-shirt.

"Doctor, is that you?" Rose said while Rain laughed.

"Well, yes it's me. What? I can't borrow Brother's kit?"

"It's just that…I've never seen ya in shorts before."

"Well, it's hot and humid down here and even I know better than to go out in trousers. Besides, I really wanna relax after everything we've been through. So yes, Rose, you finally get to see me wear shorts. And trust me, the wife is loving it."

"Damn straight I am. He's always talking about me being in shorts and loving the view, now I get the chance to ogle him in return," Rain said, coming up behind her.

"Did I hear right? The Doctor's in shorts?" Awinita said from the other room.

"Yup, he's in shorts, Sis! First time ever!" Rose said to her.

The other women came into the room. Awinita and Jenny and Mingxia were wearing jean shorts and black, white and purple t-shirts while Donna wore a white cotton sundress and sandals.

"Finally, Bro has ditched the suit," Awinita said.

"Just for Florida. I'm not doing this full time so enjoy it while it lasts," the Doctor said.

They made a way for him. He walked back out and turned to look at the women. He smiled at Donna.

"That looks beautiful on ya, Te'lesu," he said.

"Thanks, I don't like wearing shorts so I bought this," she said.

"Okay," Jack said, coming into the room dressed in tan shorts and a blue polo shirt, "we're ready now and…"

He paused when he noticed both the Doctor and Alan were in shorts.

"Wait, this is some kind of trick because the Doctor would rather die than be seen in shorts."

"Well, I guess I'm dead then," the Doctor said.

His eyes widened.

"Doc?"

"Yes, Jack, it's me," he said while they all laughed. "I can change into something other than a suit. And no comments about my white limbs blinding you."

"No, I'm not saying a word. I'm just glad you finally decided to go casual," he said.

Ianto came up behind him in black shorts and a white polo shirt. He stared at the Doctor.

"Is that you?" he said.

"Yes, everyone, it's me!" the Doctor said while they roared with laughter. "I'm sorry if I caused a stir by wearing shorts and a t-shirt. I borrowed these from Brother, they're not mine and when we leave Florida I'm going back to the suits. So like I said, enjoy it while it lasts. So now that we're all ready, shall we go?"

They nodded and grabbed their rucksacks before heading out the door.


	129. Chapter 129

Chapter One Hundred And Twenty Nine

The Doctor's family was laughing at him. He was sitting in the minivan while Rose drove hitching his leg up and pointing to it while they ooed and ahed and wolf whistled. Rose was following the GPS to Hemingway's old house.

"You know, I've seen this house before," Donna said to the Doctor.

"Really? When?"

"Michael Palin. Few years ago he did a travel show called Hemingway Adventures and went to all the countries and places Hemingway lived and this house was one of em. They have six toed cats at this house."

"Yeah, I've heard about that. He had six toed cats as pets there and the descendants still live there now," the Doctor said.

"Ought-oh, the Doctor hates cats," Rose said.

"Yes, which is why we have dogs," he said.

They reached the Hemingway house and parked. It was a two story square white house with a railing that was all around the second floor and windows around it every few feet. The grounds were well kept and beautiful and everywhere there were polydactyl cats sunning themselves and roaming around. As they walked up to the house, a yellow tom cat came up and rubbed itself against Rose's leg.

"Hello puss cat, you enjoyin' yourself here?" she said as they stopped to pet him.

She picked him up.

"Hope they don't arrest me for doin' this," she said, looking around.

"Um, Rose, if they were afraid of you picking the cats up why would they let them roam the garden?" the Doctor said.

The cat lay against Rose's body and purred while she examined him.

"I have a feeling people do this a lot since he seems comfortable being held," Awinita said.

Rose showed them his feet with six toes on it.

"Well, you're an unusual kitty. You need to come back with us to the TARDIS and be unusual with us," Alan said, scratching his ear.

He stepped back and Rose dropped him to the ground when he hissed and tried to bite him.

"Okay, we won't touch ya anymore," Alan said while they laughed. "We'll just be on our way then, puss."

They walked towards the house.

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They slowly walked around the house looking in the open windows with other tourists at the immaculate interior. They noticed a couple of the cats were wandering through the rooms and lying on the furniture half asleep.

"Psst, hey cats, let us in," Jack said to one. "Unlock the doors!"

"I don't think they're listening, Jack," Ianto said.

"I would climb through the window but I'm sure there's some kind of advanced American death ray that would zap me if I did," Jack said to him. "Or the cats have been trained to kill."

"Well that little blighter almost bit me so I wouldn't doubt it," Alan said.

They walked on and leaned into the window of his writing room. The walls were white with various pictures and animal heads and horns from his hunting trips in Africa. Rain saw the gazelle head on his wall and ducked her head out of the window. The Doctor looked at her.

"Sorry, after what we just saw on Faust, looking at animal heads makes me uneasy," she said to him.

"I don't blame ya, Latara," the Doctor replied.

They looked at Hemingway's typewriter which was encased in a small Plexiglas box. On one wall was his bookcase filled with his books.

"You know, we went to Graceland and I told Rose and Awinita I thought it was sad that humans enshrine a person's personal effects like they were relics," Alan said.

"I know. Like this typewriter. The only reason it's worthy of being encased in Perspex is because it belonged to Hemingway. Anybody else it would have been tossed away a long time ago. The man died in 1961 but from the way they clean and take care of things you'd think he was coming home any minute," the Doctor said.

"Same with Graceland," Alan said, nodding. "It's very odd, this whole cult of celebrity."

"I agree. Exactly why I hate people fawning over me everywhere we go."

They moved on and went upstairs. They looked in one window and saw the bathroom.

"Aha, Hemingway's comfort station," Alan said to Rose.

"With Hemingway's bog right there," Rose added.

"Just imagine, Starlight, one of the greatest writers ever sat on that very seat and dropped trouser chili. Hemingway's ass was on that seat, be still my beating hearts!"

They laughed and he shrugged.

"Well, that's how some people act with celebrities," he said to them. "It's the same thing as people pulling up the grass where the Beatles tread and saving it."

"Or sellin' it on Ebay," Donna added.

She leaned in and saw a series of numbers on the wall next to the toilet.

"Saw this on the program. Michael talked about this. It's his personal weight chart. He weighed himself every day and wrote it on the wall. I remember thinking he was a bit obsessive about it."

The Doctor grinned and looked at her.

"Well, be thankful he wasn't around when the Adipose were. A great American writer dissolving into little fat children."

Donna pointed to the skylight.

"Mentioned that as well. He was drunk one night, I think, and went to pull the chain on the toilet and grabbed the skylight chain accidentally and it fell on him and he went in hospital."

"Ouch!" Rain said, looking up at it.

She glanced at the wall chart.

"He didn't seem that fat judging from the weights. You're right; it's a bit obsessive doing this every single day. I bet his wife didn't appreciate him writing on the walls like this either."

"Eh, he was one of those cranky writers. A lot of them were eccentric like this. I'm sure his wife indulged him," the Doctor said.

"Did you ever meet him?" Mingxia asked him.

"Met him when he was younger when he was an ambulance driver in Italy during the war. That was the only time and I only spoke to him briefly because he was busy carrying the wounded away. But I just had to stop and say hello. Course he wasn't famous then so he thought it a bit odd but I got a thrill from it."

They moved on. While they walked, the Doctor grinned and looked back at Rain who was making panting noises and whistling.

"Look at those long, lanky, luscious legs," she said while everyone laughed.

The Doctor put his hands on his hips and struck a haughty pose while he showed off his legs.

"Better stop that, Brother, she's about ready to rip you to shreds and climb up your body," Alan teased.

The Doctor took her hand and kissed her cheek when they resumed walking.

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After touring the house, they decided to go to the local aquarium and look around. A young Hispanic woman showed them around and pointed to various sea creatures in tanks while she explained what they were.

_I enjoyed it better this morning when they were all free and swimming around us, _the Doctor thought while they looked.

The women picked up a large conch.

"This is the conch, the mascot of Key West," she said to him. "Key West is also known as the Conch Republic. And if I hold him upside down, I'll try to get him to come out."

They watched while a brown snail slowly came out of the shell.

_I'm betting the poor fellow was inside his house watching the telly when she did this_, Alan thought.

_Probably thinking, "Oh no, not more tourists!_ Awinita thought.

"Here he is," the woman said while the mollusk hung out of its shell. "This is the main part of it and near the back of the shell is his boy bits. That's how we know he's a he."

_Wow! We came to Florida and saw a large snail's womb broom! We need to remember to tell the grandchildren that one!_ Alan thought.

_The conch is endowed I have to say,_ Jack thought.

_Jealous, Jack?_ Ianto thought while the others fought to keep from laughing.

She put it back in its tank and they moved on to a larger one.

"Now this is a nurse shark," she said, picking up a small wriggling tan colored shark. "Everyone feel her skin."

They reached out and petted it.

"Feels like sandpaper," Mingxia said.

"Yes, her skin is very rough and scratchy. But nurse sharks are harmless to humans. This one's about six months old," the woman said.

They laughed when she started to wriggle around in her arms.

"And we'll put her back in her tank before she hits the floor," she said, putting her back in the tank.

She continued around the room pointing to different sea creatures while she talked. After she was done, they thanked her and moved outside to an open area. There were a few other tourists walking around looking at large pools filled with fish and listening to a man describing them. They joined the group and stood at the back listening quietly. The young Caucasian man with sandy blonde short hair was standing on a wooden deck that encircled the pool gesturing to the fish inside.

"…are endangered now and there aren't very many left, which makes them very rare and we're taking great care to protect them," he said to the tourists. "We're trying to breed them and release them back into lakes and rivers so they can repopulate…"

Suddenly, a large pelican swooped down, plucked one of the fish up in its mouth and started to eat it. The Doctor's family bit their lips watching while the horrified guide chased the bird around the deck trying to get him to drop the endangered rare fish. By this time everyone couldn't help but laugh while he chased the bird around the deck yelling at him to drop the fish. Finally, he grabbed the pelican, picked it up and the stunned bird opened his mouth. Everyone applauded when the fish flopped out of his mouth onto the deck. The man released the pelican and shoved the fish back into the tank while the bird flew away."

"Yes, we're doing everything we can to protect these fishes!" he said while the crowd laughed and applauded him.

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After leaving the aquarium, they parked downtown and wandered around the city wandering into the shops and watching the locals and tourists. While they walked along the pavement they noticed a woman coming the other way in a bright pink bikini. She had bleach blonde hair, was in her late thirties and had tanned skin that was so dark she was almost black. Her skin was horribly wrinkled making her look older than she was. She was chatting with a black woman who had on a yellow sundress and was wearing a straw hat and white sunglasses. The men made a face at the tanned woman while she walked past.

"Dark enough, lady?" Jack muttered.

"If you're gonna tan yourself to the color of a baked potato please dye your hair something other than blonde," Donna muttered.

"I think she's gone beyond baked potato. She's about as dark as her friend," Mingxia said.

"And wrinkled and unattractive, does she really think she looks sexy like that?" Alan said.

"She won't think she's quite so sexy when she gets skin cancer in a few years," Jack said.

"Then on the other end you have Dad who's whiter than a ghost."

They laughed when the Doctor's mouth dropped open and he chased Jenny for a couple of feet.

"Et tu brute?" he said to her while she laughed.

He gave her a playful punch in the arm and they walked on with the rest of the family.

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After the sun went down, they headed over to a bar called Sloppy Joes for dinner and drinks.

"I saw this on Michael Palin's show. They had a Hemingway look-a-like contest when he was here," Donna said.

"What a coincidence. We managed to get here the night of the look-a-like contest," the Doctor said to them. "I figured it'd be fun to eat there and watch it. I'm sure Jack and Ianto know it but this is the middle of July. I moved ahead in time so we would have nice warm summer nights. Which means, my Brother, you're technically one year old now."

"Yippee!"

"Yeah but we keep moving back and forth in time, "Rose teased, "so one day you'll be past one year old and the next you won't."

"I know, it's very confusing," Alan said. "One day I'll be 24, 960 years old and the next day I'm negative 200. I'm glad I'm keeping track of my actual age."

They found the bar and went inside. The place was crowded and almost every table was full. They found one near the back and sat down. A waitress gave them menus and gave them water and after ordering drinks, they sat back and watched the activity around them. They noticed a bunch of men up near the front; all of them were elderly with white hair and beards.

"The contestants, I take it," the Doctor said, gesturing to them.

Nearby there was a stage set up with a microphone on a stand. Around the walls were pictures of Key West locations and Hemingway pictures and memorabilia. The waitress came back and gave them a couple of plates of cheese sticks and fried mushrooms. They all ordered cheeseburgers with French fries and the waitress walked away. The men were drinking beer while Rain had her Mountain Dew and the rest drank Cokes. The bar was noisy and slightly raucous and Ianto noticed that a few of the revelers were tipsy.

"The night's still young and already a few people are soused," he said to Jack.

"Well, don't worry, that won't happen to us. We now have the ability to drink as much as we want and not get drunk unless we want to."

Ianto looked at the Doctor.

"Really?"

Jack let out an exasperated sigh while they laughed.

"Thanks Ianto, I love that you have to question everything I tell you and run it by the Doctor in case I'm bullshitting you."

"Yes, Ianto, it's true. We could drink twenty barrels of beer and not get drunk unless we wanted to," the Doctor said.

"Have you ever been drunk then?" Ianto asked him.

He shrugged.

"A few times. I don't like it though. I don't like losing control of my senses like that. Besides I've been given numerous drugs from evildoers over the centuries that gave me the same effect so I don't need to get drunk."

Donna took a sip of Coke. She noticed someone was gazing at her a few tables away from them. He was young, in his early twenties with dark hair and blue eyes. She smiled a hello at him but he still stared at her quietly. Unnerved, she looked at the Doctor who was sitting across from her with his back to the man.

_Bloke behind us, keeps starin'_, she thought.

The Doctor looked at Alan who was sitting on the same side as Donna. Alan took a sip of beer while Donna discretely pointed in his direction. He stared at him while he drank the beer.

_Yup, he is. Well, he's looking at Donna but it's not a I want to chat you up kind of look_, he thought to them while he set his beer down.

_One of Jasper's men?_ Jack thought.

_Dunno, may be,_ the Doctor thought. _Keep an eye on him, both of you._

They nodded and acted casual, occasionally glancing his way. They noticed that after awhile he stopped staring at them and was talking to a black lady with long black hair who wandered up to his table. He kept talking to her and they relaxed, although they still watched him and occasionally updated the others telepathically on what he was doing.

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By the time the cheeseburgers and fries came the contest was starting. All of them ate and watched the different contestants get up on stage one at a time and make a speech, urging everyone to vote for them. At a long table below the stage, the past winners sat and acted as the judges. Rain kept glancing up at a portrait of Hemingway by their table and at the contestants.

"I don't know about you, dear, but some of these people look more like Santa Claus than Ernest Hemingway."

He chuckled.

"I guess if you're slightly overweight, elderly with white hair and a beard you think you have a chance at being Ernie," he said to her.

By this time he had his chair turned around and was facing the stage, he could see the man but he was also watching the contest and was paying no attention to them. His guard was up though knowing that someone had followed him and Rain to Florida in the other universe and he was determined not to be caught off guard again.

The contest lasted for about an hour before they crowned a winner. A man in his early sixties name Tony Jarrett.

"He doesn't look much like Hemingway," Donna said, shrugging when everyone got done applauding him.

"Eh, I think it's more a popularity contest than anything," the Doctor said. "He was funny when he got up and gave his speech, probably endeared the judges to him."

They applauded again when he was awarded a trophy and after he gave a victory speech, he sat down and the ones on the Doctor's side of the table turned their chairs around so they could chat with each other.

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After another hour, they decided to head back to the hotel. They walked out avoiding some drunken people who were stumbling around and laughing loudly. They all turned and walked away in a group still looking around in case the man was following him. They nearly made it back to the hotel when suddenly Mingxia felt someone grab her arm and jerk her around.

"WE WERE HERE FIRST!" the man snarled at her.


	130. Chapter 130

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty

The Doctor was at the back of the group with the other men within a heartbeat. He jerked Mingxia out of his grasp.

"Mate, if you wanna continue to breathe air in the next few minutes you'll back off and leave us alone!" he snarled at him.

The man gasped when he got in his face.

"I thought you lot would have learned to leave us alone when we destroyed your little black market on Mordos," he said, his eyes blazing.

"What are you talking about? I'm not from there," the man said.

"Yeah, well where are you from then?"

"My name is Silas Soxtron, I am with the Claxion scientific study group, second class. You are an alien. I realized you and your group were aliens when I was scanning the humans and if you're here studying the humans like we are then you need to back off and leave us alone because we were here first!"

They relaxed at that.

"I'm sorry, Silas, we just had run in with slave hunters on Mordos and we know they were following us around and spying on us. We assumed you were one of them."

"I'm not spying on any of you, I'm spying on the humans for research," Silas said. "I and my team are scattered around the city gathering data. So now that I've told you who I am, perhaps you can tell me who you are and what species you are and what your purpose is here."

"My name is the Doctor, this is my family, I'm a Time Lord and we're here in Florida on holiday, nothing more. We're not doing scientific research or collecting data on humans or…"

"Wait," Silas said, holding up a hand.

"What is a Time Lord doing here because they're all supposed to be extinct, that's what you're about to say, right?" the Doctor said.

"Yes, so how did you survive?"

"It's a long story. I survived and these people behind me were former humans and half-humans who became Time Lords and Ladies, also a long story. Now if you'll excuse us, we're exhausted and wanna go back…"

"Wait, these people used to be human?"

"Yes."

Silas stared at him.

"But you have never been human yourself."

"Weeeell, technically I have but that's also a long story but I wasn't born human, no."

"You associate with humans on purpose?"

The Doctor sighed.

"I don't have time to get into why a Time Lord would associate with so-called backward apes. These people around me are wonderful. They're a credit to their species and I wouldn't trade their love and friendship for anything in the universe. If you have some kind of prejudice against humans, that's your problem. Now if you'll excuse us…"

He turned and nodded to the others and they walked off.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to imply I was prejudiced."

They turned and noticed Silas was still following them.

"I actually like the humans I've encountered. I realize most aliens do think of them as backwards but they haven't been down here studying them like my team and I have. Yes, they are warlike and they have a long way to go to catch up with the more intelligent cultures but there is potential and goodness in them."

"Good, I'm glad you see that. Because that's what I see and why I chose to associate with them and even though these people are now Gallifreyan they still retain their human personalities which I think enhances who they are. Now if you'll excuse us…"

They turned and walked away. They walked for several feet before Jack tugged on the Doctor's shirt sleeve. He looked back and sighed when Silas was still behind them.

"Look, Silas, it's nice to meet you but…"

"I'm going back to my ship. Apparently it's in the same direction you're going."

"Oh, I'm sorry then. Where is your ship?"

It's parked out in the ocean about ten kilometers away. We have it cloaked but I finished my research for this evening and I was going back to enter in my data. If you don't mind, I'll walk with you until our paths diverge."

"That's okay, come with us then," the Doctor said.

They walked off. The Doctor made quick introductions of his family and Silas gave them a warm hello in return.

"So, this human body, is it a disguise then?" Awinita said to him.

"Yes, it's a basic human holographic disguise. We want to blend in while we observe since we know some humans panic when they see people from other worlds."

"That's an understatement," Donna said.

"So do you collect samples or just observe?" Jack asked.

"This trip we are only observing but we have taken samples of flora and fauna in the past."

"Including humans?" the Doctor said.

"One or two. We brought them back safe and sound though, we realize they have families and friends. We asked them questions, did a few medical tests and erased their memories of their time on the ship to avoid detection."

"Well, as long as you don't hurt any of them," the Doctor said.

"You really do like humans, don't you?"

"Love em. Yes, they're warlike and a bit thick at times but you're right, they have so much potential and after getting to know them I've become their protector and my family has as well."

"Interesting. Time Lords were not known to interact with the lower species."

"I'm not your typical Time Lord," he said while his family snickered. "Ask em, they'll tell ya. But we never do any type of official research. We're travelers and we fight evil and injustice wherever we find it. We just got through doing that and now we're taking a nice restful holiday in Florida."

"So your TARDIS is nearby?"

"Um…well," he said while his family laughed, "actually, no. My TARDIS is in a secret location across the ocean. My family convinced me to fly in an aeroplane and slum it like humans do. Be typical Earth tourists and drive across the state in a people carrier. And it's been fun so far."

"You are highly unusual, Doctor."

"So I've been told," he said while his family laughed.

"Not only have you befriended humans but you turned some into your own kind. I wasn't aware there was technology like that."

"I didn't do it. We have a friend who did it. She's very clever," he said to Silas.

"And before this friend did that, you were the last of your kind?"

"Yes. This friend gave me a great blessing when she did that. I have a family I love who loves me and I couldn't be happier now," he said while everyone sent love into his mind.

"Where do you live if Gallifrey is gone?"

"We live in my TARDIS and just travel around," the Doctor said.

They stopped outside their hotel.

"This is where we're staying," he said to Silas.

"Well, you're not too far from where we landed. We're on the beach side about 2 kilometers away."

"Were you there this morning? We were out on the beach until afternoon."

"Ah, no we weren't. We landed about five hours ago. I'm the first one to report back I think."

"Ah, well, it was nice meeting you," the Doctor said while everyone nodded, "and I'm sorry for the misunderstanding."

"As am I. I wish you and your family the best of luck in your travels."

"Same to you and your team. Goodnight, Silas."

"Farewell, Time Lords and Ladies, peace be with you."

They watched for a moment while he walked around them and ducked between buildings several feet away and then they went back into their hotel room.

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"I'm glad that went well," the Doctor said when they gathered in their room to play cards.

"I'm glad it wasn't one of the spies," Awinita said, grabbing her empty 16 ounce Coke bottle and refilling it with Coke from the two liter.

Jack thought for a moment while they were setting up the table.

"You know, if these slave hunters do catch up to you perhaps this vision was also a wakeup call and maybe we're meant to avoid the situation entirely," he said.

"How so?" the Doctor asked.

"Well, if you want us to, my team could try to find a way to detect these spies and build a device that would warn you so we don't have to be perpetually jumpy and possibly attack innocent people like Silas. We'd be happy to try to figure out a way to make some kind of early warning device when a spy is in the area so you aren't snatched unawares and end up in a trial you don't need to be in."

"Yes, please, do that," Jenny said while the others nodded. "Anything to protect Dad from them is alright with me."

"But how would you make a device that would focus only on the spies and slave hunters?"

"Well that's what we would try to figure out, my team and I. Supposedly we have over two centuries and there's three of us who'll be around that long. I'm sure in two centuries we can come up with something."

"What I don't understand is why they supposedly let the rest of us go free," Alan said. "We had a hand in stopping the black market. If it is them, wouldn't they wanna target all of us?"

"I thought about that too," Jack said. "My theory is if they are pretending to be some tribunal prosecuting the Doctor for the Time War then they could only try him since he's the only one that participated in it. Technically, Alan wasn't even there and if they're trying to make us think they're not Jasper's men then they would leave the rest of us alone."

The Doctor nodded.

"And the banishment might serve as a warning to the rest of you not to interfere anymore. Although…wouldn't they eventually reveal themselves since their main purpose is to get us off their backs?"

"Maybe they do and the eleventh Doctor never mentioned that part of it because he didn't wanna reveal too much," Rose said to him.

"Or it really is a tribunal and we're completely wrong about all this," Ianto said.

"Yeah but why two centuries from now? Why wait all that time to try him for war crimes? It doesn't make sense," Jack said.

"Especially since the Shadow Proclamation could send their Judoon goons to come get us," the Doctor added.

"Or they could have nabbed ya when we were there before," Donna said.

"Or when they called you back to complain about Jenny," Rain added.

The Doctor nodded.

"Yup, we've been there twice and no one said a word to us. Granted, the first time Donna and I were there, the Shadow Architect was caught off guard when I told her I was alive but the second time they would have been ready for us. They were ready to arrest Rose but that's because they thought she was Jenny. So I agree with Jack. I have a feeling it is the spy hunters, that seems more plausible to me."

"Which is why we'll get to work on a solution, some way to protect you so you don't even have to regenerate there. I know you want to because it'll stop them from harassing us, but what if it doesn't? What if they just target the rest of us afterwards because they think you're out of the way? Banishing you wouldn't stop them, Doctor, because we're still out there and we're just as big a threat to them as you are. They'll just find some other excuse to get rid of us. I'm betting this is not a set event, Doctor. I'm betting the whole thing is in flux and you can change it, including the regeneration part."

The Doctor considered that and nodded.

"Problem is we won't know if it's fixed until closer to the time of the event."

"But we can all prepare for it, Love. We can all figure out solutions to prevent the trial from ever happening if we can change it."

The Doctor grinned.

"You lot will fight tooth and nail to keep me from goin' through this, won't ya?" he said fondly.

Jack laughed when everyone screamed, "YES!" at him.

"You heard them, Harkness, come up with a solution or face their wrath," he said.

"Trust me; I don't have to be threatened by them. I don't want this to happen either," Jack said. "We'll tell Mickey and Martha and Gwen when we get back and we'll put our heads together and just keep brainstorming solutions until we get one that works."

The Doctor smiled at that and his hearts warmed knowing his family loved him enough to fight for his life. All of them settled down to play cards and they spent the rest of the night playing poker and euchre and chatting.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning they went out and explored more of the city until mid-afternoon when they decided to head back to the mainland and start upwards.

"Ugh, the bridge from Hell again," Jack said while they loaded up their minivan.

"I'll drive again, no worries," the Doctor said.

"No, I'll drive, Doctor," Rose said. "You did it yesterday and it's not fair for you to do it twice."

"You sure?"

She nodded.

"Just make sure everyone goes to the loo before we go since it's a hundred and twenty miles of nothing but road," she said.

She reached into a bag and pulled out the DVDs they bought.

"Besides you lot can watch a DVD while I'm drivin'" she said to them. "You don't have to spend the entire time just staring out the window at the water wonderin' when it's gonna end."

The Doctor took the DVDs from her and they closed the hatch. They all took a quick restroom break before they got into the minivan and headed back towards the highway.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Wow, they actually have a Wizard of Oz film?" Jenny said when the Doctor showed her the DVD.

"Yes they do, that's what you were reading, wasn't it?" the Doctor said.

"Yeah, I finished it. It was a really good book," she said.

"Well, now you can see the movie. It's a classic," he said to her. "We also have Gone with the Wind which is another classic and we have Xanadu for some odd reason and…we have South Park which is either my wife or sister's doing."

"I got that because it has an episode on it I want you to see, "Awinita said. "It's the very first show they ever made and it's called Cartman Gets an Anal Probe."

The Doctor turned in his seat and looked at her.

"Cartman gets an anal probe?" he said while Rain giggled beside him.

"Yes, it's about aliens abducting Cartman and putting an eighty foot satellite dish up his ass so they can communicate with the mother ship. I figured you'd like that."

Alan, who was in the back with Jack and Ianto, laughed hysterically.

"Hmm, putting a satellite dish up someone's arse, never thought of doing that to someone before," he said.

"Were you responsible for Xanadu then?" the Doctor said.

She shrugged.

"It's cheesy but it has some good songs in it," she said.

"Well, why don't we watch Wizard of Oz first," the Doctor said while they laughed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Okay, this isn't exactly like the book," Jenny said while she and Rain snuggled against the Doctor.

Everyone was watching it except for Rose. Rose was laughing and singing along with the others while she drove back to the mainland. As before everyone was making comments and poking fun at the movie.

"I love how the chickens just stay on the coop during the tornado," Awinita said while they watched.

"And the men stay in the rowboat," Rain said.

"And they wave before they plummet to their death," Jack added.

"You know the music that plays when Miss Gulch appears? That should play whenever Sylvia comes around so we can have advanced warning," Alan said.

He ducked when Donna turned and swatted him on the back.

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Jenny was laughing while the men in the back were imitating the Lollipop Guild munchkins, using the same high pitched voices they used.

"Weeeeee represent the Lollipop Guild, the Lollipop Guild, the Lollipop Guild. Weeeeee represent the Lollipop Guild, we'd like to welcome you to Munchkinland."

"That's a really good imitation of them," Awinita said.

"Thanks, wanna hear the Lullaby League next?" Alan said.

"No, that's okay," Awinita said while they laughed.

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They were laughing while the men in the back continued to do character voices and recite the dialogue along with everyone else.

Jenny laughed when all three of them said, "DA NOIVE!" along with the cowardly lion.

"This is really different from the book," Jenny said.

"You mean, the lion didn't have a Brooklyn accent in the book?" Awinita said.

"Yeah and the munchkins didn't sound like they were on helium," Jenny added. "I did like it when they made Kansas look dull and now Oz is colorful."

"Yes, the whole sepia tones verses Technicolor is brilliant," the Doctor said.

"But wasn't Dorothy ten years old in the book? I mean, she's a bit old, isn't she?" Jenny said to him.

"Yeah, but Judy Garland's brilliant as well," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, you can't imagine anyone else as Dorothy," Donna said.

Jenny felt Alan next to her ear and she giggled when he growled like the Cowardly Lion. Rain grinned and reached over and slapped him lightly on the cheek. They laughed harder when he cried.

"What'd ya have to do that for? I didn't bite her," she said imitating the lion.

"No, but you tried to," Rain said, imitating Dorothy. "Bad enough you go and pick on me but why do you have to pick on poor little Jenny? Why, you're nothing but a great big coward."

"I am not!" Alan said, in his own voice. "How dare you call me that?"

They laughed when he slapped her head a few times and went and quickly sat back down.

"The noive, calling yours truly a coward," he said to Jack.

He put his hand to his mouth and feigned surprise when Rain eyed him.

"Oh wait, I was imitating the Cowardly Lion, sorry, Rainy I forgot I was doing that for a moment."

"Go to Hell, Bro!"

"Already there, Te'lesu!" he said while they laughed harder and Rain flipped him off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A half hour later, Rain was snuggled against the Doctor watching the conclusion of the movie when suddenly Alan slapped her on the head.

"SLUG-A-BUG YELLOW!" he yelled.

They laughed when he pointed out the window at the yellow Volkswagen beside them and then hurried back to his seat before Rain could retaliate.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"That was really good," Jenny said when the movie ended and Rose took the DVD out.

"I'm glad you liked it, Angel," the Doctor said.

"Yes and now that it's over, Donna, get Bro for me," Rain said.

"With pleasure," Donna said.

Alan's eyes widened and he looked all around him while Donna smirked.

"You're in a people carrier in the middle of a long stretch of road and you can't run like you can in the TARDIS. I'm right in front of ya and you're all mine now!"

"Brother, I implore you, save me!"

The Doctor looked at Rain.

"Come on, Latara, you'd be heartsbroken if he died, right?"

Rain thought.

"On second thought, Donna, stand down," she said.

"Damn, I was all ready to give clown boy a beatin'," she said.

They giggled when she turned back around and Alan let out a sigh of relief.


	131. Chapter 131

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty One

By the time the movie was done, they were back on the mainland. Rose pulled the car over at a McDonalds and everyone piled out of it.

"Gotta pee," Alan said, sprinting towards it. "Gotta pee, pee, pee, pee, pee!"

"Out of the man's way, he's gotta pee!" Jack yelled while he opened the side door and ran right for the restroom.

The other men followed him inside and they and the women used the restrooms. All the men finished first. They sat at a table near the restrooms waiting for the women.

"What are they doing in there?" Jack finally said. "Are the women's toilets down several flights of stairs?"

"Probably chatting while they make themselves pretty again," the Doctor said.

The door opened and Rain came out.

"Well, at least one of them is still alive," Alan said.

"You know, we don't just run in, pee and run out. We do other things. Besides we don't stand up like you guys do. We have to go in, close the door and sit down."

They watched while she got in the queue at the registers.

"Rain's hungry?" Ianto said.

"Or thirsty," Jack said, shrugging.

Rose came out with Awinita and they sat down with them in the booth. Rose took a map of Florida out of her purse, unfolded it and studied it.

"Um, the everglades are at the tip of Florida. You wanna go there next?" she asked while the other women came outside and stood with them.

"That sounds good," the Doctor said, nodding.

"You'll have to ask Rain though when she gets out of the queue," Alan said. "Apparently the girl is hungry."

Rain came back to them holding a cardboard drink container. She sat a Coke in front of the Doctor.

"Thanks," he said, surprised.

"Yup," she said, kissing his cheek.

Alan's eyes widened when she sat the other Coke in front of him.

"Oh my God, she's being nice to me," he said while she took her Mountain Dew out of the carrier and threw it away in a nearby trash bin.

She came back to the table, reached into her pocket and put a box of chocolate chip cookies in front of Alan. She patted him on the head and hummed while she sipped her drink. Everyone laughed at the shocked look on his face.

"Um, what's the occasion?" Alan asked her.

"No occasion, just because…" she said, shrugging.

"Well, thanks Te'lesu, I'll return the favor promptly," he said to her.

"See, I'm not a total brat," she said. "I can be kind sometimes."

Alan looked at Jack and held up the food.

"My Sis loves me, she gives me soft drinks and biscuits, she got you zilch," he said.

Rain leaned over to Jack.

"What do you want?"

"A cheeseburger, Rain," Jack said. "And a large Coke."

They laughed when Rain got back in the queue.

"I was joking, you didn't have to…"

He looked at the Doctor.

"I was joking," he said.

The Doctor shrugged.

"She does this often, might as well take advantage of her generosity, Jack," he said.

Rain returned a few minutes later and handed him his Coke and burger.

"I was kidding, Rain."

She shrugged.

"Well, your kidding got ya something then," she said.

He handed fries to Rose and put some fries in front of the Doctor.

"Thanks, Sis," Rose said.

"You're welcome."

"Rain, this burger is stale, can you go over the counter and cook me a fresh one?" Jack said.

"Uh, no, that I won't do," she said while they laughed.

She fed a French fry to the Doctor and popped one into her mouth.

"So where we goin' next?" she said, staring at the map.

"I thought the everglades since they're right here at the tip and then Miami next?" Rose said.

"Sounds good to me," Rain said.

She fed another fry to the Doctor who smacked his lips and licked them.

"Nice and greasy and salty," he said.

"Can I trade ya a biscuit for a few chips?" Alan asked.

The Doctor gave him four fries and Alan thanked him and handed him a cookie.

"Mmm, these are good too," the Doctor said, munching on the cookie.

Rose folded up the map.

"So are we ready to go then?" she asked.

They nodded and all of them got up and headed back out to the minivan.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After a half hour, Rose found the entrance to Everglades National Park. They parked, paid the admission and found a forest trail. They started down the path and blinked when they ran right into a large swarm of gnats.

_No one open your mouth,_ the Doctor thought while they walked through the swarm.

They got past the gnats and strolled along enjoying the warm summer day and the peaceful forest surrounding them.

"This is nice," Mingxia said, looking around.

"Yeah, as long as an alligator doesn't come out of the trees and get us," Donna said.

"You're just convinced a gator is gonna attack us, aren't ya?" Jack said.

"When your motorways carries a warning that alligators might cross it, that tells me that your state is full of bleedin' gators that might cross your path at any time," Donna replied.

"LOOK OUT, A GATOR!" Ianto screamed.

They all spun around and he grinned at them.

"Just a drill," he said while they laughed.

"You've been hangin' around Alan too long," Donna said, rolling her eyes.

Alan whispered something to Rose and she giggled.

"Okay," she said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, let's skip and frolic, you crazy boy," she said.

"Whoopie!"

They laughed when the two of them took each other's hands and began to skip along.

"OOOOOOH, WE'RE OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD, THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OOOOOOOZ!" Alan yelled while they skipped.

"Don't ya mean lions and tigers and bears?" Rain yelled at him.

"Oh yeah, thanks Te'lesu, although this is Florida so….GATORS AND GNATS AND MOZZIES, OH MY!" he yelled while Rose laughed.

Rain noticed the Doctor bend over to examine a yellow flower. She bent down beside him and listened to him mumbling to himself about the classification.

"Being scientific?" she asked him.

"Yup, just talkin' to myself. It's the first sign of dementia, you know, and since I'm destined for the old folk's home…"

He winked at her when she laughed and pinched his cheek. They stood back up and followed the others who were several feet in front of them.

"This is rather nice. Bit of a change from the hustle and bustle we just came from," he said to her.

"Yes, nice to know there's still something like this in Florida," she replied.

"You mean, you're shocked that Disney hasn't created Everglades Land yet?" he said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Exactly," she said while he put his arm around her.

She looked around her.

"Not much wildlife though. All we've seen so far is the gnats," she said.

"Probably don't venture too closely to the path. I'm sure people walk up and down it all the time."

"It's quiet here," she said.

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"Too quiet?" he said melodramatically.

She laughed.

"Yup, It's quiet, too quiet."

"COME ON, ROSE, YOU GOTTA KEEP UP WITH ME, YOU LAZY THING!"

"Correction, it's quiet except when Alan opens his mouth," Rain said.

They noticed Alan waving his arm up ahead.

"They have some kind of little building up ahead," he said to them.

"Restroom?" Awinita said.

"No, I think it's a little visitors area or something," Alan said.

He walked back down the path and they followed him. A few minutes later they saw a large wooden building nestled off to the left of the path. They went inside and saw several exhibits about the everglades along with information about it and attractions in the park. Rose walked up to them holding a small brochure.

"They have air boats that go through the swamp area and they give you a tour, you wanna do that?"

"If you get to see some wildlife," Mingxia said.

She nodded.

"Says they go past alligators, birds and other animals. We have to drive to another section of the park but it's something to do when we finish here."

"Is there anything in here besides the exhibits?" Jenny asked.

"Not really, there's a window over there where you can look out at the forest but Alan and I stood there and nothing came up to the window. I think all the animals are hiding back in the forest."

"Well let's go and ride this airboat then. I'd rather see alligators than look at trees."

They agreed and left the building to head back to their car.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A half hour later, Rose located the area where the air boat tours were at and parked the van. As they got out of the van, they noticed a small white house nearby with a large wooden sign beside its porch.

HOLD FLOYD THE SNAKE AND LET HIM KISS YOU.

10 DOLLARS.

They wandered over to it and a grizzled looking man wearing battered blue jeans, a blue trucker's hat and a white t-shirt stepped outside. He was tall and gangly with salt and pepper hair and deep brown eyes.

"Name's Randy. You here to hold Floyd?" he asked them.

They looked at each other.

"Anybody wanna hold Floyd?" Rose asked.

"I will," Rain said.

Randy touched the brim of his hat.

"I'll be back in a minute with Floyd, little lady," he said.

The Doctor took out ten dollars while Jack and Rose readied their cameras. Randy emerged two minutes later holding a long black snake in his hands.

"This is Floyd," he said to Rain while he draped it around her neck. "He's a Black Snake and they're harmless so you're in no danger. Now just take a hold of his head there and I'll let him go."

She gently took hold of Floyd's neck and Randy stepped away from her. He accepted the ten dollars from the Doctor and put it in his pocket while Jack and Rose took pictures of her with it.

"Now if you hold him close to your cheek, Floyd will give your pretty little cheek a kiss," Randy said to her.

Rain put the head close to her face and they laughed when the snakes tongue flitted in and out, touching her skin.

"See, Floyd likes kissing people," Randy said with a grin.

Jenny walked up beside Rain and looked at the snake.

"You wanna hold Floyd, hon?"

"Nah, that's okay, mum. I'm not that brave," she said while they laughed.

Jack and Rose finished taking pictures and Randy took Floyd off of Rain.

"Anyone else?" he said to them.

They shook their heads.

"Aw, come on, she was brave," Randy teased as he pointed at Rain.

"I know, she's the bravest of the group," Donna said. "All the rest of us are too afraid."

"Well, thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the park," Randy said.

They waved and he went back inside his house with Floyd.

_It wasn't that,_ the Doctor thought. _I didn't think we should all spend ten dollars just to hold a snake for five minutes._

_My thoughts exactly,_ Rose thought back as they headed towards the entrance to the airboat tours.

_That's why I was afraid to do anything except look,_ Jenny thought. _I figured the moment I touched it he'd charge me money for holding the snake. _

They all nodded at that. They headed down a path and came to another wooden building that resembled the visitor's center except it was slightly smaller. They went inside and a man sat behind a desk. He was a black man in his early forties with a bald head, an angular face and piercing dark eyes.

"Are you here for the tour?" he asked.

They nodded and paid the fee. The man pointed to a back door that led to a patio overlooking the swamp.

"Go outside and wait there and I'll radio John and tell him you're here," he said to them

They nodded, opened the back door and stepped out onto the small wooden patio. There were steps leading down to a small dock that jutted out into the swamp. They waved more of the gnats away while they waited. Five minutes later they heard a loud buzzing and saw a large aluminum boat with a large fan in the back. A man was sitting in front of it guiding it to the dock. He was in his early twenties, Caucasian, tall, lean with wavy brown hair and blue eyes. He smiled and waved at them and they waved back. He cut the engine and walked over to tie a rope to the dock post.

"Come on board and sit down," he said pointing to some aluminum benches that ran the width of the boat. "Watch your step getting in."

The men helped the women into the boat before they got in and sat down. The man untied the rope, put it in the boat and stepped back to his seat.

"My name's John, I'll be your guide for this afternoon," he said. "Just rest, relax and enjoy the ride."

He turned the engine on and everyone winced at the loud buzzing of the huge fan. John slowly steered the boat away from the dock and then turned the fan up. They zoomed away from the building following the swamp deep into the everglades.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

John sped them along the murky water, slowing down occasionally to point to birds and wildlife. They saw a couple of turtles, some cranes and plenty of gnats.

_I'm surprised the animals are still here with this big buzzing noise behind us_, Donna thought.

_Probably used to it by now,_ the Doctor thought.

John spied an alligator sunning itself on the shore and turned the engine off.

"This is Lucy, one of our resident gators," he said pointing to her. "That mound of dirt beside her is her nest. They're due to hatch any day now. Lucy's been here for years now and she's become a regular on the tour."

_I wonder if Lucy is using the loo right now and wondering why we're all staring at her,_ Alan thought.

Jack chuckled.

_Yes,_ he thought_, you people quit looking at me while I'm on the bog. I don't come into your bathroom and stare at you while you're crapping, do I?_

_No, but her relatives live down in the sewers and bite people in the ass while they're on the toilet,_ Awinita thought.

_Lucy looks less than enthusiastic about seeing us,_ Rain thought.

_Lucy's probably regretting moving to the everglades because she gets gawked at by slack jawed yokels, gets her picture taken and gets to listen to BZZZZZZZZT all bloody day,_ Alan thought.

John turned the engine on.

_Speaking of BZZZZZZZZT…_ Awinita thought.

They watched while Lucy quickly slid into the swamp and swam away.

_See, Lucy doesn't like the noise any more than we do,_ the Doctor thought. _Humans with their noisy vehicles disturbing everyone else._

_Like your own vehicle that sounds like it has severe asthma?_ Jack thought.

_She does not sound like she has severe bleedin' asthma, Harkness! _he thought indignantly while they laughed in their minds.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Thanks everyone, hope you enjoyed the tour," John said as he tied the rope to the dock post.

They thanked him and stepped back onto the dock. They went back through the building and waved at the man behind the desk before they headed back to their van.


	132. Chapter 132

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Two

After exploring the everglades for awhile they decided to go on to Miami. While Rose drove, Awinita convinced them to put in the South Park DVD and watch the anal probe episode. Rose giggled while she listened to them howling with laughter at it.

"I can see why you wanted us to see this," the Doctor said, "this is brilliant. I love how they managed to put a little one eyed robot up the kid's bum."

"And I love how the aliens zap him from above and turn him into Judy Garland," Jack said.

They laughed.

"Yeah, that's pretty ironic considering we just got done with the Wizard of Oz," the Doctor said to him.

They giggled when the aliens spoke to a herd of cows.

"Moo," Alan and Jack said, imitating the aliens on screen. "Moo, moo, moooooo."

"I wonder if any Andromedans have actually seen this before," the Doctor said. "I bet they'd love it since the aliens are the stereotypical Andromedan aliens."

"I s'pose I'll have to see this sometime," Rose said to them.

"Yes, you need to, Starlight, it's hilarious," Alan said.

"Sounds like it. I love the line about him being taken up in the mother ship and Scott Baio giving him pinkeye."

They giggled. They laughed harder when Cartman who was tied to the ground farted and a large satellite dish unfolded out of him.

"That's quite clever. Sod the Dalek Factor, Davros should have been putting satellite dishes in people's bums," Alan said.

They applauded when it ended.

"Thanks for that, Awinita," the Doctor said, "I have to admit that was hilarious especially the whole aliens putting the odd things up Cartman's bum."

The next episode started.

"Oh yeah, um…this is about a science fair and they come up with this idea to breed elephants and pigs and make potbellied elephants," Awinita said. "It's pretty good too."

"Wait, isn't this the one where they make a clone from Stan?" Rain said.

"Yeah, it is," Awinita said.

Rain looked back at Alan.

"Pay close attention to this one, Bro," she said while Awinita laughed. "I think you'll like it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jack and Alan giggled while they watched Stan's clone rampage through South Park. The clone had an oversized head, buck teeth, one arm longer than the other and was running around smashing things while he yelled, "CHA CHEE CHEE CHONG!"

"Aren't you glad you didn't end up this way, Alan," Jack said to him.

"Yes, very glad," he said, nodding. "Starlight, you have to see this one as well. You have to see this clone."

"I can hear em, dear," she said, looking over her shoulder.

"I like the whole one arm longer than the other," Alan said. "That would be useful. Gives one a longer reach when you're hitting someone."

"I'm betting Rose wouldn't marry you if you looked like that though," Ianto said.

"Oh I don't know about that, Ianto. I think she'd love shagging me while I yelled out CHOMP CHEE CHEE CHONG throughout it," he said while they giggled.

"And I also love the way he speaks when he's not saying cha chee chee chong," Jack said.

"You mean when he's saying, "Me bad?""

"Yes, that," Jack said. "I'm guessing they're imagining that's how clones act."

"Actually, I would have loved to have seen Martha's clone do that when we were at the Atmos factory. I'd love to see the Sontarans try to hide her among UNIT with an oversized head, buck teeth, one arm longer than the other and her tendency to smash things while she yelled CHOMP CHEE CHEE CHONG!"

"I think Martha would have been horrified at that," Donna said to him.

"Forget Martha, I would have been horrified," the Doctor said. "Although it would have been interesting seeing that just like it would be interesting seeing Brother this way. But I also see what you mean about the character being modeled after Marlon Brando in the Island of Doctor Moreau. He even has the little midget sidekick."

"I love how he thinks everything has to have four arses as well," Ianto said.

"Yes, that's another thing I'm glad I didn't get. Four arses," Alan said.

Jack grinned.

"Maybe you're right," he said imitating Doctor Mephesto, "maybe nature is better with its one ass schematic."

Jenny looked back at them.

"I'm also wondering how they got the elephant to mate with his pig," she said.

"They got them drunk," Ianto said.

"No, I mean the pig's anus is little and the elephant…"

"Yes, that would be quite painful, I can see why Fluffy squealed," the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Although potbellied elephants as pets are a pretty good idea," Jack said. "Maybe Torchwood should also work on that while we work on a detection device for the spies."

They laughed when the Doctor gave him an odd look.

"What? The kid's right, we'd be rich if we could do that," Jack said, shrugging.

They laughed at the end when Fluffy gave birth to little piglets with Mister Garrison heads.

"That is just wrong," Donna said.

"What happened?" Rose said, glancing back.

"Well, apparently the teacher shagged the pig and when the pig gave birth the babies have pig bodies and his head," Donna said.

"Ewwww," Rose said while they laughed.

The DVD ended and Rose took it out.

"Anyone wanna watch something else?" she asked them while Mingxia put it back in the case.

"How far are we from Miami?" the Doctor asked.

She glanced at the GPS.

"We're about there."

They shook their heads and Rose turned on the radio. They chatted for several minutes before Awinita turned and tapped the Doctor on the shoulder. She giggled when he gave her a questioning look and held up the activity book. She pointed to a page showing a spotless giraffe. Above it, it said…

FILL IN THE SPOTS.

"Here ya go, Bro, have some fun," she said, handing him the book and pen.

The Doctor grinned and took it from her. He tapped his chin with the end of the pen while Rain and Jenny watched.

"Now where should I put the spots?" he said while they laughed.

He put a tiny one on the neck and tapped his chin with the pen. He put another spot near the back.

"Let me, dear."

He handed the pen to her and she drew a large one on the back with two smaller ones above it.

"There ya go, Mickey Mouse," she said.

"Brilliant. I like that," the Doctor said.

Alan leaned up and looked over his shoulder. He took the pen from his brother and drew a triangle on the neck under his circle.

"He's an oddball giraffe," Alan said handing the pen back to him.

The Doctor grinned and drew a trapezoid beside the Mickey Mouse head. Then he put a mathematical equation above it.

"He's an oddball, alright," the Doctor said to Rain while she laughed.

He thought for a moment and drew a little stick figure behind the giraffe. The stick figure had one leg raised up behind him as if it were about to kick the giraffe. The Doctor drew eyes, a wide smile and made spiky hair. Then right above it, he wrote MY NAME IS ALAN AND I'M GOING TO KICK THIS GIRAFFE'S ARSE. He drew a word balloon around it while Rain and Jenny laughed hysterically.

"Here ya go, Brother," the Doctor said, passing it back to him when he finished.

Alan laughed when he saw it and took the pen from him. He drew a stick figure in front of the giraffe with its stick hands raised up and a horrified expression on its face. He gave it spiky hair and above it wrote NO BROTHER, LEAVE THE POOR BEAST ALONE! Jack and Ianto laughed when he drew a word balloon around that and handed it and the pen back to the Doctor. He, Rain and Jenny laughed at that and passed it up to the women in front of them. They all laughed and Mingxia leaned forward and showed Rose. Rose glanced at it and giggled.

"You're really bored back there, aren't ya?" she said when Mingxia handed it back to the Doctor.

"Just amusing ourselves, Rose," the Doctor said.

They finished drawing in the spots together and the Doctor turned the page. There was a huge oval. Above it was written DRAW A FACE. The Doctor glanced at his wife.

"Do you wanna start? Do a body part at a time and see what we come up with?" he asked her.

She nodded. She took the pen from him and thought. She drew a large bulbous nose and handed it to the Doctor. The Doctor thought and then drew wide surprised eyes and handed it to Jenny. Jenny laughed and drew an oval mouth and colored it in. She passed it back to Alan and the three men laughed. Alan drew spiky hair on it and passed it to Jack. Jack drew the Doctor's glasses and passed it to Ianto.

"There's not much left to draw," Ianto said.

"Ears," Jack said to him.

Ianto smiled and drew huge Dumbo ears.

"Yan, we're drawing the Doctor as he is now, not his ninth self," Jack said while Alan laughed.

They passed the book and pen back to the Doctor. Rain and Jenny roared with laughter when they saw the ears.

"Oh, ha ha!" the Doctor said, looking back at them.

"Let me draw something, Bro," Awinita said.

He passed it to her and she, Mingxia and Donna laughed at the picture.

"Could do the eyebrows," Mingxia said.

Awinita glanced back at the Doctor and drew eyebrows like his. She passed it to Donna who drew a neck and the collar and top part of his tie. She handed it to Mingxia.

"Gee, what else is left?" she asked them.

She grinned and drew several hoop earrings in the ears while Awinita and Donna laughed. She leaned up and showed Rose who laughed hysterically.

"Give the Doctor a Hitler mustache for me," she said to her.

"Okay," she said while everyone laughed.

She finished the Hitler mustache and wrote THE DOCTOR above it with an arrow pointing down.

"There ya go, big brother," she said handing it back to him.

"Wow!" the Doctor said while Rain and Jenny and the three men in back stared at it and laughed. "I love the Hitler mustache, thanks Rose."

"You're welcome, Doctor," she said.

"And thanks for giving me earrings, whoever did that."

"That was me," Mingxia said. "I thought they'd go well with the elephant ears Ianto thinks you have."

"Yes, thanks so much for the ears that are bigger than I am," he said to Ianto while they laughed.

They looked out the windows when Rose entered the outskirts of Miami. The sun was beginning to go down and the Doctor gave the activity book and pen back to Awinita. Rose began to look for a hotel for the night and found a Holiday Inn downtown. She parked the car and all of them got out, got their things and went inside to check in for the night.


	133. Chapter 133

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Three

After getting settled in they decided to go out and take a walk around downtown Miami. They slowly walked down the pavement taking in the sights and sounds of the bustling city and its nightlife. Several blocks from the hotel they stopped at a café and went inside to get something to drink. They took the drinks out onto the patio. They sat at a metal table near the front while the men grabbed four chairs from the table next to it and sat with them. They sat and sipped their drinks while they watched the people passing by and enjoyed the warm summer night.

While they were drinking and chatting, the Doctor's mobile rang.

"Not in, leave me alone," he said while they laughed. "I'm not fixing any more crises, I'm on holiday."

Sighing, he reached into his pocket and pulled it out. He flipped it open and pushed the talk button.

"Hello?"

"Doctor?"

A grin split his face.

"Maddie!" he said while everyone else smiled. "Blimey, it's good to hear your voice again!"

"Yeah, yours too. I miss you. I miss all of you."

"We miss you as well," the Doctor said. "So how are things goin' on New Hope?"

"Great, we got our IDs and Grace got on at the hospital," Maddie said.

"Good! Does she like it?"

"Oh yeah, she loves it. You're right; she has an easier time and more playtime now. John and Amber have adjusted and actually the two of them have been having long talks about the past and it's really helped them both out. Dot's also bonded with John so he's like a second father now. But at the moment I'm still unemployed. I tried to get on at the hospital with Grace but I don't have a degree so I'm going to college here and ace all the classes just for the degree. Amber's going back too but she switched her major to psychology. She wants to help others and she's going to specialize in families that have had a family member die in childbirth."

"Brilliant," the Doctor said.

"But our classes don't start till the fall so I'm kinda stuck at home for the moment. So I was wondering if you could come get me so I can travel with you for awhile?"

Everyone who was listening in laughed when the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Is that everyone else?" Maddie asked.

"Yes, we're actually in Florida in 2009 in Miami at this café. We're outside on their patio sitting and chatting."

"Wow, I'm calling you from 2171 years in the future," Madison said.

"I know, brilliant, isn't it? But the reason they're laughing, Te'lesu, is…I don't have my TARDIS with me right now."

"What do you mean?"

"Um…well, your sisters convinced us to leave it at Torchwood and fly over here to Florida so we could act like Earth tourists. We're going through Florida in a people carrier and in order to get my TARDIS I'd have to fly back to Cardiff and bring it back here and then follow them around while they drove the people carrier which would be a bit inconvenient. But we won't be long. We're only going to go through Florida and if you give me the date and time, I promise you when we get the TARDIS I'll come get you. I'm sorry, Te'lesu, I should have called and asked if you wanted to do this with us. I figured you lot were busy settling in."

"Well we were but John offered to look after Dot for awhile because they knew I wanted to see you guys again. It isn't that Grace doesn't want to see you but she's working and for the most part I'm stuck at home. Although…we have a dog now because Dot missed being with your dogs. We got a little Jack Russell terrier and Dot named it Barney after the dinosaur. So he's here but at the moment I'm all alone because John took Dot to the park to have something to do and Grace is at work and I thought I'd give this cell phone a try and see if I really can call you and it worked."

Everyone laughed.

"Hi everyone!" she yelled.

"Hi Maddie!" they yelled back.

"God, I miss all of you. I can see the picture in the living room and I just wanna be with you all so much."

"Well, actually you have a new brother now. Ianto become a Time Lord and he's also with us along with Jack," the Doctor said.

"Really? That's great!"

"Yup, after counting up everyone who is a Time Lord or an honorary one, you now have 17 brothers and sisters."

"Wow! And I was an only child before," she said while they laughed. "Is there any way I can talk to everyone else? Do you have a speakerphone?"

"Um, no I don't…sorry."

"I do," Rain said to him. "Let me talk to her."

The Doctor handed the mobile to her.

"Maddie, hey!"

"Rain, it's great to hear your voice again!"

"Yours too. I miss you so much. Listen, I have speakerphone on mine so I'll give you the number. Hang up and call mine and I'll put you on speaker."

"Okay."

She gave her the number and Madison thanked her and hung up. Rain handed the Doctor's mobile back to him and they waited. A moment later, her mobile rang and after answering it, she put it on speaker and set it in the middle of the table.

"Okay, you're on speaker now, Maddie," Rain said.

"Hi everyone!" she said.

"Hi!" they yelled back.

"Hi, new brother," Maddie said.

"Hi, Maddie!" Ianto said.

"So are you guys enjoying Florida?" she asked.

"Yes!" they said.

"We're sorry we didn't think of coming to get ya, we'll be sure to call and ask in future," Donna said to her.

"That's okay, I understand," Madison said. "I'm just glad you're enjoying yourselves. And Alan… is Alan there?"

"I'm here, Te'lesu."

"How are you doing?"

"I'm super fine and dandy," he said happily.

"You're okay?"

Alan frowned.

"I'm fine, Maddie, why?"

"Well, I mean after all you went through…the beating and almost being burned alive, I was worried about your mental state and all."

Alan smiled at that.

"I'm fine, I promise. I come from someone who's a tough old bird. It'll take a lot more than that to bring me down. I appreciate you thinking of me though."

"I'm glad. I mean it was horrible what you went through and I was just worried that it might have affected your mind."

"Well…I'm sure a few people here would say my mind was affected long ago but no, I'm fine, honestly."

"Good," she said while Rose squeezed Alan's hand.

"Hey baby!"

The Doctor jerked his head up when he heard someone calling to him and saw a young blonde haired woman several tables away waving at him while her friends giggled.

"Who was that?" Maddie said. "Was that for you guys?"

"That was for me, I'm very popular with the young ladies it seems," the Doctor said.

"I don't blame em, you're cute."

They laughed when he blushed at that. He glanced back up at the woman who was winking at him. He waved at her.

"I think she wants to chat him up, Maddie," Alan said.

"Really? What's Rain think about that?"

They glanced at her and giggled when she rolled her eyes.

"I don't think wife approves very much," he said to her.

"Aw, you have to expect some people are gonna be interested in a cutie like your husband, Rain," Maddie said.

"I know, I have to beat them off with a stick," Rain said.

The Doctor glanced up and noticed the woman was giving him a hopeful look.

"Maddie, stay silent for a moment and listen to the fun," the Doctor said. "I'm gonna call this young woman over to the table."

He held up his hand when Rain stared at him.

"Just watch, Latara," he said to her. "Just playing a bit of a prank with her."

They snickered when the Doctor quickly took off his wedding ring and put it in his pocket. He caught the woman's eye when she looked his way again and waved her over. They laughed when the woman's friends teased her and made wolf whistles while she got up and walked over. She was in her early twenties, Caucasian with tanned skin and hazel eyes. She was wearing a pink halter top and blue jean shorts.

"Hey baby," the woman said to him while she came up behind Jack. "Name's Monica. What's yours?"

"Chip," the Doctor said with an American accent.

"Hey Chip, are these your friends?"

"Yes, they are and this is my twin brother, Buzz."

"Hi, I'm Buzz," Alan said with the same American accent.

"Chip and Buzz, twins. Nice to meet ya. So you wanted me to come over here, Chip?"

"Yes, because I wanted to talk to you," the Doctor said.

"Oh yeah, well, why don't we go someplace private then?"

"No, I'd rather talk here because what I have to say is vitally important," the Doctor said.

"Oh yeah? Well what do you have to say that's so vitally important, baby?" she said.

The Doctor gave her a grave look.

"Are you aware of the coming apocalypse, Monica?" he said.

The others fought to keep from laughing when they saw the stunned expression on her face.

"Excuse me?" Monica said to him.

"That's right; the final battle is coming soon. Those Daleks and the movement of the planet was just the beginning. Soon the end of the world will be at hand and we must gather together everyone we can so we can prepare for it. Do you know that there is a supreme being named Vovanos who will take all believers in his spaceship to his mansion in the stars? The Great One shall come soon and take us all to safety before the planet dies a fiery death but he's only coming once and we must gather together as many as we can before that happens."

"Yes," Alan said, "and in order to do that we must take you to our commune deep within the swamps of the everglades because that's where the mother ship will land. You must turn away from this hedonistic lifestyle and forsake all for Vovanos!"

"Um…yeah, listen I'm going back to my seat now, thanks."

"But wait, my sister," Alan said. "You cannot ignore what's happening. If you do not heed the call of Vovanos and come with us into the swamps your body will eventually be consumed by flames when the Evil One attacks the planet!"

They watched while she hurried back to her seat. All of them laughed along with Madison.

"You're terrible," Madison said while the Doctor put his wedding ring back on.

"Well, I was only warning her of the dangers of the Evil One, Maddie," the Doctor said. "You know the entire Earth will be plunged into a fiery hell soon and the only way to escape it is to wait in the everglades with the gators for the return of Vovanos."

She laughed harder.

"Yup, I definitely miss traveling with you guys," she said.

"Well, we miss you, Maddie," Alan said. "You need to come back here as soon as you can."

"I will if you get your TARDIS back," she said.

They paused when they heard a rumble of thunder overhead and looked up to see lightning lighting up the sky.

"Blast!" the Doctor said.

"What is it, what's wrong?"

"It's about to storm, Maddie. The Evil One is sending us rain to ruin our Miami night."

"Oh no. That sucks. It's a nice sunny day here."

The Doctor picked the phone up.

"We're gonna have to go back to our hotel room before the rain comes."

"Well, I'll let you guys go then so you can relax but please come and get me when you can."

She gave them the date and the time and Rain held the phone while the Doctor jotted it down on his pad of paper.

"Got it, Maddie," he said while Rain held the phone and they walked back to the hotel. "We'll be there as soon as we can."

"I can't wait; I'll see you in two seconds then."

He smiled.

"Count on it," he said.

She said goodbye to all of them before hanging up. While Rain was putting the phone back in her pocket, they felt raindrops beginning to hit their bodies and all of them picked up speed heading back towards their hotel.


	134. Chapter 134

Chapter One Hundred And Thirty Four

Halfway to the hotel the rain hit and all of them were soaked by the time they made it back to their rooms. They went into their bathrooms, grabbed the towels and quickly dried their bodies before they changed into dry clothes. Alan was the first to get dried off and he slipped out the door while everyone else took their turn. By the time the Doctor and their wives were done and lying on the bed he still hadn't returned.

"Anyone know where Alan got to?" Rain said.

Rose shrugged.

"He didn't tell me anythin', he just went out the door," she said.

_Alan, hon, where are ya?_ Rose thought to him.

_I'm fine, I'm just doing something and I'll be back up in a moment,_ Alan thought back.

Rose shrugged and laid back on her bed while the Doctor and Rain lay on theirs. Outside the storm was growing in intensity and thunder boomed while lightning illuminated the drawn curtains.

_Alan, you're not outside in this storm, are ya?_ Rose thought to him.

_Nope, downstairs, I'm in the lift coming back up, my worried wife,_ he thought.

A moment later, the door opened and Alan entered with his hand behind his back.

"I was down at the little shop," he said to Rose.

He passed by her bed and she noticed he had a plastic bag behind his back. He walked over to Rain and put the bag on her chest. Rain stared at it while he walked back to his bed.

"Um…thanks, Bro," Rain said.

"Just returning the kindness as promised, Te'lesu," he said, turning on the TV and lying down beside Rose.

Rain sat up in the bed and looked inside. She pulled out a can of Mountain Dew, a bag of potato chips and a little black teddy bear with a little red bow.

"Oh! Thanks, Bro," she said to him.

"You're most welcome, my provider of yummy chocolate chip biscuits and phosphates," he said to her.

He put his hand over his mouth.

"Ooops, sorry, I keep forgetting I'm a clone. What I meant to say was cha chee chee chomp!" he said to her while they laughed.

Rain lay back down beside her husband while they watched the news.

"Too bad we don't have a DVD player in here so we can watch some movies," the Doctor said. "I'm not really interested in the news. Besides I'm half afraid they'll report some crisis that I'll be compelled to fix."

They grimaced when a thunderboom made the glass in the balcony doors vibrate. Mingxia leaned through the communicating door.

"Good thing we came inside when we did," she said to them.

"Yeah, bad enough we got drenched without being caught out in it now," the Doctor said.

She came further into the room and glanced at the TV.

"Watching the news?"

Alan shrugged.

"I just turned it on, I didn't channel hop," he said to her. "Why? What are you watching?"

"Nothing, we're just talking. Jack and Ianto are in their room but they haven't visited with us. Their door is closed so I have a feeling they're in there kissing."

"Probably doing other things as well," the Doctor said.

They went back into their room while they two couples lay in bed. The Doctor casually watched the TV not really listening to it while they thunderstorm raged outside. He was upset that Madison wasn't able to be with them and he had half a mind to fly back to Cardiff to get the TARDIS and go get her. But while he was lying there thinking of that he suddenly had a revelation and he sat up in bed, his eyes wide.

"What is it?" Rain asked him.

"Brother, I am so thick it's unbelievable," he said to Alan.

"What do you mean?"

He leapt up, ran to his rucksack and pulled out his trousers. They sat up and watched while he dug deep into his right trouser pocket, his arm almost in up to the elbow. Then with a triumphant yell he pulled out a vortex manipulator.

"See, I'm thick!" he said while the women came into the room. "Remember? I took this off that bastard's wrist after he poisoned Rain and used it to come back. I put it in my pocket but I forgot all about it until now."

Smiles spread over their faces when they realized what that meant.

"You can go get Madison without the TARDIS?" Awinita said.

"And bring her back here."

They cheered while brought Jack and Ianto out of their room.

"What's going on?" he asked.

They yelled when they told him.

"Doc, you didn't tell me you had a vortex manipulator," he said.

"I forgot it about it until now. Like I keep saying, my head's too full. I need that Harry Potter pensieve to empty it out. Rain, call Madison back and tell her to get ready because I'm coming to get her."

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Madison sat with Dorothy and John in their living room. She had finished talking to Rain and was waiting for the Doctor to appear.

"This vortex manipulator thing, this will bring him right here?" John said.

"I think so. She said it allows someone to travel without a TARDIS and…"

She trailed off when she saw a glimpse of the time vortex in the room and then a flash and the Doctor appeared shaking his head.

"I really hate that part," he mumbled.

"Doctor!" Madison said, leaping up from the chair.

"Maddie, oh I'm so glad I had this, Te'lesu," he said, hugging her tightly.

"Hi!" Dorothy said, running up to him.

"Hi! You're here as well. Would you like to come with us?"

"Can she?"

The Doctor picked her up.

"Sure, there's room for twelve and she'd make twelve. We're heading up towards Disneyworld."

He smiled at her.

"Wanna go see Mickey Mouse?" he said to her.

"Yes!"

They laughed.

"Well, I better go pack some things for her too," Madison said.

She hurried off to her room while the Doctor smiled at John.

"I'm glad you were able to come and get them. She really missed you," John said.

"We missed her as well. I'm glad I still had this."

He looked around.

"Where's this dog of yours?"

"He's out back relieving himself. I'll bring him inside so you can see him."

The Doctor held Dorothy close to him and smiled at her.

"I'm so glad Rose thought to get a people carrier that hold twelve," he said. "I want you to come with us so you can have fun."

He smiled when she stared at him with wide eyes and kissed her forehead.

"I hope someday you become a Time Lady, Dorothy. I want you to become one so badly," he said.

Suddenly Barney came sprinting through the living room. He was tiny with a white body, brown head and one brown spot on his back.

"Barney!" Dorothy said, pointing.

"Is this your doggie?" the Doctor said, putting her down and bending down.

He petted the dog with Dorothy while he licked his face and wagged his tail. John came in behind him and smiled.

"Amber has a cat now. Hers is named Katie. It's a Siamese cat about three months old."

"Aw, how's she doing?" the Doctor asked while he petted Barney.

"Better. She and I have talked some things over."

"Maddie said you did and I'm glad she's going to become a psychologist."

"Me too. That was her idea, to help families who have lost a female member in childbirth but I'm glad she's doing that."

"So am I."

Maddie came back in the room carrying two small duffle bags.

"Rain said to pack lightly because you are getting what you need along the way," Madison said.

"Yup, we all have rucksacks and suitcases would take up too much room. What you have there is fine."

Madison hugged John.

"Look after Grace until I get back," she said to him.

"I will. You and Dot have fun in Florida."

"Tell Grace and Amber I said hi," the Doctor said.

"I will. You take care of yourselves in Florida," he said to him.

The Doctor nodded.

"Now before we go back to Florida, I wanna take a little diversion because I just had another brilliant idea that'll solve our money problems, now and in the future," he said.

He punched in the coordinates on the vortex manipulator and picked Dorothy up.

"Grab the bags and put your arms around me, Maddie. This is gonna be a bit of a rough ride," he said to her.

She grabbed the duffle bags in her hands and held him tightly around the waist. John waved while the three of them vanished in a bright flash of light.

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Everyone was waiting in the Doctor's room when suddenly they saw the glimpse of vortex. Seconds later there was a flash and the three of them appeared.

"Ugh, you're right, that is rough," Madison said, shaking her head.

"Oh my God, you brought Dorothy as well!" Rose said when they all ran to them.

"Yup, I figured since we have twelve seats and we're going to Disneyworld we might as well bring along the little one," the Doctor said.

They hugged both of them tightly. Suddenly there was a huge thunderboom and Dorothy cried and reached out for her mother.

"Oh baby, it's alright. You're got quite a shock, huh? It was bright and sunny a few minutes ago, wasn't it?"

Rain went over to the bedside table, picked up the teddy bear and showed it to Dorothy.

"Look, Dot," she said to her.

Dorothy stopped crying, stared at the teddy bear with interest and took it from Rain.

"What do you say, Dot?"

"Thank Oooo," she said while they laughed.

The Doctor put their duffle bags beside the dresser and reached into his pocket.

"We made a little side trip because I wanted to get these for everyone," he said, pulling out a brown wallet. "This will solve all our money problems and we'll no longer have to use currency exchanges because this wallet makes money, almost a thousand different kinds. Now gather round and I'll show you what to do."

They gathered around him and he opened up the wallet. They saw a small keyboard on the left side of it that resembled a blackberry's keyboard.

"Now, what you do is you turn this on and you use the keypad to put in the type of the currency you want and this has all the Earth currency in it's database so we use the keypad here and type in dollar Earth United States and hit the enter button. Now it asks for the amount you want and I'll type in 300 and hit enter. Now you open the wallet and…"

He opened the slit and pulled out three hundred dollars.

"Voila, instant money, all legal tender and you can make almost any kind you want. And I have one for each of you….except for Dot of course," he said. "And I have some for Grace, John and Amber and for Martha which I'll give it to Jack to give to her. The men's wallets are brown like this and women's wallets are white."

He passed them out to everyone.

"They're yours but use them wisely don't buy mansions for yourself in every country or planet in the universe," he said. "But this way we don't have to rely on currency exchanges, credit cards or traveler's checks. Now…the next item of business is where this little lady is gonna sleep. Because now we have a human with us which means she needs sleepy time."

"She can sleep in our bed," Alan said. "We can go in the next room and leave the door open and listen."

"You don't have to do that. She'll sleep in the same room if you keep the noise down," Madison said.

They looked at each other.

"Gee, can we do that?" the Doctor said while they laughed.

"The other thing is I'll have to try to get her to sleep because she just woke up a few hours ago and now it's night again," Madison said.

"And we also have to go and get her a car seat now since we could get arrested for not having her buckled in," Awinita said.

"Now see, this is why I like my TARDIS. I don't have to worry about car seats or restraining people."

"Yeah and that's why we go tumbling around the ruddy ship all the time," Donna said.

They laughed and she shrugged when the Doctor eyed her. There was another thunderboom and Dorothy clung tightly to Madison.

"Perhaps we better find a way to distract and entertain her then," the Doctor said. "If she's wide awake, maybe we can go to the department store and get the car seat and some other things for her so we won't have to waste time in the morning doing it. Besides maybe the activity will wear her out a bit."

"Yeah, especially with Alan around her," Mingxia said. "He can wear out anyone."

"I don't know if I should be angry at that or agree," Alan said while they laughed.

He smiled at Dorothy.

"But who cares, I'm glad she's here with us," he said.

"Except you know what this means, doncha?" Rose said to him.

"What?" Alan said.

"It means when we get to Disneyworld, we can't skip the kid rides. Now we will have to go on the Dumbo ride and It's A Small World and Peter Pan…"

"No!" Alan said while they snickered. "You don't want that rubbish, do ya, Madison? You want to go to the EPCOT many lands thing and see all the countries, sod Dumbo and his boring ride."

"Dumbo!" Dorothy said.

"Blast, I guess we'll have to go on him then," Alan said, shrugging.

He tousled her hair and smiled when she touched his face. Madison held her tight and the Doctor put his hand on her back and gave her a kiss on the cheek while all of them walked outside the room and headed back down to the lobby.


	135. Chapter 135

Chapter One Hundred And Thirty Five

They hurried out into the rain which by now had lessened a bit and got into the van. Madison sat in the seat behind the driver's side with Dorothy and Jenny. She urged Dorothy to sit while the Doctor climbed into the driver's side and Rain got in beside him. They drove around and asked a few people on the pavement for directions until they finally found a Wal-Mart. The Doctor let everyone off at the entrance so they wouldn't have to walk in the rain. He parked nearby, got out and ran to them. He ran his hand through his rain soaked hair while they walked inside.

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After getting a trolley, Madison sat Dorothy in the little child's seat at the front of it and they slowly walked around while they shopped for her and Madison. They found the car seats and looked through them all.

"We didn't have to find one for her on New Hope. The cars there have some kind of force field you can activate that keeps the kid's butt in the seats," Madison said to them while they looked. "Otherwise, I would have brought it along with us."

They found one that was small but looked sturdy. They put it in the trolley and headed towards the grocery area to get snacks and drinks. On the way there, Dorothy kept looking at Alan who was walking beside the trolley with Rose. He noticed her looking at him and leaned in.

"Anyone ever tell ya that it's rude to stare," he said, staring at her with wide eyes.

He smiled when Dot giggled and he ruffled her hair. They got a few more bags of chips, some pretzels for Dorothy and several juice boxes along with some soft drinks.

"I have her sipper cup here," Madison said to them while they walked. "And a few outfits and a couple of her favorite toys."

"We have some DVDs in the people carrier and we have two children's movies," the Doctor said. "We have Lilo and Stitch because Alan wanted everyone to see the story behind his tattoo and we have the Wizard of Oz."

"She's seen both a million times but she likes them," Madison said.

"Well, we can get her a few more then," the Doctor replied.

They walked into the toy aisle.

"Hey, we actually have a reason to be here now," Jack said.

Alan grinned when he saw Madison looking around at the toys and he leaned in.

"You see toys?" he said to her with wide eyes.

"You go 'way!" Dorothy squealed at him.

He sniffed and leaned back up. They laughed when he pretended to cry on Rose's shoulder.

"My niece doesn't love me, Rose. Cha chee chee chomp!" he said sadly while they laughed.

Rose patted his back.

"She's just playin' hard to get, Alan," she said to him.

"Chee chee chomp?" Alan said hopefully.

"Yes, dear, chee chee chomp," Rose said while they giggled.

"What are talking about?" Madison said while they laughed harder.

Awinita explained it to her.

"Wow, I've never seen that episode before. I've seen a few South Park shows but not that one."

"It was unusual to say the least," Donna said.

They stopped at the children's activity books and Awinita giggled.

"We actually have a few of these in the van. We got them as a joke," she said to Madison.

The Doctor frowned.

"Um…we got a twelve person people carrier, we got the activity books and Alan got the teddy bear that comforted Dot. Anyone else suddenly get the suspicion we knew these two were comin' with us all along?" he said.

"We're very psychic, what can we say?" Awinita said to him.

Madison picked out a Barbie and Care Bears coloring book and got some oversized crayons for her along with two picture books. They headed into the next aisle and Dorothy strained to get out of her seat when she saw a Dora plushie on the shelf.

"No baby, you have stuffed animals," Madison said to her.

Dorothy pouted and looked back at the plushie while they headed out of the aisle. They went to the DVD section and looked through the kid's movies. They picked out a Care Bears movie for her along with Aladdin and the live action Scooby Doo movie.

"Anything you wanna get, Maddie?" Rose asked her.

"What do you have?"

"The Wizard of Oz, Lilo and Stitch, Gone with the Wind and Xanadu."

"Xanadu?" she said while they laughed. "Who thought of getting that?"

They pointed at Awinita when she raised her hand.

"I don't think I've ever seen Xanadu before," Madison said.

"I don't think anyone's seen it except her," Alan replied. "I don't think anyone's wanted to see it except her."

"I like the songs in it. It has a good soundtrack," Awinita said. "I like Olivia Newton John."

"Actually, I do too," Madison said.

She thought while she rubbed Dorothy's back.

"Hmmm, um…I can't think of anything offhand that I wanna see that badly. I like Gone with the Wind."

"We can wait if you want and get something later," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, I wanna wait. What you have is fine. I just want something to amuse Dot on the long car ride," she said.

They turned and went into the CD section and looked at the selection. They picked up a few compilations of '70's, '80's and '90's songs and went on.

"We better get some ponchos for rainy nights like this," Awinita said.

They nodded and asked a worker where they were. Once they found them, they picked up eleven adult ponchos and one child sized one. The Doctor looked at Madison.

"She has her swimsuit, right?"

"Yes and water wings."

"Does she have an inflatable raft?" Rain asked.

"No, she doesn't have that or any pool toys."

"We better get her something then," the Doctor said.

They went to the aisle that had the summer items and got her a little inflatable Little Mermaid raft that had a plastic window in the front for seeing underwater and they got her a little turtle inner tube she could sit in.

"We have a little lap blanket in the van and she can use that," Awinita said.

"Good, she might need it," Madison replied.

They stopped and thought while they looked at the items in the trolley.

"Does she have shampoo and things like that?" Rose asked.

"Yeah, she does."

"I'm guessing that's the lot then," the Doctor said. "At least for now. So now we can head back to the hotel room for the night."

They went up to the front to pay for everything.

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Once they got outside, they took out the ponchos and put them on while Madison put the tiny one on Dorothy. They put the plastic hoods over their heads and all of them stood by the van while the Doctor and Jack worked to get the car seat installed in the space directly behind the driver's side. Once they got it in and secure, they let Madison put Dorothy in it and then she sat down beside her while the others put the bags in the back and climbed inside around her. The Doctor climbed in the driver's side and looked around at every one.

"Everyone crammed in together like a tin of sardines?" he said while they laughed. "Okay, we'll get goin' then and head back to the comfort of our hotel room."

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"At last, we're done," the Doctor said when they got back in his room and they took off their ponchos. "I could do with a rest now. I'm spent."

He sat down on the bed and smiled when Dorothy toddled over to him with her wet poncho.

"It's exhausting going to the shops, Dot," he said to her.

She leaned up against him.

"And now I have a wet leg on top of being knackered," he said while they laughed.

Madison came over and took her poncho off. Dorothy followed her while she laid it on the towel rack in the bathroom. She leaned back out the door when Alan walked by yawning and stretching. He sat down on his bed and leaned over when Dorothy came up to him.

"I'm knackered too, Dot. Or as we clones say, chomp chee chee chomp."

He patted her head when she giggled. She watched while he and Rose lay on their bed and she came over to his side. He turned on his side while Rose smiled and stared at her.

"Nosy," he said.

She giggled and ran to the Doctor who was bending over, rummaging through a bag to get a bottle of Coke. They laughed when she slapped his butt and ran away.

"Oi, you cheeky thing, quit that," he said, leaning back up with the Coke.

Dorothy ran into the next room and they laughed when they heard the women calling to her. The Doctor sat down on his bed with Rain.

"Yup, this'll be fun, having a little child with us will make it more interesting," the Doctor said. "Now we gotta find something for her because I doubt she'll wanna go to a pub."

"They must have a zoo or an aquarium here, Love. Most big cities do," Rain said, leaning over to get a Mountain Dew out of her bag.

"Good, I'll get another chance to kick the giraffe's ass."

They grinned when Dorothy squealed and ran back in their room while the women yelled at her to come back. She ran to Rose's side of the bed and stood there while Rose rubbed her back.

"Are they botherin' ya, hon?" Rose said.

"Yes!" she said while they laughed.

"Oi, get bothering the child. She doesn't like all the kerfuffle!" Alan yelled.

"What you doin'?" Dorothy asked Rose.

"We're lying here watching the telly," Rose said to her. "What are you doin'?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing? You want up here with us so you can do nothin' with us?"

She nodded and Rose got up so Dorothy could get on. She crawled over to Alan and plopped down beside him.

"Good evening, young one. I am the loony one. Welcome to my madness," he said while the other three laughed.

"You silly."

"No, I'm bonkers, completely bonkers," Alan said with wide eyes.

He smiled when she giggled and snuggled against him.

"See, keep tellin' ya, Love. You need to be a teacher," Rose said to him.

"Okay, where is she?" Jack said, coming into the room. "I need to tickle the toddler."

He stood at the head of Alan and Rose's bed grinning while Dorothy giggled. He leaned in.

"Hello there, wanna be tickled?" he asked her.

"No!"

"No? Darn, I was in the mood to give you tickles and hugs, I'll go back to Yan then," he said, shrugging.

They laughed when he pretended to pout and went back in the other room. Just then, there was another thunderboom when the storm started back up again. Dorothy whimpered and Alan put his arm around her.

"It's alright, we're here," he soothed the sobbing child while Rose rubbed her back. "You gotta be brave for us, you know, because one day you're gonna be a Time Lady and help us fight evil, yeah?"

Madison came back in the room.

"It's a good thing we came back when we did," she said while she leaned over Rose and stroked Dorothy. "It's alright, baby, mommy's here and so are your aunts and uncles. The storm's not gonna get ya."

She took the teddy bear off the bedside table and showed it to her. Dorothy took it and held it close while Rose and Alan got off the bed.

"No!" Dorothy said, reaching out for Alan.

"It's alright. We're gonna get ya under the blanket so you'll be snuggly warm and safe," Alan said soothingly.

Madison stood her up so they could pull it back and then laid her down while they pulled the covers up around her. After that, they both got in and smiled at her.

"See, all nice and safe and warm," Alan said to her while everyone else smiled.

The Doctor found The Weather Channel and they watched the forecast. They noticed they were under a severe thunderstorm watch until 2 a.m.

"I hope this clears up by morning so we can go somewhere," the Doctor said to Alan while Madison pulled a chair up beside Rain and chatted with her quietly.

"Yeah, we don't wanna bring Maddie and Dot here and just sit in the hotel room all day, that's not fun, right?" he said to Dorothy who was staring at the teddy bear.

Dorothy looked up at him and giggled when he tickled her armpit.

"And no hurricanes when we get to Disney, no siree bob. We're gonna have fun there, aren't we? We don't want to be blown away while we see Mickey Mouse, eh?"

"Mickey Mooooouse!" Dorothy said while they laughed.

"Donald Duuuuck!" Alan said to her.

After hearing the forecast, the Doctor flipped through the channels until he found Shrek on TNT.

"Shrek, baby, look!" Madison said.

Dorothy looked up and her eyes went wide. They helped her sit up and adjusted the covers around her while she held the teddy bear and watched. They smiled when there was another thunderboom and she barely noticed it.

"She's gonna have to have a nap at some point because she'll be conking out halfway through the day tomorrow," Madison said to the Doctor.

"Weeeeell, there is a way I can get her to sleep if you don't mind me going into her mind," he said to her.

"What do you mean?"

"I did it with Rose," Alan said to her. "When she had trouble sleeping, I put her into a deep sleep that allowed her to rest. It won't hurt her, she'll just fall into a deep, dreamless sleep and then Brother will wake her in the morning."

"That might be the only way for her to sleep with all these people around," Rose said. "At least for tonight since she's already been to bed once. But it does relax ya and you do wake up more alert and refreshed than you've ever been."

"I won't do it without your permission though," the Doctor said.

"You can. I'm just concerned that she'll be up all night and won't have any energy to do anything in the morning. After tonight, she'll be back on a normal sleep cycle so we probably won't have to do that to her again. But yes, I trust you, Doctor. Let her stay up a bit though so she can watch Shrek."

"Of course, just let me know when you think it's her time for a kip," the Doctor said.

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After a couple of hours the storm died down and Madison asked the Doctor to put her to sleep. He nodded and got up. He leaned over his brother and grinned at her.

"Mommy says it's your nap time," he said to her.

"No," Dorothy said.

"Yes, baby, you need to rest so you'll have fun in the morning," Madison said.

Alan got up and helped lay her down.

"No," Dorothy said softly.

The Doctor kissed her cheek.

"Sorry, Ladybird, mummy's orders," he said to her. "But I promise I'll wake ya up so you won't miss the fun."

He stroked her cheek and sighed.

"I wish she was like us so I could send some love into her mind," he said to Rose while she nodded.

He let Madison lean over and gave her daughter a kiss on the lips.

"We'll see you in a few hours, baby," she said to her.

"Love you, mommy."

"I love you too, baby," she said.

She kissed both cheeks and leaned back up. The Doctor gently put his hands on the side of her head and closed his eyes. They watched while Dorothy's eyes closed and her breathing evened out while she went to sleep. He took his hands away and gave her a kiss on the cheek before getting up and going back to his bed. Alan and Rose covered Dorothy up and sat down beside her while they watched TV.


	136. Chapter 136

Chapter One Hundred And Thirty Six

They waited until seven in the morning before the Doctor woke Dorothy up. He smiled at her when she opened her eyes.

"Good mornin'. The scary storm's stopped although the Oncoming Storm is right here."

He gave her an angry face.

"Grrr, I'm the Oncoming Storm, fear me!" he said.

He grinned when Dorothy giggled.

"No, fear me, not laugh at me," he said while everyone else laughed. "I'm the Oncoming Storm, don't you know about me?"

"You silly."

"I'm gonna find a t-shirt shop that puts things on t-shirts and have them put that on a t-shirt for ya," he said to her. "But then again I better not say that too loudly because knowing this lot they'll want you to tattoo that on your body."

Madison came over and kissed her good morning.

"You look bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning," she said to her. "I guess putting you in a coma really does do you some good."

"I'm hungry, mommy."

"Oooh, you're always hungry," she said, standing her up.

Alan leaned in.

"I'm hungry too!"

"You go 'way!"

"What? I'm just sympathizin' with your plight," Alan said while they laughed. "Fine, I'll leave you alone then forever and eeeeeever!"

He walked into the other room.

"No!" Dorothy said, pointing.

"What, honey, you just told him to go away," Madison said while they laughed harder. "Make up your mind, sweetie, do you want Alan around you or not?"

"Hey! Heeeeey!" Dorothy yelled to Alan while Madison picked her up.

Alan peeked around the door.

"Yes?"

"You go 'way!"

Alan's mouth dropped open while everyone bent over laughing.

"You're cheeky once you've gotten a kip, aren't ya?" he said to her.

He walked over to Rain while Madison took Dorothy into the bathroom.

"The cheek of that woman…"

"You go 'way, Snotbag!" Rain said to him.

She gasped when Alan grabbed her and gave her a wedgie.

"Damn it, you snot!" Rain said, fishing her underwear out of her crack while he sprinted into the next room.

"I see the brother/sister truce has ended," the Doctor said, fishing through his rucksack for his comb.

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After freshening up, all of them headed downstairs to a little restaurant. The Doctor went to ask the concierge about things they could do while the others went through the breakfast buffet and got something to eat. The Doctor returned fifteen minutes later, went through and got himself something to eat before joining them at a large booth near the front of the brightly lit restaurant.

"There is a zoo downtown and an aquarium but I'd rather just go to the zoo since there are more animals there," he said to them. "There's also a hot air balloon ride. They take you up and tell you about Miami while you view the city. There's also a children's museum and a science museum. And there's the beach of course."

"Let's go to the zoo first, she might like that," Madison said.

"Yes, because I have to kick the giraffe's bum," Alan said.

They laughed when Madison gave him an odd look and explained the joke to her.

"And have you ever kicked a giraffe's butt?" she asked him.

"Only a plushie one. I have yet to kick the bum of a real one," he said.

"How are you gonna do it? Get a stepladder and stand there behind him and expect the giraffe to just stand there while you kick him?" Madison said.

Alan feigned surprise.

"You know, I haven't thought of that before," he said while they laughed. "Of course I could just kick those storky legs of his and then kick the butt when he falls, then I wouldn't have to get a stepladder for that."

"You silly." Dorothy said while she sat beside her.

Alan took his fork, speared some eggs on her plate and fed it to her.

"There ya go, gob's full, you won't get cheeky," he said while they laughed.

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After eating they piled in the car and headed to the Miami Metrozoo. Once they were there, they paid their admission and stood just inside beside a row of plastic strollers.

"Will she need a push chair?" Rose asked Madison.

"She might. She likes to walk but she might get tired, we better take one."

Rose grabbed a stroller and brought it over. Dorothy walked over to it and started to climb in.

"Well, I guess she does want to ride in it," Jack said.

"Wish we all could," Awinita said.

The Doctor helped get her in the stroller and held on to the handles while Madison put their things in the compartment behind the seat. Alan tapped the Doctor on the shoulder and he looked at him.

"I know that look," Alan said, imitating Donna. "Seen it round our way, men with pushchairs and frowns, you've got uncle shock!"

They laughed when Donna chased him for several feet. She finally swatted his back before walking back to them.

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They walked slowly through the zoo looking at all the animals while Dorothy rode in the stroller. The Doctor decided to push her so Madison could have some time to talk to the other women. The men all walked beside him while he pushed her.

"You know, you look very natural doing that," Jack said to the Doctor. "Done it before?"

"I was a father before. I had Dex and although they didn't have pushchairs like this on Gallifrey, they did have something similar for toddlers. I do know a thing or two about childcare, yes."

They glanced down at Dorothy who was relaxing in the stroller. He reached over and tousled her hair and she grinned up at him.

"Hi," Dorothy said.

"Hi, Ladybird, enjoying the animals?" the Doctor said.

"Yes."

"Good."

Alan put up a privacy block and thought to him. The Doctor chuckled and looked for an opening in the pathway.

"And we're off!" the Doctor suddenly yelled.

They laughed when he suddenly took off running as fast as he could while Dorothy squealed with delight.

"We're running!" he yelled while he ran. "There's a Slitheen behind us and we gotta get away. Oh no, an Ice Warrior's in front, we gotta turn 'round."

He popped a wheelie on the stroller and spun around while Dorothy laughed hysterically. He ran back to them and set the front wheels down while he gasped for air.

"Whew, that was my workout for today," he said while they laughed.

They looked down at Dorothy who was begging for more.

"I'm old and decrepit, Ladybird, I gotta conserve my energy."

"Have no fear, Brother. I shall amuse the tot."

Dorothy laughed when he grabbed the handles and spun the stroller around. They bent over laughing while he ran as fast as he could and yelled at the top of his lungs.

"And there's a bear and some tigers and a zebra," he yelled while he ran. "Look fast, Dot, I can't stop!"

He stopped about thirty feet away and rested while they caught up to him.

"You're right, Brother. This is exhausting. Not to mention the risk of falling arse over tit if you stumble into the pushchair."

He looked down when Dorothy begged for more.

"You don't give a crap about the zoo anymore, do ya?" he said to her.

"Here, let me take over from here," Jack said.

They laughed when he took off running while she squealed with laughter.

"And there are some parrots and gorillas and wildebeests! Look fast, Dot, I can't stop!" Jack screamed while the others bent over laughing.

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After awhile, Dorothy wanted out of the stroller. The Doctor continued to push it along while she held her mother's hand and they looked at the animals. They all began to giggle when they finally neared the giraffes.

"Alright, let me at the gits! I'll soon sort out their snooty behavior!" Alan said, pretending to roll up his sleeve.

"Can I come with you, Uncle Alan?"

Alan looked at Jenny.

"Why?"

"I wanna kick one too," she said.

"Yeah, me too. I hate giraffes," Mingxia said. "They're odd looking and they're too tall."

"Are we all going to get arrested and end up in prison alongside Alan?" Jack asked.

"Well, they're s'posed to be teaching me how to behave," Jenny said, shrugging. "I s'pose this will be my lesson in how to abuse animals."

The Doctor put his arm around her.

"No Angel, this lesson is entitled, Don't Do What Your Uncle Does," he said while they laughed.

They walked up to the fence surrounding the giraffes and Alan looked around before pretending to climb the fence.

"If I'm not back in five minutes…wait," he said while they laughed.

He let go of the fence and sighed while he watched the giraffes eat the leaves off the trees. Their eyes widened when one walked over to the fence.

"Oi, Spots! Come here!" Alan said.

Madison picked up her daughter and she pointed up at the giraffe while it came near the fence. Dorothy ooed while she looked up at the head.

"Maybe one is finally listening to ya, Bro, and letting you pet it," Awinita said.

"Or this is the giraffe mafia and they're here to kick Alan's arse," Rose said.

They gazed up at the giraffe while it looked out over them.

"Mommy!"

"I know, baby, I see it!"

"Anyone got any snacks on them?" Jack said.

Alan looked down at the grass and cursed when he noticed it was all neatly mowed.

"Oi! Look down, storky, you got people under ya," Alan said.

They laughed when he turned and walked away.

"One of these days, one of these days, WHAM! Plimsol up the bum, I swear it!" he said.

Rose patted him on the shoulder and Alan quickly flipped him off while they walked away.

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"Now see, I think this is just an act," Alan said while they stared at the sloth. "I bet the moment people's eyes are off him, he jumps down and disco dances."

"Should we set up some kind of secret surveillance and see if you're right?" Jack said.

"Yes, set up a hidden camera so we can catch the bugger disco dancin' when we leave."

"Yes, sir. Ianto, set up the hidden cameras."

"Right Jack, I'm all over that as we speak," he said dryly while they laughed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Oh Lord," Donna said, rolling her eyes while Alan and the Doctor eeked at the dolphins floating in their tank. "I think Dot's more mature than the both of ya."

"We're just speaking to our brother dolphins, Donna," Alan said. "Haven't you ever heard of dolphin intelligence? We're speaking eek eek to them."

They laughed when Dorothy laughed at their eeking.

"See, Dot likes when we speak it," the Doctor said.

"Well gee, according to that South Park show, cows are the most intelligent species on planet Earth."

"They are, but dolphins are a very, very close second," Alan said.

He bent down to Dorothy.

"Can you say eek eek to the dolphins, Dot?"

"Eee, eee," she squealed.

"Close enough," Alan said while they laughed.

He picked her up and held her while they watched them swim around the tank.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

By the time they got back around to the entrance, Dorothy was back in the stroller. They headed into the gift shop and looked around. Madison selected a small white stuffed tiger for her daughter while the Doctor pushed her along. Dorothy looked up at him.

"Who you?" she asked him.

"I'm the Doctor," he said to her.

"Da-da?"

"Doctor."

"Docda?"

"Close enough," he said, shrugging.

"Docda, gotta pee pee," Dorothy said.

The Doctor looked around and went up to a woman behind the cash register.

"Are there restrooms around here?" he asked.

"Outside and to the right, sir," she said.

"Thank you."

He telepathically told the others while he was doing while he went outside and went to the restrooms. He went to the women's side, knocked on the door and when no one answered, opened it. He wrinkled his nose at the musty odor.

"Phew, Ladybird, I think they let the gorillas use the toilet in 'ere," he said, pushing the stroller inside.

He took Dorothy out of the stroller and leaned back against the wall while she pulled down her shorts and underpants and sat down. He smiled while she sang and moved her legs back and forth. She smiled at the Doctor when he heard her peeing.

"I pee pee like big girl," she said.

"Yes, you are, you're a very big girl," he said proudly.

She went back to singing and swinging her legs while the Doctor waited. She looked at him.

"I miss you," she said to him.

"You did? You missed me while I was gone?"

"Yes."

The Doctor's hearts warmed at that.

"I missed you too, Dot," he said tenderly.

He heard her poop and she giggled when she heard the splashing sounds.

"Poo poo, Docda," she said while he grinned.

She finished and pulled off some toilet paper. The Doctor watched proudly while she wiped herself, jumped off and flushed the toilet. She pulled up her underwear and shorts and walked over to the sink. The Doctor walked over, turned on the water, lifted her up and helped her wash her hands.

"Your mummy taught you well, didn't she?" he said to her.

"I'm big girl, Docda," she said.

He kissed the top of her head.

"Yes, you are, Ladybird," he said.

He sat her down and turned the water off. He turned and saw her staring up at him.

"Do you wanna get back in the pushchair, Dot?"

"No."

She followed him while he got the stroller. He opened the door and they stepped out together. He took her hand and gave it a squeeze while they walked back to the gift shop.


	137. Chapter 137

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Seven

After leaving the zoo, Rose followed the directions the concierge had given the Doctor and found the hot air balloon ride.

"Wow, you get to go up in another hot air balloon, Brother," Alan said.

"Yes and this time I don't have to zap a Cyberking into the vortex," he replied.

They paid their admission and walked up to a large hot air balloon tied down to metal stakes in a large grassy area.

"I can take six at a time," a man said, walking up to them.

"Okay, let's divide up then," the Doctor said.

The Doctor, Alan, Rain, Rose, Madison and Dorothy were in one group while the others formed the other group. The Doctor's group decided to go first. The man opened a small door in the side of the gondola and let them inside. Madison held Dorothy tightly in her arms while the young man climbed inside and closed the door. He was a young black man with a small afro and small oval glasses. He was wearing a blue shirt, tan pants and black Nikes.

"Name's Malik. I'm your guide," he said.

He waited till another man untied the ropes. He pulled on the cord and Dorothy stared with interest as a fire flared up and the hot air balloon rose into the air.

"No, come back!" Jack yelled. "You have to take us back to Kansas, Wizard!"

They laughed and the Doctor leaned forward.

"I can't come back; I don't know how it works. Goodbye folks!" he said to them.

Malik laughed.

"I see you're Wizard of Oz fans."

"We saw it yesterday. My daughter's never seen it before," the Doctor said to him.

"Oh, her?" he said pointing to Dorothy.

"No, the blonde haired woman on the ground, she's my adopted daughter."

Malik looked down and nodded. He took the balloon up higher while he began his tour. Dorothy clung to Madison while she looked down.

"Mommy?" she whimpered.

"It's alright, baby, I got you," she soothed.

Dorothy looked at Alan next to her and reached for him.

"Docda?" she said.

Alan raised his eyebrows while everyone laughed.

"No, I'm Alan," he said.

"Alan, where Docda?"

They laughed when he feigned exasperation. The Doctor walked over to her.

"Here I am, Ladybird," he said, ruffling her hair.

"How come you here?" she asked, pointing to Alan.

"Because that's my brother. He's my twin," the Doctor said to her.

Dorothy stared at Alan while he ruffled her hair.

"I'm Alan, this is the Doctor," he said to her.

"You Alan?"

He nodded. Dorothy looked at the Doctor.

"You Docda?"

"Yup, you got it now," the Doctor said.

Malik took the balloon up near the top of the tallest buildings and he pointed out some of the buildings and attractions while he told them some facts about Miami. The Doctor glanced down and waved at the rest of his family far below. They waved back.

"Docda."

"What?" the Doctor said turning to Dorothy. "What you want? I'm busy being dizzy."

She reached for him and he took her into his arms and held her.

"You must have bonded in the bathroom," Madison said.

"Yup, actually she told me she missed me."

"Oh God, terribly. She kept asking about all of you. I'm glad she came along with us because she's the one who wanted to see you, more than I did."

"Well, I'm also glad she came along."

"Docda," Dorothy said, pointing to a building.

"I see it, Ladybird, neat, huh?"

"Why you call me that?" Dorothy said, frowning.

"That's my special name for ya. Do you want me to call you that?"

She nodded and Rain rubbed his back when she saw the wide smile on his face.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After another five minutes, Malik took the balloon back down and four men grabbed the ropes and tied it to the stakes. Once they were secure, they got out and let the others get inside.

"Where they go?" Dorothy asked.

"They're going up like we did, baby," Madison said.

"Bye bye," Dorothy yelled to them.

Everyone in the gondola waved and smiled at her. The men untied the ropes and they went up. They laughed when they heard Dorothy yelling at them to come back.

"We'll be back in a minute, Dot," Awinita yelled to her.

Malik took them up while they looked out over the city.

"It's beautiful up here," Jenny said.

They laughed when Dorothy kept yelling at them to come back.

"We can't come back, Dot! We're not in control!" Jack yelled down.

"She's so cute," Donna said. "I'm glad they got to come along with us."

"Me too. I missed them so much," Mingxia said. "It's too bad Grace couldn't come."

"Where would we fit her?" Ianto said. "They took up the last available space."

"You all travelin' together?" Malik asked.

"Yeah, we're in a minivan on vacation going across Florida," Awinita said.

"Wish I could do that. But I enjoy taking people up in the balloon. You're right; the city is very beautiful from up here."

"Yeah it is. It's very peaceful up here as well," Donna said.

He nodded.

"It doesn't pay a lot but the view more than makes up for it," he said to them.

He finished his ascent and began his tour while they listened.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they finished the tour, all of them headed over to another section of the park where there was a playground so they could decide what to do next. They sat at a picnic table while Madison took her daughter over to some swings.

"So what's next?" Rose said to them.

"We could go to the children's museum," Awinita said, shrugging.

"Or we could go to the beach," Mingxia said.

"You know what we forgot to get?" Rain said.

"What?" the Doctor said.

"A shovel and pail for playing in the sand," she said.

"We should have gotten some beach towels too," Awinita added.

"I'm glad you got a large people carrier, Rose," the Doctor said while they laughed. "It'll be fun trying to get all this stuff back on the plane when we're done."

"We don't have to do that, Doctor," Rose said. "Use the vortex manipulator when we get to the end of Florida, go get the TARDIS and bring it back here. That way we don't have to drive all the way back to Orlando when we get up to edge of the state."

"Aren't ya glad you remembered to bring that along, Brother?" Alan said.

"Yes, extremely," he replied, "especially since I'm sure everyone will want souvenirs and the last thing I wanna do is have everyone leave them behind."

"Not to mention I really don't fancy going back on the plane with more people," Donna said. "I'll be knackered by the time we get done with this."

The women all nodded.

"Wait a tic, I thought you lot wanted to do it this way," he said while the other men laughed. "Ooo, let's go fly an aeroplane to Florida and slum it like Earth tourists and now you want the TARDIS back?"

"Okay, we admit it, the TARDIS is nice and roomy and it has a lot of advantages to it," Awinita said. "We flew in the airplane and we're driving across the state and that's enough slumming it."

"Quitters," Alan said, winking. "But I agree, it's impractical to go up to the Georgia border, turn around and come back just to go back to the airport or even to go to an airport up there when we can just go get the TARDIS and skip all that.

"I can take Ianto and Jack back with me when I go back so we don't have to take the TARDIS right back to Cardiff," the Doctor said.

"And then you can fix my vortex manipulator so it'll work like yours."

"And so, what's next? Children's museum?" the Doctor said, ignoring him.

They laughed when Jack threw up his hands and mumbled to himself about how the Doctor was allowed to have time traveling gadgets when he couldn't. The Doctor patted him on the back and gave him a look of mock sympathy. Jack flipped him off when he went over to tell Madison their plans.


	138. Chapter 138

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Eight

They went to the children's museum afterwards. The majority of the exhibits were for little kids but they had fun watching Dorothy play on them and explore.

"At last we can go to a children's museum with an actual child and not leave because there's only three things for adults to do," Alan said while they watched Dorothy climb around on a large sand castle.

"So Doc, fix my vortex manipulator?"

"Yup, it's nice having Madison and Dorothy with us," the Doctor said, ignoring Jack.

They laughed when Jack let out an exasperated sigh.

"No, I won't and you better not nick the one I have or I'll feed ya to the first gator I see," the Doctor said to him.

They stopped in the museum's café and got Dorothy a small plastic bottle of milk. Madison put it in her sipper cup and she drank it while they rested for a moment.

"You know, Dot, that milk comes from the most intelligent species on the planet," Alan said. "South Park said so."

"Docda?"

"No, I'm Alan. Blimey, we'll have to start wearing signs or nametags or something so she can tell us apart."

"I'll shoot ya through the head so you can regenerate, how 'bout that? Then she can tell you two apart," Jack said to Alan.

"Funny thing is, once I regenerate I'll be alive and I can kill ya right back," Alan said to him. "So if I were you, I'd get a gun that can shoot really, really far…say….Canada?"

Dorothy looked at Rain.

"Who you?" she said to her.

"I'm Rain, Dot."

"Rain, he silly," Dorothy said, pointing to Alan while they laughed.

"I have to agree with ya there, hon. He's also an annoying pest."

Alan grinned. He slapped her on the head.

"Slug-a-bug purple. Cause I'm sure a purple Volkswagen exists somewhere in the world," he said.

Rain looked at Dorothy as she giggled.

"See, honey, a complete pest," she said to her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After going through the children's museum, they stopped off again at the Wal-Mart, got the bucket, pail and beach towels and headed off to find a beachfront hotel. They found a Ramada Inn and checked in. By that time it was late afternoon and the sun was starting to sink into the sky so they quickly changed into their swum suits and trunks and took their beach gear out the back entrance. They laid the colorful beach towels out side by side and the Doctor, Rain, Alan, Rose, Donna and Madison sat down on them while the others went to swim. Dorothy was between the Doctor and Madison and played in the sand with the pail and shovel while they relaxed.

"This is nice," the Doctor said. "It's nice having a proper beach towel instead of a tiny hotel one."

He glanced at his wife who was putting suntan lotion on; he took some of it, squeezed it on his hand and rubbed it on her back while Alan did the same for his wife. Madison put some on her and put some on Dorothy who began to protest it.

"This is to protect ya, honey," Madison said to her. "You probably need the most protection out of all of us because you're not a Time Lady."

"What's that, mommy?"

"It's what I am, honey," she said while the Doctor smiled. "We're very special people; we're not like everyone else."

"Why?"

"Because we belong up in the stars, honey. The Doctor takes us all kinds of fun places but not everyone can do it."

"Oh."

She looked at the Doctor.

"Docda, you take me too?"

He smiled.

"I'll take ya anywhere you wanna go, Ladybird," he said while Rain squeezed his hand and Rose, Alan and Donna chuckled.

"Yup, we have the makings of a Time Lady right here and now," Alan said.

Dorothy stared at the Doctor and dropped her shovel. She crawled over to him and he opened his eyes and smiled at her.

"Am I special?" she said.

"Very. You're very, very special," she said while Rain smiled and rubbed Dorothy's back.

"Am I Timady?" she asked.

They giggled.

"Not yet, Ladybird, but someday I hope you'll be," the Doctor said.

He watched with loving eyes while Dorothy sat beside him and played in the sand. Alan watched her for a moment and then got up. He wandered over and sat down beside her. He began making a hill of sand while Dorothy stopped what she was doing and watched him intently.

"Help me make a sand castle, Dot?" he said to her.

She nodded and flung sand onto the hill with the shovel while the others relaxed. Meanwhile, the other family members were out swimming around in the ocean. The women were exploring underwater with their respiratory bypass systems while Jack swam with Ianto.

"Too bad Martha opted not to come with us," he said to Ianto.

"I repeat, where would she sit?" Ianto said while they swam.

"Hire a bus?" Jack said. "We're a large enough family to have a bus on standby."

"I don't think the Doctor will want to travel by bus all the time. I think this is a rare occurrence, "Ianto said.

"But you have to admit, it's been fun."

"Yes, it has. I'm glad I listened to you and came along."

"Yeah, see Yan, you have to listen to me more oft…"

Ianto frowned when he trailed off.

"What is it?"

They stopped and tread water in front of each other.

"Okay, one of the women grabbed my foot," Jack said, trying to see into the murky water. "They're down there somewhere stalking…"

He gasped.

"Yes and one of them has just tickled my foot," Jack said.

"Are you sure it's them?" Ianto said.

"Yes, Yan, I'm sure. I don't think sharks have fingers and no human could stay down there and…DAMN IT, QUIT TICKLING MY FEET!"

Everyone on shore looked his way and laughed.

"Problems, Jack?" the Doctor called to him.

"Doctor, call to your female members and tell them to…"

His eyes widened.

"What? What's wrong?" Ianto said.

Jack's eyes narrowed.

_Okay,_ he thought to everyone. _Whoever has got my swim trunks down there better return them to me, pronto!_

Everyone above the water howled with laughter while Jack sighed.

"Excuse me, Ianto, I need to go retrieve my trunks and shove coral up the offender's ass."

He activated his respiratory bypass system and sunk under the water. Ianto tread water looking back to shore.

"You're all alone out there, Ianto," Rose yelled.

"I know and I've got an iron grip on my trunks now," he yelled while they laughed.

Suddenly, Awinita burst out of the water near shore. They laughed when she ran up on the beach waving Jack's black trunks around like a flag.

"Figures you'd do it, Harris," the Doctor said while she ran up to him.

"Nice view too when you peel it off, Ianto's a lucky guy," Awinita said, dropping down in the sand beside them.

_Jack, Awinita's got them. She's up on shore,_ Ianto thought to him.

"Ianto, you're not supposed to tell," Awinita said.

Jack's head bobbed up several feet from shore. He stuck his hand up out of the water.

"Game's over, give them back now," he said to her while the other women came up for air behind him.

"No, let him go over there and get em," Mingxia yelled. "Let him give Ianto a show."

"Ianto's seen it so give them back now, Harris. I don't wanna go up there with Dorothy sitting there and get arrested for public indecency."

"Better do it, Te'lesu," the Doctor said. "Jack can get dangerous when he gets angry."

Awinita snorted at that but she got up and ran back into the water while the women let out disappointed moans. She swam out to Jack and handed him his trunks.

"Thank you," he said.

He swam to the other women and they gave her high fives while Jack put his trunks back on.

"You women are dangerous to be around," Jack said to them when he finally got the trunks back on. "And you're a bad influence on Jenny."

"I think Jenny's been corrupted for months without us doing this, Bro," Awinita said.

"Yeah, my daughter's been around Alan, remember?" the Doctor said. "And Alan's been around her and my wife so it's just one big circle of corruption in the TARDIS."

They got out of the water.

"Well nice to see you sunning yourself, Doc," Jack said while they walked up to him. "Maybe you can actually brown your skin enough so we don't see all your vital organs when the sun shines on ya."

The Doctor shot him a look while everyone laughed. Jack looked at Alan who by now had shaped the hill into a crude tower.

"Playing in the sand?" he said to him.

"Yes and Dot was helping me until she was distracted by the whole swim trunk incident," he said, pointing to her while she watched Jack. "I think you lot shocked her because she's just been staring at all of ya since you screamed."

Everyone used their towels to dry off while the sun started to sink below the horizon. The Doctor noticed it and sat up.

"I guess it's pointless to lay here, we're losing the sun," he said to them. "You lot wanna take a walk along the beach before dinnertime?"

They nodded. All of them got up and draped their towels around their bodies. Alan picked up the shovel and pail while Madison took her daughter's hand. Once they were ready, all of them walked up to the end of the beach, turned left and walked together for awhile.


	139. Chapter 139

Chapter One Hundred and Thirty Nine

The next morning, they woke Dorothy early and Madison helped bathe her in the Doctor's bathroom. They had decided to head to the library and see what other cities they could go to and what other attractions there were. Dorothy was sitting naked in the tub while Madison knelt beside the tub helping her bathe.

"Are you having fun, baby?" she asked her while she bathed her.

"Yes."

"Good, I'm glad you are. I'm having fun too."

Dorothy fell silent for awhile while Madison lathered her hair with shampoo. Finally, she looked at her mother.

"Do Docda like me?" she asked.

She paused.

"Yes, honey, he does. He loves you. We all do," she said.

Dorothy fell silent and Madison watched her while she used a small plastic cup to rinse the shampoo from her hair. She finished with that and squeezed a bit of conditioner out on her hand while Dorothy idly splashed the water around her body. Finally, she looked at Madison while she was putting the conditioner in her hair.

"I want Docda to be daddy now," she said to her.

She paused and stared at her.

"He's your uncle, sweetie," she said.

"No, Alan my uncle, Docda my daddy," she said confidently.

Madison thought about that for a moment. She had told her when they moved to Nova that her daddy had gone and wouldn't be coming back to see her anymore. Dorothy had been upset about that but she had comforted her telling her that she would always be with her and she had the love of Grace, John, Amber, the Doctor and everyone else. That seemed to satisfy her, but she had frequently asked where the Doctor and the others had gone and pointed up to the family photo asking where they were and whining about wanting to see them. She never thought that Dorothy would ever consider the Doctor as her daddy but she had noticed she was becoming attached to him.

"You want the Doctor to be your new daddy?" she asked her daughter.

She nodded.

"Yes, I love Docda. I wanna be timady like him," she said. "I want Alan to be uncle and Docda to be daddy. You said daddy go and not come back so I want Docda to be daddy now."

Madison thought about that for a moment before she telepathically asked the Doctor to come into the bathroom. A moment later the door opened and the Doctor stuck his head around the door.

"Is there a problem?" he asked her with concern.

"Come in here and close the door. I need you to hear this," Madison said.

The Doctor slipped inside and closed the door. Dorothy pointed to him.

"I want the Docda to be daddy, mommy!" she said.

The Doctor froze in shock and Madison looked up at him.

"She's been telling me that for the past five minutes. I told her that James was gone and wouldn't be coming back after you left us and she wants you to be her daddy now."

The Doctor was speechless.

"I told her that you were her uncle but she told me Alan is her uncle and she wants you to be her daddy," Madison said to him.

"Yes, Alan uncle and you daddy," Dorothy said.

The Doctor knelt down beside Madison. His hearts warmed while he stared at her. He could see she was completely serious and heard the adamant tone in her voice when she announced that he was her daddy. The Doctor looked at Madison.

"If you want to be her adopted daddy, it's okay with me," she said, shrugging.

The Doctor looked at Dorothy and noticed she had a pleading look on her face.

"Ladybird, I'm not married to your mummy, you know that, right?" he said.

"Yes. But you can be my daddy anyway," she said happily.

"Well, I'd love to but I may not be with you all the time until you get older. You see, I have a job that I do and sometimes you have to stay with your mummy and Grace and John while I do it."

"But you come back?" Dorothy said.

"Yes, Dot, I'll come back and see you when I can but there are times when I can't do that. I'll be your daddy if you want that but until you get old enough to travel with me all the time, you have to stay in your house with your mummy. I will come see you when I can but if I do this you have to promise to be a good girl and not cry and scream if I leave you at your house, okay?"

"Okay."

"I mean it, Dot. I don't want you throwing tantrums because I have to leave. You're not old enough to live with us and sometimes we fight monsters and I don't want you getting hurt. So you have to promise me you'll be a good girl while I'm gone, alright?"

"Yes. Will you be my daddy?"

He smiled and stroked her wet hair.

"I'd love to be your daddy, Ladybird."

"YAY!" Dorothy screamed.

They laughed when everyone outside the door started asking what was going on.

"What was that about?" Rose said through the door.

"Excuse me, Maddie and Dot, I have to explain what the joyful scream was all about," he said.

He kissed Dorothy and got up. Madison went back to bathing her and grinned when she heard everyone else let out joyful yells.

"I think the others approve of the Doctor being your daddy, baby," Madison said to her.

"Can I be timady now?"

She laughed.

"Not till you're older, honey. That's what he was talking about. You're too young to be a Time Lady and go with him all the time. Sometimes you'll have to stay with me in our house and let him go to work. It's like when your real daddy used to go away for his work and wouldn't come back for a couple of days or a week. He's the same way and you have to be a good girl and let him do that, alright?"

She nodded. A moment later, the Doctor came back in the bathroom.

"Daddy!" Dorothy exclaimed.

He grinned at that and knelt down beside Madison. He ruffled her hair affectionately.

"Ladybird, I wanna ask ya something. Is Rain your other mummy then or your aunt? Because she's married to me and she wants to know."

Dorothy thought for a moment.

"Can she be Aunt Rain?" she asked.

"Sure. She just wanted to know since I was your daddy," he said to her.

He looked at Madison.

"The other problem is how is she gonna distinguish between me and Alan?" he said to her.

Madison thought for a moment and then had an idea.

"Could you watch her for a moment, I think I have a solution."

"Sure."

She got up and hurried out.

"Where's mommy goin', Daddy?"

"She's gonna help you tell me and your Uncle Alan apart," he said to her.

She came back in a moment later and showed him an elastic brown hair band.

"This is what I put my hair up with but you can wear it around your wrist and let it be your daddy bracelet," she said to him.

"Brilliant."

She showed it to Dorothy.

"Honey, this is daddy's bracelet. He's gonna wear it so you'll know it's daddy and not Uncle Alan, okay?"

"Okay, mommy."

The Doctor took the hair band and put it around his wrist. Dorothy pointed to it.

"Daddy bracelet," she said, giggling.

"Yup, this is my daddy bracelet, now you know who your daddy is," he said to her.

He gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Well, I'm gonna go outside and let mummy finish gettin' ya squeaky clean. I'll see you in a few minutes, alright?"

"Okay Daddy, I love you."

He kissed her cheek.

"I love you too, Ladybird."

He gave her a peck on the lips and left the bathroom feeling like he was walking on air.

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After she got finished with her bath and got dressed, they checked out of their room, loaded up the minivan and went to find a library. After finding one, they got temporary guest passes and Rose searched online for other things to do.

"Hmm, there's a circus museum up in Sarasota," she said to the Doctor beside her.

He nodded.

"It's where Ringling Brother's stays for the winter. Dot might like that though."

"That's what I was thinking. It's somethin' different and we can head up that way on our way to Tampa since that has Busch Gardens and Clearwater near Tampa has glass bottom boat tours, that might be interesting. See, look at this map. I was thinking we'd head west up to all that and then go back up east to Orlando in a kind of zigzag pattern so we can go inland a bit. Beach is nice but I don't wanna spend all my time there."

"I don't either," the Doctor said, shaking his head.

"So you lot wanna head back west and try to go to this circus museum in Sarasota?" she asked them.

They nodded.

"And then it'd just be north to Tampa that way," Rose said to the Doctor while she pointed at the screen.

"Then let's do that," the Doctor said.

Rose glanced over at Dorothy who was between him and Madison and grinned.

"You're a daddy, again," she whispered to him.

"I know. And both my daughters are blonde and I'm not, weird, huh?"

"Do ya think she'll be alright with you leaving her behind?"

She grinned.

"Or will you be alright, Dad?" she teased.

"It'll be hard but I won't risk her safety at the moment and as for her, I made her promise she would let me go without being upset and I'm holding her to that. I'll phone Madison and ask her how she's behaving."

"Keeping an eye on her? Like Father Christmas?"

He giggled.

"Yes, I'll know when my daughter is naughty or nice," he said with a wink.

"And she definitely wants to be a Time Lady, yeah?"

"Oh yes, so I have a crystal reserved just for her when she gets older."

Rose smiled and the Doctor looked down when Dorothy put her hands on his knee and looked at the computer screen.

"What ya doin', Daddy?" she asked him.

"We're figuring out where to go next."

"Oh," she said, staring at the map of Florida.

The Doctor rubbed her back while she stared at the screen.

_The only problem is we'll have to wait till she's a Time Lady before we can feel her in our minds,_ he thought to her.

_You can't do what you did with me?_ Rain thought back_. You opened my mind up when I was human so I could feel you. Is she too young for that?_

_I s'pose I could do that. Then we can send love into her mind and it'd allow us to feel her. She'd have to hold still for that though. _

_Put her to sleep then, Brother, _Alan thought._ Let her take a nap while you create all the neural pathways._

_I can do that and while I'm in there I might as well create some barriers around her mind. I don't know who'd want to control a toddler's mind but you never know,_ the Doctor thought.

The Doctor continued to rub his little daughter's back while Rose telepathically told them what she was going to do. After they checked their email and fiddled around on the internet for awhile, all of them decided to leave and hit the open road for Sarasota.


	140. Chapter 140

Chapter One Hundred And Forty

Once they got the rucksacks and other things stowed in the back seat, Madison put Dorothy in her car seat and got in beside her. Rose climbed in the driver's side and Alan got in beside her. Dorothy looked at the Doctor while he was standing beside the minivan waiting for everyone else to get inside.

"You sit with me, Daddy," she said to him.

They laughed.

"You're a bossy thing. I think you might have a bit of Donna in ya," he teased.

He got in beside Madison while Rain, Jenny and Donna climbed in behind him. Mingxia, Awinita got in behind them and Jack and Ianto sat in the back. Once everyone was inside, the Doctor closed the door and Rose programmed in the directions for the circus museum. Alan turned in his seat and held his hands out to Dorothy.

"Hey, Dot, who am I?" he asked.

Dorothy looked at his wrists.

"You Uncle Alan," she said.

"Hey, it works," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, we need to do this with Tony now. He has the same problem but in reverse. He wants me all the time and keeps thinking the Doctor is me. I'll have to tell him that you're the one with the bracelet."

"Well, I'm hoping eventually she'll be able to tell us apart and I won't need this anymore. Especially after she realizes I wear suits most of the time," he said.

Rose started up the minivan.

"Here we go, everyone, to our next destination," Rose said.

"Where we goin'?" Dorothy asked.

Alan leaned in.

"A circus museum. You like the circus?"

"Yes!"

"Good. Me too."

Madison pulled out a Wal-Mart bag from under the seat and opened up the package of juice boxes.

"You want some apple juice, baby?" she asked.

"Yes."

She put the little plastic straw in the hole in the top of the box and handed it to her.

"So what are we doing?" Jack said. "Are we watching a movie while we go to Sarasota?"

"We can," the Doctor said. "But does Dot wanna watch one?"

"You wanna watch a movie, honey?" Madison asked her.

"No."

"What do you wanna do then? You have coloring books and toys and storybooks…"

"I want Daddy read me a story," she said.

"Me? You mean you're putting me to work already?" the Doctor said.

Madison handed him the picture books she purchased. He looked through them.

"Hmm, what to read, what to read…Curious George, Poky Little Puppy, better not read that one around Alan and Rain, they might hear poky and start in again," he said while they laughed.

He looked at Clifford the Big Red Dog.

"Aha, the story about the oversized mutt. I'll read this one," he said, putting the others back in the bag.

Madison and the Doctor switched places and Dorothy sipped her juice box while he opened the book. The three women behind him leaned up to watch and Alan leaned forward while Rose giggled.

"This oughta be good," Rose said. "The Doctor reads a children's book."

The Doctor turned to the first page and stared at Clifford.

"That is one big dog," he said while the women laughed. "What were they giving this mutt, growth hormones?"

"And he's red, Dad, where'd that come from?"

"No idea, Angel. Apparently they mixed a keg of red dye in with the dog food and growth hormones," he said, glancing at her.

He stared at the drawing of a little blonde haired girl who was standing beside the dog.

"Look, Brother, is it me or does this girl resemble Rose?" he said, passing it to him.

Alan stared at it and laughed.

"She does a bit. Starlight, how'd you get in this story?" he said, turning the book around and showing her.

Rose glanced at her.

"That doesn't look like me," she said while he and the Doctor giggled.

Alan handed the book back to the Doctor.

"Right, storytime for my new daughter," the Doctor said while Dorothy sipped her juice box and stared up at him.

He looked at the words and grinned.

"You know what? I can make up a better story than this one so let me tell you all about Rose and her incredible genetically enhanced mutt."

"Ha ha, Doctor," Rose said while they laughed.

"Now, once upon a time there was this young woman named Rose Tyler," he said to Dorothy. "Rose Tyler lived in London in a flat with her screechy overbearing mother."

Rose shot him a look while Alan snorted out laughter.

"One day Rose, who had a brilliant mind, became incredibly bored and she said to herself I think I'll take my teeny tiny puppy, feed him 26 stone of growth hormone and red dye and see what I get. So day after day and night after night she fed the poor dog growth hormones and red dye and after thirty days she had a huge monster mutt."

He pointed to Clifford in the book.

"See Rose's monster mutt," he said to her.

"Hey, we wanna see in the back," Jack said.

The Doctor held the book up.

"Ah, yes, I see now the dangers of feeding your dog too much growth hormones and red dye," Jack said while they laughed.

He sat the book back in his lap and gave Dorothy an intense look while he turned the page.

"So after Rose created this monster mutt she decided to ride her creation like an elephant through the streets of London," he said pointing to the picture of the little girl riding Clifford. "While she was out scaring the people, she suddenly got it into her little ape mind that she could rule the lesser ones. And so she ordered her Frankenstein mutt to stomp and ravage and kill until everyone submitted to her tyrannical rule."

"I wonder about you sometimes, Doctor," Rose said while Alan roared with laughter.

"So stomp, stomp, stomp Rose rode through the streets while innocent people scrambled to get out of the way of the canine juggernaut. Rose was puzzled while her dog stomped on people and killed them outright. "My people, why do they not rejoice?" she wondered while her dog continued to turn her potential subjects into tarmac goo."

Rose shook her head while everyone else laughed hysterically. The Doctor turned the page and smiled at Dorothy who was giggling at him. He pointed to a startled policeman in the book who was reacting to Clifford walking down the street.

"Just then a man named the Doctor jumped out into the middle of the road and said, "Oi, stop your big red mutt from killing everyone or I'll be forced to use force!" And then Rose stomped on him and went on her way while the Doctor regenerated into a handsome bloke with normal sized ears and out of control hair."

Rose was giggling and shaking your head. Alan grinned at her and looked at the Doctor.

"Better watch it, Brother. She's getting to the point where she might laugh too hard and run us off the road," Alan said to him.

"My daughter is laughing so I'll risk regeneration," he said to him.

He turned the page and pointed to the girl playing with her friends while Clifford lay behind her and watched them.

"The Doctor waited until Rose was taking a break and playing game with her friends before he made his move. He snuck up behind the dog, grabbed his tail and spun that mutt in the air around and around and around over his head. "Hey!" Rose said, "Quit doing that to my dog!" "No!" said the Doctor. "I must stop your evil schemes for world domination and although I hate to do it I must stop your dinosaur doggie once and for all!" And so he spun and spun and spun and the dog became ill and vomited and pooped at the same time and vomit and poo flew in all directions coating London and its citizens and making them ill and sick and they began to vomit and poo and make more of a mess. But still the Doctor continued to spin and spin and spin and when he had enough momentum he let go and that puppy sailed awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay and went ker-bang right into Big Ben and he became embedded in the clock face and became a major tourist attraction and was listed under the national trust and was visited by the queen who loved the dead doggie immensely and declared it was the best thing to happen to London in years and was way cooler than that mutant ten ton alligator living in the London Underground that ate people who didn't mind the gap. And in the end Rose Tyler was punished severely when the Doctor turned her over his pinstriped suited knee and gave her a good hard spanking until her butt was red and raw and bleeding and blistered and after that, London and the world was once again safe from growth hormone mutated animals and their crazed megalomaniacal owners. The end."

Everyone howled with laughter when the Doctor closed the book and put it back in the bag.

"Wow, I never heard a Clifford story quite like that," Awinita said.

"Yeah, if you'd been writing them when I was little maybe I would have liked Clifford more," Rain added. "I'm starting to wonder how you'll interpret The Poky Little Puppy."

"Sadly you'll have to wait for that tale," the Doctor said. "I need to rest a bit. It's hard work thinking up ways to annoy Rose."

"And in that respect, you and my husband are exactly alike," she said, glancing at him in the rearview mirror.

"How about a DVD now?" the Doctor said to Dorothy.

"No! Read!"

The Doctor's head slumped on his chest and he pretended to sleep while Dorothy giggled and smacked his arm repeatedly. The Doctor turned his head to her and snored loudly while he looked straight at her. Dorothy giggled and held her juice box up to him. The Doctor took a small sip.

"Apple juice, nah you want banana juice, it's better."

Jack rolled his eyes.

"You and your bananas," he said to the Doctor.

"What? Bananas are good, I keep telling you lot that," he said to him.

"Read!" Dorothy said to him.

"No! You color in your coloring book!" the Doctor said.

"Okay," Dorothy said.

The Doctor rummaged through the bag and found the Care Bears coloring book and her crayons. He opened the crayon box and put them on her tray.

"Color me a picture," the Doctor said to her while he opened the coloring book to the first page.

Dorothy picked up a purple crayon and began to scribble all over the page while the Doctor relaxed.

"So, the rest of us wanna watch Xanadu then?" he asked them.

"NO!" they yelled while he snickered.

"No? It's a classic!" the Doctor protested.

"Put in the Gone with the Wind one, Dad," Jenny said.

The Doctor rummaged through another sack, found the DVD and handed it to Alan. He put it in and started it.

"You wanna watch it, Love?" Rose said to him.

"Nah, I'll listen, I've seen it before courtesy of Brother. It's a good film but it gets boring after the war's over," he said to her reaching into his sack for his little bottle of Coke.

"Yeah, it does," Jack said. "Then it's all romance and Scarlett being a…witch with a B."

"Wow, Jack just censored himself, the world's coming to an end," Awinita said while he reached up and swatted her head.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Is this from a novel too, Dad?" Jenny said about a half hour into the movie.

"Yes, I have the book. Do you wanna read it?"

"Yeah, this is good so far."

The Doctor glanced at Dorothy who had scribbled several colors onto a picture of a Care Bear. He took a green crayon and colored in Funshine Bear's nose. Dorothy looked at it and smiled.

"You did that," she said, pointing to the nose.

"I did. Guilty as charged," he said, putting the crayon back down on her tray.

He leaned back in his seat.

"You're good with kids," Madison said. "You said you had a son. Did you take care of him when he was growing up?"

The Doctor sighed.

"Not really, Te'lesu. I was young by our standards when I married and had my son and very irresponsible and I was more interested in traveling than staying at home, not to mention I had problems with my first wife so I was never really there to watch Dex grow which is the one thing I do regret. Children were also raised in nurseries so they could be educated and that's another reason why I didn't see much of him growing up. And Jenny was born fully grown so this is somewhat new to me."

"Yeah but you're a natural at it, Love. Just like Bro is."

"Yeah, you've seen Alan around children," Rose said, glancing back. "Must be some parenting instincts in that body somewhere."

"Well, I love children. Especially Earth children. That's why I want her to grow up so she'll have a childhood filled with imagination and creativity."

"You just used a bunch of imagination and creativity reading that story," Ianto said.

"Yeah but that's because I've spent centuries around Earthlings, that's mostly learned and even then it took awhile to learn to think that way," he said, tapping the side of his head.

He gazed sadly at Dorothy.

_Of course, I might not be there for much of her childhood either,_ he thought to them.

_Yes, but I think she understands that on some level,_ Madison thought. _Children are bright and they can adjust. She loves you, otherwise she wouldn't have asked you to be her daddy._

_Besides you're in a time machine. You could be gone a long time and come back two minutes after you dropped her off,_ Donna thought.

_Yeah but I don't wanna keep doing that. I don't wanna keep coming back into her life in two-minute increments and see her as a three year old for two centuries. I want her to grow up so she can travel with us and in order to do that she's gonna have to get used to me being gone for some time between visits. Besides if I came back every two minutes I think she'd get bored of that after awhile and want to stay home. I'll try to be there for her and take her places but it's gonna be tricky with her being so young. But I'll enjoy it while it lasts. Me and Brother will keep the wee one entertained._

_Bang on, _Alan thought,_ waggling his eyebrows. We'll have her laughing nonstop by the time we get through with her._

_Are you still gonna go into her mind? _Donna thought.

_Yeah, but I'll wait till it's her proper bedtime and then I'll let her sleep because I'm sure she'll need it since we're approaching the theme parks now. By the way, we need to work out who'll stay with her on some rides because I'm sure some of us will wanna ride the roller coasters and she won't be able to go on those._

_I'll stay with her on those,_ Ianto thought. _I'm not a fan of roller coasters. Most of them make me nauseous._

_Yan, the merry go round makes you nauseous._

They laughed when Ianto gave Jack a dirty look.

"I volunteer to stay with her on the Haunted Mansion and Tiki Room rides. I'm not about to go in those again," Alan said, rolling his eyes.

"She might like the Tiki Room, Love," Rose said.

"Then I'm staying outside by myself. I'm not going on that naff ride again. I'd rather have a long, slow deep root canal than sit there and listen to birds singing over my head."

"I didn't think it was that bad," the Doctor said, shrugging.

They laughed when Alan gave him a shocked look.

"Oh my God…they've finally disagreed on something. You're right, the world is coming to an end," Jack said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Oh my God," Jenny said when she saw the scene of the hundreds of dead and wounded confederates lying in a railroad yard.

The Doctor leaned his head back and smiled sadly at her.

"And that's what you were programmed to do, my daughter, cause carnage and chaos like that," he said.

"I know. I'm glad you changed all that. This is horrible."

Donna gave her a sideways hug.

"Glad to hear ya say that, Jenny, since I remember when you first called Martha collateral damage and was flippant about the casualties," she said.

"Yup, like we keep saying, Jenny's come a long way from those days," the Doctor replied.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jenny made a face while they watched the scene of the soldier getting his leg amputated without any ether. All of the women squirmed at the screams he was making.

"Ugh, I hate this scene," Rain said, flinching. "I don't blame for Scarlett for running out of the hospital, I would too."

"Keep in mind too that this was where Dex was in 1863. That's why I wanted him and his family out of that place so they'd escape this war and the aftermath," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, that's in Atlanta which isn't that far from where they were," Alan said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After another half hour, Rose headed onto an off ramp and pulled into a Burger King so everyone could stretch, go to the bathroom and get something to eat. The Doctor looked at Dorothy and noticed she was fast asleep. He looked at Madison and jerked his head at her. She shook her head.

"She'll be fine, Doctor. Just let her sleep."

"I'll stay in here and keep watch," Ianto said.

"Are you sure, Ianto?" Madison asked when she opened the door.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I don't need to use the loo. You lot go ahead and get something to eat and stretch."

They nodded and climbed out. Alan spied a white Volkswagen beetle in an adjacent Kentucky Fried Chicken parking lot and promptly called it while he slapped Rain on the shoulder.

"You realize you're the only one playing the game, right?" Rain said while they laughed.

"That's why I'm winning," Alan said smugly.

Jack suddenly stopped them.

"I'm sorry, I need to address this because my sensitive Time Lord nose is being driven crazy, but what the hell is the deal with the constant rotten egg stench in the air?"

"I know, it's stinks here," Awinita said.

"It's hydrogen sulfide caused by the natural decomposition in organic-rich marine mud. Bacteria is decomposing dead plant and animal matter that settles to the bottom of it and it gives off the smell," the Doctor said.

"Well, it's in the water as well," Donna said.

"I know, you can't take a shower without smelling it, phew," Rain said. "Normally I like long showers but down here I'm in and out because I can't stand it. You're right, the sensitive nose makes it worse."

"Well, I'm glad you guys smell it and it's not just me," Jack said.

"No, there's a logical explanation for it," the Doctor said as they resumed walking. "It's just the smell of natural gas emissions. I'm betting the farther we go from the tip the more the smell will lessen until it stops."

"I hope so because it's about to drive me bonkers," Jack said while they went into the Burger King.


	141. Chapter 141

Chapter One Hundred And Forty One

Everyone was giggling while they stood in the queue waiting to order their food. Alan was at the back of the line with Rose singing to himself.

"Burger King, Burger King.  
Lord, a burger is just the thing to make me sing, sing, sing, sing, sing,  
Boop boop boop ba doo."

He was patting Rose on the head while she was sniggering and trying to pretend she wasn't with him. A few other patrons were giving him odd looks but he ignored them completely.

"Frenchy fries, Frenchy fries.  
Boy, I can't believe my eyes, when I see my big fat thighs.  
Boop boop boop ba doo."

"I'm not gonna be able to order anything when I get up there," Awinita said between giggles.

"You know," Madison said to the Doctor. "I'm betting eventually my daughter will be able to tell you two apart without the daddy bracelet."

"I know," the Doctor said while they laughed.

Chocky shake, chocky shake.  
Makes me want to quiver and quake.  
My wife thinks I'm a daft little flake.  
Boop boop boop ba doo."

He grinned when Rose lost it completely and had to go the women's restroom to compose herself. She came out a moment later and hugged him from behind.

"You're unique, ya know that?" she said to him.

"Indeed I do, provider of my nooky," he said while everyone else giggled.

The Doctor was the first of the group to get up to the counter. He cleared his throat while his wife held her hand over her mouth trying to stifle the giggles. He managed to get through his and Rain's order even though Alan was now whistling the tune of his made-up song behind him. After they ordered, the lady behind the counter gave them two empty medium sized cups and they walked over to get their drinks from the self service soda fountain while the workers put their order in a bag. While they did that, the Doctor glanced back at Alan who was now whistling into Rose's ear while she snickered.

"What a pest," Rain said with a wink.

"Yup. But I love he's like that. Wish I could be that free spirited."

"You're getting to be that way, Love. You're joining in with him on those pranks of yours. You've had a lot of pain and darkness and sorrow in your life and it'll take time to get over that. I think that's why Imiko wanted you to come with us so you could be more like Alan and you are getting to be more like him. Not just the pranks but the silly Clifford story and the kidding around with the activity book. You've only been with us for a few months and you're trying to shed centuries of anger and hurt and rage. It'll come easier the more time passes, I promise."

She gave him a kiss.

"You're here for a reason, Thete," she whispered in his ear. "Just like all these people are in your life for a reason. I don't think it was an accident that Imiko gave you those crystals. I think you're meant to help rebuild your race and have all these family and friends so you can have that connection you lost. Just don't worry about it. Relax and let us help you heal. You're doing fine, my love."

He smiled and gave her a kiss and nuzzled her cheek with his nose. They glanced over when they called the number on their receipt and went back to get their sack of food.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After everyone got through the queue and got their food they stood by the door and made sure they had everything.

"I got Dot some chicken fingers and French fries so she'll have something when she wakes up," Madison said. "I will wake her up soon because I don't want her sleeping the day away especially if you're gonna put her back under again tonight."

The Doctor nodded.

"Did you get something for Ianto as well?" he asked Jack.

Jack nodded.

"Good. I think we better let him use the toilets then since we all had the chance," he added.

"Actually, I need to talk to all of you since Ianto isn't around. I've been thinking lately and I'm considering asking him to marry me," Jack said. "Especially now that he is a Time Lord and will be able to be with me for centuries if not forever."

Everyone smiled at that and nodded.

"I mean, he agreed to be a Time Lord so he must want to be with me," Jack said. "But see, I was thinking since Alan proposed at Disneyworld that I might do that too."

"That's a brilliant idea, Jack. I proposed in front of a Mickey Mouse shrub. Actually I wanted to do it in front of Cinderella Castle but Rose was suspicious of me and Awinita and thinking we were up to no good so I had to pick somewhere nearby but you could do that."

"Or…" the Doctor said.

They looked at him.

"When we had our honeymoon in the other universe, we found the entrance to the secret underground tunnels the staff uses and we did a bit of exploring and found a lift and come to find out it goes up to a secret flat right in the middle of Cinderella Castle."

"It was gorgeous," Rain said. "They spared no expense building and decorating it."

The Doctor nodded.

"I don't know if you have your perception filter…"

"I do but they're in my trousers in my rucksack."

"Well, I have mine in my trousers. If the entrance is in the same place in this Disneyworld I can do what I did and unlock it with my screwdriver. Put the perception filters on, tell Ianto you wanna go exploring. When you go down there just go straight and keep going back towards the park entrance and eventually you'll see the lift. Tell him you wonder where it goes, get in, go up to the flat and propose there. Trust me, it's very romantic and it was empty when we were there. If you have the perception filters on you can still be there if someone's in there, just go in another room and speak softly but I would do that."

"That sounds good, I think I'll do that," Jack said nodding. "But I need to stop somewhere and try to buy a ring in secret."

"Do what I did. Get one there," Alan said.

He held up Rose's hand and pointed to the Stitch ring.

"Twenty one dollars and it's still holding up," he said to him.

"Yeah, but not Stitch, Yan won't go for that."

"No, but my point is you don't have to buy an expensive ring. Get something inexpensive. If he loves you, he won't care about the ring anyway," Alan said.

"If you wanna look for a ring, I'll stop off somewhere in Tampa," Rose said. "Some Wal-Mart or something like that under the pretense that we wanna get more snacks and supplies. One of us can distract Ianto while you go get a ring."

"I wanna do that because I don't think he'll like a Disney ring. Damn, I wish I would have gone ahead and gotten a copy of the ring that Rain got for you," he said to the Doctor.

"I'd give it to you but I don't think we're the same size," the Doctor said. "Just don't worry about it, Jack. Like Alan said, if he loves you he won't care about the ring. It'll be you he wants."

Jack nodded.

"Well, we better get out there before the food gets cold and Ianto wonders where we went," he said.

They nodded and headed out the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When they got back to the minivan they noticed Ianto was beside Dorothy who was awake.

"See, there they are," Ianto said, pointing to them.

"Hey, Doodlebug, you wonder where we went?" Alan asked, opening his door.

"Yes," Dorothy replied.

"We got some food, baby. Are you hungry?" she said while Ianto went back to his seat.

"Yes."

Rose got in on her side and looked back.

"You lot wanna eat here and watch the movie while we relax?"

They nodded and she turned the key down so she could operate the DVD player. The others climbed inside and got their food out of the sack while Rose resumed the movie. Jenny tapped the Doctor on the shoulder.

"There aren't any more scenes of people screaming while their limbs are being cut off, is there?"

"No, we're past all that."

"Good because I don't think I could eat and watch that," she said, leaning back in her seat.

"Nope we're almost to the burning of Atlanta now," the Doctor said, passing Rain's food to her while she sat behind him.

"Ianto, you wanna go use the toilets, you can," Rose said.

"I will. I wanna eat first," Ianto replied.

Jack put his arm around him and they relaxed while they watched. All of them ate while they watched the movie. Madison put some of her Coke in Dorothy's sipper cup and handed it to her while she spread the chicken fingers and fries out on her tray. Madison glanced up at the movie while she ate. While they watched Alan and Rose sat in the front eating their food. The Doctor noticed Alan occasionally leaning his head back to try to see what was going on.

"Come back here and sit, Brother," he finally said.

"Where? There's no room," Donna said.

Alan chewed his whopper while he thought. He suddenly had an idea.

"Starlight, do you wanna watch the film?" he asked.

"I can," she said, shrugging.

"Come with me. I know a way."

Rose grabbed her food and they got out. Alan walked over to the sliding door, opened it all the way and he sat down in the opening.

"Good idea, Bro," Rain said to him.

"Yup, it's boring sitting up there, eating and listening to the film," he said while Rose sat down beside him.

They sat their food down beside them and ate while they watched with everyone else.

"The only problem is now the rotten egg smell is coming in the motor," Donna said while they ate.

"You noticed that as well?" Ianto said.

"Yes, stinks, doesn't it?" Jack said. "The Doctor said it's sulfur from bacteria in marine mud."

"Whatever it is, I'm glad we don't have the smell in Cardiff," Ianto said, making a face.

While they ate, Alan suddenly felt a raindrop hit his bare leg.

"Oh, come on," Alan groaned.

"What is it?" Donna asked.

"It's getting ready to rain again. I just felt a raindrop on my leg."

They groaned.

"Bang goes that idea," Rose said.

"Wait a tic, it might pass," the Doctor said to them. "Just relax. When it's raining hard then go back to your seats."

They nodded and continued to eat. Jack giggled.

"Miss Scarlett, I don't know nothing bout birthing babies," he said while they laughed.

"At least I know where that came from now," Jenny said. "I'm surprised she wants to help Melanie since she wants her man so badly."

"Yeah but she's trying to score points in his eyes, I think," Rain said to her.

"And I think deep down she really does like her," Donna added. "Everyone admires her and I think on some level she wants to be more like her so that's why she did things like volunteer at the fund raiser and the hospital and why she's helping her."

Rose paused mid-chew.

"I felt a raindrop now," she said, glancing up. "I'm glad the museum is indoors."

"Just as long as there aren't any sodding hurricanes this time, I'll put up with it," Alan replied.

"I have a question," Rain said to Rose. "Since we are going to Disney, are we staying inside the park? Because if you are, I think Dot would enjoy the hotel we stayed at. It's one of the cheapest one and there wasn't many extras but the whole front of the hotel had large statues of the Dalmatians and Herbie and Woody and Buzz. I think she'd like that."

"I think we should just because we went through and stayed the whole day until the fireworks," Rose said to her. "I like the idea of staying in a hotel like that."

"Plus, as I recall, you lot got free pizza delivered to your rooms and we didn't," Alan said. "I'd rather have that than the animal safari we went on. And hopefully this time we can go to the water parks."

"Yeah, I wanna go in the little canal thing with the speed humps," the Doctor said.

"If you tip me over when we get in there, I swear to God I will make you regenerate," Rain said while they laughed.

He gave her an innocent look.

"I wasn't trying to tip ya over, dear. It was the speed humps, I swear," he said while she rolled her eyes.

Both Alan and Rose looked up when the rain started to fall faster.

"Good job we're both through eating," Alan said while they picked their trash up and walked over to a nearby trash receptacle.

"I'm gonna go ahead and drive on," Rose said when they walked back to the open door.

"Are you sure?" the Doctor asked.

"Yeah, I wanna get there so we have time to go up to Tampa before dark and I've seen this film before. I'm not missin' anything."

They got back inside the front and sat down. Ianto got out and ran inside to use the restroom while the others continued to eat and watch the film. When he came back, he closed the door and settled back down while Rose started up the car and pulled out of the parking spot.


	142. Chapter 142

Chapter One Hundred And Forty Two

After eating, all of them put their rubbish into one of the larger Burger King sacks and sat it aside to be disposed of. They were still watching the movie while outside a heavy rain fell. The dialogue in the movie mingled with the squeaking of the windshield wipers on the windshield. Dorothy had finished eating and was drinking the last of her mother's Coke while she stared out the window at the rain streaming down the glass. She looked over at the Doctor.

"Daddy, read me a story," she said to him.

"Honey, he's trying to watch the movie," Madison said to her.

"Story," Dorothy whined.

"Have no fear I'll entertain the nipper kipper," Alan said, turning in his seat.

"Oh no," Awinita said while the others giggled.

"Gee, suddenly I wanna hear his story more than the movie," Mingxia said.

"You want me to pause it?" Rose asked.

They nodded and she paused the DVD.

"Okay, take it away, Master Storyteller," Rose said to her husband.

"Thank ya muchly, people carrier ferrier and because I'm so talented I shall make up a story off the top of me head without any reading materials of any sort."

He leaned forward and stared at Dorothy who was watching him intently.

"Once upon a very long time ago there was an ugly bastard who went by the name of Davros," he said while they others snickered. "Davros was very, very ugly and creepy and weird and smelly and anti-social and loud and bossy and rude and no one wanted to be around him because he had these odd ideas about destroying everyone and everything in all of creation. But deep down inside his half exposed ribcage there beat a lonely heart that wanted someone to like him oh so very much. One day while Davros was puttering around in his lab a few Kaleds came to see him because you see, Davros was also a scientist and a very talented one at that. These Kaleds came to see him because they had sinus headaches and they said to him, "Davros, we have headaches, cure us." And Davros said, "Okey-dokey, step right this way," and he led them to a mysterious machine. The Kaleds stepped inside, he pushed a button and there was all this smoke and screaming and smells and then there was a little ding and when he opened the door the Kaleds were squidy things. And they said, "Oi, what'd you do to us? We don't wanna be squidy things, we came here to get rid of our headaches!" and he said, "I'm sorry, a thousand pardons, I'll sort this out promptly." And he picked up the squidy things and took them to a small microwave that had the words mind control painted on the front of it in large black block letters. So he put the squidy things inside and pressed the popcorn button and lo and behold they became his mindless slaves and did nothing but hate, hate, hate and Davros finally had friends."

He grinned when everyone laughed and he leaned in more to Dorothy who was giggling with them.

"So anyway, after he made these mindless squidy things he enlarged a pepperpot and cut tennis balls in half and painted them gold and stuck them around the bottom and took a weird gun thing and a plunger from his lavatory and voila, he had soldiers. And because he was such a fan of anagrams, he decided to call the Kaleds Daleks because he thought that was extremely clever. And so he made more and more and his Dalek friends went out throughout the universe shooting and killing people and they conquered whole planets because they had a unique strategy. They'd shoot someone and for a couple of tics you could see the person's skeleton and people thought it was keen that their friends lit up and they could see their skeletons so they'd stand there and ask the Dalek to show them the skeleton again and he'd shoot someone else and they saw the skeleton and thought that was keen and asked to see it again and they'd shoot someone else and so on and so forth."

"Geez," Awinita said while they laughed. "And I thought nothing could top the Clifford story."

"So on and on they went shooting and killing and letting everyone see everyone else's skeleton until one day they came upon a man who said, "I don't like you killin' everyone and I want it stopped!" and Davros said, "But I make the skeletons light up!" and the man said, "I don't care, I want you to stop killing because I'm the Doctor and I said so!" and he kicked Davros's bum and sent him gliding away in his little pepperpot wheelchair and Davros said, "Curse you, I'll get even!" and he came back and tried to kill him again and again and again but he never could. Then one day, the Daleks decided it might be fun to start a huge war across time and space and Davros agreed and he hopped in his spaceship and zoomed away to fight the Time Lords but alas, Davros didn't realize that there was this huge monster called the Nightmare Child who loved to eat pruny crazy people and he leaped up out of nowhere and started eating him. And the Doctor said, "Do you need help?" and Davros said, "No, I'm peachy keen, I'll sort this out myself!" just before the Nightmare Child took the last gulp and then Davros ended up in his tummy and the war went on without him. But eventually the Doctor won the war and life went on and a few Daleks popped up now and again and they were defeated handily by the Doctor until one little Dalek decided enough was enough. He was named Caan because Davros created him and his mates during a Star Trek film marathon on the telly and he was watching the second movie when Caan was born and he named him after Ricardo Montalban."

They all laughed when he shifted in his seat and leaned in further.

"So Caan along with his mates Sec, Jast and Thay went out and caused more mischief and tried to kill everyone and the Doctor put his foot down and said no! So they came up with an idea to make Sec into this weird squid monster mutant person thingy who would finally do what no other Dalek could, strangle the Doctor and dance the samba afterwards. But this Dalek wanted to help the Doctor out and the Doctor said, "Okey-dokey," and they tried to make good Daleks but the others weren't havin' it and they imprisoned him and put a collar and chain around his neck which is actually quite impressive since they have guns and plungers for hands but anyway…they made a bunch of Dalek humans but the experiment failed and the modified humans turned on their masters because the Cult of Skaro forgot one of South Park's major lessons, that Dalek and human DNA just won't splice because they never listened to that old song by Loverboy."

Everyone was rolling with laughter and Rose finally had to pull over to keep from crashing the car.

"So everyone was killed except for Caan who vanished. But Caan was a tricky devil and he came up with a handy dandy plan. He would go back in time to a point where you couldn't go, rescue Pruny and save him from being a monster's din-din. But when he went back in time he suddenly saw all these pretty colors in his squidy head and he thought to himself how pretty they were moments before his brain was fried and he became a squidy basket case. But he succeeded and rescued his boss from the Nightmare Child and his boss in return built a ship with his newly made Daleks and made Caan lord high prophet or something like that and everyone listened to him even though he was crazier than crazy paving. So meanwhile, the Doctor was on Earth minding his own business when suddenly the Earth was jerked out from under him like a big rocky, dirt-filled rug and he said, "This shouldn't be," and he and Donna went to see the albinos and rhinos to get an explanation. And the albinos and rhinos looked at him and said, "Hey, you shouldn't exist!" and poof, the Doctor vanished into thin air and Donna said, "He does too exist!" and poof, the Doctor came back with a slight headache and slight confusion at what just happened. Then the Lord High Head Chief Albino Woman Creepy Person wanted him to start another war and the Doctor said, "I need to get you the key to my TARDIS." and then he laughed and laughed and laughed because he tricked the dim pale person in black who loves hangin' out at the pub with rhinos."

"You are so odd," Donna said while they laughed. "I cannot believe I helped make you."

"You did!" Alan said. "Be proud of yourself."

He looked back at Dorothy.

"Meanwhile, my wife here was on her way back from the other universe and she was all ready to kick Dalek bum but she needed to find the Doctor first so she could give him love and affection and attention and get the ten quid he still owed her from the bet they made about Queen Vickie the Holier Than Thou Burn Them At The Stake!"

Rose was now bent over the steering wheel in stitches.

"I'm glad I pulled off the road. I know I wouldn't have made it to Sarasota listenin' to this," she said to the others.

"Anyway, she came back and she said, "Where's the Doctor?" but the Doctor was up in space saying, "Where's the Earth?" and albino woman was saying to the rhinos, "Where's the Doctor?" But eventually all of the Doctor's very special friends thought of a way to phone him and he found the Earth and got in touch with them but not Rose because Sylvia the Snotbag wouldn't buy a webcam because she was afraid that Wilf might tempt her into posting naughty videos of her prancing around naked on You Tube."

Everyone laughed, even Donna, while Rose gave Alan's arm a playful shove.

"So Rose was forced to sit at her laptop and stare at the man who owed her ten quid while he talked to everyone else. But suddenly she got a lock on the Doctor's position and vanished in a ball of light. Meanwhile, the Doctor was standing in the street wondering where the people had gone when Donna suddenly got all cryptic on him and talked about asking Rose himself and he said, "Come again?" and she beat him on the head and spun his bum around and there she was several feet away with this big, big gun that I'm sure Torchwood, the non-Jack Torchwood mind, invented for her in their stupidity. And so the Doctor ran towards her to tell her to put the gun down because he hates guns because they prevent you from having the moral high ground and Rose ran towards him because she wanted her ten quid and lo and behold a Dalek came around the corner whistling to itself and minding its own business and he saw the Doctor and thought, "Target practice!" and so the Doctor was caught off guard when the Dalek shot him and made half his body light up and you could see half his skeleton and Rose thought that was pretty keen until she realized it was the Doctor and she dropped the big gun while Jack back there decided to be fashionably late as usual and appeared and shot the Dalek who nearly killed my Brother."

They laughed when Jack flipped him off.

"And so Rose ran to him and picked his head up off the ground and since I still had his memories at that point I have it on good authority that even though Brother was glad to see her, he was thinking to himself, "Um, I just got my left side barbecued, please don't pick me up.""

They laughed when Rose jerked her head around.

"Is he serious?" she asked the Doctor.

"Um…no comment," the Doctor said while they laughed.

He tousled her hair when he saw the guilty look on her face.

"Yes, it hurt but I was more glad to see ya, Rose," he said to her.

"So anyway, they had to go and pick him and his barbecued left side up and take him back to the TARDIS and he was all set to change and Rose was upset and Jack was upset and Donna was wondering why they were upset because once again Brother was remiss in telling people that he regenerates. So he began to change but he got a brilliant idea halfway through and he aimed all the energy at this little hand right here and was saved from becoming an apparently younger Goth bloke if Jenny's vision is to be believed. Anyway, all was normal again and happiness and smiles until suddenly they went up, up, up in the sky and ended up in Davros's house because Davros wanted them over for tea and biscuits and he was all set to give them tea and biscuits until Jack "Itchy Trigger Finger" Harkness decided it would be a good idea to shoot the red Dalek. And so the Doctor and Rose got to see Jack's skeleton and thought it keen until they remembered he was Jack and a friend and because the Doctor didn't have time to say, "Hey, he's immortal!" Rose thought he was dead and she wept and cried and screamed and gnashed her teeth and pulled her hair out."

"Oh, I did not!" Rose said while they laughed.

"Well, Davros got word that Jack "Itchy Trigger Finger" Harkness shot his prized Dalek that he frequently entered in contests and got blue ribbons for. So he said I won't serve them tea and biscuits, I'm gonna make them endure the evil spotlights of doom. So the Daleks separated them and Rose begged and pleaded and wept and cried and gnashed her teeth and pulled her hair and wet herself because she couldn't reach the Doctor to get her tenner now."

They laughed when Rose shoved his arm.

"Meanwhile, on the TARDIS, I had been born in front of Donna's very eyes. And Donna was astonished that I was born naked because apparently she has this idea that everything is born covered head to toe in a Muslim woman's burqa. So she said, "It's you!" and I said, "Oh, yes!" and she said, "You're naked!" and I said, "Oh, yes!" and the second oh, yes translated to, "Well, duh, ya daft git, course I am!"

Donna flipped him off.

"So I saved Brother's TARDIS and borrowed Brother's kit and took over Brother's console and became Brother which peeved Brother immensely since he was the Doctor and I wasn't and rightly so, but at that time I figured I was a clone and since I hadn't learned that clones rampage and say, "Chee chee chomp," I set about sorting out the mess that everyone had created that yours truly had to clean up. Because that's what I do, sort out messes. But little did I know, that Donna had been changed by me just as I'd been changed by her and I got trapped and she got zapped and lo and behold she was a god! And she helped us save the day and lorded it over one and all because she was a super god who was better than Brother and me and boy, she didn't let us forget it!"

Donna flipped him off again while everyone laughed.

"So we sorted out all the planets except Earth and Brother went to fix that and I decided I didn't like the Daleks because they smelled and were weird and the plunger creeped me out and Caan was saying, "You have to destroy us because I agree with you about the smelly, creepy thing!" and I said, "All righty then!" and I pulled a lever and the whole Dalek fleet went boom and Brother came out and said, "Heeeeey, watcha doin'?" and I said, "Chee chee chomp!" and Brother pushed me in the TARDIS and pushed everyone inside and tried to save creepy boy but creepy boy wanted to burn up because he wanted to be a martyr to the Dalek cause even though there were no Daleks left. So Brother came inside and off we went. And we towed the Earth home and everyone was happy and gay until Brother went to the other universe and shoved yours truly and Rosie out the door and left without giving her the tenner and she was heartbroken until I finally paid her back and everyone lived happily ever after. The end."

The Doctor and Madison glanced over at Dorothy while the women behind them leaned up and they all laughed at the confused look on the child's face.

"I think you blew her mind, Bro," Awinita said, sitting back down.

"Why? What's she doing?" Jack said.

Awinita imitated the look on her face and they laughed.

"I don't blame her. I'm just as confused as she is and I was there for some of that."

Alan reached over and rubbed Dorothy's leg.

"I know, I know, I'm silly," Alan said to her.

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Everyone finally got over the giggles and Rose pulled back out into traffic.

"I have to hand it to ya, Brother. Between the both of us, you are the master storyteller, I give up!" the Doctor said when they finally got back on the road.

"Aw, you'll get the hang of it, Big Brother," Alan said. "Besides after that I'm sure Dot will never want me to tell her a story ever, ever again."

"I'm betting you're right," Madison said while they laughed.

Rose pushed the play button on the DVD player and all of them giggled while they turned their attention back to the movie.


	143. Chapter 143

Chapter One Hundred And Forty Three

After another hour they finally reached the circus museum. By that time they were nearly done with the movie but they decided to save the finale for the drive up to Tampa. By this time the rain had ceased and all of them piled out of the minivan. The Ringling museum was a large art museum with manicure grounds that had pathways, shrubs, trees, flowers and a small gazebo. There were two museums, one was the circus museum, the other was a museum housing the art collection of John and Mabel Ringling. In the courtyard of the art museum there were several replicas of statues including Michaelangelo's David. The admission was free so all of them walked into the circus museum. The interior was large and bright with white marble floors. The walls were painted white and had several paintings, posters and exhibits on the walls along with display cases featuring costumes and circus memorabilia. Madison held her daughter's hand and the Doctor and Rain walked beside them while they slowly went through the museum.

"Hmmm, thought it'd be a bit more than just posters and pictures," Rose said to the Doctor. "I'm not sure Dorothy will fancy lookin' at this stuff."

"What did you have in mind?" the Doctor asked her.

"More interactive stuff like a children's museum. Not just things in Perspex cases and pictures. And I'm not sure she'd like going through the art museum part."

"Well, if she becomes bored we'll have your husband confuse her again," he said, winking while Alan chuckled.

They stopped at a wall that had several circus posters from Ringling Brothers. Madison picked her daughter up and she stared intently at the colorful posters featuring lions, tigers, clowns and other circus performers.

"Ooo," Dorothy said, pointing to a tiger.

"Then again, maybe she will be interested," the Doctor said, shrugging. "I imagine she'll enjoy the pretty pictures."

"Daddy!" Dorothy said, looking around.

Alan ran up to her and held his wrists up.

"Yes, Ladybird?" he said to her.

Dorothy stared at his wrists.

"I want my daddy. You go 'way, Uncle Alan."

They all laughed when Alan feigned sorrow and walked away crying.

"Wow, that really does work," Rain said while the Doctor walked over.

He held up the wrist with the hair band on it.

"Yes?" he said.

"Look, Daddy," Dorothy said, pointing ahead of her.

He turned and saw a yellow Ringling Brother's poster. There was a large white faced clown with a huge red smile and black triangles around his eyes. Around him was a woman on horseback, a tiger leaping through a flaming hoop and trapeze artists. He smiled at her.

"It's neat, isn't it?"

"Uh-huh. Horsie!"

"Oh, you like the horsie, eh? I like horsies too."

"You do?"

He nodded and tousled her hair when she gave him a big smile. They moved on to the next poster which was blue and had another clown on it along with a lion tamer cracking his whip at roaring lions and a couple of motorcyclists driving around inside a round steel ball. They continued on slowly looking at the posters. The Doctor smiled while he listened to his daughter telling Madison what she liked in each poster she saw. He paused at one and stared at Emmett Kelly whose face was centered in the middle of a big red poster.

"Saw him once," he said to Rain beside him. "He did the whole sweeping up the spotlight with the broom routine, he was brilliant."

"He's sad looking," Rain said.

"Yup, he was one of the sad tramp clowns but he was world famous," the Doctor replied.

They moved to the next one. It had a large elephant that looked like it was smashing through the poster. Above him, it said…

COME AND SEE THE MAGNIFICENT JUMBO!

"Saw him as well," the Doctor said to Rain. "He was huge, about thirteen feet tall. He used to be at the London zoo until PT Barnum bought him for the circus. He was killed by a train in 1885 though when it hit him up in Ontario."

"Oh, the poor thing," Rain said.

Madison and Dorothy came up beside them and looked at it.

"Ooo," Dorothy said, pointing.

"You like the elephant, Dot?" the Doctor said.

"Uh-huh."

"I do too."

They moved on and looked at the other posters. After that there were several exhibits in cases. They had clown costumes including Emmett Kelly's and a life-sized wax model of Tom Thumb. There were several other clown costumes along with photographs of the original owners of them.

"Ugh," Mingxia said.

The Doctor looked back at her.

"What's wrong?"

"Clowns creep me out," she said.

The Doctor turned to her.

"You're one of those people who have the odd clown phobia?" he said. "I never understood that. What is it about clowns that scare you because I really wanna know. I don't see anything sinister in them, even though I have seen evil clowns in my lifetimes. Still, why does it creep you out?"

They looked at her and she shrugged.

"I think it's because of the Chinese Opera. My parents took me when I was a little girl and the opera performers put on makeup like clowns do and some of them scared me and I suppose that carried over into my adult life."

"Have you ever seen Poltergeist?" Awinita said.

"Yes and that clown doll scared me to death."

"What clown doll?" the Doctor asked.

"You've never seen the movie?"

He shook his head.

"Um, well this house is possessed because they built it over a graveyard and this kid has a clown doll and it comes to life and pulls the kid under the bed."

The Doctor looked at Alan.

"I can understand Mingxia's fear but just the universal fear of clowns puzzles me. You're not afraid of them, are you?" he asked Awinita.

"Nope."

"Anyone else afraid of them?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"I've seen far worse than clowns travelin' with ya, Doctor," Rose said while they nodded in agreement.

"Is this making you uncomfortable then?" the Doctor asked Mingxia. "You don't have to stay in here if you don't like seeing clowns."

"No, it's alright. This doesn't bother me that much. If a man came out dressed as a clown then I'd be uncomfortable but Rose is right, after seeing the things I've seen with you, my clown fear's tame by comparison. I'm fine."

He nodded and they moved on. After viewing several circus paintings, they found a large room that housed a simulation of the circus big top. They walked inside it. There were bleachers on their right side and the three rings on their left. Above them was a high wire and trapeze swings. Off to the left of the third ring was a large cannon that was painted blue with big red stars. Madison took Dorothy over to the rings and let her explore while the others rested a moment on the bleachers.

"Too bad they don't have an actual circus show here," Jack said to them.

"Yeah, you think they'd have that as part of the exhibit," Ianto said. "Even a short half hour or hour one just to show what goes on in a circus for people who've never been."

Alan looked over and saw a calliope on the other side of the bleachers. He got up and walked over to it. He noticed a button on the side with a push me sign above it. He pushed it and instantly the room was filled with the doo doo doodoo doo doo of the steam organ. Dorothy froze and stared at it in fascination before heading over to Alan. Alan picked her up and held her while she stared at the red and gold painted organ. Alan rocked back and forth in time to the music.

"We need to take you to a circus somewhere, my Doodlebug," he said to her. "You'd like it."

The music stopped and Alan pushed the button one more time and let her listen again before they moved on.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It took an hour to get through the circus museum. Once they were done, they stood in a group outside the entrance and looked at the art museum.

"She might like it," the Doctor said. "She liked the paintings and posters."

"Let's just try it and see if she does like it," Rose said. "We're here and it's free, we might as well."

They headed over to the building.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The museum was elegant and showcased works by many renaissance masters along with several Greek and Roman sculptures both large and small. They watched Dorothy's reaction and noticed she seemed fascinated by it all so they went ahead and toured it. Rose noticed several Roman statues in one section and wandered over to look at them. She smiled, thinking of Fortuna back in the British Museum and wishing that she could go and get it since the Doctor had made it. She walked along looking at a few artifacts when she suddenly froze when she saw something in a display case. She blinked in astonishment, not believing what she was seeing.

"Doctor! Donna!" Rose said over her shoulder. "Get over here now!"

The Doctor and Donna both turned and hurried across the room.

"What is it, Rose?"

"Look," Rose said, pointing to the case.

They came up beside her and froze. There was a stone tablet in the case. It was slightly chipped and worn but they could still make out the carvings and they could see the Doctor, Donna and the TARDIS in the center.

"What?" the Doctor said as everyone came up behind them.

They stood back and let the others see.

"What the hell? When did you pose for this?" Jack asked.

"We didn't," Donna said.

The Doctor looked at the little card in front of it.

This was found in Rome in 1889 and was brought by John Ringling for his collection. It is believed to be a tablet depicting two unknown household gods and a strange box-like temple. It is not known who owned the tablet; however it's been noted that the man on the left is dressed in what looks like a modern day suit. Archeologists are still debating who the people are and what the structure in the middle is.

"Household gods," the Doctor murmured.

His eyes bulged. He looked at Donna and noticed she was wearing the same outfit she changed into in Pompeii. He and Donna shared a look.

"You don't think…" Donna said.

"Who else could it be, Donna? We saved Caecilius and his family in a magic box. You didn't think he thought we might have been gods? Metella said the TARDIS was a temple. Well, there's the temple and we're the gods, end of story."

"So…we smash the case and grab it," Awinita said.

"No, we leave it right here so we don't get arrested," the Doctor said. "They can continue to wonder who the mysterious man and woman are for all I care."

Just then a young male guide walked up behind them.

"You're staring at the man in the suit?" he asked them.

They turned and he noticed the Doctor and Alan.

"Wow, you both resemble him," he said.

"We noticed that as well," the Doctor said while the others bit their lips.

"It's odd. I've read several things online and from what I've read, this man in the suit shows up in many paintings and carvings all throughout history."

"Really? You don't say?" Alan said while the Doctor kept his laughter in.

"Yes, actually John Ringling wondered about him and tried to find out more. Actually, he found another painting that had the man in the suit in it. It's in another section, would you like it see it?"

They nodded and the guide asked them to follow him. All of them glanced at each other and laughed in their heads when he walked into the next room. He showed them a large painting that was about five feet wide by ten feet across. It showed a hunting scene in England with men wearing traditional fox hunting outfits on white steeds. There were several hounds around them and in the background a group of people were on a hill having a picnic. The man pointed to the hill and everyone bit their lips when they saw the Doctor standing beside the picnic goers. His arms were folded over his chest while he watched the hunt.

_When was this?_ Rain thought.

_Um, in between the time Astrid died and I found Donna again. It was in 1815 and I attended this hunt as a guest of the family that are having the picnic. I had no idea I was being painted at the time though,_ he thought to them.

_Good thing you're not wearing your suit or you'd be giving the guide a heart attack,_ Awinita thought.

_Actually I'm disappointed he isn't wearing his suit since I wanna listen to him explain how he and Donna ended up in a Roman tablet and a painting in 1815,_ Jack thought.

"That's not all though, there's more paintings and drawings and carvings of him," the guide said.

"Really? Wow," the Doctor said while everyone laughed telepathically.

"Yup, he's an enigma. Anyway, just pointing that out. Enjoy the rest of the museum."

"Thank you," the Doctor said.

They waited till he walked away before they all burst out laughing.

"Well, come on everyone, let's see the rest of the museum so the enigma and his family can go to Tampa," Alan said with a grin.


	144. Chapter 144

Chapter One Hundred And Forty Four

"So now the Doctor has his own exhibits in the Ringling Museum," Jack said. "Should we go to every museum in Florida and find more things you're in?"

"No, that's quite alright," the Doctor replied.

"We do know one other place the Doctor has a sculpture," Rose said while they waited for Madison to put Dorothy in the car seat.

"Where's that?" Ianto asked.

"The Doctor carved a statue of Fortuna and used me as the model. It's in the British Museum."

"Oh yeah, that's right," the Doctor said.

"When did Dad do that?" Jenny asked.

Madison finished putting Dorothy in the car seat and everyone else got inside. Rose waited till they were back on the road before she told them about the Fortuna statue and the story behind it.

"We have to go see this statue," Awinita said when she finished her explanation.

"I'm glad you mentioned that, Rose. I need to do that again and sculpt one for my wife," the Doctor said.

He glanced back at her.

"Hmmm, perhaps the goddess Venus this time around?" he said.

"You know, Starlight, thanks to Brother I have the same knowledge. I can sculpt something for you. But not Fortuna again. Perhaps Athena or Hera or…Diana! That's it! I'll sculpt you as the virginal goddess of the hunt running naked with a bunch of stags."

"No thanks, Alan," Rose said while they laughed.

"Okay, I'll sculpt Doodlebug and make her into one of those little cupids."

He squeezed Dorothy's leg.

"Quit!" she said to him.

"No, I love you too much to stop fussin' with ya," Alan said.

Rose asked if they wanted to watch the rest of the movie and turned it on when they told her yes. There was less than a half hour left so Rose and Alan chatted quietly while they watched the remainder of it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That was good except I hated Scarlett and Rhett's daughter died," Jenny said when the movie was finished.

"I hated that too. She was so cute," Awinita replied.

"Do you wanna read the book now, Angel?"

"No, that's okay. The film was good but I don't wanna read the book now," Jenny said.

"Well you finished the movie just in time because we just reached Tampa," Rose said.

She glanced at Alan.

"Before we get a hotel room, I wanna stop at a Wal-Mart," she said to everyone. "I need to get some more snacks so if you lot need to do the same, go ahead."

She put a privacy block up around Jack's mind.

_There ya go, go find your ring now,_ she thought to him.

_Thanks Rose,_ Jack thought back.

Rose dropped the block and started searching around for a Wal-Mart.

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Once they were inside the Wal-Mart, they made sure Ianto was with them while Jack excused himself claiming he had to go to the lavatory. He pretended to go up near the front and when he was out of the sight of the others he doubled back and found the jewelry counter. He looked through the selection of men's rings before choosing a plain silver band. He hurried up to the front, paid for it and pocketed it while he quickly rejoined the others.

Everyone got some snacks and drinks and some food to warm up in the hotel room in order to cover up what Jack had done. After they were finished, they paid for everything went back out to the car and searched for a hotel for the night.

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After a few hours, Madison decided it was time for Dorothy to go to bed. After they laid her down, the Doctor kissed her, put his fingertips against her head and sent her to sleep. Once she was out, he went to work putting blocks around her mind while everyone else showered and relaxed. The Doctor smiled when he saw flashes of his adopted daughter's memories. All of them innocent happy memories of her short life. It warmed his hearts seeing it. After setting up the blocks and making them tamper proof he went on to establish the neural connections and open up her mind so they could feel her. He was careful in what he did because she was so young but the more he worked on her mind the more he felt her faintly in his own. It wasn't much but now he and everyone else would feel her and she would feel them in return. When he opened her up enough he sent love into her mind and sensed her peace and contentment deepening. He spent several more minutes opening the connections and then lingered a moment feeling his daughter and loving her.

_Yes, I agree with Rain,_ he thought to himself_. I'm here for a reason and it's no accident that you and your mother came into our lives. I'm glad you're here, Ladybird, and I can't wait till you grow up and travel the stars with us. _

He then retreated from her mind and went to take a shower while she slept peacefully.

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The next morning, the Doctor woke Dorothy up and smiled when he felt her happiness upon seeing him.

"Hi Daddy."

"Hi, Ladybird, ready for another fun day?"

"Yes."

The Doctor sent love into her mind and grinned when Dorothy smiled and giggled. He stepped back and let Madison get her up and ready for the day.

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They decided to go to Busch Gardens first. On the way there, everyone took turns sending love into Dorothy's mind so they could listen to her coo and giggle. By the time they reached the amusement park she was completely content. They paid the admission and went inside the park. While they walked, Dorothy was looking behind her at a point in space while she held her mother's hand. Then suddenly she tugged on her hand.

"Mommy, gotta pee pee!" she said to her.

"Oh, okay baby, I'll take ya."

"Can Daddy take me?"

Madison glanced at the Doctor.

"Do you mind?"

"Not at all."

"Okay, you go with Daddy then and we'll wait here, Dot."

"Okay."

Dorothy took his hand and they walked off to find the restrooms. They found one about fifty feet away. The Doctor looked inside and breathed a sigh of relief when no one was inside. He led her into the long room and stopped at the first stall.

"Okay, you go ahead and I'll wait right here."

Dorothy stared at him.

"Go ahead, Ladybird, I'm not gonna leave ya, I promise."

"Doctor."

The Doctor was shocked when Dorothy spoke. Instead of her high-pitched voice, she spoke to him in a deeper adult voice. Fear gripped his hearts knowing that this was possession.

"No, I just blocked her mind, she can't be possessed," the Doctor said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Doctor, don't be afraid. You don't recognize my voice?" Dorothy said.

The Doctor paused and thought. Then it suddenly came to him and his blood froze in his veins.

"Romana?" he said, hardly daring to believe his ears.

Dorothy nodded and held up her hand.

"As I said, don't be afraid. Dorothy is unharmed. I'm borrowing her body to speak to you."

The Doctor knelt down, tears coming to his eyes while he listened to the voice of his dead friend.

"Romana, how?" he said softly.

"I am in the spirit world, Doctor, along with the others you have loved and lost. We keep watch over you always," Romana said to her. "Dorothy has the innocence of children and can see into "Heaven" while you and the others cannot. I told her to bring you in here because I wanted to talk to you for a moment."

"Yes?" the Doctor choked out.

Romana came forward and put Dorothy's tiny hand on her shoulder.

"Now, quit that crying, Doctor. That's not like you," she teased. "This is supposed to be a happy reunion. And what I have to say will make you even happier."

"Yes?"

Romana nodded.

"What your wife said was spot on. There are no coincidences in life, Doctor. You are meant to be here and the ones who travel with you are meant to be with you. It's the same for all your companions and friends. Everyone who has shared your life had and have a part to play in the fight against darkness and someday Dorothy here will share in that fight. But at the moment there is a bigger challenge and that is your healing. Imiko initiated it but we in the great beyond that love you and keep watch over you are also helping to orchestrate events that will help you conquer your darkness and demons once and for all. It's no accident that Dorothy asked you to be her daddy. She can hear as well as see us and we asked her to do it because you need her as much as she needs you. She is a gift to you, Doctor, just like Jenny and your family. We are tired of seeing you work so hard to protect the innocent and preserve the safety of the universe and getting only sorrow and loss for your troubles. That's why you were stranded with Alan and the others and why others are coming into your life now, including Dorothy."

She patted his cheek when tears streamed down his face.

"Now stop that. I said no crying, you big Time Lord baby," she teased. "All of us over here are proud of you and we want you to let go of all the blame you carry for our deaths, mine, Leela's, Adric's and everyone else. It was our time to go and it had nothing to do with you. We did die in your name but we all went willingly and proudly just as your family outside would do the same. I love what you did with Dorothy last night, shielding her mind and opening it up, but I want to enhance what you did so I will open her mind up even more and strengthen the connection between you and her so you will feel one another clearly even when she's with her mother on New Hope."

"Thank you, Romana," the Doctor choked out.

"Of course, Doctor. You've been a wonderful friend to me and I finally get to return the kindness. I also told Dorothy here about being a Time Lady while she was with her mother in their house. We talk to her all the time and that's why she wants to be like you now when she grows up and why she wanted so badly to see you again. We've been bragging about you and telling her how wonderful you are and that's another reason why she wants to be a Time Lady. She's extremely bright for her age."

"I know, I can see it," the Doctor said.

"And quite mischievous. You better watch that brother of yours or she'll be terrorizing your wife along with him," she said with a wink.

The Doctor smiled at that.

"But we wish you to love Dorothy with all your hearts and love her freely. She is being watched and protected and there's no danger of you losing her. I'm sure you're beginning to understand that not everything you love is in danger of dying in front of your eyes. But I wanted to talk to you privately and tell you why Dorothy has chosen you as her daddy. It was destiny that her true father left so you could take his place and provide her with the role model she needs so that she'll grow up to become a fighter of evil and injustice. But for the moment, your strategy about letting her be a human child is a good one. Which is why I must leave you now and let this child go to the lavatory because her poor bladder is about to burst."

The Doctor let out a sobbing laugh.

"I miss you, Romana."

She smiled.

"I know, my Doctor, but I'm always here. We're always here beside you keeping watch and someday you'll join us and we'll all have a happy reunion on the other side. But for now have fun with your family as you go through Florida and enjoy the love and friendship they offer you. Bask in it, accept it without any guilt or fear of loss and let it clear the darkness away from your hearts once and for all so you can be truly happy at last."

A tear ran down the Doctor's cheek while he nodded. Romana came forward and kissed the tear away.

"Stop that I said," she said sternly while she wagged Dorothy's little finger. "Honestly, you're getting to be such a crybaby, Doctor."

She winked when the Doctor laughed at that and gave him a hug.

"Remember, we're always with you, watching and protecting you along with your family. And Jenny's vision is quite correct, there will be others, many others to come, so many you'll be elbow to elbow with them in the TARDIS."

"I hope so, Romana," the Doctor said.

"Now, I would be remiss if I let this poor child wet herself since she's such a big girl so I'll retreat from her body. Mind you, she won't remember any of this so don't be surprised if she's confused when I leave but have fun in the amusement park and get back to your family before they think you and Dorothy got flushed down the loo."

The Doctor nodded and smiled. He hugged Romana tightly and as he did, he felt Dorothy's mind opening up more until he felt her as clearly in his mind as he did the others. Romana stepped back.

"There, that's sorted out. Now that's just a personal connection, mind. The others can feel her but not as strongly as you because we want you to be comforted knowing she's safe when you must leave her at home. And so, I must bid you goodbye, my Doctor. Remember, we're all proud of you and we'll watch your healing with happy hearts and help it along whenever we can."

She gave him one last hug and then stepped back. The Doctor watched while Dorothy blinked twice and looked around in confusion. She smiled.

"Hi Daddy," she said.

"Hi, my darling daughter," he said. "You better go pee pee now so we can go have fun."

"Okay."

The Doctor's eyes misted over while he watched her turn and go into the bathroom stall.

"Thank you, Romana. Thank you for everything," he whispered while she closed the stall door.


	145. Chapter 145

Chapter One Hundred And Forty Five

Once Dorothy got back out of the stall, the Doctor scooped her up and held her tightly to him. He poured love into her mind and grinned when she giggled.

"I love you," he said to her.

"I love you too, Daddy."

"Ready to go?"

"Yup," she said, looking at him.

He helped her wash and dry her hands and he set her down. He took her hand and gave it a squeeze while they went back outside. As they neared the others they saw them gathered around Rose who was holding the park map. Jack saw him and pointed to him. Rose walked over to him.

"Um…Doctor…we might have a problem," Rose said, walking up to him.

"What kind of problem?" the Doctor said, frowning.

"I don't think there's much for Dorothy to do. Most of the rides are roller coasters. Big ones that she can't ride."

"What?"

The Doctor scooped Dorothy up and held her while he looked at the map. The others came up and gathered around him.

"There's gotta be something for children. This is an amusement park," the Doctor said.

Rose pointed to an information booth several feet from their position.

"I'm gonna ask because this can't be right," Rose said. "You're right, why would they build a theme park and not have rides for little kids?"

They followed her while she went in the direction of the information booth. She found it and talked to the person standing in it. He was a young black man with a clean shaven baby face, close cropped hair and a thin build. He was wearing black pants, a white dress shirt and a red Busch Gardens waistcoat over it. Rose explained the situation to him, pointing to Dorothy who was still in the Doctor's arms.

"We have a children's area, Ma'am called Jungala. It has rides and shows and games for young children. And just from looking at her, I'd say she's old enough to ride the river rapids and log flume rides. We have animal shows all over the park at different times and we have a water park called Adventure Island that has slides and pools for small children.

Rose thanked him and they walked away.

"I hope that's enough because I really don't want Dot standing around half the day while we get to ride all the rides," Rose said to them. "So maybe we'll try a log flume ride first and see if she likes it?"

They nodded. She opened the map and studied it and then led the way.

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They got in the queue for the first log flume ride they saw. It was early in the day so there weren't that many people but there was still a bit of a wait. The Doctor continued to hold his daughter in his arms, letting her watch the log shaped cars while they went down the huge hill at the end of the ride. She giggled when it hit the bottom and made a huge splash.

"You wanna go on that, Ladybird?" he asked her.

"Yes."

"Good."

He blocked Alan's mind and told him he wanted to speak to him later. Alan looked back at him, nodded, and he dropped the block. They moved along slowly but surely, chatting with each other. Awinita glanced back at the Doctor.

"By the way, kudos to them for making a log jam ride that's not enclosed," she said.

The Doctor laughed.

"Yes, it's no fun if you can't get splashy wet," he said to her.

"And it's no fun if I can't toss the wife overboard when we hit bottom and watch her come out sputtering and drenched like a wet hen," Alan said.

They laughed when she smacked his head repeatedly. The Doctor smiled when Dorothy giggled.

"Silly, isn't he, Ladybird?"

"Yes."

Alan spun around, walked over to her and gave her an intense stare which made Dorothy laugh even more.

"What are you laughing at?" he said while he stared at her with bulging eyes.

"Quit!" Dorothy said, laughing.

She buried her face in the Doctor's shoulder and he giggled when Alan put his nose on her back and breathed heavily.

"Daddy! Tell Uncle Alan to quit!" she squealed into his shoulder.

"Quit, Uncle Alan."

"Never!" he said dramatically.

He lifted up the back of her pink t-shirt and Dorothy laughed when he blew a raspberry on her back.

"You'll never get rid of me, bwahaha!" he said. "Ask your Aunt Rose. She's been trying to get rid of me for months but she won't succeed and neither will you."

"Leave her along, Snotbag, you're scaring the straights," Rain said as she stood behind the Doctor.

She ducked down when Alan walked over to the other side of his brother, leaned his head over his shoulder and stared at her intently.

"Retribution is coming for you, Rainy," he said.

"Yeah, I'm trembling in my sneakers, Butterbutt."

They laughed when Alan's mouth dropped open.

"Excuse me my brother; vengeance is mine and all that."

Rain ran around the Doctor when he walked around to his back. Alan walked around to the front and she hurried to the back. They laughed when the two of them walked in a circle around the Doctor.

"Why do I suddenly feel like a maypole?" the Doctor said while they laughed harder.

Jack grinned. He waited for an opening and slipped in between Alan and Rain.

"What do you think you're doing?" the Doctor said to him.

"Getting my morning exercise," he said while the three of them walked around the Doctor.

He glanced at Dorothy who was watching the whole thing with interest.

"Odd, aren't they?" he said to her.

"Yes."

Donna slipped in behind Jack and joined in.

"Okay, this is getting a bit out of hand," the Doctor said while they laughed. "Now I feel like I'm in the middle of a merry-go-round and on top of that the queue's moved up."

The four of them stopped the circular walking and moved up in line with everyone else. The Doctor glanced at Madison behind him and shook his head.

"Mad as hatters, the whole lot," he said while she laughed.

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Finally it was there turn to go. They climbed into one large log. The Doctor sat Dorothy down in between him and Alan who was up at the front. Alan looked back and gave her the intense stare.

"Bwahahaaa, you cannot escape now!" he said melodramatically.

"You go 'way!"

The log began to move.

"Sorry, can't, have to suffer with me," he said, wagging his eyebrows.

They went around a bend and slowly went up a steep hill; Dorothy slumped back against the Doctor with a stunned look on her face.

"Huh?" she murmured while he and Alan snickered.

"We're going up, Doodlebug," Alan said. "And soon we'll go dooooooooooooown!"

Rain peeked over the Doctor's shoulder and giggled while Dorothy looked around in confusion.

"I hope this doesn't scare her," she said to him.

"Nah, I don't think so, Latara. I think after she adjusts she'll like it."

They reached the top of the hill and went down a couple of feet into the twisting half pipe. The Doctor tightened his hold on Dorothy while she looked down at the swishing water outside the log. They grunted when the log bumped against the side of the pipe sending a bit of water sloshing into the log.

"Hey!" Dorothy said while they laughed.

"What's wrong, Doodlebug, can't stand soggy shoes?" Alan said, looking at her.

They twisted and turned through the half pipe hitting the sides and getting slightly wet. Finally they reached the last hill and went up. The Doctor tightened his hold on Dorothy even more while Alan scooted back until he was up against her. Everyone grabbed onto everyone else while the log crested the hill. There was a flash when a camera positioned at the top took their picture and then they sped down the last hill. Dorothy let out a surprised yell while everyone else screamed and they laughed when the water splashed up, soaking Alan and getting the others wet. Alan let out a whoop and wiped the water off his face while the log went around a bend to the station. The Doctor glanced down and noticed the slightly stunned look on Dorothy's feet. He sent love into her mind and heard her laugh while she looked up at the Doctor.

"Again!" she yelled while everyone laughed.

The boat stopped at the station and everyone climbed out. Alan instantly spun around and ran, soggy and wet, towards Rose.

"Give me a kiss!" he said to her.

They laughed when she screamed and sprinted for the stairs with Alan in hot pursuit.

"What? Am I suddenly repulsive or something?" he yelled while he went down the wooden steps after her.

By the time everyone else got down the steps, Alan had grabbed her from behind and she was trying to wiggle out of his grasp while he was nodding his head shaking the water from his wet hair onto her head.

"Quit, Alan!" Rose said to him.

She gasped when Alan picked her up, spun her around and planted a kiss on her cheek.

"I love ya, my sopping wet wife!" he said to her.

He finally let her go and Rose smacked his back while he sprinted back towards Jack.

"Couldn't resist, could ya?" Jack said.

"Just sharing the wet, soggy love," he replied.

He walked over to Dorothy and bent down while Madison moved her wet bangs away from her face.

"I see you survived the shocking ordeal, Doodlebug."

"Again!"

They laughed.

"Okay, we know now she can handle the log flume rides," Awinita said, wiping the water droplets off her face.

Madison picked up Dorothy and all of them walked off to find another ride.

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They found a few more water rides that Dorothy could ride before they finally let her rest so they could ride a roller coaster. The Doctor volunteered to go get his daughter something to drink and privately asked Alan to come with him.

_I need to talk to ya, Brother,_ he thought to him after he put a privacy block up.

Alan told everyone else he was gonna sit it out which stunned them.

"You don't wanna go on a roller coaster?" Rose said, leaning in.

"Brother wants to speak to me in private; I'll ride the next one."

Rose nodded. She kissed him and the Doctor kissed Rain. They waited till they got in the queue before Alan turned to him.

"What's on your mind?" Alan said to him.

"Come with me. We'll find somewhere where she can get something to drink and I'll tell you what happened in the lavatory.

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Alan was stunned when he finished telling him what happened. They were standing in the queue inside a nearby restaurant.

"Romana? I can't believe it," he said.

The Doctor nodded.

"I wondered why she cottoned on to me so fast and wanted me to be her daddy. Now I know why," he said. "I will tell Rain this since I want her to know but you know Romana as well as I do so I wanted you to hear it first."

He put a hand on Alan's shoulder when his eyes misted over and he ran his hand across his mouth. Alan swallowed hard trying to get rid of the lump in his throat.

"I'm glad they're doing that for you, Brother. Perhaps that's why the TARDIS went to Messaline when it did. They were influencing her and telling her to go so you'd have Jenny."

The Doctor nodded.

"I thought of that when she said Jenny was also a gift for me," he said.

"Well, I'm glad Doodlebug is around then," he said, glancing down at Dorothy who was holding the Doctor's hand and looking around quietly. "This is wonderful. I'm glad she did that, I'm glad she increased the connection between the two of you and I'm glad she's gonna become a Time Lady. She's too special to stay human forever."

They moved up in the queue. Dorothy looked around and looked up at the Doctor.

"What we doin', Daddy?"

"We're getting you something to drink because you're too small to go on the roller coasters," he said to her.

He picked her up and glanced at the menu posted above the counter. He read through the drink selections with Alan.

"You want a Coke, Dot?" the Doctor said to her. "Or…fruit punch?"

"Coke."

"Okay, Coke it is," he said.

He grinned at his brother who was still wet.

"How's it feel being soggy and soppy?" he asked him.

He turned and grinned.

"Pleasant in the warm air actually and I can give soggy, soppy hugs to my wife and Doodlebug."

He pressed against Dorothy and they laughed when she squealed at that. They walked up to the counter and ordered their drinks.

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By the time everyone else got done with the roller coaster, they were done with their drinks and chatting while Dorothy walked around in front of them exploring.

"How was it?" the Doctor said.

"Pretty good," Rain said, sitting down on the bench beside him.

"Although not as good as Expedition Everest," Rose teased, getting down in Alan's face.

"Nothing's as good as that," he said.

She grinned and tousled his wet hair.

"Quit," he said imitating Dorothy. "You go 'way. You silly."

"I know, I can't help it," Rose said.

He gave her a quick peck on the cheek. Madison picked up what was left of Dorothy's drink and all of them walked off.

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They stopped by a small attraction where you could hold a Macaw and get your picture taken with it. They got into the line and noticed there were only one couple in front of them, an elderly Hispanic man and woman. The Doctor picked Dorothy up and held her while she watched a man dressed in khaki shorts and shirt put a blue and yellow macaw on the man's hand. He held it there while his wife took a picture.

"Is that gonna fit on Dot's hand?" Donna said.

"We'll have him put it on her head," Alan said.

The couple finished and walked away. They let the Doctor pass and all of them followed him while the man smiled at Dot. He led the Doctor over to a metal perch where the blue and yellow and a red macaw rested. Dorothy stared at them with interest. The man urged the blue and yellow macaw onto his hand and held it close while Dorothy stared at it, enraptured. The Doctor held out his hand away from Dorothy and the trainer put it on his wrist. The trainer backed away and Rose and Jack got a picture of them while he stood in front of a large Africa shaped sign that had Busch Gardens, Tampa, Florida painted on it. They took a couple of pictures and the Doctor thanked the man while he took it off his wrist. Everyone took their turn holding the macaws and getting their picture taken with it. Finally, it was Ianto's turn. He was skeptical while he looked at the brightly colored parrots.

"Come on, Yan, it'll be fun," Jack said. "We all did it, now it's your turn."

Ianto stepped up and picked the red macaw. The trainer put it on his wrist and he held his arm up while Jack and Rose readied their cameras. Suddenly, Ianto felt the macaw moving and noticed it was slowly walking sideways up his arm toward his face. The others laughed hysterically as Ianto jerked his head away from the macaw's open beak that was getting dangerously close to his nose and ears.

"Take the ruddy picture!" he yelled while the others bent over laughing.

The trainer took the parrot off and put it back on his wrist, chuckling when everyone let out a disappointed moan. They quickly took the picture and Ianto breathed a sigh of relief when the man took the parrot and put him back on his perch. They thanked him and when they were away they all bent over laughing while Ianto gave them an indignant look.

"I'm glad you lot think it's so funny," he said, incensed.

"It was, I was trying to get a picture of the terrified look on your face when Spoilsport took the bird away," Jack said. "No matter, I'll remember that for the rest of my immortal life now."

Ianto flipped him off while the others clapped him on the back and giggled.

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They searched around and sighed when they got to Jungala and found only two rides for kids there.

"This is terrible," Rose said. "If I known it'd be like this, I would have gone on to Orlando and gone to Disney. At least they have a kid's section."

She checked the map and sighed when she saw more roller coasters around them.

"Apart from the roller coasters, there's nothing but animal shows and I don't wanna do that all day," Rose said. "I don't want Dot to keep on sitting here while we have all the fun."

"Let's just go then," Donna said. "Find something we can all do."

"I agree," Madison said. "She already had to sit out a ride once. Let's find something better."

Everyone else agreed. Fuming, they headed back towards the park entrance.


	146. Chapter 146

Chapter One Hundred And Forty Six

Rose found a library. They got guest passes to the internet and she sat and searched for things to do. While she was doing that, the Doctor pulled everyone else aside to a quiet area while Alan stayed with Rose. Both men explained about Romana and what had happened in the lavatory. Madison was stunned.

"A friend of yours spoke through my daughter?" she said, glancing at her while she sat in a plush chair beside her.

"Yes, she's someone I lost when Gallifrey burned," he said to her. "An old friend and companion in my fourth life."

Madison smiled.

"Well, I'm glad they're doing that, Doctor. You're a wonderful father to Dot and I can see how much she loves you. I've read that children and animals can see ghosts and spirits easier than adults so I believe she can see Romana and all your friends. I'm glad she fixed it so you can feel her clearly too. That way Dot won't get as lonely when you have to go away."

She leaned over to her daughter.

"Do you like Romana, baby?"

"Uh-huh, she nice. She plays with me."

The Doctor grinned at that.

"I told Alan first because obviously he knows her as well and he's telling Rose while she searches the internet but I just wanted you to know what went on and why Dot wanted me to take her to the toilets."

They smiled at her while Dorothy looked around the room. She looked at Madison.

"This boring. I want fun!"

They giggled.

"We're trying to find you something fun, honey. Just be patient."

Rose came up behind them with Alan. She leaned over the Doctor's back and gave him a peck on the cheek.

"I'm so glad Romana did this for ya. You're a wonderful father. I know that just from lookin' at Jenny."

He smiled and rubbed her cheek with his own. Rose leaned back up and kept her hand on his shoulder, giving it a squeeze while she glanced at a piece of paper.

"I found a few things in and around Tampa but I wanted to ask, have you ever roller skated? Because there's a roller skating rink near here and we could do that tonight. That way if Dot doesn't like it, we didn't pay out the nose for it."

"I haven't roller skated in years and she's never done it but she might like it with a bit of help," Madison said, glancing at Dorothy who was staring up at Rose.

"I was gonna suggest a bowling center but then Alan made the crack about Rain killing all of us."

Everyone except Madison, Dorothy and Rain bent over laughing. Rain flipped Alan off.

"Right back at ya, Bowling Ball Assassin," Alan said, tousling her hair.

They explained to Madison what happened and she giggled.

"Don't feel bad, Rain. I'm a lousy bowler too," she said to her.

"Anyone else ever roller skate?" Rose said.

"I have," Rain said.

"Me too," Awinita said. "I used to go with church groups when I was little."

"I have," Mingxia said.

"I tried it once and fell on my arse, does that count?" Donna asked.

"I haven't," Ianto said.

"Me neither but I'm willing to try," Jack said. "Can't be that difficult."

"Obviously, I haven't," Jenny said.

"And Alan said no which means the Doctor hasn't either then," Rose said.

"Nope, never have, but I agree with Jack, how hard can it be?" the Doctor said, shrugging. "Besides, it'll be another Earth thing I can say I've done."

"Let's do that then for tonight and perhaps figure out other places to go in the mornin'," Rose said to them.

They nodded. Madison grabbed Dorothy's hand and she hopped off the chair while they all headed for the entrance.

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They found a Holiday Inn and after checking in and changing clothes, they headed out to the roller rink. It was a large rectangular building. The skating area was in the center while all around it was a carpeted area with tables and chairs and several leather seats. At the front of the rink was a concession area and arcade and at the back was the skate rental. They walked back to that and everyone except Donna traded in their shoes for roller skates and blades.

"I'll watch," Donna said, shrugging. "I'm not into falling on me bum again. But don't worry, I'll get something to eat and have fun watchin'."

They walked over to a table beside one of the open entrances to the rink. They sat down and put their skates on. Madison sat Dorothy on her lap and put a pair of battered white roller skates on her feet. Alan, who was sitting next to them, grinned and spun one of the wheels. Dorothy stared at the spinning wheel and then did it herself, giggling at it. Alan finished putting on his black roller skates and slowly stood up. He stood for a moment getting his balance and then shuffled back and forth on the carpet getting used to the feel of being on wheels. The Doctor had identical black ones and he also stood up slowly and followed his brother's lead. Jack did the same and so did Ianto. They went back and forth on the carpet slightly wobbling but managing to keep their balance. Rain and Awinita finished lacing up their white roller skates. Rain scooted over towards the Doctor and he stopped when she came near.

"You gonna make it, Love?" she said, amused.

He gripped her upper arms and gave her an intense stare.

"If I die and regenerate please stop me from going Goth, Latara."

She giggled when he kissed her cheek.

"Yes, I think I have the mechanics of it and will be just fine," he said.

"Good, try to keep up with me then, Love."

The Doctor watched while she shuffled over to the open entrance, looked for an opening in the crowd and quickly zoomed in. the men's mouths dropped open when she zoomed around to the music, turned around and skated backwards while she danced along to the music.

"Wow, Rainy is quite talented," Alan said.

"I'll say," Jack said.

She zoomed around and waved at them while she went past.

"Come on!" she yelled.

Awinita got out onto the rink and did the same thing, dancing and gyrating while she zoomed around.

"I think we're all definitely novices at this," Alan said.

"I'll be lucky if I get around this thing without smacking into the wall," Ianto said.

"Well, I'm immortal, so here goes! If I die, pick up the battered corpse and wait for me to come back to life."

They watched while he slowly shuffled to the open door and tentatively put his foot out on the rink. He kept a hold on the side while he put the other foot onto it.

"Brilliant Jack, you moved two inches, bravo!" Ianto said while they giggled.

Mingxia shuffled over and paused at the entrance with an amused grin on her face.

"Gonna be okay there, Bro?" she said.

"I will once I get over my fear of falling and breaking every single bone in my legs."

Mingxia waited for Rain and zoomed out towards her. They watched while the two of them talked while they skated side by side.

"Show-offs!" Jack said while they laughed.

"Come on, Jack, move your legs!" Awinita yelled while she skated past.

Donna, who was seated at the table, looked at the three men in front of her.

"Well, you lot gonna go or are ya gonna stand there and block my view?" she said.

"We're goin', Donna. We're just figuring out the logistics of this," Alan said.

Madison slowly walked Dorothy over to the rink while Jenny followed her.

"Dad, this is harder than it looks," she said.

"Tell me something I don't know, Angel," the Doctor said.

Madison slowly urged Dorothy out onto the rink, trying to calm her while she cast frightened glances at the skaters who were zooming by.

"I got ya, baby. We'll stay near the wall," Madison said, coming out onto the rink with her.

He held her hands up above her head and rolled slowly behind her while Dorothy walked along on the skates. They got to Jack who had only gone a few feet from the entrance.

"Beep beep," Madison said while they laughed.

He looked around and grinned at her. He pressed up against the wall and smiled at Dorothy who looked up at him while she slowly skated past.

"Yay! Dot's out on the rink!" Awinita yelled as she zoomed past.

Rose came up behind Alan.

"Are you tryin' to grow moss on ya?" she said to him with a grin.

"I'm….meditating."

"Sure ya are. Come on, Chicken Little, I'll hold your hand."

Alan took her hand and shuffled with her towards the entrance. The Doctor looked at Ianto and they both followed them.

"Finally, I can see something other than your asses," Donna said behind them.

Rose urged Alan onto the rink and coaxed him while he tried to skate. Ianto followed them and gripped the wall when he nearly fell. Jack was looking back at them and beckoned to him.

"Come on, Yan, this way," he said.

"I'm so glad I'm a Time Lord now in case I die," Ianto said to the Doctor.

"Yes, I said much the same thing to Rain," he said.

Rain saw the Doctor. She looked around and glided to the entrance. She held out her hand to him.

"Come on, I'll stay with ya and risk a fall," she said to him.

The Doctor shuffled towards her and she helped him onto the rink. They stayed up against the wall while he got his balance.

"Fiver says he's on his bum within ten minutes," Donna said.

Rain laughed when he flipped her off.

"This is harder than it looks," the Doctor said to Rain.

"You think this is bad, try rollerblading."

"No, this is hard enough," the Doctor said while she laughed.

Mingxia noticed them and glided up beside them.

"Are you alright?" she said to him.

"Will be once I get the hang of this," the Doctor replied.

Mingxia stayed behind him and kept watch while Rain took his left hand and they helped him skate. Awinita noticed them and glided in behind Rose who was doing the same thing with Alan. Jack and Ianto stayed near one another while Madison helped Dorothy. Donna walked up and leaned over the wall smiling at them. The Doctor glided along and he and Alan slowly picked up speed when they finally got the hang of it.

"That's it, Love, keep going," Rain said.

They caught up to Madison and Dorothy. Dorothy looked up at the Doctor.

"See I'm just as bad as you are, Ladybird," he said.

"Lookie what I do, Daddy."

"I see ya, Love," he said.

Slowly the Doctor and Alan picked up speed and confidence. They stayed close to the wall but they were able to glide along and both of them grinned, pleased with themselves.

"Show-offs!" Jack yelled.

They looked back and noticed both he and Ianto had their right hands pressed against the wall while they slowly went along. The Doctor gasped when a ten year old blonde girl nearly barreled into him.

"Watch it!" Mingxia screamed at her while she zoomed past.

"If I don't fall on my bum, the other skaters will kill me," the Doctor said to Rain.

They picked up more speed and both couples got to the point where they could go around the rink at a moderate speed. Mingxia and Awinita skated beside them, keeping watch for other skaters so no one would smack into them. They made it around the rink once and Donna cheered them. By this time both men were completely at ease and skated along at a leisurely pace with their wives. The Doctor waved at Dorothy when they went past.

"Daddy!" she called.

The Doctor and Rain turned and went back to her and Madison. He rolled up to her and stopped.

"Yeeeees?" he said, bending down.

"I do this," Dorothy said, skating along.

"I know, I'm proud of you," the Doctor said while they turned and skated slowly with them.

They reached Jack and Ianto who were still going around the wall.

"Oh for the love of Rassilon," the Doctor said.

"Shut up, Doctor!" Jack said while Rain and Madison laughed. "We're faster than Madison."

"Madison has a three year old, what's your excuse?" the Doctor said.

"I have Ianto," he said to him.

"And Ianto's about to give up on this. I don't like this. I think I might go and sit with Donna and just cheer you on," Ianto said.

"Wait here, Love, I'll help him back," Rain said.

The Doctor nodded and Rain took Ianto's hand while they slowly went back to the entrance. The Doctor rolled up to Jack and stopped.

"See you've got the hang of it," Jack said.

"It's not that hard once you get used to it. I've done ice skating before," the Doctor said, shrugging.

Madison came up beside them and stopped herself and Dorothy. She looked back and noticed how far they'd come.

"Just let her rest a minute," Madison said. "Are you alright, Jack?"

"Yeah, I think I'll be able to go faster but Ianto was a little unsteady and I stayed with him so he didn't fall or watch while someone ran over him."

Rain came back to them.

"Aunt Rain, look what I do!" Dorothy said happily.

"I know, you're good at this," she said, rubbing her back.

She looked at Jack.

"You wanna skate with us till you get the hang of it?" she said.

"If you don't mind, I was just telling him I think I can go faster. It was Ianto that was having some problems and I didn't wanna leave him."

"Well, I think he's done for the night. He went to get something to eat and drink with Donna," she said, pointing to them walking towards the concession stand.

Awinita noticed them and glided in.

"You guys alright?"

"Yeah, we're just resting for a moment," the Doctor said.

Awinita smiled at Dorothy.

"Hey you, soon we'll be entering you in roller derbies," she said, tousling her hair.

"Look what I do!"

"I know, you're good at this!"

She looked at Madison.

"You want me to stay with you? There are idiots who might crash into you and I don't want you falling on Dot."

"Could you? I'd appreciate it."

"Sure."

Rose and Alan came up behind them, glided in and stopped.

"Are we having some kind of family meeting in the middle of all these crazed skaters?" Alan asked them.

"No, just resting a moment," Jack said. "You've gotten good at that."

Alan shrugged.

"Not that hard, like ice skating with wheels. Just needed to get a feel for the wheels and away I went."

He looked at Madison and Dorothy.

"Are you gonna be alright out here?" he said.

"Yeah, Awinita is gonna look after us," she said.

"Good. Where's Ianto though?"

Jack pointed back to the queue at the concession stand.

"Oh, he finally gave in too?" Alan said.

"Yup, I think he likes his feet to be wheel free," Jack said.

He leaned up.

"So are we ready to go then?" he asked them.

They nodded and the two couples skated with Jack until he got the hang of it and then they skated around the rink together while they talked.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After awhile, both the Doctor and Alan went back to the wall and asked Rain to show them how to skate backwards. Jack joined in and Rose watched while Rain kept them against the wall and instructed them how to do it. All three men slowly went backwards until they got the hang of it and then they skated backwards with Rain while Rose skated forwards and kept pace with them. Awinita applauded when they passed her and she saw them skating backwards. They waved at her and glanced back over their shoulders while they turned the corner. They skated around and passed Dorothy who was staring at them in wonder. All of them waved to her and giggled when she yelled at her mommy and pointed to them. By this time, Mingxia and Jenny were off the rink taking a break and eating. The Doctor noticed her and told Rain he wanted to stop. Rain went with him and they went through the door. The Doctor gasped and Rain grabbed him from behind when the switch from the rink to the carpet nearly caused him to trip.

"Thanks, Latara," he said to her.

He shuffled over to Jenny.

"How'd you do, Angel?"

"Pretty good, can't skate backwards yet though but I can go fast. I just stopped to eat with Mingxia, Donna and Ianto."

"I might do that as well, I need a rest," he said to them.

Rain took his hand and they headed towards the concession stand. While they made their way over, Alan, Rose and Jack came by.

"Someone's hungry, I see," Alan yelled.

"Gotta refuel," he yelled back. "Petrol's running low."

They joined the queue and waited.

"You're doing good, Thete."

"Yeah, once you get the hang of it. We oughta do this more often," he said to her. "Perhaps I'll even throw caution to the wind and try the rollerblades."

"Ooo, better not, might break a hip and go in that nursing home," she teased.

She laughed when his eyes bulged out in mock horror then he smiled tenderly at her.

"I'm glad your friends in Heaven arranged for Dot to be your daughter," she said to him.

"Me too. She's wonderful just like her mum."

She kissed his cheek.

"See, told ya I was right about it being no accident you're here."

He put his arm around her and gave her a squeeze.

"Alright everyone!" a man said over the tannoy system, "We need everyone to clear the floor except for the ones who wanna do Limbo."

"Limbo? The going under the bar Limbo?" the Doctor said to Rain.

"Yes, except you do it on skates."

"Ooo, sounds interesting."

Alan, Rose and Jack got off the rink near the concession stand and rolled up behind the Doctor and Rain.

"Limbo? On roller skates?" Alan said.

"Yup," Rain said.

"Wow, I'm not doing that. I just now learned how to skate," Jack said. "My body isn't that coordinated yet."

The Doctor watched while Madison and Awinita got Dorothy to an exit as fast as they could. He breathed a sigh of relief when they were off and heading towards them. While they waited in the queue they watched a couple of staff members skate out and set up the limbo bar while others formed a line near the back of the rink. Awinita made sure Madison and Dorothy got to the concession queue before she turned and headed out.

"She's gonna do it?" Jack said.

"Alright! Someone to cheer for," Alan said. "Why don't you get out there, Potatoface? I need a laugh watching you fall on your bum."

"Heh, heh, no," she said while they laughed.

Awinita waved to them from the back of the queue and they waved back. The man in front of the Doctor was done and rolled away with his food. He and Rain rolled up and ordered while the limbo song began to play. They stood and watched while everyone skated up and bent down, rolling under the bar. One by one they did it and rolled around to the back of the line. By the time it was Awinita's turn, the Doctor, Rain, Alan and Rose had their food and was skating back to the others. They stopped and cheered when Awinita went under the bar. She waved at them and skated back around to the back of the line. They hurried to the tables beside Donna, Ianto and Jenny and sat down, eating while they kept their eyes on Awinita. Each time the bar was lowered and each time Awinita made it to the delight of her family. All of them were now eating and watching. Several people had fallen and had to leave but Awinita was still going strong. By now the bar was only two feet off the floor and most people had been disqualified. Awinita grinned at them when it was her turn. She took off quickly and to their astonishment, she nearly did the splits and held her legs while she zoomed under the bar.

"Jesus, that girl is limber," Jack said while they laughed.

She righted herself and waved to them while they cheered. By this time, it was only her and a ten year old boy with a Mohawk. They lowered the bar and the boy tried to go under but he lost his balance and skidded across the floor making the Doctor and his family wince. Awinita waited while the boy slowly got to his feet and skated off. She tensed her legs, sped up and dropped down to the floor in almost a complete split.

"Blimey," Alan said while she went under the bar and came back up while everyone applauded.

"We have a winner!" the man said over the tannoy system. "Will the lady come to the concession area to collect her prize?"

Awinita waved while her family cheered and applauded. She went out at the exit near the concession stand and glided over to a man who was beckoning to her. He gave her a couple of things and she nodded and thanked him before she got in the food line. When she got her food and glided back over, they all applauded her.

"Jesus, Awinita, do you have any bones in your body at all?" Jack asked her.

"I used to do that all the time when I was young. Won it every time," she said to them. "I guess being a Time Lady keeps you limber."

"What'd you win?" Mingxia said.

"Ten dollar gift certificate to the concession stand and pink pompoms that you can tie on your skates."

She gave the pompoms to Dorothy who played with them while she ate.

"Well gee, Brother, we need to buy her skates and if there's a barrier somewhere that's a foot off the ground she can skate under it for us," Alan said while they laughed.

"I forgot how much fun it is. You need to ask the TARDIS to make a roller rink so we can skate there," Awinita said.

"Yeah, that's a good idea, then Dot can practice," Rose said.

"And Donna," Alan added.

"Ooooh no, I'm not getting out there. I'm happy walking on wheel-less feet, thanks," she said to them.

The next thing they announced was a three lap race around the rink but all of them stayed put and ate while they watched it. The racers made it around the first lap with no problem but on the second lap someone tripped and fell. Everyone grimaced when ten people hit him and fell on top of each other.

"Precisely why I stopped," Ianto said.

"You're right, Awinita," the Doctor said. "Let the TARDIS make a roller rink so we don't risk forty people crashing into us and breaking our bones."

The others went on, avoiding the fallen while two staff members skated out and tried to help them all up. A young brunette woman with long hair and tanned skin won the race and went to the concession area to collect her prize. After that, they announced a general skate and after eating, most of them went back out onto the rink to skate again.


	147. Chapter 147

Chapter One Hundred And Forty Seven

After a couple of hours they finally got back in the minivan to go back to the hotel.

"That was more fun than Busch Gardens," the Doctor said while they climbed in.

"Yeah and it didn't cost an arm and a leg to do it," Awinita said.

Dorothy was in her car seat playing with the pompoms. Alan grabbed one and made it dance on top of her head.

"Boop ba boop ba boop," he said in a high-pitched voice while he did it. "Honka, honka, honka, ding, ding, ding."

Dorothy squealed with laughter and tried to grab it. Alan snatched it away.

"No! My shocking pink pompom," he said to her.

They closed the doors and Rose started the car while Alan examined the pompom. While he did, Dorothy threw her pompom and hit him on the cheek.

"Dot, that's not nice," Madison said.

"Right, mine now," Alan said, picking it up and turning in his seat.

"Hey," Dorothy said, trying to reach out for them.

"You say you're sorry to Uncle Alan," Madison said sternly.

"I sorry, Uncle Alan."

Alan turned back around in his seat and smiled while he put the pompons on her tray.

"Apology accepted, Doodlebug."

He gasped when Dorothy giggled and threw them both at him.

"Oi, that tears it, they're mine and no amount of begging will make me relinquish them now," Alan said, grabbing them and turning back around.

He glanced back and noticed Dorothy was staring out the window.

"Apparently, she no longer cares," the Doctor said to him.

"Good, I can throw these at my wife."

"You do and I'll stuff em down your throat," Rose said, glancing at him.

Alan looked at the pompoms and then handed them back to Awinita.

"I need skates now so I can put these on them," she said to Jenny.

"Ask the TARDIS to make you some," Jenny said.

"Oh, I am and then I'll skate up and down the corridors."

"You do and I'm putting a wheel clamp around your legs," the Doctor said while they laughed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they got back in the room, the Doctor flopped down on his bed and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Made it through the night without regenerating. I'm pleased with that," he said.

"Actually I wish you would have just to see you explain what happened to the whole rink," Rose said, walking past him.

"Nope, sorry, not ready to be younger," he replied.

"Odd that you know what you're gonna look like next, eh," Rose said.

"I know and blast, I'm still not ginger. Can I have one life where I am ginger?" he said to the ceiling.

He noticed Dorothy coming up beside him.

"Don't mind me, Ladybird. Daddy's a bit off his trolley. Romana will tell ya that," he said to her.

Dorothy put her white tiger on his chest. The Doctor stared at it in mock horror.

"Don't move a muscle, Dot. There's a savage predator on my chest," he said while she giggled.

Rose smiled at that while she went past and headed for the lavatory. She pounded on the door.

"Oi, spouse! I need to use the loo and I can only hold it so long!"

The Doctor giggled at the shocked look on his daughter's face.

"Don't worry, my gift, you'll get used to us in time," he said to her.

"You know, last time I looked there were two rooms that the rest of our family were using," Alan said through the door. "Why don't you go in their loo before your bladder explodes. I'm doing man things in here."

"Yeah, wanking off, I bet," Rose muttered while she walked through the communicating door into the next room.

The door opened a few moments later and Alan stepped outside.

"Okay, now I'm finished," he said.

"Wanking off? Because that's what she thought you were doing when she went into the other room," the Doctor said.

"No, I was not wanking off. I was washing my face and cleaning my teeth and….where is she? Honestly, Brother, I love the woman but sometimes…"

"Welcome to married life, mate," the Doctor said to him.

"Tell me about it," Alan muttered.

He went into the other room.

"I was not wanking off, Rose!" they heard him yell. "Can't a man clean his teeth and take his time with it? Honestly!"

The Doctor looked at Dorothy who was watching the door. He rubbed her back.

"Yup, in time you'll get used to the maniacs that comprise our family, my sweetie," he said to her.

Rain came into the room.

"Good thing he wasn't…you know, can't say it with children present but it's a good thing he wasn't," she said to the Doctor while she walked into their bathroom and shut the door.

The Doctor looked at Dorothy who was watching the wall.

"Yup, my little treasure, mad as hatters they are, but I love em," he said, rubbing her back.

Alan came back in the room and stopped at the closed door.

"Oh for the love of all that's sacred, now what? I wasn't finished yet."

"Rain's in there," the Doctor said.

"Well, of course Snotbag is in there..."

He raised his voice.

"SHE'S ALWAYS IN MY WAY WHEN I NEED TO FINISH MY NIGHTLY TEETH CLEANING AND OTHER THINGS!"

"Whaa, whaa, whaa, cry me a river and I'll play my violin for ya," Rain said through the door.

She came out of the room.

"And it's a good thing you didn't do your other man thing that involves your private parts," she said to him.

"And what if I want to? What then?"

"Then I find a knife…"

"Oh yeah, well you do woman things that annoy me too," Alan said to her. "Like when you suck on the back of your teeth and it makes a pfft noise."

"I do not do that," Rain said while the Doctor laughed. "You're hearing things, Turtleturds!"

"I hear perfectly fine, Teethsucker!" he said, going inside the bathroom.

"Talk to the hand, Bro. Talk to the hand!" she said, holding her hand up while she walked back to her side of the bed.

"This is what Romana wants me to enjoy for the rest of my life?" he said while she lay down beside him. "My family going at it at night?"

She patted his head.

"Welcome to having a family, Love."

"I know, can I do an exchange?"

She laughed and turned on her side to look at Dorothy.

"We're just kidding, sweetie. Your uncle and I are very immature."

Alan came out of the bathroom and walked over to her side of the bed.

"And another thing, Teethsucker, I don't like it when I have to walk behind you and you scratch your buttcheeks because then for the rest of the day I'm imaging how soiled your fingers are!"

"Well I'm sure your fingers are even more soiled after you get done doing your man thing!" she said, looking at him.

"I wash my hands. I don't see ya doing that, Buttpicker!"

_Weinerwanker,_ Rain thought to him.

_Soilyfingers,_ Alan thought back.

_Cloney Pony_, she thought back.

_Rainy Insaney!_ He thought back.

"Will you two stop!" Jack yelled while everyone laughed. "Or at least take the immature brat fighting out of my head so I don't have to listen while I watch Mission Impossible in here!"

Alan straightened up and gave Rain a haughty look.

"I will refrain from such childish theatrics because obviously I can do so unlike some people!"

The Doctor giggled insanely when Rain let out a loud, long snort that lasted fifteen seconds. After she was done, she stared at him.

"As I just said, I shall refrain," he said going up on his tiptoes and coming back down. "Obviously you colonials need to learn restraint."

"Oh I wouldn't talk, Mister Sing, Dance and Continually Prance, Rain said while everyone in the next room laughed. "You're worse than the three year old and don't call me a colonial. I'm not even human any more or did you forget that, Dimwit?"

"I shall refrain," Alan said, sniffing.

Rain looked at the Doctor and rolled her eyes when he jerked his head back, put his hands behind his back and walked into the next room.

"I'm so glad I married you and believe me, I pity Rose every second of every day," she said while the Doctor sniggered.


	148. Chapter 148

Chapter One Hundred And Forty Eight

After awhile, Madison took Dorothy and went in the other room to watch a movie with Donna, Awinita, Jenny and Mingxia while the two couples sat at their table and played poker. While they played, they heard the far off sounds of a thunderstorm.

"Not again," the Doctor sighed. "I thought Florida was the Sunshine State."

"Apparently that was to get the tourists to come down here," Alan replied.

While they played, Dorothy wandered back into their room, sipping her sippy cup full of apple juice. The Doctor smiled when she walked up between him and Alan and stared at his cards with interest.

"What you doin', Daddy?"

"I'm playing poker," he said.

Alan poked Dorothy in the side.

"I am too. See, I just poked her, n'yuk, n'yuk."

He giggled when Rose and Rain rolled their eyes. They heard another thunderboom and Dorothy whimpered. The Doctor put his hand on her back.

"Shhh, it's alright, we're here," he said to her.

Dorothy sipped her juice and watched them playing the game. The Doctor sent love into her mind trying to keep her calm while the storm drew nearer to them. Jenny came into the room.

"Dad, there's a severe thunderstorm coming this way according to the telly. They just put up a warning," she said.

"Okay. Well hopefully it'll pass by morning."

Dorothy flinched when thunder cracked outside. Jenny walked over to her and bent down.

"Hey, you wanna come and watch a movie with us?" she asked her.

Dorothy nodded and the Doctor smiled when she took her hand and led her back to the other room. They resumed their card game trying to ignore the storm outside.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After a couple of hours the storm passed and everyone took a break from their game. The Doctor got up stretched his back and went out onto the balcony to get a bit of fresh air. The moon had come back out, illuminating the wet railing on the balcony and making it glisten. The Doctor put his hands in his shorts pockets and looked around breathing in the clean night air. He sensed someone behind him and turned to see Dorothy coming outside.

"Hello Ladybird, come out for a bit of fresh air?" he said.

He smiled when she walked over and reached up for him. He picked her up and let her sit on his arm while he gently swayed and let out a contented sigh. Dorothy put her arms around his neck and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Tired, Dot?"

"Yes."

"Well, I think when we get back inside you better get ready for your bedtime and…"

He didn't get to finish his sentence because a bright light enveloped him and Dorothy and they disappeared from the balcony. A few seconds later there was another bright light and the Doctor staggered while he kept a firm grip on Dorothy who was blinking in shock. He looked around and saw the metallic interior of a spaceship. His blood ran cold and he looked around him.

"No, no, not now, not with Dot in my arms," he murmured while he frantically searched for an exit.

He held her tightly to him.

"I won't let them take you, Dot," he murmured. "I won't let them hurt you. I'll die before I let anyone do that."

Suddenly a door slid open and the Doctor was momentarily blinded by the bright light. He put his hand up to shield his eyes.

"Whoever you are, I warn you, if you touch this child you'll regret it!" he said with his eyes closed.

"Doctor."

He opened his eyes, lowered his hand and saw Silas smiling at him.

"Silas!"

"Greetings, Doctor. I'm sorry we startled you. We were doing research over Tampa and you registered on our scanner so I thought I'd transmat you up to say hello."

By this time the others had noticed they were gone and the Doctor telepathically calmed the frantic calls for him in his head. He explained where he was and that he and Dorothy were alright and everyone became calm again.

"I do sincerely apologize for frightening you, Doctor. I just wanted you to meet the rest of the team and see our ship. We mean no harm to the child. We weren't aware you were holding her when we beamed you up, my apologies."

"It's alright, I'm just glad it's you," he said.

"Is this your child?"

"In a way, this is my adopted daughter, Dorothy," he said to him while Dorothy stared quietly at Silas. "Her mother is my sister and she joined us after Key West which is why you've never seen her before."

"I see. Human?"

"For the moment. She does want to become a Time Lady when she grows up."

Silas chuckled. He beckoned to him and he followed him out of the room into a narrow metal corridor.

"This is our research vessel. I trust you've seen others like it."

"Yes, I have," he said while Dorothy looked around.

Silas stopped halfway down the corridor and pushed a black button embedded in the wall. A door slid up and light poured into the dimly lit corridor.

"This is our specimen room," he said beckoning to him.

The Doctor followed him in. The room was large, metallic and was filled with Perspex cases containing different flora and fauna from Earth and other planets. In the center was a large deep vat filled with dirt where different plants were growing and along the back wall were cells that contained large animals. The Doctor smile at Dorothy when she looked around with curiosity.

"Weird, huh?" he said to her.

"Yes," she said.

He looked with her.

"This is quite an impressive collection," he said. "I see you have more than Earth life in here."

"Yes, we're studying several planets at the same time. Earth is the third one out of six that we need to collect samples from before returning home."

They stopped by a Perspex box that had brown and white rabbits in it. The Doctor looked at Dorothy.

"See the bunnies?"

Dorothy nodded and he held her tight while he leaned over slightly so she could get a better view. Dorothy stared at them and several field mice in the next box. The Doctor leaned back up and walked around the room letting his daughter see everything. They stopped at one of the cells that had a palomino horse inside it.

"Horsie!" Dorothy said.

"Yeah, let's name him Arthur."

"Okay, Daddy," she said while he chuckled.

They finished touring the room and the Doctor walked back to Silas and followed him back out of the room.

"That's just one room," he said, closing the door. "We also have one that's solely plant life and one for marine life. We do have a human on board at the moment, a young female."

"You're not hurting her, are you?" he said angrily.

"No, we're just performing tests and we'll transmat her back in about an hour and a half with her memory altered. But would you like to see her?"

The Doctor nodded and he led him to another corridor just off the one they were in. He slid open a door and the Doctor saw the woman sitting on a metal bench that was built into the metallic wall. She was in her late teens with long red hair and green eyes and a plump heart shaped face. She was shapely and was wearing a blue strapless gown and black high heels. She was looking around, confused and frightened. The Doctor entered and sat down beside her.

"Hi, I'm the Doctor," he said, gently while Dorothy sat on his lap. "What's your name?"

"Are you gonna hurt me?"

"No one will hurt you, I promise," he said to her.

"My name's Julie."

"Nice to meet you, Julie. This is Dorothy."

Julie smiled at her.

"Hi, Dorothy," she said.

"Hi," she said shyly.

"Are…are you with them?" she said, pointing to Silas.

"No, I actually got beamed up with my daughter but I'm just visiting. And so are you. They just want to give you an exam and then they'll let you go."

"If you want to, Doctor, you can help us to ensure she isn't harmed and she can go back with you," Silas said.

"Thank you, I'd like to do that," he said.

He put his hand on top of hers when he saw her fear.

"I won't hurt you and I won't let them hurt you."

"Are you…an alien too?"

"Yes, but I'm a good alien. I love humans. In fact, this is my adopted human daughter. But after they do the tests they're going to make you forget and send you back."

"I don't wanna forget. I mean, they're gonna take away all my memories?"

"No, just the memories of being here."

"Can you ask them not to do that? I promise I won't tell anyone. Hell, I don't know who'd believe me."

The Doctor looked at Silas who nodded.

"We can do that if she wishes."

"Thank you," the Doctor said. "Do you mind if we do this now? My family was worried about me and I'd like to get back to them as soon as I can."

"Of course, let me go prepare the examination room and I'll be right back."

"They won't hurt me?" she asked the Doctor.

"I won't let them hurt you, I promise. That's why I agreed to be there when he asked because I want to make sure you're unharmed."

Julie nodded. Silas came back a few moments later.

"We're ready."

The Doctor took Julie's hand and squeezed it. Holding Dorothy, they followed Silas to an examination room near the front. There was a metal table with several large lights above it. Around the metallic room were medical instruments and standing off to the side were four other aliens. Unlike Silas they had their holographic disguises off and they were all thin with light brown skin, long arms and legs and spindly fingers. Their eyes were small and completely black; they had two slits for noses and a long lipless slit for the mouth. Silas pointed to them.

"This is the rest of the team. This is Kerchek, Warret, Adok and the smaller one behind them is the female captain of the team, Sharshay."

He introduced him and Dorothy and the Doctor greeted them in turn. Silas set up a cloth screen near the door and handed Julie a white gown that resembled a hospital gown. The Doctor reassured her and she went behind the screen and changed. He sat Dorothy down on the ground and took her hand while Dorothy looked around the room with interest. The Doctor smiled noticing she wasn't scared in the least.

"I guess Romana was right about you getting your Time Lady education from me," he murmured while he watched her looking around the room.

Julie emerged and tentatively reached out to the Doctor when he extended his hand to her. He led her to the table while Silas picked up Dorothy and held her for him.

"What tests are you doing?" he said to them.

Sharshay stepped forward.

"Gynecological tests and some intelligence tests," she said.

The Doctor nodded. He helped Julie lay down on the table while the rest of the aliens assembled the implements they needed. He held her hand while they wheeled over a metal trolley filled with the implements.

"Have you ever been to the gynecologist before?" the Doctor asked her.

"Yes."

"This will be similar to it."

"Why? Why are they doing this?"

"We're curious, Julie," Silas said. "Our planet's scientists wish to find out about your planet and other planets so we were sent out to collect data. I assure you, you will not be harmed."

Julie nodded and relaxed while the Doctor started the exam. Kerchek stood nearby and took notes while the Doctor gave him the readings. Silas stood nearby and held Dorothy while the others went off to perform other duties. While the Doctor examined her, he telepathically informed his family what he was doing.

_Okay, this is an odd little diversion from your Florida holiday_, Rose thought to him.

_I know, but I wanna make sure Julie is unharmed,_ the Doctor thought back. _Hopefully, it won't take too long and I'll be back with you in a trice. _

A half hour later, he finished the gynecological examination, taking her vital signs and performing a pap smear. Once that was finished, Kerchek and Silas led all of them to another room and where they measured her mind and determined her IQ. The Doctor put sticky pads on Julie's temples while she sat in a leather chair and knelt beside her, holding her hand while they ran a scan of her mind.

"Where are you from?" she said to him while they ran the scan.

"I'm originally from a planet called Gallifrey. But it was destroyed in a war several years ago. Now I travel around time and space with my family like Dorothy there."

"Time?"

"Yes, I'm a time traveler."

"There is such a thing?"

He smiled and nodded.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Twenty minutes later, the scans were done and Silas walked over with Dorothy in his arms.

"We're finished now," he said.

"That's it?" Julie said.

"That's it. You're free to go. We're sending the Doctor and Dorothy back down to Earth and you can go with them."

He handed Dorothy back to the Doctor. He took the pads off Julie's temples and led her back to the examination room so she could change back into her clothes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Thank you for taking the time to stay and help, Doctor," Silas said when all of them were back in the metallic room. "I apologize again for frightening you and your daughter. I hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday."

"Thank you and it was nice meeting the rest of the team. Are you moving on to another location?"

"No, this is it. The exam on Julie was the last requirement for Earth, now we need to go to Vega and collect samples there. But perhaps someday we'll meet again."

"I hope so. Good luck to all of you."

They all murmured their thanks and goodbyes. The Doctor held Dorothy in his arm and put his other arm around Julie while they activated the transmat. A few seconds later, they were back on his balcony.

"There you are, you naughty boy," Alan said, leaning on the railing. "Sneaking off to perform alien exams while we sit here in a hotel room? Naughty, naughty."

"This is my brother, Alan," the Doctor said.

"Is he an alien too?"

"Yes, everyone in my family is Gallifreyan except for Dorothy. She's human."

Alan walked over to her and extended his hand.

"Hello," he said as she shook it.

"Hi."

"She didn't have her memory erased, I take it?" he said.

"No, she asked them not to."

By now everyone else came out onto the balcony and the Doctor introduced them. They all smiled and waved at her. Madison took Dorothy from the Doctor while he put an arm around her and they walked back into the hotel room.

"Where do you live, Julie?" he asked her.

"Jacksonville."

"Oh, well we're heading that way. We can give you a ride back if you don't mind spending some time with us. They're not gonna hurt you either, I promise. We're all on holiday just driving through Florida and having fun. You're welcome to join us till we get up to Jacksonville."

"Thank you, I'd like that," Julie said.

"Are you hungry?" Alan asked.

"A little."

"We can go get some takeaway if she wants to rest," Rose said.

"Yeah, go ahead and have a lie down, Julie. Um…can one of you lend her some casual clothes then?"

"I'll see if she can fit in my clothes," Rain said, walking to her rucksack.

"So how do we fit her into the van now?" Jack asked.

"We're gonna have to take the car seat and put it in the back with our stuff and someone will have to hold Dorothy on their laps until we reach Jacksonville and pray the police don't see us," the Doctor said.

"We'll do that since we're going out now," Rose said while she grabbed the keys.

She and Alan went out the door while the Doctor led Julie over to the bed and let her lie down.

"You can sleep in here if you want. We, the adult portion who are Gallifreyan, don't need to sleep except for a nap once every two weeks. We mainly use these rooms to relax and for the showers and just unwind after a long day and for Dorothy since she's human and needs to sleep. But we're not like Silas. We won't perform experiments on you. We're actually pretending to be tourists and just going around to the theme parks and museums and things like that. We started at Key West and we're working our way up so I hope you don't mind that. We'd love for you to be our guest and I'll pay your way in if you don't mind going to Disney and other things like that."

Julie was shocked.

"Seriously?" she said.

"Very serious."

"Um, sure…you don't have to but I appreciate you doing that."

"It's not a problem. You have to put up with my odd family and their odd sense of humor but other than that, we'd be more than happy to have you along. How old are you?"

"19."

"Well, other than Dorothy you're the youngest here. Most of my family is in their twenties so hopefully you'll get along with them."

"They seem nice," Julie said.

"We're very friendly," Donna said to her. "But he's right, we do tend to get wild and we get silly so I hope you don't mind that."

"No, I don't."

"And we will tell you about us," the Doctor said.

"So will I," she said.

"Good. Um…I'm not sure what we're doing tomorrow. We went roller skating earlier and we went to Busch Gardens but we didn't stay long because they didn't have much for three year olds to do and we didn't want Dot sitting around all day."

"I understand that."

She smiled and rubbed Dorothy's back when she came up to her.

"She's so cute."

"I know, Madison is her mother but she adopted me as her daddy. Her real dad is out of the picture now because he couldn't deal with Madison becoming an alien."

"Becoming an alien?" Julie said, frowning.

"We'll explain," he said. "Now if you don't mind, I need to use the loo. So just relax and my brother and his wife should be back soon with some food for all of us."

He patted her on the shoulder and got up to go to the bathroom.


	149. Chapter 149

Chapter One Hundred And Forty Nine

Rain was able to lend Julie some blue jean shorts and a lavender shirt and Jenny lent her one of her bras.

"We'll stop at Wal-Mart tomorrow and you can get some more clothes and toiletries and anything else you need," the Doctor said.

An hour later, Alan and Rose returned with three large pizzas, breadsticks and two liter bottles of Coke and Mountain Dew. They got pepperoni, combination and cheese pizzas and they laid them and the breadsticks out on the dresser and let everyone get what they wanted. They used the plastic cups from the bathrooms for the drinks and as they ate, they sat around Julie who was sitting on the Doctor's bed and gave them a basic narrative about themselves and who they were. Julie listened in fascination, letting them talk while she ate. They finished eating long before they were done and she continued to sit there while Dorothy sat beside her and played with her stuffed tiger. After they were done she shook her head in astonishment.

"Wow! Yes, no one will never believe me," she said while they laughed.

"Well, actually that might not be true since the Earth got moved," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, that's true. I was actually up in Georgia. Valdosta. I came down to Jacksonville to live and hopefully attend college."

"What do you want to be?" Rose asked.

"Not sure yet, leaning towards social work of some kind. I wanna help kids who've been abused and neglected, I love kids."

"Good, because this one is quite cheeky," Alan said, pointing to Dorothy.

"She's very brave too. I noticed she wasn't scared at all."

"Nope, she's going to become a Time Lady when she grows up. She told us so," the Doctor said.

"So what were you doing when they took you?" Mingxia asked.

"I was going out to a club."

"With friends?" she asked.

"No, by myself. I was hoping to meet some cute guy at the club though," she said. "I just moved down here so I haven't really had time to make friends, apart from all of you guys."

They smiled at that.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" Jack asked.

"No and my parents aren't around now. They died in a car crash last month. Semi hit them head on and killed them both instantly."

"Oh God," Awinita said.

"Yeah and they were the only ones down here with me. Rest of my family is in Richmond, Virginia but I don't like them. They're a bit nuts and most of them are bigoted and narrow-minded which is why my parents and I moved. So I've kinda disowned them. The funeral wasn't much fun either. Most of them came down to it and they were very disrespectful to my dad. He was a catholic and they didn't like him because mom was protestant and changed to catholic which caused a huge rift in the family. They played Ave Maria at the funeral and you woulda thought the world was coming to an end. But it was my mom's favorite hymn and she told me she wanted it played at her funeral and I honored her request."

They smiled at that.

"So, I did inherit some money from both of them and rented an apartment and applied for financial aid for college and hopefully I can get on with the next phase of my life. But I've never been down here before until I moved and I never went to Disney or any of the theme parks. I've been so busy getting my life in order I haven't had time to do anything else."

"Well then, consider this a bit of a rest so you can have some fun and recover a bit from everything that's happened," the Doctor said. "Sounds to me like you could use a bit of happiness."

She nodded.

"Yes and thank you so much, I'll pay you back when we get to Jacksonville, I swear."

"No, you are our guest and I'm paying," the Doctor said. "Trust me, I have more than enough money so don't worry one bit about paying me or anyone else back. If you have some fun and relax, that'll be more than enough repayment for us."

She nodded and smiled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After awhile, Julie lay down with Dorothy in the Doctor's bed and went to sleep while they went in the other room to watch TV.

"I'm glad she's coming with us," Rain said to the others while they watched. "God, the poor woman, losing her parents like that."

"And then having to put up with bigoted relatives on top of it," Ianto added.

"Well, we'll give her a good time then," the Doctor said.

Awinita giggled.

"Yup, hopefully the new potential sister will have lots of fun," she said.

They looked at her.

"Come on, Romana said there are no coincidences," she said. "It did cross your minds that she might end up becoming Gallifreyan after all this is over, right?"

"Yes, it did cross my mind actually," the Doctor said. "And you're right, starting with Alan everyone that's crossed our path for the most part ends up becoming a part of the family or just staying very good friends. And perhaps this is another instance of Romana and the others helping to make this happen because if anyone needs friends and family it's her."

"And the fact that she seems to be the only one of her family that is open-minded and accepting of others different from her," Donna said. "Bit odd that the open-minded one crossed our paths."

"Well, for the moment, don't pressure her. She has enough to deal with and we can help her with having a good time and lightening her spirits a bit. If she wants to become a family member and it's meant to be then it'll happen. At the very least we're friends now so for the moment we'll just be her friend."

They nodded and went back to watching the movie.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning they woke both Julie and Dorothy off and they warmed up the rest of the pizza and breadsticks. After they ate, they headed back to Wal-Mart and allowed Julie to get a duffle bag and some necessities and snacks for her.

"Thanks so much for this," Julie said when they finished and were heading out to the van.

"It's alright, we're happy to help you," the Doctor said, smiling.

Once they got back in the van and got settled in. Madison held Dorothy on her lap while all of them drove to the library. They got guest passes and checked their email and surfed the web while Rose looked up things to do and went online to buy a vacation package for Disney. The Doctor sat with her and watched while she navigated the Disney web site.

"Good job I'm doing this now after Julie came along so we can include her as well," she said softly. "I guess we could get the five day package at that hotel you and Rain stayed at."

"Yeah and then we can do what we did and spend some nights out of the park going to other things. But it'd be easier to stay in the park again since we wouldn't have to drive there every morning and deal with the traffic."

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly," she said.

He watched while she reserved three rooms for five days and used her credit card to pay for it.

"How are you paying for this when your dad's in the other universe?" he asked.

"This credit card is originally from this universe," she said. "It's still valid."

"You have that large a credit limit?"

She grinned.

"I did once I used my Time Lady knowledge to fiddle a bit with my account," she said.

"Rose Tyler, you scamp," the Doctor said.

"I learned from the best. And actually, I can go back in and take all the charges off when I get through because I also figured out a way to do that."

"I don't know whether to be shocked or proud," he said while she laughed.

"There's nothing else around here that looks interestin' and Orlando's about an hour away so you wanna go ahead and go up there?" she asked everyone.

They nodded.

"Yeah because we know for sure Disney will have things for Dot to do, unlike Busch Gardens," Awinita said.

"And I was telling her that some nights we can go out of the park and do what Rain and I did and go explore other things," the Doctor said. "We went to that Gatorland and a mystery dinner theater thing that was fun."

"We oughta do that again if they have it. That was hilarious," Rain said.

"And they had a wax museum we went to and then we went up to Daytona and relaxed on the beach and did that ghost tour."

"Which they do have in this universe, I checked that," Rose said to him.

"Hey, maybe we'll see actual ghosts this time," Alan said.

"Just as long as we see them and not some perverted drunk," Rain said.

"If there's someone like that in this universe I'll do to him what I did to the other bloke in the simulation room."

"And I'll help," the Doctor said.

"And they have a medieval restaurant where you can go eat and watch knights joust in an arena," Rose said. "I figure the little horsie lover might like that."

"Sod the horsie lover, I'll like that," Alan said.

"And then there's Sea World and Universal Studios and the other theme parks of course."

"Chuck-E-Cheese," Awinita coughed out.

They laughed when she shrugged.

"Games, pizza, fake birthday, lots of gifts," she said. "Seriously, the kid would lose her mind in there."

"Oh Jesus, not the bizarre singing rat again," Jack said, rolling his eyes. "I'll go to a bar while you're doing that then."

"Nope, one for all and all for one," the Doctor said.

"Then, I officially quit this family until after Chuck-E-Cheese," Jack said while they laughed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After leaving, Awinita and Donna switched with Alan and Rose so Rose could rest. Awinita programmed Disney into the Onstar and started the car while Donna relaxed beside her. They pulled out of the library parking lot.

"So you guys wanna watch another movie while I'm doing this?" Awinita said.

"Yeah, let's be insane and watch Xanadu. The curiosity has finally become too much for me," Alan said.

They snickered. The Doctor looked at Julie who was sitting behind him beside Alan and Rose.

"Ever seen Xanadu?" he asked her.

"No."

"See, Harris, you're the only one on Earth who's seen it apparently."

"Well thank God I'm up here then because I don't wanna see it," Donna said.

"We have an hour," Rose said, shrugging. "Might as well start it and see if we like it or not."

Awinita grinned while Donna got the DVD out of the sack.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Everyone was giggling like mad while they watched several women of different ethnicities in filmy dresses and purple auras dance around after coming to life and stepping out of a large mural on a wall.

"So who are these women and why do they feel the need to dance?" Jack said to Awinita.

"They're the Greek muses and they're dancing because they're alive. Aren't you listening to the ELO song?"

"No, I'm too busy being mesmerized by the purple haze these chicks are giving off," Jack said while they laughed.

Finally, Olivia-Newton-John came to life and began to dance with them.

"I had no idea the muses were so skilled at dancing," Ianto said.

"Course, they're the muses. They're the patrons of the arts," the Doctor said.

"But why the purple glow?" Ianto said.

"Because it looks cool in a cheesy '80's movie?" Rain said to him.

"I'm so glad I'm not watching this," Donna said, looking around at them.

"It's not bad if you like roller skating Greek muses who have purple auras," Jack said, shrugging.

Alan glanced at Julie who was giggling.

"This is bizarre. Last night I was abducted by aliens and now I'm sitting with more aliens in a minivan watching Xanadu with them."

They all laughed.

"Yup, life's funny like that," Alan said.

Suddenly, Awinita slammed on the breaks and everyone screamed when they were jerked forward.

"Awinita, what in the world are you doing?"

"It's not me, Bro. There's a gator in the road."

"What?" the Doctor said.

Donna looked around at them.

"Yeah, the whole gator crossing sign just came true. There's a big flippin' gator crossing the motorway in front of us."

They winced when people behind them slammed on their brakes and honked. Everyone leaned up and noticed a fifteen foot gator was sunning itself in the middle of the road completely unaware it was causing a huge traffic jam beside him. Everyone sighed and sat back in their seats.

"I guess we have time to watch the film now," the Doctor said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

All of them kept giggling at the movie while Donna sipped a bottle of iced tea and Awinita drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. In front of them, two cops were standing near the gator trying to determine the best way to get it off the road.

"I swear if Scaly doesn't move soon I'll get out and make him into a purse," Donna said to Awinita.

"Here's a thought, why don't the cops get some meat and toss it in the ditch so he'll move," Awinita replied.

"Because that would mean the cops would have to go back to fighting actual crime," Jack said. "I'm sure they're taking their sweet time."

Everyone drank soft drinks and continued to watch the movie.

"Awinita, what is it about this movie that you like so much?" the Doctor said. "Because this is completely bizarre and I'm surprised Gene Kelly wanted to be in it."

"I like the music, I told you," she said.

"Then buy the CD of it, not the DVD," Ianto said.

"Poor Gene, he must have needed work badly at this point," the Doctor said, shaking his head.

"On the other hand it does have its merits once you get past the cheesy dialogue, bad acting and horrendous '80's hair and costumes," Alan said.

"Yeah, the men who had the pink and blue bouffant hair, I can't believe people dressed that way," Rain said, shaking her head. "They look more like clowns than actual clowns."

"Ought-oh, Mingxia, you alright back there?" Alan said, looking at her while she sat with Jack and Ianto.

"I'm fine!" she said while they laughed. "But yeah, I wouldn't be seen in public with some of the fashions they had on."

"I'm about ready to get out and move the gator off the road, who's with me?" Awinita said.

"And miss this masterpiece of a film, are you kidding?" Alan said. "We have to watch this, Xanadu ranks up there with Citizen Kane as a must see for every film buff."

Julie giggled while they laughed. The Doctor looked at her.

"Okay, while we're stopped, gotta warn ya about my brother," he said while everyone else snickered. "Love him, but the man has a very offbeat sense of humor and he's filled with manic energy and he'll break into song like these people in Xanadu and won't give a damn who sees him. So be warned because it takes time to get used to."

"Yeah, Creepy creeps ya out till ya get used to him."

She gasped when Alan slapped her head.

"Slug-a-bug chartreuse!" he yelled.

Rain turned and looked at Julie.

"And I better warn you about this because he and I act like a bratty brother and sister."

"Yes, they're worse than little children," Jack said. "Dorothy is more sophisticated than they are, Julie, trust me."

Awinita rolled down her window and leaned out.

"Hey!" she said to the cops. "Don't you have some raw meat you can throw into the ditch?"

"We're working on it, ma'am, we're handling the problem," one of them said.

"No you're not, you're standing around scratching your asses like dumb apes," Awinita muttered while she rolled the window back up.

She paused the movie, switched the car off and turned the key down so she could turn the movie back on without running the engine.

"Might as well relax because I'm sure this'll take awhile," she said, reaching into a bag for a Coke.

"Mommy, I gotta go pee pee," Dorothy said.

"Oh no," Rose murmured. "Now what?"

The Doctor thought and grinned. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the vortex manipulator.

"Give Dorothy to me. I'll make a quick trip to the TARDIS and let her use the bathroom there," he said.

They laughed while Madison urged Dorothy to go up to her father. He and Rain switched places and after he quickly explained to Julie what he was doing, he grabbed her, ducked down out of view and disappeared.

"Damn, I wanted to go back with him," Awinita said.

Fifteen minutes later there was a flash and the Doctor and Dorothy were back.

"Okay, that's sorted, what'd I miss?" he asked while they laughed.

He kissed Dorothy and she stood near him while he put a duffle bag down at his feet.

"What'd you bring back?" Rain said.

"Well, first off this duffle bag is bigger on the inside so I brought a first aid kit, just in case, and I brought back a couple of toys for Dot and change of clothes for all of us and Julie and the tissue rejuvenator and x ray screwdriver, also just in case. I made a quick check of the TARDIS and she's fine. She misses all of us terribly and said hello."

They noticed the odd look on Julie's face and explained the TARDIS to her.

"Your ship's alive?" she said.

"Yes, it is," the Doctor said. "And it's sentient and thinks and has feelings and she misses us all. She loves us."

He reached into the duffle bag and gave Dorothy an electronic talking book. She opened it and listened to it read her the story while everyone else watched the movie.

"It's about time!" Donna said.

They looked at her.

"Are they moving it?" Alan said.

"Yes," Awinita said, "and guess what? They used my idea and threw a bunch of raw meat into the ditch. I could have told them that from the start and saved us and everyone loads of time."

"Well, not everyone has a Time Lady mind like yours, Te'lesu," the Doctor said.

They cheered when Awinita turned the car back on and finally moved along with everyone else. They finished watching the rest of the movie while she drove the rest of the way to Orlando.


	150. Chapter 150

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty

By the time they got into the Disney parking lot, the movie was finished.

"That was strange," Jack said while they laughed. "I can't believe Olivia went from Grease to that."

"Well, some people make bad career choices," Rose said. "But I do agree with Awinita, I liked the songs."

"Yeah, I don't mind that but Mount Olympus is a huge disco dance floor?" Jack said. "What in the world were the writers smoking when they thought that up."

"I loved the roller rink at the end," the Doctor said. "Too bad when we went to the one last night it didn't have coordinated group roller skating and people in bizarre costumes and tight rope walkers and Olivia-Newton-John in a skin tight leopard skin outfit."

Awinita found a parking spot near the back and stopped the van.

"Sorry guys, I think this is as close as we get," she said to them.

"Where's the entrance? Timbuktu?" Jack said, looking around.

"They have trams that'll take you up to the front," the Doctor said to him.

"Good because I don't wanna walk ten miles to get to the theme park," Jack replied.

They opened the doors and got out. The Doctor waited till Julie got out and pulled her aside.

"I just wanted to tell you that if you need time alone to grieve, please let us know. I know being with twelve people can be a bit overwhelming and I also know what it's like to lose people close to you. Don't feel like you have to be around us all the time. We're here if you need us but we'll respect your space if you need private time."

"Thank you, Doctor."

He nodded.

"And I'm sorry about last night. After all that's happened the last thing you needed was me giving you a pap smear."

"Yeah but after getting to know you, I'm glad you did because I trust you more than the other aliens."

He smiled.

"Well, I'm sure you figured out that we're very down to Earth types who just want to have fun and be with one another. This is a very close knit family and we're very open and accepting. Like I said, if you need to talk, any one of us will lend you an ear and a shoulder to cry on. Most of us have been human at some point so we understand what it is to be human."

She nodded.

"I'm glad you are open and accepting. I'd rather be with people who are."

"So would I. I can't stand narrow-mindedness. We're all from different backgrounds and different parts of the World and the universe but we still manage to get along and respect each other. And this is only some of my family, we have other brother and sisters on Earth and on other planets and they also are diverse and accepting of others no matter the race, species, color, creed and sexual preference."

He looked at his family who was waiting for them several feet away and leaned in.

"Jack and Ianto are a couple actually along with me and my wife and Alan and Rose and he's gonna propose to him so we're all hoping that he says yes."

"Really?" she whispered back.

He nodded.

"I don't know if it's in this universe but there was a secret entrance down to the staff tunnels in the Disney in the other universe. If it's in the same place I'm gonna get Jack into it and he's gonna go down with Ianto and go into this secret flat that's in Cinderella Castle and propose there since it's a gorgeous flat. So if you see me opening a door and they go inside without us that's what they're doing. And don't tell Ianto because obviously it's a surprise."

"Secret's safe with me. And I hope he says yes. I had several gay friends in Valdosta so I have no problem with that either."

"Good," the Doctor said, smiling. "They're both wonderful people and we all love them very much and we're hoping he says yes as well. But for now, I think we better get going before they go off without us."

He started to go but Julie stopped him and gave him a hug. The Doctor smiled and hugged her tightly. He squeezed her shoulder and they walked back to the others.

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After they got inside the park, they paused while Rose checked the park map.

"Looks like the same layout they had in the other universe," she said. "So you wanna go to Fantasyland and let Dot ride the kid's rides."

"Might as well while she has the energy to do it," the Doctor said.

They turned and walked through the main street section. They slowed and looked around at the shops and buildings. They paused outside a magic shop and Madison pointed to the window in the front of it. There was an animatronic version of the sorcerer from Fantasia making a sleeping Thumper levitate from a purple pillow though a hoop and onto another one. They watched it while Thumper went back and forth through the hoop. Dorothy's hands were pressed up against the window while she watched it in fascination. They let her watch for five minutes before they headed on to Fantasyland.

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"Here we go, no escapin' these rides this time," Alan said while they stood in the line for the Dumbo ride.

The Doctor volunteered to go on the Dumbo ride with Dorothy after enduring the Dumbo crack from Donna. He stood in line with other people and children, holding Dorothy while she watched the flying elephants. He felt a tap on his shoulder while he watched with her and saw Alan and Rose standing behind him.

"On second thought, might as well," he said, shrugging. "I'd rather ride children's rides than stand and watch for several hours while Dot has fun."

They were in the next group and they walked up to the Dumbos and got in. The Doctor looked at the flat part in front of him and saw a little red button.

"Ooo, red button, Ladybird, you wanna push it?"

"Yes."

He tousled her hair and they started to move.

"Push it and let's see what happens," the Doctor said.

She did and the elephant rose up in the air.

"Aha, it's the magic elephant flying mechanism," he said to Dorothy.

"Hey, why won't the sodding elephant fly?" he heard Alan saying to Rose.

"Push the button in front of you, Brother," the Doctor yelled down.

The elephant rose up in the air.

"Oh," he said while Rose put her head in her hands and shook it while she groaned.

Dorothy let go of the button and the elephant started back down. The Doctor pushed it and the elephant went back up while Dorothy giggled. All of the elephant flew around a pole that had Timothy Mouse on top of it. He pointed it out to Dorothy while she looked over the rim. Suddenly the elephant started back down, the Doctor pushed the button a couple of times before he realized the ride was ending.

"That's it? Two minutes? What is it with ride operators?" Alan said behind him. "I realize they have to get everyone on the ride but give us a bit more time than that."

They got out and the Doctor picked up Dorothy and they walked to the exit.

"That was fun, Daddy."

"Yes, it was, wasn't it?"

"Would have been more fun if they'd given you enough time to get up there and enjoy it," Alan said behind him.

"Well, you could have had more time if you pushed the button," Rose said.

"I've never been on this ride before, Starlight, I had no idea it made the elephant go up!" he protested while the Doctor chuckled.

"He figured it out right away," Rose said, pointing to the Doctor.

"Well, he's had more experience pushing buttons than I have," he said to her.

They rejoined the others and walked away. They passed by the It's A Small World ride and the Doctor sighed.

"Might as well get this one out of the way early," he said to them.

Everyone got into the queue and got through it quickly since there were only five people in front of them, a fact which prompted the Doctor to say how everyone else was avoiding it too. They all got into one large boat after the Doctor requested they stay together. The Doctor, Rain, Madison and Dorothy sat in the front. Alan, Rose, Julie and Donna sat behind them. Awinita, Mingxia, Jenny and Jack sat behind them and Ianto sat at the back. The moment they went into the darkness the song started and everyone laughed when the Doctor, Alan and Jack gave out exaggerated pained yells. All around them little animatronic children from different lands moved back and forth while the song played over and over. Rain glanced at the Doctor and laughed when she saw the wide-eyed look of horror on his face.

"My poor husband, subjected to this nightmarish torture," she teased.

"Yes, my mind is slowly being turned to goo by the sappy, crappy tune," he said while they laughed.

"So is mine, Brother. This whole ride is designed to sap your will and make you into a mindless slave," Alan said.

They got halfway through before the boat suddenly jerked and stopped. All of them looked around in confusion.

"What happened?" Jack said. "Why did we stop?"

"I'm sorry, everyone," a male voice said on a tannoy system overhead. "We're having some technical difficulties and the ride has broken down temporarily. Please be patient while we fix the problem."

"No!" the Doctor said while everyone roared with laughter. "Oh you have got to be kidding me, not now!"

"It's a trap, they're just saying that! It's not broken, this is torture!" Jack said.

The song continued to play while all around them Dutch children spun back and forth in front of windmills and wooden shoes. Rain and Madison laughed hysterically at the horrified look on the Doctor's face. Rose leaned up and laughed when she saw him.

"No, hold on, Doctor. Resist the mind control! Fight the hellish torture," she said to him.

"Can't, song is sapping my will to live, feel urge to drown myself in water," he said while they laughed harder.

"Daddy, look!" Dorothy said, pointing to the animatronics.

"Can't Dot, slowly losing my mind, becoming mindless, will soon sing along with the song," he said, staring ahead.

Dorothy giggled. She climbed over Rain and gave him a kiss on the cheek. The Doctor blinked and grinned at them.

"You saved me," he said while they laughed.

His eyes widened.

"But for how long?" he said dramatically while Dorothy giggled. "Soon the enslaving music will affect me again and make me want to swivel back and forth in a preset pattern and be jolly. I must get out of here before all hope is gone."

Rain laid her head against him and he gave her a kiss. Suddenly the ride started up again and everyone cheered.

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"Thank you!" Jack said as he and everyone else hurried away from the ride. "God, that's the last time I ride that thing. I'm betting it wasn't broken down. I bet there's some secret perch where the staff goes and observes the riders and laugh after they stop the boats."

"I knew it was a good idea to avoid this section," Alan said.

"Well, unfortunately, we're not done yet," Madison said.

"No, Maddie, resist! You must take Dot somewhere more grownup before she loses her mind and her will to the Disney Corporation!" Alan said, grabbing her while everyone laughed.

"Like that Family Guy episode where they kidnapped Stewie and made him be one of the children in It's A Small World," Rain said to Awinita.

"They have an episode that shows that?" Alan said.

"Oh yeah and actually he was dressed as a Dutch boy come to think of it. All the little animatronics were kidnapped child slaves forced to work for Disney."

"See! We're right, they will snatch Dot away and make her work," Alan said. "We need to keep an eye on her at all times."

They walked over to the Snow White ride and Jack backed away.

"No, Snow White I don't do," he said.

"Me neither," Ianto said.

"Same here," Alan said. "I'm still trying to recover from being trapped in It's A Small World. I'm not about to get stuck in here and listen to Heigh-Ho ninety billion times."

The Doctor looked down at Dorothy.

"Let me guess, I'm the daddy, I must go," he said while they laughed. "I must appease the child and be there for her and endure Heigh-Ho like a good parent."

"Come on, dear, be a good daddy," Rain said, taking his hand.

"Help!" the Doctor called out plaintively while the rest of them walked towards the ride.

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They sat four to a car while they went through. The cars were shaped like mine cars and they went past scenes from the movie. Madison sat with her daughter in the front while the Doctor and Rain sat behind them. The Doctor let out a bored sigh while Rain snuggled with him. Then they came to a scene of the queen in front of the magic mirror, she turned and she became the hag. Dorothy let out a scream of terror upon scaring her and all three people rushed to comfort her.

"What happened?" Donna asked while she sat in the car behind them.

"She got scared when the queen turned into the crone," Madison called back.

Suddenly a boulder rolled towards the car and stopped just inches from it. Dorothy let out another scream.

"I don't think we should let Dot ride this ever again," the Doctor said.

He pulled her into a hug and rubbed her back while he let her bury her face in his shirt. She stayed that way until the end of the ride and then they quickly got off the ride.

"What happened?" Alan said when they saw the tears on her cheeks.

They told them and the three men's mouths dropped open in shock.

"Are they insane?" Alan said. "Are they trying to traumatize children?"

Everyone knelt down and comforted her until she was fine again.

"Maybe we better get her something to drink and let her recover before we go on," the Doctor said while everyone nodded.

Madison picked her up and Dorothy threw her arms around her and sobbed while they went to find a restaurant.


	151. Chapter 151

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty One

After Dorothy had a glass of milk and was calmed down they headed back out and looked around.

"Now I'm afraid to take her on anything," Madison said. "Is something else gonna scare her?"

They looked back at the Toontown section.

"We could go back there and look around," the Doctor said.

He had a thought and smiled.

"Actually, Jack, I have a feeling you and Ianto will probably want to pass on that, yeah?"

"Yeah," Jack said, picking up on the Doctor's hint. "This is a bit childish."

"Well, I have a suggestion if I can find it in this version of Disney. Rain and I found a hidden entrance down to the secret tunnels the staff uses. Why don't you guys explore that while we take Dot around?"

"Won't we get caught?" Ianto said.

"Not with these," he said, pulling his perception filter out of his pocket. "Put this on and as long as you don't draw attention to yourself no one will notice you."

"That's a good idea. I still have mine from Mordos," Jack said reaching into his pocket and pulling it out.

"Ianto, wanna do that?" the Doctor asked.

"Might as well, beats standing around out here," Ianto said, shrugging.

A look passed between Jack and the rest of the family and they smiled.

"Right, let me see if I can find the entrance then," the Doctor said casually.

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To his relief, the entrance was in the same place as the other park. The others grouped around him, hiding him from view while he used his screwdriver to open the door. Jack and Ianto put the perception filters on.

"Have fun, we'll meet you back at Cinderella's Castle since that's where there other end comes out," the Doctor said.

They nodded. Jack let Ianto go first and then mouthed his thanks to the Doctor. The Doctor nodded, winked and closed the door after they went inside. The rest of the family shared a grin and then hurried away to Toontown.

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"Wow, rather grim looking down here," Ianto said while they walked along the concrete passageway. "You'd think Disney would make it look more cheerful and put some paint on the walls."

"I'm sure they don't want the people to linger here, Yan. They're s'posed to be up working. Still this is neat, I'm glad the Doctor and Rain found this in the other universe."

They shut up when two cast members dressed as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger walked by.

"I bet that's incredibly hot in those things," Jack said.

"You think?" Ianto replied.

They kept quiet while they passed by the break room. Several people were inside laughing and talking. They paused for a moment looking inside before heading on. As they neared the end of the passageway, Jack saw the elevator the Doctor mentioned and grinned.

"Wonder what that leads to?" he said, pointing to it.

Ianto shrugged.

"Come on, Yan, one way to find out," Jack said, taking his hand.

They looked around, pushed the button and stepped inside it. There was only one button and Jack pushed it. The elevator went up a couple of floors and when the door opened, Jack's eyes bulged when he saw the lavish apartment.

"Wow!" Ianto said, looking around while they stepped out. "Where the hell is this place?"

"It's inside Cinderella's Castle," Jack said, looking around.

"You knew about this?"

"Yeah, Doctor told me," he said to him.

They walked around looking at the empty apartment. Jack let out a low whistle when he saw the bathroom with the marble tub and stained glass window of Sleeping Beauty dancing with Prince Charming above it.

"Yup, Disney has money, that's for certain," Ianto said, gesturing to the tub and window.

Jack thought for a moment. The bathroom was beautiful. The most beautiful room in the whole apartment. He debated whether it would be tacky to propose to his lover in a bathroom but he couldn't think of a more romantic setting than the stained glass window. Thinking to hell with it, he cleared his throat.

"Ianto, I haven't been entirely honest and neither has the rest of our family," he said.

"What do you mean?"

"I knew about this place, yes. But I also wanted to get you in here alone," Jack said.

Ianto groaned.

"Jack, we cannot shag in the middle of Disneyworld no matter how thrilling the idea is to you."

"No, it's not that," Jack said, shaking his head. "You see, I'm glad that you decided to become a Time Lord because it means we'll have centuries together."

Ianto nodded. Jack came in close and stroked his cheek.

"I know sometimes I flirt with others, but my heart…or hearts has always belonged to you."

Ianto smiled.

"And I'm the same way, Jack. You're the main reason why I decided to be a Time Lord."

Jack kissed his forehead.

"I'm so glad to hear that, my Ianto, because I have something to ask you."

Ianto's eyes bulged when Jack fished a ring out of his pocket and got down on one knee in front of him.

"Ianto, my love, my hearts' desire, will you make my life complete and marry me?"

Ianto stared at him in shock for a moment and looked around.

"Jack, we're beside a toilet," he said.

"I know but I love the stained glass and I couldn't think of a better spot to do this. Ignore the bog and tell me yes or no?"

Ianto thought for a moment and then smiled as he nodded. Jack's breath caught in his throat and tears came to his eyes while he slipped the ring on Ianto's finger and kissed his hand. He stood up and they kissed passionately for a moment.

"This was planned, wasn't it?" Ianto said.

"Of course it was, remember when we were in Wal-Mart and I suddenly had to use the toilet? I went and got this instead," he said, pointing to the ring.

He cupped Ianto's face.

"I will be faithful to you, I promise," he said.

"And so will I," Ianto replied.

They kissed again, snogging for several minutes before they decided to leave. They took each other's hand and kissed while they walked to the elevator at the back of the apartment.

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Jack glanced out and noticed they were in a small secluded passageway inside the castle. He and Ianto stepped out of it into the main passageway and took the perception filters off. They looked around for the Doctor but couldn't find him or anyone else.

_Doc, where are you?_ He thought to him.

_On the Peter Pan ride, we'll be there in a moment. How'd it go?_

_He said yes._

They were taken aback when everyone cheered loudly in their heads. The cheering continued and love poured into their minds while they headed back to Fantasyland. As they neared the Peter Pan ride, they saw Alan standing outside. He ran up and laughed while Jack hugged him. He hugged Ianto.

"I'm so happy, this has been a long time comin'," he said. "I'm glad you said yes."

"So am I," Ianto said.

_Brother, they're outside the ride, just letting you know_, Alan thought to the Doctor.

_Okay, we'll be there soon._

Once everyone was off the ride, they couldn't get to them fast enough. Both men grinned when all of the hugged them in a group hug. Julie stood back with a smile on her face, watching them.

"Congratulations," she said when everyone finally let them have some air.

"Thanks," Jack said, accepting the hug from her.

She hugged Ianto and grinned when she saw his ring. Jack looked at the Doctor.

"Dot alright?"

He nodded.

"Yeah, nothing else has scared her so far. She got her picture taken with Mickey Mouse and Pluto in Toontown."

Rose found the pictures on her digital camera and showed them to Jack and Ianto. They awed together and gave the camera back to Rose.

"Should we go back to the restaurant and celebrate the engagement?" the Doctor asked.

They nodded and patted Jack and Ianto on the back while they walked away.

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"To Jack and Ianto and a long, happy life together," the Doctor said.

They raised their glasses of soft drinks and clinked them together. Dorothy gave the Doctor a confused frown while she sat beside him and he smiled and kissed her head. Jack pointed to Julie.

"You have to come to the wedding since you're a witness to this," he said to her.

"I'd love to," she said while they cheered.

They giggled when several people around them gave them odd looks and ate their lunch while they chatted away.

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Afterwards they walked over to the Haunted Mansion.

"Aaaaand this is where I say, nope. Not gonna do it," Alan said.

"Come on, Alan," Rose said.

"Nope, subjected myself twice to this boring snorefest in Florida and Tokyo, not gonna do it again. I'll wait."

"What about Dot, how scary is it?" Jack asked.

"Um…there are things that pop up from behind wooden chests and graves," Rain said.

"And the corridor where the doors shake," Awinita.

"And there are simulated storms in there. Maybe she better stay with you, Brother. She's already been traumatized once today."

"No worries, I'll look after Doodlebug while you fall asleep in there," he said to them.

"Baby, stay with Uncle Alan for this one," Madison said.

"No!"

"Hey Dot," Alan said, bending down to her.

"Huh?"

"Let's go find something to do while they go through this. You don't wanna go in here. You'll be snorin' your teeny tiny head off by the time it's done, trust me. Let's go get ya a Mickey Mouse plushie or something, wanna?"

Dorothy nodded and they breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thanks, Brother," the Doctor said.

"No problemo, I'd rather shop than go inside. Come with me, Doodlebug, and Uncle Alan will spoil ya rotten."

She took his hand and the Doctor and Madison gave her kisses before they got in the queue.

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"Wow, this is actually ingenious," Jack said while they watched the room stretching.

They turned around and watched the portraits stretch out.

"I like the one of the bloke sitting on the dynamite keg," Ianto said.

"I like the people in the quicksand," Jack said.

They looked up when the room darkened and saw the hanging person.

"Yeah, Dot would be screaming by now," Madison said to the Doctor.

He nodded.

"I figured that out after the thunderstorms," he said to her.

They walked off with the rest of the people and waited to get into the cars. The Doctor had a thought and touched Julie's shoulder.

"Hmm?" she said.

"Are you okay with this? This has to do with death and dying and ghosts."

Julie smiled.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. This won't bother me but thanks for asking."

"Well, I just thought of it," he said while they walked to the cars. "I was afraid you might get upset."

"I'm fine, Doctor."

He squeezed her shoulder and she got inside the car with him and Rain. When the cars turned, she saw Rose sitting with Jack and Ianto.

"Strange not seeing you with your husband," the Doctor said to her.

"I know, the little infant couldn't handle it, I guess."

They turned and went up the hill towards the attic. The Doctor relaxed and leaned his head against the back of the car.

"I hope now that they're engaged the wedding won't be in a hundred years," Rain said to him.

"Yes, I know, we already waited for Martha before she gave up. But then again, maybe Martha will urge them to do it since she had to wait so long."

They laughed when the dead body popped up from behind the chest and Jack and Ianto let out high-pitched shrieks.

"Sorry, we got scared, we're sensitive people," Jack said while they laughed.

They turned and went backwards down the incline. They kept laughing when Jack let out girly shrieks every five seconds. They passed by the crystal ball.

"Why is there a lady's head in there?" Ianto asked when they went around it.

"Because that's how she got ahead in life!" Jack said.

Rose groaned when he nudged Ianto and said, "Get it? Get it?"

"Oh God, Alan's rubbin' off on him. Can I come and sit with you lot?"

"If you can get over here," the Doctor said.

They laughed when she tried to get up and Jack shoved her back down. They passed by the hitchhiking ghosts.

"Why are they hitchhiking when they can fly?" Jack said.

"I wondered that myself," the Doctor said to him.

They finally passed by the mirrors and Julie's eyes widened when she noticed the ghosts were inside with them.

"Damn, that's really cool," Jack said.

"How'd they do that?" Jenny asked as she sat in the next car with Donna and Awinita.

"Watch it, you lot, sunlight coming up!" the Doctor yelled back just before their car faced forward.

Julie saw the Doctor and Rain shut their eyes and she did the same while they went through the door.

"What sunlight? We're still in the building," Jack said.

They opened their eyes and saw they were on the other side of the loading area.

"Oh! In the other one, it goes directly outside," the Doctor said as they got out and waited for the others.

Once everyone was back together, they walked to the door. All of them gasped when it opened and sunlight hit their eyes.

"Okay, there's the sunlight I mentioned," the Doctor said, blinking rapidly.

They found Alan and Dorothy. They were sitting across from the ride on a bench. He waved to them while Dorothy played with a small stuffed Tigger.

"What? No monstrous wheelbarrow filled with toys?" Awinita said when they walked up to him.

"Nah, I'll give her that at the end of the day."

The Doctor bent over.

"Hi, Daddy," she said, smiling at him.

"Hiya, got a Tigger?"

"Yes."

"Did you miss us?"

"No."

"No?" he said while they laughed. "No? I missed you."

"Okay," she said.

He feigned exasperation while they laughed. Alan stood up and Madison took Dorothy's hand while they walked to the next ride.


	152. Chapter 152

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Two

Julie followed her new friends around while they went around the Magic Kingdom part of Disneyworld. As she rode the rides with them, she was struck by how normal they seemed. If she didn't know they were aliens, she could have sworn they were just a group of human tourists. All of them were kind to her, treating her like one of their own. She had fun laughing and joking with all the women and the men were funny also. Alan and Jack were the silliest ones, Ianto and the Doctor were a bit more serious but they were still cracking jokes along with the others. All of them made sure she was alright, chief among them the Doctor who made every effort to put her at her ease. She watched him interacting with everyone, especially his human daughter and saw a kindness and tenderness that she'd rarely seen in her life. She could see how protective he was of his family and she pitied anyone who dared to hurt any of the people he loved.

About halfway through the day, Dorothy started to tire and they took her back to their hotel room for a nap. Julie had to admit she was tired too. Disney had so much to do and so many rides, it was easy to be overwhelmed and tired. The hotel was amazing and even Dorothy perked up when she saw it, squealing about the huge Dalmatian statues out front while the others laughed. Once they found their rooms, they opened the doors between them while Madison lay Dorothy down under the covers and gave her the Tigger. She fell asleep almost immediately while the others got settled in and unpacked their rucksacks. Julie sat down on the bed across from Dorothy and rested her slightly aching feet. The Doctor turned on the TV and let out a sigh of relief when he flipped through the channels.

"We have more than ESPN and the Disney Channel in this reality, Latara," he said, speaking to her through the closed bathroom door.

"Good, I'm glad you don't have to fix it then," Rain replied.

The Doctor smiled at Julie while he sank down into the chair at their table.

"In the other universe, the hotel room only had Disney Channel and ESPN, so I had to fix it so we could see the other stations and get the weather forecast," he said softly.

"How many different universes are there?" Julie said softly.

"No one knows for sure, thousands, maybe millions. I've only been to a couple of them. Rose has been to a few others."

"And her parents are in another universe?"

"Yup, they're still human and actually her dad is a parallel version of her dad here that was killed by a hit and run driver when she was a baby. So her dad over there isn't really her dad, he's her step dad even though he resembles her real dad. It's sorta complicated."

"I'll say. And your brother is your clone and Jack is immortal?"

"Yup. Trust me, odd things happen around me constantly."

"Like getting sucked up into spaceships?"

He chuckled.

"Yup, like that," he said.

The bathroom door opened and Rain came out. She tiptoed past the bed when she noticed Dorothy was asleep.

"I'm glad we came back when we did," she whispered to the Doctor.

"Yeah, me too. She went right to sleep."

Rain smiled at Julie.

"We're not used to being around people who need to sleep since we don't really need to," she said to Julie.

"Isn't that weird for you since you were once human like her?"

"Yeah, it took some getting used to but I'm fine with it now. We usually find things to do to pass the time. I'd rather be a Time Lady than a human."

Alan walked into the room.

"Except I have to put up with him. That's the only drawback."

Alan walked over to her and rested his chin on the top of her head.

"Don't mind her, Julie; she's jealous of my superiority."

Rain snorted and Alan smiled.

"We do love each other, we just joke around with each other like this," he said.

"It must be weird being his clone," Julie said.

"Nah, I'm so different in personality now that I don't consider myself a clone anymore. Most of the time when people call me that, it's in jest. I don't want to be a carbon copy of him so I took steps to ensure I'm not."

"He's right. If you stick around long enough, you'll be able to tell us apart. Even Dot is starting to do it. This hair band on my wrist is supposed to be a daddy bracelet so she can tell us apart but she barely looks at it now. She just knows. I have a friend in the afterlife that watches over her and talks to her. Maybe she's telling her which one is which but Dot is bright regardless."

"Yes, she is," Julie said, smiling at the toddler while she slept.

"You know, if you wanna sleep, you can," the Doctor said. "We'll wake you up in a couple of hours."

She nodded and the three of them left the room while she pulled back the covers and lay down.

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Julie found herself in the middle of a large clearing that went on forever. There was a wooden picnic table several feet away. She felt drawn to it and went over and sat down. While she sat down she felt a presence behind her and jerked her head around. Behind her was a young red haired woman with green eyes and long red hair. Beside her was a slightly older man with dark hair that was cut in a burr and blue eyes. They smiled at her and Julie's breath caught in her throat.

"Mom? Dad?"

"Julie," her mother said, smiling.

"How are ya, my jewel?" her father added.

"No, this can't be. You're both dead."

"Yes, we are," her mother said. "But your soul has traveled to the other side because someone wants to speak with you."

She felt more presences behind her and turned to see a group of men and woman, all of them unfamiliar to her. In front of them, wearing a long white robe, was a woman long blonde hair. She smiled at her and came over to the table. She sat down opposite her.

"Hello, Julie," she said.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Romana."

"Romana? The Doctor's Romana?"

She grinned.

"Yes, the same. I see he's already mentioned me," she said.

Julie nodded.

"Who are they?" she said, pointing to the others.

"They are the Doctor's companions and friends who have died and crossed over. As you can see, there are several. But…there are more."

She pointed off to her left and Julie saw countless numbers of men and women, many of them dressed in the same white robes Romana wore.

"These are the Doctor's people, the Time Lords and Ladies and the ordinary Gallifreyans. They all perished when the Doctor was forced to destroy his world and I was among them that died that day."

"God…" Julie said, staring at the rows of people that stretched on forever into the distance.

Romana pointed to her right and Julie saw countless other men and women, human and alien of every size, shape and color.

"And these are the people who died allying themselves with the Doctor along with those he saved who went on to live out their lives after he left them. As you can see, there are many here who know the Doctor and there are many more who are living who know him also and still live because of him."

"Wow," Julie said. "But what do I have to do with all this?"

"You are also meant to be with the Doctor, to help him combat evil," Romana said.

"You mean change like his family did?"

"That's up to you. But whether or not you change, you are meant to be something greater than you are now."

She gestured to the companions behind her.

"These people all became something more than they were because the Doctor took them under his wing, trained them and showed them their true potential. Very few people leave the Doctor's presence unaltered. We all changed, those here and those still alive, including his family. Most of his family came from humble beginnings, had low self esteem or only thought of themselves, now they help the Doctor and battle evil at his side. There are also others in his family you haven't met yet who travel with him from time to time and fight with him. This will also be your destiny. You were chosen because you have the qualities the Doctor looks for. Mercy, compassion, intelligence, an open mind, a willing spirit and a courageous heart."

"I'm not courageous."

She smiled while the others chuckled at that.

"Almost everyone here thought the same thing until they were tested in battle and trials and torments. Then they saw what they were truly made of. It will be the same for you. The Doctor is a fierce and capable fighter but he's only one man and it takes more than one to defend a whole universe. I believe you've already glimpsed how charismatic he is. Everyone that is with him was human or half human, yet they all chose to forsake their humanity to be with him. I and the people behind me left family and friends behind to travel time and space with him and we would do anything for him. Some of us even paid the ultimate price for our loyalty because we love him so much. You've already seen that he tends to put others first and think of their welfare before his own. He's doing that with you when he's asking you if you're alright and giving you permission to grieve your parent's deaths and offering you a shoulder to cry on. He thinks of others to the point he has tremendous guilt for those he lost while under his care. He has given of himself selflessly for centuries and now at last he's being rewarded for his effort which is why he has a large family now. We are watching over them and keeping them as safe as we can so the Doctor won't have to worry about them dying and can finally heal completely."

She rose and walked over to Julie and took her hand.

"Come with me, Julie. I want to show you something."

There was a flash and Julie found herself in the TARDIS console room. Over by the console the Doctor was sitting alone on the jump seat, staring off into space with tear stained cheeks.

"This was the Doctor not too long ago, filled with anger and despair and darkness," Romana said to her. "He has suffered and lost so much over the centuries, often he would end up alone in his TARDIS without any real hope or happiness."

There was another flash and they were back in the hotel room. Julie saw herself still sleeping in the bed. Romana led her into the next room and she saw the Doctor sitting on the bed by the window with his arm around Rain, chatting and laughing with the rest of his family. Julie felt tears coming to her eyes when she saw how happy he was.

"This is him now, a changed man. Happy, relaxed, no longer fearful that he'll lose those he loves. He's not completely healed but he's come so very far and everyone in this room has helped with that. Little Dot in there has also helped him heal and she will become a Time Lady when she comes of age. All those Time Lords and Ladies, all his people were taken from him, leaving him the last of his kind. But not anymore. Slowly, our people are being reborn again. But they have a human element we never had so they are actually an amalgam of human and Time Lord, combining our longevity and knowledge with their creativity and imagination and in that respect the Doctor is more like them which is why he gets along with them and other humans so well."

Romana walked over to his side and laid her hand on his head.

"The other reason you and the others must join him is because one day he will join us here and earn his well deserved rest so you and everyone else must take up the mantle and carry on his fight. That is also why we are helping to create more Time Lords and Ladies. Time Lords that will stand up and fight injustice, something too few of us were willing to do. The majority of my people were ignorant and complacent, thinking ourselves superior and we paid for that with our lives. It must not happen again. Our people will be reborn but they will be fighters and defenders of the universe. You have been deemed worthy of that honor, Julie. You can become a Time Lady if you wish but you must forsake your human body. In return you will gain knowledge beyond your imagination, knowledge of time and space, but you must use that knowledge to bring about change for the better. You will feel their minds and be able to speak to them telepathically and you will live far past a normal human lifespan and regenerate. So there are benefits to giving up your humanity but this is your decision."

Julie looked at her parents who were still behind her, listening and smiling.

"Mom, Dad, do you think I should do this?"

"Yes, honey," her mother said. "You have so much potential and you should be out making a difference in the universe."

"We will love you and be proud of you no matter what you decide but I think you should go for it," her father added.

Julie looked around her, at her parents, Romana and the companions and friends of the Doctor, the Gallifreyans and those who gave their lives for the Doctor or kept their lives because of his intervention.

"Will I still be me?" Julie asked Romana.

She smiled.

"Yes, you will still have your personality."

"Then I wanna do it. I want to help."

Romana grinned while everyone let out a deafening cheer.

"Then I need you to wake up and tell the Doctor what happened here. He has the means to change you, so tell him you want to be a Time Lady."

Romana cupped her face.

"You will not regret this, Julie Cartwright. You are about to have the best time of your life traveling with the Doctor. Now hurry and wake up and go tell the Doctor what happened. Oh…and tell him I said hi."

Julie hugged her and hugged her parents before she woke up in the hotel room. She got up and smiled at Dorothy who was still fast asleep in the other bed. She walked into the other room and everyone smiled at her. She sat down beside the Doctor, took his hands and told him what happened. Tears came to their eyes and the Doctor smiled broadly when she finished.

"And is this what you want?" the Doctor said. "Because I know Romana can be pushy when she wants to be."

"I want it, Doctor."

He hugged her tightly while everyone cheered. He pulled the manipulator out of his pocket and held her to him while they disappeared. A few seconds later, they were in his TARDIS. Julie looked at it in awe while the Doctor pulled up the grate and slid below the floor. He came back up a few minutes later with a crystal in his hand.

"Break it open and you'll be one of us."

Julie broke it open and the light enveloped her briefly before dissipating.

"Welcome to your new life," the Doctor said. "Would you like to do what everyone else has done and become our sister?"

"Yes."

He smiled and hugged her.

"Your parents are proud of you, Te'lesu, I know it."

"I know it too, Te'lesau."

He grinned and hugged her tightly.

"Now Awinita's gonna be gloating all evening about being right, but who cares? I'm glad you did this."

"So am I."

The Doctor put the grating back and grinned when the TARDIS rumbled lovingly at them.

"See, told ya she was alive," he said. "Now before we leave, I'll get you a psychic paper and bio-damper and wallet and we'll make you a screwdriver eventually. Blimey, I guess Brother and I will have to start building up a supply if Romana and everyone's trying to make more Time Lords and Ladies. And…I have a few crystals in my pocket in case Mickey Mouse wants to go next."

She laughed when he winked. He hurried and got her the psychic paper, wallet and bio-damper and after explaining all of it, he took her back to the hotel room.


	153. Chapter 153

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Three

After performing the bonding ceremony they all gave her a hug.

"Look Jack, more family members," the Doctor said.

"I know, soon we'll have to get you your own country to hold them all," he replied.

"And I'm not the only ginger anymore, yeah!" Donna said.

"Yeah, about that, mind dying your hair so I don't have to see the red hair all the time?" the Doctor said.

He rubbed her back when she laughed.

"Nah, I like it. It looks good on ya."

He looked at Alan.

"Gave her the psychic paper, wallet and damper. But not the screwdriver since we didn't build ahead."

"Ugh, we need to get an assembly line going in the TARDIS and make a large pile of them," Alan said.

"My thoughts exactly."

He grinned.

"I take it you're going past Jacksonville now?"

"Well, I would like to stop and get my deposit back on the apartment I was gonna move into."

"You know, she could come with us to Nova and get an apartment there so she'll have a home away from home," Madison said. "I'll be there and there's Grace and Rain's father and sister and Dot so you'll have friends."

"I'd like to do that, just to have a place to call home in between going out with the Doctor."

"Hey, you're gonna be buying more things and making more people happy on Nova," Awinita said.

"Yes, here I go again, being domestic," he said while they laughed. "And we'll have to make the rounds introducing her to everyone. Blimey, Sarah's right, every time we turn around there's another family member. But it gives us a reason to celebrate tonight, eh?"

"So should we wake Nipper Kipper and head off again?" Alan said.

"You mean Nipper Kipper who closed her eyes and poof, got a new aunt?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, that Nipper Kipper," Alan said.

The Doctor and Madison went into the other room and looked down at their daughter. Madison bent over and kissed her cheek.

"Bug-a-boo, wake up," she said in her ear.

Dorothy shifted and opened her eyes slightly. Madison tickled her armpit and a grin spread over her face while she opened her eyes more.

"Guess what? You have another aunt now. Aunt Julie," Madison said. "You have relatives coming out of your ears now."

Dorothy glanced up at the Doctor and smiled. She watched while Alan came up behind him and gave him rabbit ears. The Doctor looked at him and he quickly put his hand behind his back while Dorothy giggled.

"You have a bit of lint on the back of your shirt," Alan said, pointing to his back. "I was just trying to remove it."

"Sure you were, Brother," he said while Madison giggled.

Madison pulled back the covers and Dorothy yawned while she sat up on the side of the bed.

"Back to her being the only sleepyhead," Alan said, coming up beside Madison.

Dorothy stood up and reached up for him.

"I'm being loved?" Alan said in a high-pitched voice.

She laughed when he scooped her up and began to dance around the room with her in his arms.

"Heigh ho, heigh ho, it's off to the park we go!" he sang.

He paused.

"Don't call me a ho, you silly thing. Of all the nerve saying hi, ho to me," he said to her while Madison laughed.

He danced towards the communicating door and stopped when Rain tried to come through it.

"The Ice Queen in the flesh," he said with mock horror.

"Tee hee, Michael Jackson. Let me by and then you can do your nifty Thriller dance moves all you want."

Alan shrugged. He danced over towards their front door while Rain came in and watched him. Shaking her head, she walked over to the Doctor and kissed his cheek.

"He's odd," she said to him.

"Yes, but highly entertaining," he replied.

"I'm just-a boogying with my Bug-A-Boo. What's wrong with that?" Alan said, dancing over to them. "Just trying to get her awake, alert and ready to tackle that park again."

"Great because I'm sure she'll enjoy the Tiki Room next," Rain said.

Alan froze.

"I'm sure she will. Unfortunately I'll be a considerable distance away back in Key West waiting while you get through it."

"Ooooh no, Bro, you're coming with us," Awinita said when everyone else came into the room.

"Who said?" Alan said.

"Me and the twelve other people you're travelin' with. Which also answers the question you and what army if you were also thinking of saying that."

Alan moved back and forth with Dorothy in his arms while he stared at her.

"I have to suffer, Dot, so be happy I love you so much," he said to her.

Awinita rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, we're just throwing ya on the rack, Bro," she said, walking past him. "Poor Pitiful Pearl has to put up with singing birds for a half hour, boo frickedy who."

Alan flipped her off while everyone laughed.

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A half hour later they were all in the line for the Tiki Room. The Doctor chuckled at the blank look on his brother's face.

"How did I end up here?" he muttered. "I thought I made it clear I wouldn't go on this flippin' thing ever again. Why am I standing in the queue?"

The women all looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Poor Pitiful Pearl, I'm tellin' ya," Awinita said.

Jenny tugged on Alan's sleeve.

"What's so bad about it?"

He stared at her with wide eyes while the Doctor laughed.

"Firstly, it's boring and I'm not just talking slightly boring. I'm talking about tear your eyeballs out of your sockets boring. Second, it has this song that is just as annoying as It's A Small World and you have it running through your mind for twelve hours afterwards. Third, it's odd and bizarre especially the singing flowers and totem poles and it makes me wonder how much LSD the Disney people were taking when they thought it up. Does that answer your question?"

"Well, you said the Haunted Mansion was boring and horrible and I liked it," Jenny said.

The Doctor laughed when Alan stared at her with wide eyes. He turned to the Doctor.

"Brother, are you sure she came from you? Because we both came from your hands and yet we have differing opinions on crappy rides. Is there something they did to her in the machine that has carried over to her Time Lady life or something?"

"Dad, is this really my uncle then?" Jenny asked peering over Alan's shoulder. "Because I can't understand why he hates these rides."

"I don't hate all the rides, Jen, just the ones that make me want to puke and scratch my eyeballs out," Alan said. "This is one of those rides."

Mingxia came up behind Jenny.

"Don't listen, Jen. He doesn't know what he's talking about," she said.

"Excuse me? Since when did you feel the need to put your two pence in?" Alan said.

"Since the moment I decided that you're being a bit of a wet blanket and opting out on having fun."

"I am not!" he said while the other men laughed. "I'm going on rides. I went on It's A Hellish, Torturous World back there, didn't I? That one about drove me insane as well. Especially since we got stuck in the middle of a bunch of Dutch kids and had to listen to a loop of the song over and over. I'm not a wet blanket, can I not like something?"

The Doctor glanced down when he heard the mobile ringing in his pocket.

"That's Disney, they're phoning to tell you lot to grow up now," the Doctor said while Jack snickered behind him.

He fished the mobile out.

"Hello?" he said.

He grinned.

"Sarah, hey, nice to hear from you again."

Alan turned around while the Doctor chatted with her on the mobile, telling her about the vacation and about Julie. While he did, Dorothy walked around Jenny and stopped in front of Alan. She grinned while she looked up at him.

"Yeeeeeees?" he said to her.

"What you doin' Uncle Alan?"

"I'm dreading the moment I have to go inside and listen to birds singing to me about living in the Tiki Room, what're you doin'?"

"Being me."

Everyone laughed at that.

"Being you?" Alan said. "Is that hard?"

"Yes."

Alan picked her up.

"I'm sorry being you is so hard then," he said to her.

Dorothy looked over his shoulder at the Doctor and he grinned and waved at her.

"What Daddy doin'?"

"Reaching out and touching someone," Alan said. "Using something called a mobile that allows you to just talk to anyone and everyone. It's a magical thing."

"You silly."

"No, I'm the sanest one here. Everyone else is silly for going in this weird ride. I was forced to come along, Dotty. Can you believe that?"

The Doctor tapped him on the shoulder.

"Sarah sends her deepest sympathies at your going in the Tiki Room."

"Give her my warmest thanks for her sympathies."

The Doctor chuckled and told her what Alan said. He turned back around and a moment later the Doctor tapped Alan on the shoulder again.

"Sarah Jane wants to know when we're gonna stop turning her people into our people. I said I don't know."

"How about we trade items so I can speak to her a moment?"

The Doctor took Dorothy while he took the mobile.

"Sarah? It's Alan. We're slowly taking over your world and making it into Gallifrey. You didn't get the memo about that?" he said while the Doctor laughed.

"No, I didn't but I'm slowly beginning to realize your intentions," Sarah Jane said. "How are you? I hear you're in a queue and heading for a ride you don't wanna be on."

"Yup, no one let me sit this one out. I must be a part of the family and have my mind turned to goo by singing birds. I already had my mind turned to goo by It's A Small World."

"Yeah, the Doctor said you got stuck on it. My heart goes out to you. I'm not a fan of the song either."

"Finally, someone who agrees with me," he said while she laughed.

He glanced over. Beyond the wooden railing there was a simulated tropical forest with a waterfall and a little animatronic toucan began to talk to the people in the queue.

"It's starting out here. They have a bird in this fake forest by the queue that makes weak, unfunny jokes and tries to entertain everyone but it doesn't work in my opinion."

Sarah Jane chuckled.

"I'm sorry they're torturing you, Alan. I wish I could be there to rescue you."

He grinned.

"The Doctor does have a Time Agent's vortex manipulator. He's already visited the TARDIS a couple of times when it's in Cardiff. He oughta come get you and the teens and sneak you all in like a bad boy."

"I don't think that's wise considering we're in the middle of a crowd of people, Brother," the Doctor said.

"So find a secluded spot after this nightmare ends and sneak her into Disney. You have rooms with beds and you can take them back home after the five days. They can ride all the rides they want and go anyplace without paying the thousands of dollars you need to get in."

"What if we go outside the park like we were planning?"

"We'll tie them to the boot," Alan said while Sarah Jane laughed.

The Doctor held his hand up and held Dorothy in one arm while he talked to her.

"If you lot are all for this daft scheme of Alan's, I s'pose I can go get ya," he said.

"If you do that and you do go out of the park somewhere, we'll stay behind or we can rent a motor and take some of your people so you aren't crammed inside," she said. "And I can always babysit Dorothy if you want to do something more adult oriented. I'd love to babysit my niece."

"Brother, get Rose's attention, would ya?" the Doctor said.

Alan called to Rose and beckoned to her. She came back beside him and he let her talk to Sarah Jane.

"Sure that's not a problem if the Doctor is up for it. But listen, I was thinking of trading up anyway and getting a 15 seater people carrier because now Dot has to sit on Maddie's lap and it's not safe."

"15 people? There are people carriers that carry 15?" the Doctor said to Alan.

"Yeah, they're called buses," Jack said behind him.

"Yeah, I mean you could get a smaller people carrier since if you come then we still couldn't fit everyone inside but if you wanna get a smaller one and take some of our people and we'll hire the 15 person one after you're gone because we are just crammed into ours now and we need room badly."

"Well, Luke's here and I know he'll go but let me ring Rani and Clyde's parents and ask and I'll call you back," she said.

The queue began to move.

"Okay, well we're going inside now so I have to go anyway. Call back in about thirty minutes, yeah? Okay, Sarah, bye."

She hung up the phone and gave it to the Doctor.

"Sneaking people inside? For shame, Doctor."

He stuck out his lower lip while Alan giggled.

"I know, I'm such a rebel, aren't I?" he said to her.

They all headed into the theater.

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Alan walked out of the theater with wide eyes while everyone laughed and patted him on the shoulder.

"No, please don't tell me I'm gonna have the Tiki Room song running through my head for the rest of Florida now, please!"

Jenny leaned into his ear.

"In the tiki, tiki, tiki…"

He seized her arms.

"You wanna regenerate right here and now? Keep singing that song," he said while they laughed.

They found a couple of benches and sat down while Donna, Mingxia, Jenny, Awinita and Julie went to get drinks for everyone. While they waited, the Doctor's mobile rang again. He answered and talked to Sarah Jane while they rested. The Doctor nodded and tickled Dorothy while she ran back between him and Madison. By the time he was finished the women were back and had passed out the drinks. He stood up and faced all of them.

"Sarah, Luke and Rani can come but Clyde is out of town with his mother on a holiday of their own. Rani's on her way over. I told Sarah to tell her parents she was gonna pay for her to get in since I don't want another friend's family members mad at me for something I did. She's gonna see about hiring a large people carrier and she can also take Dot around the Magic Kingdom while we go to the EPCOT world thing and ride the roller coasters and do other things she wouldn't like or is too little for. They'll go around Orlando with us but that's all they wanna do because Rani and Luke need to go back to school. This is just a few days' holiday for them because Sarah said she does need a rest and wants to see Dot and meet Julie. So I'll give her a few minutes and duck behind a shrub or something and get them."

They nodded.

"About the whole two person people carrier, why don't we do that anyway?" Jack said. "Just get two small people carriers instead of the big monster one and split up and follow each other. That way we aren't all crammed in. When Sarah comes and she goes to rent one, just put it in our name and turn in the one we have and get two 7 or 8 seaters."

They nodded.

"Good idea and we can take turns sitting in each of the people carriers but yes, we really can't leave Dot unrestrained. She nearly went out the windscreen when Awinita slammed on the breaks and I don't wanna get arrested by the police. We can bear to be separated into two groups for a few hours at a time and that way we'll have room for all."

"We just have to make sure we know exactly where we're going so we can follow each other," Ianto said.

"Yes, we'll have meetings about that at night and plan what we want to do," he said.

He looked around.

"And now if you'll excuse me, I'll go be a bad boy and sneak in our friends."

He looked around and quickly ran towards a group of shrubs.


	154. Chapter 154

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Four

They laughed when fifteen minutes later; the Doctor emerged from behind the shrub with Sarah Jane, Luke and Rani following him.

"Wow, the Doctor's a criminal now," Awinita said as they walked up to them.

The Doctor looked around.

"Welcome to your illegal holiday at Disneyworld," he said while everyone laughed.

Sarah Jane hugged everyone and hugged Julie.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Sarah Jane and this is my son, Luke, and our friend, Rani."

"Nice to meet you."

"I also was made an offer to become a Time Lady but I opted out. But I am a family member and honorary Gallifreyan though," she said.

"Yeah and we wanna become Time Lords and Ladies so we don't have to go to school," Rani added.

"Yup, it's a shame you have to wait till you graduate, huh?" the Doctor said while everyone laughed.

"Come on, Doctor, please?" Rani asked.

"Nope, sorry, I want you to finish school and be adults. You're still too young. Trust me, I'd like nothing more than to turn Dot into one but I'm making her wait as well so don't ask me anymore. I'll let you know when you can do it."

Rani and Luke sighed and nodded. They smiled when Sarah Jane picked up Dorothy and kissed her cheek.

"Do you lot want me to take her so you can go do some adult things?" Sarah said, "and then arrange to meet somewhere in a couple of hours?"

"Um…is that alright, Maddie?" the Doctor said.

"That's fine with me. I trust Sarah."

"I won't let her out of my sight, I promise. We'll stay around here and go on the rides."

"Well, actually, how 'bout this? I'll tell you how to get to the hotel and...Brother, give her your key card, okay?"

Alan fished in his pocket and handed it to him. He handed it to Sarah Jane and reached into his pocket for his pad and pen. He jotted down the name of the hotel, the directions to get to it and the room numbers. He also showed her the wallet and showed her how to use it. He took out five hundred for himself and handed it to her.

"Go ahead and use it for you lot and for Dot so you can eat and buy souvenirs," he said. "We wanna celebrate Julie being a Time Lady so we'll meet you back at the hotel at six?"

They nodded and he gave everyone hugs.

"Enjoy your illegal Disney holiday," he said while they laughed.

Sarah Jane waved to everyone and she, Dot and the teens headed back towards the entrance. The Doctor looked at everyone else.

"Right, shall we go somewhere else then?" he said.

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They headed on into EPCOT taking advantage of the fact that Dot wasn't with them.

"We can always come back and explore the rest of the Magic Kingdom," the Doctor said to them.

They walked around and briefly toured the science part before walking over to the World Showcase section. When they got to the England section Jack started laughing.

"Wow, they have buildings from about every era of British history. It looks very bizarre."

"Yes, it's the handy dandy guide to British history, Disney style," Alan said. "Throw everything together all at once and let them experience all of British culture.

They went into the gift shop, got a few boxes of tea and walked on. They spent the day touring the different countries while the Doctor kept an eye on his watch. Finally when it was nearing 5:30 they headed back to the hotel.

"Daddy!" Dorothy said when they opened the door to the Doctor's room.

"Dot! Yay, all of you made it back safely, brilliant!" the Doctor said.

"Doctor," Sarah Jane said. "We were just discussing getting out of the park. Wouldn't they know we entered illegally when we tried to get back in here?"

"That's true. We do have passes but…"

He took out his pass and the manipulator.

"Wait here, gotta go back to the TARDIS. Blimey, I've never used the manipulator so much in my life. I'll be back."

He left and returned twenty minutes later.

"There, I had the TARDIS duplicate the passes they gave us so now no one will know the difference," he said handing three copies to Sarah Jane. "And now I need to sit down for a few minutes because doing that gives me a headache."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They decided to wait and have a late supper while the Doctor and Alan went to trade in their minivans for two smaller ones. After they left, the others went downstairs to get a little snack from the café so Dorothy wouldn't have to wait. All of them got something to drink and some French fries and sat and talked while they waited. While they did, Julie told her about the meeting she had with Romana.

"Wow, that's amazing," Sarah Jane said when she finished. "I never met her. I think she came after I left but it's nice to know there are those watching out for him among the living and the dead. And I'm glad everyone wants him to be happy and peaceful now, I know I do. I'm glad they're giving him an opportunity to make others into Time Lords if they want it. I just don't fancy doing it. I miss my parents and I don't want to wait centuries to see them again."

She looked at Luke and Rani.

"They, on the other hand, can't wait to change."

"I wanna go explore Time and Space, Mum," Luke said.

"Yeah, you did it, why can't we?" Rani said.

"Because the Doctor wisely figured out that you need to be a bit older and more responsible before that happens," she said. "I have to tell you to take the rubbish out so the dustman can pick it up, Luke, what makes you think I'm gonna send you off into time and space when you can't even do that one simple thing?"

Luke blushed when they giggled.

"I'm nineteen, Luke, so I'm guessing you have to be nineteen before you can do it."

"I was nineteen as well when I first met the Doctor," Rose said.

"Ugh! Five years!" Rani said, grimacing.

"Five years goes by quickly, trust me," Sarah Jane muttered. "Be lucky you aren't Dot and have to wait sixteen years to do it."

"Did you have fun?" Donna asked.

"Yes, we took her on all the kid's rides and she loved them. But she kept asking where you were every five minutes or so. You must have made quite an impression on her, especially Daddy. She missed him terribly. I bet he chuffed she calls him that."

"He is, trust me," Rain said while they nodded.

"And congratulations on your engagement," she said to Jack. "I hope you and Ianto have a long happy life together."

"Thanks, Sarah Jane," Ianto said.

"And we aren't waiting forever and a day like Martha did. I'm not about to go through the BS she went through with him."

"How's she doing? Did she take the breakup well?"

"Better than he did," Jack said to her. "He was the one that was shocked but Martha didn't wanna wait forever and kept getting strung along. The man barely saw her anyway. But they're gonna be friends. However, Mickey is very pleased and I think he'll be quietly trying to move in and take his place."

Sarah Jane raised her eyebrow.

"Really? Does she suspect he likes her?"

Jack and Ianto glanced at each other.

"Erm, we're not sure," Jack said.

"She's never given us any indication she knows," Ianto added. "She's best mates with him but as far as we know that's all they are for now."

"It would be nice if they did become a couple since Gwen is married and now I'm engaged," Jack said.

Sarah Jane nodded.

"Let me know what happens," she said.

"Will do. The Doctor wants to be updated too."

_Hey, where are you lot?_ The Doctor thought to them.

"Speaking of, the Doctor is calling us and asking where we are…" Jack said.

_We're in the little restaurant in the lobby of the hotel, Dad,_ Jenny thought.

_Oh, we passed all of ya then. We're up in the room. We got the people carriers sorted out so we're on our way down now. _

"Jenny just told him," Jack said to her.

She nodded. A few minutes later, the Doctor and Alan came into the café.

"Daddy!"

They laughed when the Doctor spun around and ran back out. They laughed harder when Dorothy jumped down and ran out after him.'

"Hey!" they heard her yelling.

He came back in with her in his arms.

"Eating without us?" the Doctor said.

"We got chips and soft drinks so Dot could have something while we waited since we're eatin' late," Rose said.

"Well, we have the people carriers and got the car seat reinstalled so do you lot wanna go somewhere away from the park?" the Doctor said.

"We were thinking the medieval restaurant you mentioned, Starlight," Alan said.

Rose looked at Sarah Jane and the teens.

"They have this medieval restaurant that has knights and jousting tournaments while you eat."

"Brill, let's do that, Mum," Luke said.

"That sounds fun," Sarah Jane said.

"Okay, let's go back out of the park and find it then."

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They located the restaurant and paid one fee to get inside.

"Hmm, so the food is included with everything else. That's handy," Jack said.

"Yup, now Hungry Hungry Hippo can gorge himself."

They laughed when Alan tried to smack Rain in the head. They found three tables beside each other and split up so they could sit together. Alan, The Doctor, Rose, Rain, Donna, Jenny and Awinita were at one table, Jack, Ianto, Mingxia, Madison, Dorothy and Julie were at the one beside them and Sarah Jane and the teens were sitting at the third They were sitting by a low wall and over the wall and several feet down was a huge rectangular arena with a dirt floor. Tables were positioned all around the arena and up higher a balcony stretched around it with more tables. A waitress dressed as a serving wench came up to them.

"Greetings, my lords and ladies, what shall I get thee to drink?"

Alan put his hand over his mouth to hold in his giggles while everyone took turns ordering soft drinks. Alan composed himself long enough to order a Coke and the woman moved to Jack's table.

"I'm surprised you didn't answer back in medievalese," Rose said to Alan.

"Believe me, I was sorely tempted," he replied.

Another waitress passed out menus to everyone and they looked them over. While they did a man dressed in black armor strode out into the middle of the arena.

"Hear me! I am the Black Knight! No one shall defeat me! I am invincible!"

"Why am I suddenly thinking of Monty Python and the Holy Grail?" Alan said while the Doctor giggled.

"It's just a flesh wound!" the Doctor replied.

Alan grinned.

"Run away, run away! I must find…A SHRUBBERY!"

The women rolled their eyes when both of them giggled.

"Is there no one here who will challenge me?" the Black Knight said.

"Oi!" Alan said, putting up his hand.

They laughed when Rose slammed it back down on the table.

"He said he wanted people to challenge him, Starlight."

"I shall challenge thee, knave!"

They watched while a knight wearing gray armor came into the ring.

"Too late, Brother," the Doctor said.

"Sir Anthony! I might have known. I challenge thee to a jousting duel!"

"I accept, knave!"

"Go Anthony, kicketh his asseth!" Alan said while the Doctor chortled.

Jack tapped him on the shoulder and he turned to him.

"I shall hand thee thy bollocks on a silver platter, knave!" he said to him.

"How dare thee. I shall smote thee mightily and make thee into compost and spread you across several fiefdoms, you immortal Sausagehead."

"Sausagehead?" he said while everyone laughed hysterically.

Alan shrugged and turned back to his menu.

"And when Jack is done kicking your asseth, Snotbag, I shall smite thee and make thee sorry thou were ever born," Rain said.

"Witch!" Alan said, pointing at her. "Hey waitress, we found a witch, may we burn her?"

"How do you know she's a witch?" the Doctor said.

"She looks like one!"

Jack turned.

"I am not a witch and besides this isn't my nose, it's a false one," he said while they laughed.

Alan grinned at Rain.

"Gotta get Monty Python and the Holy Grail for you lot. It's a classic."

Jack tapped him on the shoulder.

"Pitchez la vache!" he said while they laughed harder.

"Geez," Rose muttered while she looked at her menu.

"Brother, bring me the holy hand grenade of Antioch!" the Doctor said.

"It's the legendary Black Beast of Arrrrrrgh!" Alan said while he and the Doctor giggled.

They shut up when the waitress came back and gave them their drinks. They ordered steak dinners except for Donna who ordered chicken. She moved to the next table and took their orders while the Doctor and Alan grinned at each other.

"My Lords and ladies!" a man said as he stood in the middle of the arena.

"Time Lords and Ladies, get it right," Alan said while everyone within earshot giggled.

"For your entertainment, we present a jousting match between Sir Anthony and the legendary Black Knight!"

"Oh, running away, eh? You yellow bastard, come back and get what's comin' to ya, I'll bite your legs off!" Jack said while Alan and the Doctor giggled.

"Enough with the Python references please?" Donna said, rolling her eyes.

They ate their food while they watched two doors on either side of the arena open and the two knights ride out on horses. They laughed when Dorothy immediately screamed out "Horsie!" at the sight of them.

"Yup, Dot's interest is peaked now," Alan said as he put butter in his baked potato.

They watched while two men carried out a long wooden partition and set it up in the middle. Once they were done they ran back out and shut the doors.

"Sir Anthony, you cannot defeat me! I order you to stop this foolishness!" the Black Knight said.

"Never! I shall triumph over there, Blaggard!"

"Oh wench, can I get more sour cream upon my baketh potatoeth?" Alan said while they giggled.

"My steaketh is rare, canst thou burn it at the stake and make it black as the night?" the Doctor added.

The knights positioned themselves at opposite ends of the partition. Two men dressed as squires came out and handed them the jousting poles.

"My pole is longer than thy pole," Alan said.

"It is not the size of the pole, but what thou does with it," Rain said while they laughed.

The knights rode towards each other, lowering their poles. They knocked them into each other. Both men teetered but they managed to right themselves while everyone applauded.

"Behold, I have applied Super Glue upon my buttcheeks, Sir Anthony!" Awinita said while they laughed.

They positioned themselves and went again. Everyone applauded when the Black Knight was knocked off and fell to the floor.

"Oucheth, I have boo boos upon my person now," Alan said while the Black Knight picked himself up.

They laughed when he shouted curses at Sir Anthony.

"Damn thee, I shall kick thee in thy ass and shall open up mine can of medieval whoop ass!" Awinita said.

"You know what? I want Jen to go down there and do this," Alan said.

"Me?"

"Yeah, get down there and put that soldier training to good use. You and Mingxia get down there and turn him into a tin can."

They laughed when Mingxia started to get up and then quickly sat down.

"Oh, you were joking about that," she said. "Damn, I was gonna go down and have some fun."

The two knights took a bow and everyone applauded and cheered. The squires grabbed their horses and they grabbed their poles and waved to the crowd while they walked away.

"Thank you, now we shall be calling back the wenches to our dressing rooms for a bit of medieval nooky. The wenches with the largest bosoms will go first," Jack said while they laughed.

Some musicians came out into the middle of the arena and played for everyone while all of them went back to eating and chatting with each other.


	155. Chapter 155

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Five

"That was fun," Jack said as all of them walked out to the minivans.

He started towards the first one and noticed Alan was getting into the driver's side of the second one.

"Alan!" Jack said.

He turned around.

"Yeah?"

Jack got a wicked grin on his face.

"You and me, motorway, drag race now!"

"Okey-dokey!"

"I don't think so," Rose said while they laughed.

"Neither do I," Ianto said.

"Damn our significant others. Aw well, we'll have fun another time," Jack said, shrugging.

They all climbed inside.

"So how many do these hold?" Rain asked the Doctor.

"Ten apiece."

"Great, we can sneak more people in now!" Alan said.

Everyone giggled except the Doctor who was thinking. Alan glanced behind him.

"Brother, I was joking, you know," he said.

A smile spread over his face.

"Excuuuuuuse me! Tell Jack to wait," he said.

They watched while he pulled out his manipulator, hopped out and quickly disappeared.

"He didn't…" Rose said to Alan.

"He did. Apparently we're about to be joined by others."

He telepathically told the people in the next car what the Doctor said. Jack got out and walked around to his window.

"I thought the purpose of getting two people carriers was to give us room and now he's getting more people?" he said to him.

Alan shrugged and relaxed while Jack went back to the other car. He looked behind him. Besides him and Rose there was Rain, Jenny, Donna, Madison and Dorothy who was now fast asleep in her car seat.

"Fiver says he went to get Martha," Alan said.

"I bet he did too," Rain replied. "I guess we'll find out eventually."

They waited and waited and finally forty five minutes later there was another flash and the Doctor appeared carrying another duffle bag. With him was Martha but he also had Wilf, Amelia and Opal.

"We have more people here who want to see Orlando except for Martha who'll be with us till the end now. I wanted to get Amelia and Opal since this is Disneyworld but I got Martha and Wilf so they could meet Julie. So yes, we're back up to full capacity but like I said, six of these people are leaving once we leave Orlando so this is only temporary."

They all got out of the vans and hugged them tightly.

"I got them key cards and made more passes and in the duffle bag is some more clothes and food and snacks along with the DVD player and some movies so we can watch it at night in the hotel room."

"Oh yes, good thinking!" Rain said.

They got everyone inside with the duffle bag, shut the doors and went back to the park.

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"Okay," the Doctor said checking his watch while everyone got out of the minivans. "It's almost quarter past ten which means we might be able to catch the fireworks before going back to the hotel."

"And we're in the Dopey section apparently," Rain said, pointing to a sign several feet away.

The sign was mounted on a pole and had a painting of Dopey with Dopey Section around him in big, black block letters.

"Or if you like, we're in the Ninth Doctor wearing a really large shirt since he has Doc's old ears," Jack said.

They laughed when the Doctor chased him for several feet. They were parked near the entrance and in five minutes they were back inside the park. They all bent over laughing when the Doctor suddenly began to dance around.

"I got ya in, I got ya in, I got ya all in with the fake passes," he sang while he danced.

They laughed harder when Alan joined him and both men danced while they sang his song. A moment later they abruptly stopped and composed themselves while everyone laughed hysterically.

"There was a second verse about how brilliant I am but I figure you lot know that anyway," he said.

He looked at Dorothy fast asleep in Madison's arms.

"I s'pose someone is gonna miss the fireworks."

"Let me go back to the hotel with her, Doctor," Rose said. "I've seen the fireworks so I won't be missing anything and she needs to sleep."

"I'll go with her," Awinita said. "I've seen it too and I'd rather she had someone with her."

He nodded and squeezed their hands. Awinita took the duffle bag from him along with the bag of DVDS from the car and Rose took Dorothy and they walked away while the others took up a spot along Main Street for the electrical parade. While they waited, the Doctor introduced Julie to Wilf, Martha, Amelia and Opal and they chatted for awhile until the parade started. Jack hoisted Opal up in his arms so she could see above the crowd and Alan took Amelia and the teens closer to the action. After the parade ended, they turned and watched the fireworks over Cinderella Castle. When it ended all of them applauded and headed back towards the hotel.

"What is this place, Papaw?" Amelia asked the Doctor while she and Opal held Rain's hands.

"This is Disneyworld. It's a fun amusement park with tons of things to do and the city around us has lots to do. That's why I brought you so you two could have fun for a few days."

He looked at Alan.

"I figured if Dot, Rani and Luke are here they should be as well," he said.

"I'm glad you thought of that, Brother. But what about Patience?"

"She didn't wanna come but she said hello to everyone," he replied. "Then I took a chance and visited Martha and she decided to go since she was done visiting her family and they said hello as well. Martha suggested asking Wilf to come and here we all are. I was surprised Wilf wanted to come but Sylvia's been a pain lately and I think he wanted to get away from that."

Alan rolled his eyes. They made it back to the hotel and stood for a moment showing them the front of it.

"Wow!" Martha said. "That is wonderful. I love the Dalmatian statues and Buzz and Woody."

The Doctor looked at his granddaughters and grinned when he saw how in awe they were. They stood there for a moment taking it in and then went inside. They went up to the hotel room. By the time they got there, Rose and Awinita had set up the DVD player in their room and put the other DVDs he brought beside the TV along with the snacks and drinks. They all filed inside and the Doctor shut the door.

"Where's Dot?" he asked.

"Other room," Awinita said, pointing to the slightly ajar communicating door.

"Then that's where you'll sleep," the Doctor said to Sarah Jane and the children.

"We've already been to sleep, Papaw," Opal said.

"I know you have, but trust me, if you don't take a nap you'll be exhausted by the time we get done tomorrow night. You can stay up for awhile and watch a movie but I want you to get some sleep along with the teens and Sarah Jane, alright?"

They nodded and he hugged them.

"I went forward a bit in time and got them around noon so they'd be awake," he explained. "And have you two had lunch yet?"

They shook their heads.

"They have pizza delivery here, you want pizza?"

They nodded and Rain got on the phone to order a couple of pizzas while the Doctor got out the DVDs from the car and set them beside the others.

"We have to decide what we wanna see then," the Doctor said. "In the meantime just relax, unwind and get to know our newest member."

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They chose to watch A Christmas Story. The Doctor sat on the bed with Rain, Ameila and Opal while the teens sat on the other one with Sarah Jane and the others sat in the chairs or on the floor. They were all eating and laughing hysterically at the movie.

"I love the leg lamp. I want one for my office," Jack said.

While they watched, the communicating door opened and Dorothy peeked in.

"Mommy? Daddy?"

"Ought-oh, Doodlebug's awake," Alan said.

Madison got up from her chair and walked over to her.

"We're here, baby."

They laughed when she looked around the room and noticed the new people.

"We've grown since you went to sleep," Alan said to her.

Madison picked her up and brought her over to Opal and Amelia. She looked at the Doctor when she sat her down.

"Hello, my Ladybird."

"Hi, Daddy. What you doin'?"

"Laughing at a movie and waking you up," he said.

She crawled over to him and Rain and they moved so she could set down between them. Madison gave her a sippy cup of apple juice and she drank it while she watched the TV.

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"Alright, everyone under the age of nineteen, naptime!" the Doctor announced once the movie was over.

They all groaned.

"Come on, you two," Sarah Jane said to Luke and Rani. "Get some sleep so you'll have the energy to go out in the morning."

Madison picked up Dorothy while the Doctor beckoned to Ameilia and Opal and pointed to the other room.

"Go and take a nap," he said to them. "Trust me; you'll thank me for it."

They nodded and hugged him and Rain.

"Love you Papaw and Mamaw!" they said.

"Love you too," the Doctor and Rain said.

While they went in the other room, Alan came up to the Doctor.

"Idea. Put them under, block their minds and open them so we can all feel them."

The Doctor's eyes widened.

"Brilliant. I'll ask Sarah and the teens if they want that as well."

"Well, let me assist whether or not they want it so we can get it done and get back in here."

He nodded and Rose sat down beside Rain. They talked with their family while the Doctor and Alan went into the other room. They explained what they wanted to do to everyone.

"We've done this to Dot already," the Doctor said to them. "You won't be able to communicate telepathically and the reception won't be all that great since you're human but you will be able to feel us and we'll feel you if you want us to do that."

They all agreed and Sarah Jane and the teens waited and watched while the Doctor and Alan sent Dorothy into a deep sleep and did the same for Amelia and Opal before they started to work on their minds.

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After finishing with everyone, they turned off the lights and closed the door, leaving it open a crack.

"That's finished, now their minds are all protected and opened," the Doctor said, smiling.

He yawned and stretched while Alan went and sat down on his bed.

"I need something to drink now," he muttered while he went to one of the sacks.

"Doctor."

He looked at Julie.

"Yes, Te'lesu?"

"We've been talking while you've been doing that. Talking about going to New Hope."

"Yes?" he said, opening a little bottle of Coke.

"Well, we think that it's a bit idiotic for family members to be spread out all over the place," Rose said. "So I wanna try to convince mum and Pete to move to Nova so I can finally ring them without crossing voids. I mean, they're the only reason left for going over there."

"And Tony can be friends with Dot since they're the same age," Madison added.

"We can try, not sure if your parents will agree to it," the Doctor said.

"Well, I think they're worried about money. Which they wouldn't be if you gave them a credit stick like you did the others," Rose said. "And there's no reason why Dad can't give Vitax over to one of his cronies and try to sell it on New Hope and throughout the empire. And Jack said he could work with his Torchwood if he wants to."

"And also we were discussing setting up a Hub on Nova and transferring back and forth," Jack said. "I'm a Time Lord now and I would like to protect more than Earth and I'm also tired of waiting around for you to take me places. Which is why I really would like you to fix my manipulator. I'm a Time Lord now, Doc. I'll be responsible with it and I have my fiancé and sister to keep me in line."

The Doctor sighed and nodded.

"Alright but I'm trusting you to do that and be responsible," he said.

"I will not betray that trust!" he said, crossing his hearts with his finger.

"Also, I want to get a two bedroom apartment when we go, Doctor." Julie said. "Because Wilf told me about Sylvia and I want him to have somewhere to go if she does kick him out and just so he can have a place to come and spend the night if he wants."

The Doctor nodded.

"And, Love, we were also talking about getting houses of our own," Rain said.

The Doctor and Alan frowned. She held up her hand.

"Not asking you to abandon the TARDIS, dear, because I don't want to do that either. I'm saying that if we had a house there we could spend time there and see Dot and the others and watch her grow up. Like a summer home, just a temporary place to rest."

"And we'd get one as well," Rose said to Alan, "So we could have room to be intimate."

"And us," Mingxia said. "Me and Jenny and Awinita were wanting to get one together."

"And I wanted to get a flat," Donna said.

"So you're giving up traveling with me?"

"Not entirely, Bro, but we also want to stay and help Dot grow up and be in her life. But the thing is if you get a house and we're all there then you can tell us when you're leaving and that gives everyone the option of traveling with you or not each time, you see? That way we won't have to go back for someone who wants to go like we did with Madison."

"I actually do like this idea," the Doctor said.

"So do I," Alan said.

"And if Alan and I do want to stay awhile, leave us the Valeyard's TARDIS so we can still leave if we want or take others with us," Rose said.

The Doctor and Alan glanced at each other.

"Would you like to do that?"

"Could be fun. We're all experienced enough now that we can go out on our own, Brother."

"But we'd still travel with you too," Awinita said. "Because there's no way in hell I wanna give that up and I love being with you."

"I do as well, Dad, and I do wanna travel with ya but there are times I'd like to just stay put for awhile and rest and if everyone was together there we'd look out for each other and help with Dorothy."

"And if Patience and Dex and the kids wanna move there, we'd get them somewhere to live too," Donna said.

"We're just tired of our family being spread out all over time and space and not being able to see one another on a regular basis," Rose said. "New Hope is a nice planet and we could get houses and flats within walking distance of one another."

Alan chuckled.

"Kinda like New York. New York has the Russian section, the Italian section, the Asian section so we'd be the Gallifreyan section of Nova."

They laughed.

"Exactly," Rain said. "And think of it, Love. We'd get a house with extra bedrooms and Dot and the children can spend the night with us while we're there."

The Doctor looked at Alan.

"I know I've changed now because I'm actually going along with this whole get a house and go domestic scheme of theirs."

"It has merits though, Brother. She's right. If you wanna be a part of Dot's life you'll have to spend some time with her and since she's young it'd be dangerous for her to come with us to most places, so this way you have a way to be with her and still travel."

"Like James, James went out of town frequently and Dot got used to that. You'd be doing the same thing like a businessman who travels abroad," Madison said.

"And frankly, I want mum and dad to move because ever since we saw the surveillance photos of the mansion, I'm terrified someone might hurt them and Tony while we're here. I want them to move somewhere new," Rose said.

"Yeah, I feel the same way about Sarah. I know Mister Smith keeps watch but still computers can be tampered with and someone could still get in."

"Well, we talked about maybe having her get a house there too. If she doesn't want to move from her house, she can still come and stay and visit because I'm sure she'll want to see Dot frequently too," Awinita said.

"You could have the TARDIS copy the manipulator and teach her how to use it so she could travel back and forth between planets," Alan said to him.

"Yeah, I like this idea more and more," the Doctor said. "I like the idea of having my family more or less in one central location so they can see one another and be safe. If you lot wanna do that, I'll help you all set up after we get done here and we'll find houses that are near one another or get flats near Amber."

They all grinned at each other. The Doctor looked at Alan.

"See, that's our family, always thinking," he said while Alan laughed and nodded his head.


	156. Chapter 156

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Six

After watching Liar, Liar the Doctor stepped outside on the balcony for a bit of fresh air. The parks were dark now giving the whole place a spooky appearance. Below their room, the pool water shimmered in the moonlight and the smell of chorine entered his nostrils.

"So what'd ya think?" Rain said, coming out beside him.

"Not bad. I like the whole concept of not being able to lie to everyone when you're a crooked lawyer."

"Now you know where the whole line about circling the block came from."

He chuckled.

"Have you been sexually assaulted because I could circle the block," he quoted while she laughed.

"Now we'll have to watch the Ace Ventura movies she got. I think you might like those as well."

"Yup, now we'll have to build up a collection so we'll have some DVDs when we go to our home on Nova."

He chuckled and shook his head.

"Never thought I'd be so receptive to that, Latara. Never thought I'd wanna go domestic."

"You wanna know why I think you don't mind it anymore, Thete?"

"Why?"

"Because from what you've told me and what I've seen, you kept leaving Gallifrey because most of your people shunned you and made fun of you and hated you. So it was uncomfortable for you to stay there. But now you have people who are your kind who love and cherish and respect you and the idea of being neighbors with them isn't repulsive anymore because you know you could walk down the street without being spat on or told off."

The Doctor nodded.

"Yes, exactly. Those people in there, I'd actually wanna spend time around them."

"I gathered that since you just went and got four more people when we had finally had room in our minivans for all of two seconds," she teased. "But just picture it, Love. We and whoever is with us in the TARDIS comes back to Nova for a few days' rest. We get a house with a porch and have some chairs or a porch swing on it and we sit out there of an evening and wave and talk to everyone as they walk around and visit with each other and with us. Maybe if Jackie and Pete come there to live, Dot and Tony will be playing in our front yard and running around laughing while we watch. Then occasionally one of us will have a pool party or barbecue or DVD party and we have fun and laugh and when it's time to go, the ones who wanna go come with us and we go back to the stars. How's that sound?"

"Lovely, it really does."

"See, it's because that scenario involves all your loved ones, not people who thought you were an oddball and a renegade," she said. "And that gives you a chance to still be in Dot's life and you and Alan can be in Tony's life and if Ameilia and Opal go there with their family then they can grow up together while they wait to become Time Lords and Ladies. Dot wouldn't be alone and neither would the rest of our family even if we were gone. Those left behind would help raise and look after everyone else. It takes a village and all that."

The Doctor put his arm around her and gave her a kiss.

"I s'pose I should ring Grace then while we're here and tell her to start looking for other houses and flats close to her house so we can be within walking distance of each other."

Rain snuggled against him and sighed while he fished his mobile out and searched the menu for Grace's number.

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After telling the others that Grace was gonna check for more houses and apartments for them and put them on hold, they went back to watching the Ace Ventura movies. After they were done, they played cards until seven when they decided to go get the humans up. The Doctor and Alan brought them out of their deep sleep and smiled at them while everyone stood nearby.

"Good morning," the Doctor said while he woke Dorothy up and scooped her up in his arms. "Do you lot feel us now?"

"Yeah, it's weird," Rani said while they laughed.

"It's very pleasant though," Sarah Jane added.

The Doctor grinned at them and telepathically told the rest of his family to do the old sending love into their minds trick. He counted to three and they all laughed when all of them were bowled over and laughed at the loving sensation.

"Wow!" Rani said, "That felt really good."

"Yup, well you can do the same in return. Just concentrate on our minds and picture sending heaps of love into it."

He looked at Dorothy and sent love into her mind and grinned when she giggled at that.

"Right, let's go get some breakfast downstairs because we came up with an idea while you lot were asleep. Not to mention we have to decide where we're going for the day."

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"I love that idea, Doctor," Sarah Jane said while they sat in the café and ate breakfast. "I don't wanna move completely but I would like a house there so the kids and I can come and visit when we want to."

"I wanna move there too, Papaw," Amelia said.

"I'm gonna have to ask your father and mother about that when I see them," the Doctor said. "We just got you a house in London so they might not wanna move again. But I'm sure Sarah won't mind taking you with her if I give her a vortex manipulator."

"No, I don't mind at all. Let me know what Grace finds for us."

He nodded.

"Second order of business is figuring out where to go because some of us haven't seen the Magic Kingdom but we can't spend all five days in it."

"How about we split the time then since Dot will need a nap in the afternoon and I'm sure they will as well," Alan said pointing to Amelia and Opal.

"No we don't," Opal said.

"Trust me, you two, with everything there is to do out there, you'll be begging for a nap come the afternoon," the Doctor said to them. "Go on with your thought, Brother."

"Half the day we spend at the Magic Kingdom part until it's done and the other half at another park," Alan said.

They all nodded.

"Yeah, because I think the Magic Kingdom part has most of the kid's rides," Rose said.

The Doctor had a thought and looked at his granddaughters.

"Do you know who Mickey Mouse is?" he asked them.

They shook their heads.

"No? You're in Mickey Mouse's theme park and you don't know who he is?" he said while they laughed. "Oooooh, this will never do. My granddaughters will not grow up ignorant of Mickey Mouse. You will be educated then while you're here. Do you know who Bugs Bunny is?"

They shook their heads and they laughed at the feigned shock on the Doctor's face.

"Scooby Doo? You do know who Scooby Doo is, right?"

"No!" both girls said, giggling.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, my own granddaughters, you need to be educated on how to be a modern day kid. Please tell me you've heard of Harry Potter."

They nodded and everyone laughed when he put his hand over his heart.

"Thank God we don't have to start completely from scratch then," he said while they laughed harder. "Right, so we also have to point out who these cartoon characters are to these poor children and get them some of the actual films so they're not walking around the next four days wondering where they are and what everything is."

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They decided to go to the Magic Kingdom until afternoon and then the Animal Kingdom afterwards. While they walked, they pointed around them naming off Disney characters they saw and explaining who they were to Amelia and Opal who were looking at everything with delight. They headed up to the castle and let them look around it for awhile before they went into Fantasyland. The Doctor led them to the Dumbo ride and pointed to him.

"Now," he said to Amelia and Opal, "this is Dumbo. He's a misfit baby elephant that had huge ears and people made fun of his ears until he learned he could use them to fly like a bird and that's why his ride has flying Dumbo cars."

They giggled.

"He flies like a bird, Papaw?" Amelia said.

"Yes, he does. So do you wanna ride him?"

They nodded and he and Alan got in line with them and Dot.

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"Now you do remember you have to push the button to go up, right Brother?" the Doctor said when they were walking towards the Dumbos.

"Yes, I figured that out now, thanks!" he said while the Doctor and the other family members laughed.

Alan took Dorothy and climbed in with her while the Doctor sat with his granddaughters.

"When this starts, push the button and that makes Dumbo fly," he said to them.

They nodded and waved at the others watching them. They waved back and Rose, Jack and Martha pulled out their cameras and snapped photos of them.

"Can you two do a huge favor for me?" the Doctor said to Amelia and Opal.

They nodded.

"Can you be friends with Dot? I know it might not be proper for an eight and ten year old to be friends with a three year old but I'd like it if you were her friends and helped look after her. Can you do that for me?"

They nodded and he kissed their heads.

"Thank you, Mamaw and me and everyone else will appreciate that."

The cars began to move.

"Okay, press the button and hold it in," he said to them.

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After riding that, they went on It's A Small World and laughed when both the Doctor and Alan let out pained yells and mimed puking over the side of the boats. They avoided the Snow White ride but rode Peter Pan and Winnie the Pooh and took them to Toontown where they met and got their pictures taken with Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald, Goofy and Chip and Dale. After that they headed over towards the Haunted Mansion and stopped nearby.

"I'll sit this one out with Dot," Alan said quickly.

"I'll sit this one out at well," Rose said. "I'm getting tired of it now. I've been on it three times in three separate parks in two universes."

Awinita, Jenny, Mingxia, Donna, Madison and Ianto also opted out.

"We'll take her on something else and meet ya back at this bench," Rose said pointing to a bench behind them.

"Okay," the Doctor said. "Except…"

He looked at Amelia and Opal.

"This ride is a bit scary. It's supposed to be a haunted house but the worse thing that happens is a couple of things pop up. If you think it's too scary you can go with them and they'll take you somewhere else."

"Are you going, Papaw?"

"Yeah, Mamaw and I are going in and you can ride with us if you like."

They looked at each other.

"I wanna ride," Amelia said.

"Me too."

He nodded.

"We'll see you lot later then," Alan said.

They turned and walked away while the rest of them got in the queue.

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After they got back outside, they went over to the bench.

"That was ace," Luke said. "I loved the stretching portraits room."

"I did too," Sarah Jane said.

"I see the other half aren't back yet," the Doctor said looking around.

They sat down and waited.

"Where is the ride you were on when I rang you? The one Alan fears?"

They laughed.

"The Tiki Room. It's just up the path. Why? You wanna be evil and make my brother go on it again?" the Doctor said with an impish grin.

"I just wanna know why he's so frightened of singing birds," she said to him.

"I think it's the song. If you go in you'll hear the Tiki Room song they sing. It's enough to drive anyone mad," the Doctor said.

He looked at Amelia and Opal.

"Are you having fun?"

"Yes," they said in unison.

"Were you scared in there?"

They giggled and shook their heads.

"You wanna try roller coasters? I think you're both old enough to ride the big ones like Expedition Everest."

"Are they scary?" Amelia asked.

"They go really fast," Rani said to them. "And they have big hills that you go up and down on and really sharp turns."

"You wanna try one here? They have a couple here that isn't that scary," the Doctor said.

They nodded.

"It's good that you're making sure they won't be scared," Sarah Jane said.

"Yeah, well I just want to make sure they have a good time and don't have heart attacks on the rides like Dot did on the Snow White one."

They waved when the others walked up to them. Opal and Amelia hopped off the bench and ran to Dorothy. The Doctor smiled when they took her hands and walked with her back to him.

"We took your Disney education mantra seriously," Alan said. "We got these poor children a ton of Disney movie DVDs and sent them back to the room. You're right; these children will not grow up being ignorant of Disney things on our watch."

"Thank you, Brother. I'm glad you did that. What'd you get them?"

They laughed.

"What didn't we get them?" Alan said. "We had to tell the shocked people at the cash register we were big Disney fans because we went up there with a load of DVDs. We got Snow White, Bambi, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Pocahontas since Dorothy saw the case and said she looked like Rain, The Emperor's New Groove, Toy Story, Cars, Finding Nemo, A Bug's Life, a box set of Mickey Mouse cartoons, the original Winnie the Pooh movie, Robin Hood, Jungle Book, 101 Dalmatians and we also found three live action movies about aliens, Escape to Witch Mountain, Return from Witch Mountain and The Cat From Outer Space."

"Blimey," the Doctor said while they laughed. "I'm glad I brought those duffle bags that are bigger on the inside."

"I'm glad Disney delivers everything back to the hotel rooms. But that along with the Aladdin and Lilo and Stitch DVDs we already have oughta hold them for now."

He bent over to Amelia and Opal.

"By the way, have you seen The Wizard of Oz because we also thought of that."

"No," they said in unison.

"We really are starting from scratch," the Doctor said, shaking his head.

"Dorothy also got a Pocahontas plushie. Again, because she thinks she looked like Rain."

"Awwww," Rain said, ruffling her hair.

"So now we have to take these two at some point and let them get something," Alan said, pointing to Amelia and Opal. "But we have succeeded in your mission to educate these two on all things Disney."

"Thank you, I appreciate that," the Doctor said. "And now that we've rested, on to the Tiki Room!"

"I'm sorry, what?" Alan said while they laughed. "Oh in that case, I'll take Amelia and Opal and go back to the gift shop because they won't have any interest in singing birds and dumb songs and…Rose, quit shoving me. Everyone, let go, I don't wanna go back to the Tiki Room! Have mercy, please! Noooooooo!"

They laughed and surrounding him on all sides, pulling and pushing him towards the Tiki Room while he cried and begged them for mercy.


	157. Chapter 157

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Seven

"Oh thank the heavens, we're out of that place," Alan said as he stumbled out of the Tiki Room in front of his laughing family.

"See, the man is such an infant," Rose said to them. "Did you think it was that bad?"

"The song was a bit annoying but not enough to make me go insane," Martha said.

They laughed when Alan gripped her arms.

"Then you are made of stronger stuff than I, Jones," he said melodramatically.

He grinned when Martha gave him a playful punch in the arm and they walked off.

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For the rest of the morning, they went on the Pirates of the Caribbean and tried out Big Thunder Railroad. They let Dorothy go on it as well and the Doctor and Madison sat together making sure she was wedged in between them. They were thrilled when she squealed and laughed at the up and down motion and laughed hysterically when they turned and corners and she was knocked against Madison and the Doctor.

"Well, we know she likes roller coasters now," Madison said to him when they got off of it.

"Did you like that?" the Doctor asked Amelia and Opal.

"Yes!" they said in unison.

"Can we go on it again, Papaw?" Opal said, grabbing his hand.

"Not that one. But we'll go on one called Space Mountain and then we'll head back to the hotel room so we can rest awhile," he said.

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Once they got back to the room, the humans laid down for a short nap while the others rested.

"So we tackle the animal park next," Rose said.

"Yes, so we can let Brother ride his favorite ride since we just forced the poor bugger to endure the Tiki Room again."

"And not only that we have to go on the catch the imaginary poachers ride," Alan said.

"What?" Martha said while they laughed.

The Doctor explained it to them.

"You go through the whole ride thinking you're gonna see them catch poachers and you don't get to see it? What a rip off," Madison said.

"Yes, my thoughts exactly. But when we went on our honeymoon, Brother warned us about it so Rain and I made fun of it. They were the ones who were upset when they went the first time."

"No, Alan was the one who was upset," Rose said. "He was all set to see a big bloody gun battle and they never gave him one."

"But apart from that, there are a few shows and most of the rest of it is wild animal walk-throughs which the children might like," he said.

He looked at the stack of DVDs by the television.

"I'm glad we have bigger on the inside bags, that's all I'm gonna say about that," he said while they laughed.

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After a couple of hours they woke them and headed back out. They rode the bus over to the Animal Kingdom park.

"So, what do we do first? Roller coaster or poacher ride?" Alan said to them. "Or do we go see the shows or the animals?"

"I wanna go on the roller coaster, Papaw!" Amelia said.

They laughed.

"You just got a taste for that, didn't ya? We're gonna turn you both into adrenaline junkies by the time we're through here. Okay, let's go on that then."

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They got in the queue and waited while Wilf and Sarah Jane sat with Dorothy on a nearby bench. While they did, the Doctor looked behind at Julie and temporarily left his wife's side to talk to her.

"Hey, are you alright?" he asked. "How are you doing?"

She beamed and gave him a hug.

"I'm doing just fine," she said. "Ever since my parents visited me and told me they loved me and I know they're safe in Heaven it doesn't hurt as much anymore. I know they're watching over me just like your friends and family are watching over you."

He smiled and nodded.

"I'm glad, I just wanna make sure you're alright since that just recently happened to ya."

She hugged him again.

"Romana said you put others first and I told her I saw that even in the short time I knew you. You are so wonderful. No one else in my family really gave a crap that I was in pain after my parents died but a total stranger just took me in and made me his sister after giving me a pap smear."

Rain heard that and laughed while the Doctor blushed.

"You never gave me a pap smear, Love, I'm jealous," she teased as she walked up beside him.

She smiled at Julie.

"But yes, my husband and Alan both put people at their ease and just make them feel like a part of the group. I think that's why so many people end up wanting to be part of our family," she said. "Everyone here is just wonderful and we really do look out for each other. Especially since we get in dangerous situations all the time. Trust me, this right here is not the norm for us. But we always try to keep each other happy, not only because it makes us happy but also because we can feel everybody's moods and it's no fun feeling someone else's pain and depression."

The Doctor nodded.

"Yup, you'll find that the moment someone is sad we try our darndest to cheer them up because what affects one affects all in our family."

"Which is why he's back here asking if you're alright," Rain said. "And we're all the same way. We're all looking out for you and…Alan is behind me now breathing hard on my scalp, isn't he?"

They laughed when Alan breathed harder while Amelia and Opal laughed.

"Hey! You leave Mamaw alone!" Opal said.

"Yes! I finally have people who'll defend me from this creep!" Rain said while the Doctor laughed.

Alan laid his chin on her head.

"Ah, a short person to rest my tired head on, so anyway, Julie, how ya doing?"

"Go away, Creep-A-Zoid," Rain said.

"No, don't wanna. So anyway, how're things?"

Rain moved out from under him and went to stand in front of the Doctor. Alan grinned at the Doctor.

"Hey, Rainy, watch this!"

He turned around, bent over and grabbed his crack.

"Excuse me," he said, imitating Ace Ventura. "I'd like to ass you a few questions."

Rain turned crimson and buried her face in her husband's arm while the rest of the family laughed hysterically. Alan leaned back up with a smug look on his face.

"I'm so glad Awinita got that DVD," he said to the Doctor. "Now I have fresh new ways I can embarrass people."

"Damn you, Awinita, for getting that movie," Rain said to her while they laughed.

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"So how was it?" Sarah Jane said when they walked up to them.

"Magnificent as usual," Alan said.

"It was fun!" Opal said.

"Yeah, we wanna go again!" Amelia added.

"Adrenaline junkies, just you watch," the Doctor said while they laughed. "But we'll ride it again later because Alan will throw a fit if we don't. For now we'll ride the try to catch the poachers who don't exist ride."

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They managed to get a tram to themselves and were laughing hysterically while the Doctor, Alan and Jack sat in the back quoting lines from Ace Ventura, When Nature Calls. All of them were bouncing around, shaking their bodies.

"Rough terrain out here," Alan said while they giggled.

"What are you doing?" Sarah Jane asked, amused.

"Have you ever seen the Ace Ventura movies?" the Doctor said.

"No, not a fan of Jim Carrey."

"Well, we watched them last night while you were asleep and since the second one is about Africa, we're quoting lines from the movie to amuse ourselves."

"Ace Ventura," Alan said, extending his hand to Jack. "And you must be the Monopoly Guy."

"Mister Ventura," Jack said imitating the snooty woman while he stroked his chest. "There's nothing wrong with enjoying the fruits of nature."

"All righthy then!" Alan said.

They laughed when he mimed punching him in the face and Jack slumped over his shoulder.

"La la la laaaaaaaa," he said, stroking Jack's back while he sniggered into his shoulder.

Jack leaned back up and Alan leaned in to Rain.

"La-hoooo-sa-her!" he said to her.

"It's too bad we didn't see that movie before we went to Faust. Jasper could have shown us his collection of heads and we could have used the lovely room of death line on him," Jack said.

They giggled.

"Is something wrong, Mister Ventura?" Alan said to the Doctor while he narrowed his eyes.

"Not at all, this is a lovely room of death, take care now, bye bye then," the Doctor replied while they chortled.

They laughed harder when they saw Sarah Jane roll her eyes.

"Have you two seen Ace Ventura?" the Doctor asked the teens.

Luke shook his head while Rani nodded and grinned.

"We saw those and Liar, Liar which was also good," he said.

"I've seen that as well," Rani said.

"Everyone in the building is so nice to me," Jack said in a falsetto voice.

"Well, "Alan said imitating Jim Carrey, "that's because you have big jugs."

The all bent over in silent laughter while Sarah Jane gave Alan a shocked look and Rani and Luke giggled hysterically.

"You noticed how no one is giving a crap what's going on at the front?" Awinita said, gesturing to the tour guide who was going through her scripted spiel.

"No because the stuff going on in the back is much more entertaining," Jack said.

The Doctor giggled when he noticed the three younger children smiling at him.

"Don't mind us, we're insane, you'll find that out in time," he said while they laughed.

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"Well gee; did anyone pay any attention to anything besides us?" Alan said when they got out.

They all shook their heads.

"I did catch the whole no-show poachers bit but other than that, no you guys were more entertaining," Julie said while they walked away.

"Yup, we're better than a boring ride filled with animals, right?" Jack said to them.

The Doctor looked down at Amelia and Opal who were walking with Dorothy.

"If we all get tossed out of the park on our bums, you have fun without us," he said to them.

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After the ride, they looked around at the restaurants and noticed most of them were oriental food.

"Let's go somewhere else so the children can have burgers and chips," the Doctor said. "I'm not in the mood for Chinese food myself."

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They headed to the Hollywood Studios part and ate at the Sci Fi Dine In.

"So while we're here, you lot wanna ride the Tower of Terror then?" the Doctor asked while they ate.

"Is it scary?" Sarah Jane asked him.

"A bit, but come on, Sarah, you've seen scarier traveling with me," he said to her with wide eyes.

"I know that but I just wanna be sure what I'm getting into," she replied.

They laughed when he patted her hand.

"We'll protect you from the out of control elevator, Sarah."

They laughed when she smacked his head.

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"You sure you wanna ride this?" the Doctor asked Amelia and Opal while they stood in the queue with them.

Wilf had volunteered to sit with Dorothy while the others went inside.

"I want to, Papaw," Amelia said, "It looks fun."

"Really? Screaming people sound like fun to you?" he asked.

They giggled and nodded. He bent down and pointed across the park to a huge fender guitar.

"That's another roller coaster, a big one!" he said to them. "You wanna go on it as well?"

"Yes!" they yelled.

"They really are adrenaline junkies now," Rani said while she and Luke stood behind them.

"Yup, I think this is training for when they are old enough to travel with me," the Doctor said.

They went inside and went through the lobby listening with several other people while the tour guide talked about the mysterious disappearance of the guests. Opal held onto the Doctor's hand while she glanced around nervously and he smiled and squeezed it. They walked through it until they got to the elevator.

"Stay with me if you wanna sit with us," The Doctor said to the kids while he and Rain entered.

Amelia took Rain's hand and the Doctor held tight to Opal's hand while they went and sat down. They buckled themselves in and the children while they sat between him and Rain. Alan sat down next to the Doctor and the children laughed when he threw his arms around him.

"Hold me," he whimpered in his ear.

"Geez," Rose said, shaking her head and glancing at Jack, Ianto and Sarah Jane beside her.

The Doctor patted his hand.

"There, there, it'll be alright, my baby brother," he said to them.

Rani threw her arms around Alan as she sat behind him.

"There, feel better?" she said.

"Immensely, hold that hug and never let go till you leave Orlando," he said.

The door closed and the elevator slowly went up. The Doctor and Rain put their arms around Amelia and Opal when they suddenly clung to them.

"What's this? You were all for these scary rides and now you're afraid?" the Doctor asked Opal.

"I can't see out in here," she said.

"Trust me, Opal, that's about to be remedied," Alan said.

They stopped and the door in front of them opened and they saw how far up they were. Then the elevator suddenly fell and both children screamed along with everyone else. It went up and down for thirty seconds before it lowered back to the ground.

"Are you alright?" the Doctor asked them.

"Yes, that was fun!" Opal squealed.

"I wanna go on it again!" Amelia added.

The Doctor threw up his hands and feigned exasperation while everyone laughed.


	158. Chapter 158

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Eight

After riding the Rock-n-Roller coaster and the Great Movie Ride, they decided to head back to their hotel since it was now after dark and everyone was exhausted. On the way back, they stopped inside a souvenir shop and let Amelia and Opal pick out something since Dorothy had gotten the Pocahontas doll earlier. The Doctor and Rain followed them around, naming the different Disney characters they hadn't seen earlier. They stopped by a mound of stuffed Disney characters and the Doctor put his arm around Rain while the two girls looked through them. Opal found the Pocahontas plushie and showed it to the Doctor.

"I want this, this looks like Mamaw," she said.

"That's what Dot said earlier, same doll," Alan said, walking by them.

"Well, have to mark them so they know whose is whose," the Doctor said.

Amelia chose Eeyore and showed him to the Doctor.

"I like this one, he's cute," she said.

"I like him as well, that's Eeyore, Winnie-the-Pooh's depressed suicidal donkey friend."

Everyone near them laughed when Rain swatted his arm. After they were done, they walked around looking at the other items. There were some t-shirts in the corner and Rain chose a pink t-shirt with Minnie Mouse on it that had Walt Disney World written under her in sparkly letters. Rose looked through them and showed Rain one that had Goofy on it.

"Look, my husband," she said to her.

"Got that right, Rose," Rain said while she and the Doctor giggled.

"What's me?" Alan said, walking over.

He saw the t-shirt and took it from Rose's hands.

"I shall incinerate this outside," he said, walking away.

Rose snatched it back and nudged his back while he gave her an evil grin. She put it back on the rack and looked through the others. She laughed and showed Rain another one. It was light blue and had Stitch sitting on it. Underneath him it said, he's my doggy in big black letters. Rain laughed when Rose put her finger to her lips and hurried up to the front to pay for it. They giggled while she looked around at Alan who was examining a ceramic Pongo on the other side of the room and when she was finished hurried back over to the Doctor.

"Pretend it's your bag; tell him you got something for Dot. I'm gonna wear this in the mornin' and surprise him."

"Gotcha," he said taking it from her.

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After several others made some purchases, they headed back to the hotel. Once they were there and Alan wasn't looking, the Doctor gave Rose back her bag. She gave him a thank you peck on the cheek and went into the other room to hide it. The Doctor walked over to the enormous stack of DVDs by the TV and put his hand on top of it.

"Okay," the Doctor said to the children sitting on the bed. "Your assignment tonight is to watch every single one of these movies and stay up aaaaaaaaaaall night and then try to tackle the park tomorrow after no sleep. Because we brought these for ya and you're gonna watch them in order one after the other until they're finished and if I see one person nod off I will tickle them until they pee."

Alan came up behind him.

"And then, once this batch is tackled we'll be buying the rest of the Disney DVDs so be warned."

They grinned when they laughed.

"We're joking. You can watch a couple of these before bedtime," the Doctor said to them. "So look at them and decide what you want and in the meantime, Brother and I will use the comfort station."

Alan grinned at that.

"Yes and have a phosphate afterwards," he added.

The children and teens came up and looked at the movies while they went to use the toilets.

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They chose Pocahontas first or as Amelia and Opal called it, The Mamaw Movie. They all sat on the bed watching it while the others relaxed around them. As they watched they heard more thunder booms outside.

"For the love of God, does it never stop raining in Florida?" Alan said, glancing over from his spot between the beds. "If Disney wanted a rainy area, he should have built the Magic Kingdom in Scotland."

Dorothy slid off the bed with the children on it. Clutching her Pocahontas doll, she got up on the other bed and sat with the Doctor, Rain, Madison and Julie. Madison rubbed her back while she held her doll and watched the movie. While they did that, the mobile rang.

"Not in!" the Doctor said while they laughed. "I'm not tackling crises during The Mamaw Movie!"

He sighed and stood up while he retrieved his mobile. He sat back down and talked to Grace quietly while the movie played.

"There is? Yes, find out who's building them and tell him we want several on one street," the Doctor said.

Everyone looked at him and he held up his finger while he slipped outside onto the balcony.

"I think the Doctor found houses for us," Donna said.

Several minutes later, the Doctor came back inside with a big grin on his face. Alan paused the movie and they looked at him.

"Yes? What'd she say?" Alan asked.

"There's a housing development being built on the outskirts of the city. Brand new, roomy houses, two, three and four bedrooms and no one's living in them yet. I told her to call the person in charge of it and reserve us several beside one another down one street."

They all cheered while he sat back down.

"Well, if you guys are going there, I want to get one there too and move out of the one we have," Madison said. "I wanna live next to all of you."

"Grace said the same thing and John agrees. John's asking Amber but I'm sure she'll say yes but if this works we'll all be living right next to one another and it really will be the Gallifreyan district of Nova."

Alan started the movie and all of them watched it, far happier than they were ten minutes ago.

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After Pocahontas, everyone picked The Lion King. They put it in and watched it while they snacked. While they did, Wilf came over to the Doctor's side of the bed with his chair and sat down beside him.

"If you don't mind, I think I'm about ready to go live in Nova," Wilf said to him.

"Well, Grace told John you were thinking about it and actually John suggested that Julie live with Grace and Madison and he'll live with you since you both are around the same age and she'd be with people who were younger then."

Wilf nodded.

"I'd like that as well; I'd rather live with John than my daughter."

"Have things gotten that bad?"

Wilf sighed. The Doctor patted Rain's hand and they got up and stepped outside onto the balcony. They closed it behind them and stood back away from the heavy rainstorm.

"Doctor, I think you've guessed by now that my daughter does often think the world revolves around her," he said to him. "I love her but she drove Donna away with her behavior and I'm starting to head for the door myself. I came here because I wanted a break from her but I'm beginning to think it'll be better if I go to Nova where my friends and family are."

The balcony door started to open.

"Daddy?"

"Dot, come back here, he's talking to Wilf," Madison said, scooping her up in her arms and closing the door back.

Wilf chuckled.

"I love that little tyke; she's adorable which is also why I'd rather live on New Hope so I can watch her growing up along with the rest of you. But I'm so glad you came along when you did because I finally confronted her."

"What did you say?" the Doctor asked.

"The woman goes on and on about you and Donna…still. It's been months since it's happened and she just can't let it go and I finally pointed out that it was her behavior that drove her away and she nearly hit the ceiling. I actually went outside with a sleeping bag and spent the night on the hill just to get away so you can imagine how relieved I was when you came."

The Doctor sighed and shook his head.

"I'm tired of this as well, Wilf. If you want to go with us to Nova, I'll take ya. No one should be around a negative self-centered person like that and I'm sick of her being angry at me for showing Donna her true potential. It'll only be a matter of time until she realizes you're a Time Lord and then it'll get worse for ya. I don't want that for you, no one does. You need to be somewhere where you can be loved and happy and have a family that won't be on your back every five minutes about petty things."

"Thank you, Doctor, I do want to go. My daughter keeps people around her because she's a control freak and she's afraid of living alone, I think. She runs other people's lives because I think it makes her feel more important and it allows her to ignore her own problems and neuroses. Everything that happens to her is everyone else's fault which is why she blames you for Donna when you had nothing to do with it except give her the opportunity to leave. It's time she made it on her own instead of relying on others and making their lives hell."

The Doctor nodded and patted him on the shoulder.

"It'll be rough leaving her but I think it's what you need to do. You can't stay there with her acting like that and be subjected to that abuse."

The balcony door slid open and the Doctor chuckled when Dorothy walked out and stood by him.

"And I see she's gotten away from her warder again," the Doctor teased while Wilf rubbed her cheek.

Madison looked out the door.

"I'm sorry; she's a slippery one when she wants to be."

"It's alright, we're done talking anyway. Wilf wants to go back to Nova and live with John so that they can have someone of the same age to talk to. Ask if Julie wants to room with you and Grace though."

"I think she'll do that. She heard you and said she wanted to come live with us. She loves Dot….and I do too when she's behaving herself," she said, bending over to kiss her head.

"If you need me to go in the house and defend you, I will," the Doctor said to Wilf while Madison stood beside him holding Dorothy. "I have a feeling it'll be a messy goodbye."

"If you don't mind doing that, but I don't want you getting in the middle of all that."

The Doctor snorted.

"I've been in the middle of it since I first met Donna on her wedding day and I think it's time we finished it once and for all, once way or the other," he said.

He turned and told Madison that he would tell them what was said after the children went to bed. He put his hand on her back while the four of them went back inside.


	159. Chapter 159

Chapter One Hundred and Fifty Nine

After The Lion King, they watched Lilo and Stitch before they finally went to bed. Alan rolled his eyes when Rose paraded him before them after the movie ended and made him show them the tattoo. The children giggled at him while he vehemently denied it was his idea in the first place. When they were done, the humans started going into the next room to get ready for bed. Opal and Amelia came over to the Doctor with Dorothy so he could give them hugs and kisses.

"I liked them, Papaw. I liked all the movies."

"Good, I'm glad."

Amelia hugged Rain.

"Pocahontas looks like you," she said to her.

Opal giggled.

"Yeah and Lilo looks like Awinita," Opal teased.

"Oh gee thanks, your Mamaw gets to be the tall statuesque Indian goddess and I'm the short, squat Hawaiian with the bulbous nose," Awinita said while they laughed. "I feel tons better now."

She grinned and knelt down to give them hugs.

"Just kidding, Lilo's cute too," she said to them.

Amelia grabbed Eeyore.

"Um…you have the movie with him in it?"

"Yes, we do. But you have to get some sleep now so you can go back into the park tomorrow."

"Papaw, can we come with you after Orlando?" Amelia asked. "We wanna see the rest of Florida."

"I'll think about it. If I do, I'll have to take you back in time so you won't miss school," he said to her.

"I hope we can go to Nova with everyone else."

He smiled.

"I hope so too, Amelia," he replied.

They gave him and Rain more hugs and kisses and did the same with everyone else before they went in the other room with Dorothy. Once everyone was in bed and asleep, Wilf nodded at the Doctor and they shared with everyone what they had said outside.

Donna sighed and lowered her head to her hands when they were finished.

"I swear, that woman," she muttered. "Yes, Granddad, go! Doctor's right, it's just gonna get worse for ya and I'm also tired of this. This is petty and stupid and I'm ashamed I used to act exactly like her. Being with all of you is the best thing that ever happened to me and I'm sorry if she can't see that but she's too busy walking around with her head up her arse to see much of anything."

"Maybe this is the sort of thing she needs," Wilf said to her. "She needs people to walk out on her so she'll learn that she can't treat people like that and maybe it'll change her."

"Yes but regardless of whether the penny drops for the woman, I want you gone. I'm tired of her being angry at the Doctor and I'm tired of having to go to the house to see you and have her be even angrier at that and abuse you afterwards. You have all of us here and John. John likes you and you'll get along great with him. Just do it, Granddad."

"Well, when I say goodbye the Doctor is coming inside to defend me," Wilf said.

"Then I'm comin' as well because I want my two pence and I wanna make sure she minds herself in there. I want her to understand that this is goodbye unless or until she learns to behave herself and treat the Doctor and the rest of us with respect. It's ridiculous that Rose and Martha's parents can accept him when she can't."

"And if Martha can convince her family to go and the Doctor convinces Dex when he gets out, then apart from us going back and forth, all that'll be left is Sarah Jane and the teens and I'm sure once Luke, Rani and Clyde come of age they'll move there and go back and forth to see her. So that'll be it for Earth, family wise. And really I wanna base myself more on Nova than Earth now. Perhaps we can give Gwen's friend Andy my mobile number so he can phone if a crisis comes up. The only reason I stayed in Cardiff was to keep watch at the rift for the Doctor and I found him. The rift is pretty much dormant for the moment, the threats are mainly coming from other worlds so if that happens again, Andy can call us. But I'm gonna also try to convince Gwen to get her and Rhys to move there because I'm the same way. All my family and friends are going to be in Nova now and I'd rather go where I can get off work and visit with everyone."

Ianto and Martha nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I don't have many friends on Earth. I never had time for them working at the hospital and UNIT."

"Same here, working at Torchwood has taken up a fair chunk of my time and energy," Ianto said. "This here is my circle of friends and family so I'd rather go and be near you lot as well."

"You know, Brother, we still have that chunk of TARDIS coral you gave us," Alan said to the Doctor. "If you accelerate the growth we could have another spare TARDIS we could use."

"And mine, you could speed up the growth on mine too," Jack said.

The Doctor and Alan jerked their heads towards him and gave him shocked looks.

"Yours? Where the hell did you get a piece of TARDIS coral from, Jack?" the Doctor said.

Jack cleared his throat.

"Um…I took it from your TARDIS back when I traveled with your ninth self," he said sheepishly.

"Oh? And why did you do that?" the Doctor said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Memento?"

He sighed when both brothers glared at him.

"Look, at the time I took it I was human and mortal. Normally, TARDISes take thousands of years to grow so it was gonna be just a souvenir. I had it in my trouser pocket when you left me and after you left, it reminded me of you and the fun we had, nothing more. It's been growing for over a century now on my desk at the Hub and it's still just a little lump after all that time."

"That's what that is? I wondered about that," Martha said to him while he nodded.

"You better be glad you are a family member and my friend because I would have bashed your face in otherwise for nicking a piece of my ship," the Doctor said. "But that's in the past and what's done is done, so yes, if you want to donate the coral on your desk, I'll also grow it and in a year's time there'll be two more fully functioning TARDISes we can use. I say a year because it does need time to grow and get the basic console room and rooms like the kitchen and sleeping areas. They'll be very basic in the beginning, nothing like the one we travel in now but it'll work and it'll keep growing and gain more rooms and space. But yes, that's another way we can still travel and keep coming back to our home base in Nova."

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After they chatted, Jack asked if they could watch the South Park episodes so Martha and Julie could see them. Their laughter lightened the mood and the Doctor put his arm around Rain when he felt everyone becoming happy and content again. He giggled at the robot coming out of Cartman's anus.

"Boy, I'm glad Silas and the others didn't do that to me," Julie said to the Doctor.

"Or control you from above and turn you into Judy Garland?" the Doctor said.

"Yes!" she said emphatically while they laughed.

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Martha and Julie snorted out laughter while they watched the clone rampaging through South Park.

"Like I told Alan, if your clone had acted like this, she wouldn't have been able to infiltrate UNIT," the Doctor said to Martha.

She laughed.

"It would have been interesting seeing my clone look like that though," she said.

"You mean seeing yourself with a swelled head, buck teeth, one arm longer than the other while it said chee chee chomp?" Alan said.

Martha nodded and pointed to it.

"So is this how you're s'pose to act then?" she asked.

"Believe me, he's been doing impressions of it ever since he saw it," Rain said to her.

"Cha chomp?" Alan said while they laughed harder. "Chee chee chomp!"

Sarah Jane peeked into the room and the Doctor winced.

"Sorry, we didn't realize we were that loud, Sarah," he said.

"Nah, you didn't wake me, I couldn't sleep. Too much fun today," she said, stepping inside. "I'm in the bed by the door and I kept listening to this program and hearing you laugh and feeling it in my head and I just had to come in and see what's going on. I heard what you said about Wilf as well and I'm glad he's leaving if Sylvia's gotten that bad. Like I said, I do wanna keep my house but I will commute like Jack and come and visit when I can."

She walked over to the table and sit down in an empty seat.

"Want something to eat or drink?" the Doctor asked her.

"Yeah, I'll have some of my iced tea and a few crisps."

Alan brought her bag over to her while she glanced at the TV and laughed.

"That's the clone you're talking about?" she said.

They laughed and nodded. She looked at Alan while he handed the bag to her.

"Well thank God you didn't turn out like that," she said to him.

"Tell me about it," he replied.

She thanked him and gave him a kiss while she rummaged through her bag for her iced tea and crisps.

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They laughed hysterically when Jack put on Xanadu after it and they saw the bemused look on Sarah Jane's face.

"This is what Awinita suggested we buy!" Jack said to her. "This is her idea, not ours."

"Oh my God, this is so cheesy it's unbelievable," Martha said.

"I can't believe Gene Kelly is in this after being in all those great movie musicals," Wilf said while they laughed harder. "What was the poor bloke thinking?"

"Thinking about paying the rent apparently," the Doctor said.

"Yes, I think you're right," Wilf said, nodding.

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"Okay, that was the oddest film I've ever seen in my life," Sarah Jane said when it finished. "And I think that's the one and only time I'll watch Xanadu."

She kissed the Doctor's cheek.

"Thanks for entertaining me. I'm gonna try to get some sleep or I'll be dead on my feet come afternoon."

"Good night, Sarah, or morning, I s'pose," the Doctor said.

She hugged everyone and kissed their cheeks.

"Goodnight, Alan," she said when she got to him.

"Chee chee chomp, Sarah."

Everyone bent over laughing while Sarah Jane shook her head and hugged him tight.

"I'm surprised the children can sleep the way you go at it in here," she said to them.

She waved at everyone and shut the door behind her.

"So now what?" Jack said.

"How about Cars? I haven't seen that one yet," Awinita said to him.

"Okay, Cars it is," Jack said, looking through the pile of DVDs.


	160. Chapter 160

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty

The next morning they got everyone up for breakfast. Rose quickly hurried into the other room, grabbed her sack and ran to the bathroom before Alan came in. Sarah Jane yawned when the Doctor gently shook her and Luke, who was in the other bed, opened his eyes.

"Morning," she said to him.

"Good morning, have you slept enough? You can sleep in and we'll come and get you in the afternoon."

"No, I'm fine. Traveling with you taught me how to function on a few hours sleep," she said while he chuckled. "Did you watch any other films besides Xanadu?"

"We saw Cars which is very good."

"I haven't seen that one," she said while Alan and Jack came in the room behind him.

Alan paused and grinned at Jack.

"Ever been tractor tippin'?" he said to Jack.

"Moooo!" Jack said, flailing his arms around and leaning back while the Doctor and Alan giggled.

"I take it that's in Cars then," Sarah Jane said while Luke laughed.

"Oh yeah, funny scene, you'll have to see it."

The door opened and Rose came out wearing her Stitch shirt. She laughed when she saw the look on Alan's face.

"Brother, you have a match handy? I have a sudden urge to burn something off Rose's body," he said to him.

"Nope sorry, fresh out of matches, Brother," the Doctor said, getting up and going into the other room to rouse the youngest ones and Rani.

"Hardy har har," Alan said to Rose while Sarah Jane and Luke giggled from their beds.

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Rain changed into her Minnie Mouse shirt and after everyone got freshened up, they headed downstairs for breakfast.

"Name's Mater, like To-mater without the Tah!" Jack said while they laughed.

"Will you turn that noise off? It's the claaaaasics, maaaaaaaaan," Alan replied.

"I'm glad we're getting all these movies they can quote from," Rain said.

"So am I, it's amusing new material I can torment you with," Alan said to her.

"You leave Mamaw alone," Opal said.

"Ha ha, I have someone telling you to shut up now," Rain said while they laughed.

"Daddy!" Dorothy said from the back.

She ran around everyone else while they were about to go into the restaurant, got in his path and stopped them.

"What's the holdup?" Jack teased.

"There's a small child-like barrier in the way," Alan said to him with wide eyes.

"Well, just tip her over and watch her go moo then," Jack said while they laughed.

The Doctor picked her up.

"Pay no attention to Laurel and Hardy, Ladybird," he said while they went inside.

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After eating they headed back to the Magic Kingdom to finish it up. While they were there, the Doctor got an idea.

"Come on, you lot need to see the secret flat. No fair that only me, Rain, Jack and Ianto have seen it."

They hurried thought the archway of Cinderella castle and into the little passageway. Everyone blocked the Doctor from view while he used his screwdriver to call the elevator down to them. It opened and everyone crowded inside. The Doctor pushed the button and it took them up to the room. The door opened and everyone gasped in amazement at it.

"Bugger, why didn't we get more curious and find this?" Alan said, looking around with Rose. "Beats the bench in front of the Mickey Mouse shrub!"

"Kids, don't touch anything," Sarah Jane said sternly. "Just look around."

"This is amazing. What's it for?" Luke said.

"I know what it is. I read about it while researching the park after the Doctor mentioned finding it," Rose said. "When Walt Disney first came up with the plans for the park he wanted a private flat so he could entertain friends and family. It never got built until several years ago when they decided to do this and make it for VIPs of Disney."

"Really? This would have been Walt's apartment?" Awinita said. "Sweet."

"And this is where I proposed to Ianto," Jack said, pointing to the bathroom.

They gathered around it.

"You proposed to your lover in the bath?" Alan said while they laughed.

Jack pointed to the stained glass window.

"I thought that was romantic," he said.

"Yeah but could you at least moved out here away from the loo?" Alan said.

The Doctor jerked his head around when he heard the elevator coming up.

"Hide, kitchen!" he hissed at them.

They all scrambled into the kitchen and pressed up against the wall. Madison knelt down beside Dorothy and kept her quiet while the Doctor hovered by the open door and glanced out. The elevator door opened and he jerked his head back when two teenagers dressed as Aladdin and Jasmine came inside the apartment.

"Oh come on, Bruce, we can't be up here like this!" the woman said.

"I told ya, Lucy, no one comes up here except when they have bigwigs in town. It's perfect. Now hurry up before someone realizes we're gone."

The Doctor and his family tensed their bodies. After a few minutes, the Doctor hazarded a look through the door and noticed they had gone in the bed room. He turned his head and put his finger to his lips.

_Everyone just follow me quietly_, he thought to them. _We'll sneak back out and…_

His thought trailed off when they heard squeaking and the banging of the bed's headboard followed by moans and groans. Jack and Alan slammed their hands over their mouths. The rest of the adults and teens listened in shock and amusement while Amelia and Opal listened in confusion.

"Right, let's go," the Doctor hissed to them.

Madison scooped up Dorothy and Jack and Alan scooped up Amelia and Opal while all of them sprinted to the elevator. The Doctor jabbed the down button repeatedly with his finger while the sounds of moaning and groaning increased.

"What are they doing, Papaw?" Opal whispered.

"Something you'll find out about when you're much, much older," he whispered back.

The door opened and all of them hurried inside. The Doctor jabbed the down button and breathed a sigh of relief when the elevator went back down. They waited till they were out and clear of the castle before they collapsed on several benches laughing hysterically.

"There's something you never see at Disney!" Alan said.

Awinita pointed to a man dressed as Winnie the Pooh who was patrolling nearby.

"Think we should go inform Pooh bear that Aladdin and Jasmine are getting fluids all over Uncle Walt's bedding?" she said to them.

"No, I think we'll just go now and pretend we never saw that," the Doctor said. "Anyway that was the secret Disney flat we found."

_That apparently doubles as a secret shag pad for the staff on occasion_, he thought to them.

_I'm glad someone's getting some use out of it since Walt isn't around,_ Jack thought.

_And to think, I figured that was Jack's intention when he took me up there, _Ianto thought.

_I know. Damn it, missed opportunity!_ Jack thought.

They headed on so they could see the rest of the Magic Kingdom section.

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They stood in a queue for awhile before riding the riverboat around a large man-made lake. After getting off it, Alan and Jack's bladders were nearly ready to burst.

"Ugh, where's the loos?" Alan said, looking around them. "I gotta go now!"

"Just wait, Alan, we'll find em," Rose said while they walked around searching for them.

"I can't wait, Rose, I need to go now!" Alan groaned.

"Oh, for heaven's sake, Alan. Why don't you be a caveman and use the bloody shrubs then?" Rose said flippantly.

Her eyes widened when he kissed her cheek.

"What a marvelous idea, my poppet, be back in a mo."

"Alan! I wasn't being serious!" Rose squealed while he ran off behind several clumps of large shrubbery and Jack followed him.

They laughed while Rose buried her face on the Doctor's shoulder.

"They're not, they're not, oh God, Doctor, tell me they're not," she moaned into his shoulder.

They heard the sound of urine hitting the ground.

"They are, Rose," the Doctor said.

Everyone laughed when a few minutes later, both Jack and Alan emerged breathing sighs of relief.

"There, that feels tons better," Alan moaned. "Everyone who is a male, go ahead and use it. It's nice and roomy back there."

"I am so gonna kill ya when we get a moment away from the children, Timelord," Rose said while they laughed.


	161. Chapter 161

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty One

"Oh come on, Rose, all I did was water the shrubs a bit," Alan said while they walked along. "No harm done, right?"

"What if someone saw you and you got arrested for urinating on Disney property, what then, Mister No Harm Done?"

"I'd borrow Brother's perception filter and make a clean getaway?" he said.

Rose sighed angrily and he rubbed her back.

"I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry I couldn't wait any longer and used the shrubs for a toilet. I'm sorry I embarrassed you, will you quit being mad at me?"

"Just…don't do it again, alright?"

"I will refrain from ape-like behavior in future."

She looked back at Jack and eyed him.

"And I will also refrain, Rose," Jack said.

They rounded a bend and saw some restrooms up ahead.

"There…there are some loos about a minute from the shrubs," Rose said.

"Yes, but I couldn't wait another minute, Rose and…oh, never mind, what's the use of arguing with ya? You aren't male."

Thank God for that," Rose muttered while she headed towards the bathrooms.

The Doctor waited around and then patted his shoulder while everyone else went to the restrooms.

"Just between you and me and Jack, I would have done the same. But then again, Brother, we share the same thought processes, right?" he said with a wink before he left to join them.

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After finishing with the rest of the Magic Kingdom section, they came back so the children could have a nap before they headed back out to the Hollywood Studios section for a few hours. The humans all lay down while the rest of them rested and chatted. They decided to go out to eat out away from the park and find something else to do that didn't involve Disney. The Doctor put in another call to Grace and spoke with her for a half hour before informing everyone that she wanted him to come to Nova to help secure the houses and pay for them so they could begin to move in.

"I told her I'll use the manipulator and go after the children are asleep tonight so they won't wonder where I am. It'll probably take a few hours to help her get the paperwork done but if all goes well; this housing development will be our own private section of the city. Then after we get done being tourists and get back to the TARDIS, we'll help Maddie, Grace, Dot and John move their things and go and get some furniture for our own houses and then we'll have our own little abodes to rest in between journeys in the TARDIS."

The communicating door opened slightly and Amelia peeked into the room.

"Hello there, are you awake already?" the Doctor said.

"Mamaw, Papaw, can you come here for a minute?"

The Doctor and Rain glanced at each other and followed her. They passed through the room where Sarah Jane and Luke were sleeping into the other room where the rest of them were. In the bed nearest the door was Opal and in the other bed Rani slept with Dorothy. Opal was awake and clutching her Pocahontas doll to her chest.

"What is it, sweetie?" Rain said, sitting down beside her when she saw her distress.

"I had the dream again," Opal whispered.

"Dream, what dream?" the Doctor said.

Amelia sat down next to Opal who was sitting up and scooting closer to Rain.

"Um…you know, back when we lived in 1863?" Amelia said.

The Doctor nodded.

"Okay, um…three years before you came when I was seven and she was five, we were out playing in the woods by our house and we saw this black man hiding in the forest. He was a runaway slave and he was trying to go up north to be free and he thought we were gonna tell ma and pa but we said we wouldn't tell and we went and got him food and talked with him for awhile."

"That was nice of you, sweetie," Rain said.

She nodded.

"Um…we went back to the house and played there so no one would know he was there, you know. But that night, I guess he tried to leave and got caught by some men who were looking for him in the woods because I guess he didn't get far from his plantation and they had a big reward if they caught him. Um…we were watching from our bedroom window because he got away from them and from what pa said he killed one of the people with a knife to try to get away and when he was running across the field beside the house, we saw him get shot in the head and his brains went everywhere before he fell down and died."

The Doctor felt sick to his stomach while Rain put her arm around Opal and held her close to her.

"After that, Opal's had bad dreams about it sometimes and she just had another one."

The Doctor glanced over at Rani who was awake and listening silently.

"God, that's horrible," Rani whispered to them.

The Doctor bent over and kissed their foreheads.

"You know, I have a way to take that memory away so you'll never think of it again and if I do, you'll never have a nightmare about it ever again. Do you want me to do that?"

"Can you, Papaw?" Opal said.

"Yes, I can take just that one memory away of him getting shot and killed but I won't do it unless you give me permission. So do you want me to?"

They nodded and he switched places with Rain.

"Now I'm gonna go into your minds and find this memory and erase it and that's all I'll erase and after I'm done you won't remember it ever again, alright?"

They nodded. Rain went in the other room to tell the others what happened while he put his fingertips to Opal's temples.

"Close your eyes, my hearts," he whispered to Opal.

She did and he shut his eyes and searched through his mind for the memory. He found it and studied it a moment grimacing at the man's brain's coming out of the back of his head before he erased it completely from her mind and erased their conversation about it. Once that was done, he put her into a deep sleep so she would remember only going to sleep and waking up from the nap. Once he did that and she was comfortable under the covers, he turned to Amelia and gave her a kiss before explaining what he was doing.

"So we won't even remember talking to you about this?"

"No, my dear, I don't want you recalling anything about it. I'm going to do to you what I did to your sister and put you to sleep so when you wake up, you won't remember waking up and coming to get us, okay?"

She nodded and he kissed her forehead again and sent love into her mind before he put his fingertips to her temples. She closed her eyes and he drew out the memory and the memory of her coming to get them and the conversation before he also sent her off to sleep. He laid her down beside her sister and covered her up. He looked at Rani.

"Never mention to them what just happened. I don't want them to remember it."

"I won't, Doctor, I promise," Rani whispered.

He nodded.

"Go ahead and go back to sleep, we'll get you up in an hour or so."

She nodded.

"I'm glad you did that, Doctor," she said.

"So am I."

Rani relaxed and shut her eyes while the Doctor slowly rose from the bed and went back out the door.

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After an hour passed, the Doctor went back into the room with Rain, Alan and Rose and roused them from their sleep. Both girls smiled at him while Rani woke up and woke up Dorothy.

"How're you feeling?" he asked them.

"Good, are we gonna go out and see more Disneyworld?" Opal asked him.

He smiled and nodded.

"Daddy, I'm hungry," Dorothy said, walking over to him.

"Oh, you're always hungry. You're as bad as your Uncle Alan," he said to her.

Amelia and Opal sat up and the four adults gave them hugs and kisses.

"Papaw, are there other things to do besides Disney?" Amelia asked.

"Yes, why? Do you wanna take a little break from it?"

"I just wanna go someplace else for a couple of hours and then come back. I wanna see what else there is."

"We could go out to eat somewhere and see a couple of places and come back in the evening to go to the Hollywood Studios park," Rose said. "Most of the things left to see are the stunt shows and studio tours. I think we're about done with what everyone wants to do and all that's left is the water parks so we can start going out and seein' other things if they want to."

He nodded.

"Okay, we'll tell the others then and get you three ready to go out and have some more fun then."

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As they were exiting the park, the Doctor pulled Sarah Jane to the back of the group and whispered in her ear about what happened.

"Oh God, that's horrible," Sarah Jane said. "I'm glad you took that out of their heads. No one should see that happening, let alone when you're five and seven. Bless their hearts. I'm glad you took them all away from that and brought them to us."

"So am I," the Doctor replied. "Rani was awake and heard it but I asked her never to say anything to them about it."

"She won't. Rani's trustworthy," she said.

He told her what Grace had told him and she nodded.

"Tell her to reserve one for me and try to get four bedrooms so my son and his friends can have rooms of their own."

"I will and don't worry about paying for it. I and my unlimited credit stick will handle it. I just need you to go with me at some point after we get your house so you can pick out furniture for you and Luke. And believe me; I'm also making sure we get spare houses because I'm sure they'll be filled up in no time at all with us getting new people every five minutes."

She laughed, nodded and patted his cheek while he smiled.

"Here we are kids, the ninth Doctor wearin' a really long shirt section."

They laughed when the Doctor chased Jack again and smacked him on the head before he walked over to the minivan.

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Alan volunteered to drive one minivan while Jack drove the other. Rose sat with Alan and Ianto sat with Jack. Alan's minivan had Jenny, Mingxia, Awinita, Julie, Opal, Amelia, Luke and Rani. The rest were in Jack's minivan. The Doctor and Madison sat beside Dorothy in her car seat while she colored in her coloring book. Behind him sat Rain, Martha and Sarah Jane and in the back were Wilf and Donna. Once everyone was in, Jack pulled out first and Alan followed him. Jack kept in contact telepathically with Alan while he and Rose discussed where to go.

"Sarah, everyone's wanting seafood, is that alright?" the Doctor asked after they got done talking to each other telepathically.

"Seafood's fine," she said.

The Doctor nodded and told them what she'd said.

_Okay, I'll try to find one then so keep following me_, Jack thought.

"So I guess we can go ahead and figure out what we basically want then," Jack said aloud.

"I just want some kind of fish. I'm in the mood for fish," Rain said.

"Me too. Fish and chips sound very good," the Doctor said to her. "I…"

He trailed off when Alan's minivan suddenly came up beside them on the motorway. They all looked over and saw them laughing and singing something at the top of their lungs while Rose laughed hysterically in the passenger seat.

"Okay, what's going on over there?" the Doctor said.

Rain and Martha giggled when they noticed them doing the arm movements of the Macarena in unison.

"Apparently, they're doing the Macarena, Love," she said to him.

Everyone in Alan's van waved at them and they waved back. Their eyes widened when Awinita pressed her butt up against the sliding door window and then sat back down while everyone howled with unheard laughter.

"I think they're getting a bit wild over there, Doc," Jack said, glancing over while he drove.

Everyone in Jack's van giggled when everyone in the other van began to sway back and forth in their seats while they sang something in unison.

"Damn, I wanna be over there now," Jack said to Ianto.

Alan sped up and got in front of them. They laughed when the teens and children went to the back window, pressed their faces up against the glass and made goofy faces at them before sitting back down.

"Yup, it's definitely fun having kids around," Jack said while they laughed.

Opal ran to the back window and pressed a piece of paper against it. They tried to read it but the glare from the window made it hard to see what was written on it. They watched as everyone giggled while she sat back down in her seat.

"Whatever they wrote on the paper, it must have been hysterically funny," Ianto said to Jack.

Jack saw Rose point over towards a Red Lobster and Alan nodded.

_I see a seafood place, Jack, follow us off the motorway,_ Alan thought to him.

_Are you sure? I mean it looks like you're having a party in there,_ Jack thought to him.

_Indeed we are, but we're also hungry._

_What was written on the paper? We didn't see it because the sun was reflecting off the window. _

_Bollocks, it said, this is the party people carrier,_ Alan thought.

_Oh,_ Jack thought while the Doctor told Sarah what the sign said.

He chuckled when Sarah rolled her eyes and grinned.

They went onto the off ramp and turned left. Jack followed them to the Red Lobster parking lot and parked beside them. They got out and grinned when everyone piled out of Alan's minivan laughing hysterically.

"You lot are bonkers," Donna said to them.

"We had fun, Papaw," Opal said, running over to him.

"Yeah, Papaw, you gotta come in our car when we leave," Amelia added. "We were singing and acting silly. It was fun."

The Doctor smiled at that and tousled their hair affectionately while all of them went inside.

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"Okay, so who wants to come in the party people carrier?" Alan said when they all got back outside.

"Come on, Papaw, come and party with us," Opal said, tugging on his hand.

He looked at Rain.

"They want me to party with them," he said to her.

"Go and party with them, dear."

"I'll trade places with ya," Rose said.

"No, Starlight, come and party with us," Alan said.

"We can't all fit in the party people carrier, Alan."

"Can we go get a bus?" Jack said.

"No, we're not gonna go get a bus," she said while they laughed. "We're fine just the way we are."

"Can Mamaw come with us on the party people carrier?" Amelia asked.

"Um…she can if someone else is willing to trade," Rose said to her.

"I'll do it," Mingxia said. "I need a rest from the party."

"Come along, Latara, the party people carrier awaits," the Doctor said, taking her hand.

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Jack was giggling while Alan drove alongside them. All of them were singing something again and swaying back and forth.

"What were you singing in there?" Jack asked Mingxia.

"Um, when I was in there we had the CD of '80's music playing so I'm assuming that's what they're doing," she said.

Jack noticed a billboard advertising the exit for the Hollywood Wax Museum and Gatorland a few miles away. He thought to them and asked it they wanted to do it. He saw them look over and nod at that.

_Follow me then, partiers,_ Jack thought to them.

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They paid the admission into the wax museum and headed inside. All of them were in a large lobby where they and a number of other people milled around, talking to each other.

"I wonder if this is the same one we went through on our honeymoon?" Rain said.

"If it is, I'm not going through the horror movie section again," the Doctor replied.

They went through a door off to the side of the large lobby into a darkened passageway. They rounded a bend and saw spotlighted tableaus of different scenes from movies. Madison held Dorothy while they slowly walked through it.

"I think this is the same one," the Doctor said to Rain who nodded in reply.

"Just close your eyes when they get to the horror movie section then," she said to him.

"I will, believe me," he replied.

They stopped by a Wizard of Oz scene. Dorothy and her friends were skipping along the yellow brick road. Behind them the Emerald City was painted on a backdrop.

"Aren't they going the wrong way?" Ianto said, pointing to the Emerald City.

"Maybe this is the part where they're going away to find the witch," Awinita said.

Jack stared at Toto who was pit bull sized.

"Toto been taking Clifford's growth hormones?" he said pointing to him. "I don't remember him being that large."

"What is this one, Papaw?" Opal asked the Doctor.

"This is the Wizard of Oz. We have it if you wanna watch it later on tonight."

She and Amelia nodded. The Doctor bent down to their level and pointed to the characters while he explained who they were and what the Emerald City was. Once he was done they moved on and the Doctor kept pointing to the wax figures and explaining what movies they were from. Most of the scenes were from movies from the '30's and '40's so Luke and Rani also asked him what some of the movies were. They paused at one that showed Jimmy Steward talking to a bartender in a bar while he pointed at thin air beside him. The little sign in the front indicated it was from Harvey.

"Harvey is his imaginary six foot rabbit friend," the Doctor said to the children. "That's why he's pointing to the air beside him because Harvey's supposed to be beside him."

"I have a friend like that, Papaw," Opal said.

"You do?"

She nodded.

"Yeah, she's named Helen. She's a little girl like me. I play with her sometimes."

"I had one when I was little but it was a cat named Boots," Rani said.

Luke stared at her.

"You pretended to see a cat and play with it?" he said in disbelief.

"I could see him, I swear," she said while they laughed. "He was a little black cat with white areas on his feet that looked like boots. I saw him, I swear."

"I think I need to rent the Harvey DVD one night," Sarah Jane teased. "I think you'll relate to it, Rani."

She put her arm around her and gave her a squeeze while everyone laughed. They walked on and saw Dracula and Frankenstein and then Gone with the Wind. They laughed when they saw Mammy trying to tie Scarlett's corset tight while she held on to her bedpost. Jack looked at Alan.

"Just hold on…" he said.

"AND SUCK IN!" they both said in unison while everyone laughed.

Jenny giggled.

"I'm glad I actually know what they're talking about now," she said to the Doctor.

"So out of all the films we've seen so far, you know two of them, Angel."

"Well, that's better than not knowing any at all, I s'pose," she said.

The Doctor bent down to Opal and Amelia.

"Just think, you would have worn that thing eventually if I hadn't took ya to England."

"Ma wore it," Amelia said. "She had trouble breathing sometimes."

"I think everyone did, Love," the Doctor said. "That's why everyone carried smelling salts back then."

"She likes bras now," Opal said to him. "She says they're comfortable."

"Good because I'd hate to think of any woman being forced to wear that thing let alone your mum and you."

Rain leaned into his ear.

"And they thought Indians were savages because we didn't wear that crap. I think we were a hell of a lot smarter if you ask me," she whispered.

"I agree," he whispered back.

They moved on and looked at the other movies. The tableaus slowly changed to the movies of the '50's, 60's, 70's and '80's. The Doctor continued to point out to the kids and teens what they were. They paused when they got to Alien and saw the huge wax figure of the Alien queen.

"Is that for real? Or something like it?" Rani said, pointing to it. "Because that movie scared me to death."

"Um…if there are, I haven't found them yet," the Doctor said.

"I hope there aren't," Donna said. "Don't fancy fighting one of them."

"The whole thing about the aliens laying the eggs in people's stomachs is fantasy, I think," Alan said. "So far there hasn't been evidence of a creature that does that anywhere in the universe. If you think about it, you couldn't give birth in the stomach because the stomach has acids in it that are designed to eat things like flesh so whatever was in there would have to have some kind of acid resistant egg around it and then it wouldn't be able to come out of the stomach without hatching and then it'd be dissolved in the acid while it was trying to come out. So no, there might be something similar to this out there but I doubt it would reproduce by laying eggs in the stomach."

"Good because that's scary looking," Amelia said.

"I'm glad Papaw isn't like that," Opal added.

They giggled.

"Oh come on, wouldn't it be fun having a grandfather that's a big old black alien with a long tail and sharp pointy teeth?" the Doctor said.

They laughed when they shook their heads rapidly and moved on.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Blast, here we go," the Doctor muttered after they got through everything and came to the horror movie section. "Why do they force people to go through this part to get to the end? Not everyone likes horror movies."

They entered and saw the hanging family.

"Nice," Alan commented dryly, rolling his eyes.

They formed a circle around Dorothy, Opal and Amelia so they wouldn't have to look.

_Just got done removing one nightmare from my grandchildren's minds without this place adding more to it,_ the Doctor thought to them.

They paused a moment at the Exorcist. Linda Blair was in bed with a demonic face and her head slowly spun around and around.

"What's happening here?" Jenny asked the Doctor.

"Um…that child is possessed by the Devil and that's why she has the evil looking face. At one point they come in the room and her back is to them and her head jerks around 180 degrees and you see that face which is why that's going around and around."

Jenny made a face and he nodded while they moved on. They hurried through it and then got to the Alfred Hitchcock movies section.

"They didn't have this room in the other one," Rain noted.

"No they didn't. I don't mind Alfred Hitchcock. His movies are more suspenseful and they're more thrillers than horror."

They entered and slowed their pace while they looked at the different tableaus. The Doctor explained the movies to Jenny when she asked him about them.

"We'll have to get you some Alfred Hitchcock movies, Angel. I think you might like them," he said after he got done explaining Marnie to her.

They passed by several more including Cary Grant being chased by the crop duster through the field in North by Northwest, Jimmy Stewart watching through the window in Rear Window and hanging from the building in Vertigo. They passed by Tippi Hedren being attacked by the birds while she stood in phone booth and Farley Granger and John Dall strangling someone in Rope. After that was Psycho. Marion Crane was standing in the shower screaming while "Mother" held open the shower curtain and lifted his knife, ready to murder her. Jenny frowned at Norman Bate's dress and wig and asked the Doctor about it. He tried as best as he could to explain the split personality and they laughed when Jenny seemed even more confused along with Opal and Amelia.

"He's bonkers, Jenny, that's the only way I can explain it," the Doctor said. "He had a mental illness that made him think he was his mum."

"That's it, Doc, spoil it for everyone," Jack said while they laughed.

"What are you talking about? He's been behind us the whole time givin' away all the spoilers of the movies," Rose said. "Might as well tell us that Norman Bates is Mother in the film."

"I'm sorry everyone, I'm trying to explain who these people are to my daughter and granddaughters so they're not walking through here with absolutely no clue of who these people are," the Doctor said to them. "I want them to enjoy it just as much as the rest of us."

"Is it a good movie, Papaw?" Opal asked, pointing to Psycho.

"It is, but I'm not sure if you're old enough to see it yet. It might scare you so better hold off on seeing it for a couple of years."

_Especially since I just got done erasing a murder from her mind a few hours ago,_ he finished telepathically.

They walked on past Strangers on a Train and Family Plot and then they were back in the lobby again.

"That wasn't too bad," Jack said.

"Make you wonder though how many of those people were murdered and covered with wax like in House of Wax," Awinita said ominously.

They laughed when the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Figures you'd think of that, Harris," he said.

"Well, you can't help but wonder if some missing people end up as exhibits."

"You mean like Paris Hilton?" Rain said to her.

"Yeah, like Paris Hilton," she replied.

"Oh God, that was a dumb movie," Julie said.

"Yeah, get the one with Vincent Price in it. That one's better than the one with Paris Hilton in it," Jack said.

"Thank you, Jack," the Doctor said. "I'd rather watch him than her any day."

"So are we now going to Gatorland so we can see your honeymoon spot?" Jack said.

The Doctor looked at Rain who giggled.

"I can't believe we did go on our honeymoon. Of all the romantic things we could have done we chose to go look at alligators."

"It was interesting," Rain said.

She laughed at the odd look on his face. The Doctor shook his head and smiled at the children.

"Do you wanna go see a ton of gators that do nothing but lay in pools all day and sleep?"

"Yes!" they said and giggled when the Doctor threw up his hands.

"Okay, we'll go to Gatorland, I guess," the Doctor said while all of them headed for the exit.


	162. Chapter 162

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Two

"Yes everyone, it's true. The most romantic point of their lives and they chose to spend it in an alligator farm!" Jack said while they all laughed.

"This was her idea, not mine!" the Doctor said, pointing to Rain.

"You notice how they keep saying that, both your husband and mine?" Rain said to Rose.

"Yes, Alan keeps denying he had anything to do with his tattoo but I don't recall the tattoo artist having to strap him in the chair while he got it done."

"I was doing it for you!"

"Exactly, you went along with it because you loved me not because I zapped you with some mind control ray and made you sit there," she said.

"I think it looks cute, Alan," Opal said to him.

Alan picked her up.

"Ya do? Well, I won't get it laser zapped off my body then," he said.

They walked along the walkway looking at the alligators lounging around them.

"Oi, do something, Scaly!" Alan said to a sleeping gator. "Twirl around on your tail, eat your friends, anything! We paid to see ya!"

"Like I said, must have been desperate to find that perfect honeymoon getaway if you chose this place," Jack said, winking.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"And now we've eaten gator," Jack said while everyone headed out to the minivans. "I can put that on my list of things I've done I've really had no interest in doing in the first place.

They climbed into the minivans and Alan quickly took Jack's spot.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"Moving the party over here so Donna can have fun."

They laughed when she hopped out and went to the other minivan.

"Hey, I'm doing you a favor you'll thank me for later!" he called to her as she climbed inside the other one.

Alan winked at Julie as she sat down behind the Doctor and Madison.

"She's fun to be with, really. No really, she is, seriously. She really is fun to be with," he said while they laughed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After finishing up the Hollywood Studios park, they went back to their room to rest. The Doctor put The Wizard of Oz on for the children while they ordered pizza, breadsticks and soft drinks for everyone. He lay down on the bed beside Rain while Dorothy sat in front of them clutching her Tigger.

"Soon…soon I must depart and fill out forms and pay mortgages and sacrifice myself for everyone's happiness," he said in an ominous voice to Rain.

Alan walked over to him.

"I feel for ya, Brother. Please don't let the heaps of paperwork drive you insane."

"I don't know if that's possible," the Doctor replied. "After sorting through all that I might come back here in a strait jacket."

"Sooo, might have to go in the institution rather than the old folk's home?" Alan said.

"Might have to go in both," he said while Rain giggled. "An old folk's nutjob home for the criminally anti-domestic and…"

Suddenly, Dorothy got up on her knees and slammed her hand over his mouth.

"Hey! You be quiet, Daddy!" she said while everyone laughed.

"You're disturbing her with your motor mouth," Alan said.

"You have a motor mouth too," the Doctor said between Dorothy's hand.

He kissed her hand and took it away.

"Forgive me, Ladybird, I will refrain from talking so you can watch The Wizard of Oz for the zillionth time."

Dorothy giggled and snuggled up against him.

"I love yooooooou," she said.

Everyone let out an "Aw!" except the Doctor who leaned his head back and began to snore.

"Hey!" Dorothy said while they laughed. "You wake up, Daddy, and love me."

"My God, you're starved for attention, aren't ya?" the Doctor said, leaning his head back up. "Center of attention, that's you. I'm glad I'm leaving after you go to bed because I can't imagine what you'll do without me here looking at ya every second of every moment."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After watching the Winnie the Pooh movie, the Doctor decided to let them watch a Mickey Mouse cartoon before bed. He looked at the box set and grinned.

"I want you to see this. This is Steamboat Willie, the first Mickey Mouse cartoon that had sound. You'll like it and you really should see it as part of your cultural IQ."

He put it in for them, found it on the menu and started it. He went and sat back down with Rain.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Everyone watched the cartoon with wide eyes, even the Doctor.

"I don't remember him being this abusive to the animals," he said while they watched Mickey swinging a cat around in time to Turkey in the Straw.

Their eyes widened more when he grabbed a goose by the neck and stretched it out while he squeezed his body like a set of bagpipes.

"Um…anyone else kind disturbed by Mickey being an animal abuser?" Jack said.

Their mouths dropped open when he ran over to a mother pig feeding a litter of piglets and began to pull the suckling piglet's tails. Then he lifted up the mother, shook the piglets off her nipples, kicked the one remaining one off when it wouldn't let go and then held her upside down while he squeezed her body like an accordion and pressed her nipples in.

"Wow, Mickey's sadistic!" Awinita said. "This is the cartoon you wanted everyone to see? How is watching Mickey poking pig nipples raising my cultural IQ?"

They all laughed at the Doctor's shocked face.

"I don't remember him being this sadistic with the animals, actually," he said.

They watched Mickey opening the mouth of a cow and using his teeth like a xylophone while Minnie kept on cranking the tail of a goat that had swallowed her guitar and Turkey in the Straw sheet music.

"Papaw, this is Mickey Mouse?" Amelia said to him.

"He's usually not this violent!" he said quickly while they laughed. "Mickey's usually a kind, loving mouse not a cat swinger and piggy nipple poker person."

The cartoon ended with Mickey peeling potatoes bigger than he was and throwing one at a laughing, taunting parrot sitting in a porthole, knocking him out of it.

"Wow, that was disturbing," Jack said while they laughed. What else did Mickey do back then? Now I'm kinda curious to see more cartoons."

"And you just try to go to sleep after all that, kids," Ianto said to them.

"And then tomorrow morning walk through the park with all the Mickey Mouse stuff around ya and try not to imagine him stepping on a cat's head and pulling its tail so it'll meow Turkey in the Straw."

"Well, I'm truly sorry I probably scared you lot for life and scarred your childhoods with the Mickey Mouse Animal Abuser cartoon," the Doctor said. "But now I need you all to go to bed and have good dreams of Winnie the Pooh, not Mickey Mouse pressing on a pig's nipples. So off ya go."

His daughter and grandchildren kissed him goodnight before giving everyone else hugs and kisses. They went into the bedroom and closed the door behind them. The Doctor looked at Sarah Jane.

"Not going yet?"

"I'm like Jack, I'm kinda curious to see what other abuse Mickey's done," she said while they laughed. "Is there one where Mickey's an ax murderer?"

"Or a rapist," Donna said.

"Yeah, Doctor, is there a cartoon where Mickey rapes Minnie in some dark alley somewhere?" Madison said.

"Or is a back alley abortionist?" Awinita said. "Because you know those cartoons are way before Roe Verses Wade."

"I honestly don't remember him turning a pig over and pressing its nipples," the Doctor said, "I must have been watching an edited version at the time."

"You?" Jack said. "You mean you weren't in the screening room with Uncle Walt himself giving him ideas on his cartoons?"

"I'm surprised he didn't think up Mickey in the first place," Ianto said.

They glanced at him and noticed the smug smile on his face.

"Oh, you did not, Doctor," Rose said while they laughed.

"Interesting story, Walt was about to lose his cartoon character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, because of a copyright dispute and I was on the train with him while he was searching for a new character to replace it and I said shorten the ears, make him a mouse and call him Mickey."

"You did not, Doctor," Martha said, rolling her eyes.

"I did. I also was the one who thought up Snow White being a full length movie when no one else had even considered making a cartoon into a feature length picture before and sadly, I was the one who suggested Bambi's mother get killed."

"That was in the book, Doctor. I know that for a fact. Bambi was based on a book," Rose said.

"I know, I was the one who gave Felix Salten the idea when he was writing it."

They laughed when Rose rolled her eyes.

"And I was the one who said to the Beatles, why not let the world think Paul is dead and tell everyone there's all these clues in all the albums and people will buy them up by the ton looking for em and they said, you're a genius, Doctor, and I said, yes I am, now make a movie about a magical, mystical bus tour and be really wacky in it. Of course, that idea flopped and the movie stank but hey, no one's perfect, right?"

"Aren't you supposed to be meeting Grace so you can buy our houses?" Mingxia said. "She's probably waiting right now."

"And speaking of the Beatles, I said to Peter Frampton, don't do that Sergeant Pepper movie with the Bee Gees, it'll ruin your career but he didn't listen to me and the movie flopped and his career went right into the toilet because no one ever listens to me, you know."

"I know, it's because you're too busy bragging to everyone about what you've done and you don't listen to anyone either because Mingxia just told ya to get out of here," Awinita said.

"Funny story," the Doctor said, ignoring her. "I was with Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock…"

"We don't care!" Donna said while they laughed.

The Doctor chuckled, winked and let out a mock sigh.

"Right, I s'pose I'll go and brag to Grace about what I've done," he said to them. "Look after the children and don't destroy the room because I'm sure Rose will flay ya all alive!"

He took the manipulator out of his pocket, waved at them and then disappeared.

"He's gone!" Alan said gleefully, "Let's go against his wishes, rip the room apart now, hide and wait till he gets back."

"Nah, let's watch a movie instead," Sarah Jane said.

Alan shrugged while they laughed. Grinning, he walked over to the stack of movies and looked through them.

A/N: If you wanna see Mickey abusing animals, search for Steamboat Willie on You Tube because even though it is a cartoon, it is disturbing seeing Mickey pressing in pig's nipples and swinging a cat around and abusing the other animals. You realize Mickey wasn't quite so cuddly and nice back in the day ;)


	163. Chapter 163

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Three

Everyone was watching The Cat From Outer Space and giggling at it when suddenly there was a flash. They looked over and saw the Doctor, Grace, John and Amber. He giggled when he heard everyone groaning and muttering, "I knew it!".

"See, I told ya before we pulled this prank they'd all be upset," he said to the others. "Well, have fun here, got work to do!"

They disappeared in a flash of light while everyone laughed.

"Well, wait, I wanted to say hello to them, damn it!" Jack said. "He could have waited long enough to…"

He pulled out his phone and called the Doctor.

"You know, you could have waited a moment to let us say hello before you snatched them away from us!" Jack said when the Doctor answered the phone.

He waited but there was no reply.

"Hello? Doc…"

The vortex appeared again in the room and the four of them returned.

"I figured it was funnier if I took them back immediately. That was part of the joke. Besides, I thought all of you would start freaking out thinking I was bringing more people with us."

Everyone got up and hugged them while they introduced them to Julie. He noticed Sarah Jane was still awake and then he noticed the movie they were watching.

"What are you lot watching?" he asked them.

"That cat from outer space movie," Martha said. "It's weird. The cat isn't like the New Earth cats, it's an actual cat with a collar that allows it to talk and levitate things and do other stuff."

"That's all you could find to watch? That?" the Doctor said.

"We weren't in the mood for Disney cartoons after the Mickey Mouse one," Rose said. "So how's it going?"

"We have the houses, twelve of them, six houses on both sides of the street."

They cheered softly while the Doctor showed them the house keys.

"This oughta be enough for us and any other new family members we run into because I'm sure if Romana has her way there'll be more soon," he said. "And now that they are here, I wanna celebrate so please tell me the restaurants are open downstairs."

"Not for a few more hours," Rose said.

"What about the pizza? Can we get the pizza delivered? We're hungry and we wanna celebrate," the Doctor said.

"I'll see, Love," Rain said, going to the phone.

She asked the person at the desk and then nodded.

"They do, 24 hours," she said to the Doctor.

"Get the usual then. Six of them and two things of breadsticks. I'm gonna get the children up so they can visit with ya since it's not fair for us to eat pizza and celebrate without them. We can always sleep in since we've seen most of the park now."

"You lot wanna come with us tomorrow and ride some of the rides? I mean, we can stay on-site so we don't have to tie you to the top of the people carriers," Rose asked them.

The three newcomers looked at each other and nodded.

"I've never been to Disneyworld so sure, why not?" Grace said.

"Same here, it might be fun," Amber said.

"I'm always up for a good time with you guys," John said.

"But I can only really stay a day because luckily I do have the day off tomorrow," Grace said.

"You mean they actually let you have time off now?" Alan said with mock surprise.

"Yeah, they actually don't work me to death, amazing, huh?"

The Doctor brought the others out.

"I don't think you've met my grandchildren. This is Opal and Amelia. Opal and Amelia, this is Grace, John and Amber. They're also your family members. Their mum's still in London but they're here enjoying Disney with us and this is Luke and Rani, Sarah's son and friend and of course you know the wee one here."

"What we doin', Daddy?"

"We're celebratin' because you got a new home along with the rest of us so we're gonna have pizza and fun. Wanna have pizza and fun?"

"Yes!"

"Doctor, can I borrow your manipulator?" Jack asked.

"What for?"

"I wanna get Gwen and Mickey. You've been retrieving people left and right, let me go get them now."

The Doctor grinned and handed him the manipulator.

"Thanks, I'll be back with them, forcefully if necessary," he said to him.

He disappeared in a flash of light.

"Okay, everyone, when the guy knocks on the door, go in the other room so they don't see a trillion people standing here and figure out what we've been doing," the Doctor said. "And pray Jack doesn't come back while he's standing there handing us the pizzas."

Just then there was a knock at the door and everyone scrambled into the other room while the Doctor and Rain waited. Once they were hidden, Rain opened the door and accepted the six pizzas from him and the Doctor took the two bags of breadsticks. They paid for them and thanked him before quickly closing the door. They waited a moment making sure he was away from the door before calling the others inside.

"Okay, everyone, leave some for the ones who are heading in," the Doctor said while he and Rain lay the food on the bed and opened everything up.

By the time Jack had returned they were all standing around eating and chatting. Gwen shook her head while Jack gave the Doctor his manipulator and his broken one.

"Blimey, that's rough," she said. "You actually used these on a regular basis when you were a time agent?"

"You get used to it, trust me," Jack said as he and Mickey broke apart from him.

They greeted everyone while the Doctor fixed Jack's manipulator and gave it back to him. Jack introduced his team to Julie before all of them headed to the bed for pizza and breadsticks.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So you want us to move to a different planet?" Gwen said to Jack while she sat with Mickey on the Doctor and Rain's bed and ate.

"We all are doing it. The Doctor and Grace just brought twelve houses for us."

"Three and four bedroom ones," Grace added. "So most of us will be rooming with others and the Doctor and Rain and Rose and Alan will use theirs for when Dot or someone else wants to spend the night with them."

"And I'm gonna use my home as a home base of sorts. I'll still travel but I'll come back and see Dot every once in awhile and when I leave, whoever here wants to come with me can. It's easier and safer considering Jasper's spies know where most of us live."

"But what about the Hub?" Gwen said to Jack.

"We'll go back and forth but if we're in Nova we can concentrate on protecting more than just Earth. Give Andy my mobile number and if there is a problem on Earth we can use the manipulator to go back."

"I don't know about Gwen, but I like the idea," Mickey said. "I'm in a flat and I'd much rather be in a house. I'll go with you lot."

"Gwen?" Jack said hopefully.

"Let me talk to Rhys, I don't mind going but he's not a part of the team or a Time Lord and he is my husband so I have to consider his feelings, you know."

Jack nodded.

"Just call him as soon as you can, alright?"

"Can I finish my slice of cheese pizza at least?"

"Yes," he said while they laughed. "Just saying we'd like to know because I'm sure we'll have to figure out who's rooming with whom."

"I want Rhys and I to have a house to ourselves. No offense but Rhys is not gonna do this if there's six other people crammed in with us, I guarantee it," she said to them.

"That's fine. We have twelve houses now and if we need more, we can buy more on the street next to ours," the Doctor said.

"What did they say when you did this?" Mickey said.

"Oh, trust me, they loved us to death," Grace said. "We told them we were billionaires that had a large family that wanted to be close to us. But they're wonderful houses, porches, patios, large spacious rooms and swimming pools behind each one. All the conveniences you could ask for and it's near a large shopping center and minutes from downtown. It's perfect."

"Then I definitely wanna go. I'll room with anyone who wants to room with me," Mickey said.

Jack gave Ianto a sly look.

"Martha, you could room with him and a few others, right?" Jack said. "I mean even if your parents come, you wouldn't wanna room with them right and it'd make the commute easier."

Martha thought about that.

"Yeah, I might do that," she said. "But you two could room with us as well if it's a four bedroom house."

Mickey shot Jack a grateful look and he smiled at him in return.

"Well, we could take someone else then because Yan and I will be rooming together," Jack said, shrugging. "Or we could take a three bedroom."

"Wait, there're no one bedroom houses?" Gwen said.

The Doctor shook his head.

"No, we wanted to make sure everyone had a home and since we wanted them on the same street, everyone agreed to room with everyone else," he said. "Which is the same for us, we also only need one bedroom and we could use a house sitter while we're gone and so will Brother unless you wanna live in the same house with us."

"What are the bedrooms like? Are they all on the top floor?" Gwen said to Grace.

"No, in the four bedroom house, three are on the second floor and there's one on the bottom in a hallway just off the kitchen."

"Okay, I'll ask Rhys if we can move in with all of you if we can have the lone bedroom on the ground level," Gwen said to Jack.

"It's yours if he agrees."

"If you let us have the ground floor room then we'll move in with ya, Doctor," Rose said to him while Alan nodded.

"It's yours. And we'll have two left then."

"How about if Dot and I move in with you then so she can be close to you," Madison said.

"I'd love that," the Doctor said.

"So would I. I wouldn't mind Doodlebug being with us."

"So that's two houses sorted. And John and Wilf, you wanna stay together?"

"Yes and let us have one with three and then we can use that for when the children come over," John said.

"Okay, so three houses are filled. Anyone else?"

"We wanna come, Papaw," Opal said.

"I said I have to ask your mum and dad and I will, I promise," he said, rubbing her back.

"Well, I'll room with Donna if two more people wanna room with us."

"I will," Awinita said.

"Me too," Julie said.

"Great, four houses sorted. And Sarah Jane will want one, so that's five. Jackie and Pete and Tony might take one and Francine, Clive and Tish in another so that's potentially seven.

He looked at Jenny.

"I'm all alone now," Jenny said.

"Come live with us then. Dot can sleep in my room and you can have one and that way you can be with your father," Madison said.

Jenny nodded.

"This is gonna be fun," Alan said while Rose nodded.

"So if Dex does come then with his family that's eight of them filled," the Doctor said to them. "Which leaves four empty ones for anyone else who happens to come along and I'm sure there will be others with our luck."

"I'll ring Mum then since it's morning over in London," Martha said.

"And I'll phone Rhys and ask him so you'll know for sure."

"How are my dogs by the way?" the Doctor said.

"They're fine. They've adjusted quite well. You might have to take Rhys with ya to Nova because he's grown attached to them."

"Ooooh no, they're our dogs, they've already defended the TARDIS, I'm not giving them to anyone."

"Oh and Doc, Myfanwy will also require a house and…"

"NO! That overgrown buzzard will stay in your Hub until you build a new one," the Doctor said while they laughed. "I'm not having a great big dinosaur flappin' over our heads while we visit with each other."

"Just a suggestion," Jack said.

They ate and put in Aladdin while Martha and Gwen stepped outside to make their calls.


	164. Chapter 164

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Four

The Doctor and the others continued to eat and sort out the housing arrangements. Amber agreed to room with Grace and keep one room open in their house for the children. The Doctor glanced at Rose while he ate.

_When the children go back to bed, do you wanna go get the TARDIS and go ask your parents? We might as well get this over with so we'll know whether or not to reserve a house for them, _he though to her.

_Yeah, _she thought while she nodded. _We can do that._

_If you don't mind, I also wanna talk to Sylvia, _Wilf thought to him._ I wanna get the confrontation with her over with. _

_Donna, is that alright? I know you wanted to come with us when that happened,_ he thought.

_It's fine. I also want it ended,_ she thought back.

_And while you're doing that, Brother, I will take Jack's newly fixed manipulator, go back in time, find Ace, borrow some of her Nitro 9, come back, throw it in the lido outside and thrill everyone with the big ka-boom. _

_And Brother will be coming with us,_ the Doctor thought. _Because I suddenly don't trust him being here without me. _

Gwen came back in the room.

"Okay," she said to Jack while she put her mobile in her pocket. "He'll agree to live with you as long as you lot behave yourselves."

"Define behaving ourselves," Jack said.

"Not being weird, I imagine."

"Define being weird," Jack said.

"The usual stuff that goes on in the Hub."

"Um…I suppose we can restrain ourselves but he's gonna have to get used to us sooner or later especially since he has helped us out in the past. For the moment, we're gonna use the manipulator to go down to the Hub and use that until we find a building on Nova that would be suitable for our new Hub so if he means being around weird alien tech, no he won't. The house will be just a house for us to relax in."

"Well, that's what he means," Gwen said while Martha came into the room behind her.

"Then we should be able to get along just fine with him," Jack said, shrugging. "What about you, Martha my dear?"

"Mum and Tish will come but not Dad or Leo which is fine because it was Mum's house that was under surveillance anyway. But they can take a three bedroom and I told them to use the spare one for the kids."

"That'll help to convince Mum then," Rose said. "She likes Francine."

"Then we'll try to get them houses next to each other if Jackie agrees to come," the Doctor said. "That'll probably help to convince her even more. But at least all that's taken care of. We just have Rose's parents and Sylvia left now."

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After another hour, the children and Sarah Jane went back to sleep.

"Good luck with Jackie and especially Sylvia," Sarah said to the Doctor.

"I'll need it with Sylvia. I'm not looking forward to this at all. I might have to shield my mind if she gets too hostile because I don't want the rest of the family feeling my anger."

She hugged him.

"Just be glad it's finally being resolved now and more than likely this is the last time you have to deal with her."

The Doctor nodded and kissed her cheek.

"Don't let Alan get too out of control in here," he said.

"I'll keep my ears open while I sleep," she said with a wink.

She rubbed his cheek and went in the other room.

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The TARDIS finished materializing in front of Pete's mansion and they stepped out.

"Here goes nothing," the Doctor muttered to Wilf and Donna while Rose ran to the door.

Jackie flung it open and hugged her tightly.

"Rose, it's great to see you!" she said.

Tony ran out the door.

"Alan!" he yelled running towards the Doctor.

He bent down to him and picked him up.

"Hello, Pollywog, how are ya doing?"

_You're lying to him?_ Donna thought.

_At his age it's easier to lie than keep explaining I'm not Alan,_ he thought back.

She nodded. She and Wilf followed Rose and Jackie into the house.

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"I know you like it here, Mum, but it's ridiculous," Rose said to Jackie and Pete as they sat across from her at their dining room table. The Doctor and the others sat on the same side as Rose while she tried to convince them to move. "Mum, I have to come over the void just to ring you. I can't see you both without the Doctor going out of his way and I'm worried about you after I saw the surveillance photo of the house. The Doctor purchased these houses so everyone can live together. Dot and Tony can grow up together and you can love her like a grandmother and grandfather. And Wilf is going and so is Francine. So far everyone's going there except for Sarah Jane and the teens but we're giving her a house so she can come and visit when she wants and Martha's father and brother aren't coming but that's all. Everyone else will have a house there on the same street, all of us neighbors. Dad, give Vitex to someone else and sell Vitex there. There, you'd be living in the 2nd great Earth empire and have more planets to market it in three different galaxies. The Doctor can give you a credit stick with unlimited credit so you won't have to worry about money and Jack said you can help with his Torchwood team. Please, I want you to come and be with us."

Jackie and Pete glanced at each other.

"What do you think, Jacks?" he said.

"I like the idea of being around everyone else, Pete. It would be nice to watch Tony and Dot grow up together. She's a little cutie."

"And if I can get my son and his family to move, my eight and ten year old granddaughters will be there as well," the Doctor said.

"And I'll help look after Tony and so will John," Wilf added. "We're getting a house with a spare bedroom so he can spend the night if you want to go somewhere."

Jackie smiled.

"I think we should, Love. Just to be near everyone and be near Rose. Are you gonna live there as well?"

"On occasion. The Doctor and Rain and Alan and I will still travel in the TARDIS but this will be a place to come back and rest for a few days and when we leave we can take whoever wants to come along with us. But the Doctor wants to watch Dot grow up and Alan will want to see Tony. It'll be one street with all our family and friends on it. A little community of our very own and Nova is nice. It's clean and modern and a lot better than London in 2009."

"Can you allow us to settle things here then?" Pete said. "I need to give my Vitex accounts to Rupert and also clear out my bank account and tell Torchwood here and we need to decide what to take and what to keep since I'm pretty sure the house won't be as large as this one."

"It's not but they're beautiful houses," the Doctor said. "They all have verandahs and patios and swimming pools."

"Then we'll do it, Rose," Pete said.

They smiled when Rose squealed and hugged them both.

"Thank you, I'm so glad you said yes. I'm so glad I can see you and ring you now without coming to a whole other universe."

"Same here, Sweetie," Pete said.

"Can I see the houses though before we leave here?" Jackie asked. "Just out of curiosity."

"Sure, come with us and bring Tony. We're actually on holiday in Walt Disney World and I have all the children with us, Dot, Amelia, Opal, Luke and Rani. He can spend the day with them while I take you to see the houses."

"Then I'll do that then," Jackie said. "Just let me pack a little bag for Tony."

"Give us about a fortnight when you come back here," Pete said. "That should be enough time to get everything sorted."

"Fortnight from today, got it," the Doctor said.

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After Jackie and Tony got in the TARDIS with everyone else, the Doctor activated the void crosser and set the coordinates.

"Before we go back to Disneyworld, we need to make a stop at Sylvia's house so Wilf can say goodbye and Donna and I are going inside to back him up if she gets abusive so you and Tony can relax in the living room or your bedrooms and hopefully we'll be back out soon."

Jackie nodded and the Doctor and Rose escorted them into the back.

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After he led them to the living room, Rose stayed with them and he went back out to the console room. The TARDIS landed and he looked at Donna and Wilf.

"Into the trenches we go," he said to them.

Donna took Wilf's hand and all of them walked outside. The Doctor shut the door behind them and turned to see Sylvia glaring at them from the window. Her anger turned to shock when all of them headed towards the door and she quickly ran to it and flung it open.

"Not them," Sylvia said, pointing to the Doctor, Donna and Rose.

"Yes them, Sylvia. I've come to tell you goodbye and I requested they be here with me."

"Goodbye? What d'ya mean goodbye?" Sylvia said to him.

"I'm leaving, Sylvia. I'm tired of being in the middle of this idiotic feud between you and the Doctor and Donna. The Doctor found houses for us to live in and I'm going to go live with my friend, John."

"John who?"

"John Niyol, the father of his wife," Wilf said, pointing to the Doctor. "We're going to another planet called New Hope in the year 4180."

Sylvia jerked her head up and stared at the Doctor with fire in her eyes.

"You! You just can't leave our family alone, can ya?" she snarled. "You took Donna away and now you're taking my dad! How dare you even think of taking him from me and…"

"BUTTON IT, MUM!"

The Doctor, Wilf and Sylvia were all shocked when Donna bellowed at her. The two women stared at each other in an angry silence for a moment.

"The Doctor isn't the reason Granddad's leavin', you are!" she spat out. "You pushed me away with your selfish, self-centered, immature behavior and now Granddad's finally had his fill and is leaving for someplace where he won't have to listen to ya all day and night. And you know what? I'm glad. I'm tired of ya being angry because I chose to follow my heart for once and become a better person. I don't regret one single moment I've spent with the Doctor. The Doctor isn't the enemy, Mum. He's helped so many people, his companions and strangers he's never met. I'm sick of being the only one with family who hasn't accepted him. Both Rose and Martha's family are going to New Hope and living with us and you know what, they like the Doctor. They get along great with him. Rose's mum is in the TARDIS right now with Rose chatting with her. I admit that both sets of parents were the same way as you when he first came into their lives but they finally realized that the Doctor did their daughters a favor by letting them grow and becoming braver, stronger, more confident women. And I'm glad he did that. I'm glad I'm not the way I was. Dalek Caan told the Doctor that one of his companions was gonna die when he was on the Crucible and it turned out it was me. Because when the Doctor took away my memories, I reverted to a selfish, self-centered bitch and that was a living death. My life up until the wedding to Lance was a living death and I'm not about to go back to being that way, no matter how badly you want it. And you know what? Not only am I a Time Lady but Granddad's a Time Lord now."

Sylvia turned her shocked gaze to him.

"Dad, you didn't," she said softly.

"I most certainly did and I'm glad I did. I enjoy being this way. Not only am I gonna live past my lifespan but I also have the Doctor and the rest of our family's minds in my own. You don't know what it's like to feel all the happiness and joy and be able to talk to them telepathically. It's a blessing and a gift and the Doctor made it possible and not because he forced it on me. He gave me a choice and I accepted because I wanted to be a part of his life and his family and I am now. He's accepted me as his brother along with John and Jack and Alan and the others. I've lived 81 years and never have I felt more alive than I do now, Sylvia. I told Donna to go with him because even back then I could see he had the power to change people for the better and give them a better life than they have now. I'm sick and tired of you being constantly angry and ranting and raving about my granddaughter and brother and bringing me down and making me depressed. So this is goodbye, Sylvia, it's time you were in a house by yourself so you can stop using others as crutches and punching bags. I'm going!"

"Fine, then go and never come back," Sylvia said as angry tears ran down her face. "Just get out of my sight!"

"And then what, Sylvia?" the Doctor said.

"Just leave me alone, Doctor, you got what you want, now take them and go!"

"Sylvia, it doesn't have to be this way, don't you see? Can't you see that this is tearing your family apart?"

"You're the one tearing my family apart!"

"No, I'm not," the Doctor said gently. "Never once did I deny Donna access to you. When we were at the Atmos factory during the Sontaran invasion, she wanted to come here because she was worried about her family and I not only let her, I and Ross gave her a lift so she wouldn't have to walk. I let her come see you, Sylvia, because I know how important family is. I let Rose see her family and I let Martha see hers. I'm not some monster in the shadows waiting to snatch your loved ones away forever. I have never coerced anyone into traveling with me. I pick and choose my companions who I deem worthy of traveling with me and I ask them to come along. Ask, Sylvia, not order. I asked Donna the first time if she wanted to come with me and she declined and I left without any protest. But she changed her mind and asked to come with me and I let her because it's what she wanted. What she wanted, Sylvia. She wanted to come with me, it was all her decision. Wilf chose to become a Time Lord just like Donna and everyone else in my family did. I'm glad they did that but I would have been just as glad if they all remained human. I've offered Sarah Jane a chance to become a Time Lady and she declined and that's fine. The reason why you're upset is because quite frankly you're a control freak and you want others around you to control so you don't have to worry about sorting out your own problems. You're also a bit of a narcissist since you seem to think that you're the most important person on Earth and everything that happens to you is everyone else's fault. And that's why it's such a shock to you that Wilf is leaving and why you're now predictably pointing the finger right at me. Now, I'm more than willing to take you with us if you want to go but you have to be willing to let go of the anger and pettiness and stop blaming me and everyone else for Donna and Wilf leaving because I'm not havin' it and neither is anyone else. I guarantee you if you come with us and you start yelling at me there, you'll have an entire street full of people screaming back at you to leave me alone and there's a few of them, Donna included, who'd probably do more than just scream. I will not deny you access to your loved ones but I won't tolerate this behavior any longer. So it's your decision, Sylvia Noble, stay here and be bitter and blame me for the rest of your life or come with us and find love and acceptance and a brand new family. Now you tell me what you want so you won't have me to blame any longer."

"Just go, leave me alone, get out of here," Sylvia said.

Donna sighed when she went back in the house and headed upstairs.

"Go get what you really want to take with you, my brother, I can get you furniture and necessities."

"Come on, Granddad, I'll help ya," Donna said.

The Doctor gave Wilf a hug and he returned it as tears ran down his cheeks.

"You did the right thing, Doctor. Please don't ever blame yourself for this," he said to him.

The Doctor nodded and patted him on the shoulder.

"Come with us then, past Orlando. You need a few laughs after all this," he said.

Wilf nodded. Donna gave him a hug and a kiss.

"I'm here, Granddad. You have all of us now, don't worry about her any longer," Donna whispered in his ear.

Wilf nodded. The Doctor sighed and headed back to the TARDIS shaking his head sadly while Sylvia watched him from the upstairs window and wept.


	165. Chapter 165

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Five

Rose and Jackie got up from the sofa when they came into the living room. Their faces fell when they told them what happened and both women hugged Wilf and Donna.

"You have us," Rose said to them. "We'll be your family now."

"And I'll be your mum, Donna, since Sylvia doesn't want the job anymore," Jackie said.

The Doctor and Rose smiled when Donna thanked her and hugged her tightly. He had a sudden thought while he watched them.

"While we're here, I wanna go talk to Patience, to ask her about moving and also ask about allowing the children to stay with us past Orlando. So everyone relax and chat while I do that."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You want us to move again after Sarah Jane bought us this house?" Patience asked the Doctor while she sat with him in the living room.

"I realize I'm uprooting you again but I think you'll be happier there. You'll have my whole family there to watch over and protect you and the children will have others children to play with. There'll be my adopted daughter, Dot and Jackie's son, Tony. Everyone will have a house on the same street so you can visit with them. Nova is nice and you'll be out away from the city in a safer area.

"Whatever ya'll think is best, Doctor. I wouldn't mind being around the other members of you family. But shouldn't you ask my husband too?"

"I will. I'll go see him right after I leave here."

"Whatever he says, I'll agree to it, Doctor."

He nodded.

"The children also want to stay longer with us. I guess it might not matter keeping them out of school if they're moving but I wanted to be sure before I told them yes or no."

"I appreciate you asking me, Doctor. I don't mind them saying with you. I trust you and your family."

"Thank you. Now, do you want to come with me to visit Dex?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"And she'll be safe there, Father, her and the children? If spies are watching the house then I want them among our own kind where they can be protected and Opal and Amelia can grow up with Dorothy and Tony so they can bond with them in case they do with to become Time Ladies someday."

"They'll have love and protection in abundance, my son, I swear that. Neither I nor anyone else will let any harm come to them."

"Do you think they'll want to use the crystals?" Dex asked.

"They might. Dorothy, Luke and Rani want to."

"Do you want them to, Father?"

"More than anything."

Dex turned to Patience who was sitting beside him and stroked her face.

"If that's true, then I would love for you to become a Time Lady so we can be together through the centuries."

"Be like you?" Patience said.

"Yes, my love, and like Father and our family. I love you, Patience. Let me continue to love you through the centuries to come."

"Will it hurt?"

The Doctor took her hand.

"No. The change is completely painless and if you change, you'll feel us and Dex in your head and communicate with him telepathically. You won't age any further, only regenerate and you'll gain the knowledge of time and space. If you want to do this, I have a crystal in my pocket so you can change here."

"Whatever you decide to do I will always love you," Dex said.

"I want you to be with you and the children. I don't want to grow old without you. I couldn't bear it. I want to do this."

Dex beamed while the Doctor hugged her. He reached into his pocket and retrieved a crystal.

"Just break it open and the light inside does the rest," the Doctor said.

Patience studied it for a moment and then broke it open. The men smiled when they felt her in their minds. When she was finished Dex put his fingers on her jugular vein, felt the double pulse and hugged her.

"Now you are one of us, my wife," he said to her.

Doctor? Wilf, Donna and I just felt someone new in our minds, Rose thought to him.

The Doctor explained what just happened and he and Dex grinned when they rejoiced in their minds. Dex kissed Patience on the lips.

"Go with Father and pick out a hour for us in Nova," he said to her. "We'll be living in it together hopefully for a long time to come. And don't worry about me. I'll be with you soon, my love, I promise."

The Doctor smiled. He hugged his son goodbye and left the visitor's area so his son could say goodbye to his wife in private.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Everyone was watching a movie when they heard a familiar wheezing in the next room. A moment later, the Doctor came into the room with the rest of his family. He gave them the good news of Patience's transformation and they all hugged and congratulated her. Then he introduced Patience and Jackie to the new members of the family. After that, they told them what happened with Sylvia. They all groaned and hugged Wilf tightly while they sent love into his and Donna's minds. When they were finished, the Doctor turned to Jack, Martha and Gwen.

"I need you to go back with Jack and bring Rhys, Francine and Tish here. I want someone to look after the children while the rest of us go to New Hope, pick out which house we want and then move the existing furniture and buy new things."

"I'll do it, Brother. Rose can pick out the furniture for our bedroom and help pick out things for the rest of our house."

The Doctor nodded.

"I'll try to come back shortly after I leave and I promise it'll be with less people since one the furniture arrives, everyone can move in. I'm not sure how long it'll take there but no matter how long it takes I'll be back tonight."

Alan nodded.

"Have fun, Brother," he said with a grin.

"Just be glad I'm letting you stay here while I handle everything," he replied.

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After Jack brought back Francine, Tish and Rhys with Gwen and Martha, they all went into the TARDIS. Alan and the children watched while they closed the doors and disappeared.

"Go ahead and go back to sleep, kids," Alan said to the children, "If they come back, you'll know it."

They nodded. The little girls kissed his cheeks and Luke and Rani bid him goodnight while Alan grabbed Tony and came back in their room. He was about to lay him down on his bed when he suddenly heard the TARDIS in the next room.

"Alan, they're back!" Opal yelled.

He walked back into the room and saw the Doctor coming out the TARDIS door. Behind him were Awinita, Rain, Jenny, Donna, Mingxia, Julie and Rose.

"Everyone else decided to stay there and settle in," the Doctor said to Alan. "We went and got Pete and he's with Jackie. The furniture arrived and we arranged it all to our liking before we left. Jackie's letting Tony stay with us and Amelia and Opal and Dot can as well. Madison stayed to look after our house and have a rest. Plus, she wanted me to have a little bonding time with my daughter since I won't be around as often as her. Now that everything's settled, I need to take the TARDIS back to the Hub, then use the manipulator to come back here. Then I'll collapse from exhaustion, die and regenerate into Goth boy, so be prepared."

He walked back into the TARDIS and it disappeared while everyone else made the kids go back to sleep and rested their weary bodies.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Later on in the day, Alan volunteered to take the children around Disney and look after them while the others slept and recovered from everything they had accomplished in the past couple of days.

"Luke, Rani, help him mind the younger ones, alright?" the Doctor said to them.

They nodded and Rani picked up Dorothy while Alan picked up Tony. Everyone waited until they left the room before the women lay down in the beds and the Doctor lay down on the floor beside his wife.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, what d'ya think?" Alan said while they headed to the Magic Kingdom section. "You now have brand new houses and your mum's a Time Lady."

"I wanna be one too, Alan," Opal said.

"You have to wait till you finish school," Rani said to her.

"Yup, you have to be older before you can be a Time Lady," Alan said. "In the meantime, you can just be a kid and have heaps of fun. And speaking of fun, let's party and be irresponsible until the adults wake up!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor lay on the floor staring up at the ceiling. He was lying in between the beds and above him Rain slept beside Jenny. On the other side of him Rose slept with Donna and the rest of the women were sleeping in the other rooms. All was quiet, everyone was exhausted after spending several days sorting out everything, choosing their houses and furnishing them while also moving the furniture that belonged to Pete, Jackie, Grace, Madison, Dorothy, John, Amber, Francine, Tish and the various members of Torchwood. The Doctor was completely exhausted but his mind was too active to let him go to sleep.

While he stared, his eyes shifted when he saw Rain turn on her side and look over at him. She put a privacy block around his mind and grinned at him.

_You're awake, Love? You're the one that did the most so I figured you'd be in a coma by now,_ she thought teasingly.

_I can't. I have too much energy running through me to go to sleep properly,_ he thought _back. Not to mention the floor isn't the most comfortable place to be. _

_I can understand that, _she thought while she looked around him. _But at least now everything is taken care of. _

_Yes, until we get more and we have to do this all over again._

_Well, we have spare houses now so at least you won't have to go buying any for awhile. _

The Doctor put his hands behind his head.

_Still amazes me, Latara, how many we have in our family now. I think we're almost a small country now._

_I know and now we have Patience. I'm glad she did that so Dex and the children won't have to lose her eventually._

_Me too. She's a nice woman unlike some we won't mention._

_Just let it go, Thete. You offered the hand of friendship to her and she spat in it. She made her bed let her lie in it now. Jackie said she'll be Donna's mother and I think she's a better choice personally. If I've learned anything being with you, family is the people who love you not the people who share your DNA. It's her loss if she doesn't want to accept us just like it was James's loss._

He nodded.

_Yup, no party people carriers in Sylvia's future, he thought._

She chuckled and reached down to stroke his cheek.

_Nope, she's missing out on all the fun being bitter and angry. And missing out on Snotbag pissing on the Disney bushes._

He chuckled and gave her a look of mock horror.

_I sent him out with the children. You don't think they're all in the shrubs waterin' them by now?_

_I wouldn't put anything past the goober, _she thought back with a wink. _Then again, he might have to go on It's A Small World and the Tiki Room rides again._

_And the Haunted Mansion, _the Doctor thought with wide eyes.

_Yes, pity the poor bastard. He's sacrificing himself once again for his family,_ Rain thought back.

He chuckled.

_How 'bout this afternoon when we're all rested, we go to Typhoon Lagoon?_

_So you can get me in the inner tube and nearly tip me over?_

_That was the speed humps, Love, I keep tellin' ya this but you don't believe me._

She laughed softly and stroked his cheek.

_Okay, I believe you, Thete, it was the speed humps. _

_Nah, it wasn't, it was impish little me._

She gigged and he rose up to give her a kiss on the lips. He lingered while she planted kisses on both his cheeks and his forehead before he lay back down. Rain ran her finger down his nose and they sent love into each other's minds before she lay on her back and closed her eyes. The Doctor shifted into a comfortable position, closed his eyes and after several minutes finally drifted off to sleep.


	166. Chapter 166

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Six

The children and teens were laughing hysterically. Alan had rented a two-seater stroller and was pushing Dorothy and Tony around while the others followed him. Every time the younger ones pointed out a ride they wanted to ride, he quickly zoomed past it yelling out, "Nah, that one's rubbish, pick another!" He was also teasing Dorothy and Tony.

"Now you two bond while you're next to one another so you can be boyfriend and girlfriend and get married someday!" he said to them.

Luke and Rani laughed when Amelia and Opal let out ewwws at that.

"Alan, are we gonna ride anything else?" Amelia asked after they zoomed past Space Mountain.

"No, we've ridden enough sappy rides. Now we're gonna walk around and admire the design of the rides and think about how fun they might be to ride," he said while Rani and Luke sniggered.

"Are you gonna use the shrubs for a loo again?" Rani asked him.

"Maybe, maybe not, it depends on if the thought of whizzing in the bushes tickles my fancy. And speaking of tickling..."

He bent over the strollers and tickled Dorothy and Tony.

"Ha! I can do this and you're completely at my mercy now!" he said.

Rani and Luke laughed when Amelia and Opal smacked his back. They ran several feet away when he turned his wiggling fingers on them.

"I'm hungry, Alan," Tony said.

"So am I, let's be hungry together while we marvel at Disney."

"Noooo!" Tony said while the teens laughed.

"No? You don't wanna be hungry the rest of the day and listen to your tummy talking to ya? It's fun hearing the Bwrrrraaaawaaarrrrr sound it makes, isn't it? Like a small gastric symphony in…"

The teens laughed harder when Amelia and Opal both slammed their hands over his mouth.

"We want food, Alan," Opal said.

"Well," Alan said, jerking his head up. "People in Hell want ice water, but they're not getting it, are they?"

Luke and Rani bent over laughing when Amelia and Opal smacked his back again and they quickly joined in.

"Oi, you two, I'll send you back to Sarah Jane if you don't quit that and I'll send you two back to your mum and I'll send Tony back to his mum and Dorothy back to her mum and I'll have fun aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall by myself. That's what's great about having no children, I can dispose of you as I see fit and not have to worry about ya!"

"Uncle Alan, you get us food!" Dorothy said to him.

"Uncle Alan, get me food, Uncle Alan, put me on a ride, Uncle Alan, make me a Time Lady, Uncle Alan, bring about world peace, Uncle Alan, urinate in the shrubs, Uncle Alan, Uncle Alan, Uncle Alan!" he said while they laughed.

Luke, Rani, Amelia and Opal laughed when he suddenly took off and ran with the stroller for several feet.

"Here's a ride for ya, Tweedledee and Tweedledum!" he said while the toddlers squealed with laughter.

He made a sharp U turn and ran back to the others finishing up with a sudden stop and a squealing brakes sound.

"There, I'm spent, that was your Disney holiday for today," he said, slumping down on a nearby bench.

"No!" the kids said in unison.

Opal grabbed the stroller and all of them crowded around him while they demanded to be fed. Alan let out a mock sigh.

"Alright, I give in. I wasn't gonna do this in public but if you wanna be breastfed, come and get it," he said, pulling up his shirt.

"No!" they all said in unison, giggling hysterically afterwards.

"I don't understand, all of you said you wanted to be fed; now you don't? Make up your mind, why dontcha?"

He smiled when they all laughed.

"Oh, alright, I s'pose I could pay for food that isn't from my breast," he said to them with a wink.

He got up and took the stroller from Opal while they went off to find a restaurant.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Oh, I feel much better now!" the Doctor said, stretching his back while the other women got up. "I feel like me old self again after all that paperwork and moving and sorting out domestic problems I really had no interest in sorting out."

"Wonder where the bush pisser has got to now?" Rain said.

"Probably marking his territory, knowing him," Rose replied, rolling her eyes.

_Brother, are you urinating on Disney property?_ The Doctor thought to him.

_No, I'm feeding the wee ones and providing them with sustenance. My penis has not left the darkness and comfort of my underwear since this morning so you can tell Rose that factoid because I'm sure she's the one who's worried. I'm not using Alan Junior like a fire hose and spraying yellow rain on the Disney guests, I swear that to you._

_Well, when you're through providing sustenance, come back here, we're heading to Typhoon Lagoon._

_Yippee, finally I get to see the sodding thing!_ Alan thought_. I shall grab a shovel and shovel the food down the mouths of the children, post haste, so over and out, dear Brother._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Here we are, the children are fed and ready for Typhoon Lagoon!" Alan said when they came through the door.

The Doctor looked down at the toddlers in the stroller.

"I see you resorted to a pushcart," he said to Alan.

"Yup, all part of my clever plan to make them fall in love and marry someday."

"Oh geez," Rose said while the other women laughed.

"Daddy!" Dorothy said, reaching for him.

"Yes, Betrothed To Tony?" he said while they laughed.

"Huh?"

"Never mind, Ladybird, what you want? You want out?"

"Yes!"

"Hi, Alan!" Tony said when he bent over to release the restraints on Dorothy.

The Doctor showed him the daddy bracelet.

"See this, Tony?"

"Yes."

"This is me, the Doctor, Alan's brother. If you see this, it means I'm not Alan, I'm the Doctor, okay?"

"You the Doctor?"

"Yes."

Where's Alan?" Tony said, looking around.

Alan came up behind the stroller and bent over.

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-TAH!" he said to him, feigning exasperation.

"There you are!" Tony said, pointing at him while the Doctor lifted Dorothy out of her seat.

"Yes, here I is. Now you can stop worrying, Pollywog!"

"Let me out."

"What's the magic word?"

Tony thought hard for a moment.

"Poo-poo?" he said.

"Eh, close enough," Alan said while they laughed.

He undid the restraints and lifted him out so they could get into their bathing suits and trunks.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

All of them sat together on a shuttle bus while it drove them to Typhoon Lagoon. They had on their swimwear and carried their beach towels with them.

"Just you wait, Starlight, the moment my big toe goes over the boundary into the park, here comes Hurricane Party Pooper to ruin it all," he said to her.

"Well, I'm sure if that happens, you'll just tie yourself to the slides and wait it out," Rose said to him.

"Too right I will. I'm not gonna let anything ruin my chance to finally ride the water slides."

He thought for a moment and then giggled.

"What?" Rose asked.

He looked at the Doctor.

"Picture this, Brother, we're riding in this bus minding our own business when suddenly it gets teleported to this desert planet and we end up spending the entire day fighting off carnivorous flying creatures in a desperate battle for survival."

"Please, for the love of God, don't say that because I'm sure it'll happen knowing you two," Donna muttered as she and Jenny sat behind Alan.

"Just warning you that anything and everything can happen when you're riding in a bus," Alan said, shrugging.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The children laughed when Alan stepped foot into the park and immediately jerked his head around while he scanned the skies.

"There's a hurricane around here somewhere, I just know it," he said. "It's probably over there hiding behind that huge cloud and it'll leap out and drown us the moment we start having fun."

Rose jerked on his arm.

"Come along, Weirdo," she said to him.

"Yes, Oddball, I'm coming," he replied.

The Doctor wrapped his arms around Rain when she tried to follow the others.

"I have this sudden urge to go inner tubing with my wife, odd really," he said.

"Don't you dare tip me over, I mean it."

The Doctor looked down at Dorothy who was standing by his leg.

"I wouldn't do that to your auntie, Ladybird, I'm a good boy," he said to her.

Rain snorted and he nuzzled the back of her head. He let go of her and Rain took Dorothy's hand while they walked over to the queue for the inner tube ride.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After Julie and Donna volunteered to take Tony to the kid's area, the others got in line for the water slides. Alan looked at Awinita, Jenny and Mingxia standing behind him.

"Now, I suggest we throw caution to the wind and just ride the slide all the way down while we're right on top of each other and see if the four of us can stay together without falling off and dying, what d'ya say?"

"How about we don't and say we did," Awinita said.

"How about we did and say we don't?" Alan replied.

"How about you shut your big old yap, Blabberbutt?" Awinita said.

"How about you make me, Rinky-dink?"

"Rinky-dink?" she said while the other women giggled.

Alan noticed Amelia, Opal, Luke and Rani getting in the queue behind them.

"And where do you think you are going?" he asked them.

"We're gonna ride this and you be quiet and don't sass us because we're not children anymore so leave us alone!" Opal said.

They laughed at his wide eyed look.

"I will remember that mouthy remark and deliver your comeuppance in due time," he said to her.

"Hey, Everlasting Gobstopper, line's movin'," Awinita said, shoving his back.

"I will remember that mouthy remark and violent shove and deliver your comeuppance in due time," he said to her while he moved forward.

Alan noticed Donna and Julie walking by with Tony. Alan grinned and wolf whistled at them. They stopped and looked at him.

"Love the lavender cozzy, Donna, it goes great with your eyes," he said to her.

Donna stared at him and looked at Julie.

"You know, I have this problem with him. I can never tell if the man's being serious or sarcastic," she said.

""I'm being serious, Donna. Can I give you a compliment?" Alan said.

"I s'pose if you don't follow that up with another wolf whistle," Donna replied. "That's why I couldn't figure out if you were serious or not."

Julie walked over to them and looked up at the top of the tall slide.

"I wouldn't go on this," she said to them.

"Why not? I've been on worse things. Ask my wife to tell ya about the time me and her and Awinita here went bungee jumping."

"Oh Lord, that was horrible, I'm surprised I didn't have twenty heart attacks that day," she said.

"Speaking of, where is my spousal unit?" Alan said, looking around.

Julie pointed to the inner tubes floating in the canal.

"I think she's in there with the Doctor, Rain and Dot," she said.

"Ugh, how boring can you get?"

"Hey, Gumflapper, line's movin' again."

The other women giggled when he shot Awinita a look.

"Sorry, I have to move again before they shoot me or something. I'm sure Disney has snipers positioned around the park to shoot people who stop to talk to others."

Julie ruffled his hair and waved while she, Donna and Tony walked away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm surprised you aren't with Hubby," the Doctor said to Rose while she floated behind him in an inner tube.

"I don't fancy really tall water slides so I'm waiting till he's tired of them before I join him on the smaller ones," Rose replied.

The Doctor was walking through the water pushing Dorothy who was lying in a kid sized inner tube. In front of her Rain lounged and paddled lazily. The Doctor grinned and pushed Dorothy's inner tube up to hers, bumping her.

"If you wish to remain as you are and not turn into Goth Boy, you will leave me be," Rain said, opening one eye.

She eyed him warily while he went around and grabbed her inner tube with one hand while keeping the other hand on Dorothy's.

"I mean it, Buster, don't tip me over or you'll live to regret it," she said.

The Doctor walked over, grabbed Rose's inner tube and pulled it against Dorothy's.

"What you doin', Daddy?" Dorothy said to him.

"I'm keeping my women all in one convenient spot.

"Yeah, so he can tip us over all at once," Rain said.

"Now, if I take Rose and move her against Rain, I now have a Mickey Mouse head," the Doctor said. "Granted, Mickey has a teeny kid sized head and big ears but hey, gotta work with what I got, right? Now if I move her back over to Dot's side and move Rain to Dot's side, I have a chain with one tiny link in between two big ones, aren't I clever?"

"Clever and bored, sounds like," Rose said.

"Now, I'll just take my daughter and push her over here away from you and turn…and now I have a tiny torpedo I can launch against the HMS Rose and USS Rain.

"See this?" Rain said, holding up her fist. "If I take it and propel it against your jaw with the force of a Mack truck, I can dislodge several teeth which you can then hide under your pillow for the tooth fairy."

"And now I will come back over here," the Doctor said, pushing Dorothy back to the others and I will go in between my wife and sister and I will go against traffic and be different because I believe in breaking the rules whenever I possibly can."

"Daddy, go back!"

"And now I will turn and go back the other way because my daughter commanded me to do so in her painfully high screechy toddler voice," he said, turning. "And now I will put the little inner tube in between the bigger ones and attempt to move them all together using my hands and chest. There, I am pushing one and all while at the same time trying to breathe through my daughter's hair since her inner tube is against my chest and her head is in my face, but hey, it's all in the name of fun, right?"

Rain looked at Rose.

"I think he is bored," Rain said to her.

She gasped when she bumped into the bend in the wall.

"Hey!" she said to him.

"Oh, the canal is turning and heading north. Thousand pardons, my spouse," he said to her.

He positioned the three inner tubes and walked on.

"My Scouse spouse is tinier than a mouse," he said while he walked.

Rose and Rain looked at each other and shook their heads.

"I like mustard on my custard," the Doctor said.

Rose gave him an odd look while Rain laughed.

"I like to pee while I have tea, tee hee."

Rose and Rain giggled.

"Honey, if this is boring you, you could go on one of the slides, you know," Rain said.

"I'm not bored; I'm just being creative and rhyming while I push my ladies along. Pee gets in my tea when I'm screaming Allons-y while running away from thee."

Both women were now giggling.

"Noble roble donda doble. Doo doo doo da dee."

Now all three women were laughing.

"Daddy's silly," Dorothy said to Rose.

"Yes, he is, isn't he?"

"Ponca worble doopa doble lakka lakka lee la loo."

"I think we need to stop and check him. It sounds like his brain's skipped a groove," Rain said to Rose.

The Doctor kissed his daughter's scalp.

"Dotty doody diddle dee. Manka panka pee pee pee."

Dorothy laughed at that.

"I'm perfectly fine, just entertaining the wee one," he said to them.

Dorothy tried to turn her body to get to him and they gasped when she felt through the hole. The Doctor quickly dived down and retrieved her. He brought her back up and soothed her while she sputtered and cried.

"Well, ya silly goosie, I coulda told ya not to turn on your stomach before ya did it," he said, smiling while he rubbed her back.

He held her against him and she wrapped his arms around his neck and held on. While he pushed her inner tube, he held on to her with the other hand and Rain and Rose paddled with him while he walked by their sides.


	167. Chapter 167

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Seven

"Whoo-hoo, what a rush!" Alan said while he and the others walked up to the Doctor, Rain, Rose and Dorothy.

He paused when he noticed the Doctor was toweling off his daughter.

"Someone went for a swim," he said.

"Yes, unintentionally, I might add," the Doctor said, glancing at him. "She tried to turn around in the inner tube to get to me and fell through the hole."

"Well, Doodlebug, that was a daft thing to do," he said as they bent down to her.

"Where you been?" Dorothy said to Alan.

"I've been to the moon and brought back green cheese for ya," he said to her.

The Doctor finished drying her and put the towels back with the others. While they did they heard thunder booms in the distance.

"No! For the love of Rassilon, stop with the rain!" Alan moaned. "Florida is wet enough as it is without the constant deluge every ten seconds."

They looked in the distance and saw the storm approaching.

"Come on, Brother, we have to go find Donna, Julie and Tony and get outta here," he said to him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They managed to make it back to the hotel in time. The adults ordered some pizzas and put on The Little Mermaid on for the children. Alan went to change back into his shorts and t-shirts. When he stepped out of the bathroom, the Doctor was waiting for him.

"Come with me. While the storm is raging, I wanna take you to our house and show you what it looks like."

He nodded. The Doctor told Rain what they were doing and she nodded and gave him a kiss before going to tell the others. The Doctor took Alan into the other room, pulled out the manipulator and took his Brother's hand before they vanished.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The light faded and Alan looked around them. They were standing in a living room that had tan shag carpeting. There was a dark blue sofa against the wall with the family portrait above it. In front of it was a wood coffee table and a matching blue recliner was off to the side of it. There was a holo-television on the other side of the wall with more family photos in frames above it. They walked into the kitchen which had linoleum floors and a kitchen island in the center. The fridge and stove were made of stainless steel and reflected the round light on the ceiling. He led him down a hallway off of it and pointed out the bathroom, a closet and finally his and Rose's bedroom. There was a huge oak sleigh bed against the far wall with a navy blue comforter, matching bedside tables were on either side of it and a dresser was on the other side of the wall with a small holo-television on top of it. There were several knickknacks from their travels and on Rose's side was a small photo of Pete, Jackie and Tony.

"I love it!" Alan said, looking around.

"The rest of the rooms are upstairs."

They walked out and headed up the mahogany staircase to the second floor. They went to the first room and saw a similar oak bed with a white comforter. Everything matched Alan's room except for the photos and knickknacks. Above the holo-television was the Doctor and Rain's wedding photo. Her geisha photo was on the left side of it and the family photo on the right side. There were several other photos of him and Rain on the dresser and bedside tables. They looked at it for a moment and walked back out and went to the next room. While they did, the bathroom door opened across the hall and Madison stepped out.

"Oh!" she said, putting her hand over her left heart.

"I'm sorry, Te'lesu, the house was quiet so I assumed you were away. I'm just showing Brother our house."

"I'm just glad it's you."

She gave them both hugs.

"What do you think?" she asked Alan.

"I love it."

They walked out and Madison showed him the bathroom that had a linoleum floor, marble sink, marble tub and shower built into the left side of the wall. They went to Madison's room and went inside. She had a bed with an oak headboard and a pillow top mattress. She had an oak bedside table and dresser with holo-television. Her photos included the family portrait along with photos of her and Dorothy and Dorothy's baby picture.

"Jenny decided to go live with Grace and Amber so Dorothy could have a room of her own," the Doctor explained to Alan, "and this is her bedroom on the end."

They went to the end of the hallway and looked in. She had a white canopy bed with a dark blue canopy and Scooby Doo comforter. She had a little white bedside table and a tiny white dresser near the window with a white oak toy chest next to it.

"And this is it, Brother, our home away from home," the Doctor said when they walked out.

"I love it, it's nice and comfy," Alan said.

They went downstairs and went out the back door. There was a large concrete patio that was connected to the pool. Around the pool was a red wooden privacy fence. On the patio there were several deck chairs and a barbecue grill. Over by the pool there was a metal patio table with yellow umbrella and four metal chairs with plush yellow cushions. They looked at it and then walked to the front. They opened up the front door and stepped out onto a large verandah that was made of concrete and covered with a wooden roof that jutted out to the end of it. There were a couple of metal chairs with yellow cushions to their left and to their right there was a white wood porch swing hanging down from the ceiling. They walked off the verandah, down the two concrete steps to the narrow concrete path. Alan turned and saw the house was wood, painted white with black shutters on the windows and black roofing. There was a large yard that stretched around and down the hill to the street. He looked and noticed they were on the right side of the street, the third house down from the end. The Doctor pointed to the house on their right.

"Donna, Mingxia, Julie and Awinita live here," he said, pointing to a house that was similar to theirs. "And on the other side of us, we have Grace, Amber and Jen. Across the street is Jackie, Pete and Tony and on their right is Francine and Tish and on her left is John and Wilf. On John and Wilf's left is the Torchwood team's house and across from them, next to Donna and company's house is Patience, Dex and the kids. Next to Grace, Amber and Jen is Sarah Jane's house and that's who lives where in what we now like to call, Little Gallifrey.

"Brilliant, Little Gallifrey, I like that," Alan said.

The door across the street opened and Jackie stepped out onto the porch. She waved and they waved back.

"Is Tony back yet?" she yelled.

"Not yet, we're still on holiday in Disney. I'm just showing Alan our house and where everyone lives since he wasn't with us before."

"Well, Patience is at home and John and Wilf are, Pete's gone with Torchwood back down to their headquarters for the day and Grace is at work. Amber might be home and I think Francine and Tish are and then everyone else is with you."

"Is Sarah here?" the Doctor called.

"Not right now, she went back to Earth with that manipulator you gave her. I think she'll be back later though."

By now, other doors were opening and the others who were left were stepping out onto their porches and waving.

"Hey, get bored of Disney already?" Wilf called to them.

"Nah, just showing Brother our new headquarters."

"Did you tell him what we're calling it?" Amber said to him.

"Yup, Little Gallifrey," he said while they laughed. "We're about to head back, anyone wanna come back to Disney with us?"

They shook their heads. The Doctor looked at Madison.

"Not even you, Maddie?"

"I might in a couple of days if you don't mind. I need to rest and settle in and I want to give you time alone with your daughter."

"Well, ring me when you wanna come back and I'll come and get ya," he said.

Everyone waved to him and wished him well as he, Madison and Alan turned to go back in the house. Once the door was shut, they hugged and kissed their sister.

"This is brilliant," Alan said to him. "I'm so glad we did this. It's nice having a little abode away from the TARDIS and I can't believe I just said that and meant it."

They laughed.

"I can't believe I like it as well, Brother," the Doctor said. "But my wife said it's because everyone here likes us and won't ridicule us or make us feel like dirt like they did when I was on Gallifrey."

Alan nodded.

"Yup, I don't mind spending time with these people, not one single bit," he said.

Madison hugged them.

"Take care and have fun at Disney even if it is storming right now," she said to them.

"Well, I'm gonna go ahead in time and make sure we get past that," the Doctor said to her. "I'll look after Dot and bring her back in one piece."

"Oh, I know you will, I have no doubts about that."

She gave them kisses on the cheek and stepped back. They waved and she waved back and watched them vanish before heading back up to her bedroom.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The light faded and both men jerked their heads around in confusion when they noticed they were standing on the pavement of an unfamiliar city.

"The hell? Where did you take us this time, Brother?" Alan said, looking around.

"I was taking us back to our hotel room."

"Well…you kinda missed it unless we're in Orlan…"

They noticed a blue hovercar flying over their heads.

"No, I don't think this is Orlando, Brother," the Doctor said.

He checked the readout on the manipulator.

"I got the coordinates right," he said to Alan.

"Then what went wrong?"

"I don't know but I suddenly have a feeling this is a replay of Messaline and we're about to meet someone."

"Who might become another family member, right?" Alan said.

"Dunno, but with our track record, I wouldn't doubt it. Maybe even Romana had a hand in this, who knows. Anyway, it's best to keep our eyes and ears open and…"

He trailed off when he noticed the shocked look on Alan's face.

"I have my eyes open and I can't believe what I'm seeing, Brother. Turn around now."

He turned and did a double take when he saw who was behind him.

"River?" the Doctor said.

She grinned.

"Hello, Sweetie," she said.


	168. Chapter 168

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Eight

The Doctor staggered back while Alan went to steady him.

"Can't be, you can't be alive," he murmured.

"Well, I'm glad to see you too," River said.

She looked from one to the other.

"You have a twin brother or something?" she said.

"Yeah, this is Alan, how did you…"

"How am I here after I died in The Library?"

"Yeah."

"Interesting story. See, it seems that Mister Lux figured out that sealing away the biggest hard drive in the history of the universe and leaving it on a planet infested by killer shadows was a tremendous waste of time and money. Especially since they wanted to find another planet and rebuild the library there. And of course there was Charlotte and he wasn't about to leave a family member trapped where he and his other family members couldn't get to her. So they had robots made out of shadow resistant adamantium sent in to download the hard drive and bring it back so they could upload it later. Once that was done, he took me out along with Other Dave, Proper Dave, Anita and Miss Evangelista and put our minds into android bodies which is what this body is. I'm an android now, which is rubbish if you must know since I dated a few in my time but there you have it, that's why I'm standing here talking to you now."

"What about Charlotte then? Did they build her a body and put her consciousness into it?" the Doctor said.

"No."

"Why not?" the Doctor said angrily.

"Because she was a part of the hard drive. They couldn't take her out without losing everything."

"Oh and wouldn't that be a crime," the Doctor said. "So one poor girl gets to be trapped in a make-believe world for all eternity while you and your team get to be free."

"Well, don't blame me; I'm not the one who decided to do this. You fixed the data core so it's a friendly universe and she has Doctor Moon and other computer generated people to keep her company."

"But she's not free like you are!" the Doctor said angrily.

He glanced around and noticed a few people giving him odd looks as they passed by. River sighed and pointed to a restaurant beside her.

"Just…come in here, Sweetie, and we'll talk."

"Don't call me that," the Doctor growled.

River frowned.

"Why not?"

He held up his left hand and River's eyes bulged out.

"You're married?" she said.

"Yes, I am, very happily married as it turns out."

A pang of guilt seized his mind when he saw the hurt look on her face.

"Just go inside and we'll talk," the Doctor said.

_I think I know why you're here now, Brother,_ Alan thought to him.

_Yes, I do too and I have a feeling this will be another messy conversation,_ he thought back as they followed her into the café.

When they got inside, they paused when they saw Anita waving at them while she sat at a table near the back of the dimly lit café. The smells of greasy food filled their nostrils while they walked across the worn linoleum to the worn wooden table.

"We saw you standing outside and River had to run outside and see you," Anita said, getting up and hugging the Doctor. "I hope she's told you the reason why we're alive."

"She did, yes," he said, nodding. "It's good to see you again. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I had no idea they got you until I saw the single shadow and…"

Anita held up her hand.

"It wasn't your fault. I was done for anyway. Like you said, they never give in and it was only a matter of time. I'm just glad I got to meet you and…is this a brother?"

"Yes, this is Alan and since you've admitted you're androids, I'll admit that he's my clone."

"I don't act exactly like him though, trust me," Alan said when they turned their shocked gazes to him.

River gestured to two empty chairs and they all sat down.

"So…how long have you been married?" she asked him.

"A couple of months, I met my wife right after you left me at Derillium."

"Wow, didn't take ya long to get over me then."

The Doctor sighed. A waitress came over to take their order and they both ordered tea and nothing else. The Doctor waited till she left before swallowing hard.

"River, you know now that the reason I took you to Derillium was because I had to send you to The Library," he said.

She nodded.

They waited while the waitress sat the tea down in front of them along with milk and sugar. They shook their heads when she asked them if they wanted anything else and she left.

"You know now that I had advanced knowledge of what was going to happen the day you died," he said to her.

River nodded.

"When we finally met one another, it was a meeting I dreaded because I knew that one day in future I would send you to your death. I was hoping it would be a long time in future before I met you but as it turns out it was a few short months after my time on the Crucible, after I left Rose with Alan and lost Donna. I was heartsbroken, in the depths of darkness and despair, which was why I wasn't much fun to be around when you traveled with me. I…don't love you, River. I like you but what you saw was me trying to fit in with the events you yourself told me about when I first met you. I pretended to love you because that's how you acted when you were around me and that's why I told you my true name because you knew it when you whispered it in my ear."

"So you lied to me."

"I had to pretend, River. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for what I did. But I had no choice. I had to preserve future events and the time line. I like you as a friend, River, but I don't love you in the way you thought…"

The Doctor grunted and Alan winced when River slapped him hard across the cheek.

"I hate you. I was so glad when I got free of that data core because it meant I could find you again so we could be together and now I find out I was being lied to the whole time. I s'pose you're the same way then…Alan!" she said, spatting out the last word.

Alan glanced around at the other diners who were staring at them in shock. When he caught their eyes, they quickly turned away and minded their own business.

"I have most of Brother's memories but the moment I was born on the Crucible, our minds split and everything that happened afterwards is not in my memories. So I remember you and him on The Library but not what happened after when I was in the other universe with Rose because we're two separate people. Brother's not told us much of what happened between you two and I never pressed him for information because frankly, it's none of my business. I don't wanna be him. I have my own life and my own wife and my own way of looking at the world."

"So you don't love me either."

Alan sighed.

"No, I love Rose. I married her, she's my wife. I have even less of a connection to ya, River, since what I have is just memories. But I can tell ya that the Doctor tried to do the right thing. He thought that you were going to be trapped forever in the data core and he tried to leave you with some happy memories of you and him to have for the rest of eternity. I know that because he thought that after he left The Library with Donna. But he was basically trapped into doing this. He had to do it, River, he had no choice because it was his past and if he deviated from it, it would have caused a massive paradox that would have destroyed the universe. He's as much a victim in this as you are, because he was forced to pretend to love you and send you to your death."

"And I didn't want to, River. There were several times I was tempted to change events but I couldn't. I couldn't be selfish like that. So I lived a lie while you were with me and loathed and despised myself while I was doing it. I've done a lot of things I'm not proud of and this charade was one of the biggest and most shameful things I ever did but like we said, I had no choice. You're not a Time Lord so you don't know what it's like being forced on occasion to make tough choices and do despicable things in order to preserve the universe. I'm sorry, River. I can't begin to tell you how sorry I am."

"Okay, I understand you having to do this to preserve the universe, I really do. But…if there wasn't a danger of the universe being destroyed, would you have still loved me?"

The Doctor sighed.

"I don't know, River. I really don't. I don't know if I even would have brought you along as my companion if I hadn't been forced to do it. All I know is I met my wife when I was forced into Brother's universe and I fell deeply in love with her and married her. And I love her with every atom of my being just like Alan loves Rose and I can't imagine being with anyone else now because she's perfect for me just like Rose is perfect for Alan."

"But she's human, isn't she? I mean, eventually you'll have to watch her age and die."

"No, she was changed along with Rose and became Time Ladies. But even before that, I fell in love and married her and Alan did the same with Rose because I was willing to endure watching her grow old and infirm and die in order to be with her. There are not many people I would be willing to do that for but she's one of them. And like I said, I can't imagine not being with her now so if by asking that question you were thinking that one day in future she'd die and you could finally have me, sorry, won't happen, ever. Not even if, heaven forbid, she dies centuries before she's supposed to."

"So this is goodbye then."

"It can be but I never said I didn't want you as a friend," the Doctor said, shrugging. "I know I was dishonest about the lovers part of our relationship but I do like you as a friend, both of you in fact. Can't we be friends and leave it at that?"

"I'd like to be," River said while Anita nodded. "I would like to remain in your life in some way since I would be bonkers to let go of someone like you. I am glad you are happily married, Doctor, even if it's not to me, because if you are that happy now then that's all that matters because I know how miserable you were before when I traveled with you. And I forgive you, Doctor. I realize that was a rough choice for you to make and I can see how you were hemmed into it by fate and forced to play a part you didn't want to play. I just hope that's not the case now."

"At the moment, it isn't. I'm actually happier than I've been in centuries. I not only have my wife but my brother here and I have a large family of Time Lords and Ladies. I'm no longer the last of my kind now."

"Good, I'm glad," River said.

"Would you like to meet them? I'm sure Donna would like to see you again."

"Donna? She's with you?"

"Yes, we found a way to restore her memories safely to her and actually, she's a Time Lady now. There are others as well. Others you've never met that we've adopted as brothers and sisters and besides that, I'm also now a father and grandfather and uncle and all my children are also with me while we're on holiday."

"Where are they? Can I meet them?"

"Well, they're not here. In fact, I don't know where here is. We were trying to get back to our hotel room on Earth and got pulled here."

"This is Vanguard."

"I have no idea where that is."'

"On the planet Rumlus?"

"Oh, blimey, we got pulled way off course then," he said to Alan.

"Just…let me ring Miss Evangelista before we go. She'll want to see Donna, I'm sure of it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The women sat at the table in the Doctor's hotel room playing poker while the kids watched 101 Dalmatians.

"Anybody home?" the Doctor called from the next room.

"'Bout bloody time. He must have shown Alan every inch of the houses," Donna said as they got up from the table.

The Doctor and Alan came out into the room. The Doctor held up his hands.

"Stay right there. I have to explain something to you because you will not believe this, especially you, Donna."

He went through a brief explanation of what happened. When he finished, Donna was flabbergasted.

"You mean, they're here right now?" she said to him.

The Doctor nodded and beckoned to River, Anita and Evangelista. They came in the room and looked around at everyone. The Doctor made introductions while everyone gathered around them. He finished up the introductions by taking Rain's hand.

"And this is her, my wife, Rain," he said, putting his arm around her.

"Hi, it's nice to meet all of you," she said.

"It's nice to meet you, Rain," River said, shaking her hand.

She paused.

"Rain, Rose and River. You like women with nature names that begin with R, dontcha?" she teased the Doctor.

He grinned when everyone laughed.

"This is only part of my family," the Doctor said. "The other half, for the most part, is living on New Hope in a city called Nova. Would you like to meet the rest?"

They nodded.

"Right, enjoy…whatever it was you were doing while I get pulled off course again and end up in a black hole. Do you wanna come with me, Brother?"

"Nah, I'll stay here while you give them the tour. I wanna rest for a bit."

"Okay, well, I'll try to be back as close as I can to this time so we can do something tonight. Maybe even go to the Pleasure Island section and eat and see that Cirque Du Soleil show. So don't anyone go anywhere, be back in a trice."

They stepped back and watched while they vanished.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief when they landed in his house.

"Maddie? I'm back!" he yelled.

Madison came to the stairs.

"Doctor? What's wrong?"

"Nothing Maddie, just wanted you to meet some friends Alan and I just found. Everyone, this is Madison, the mother of Dot. Maddie, this is River, Anita and Miss Evangelista."

"Jennifer."

"Huh?" the Doctor said to Miss Evangelista.

"My name's Jennifer. You can call me that instead of Miss Evangelista."

"Oh, Brilliant. Okay, this is River, Anita and Jennifer then."

Madison came down the stairs and greeted them warmly. She looked at the Doctor.

"Let me guess, more sisters?"

The Doctor thought.

"Dunno, do you wanna be?" he said to River, Anita and Jennifer.

"Sisters?" River said, frowning.

"Adopted. All those women in the hotel room have been formally adopted by me and Alan and we consider them our sisters and they consider us their brothers. Madison is one of the sisters."

"But if this is the mother of your daughter, how does that work out then?" Anita said.

"Well, Dot was convinced by an old friend to adopt me as her surrogate daddy after her own daddy rejected Madison once she became a Time Lady."

"I'm sorry, this becoming a Time Lady, how did…"

The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out a crystal. He showed it to them while he briefly explained Imiko and what the crystal did.

"And this changed you?" River said to Madison when he was finished.

"Yes, completely, I'm completely Gallifreyan now."

"So is Dot Gallifreyan as well?" River said.

"No, I won't let the children change until they're older. I want them to have human childhoods and be mature enough to handle being Time Lords and Ladies. All those children and teens you saw are still human and my friend Sarah is still human even though we adopted her as a sister and made her an honorary Time Lady. But in my mind, Maddie is my sister just as much as a flesh and blood sister would be."

"And he's my brother," Madison added. "So are you going to introduce them to everyone else then?"

"Yes and can you come back with us and travel with us? We wanna go to this adult section called Pleasure Island tonight and eat at one of the restaurants there and I'd rather you were there and not spending your time in an empty house. Dot and I are bonding, trust me, and I miss you. Come with us the rest of the way through Florida, please."

"Alright, you twisted my arm enough," Madison teased.

He grinned while they laughed.

"Okay, well, I'll introduce you to everyone else then," the Doctor said, gesturing to the front door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After taking her around and introducing her to everyone including Sarah Jane and Torchwood, they headed back to their house.

"Wow, you have a big family," River said when they went inside and he closed the door.

"Well, I actually have one more. I have a biological son named Dex but he's in a mental institution at present."

"Oh? Why?"

"It's a long story and I'd rather we chatted over dinner and back in the comfort of our hotel room."

"We don't eat, we're androids, remember?" River said.

"Yes, but you can still sit with us and chat. And actually, if you want, I can help you move here so you can be close to us. Are you living anywhere on Rumlus?"

"In some flats," River said, shrugging.

"Come here and get a house exactly like this. That way you can see me whenever I do come back here to rest and you can go with me if you like when we leave. Unfortunately, the crystals won't work on you but it's really a moot point since you're androids and can live indefinitely as long as you get serviced now and then. But if you wanna become a part of our family, we wouldn't mind."

"I'd like to do that," River said.

"Me too," Anita said.

"And me," Jennifer added.

"But we do wanna say goodbye to Other Dave and Proper Dave before we move here."

"Can't they come with you?" the Doctor said, shrugging. "We have a couple of houses we brought just in case of extra people and there's a four bedroom one a few houses down from this one. One of you would have to pair up and room with each other but still…bring them along and then you can go out on your expeditions if you like."

"I'll see if they'll do that. I'm pretty sure they will though," River said. "But it's hard to believe you are willing to live in a house like this."

"Well, I don't live in it permanently. It's mainly just somewhere to come home to and rest for a few days and a way I can see all my family and friends and be close. That's why I wouldn't mind you living here with us in Little Gallifrey as we like to call it."

"Well, count me in then, Pretty Boy," Rain said.

They laughed when he blushed.

"And…don't call me that anymore, would ya?" he said while they laughed harder.

All of them gathered around him and held on while he set the coordinates for the hotel in Orlando.


	169. Chapter 169

Chapter One Hundred and Sixty Nine

After they got back, everyone got ready and headed out to Pleasure Island. They took along a small bag filled with ponchos in case it rained again. While they took the shuttle over, they all sat and talked with River, Anita and Jennifer.

"So you are still doing expeditions?" the Doctor said to River while they sat on the shuttle.

"Um…we've done a couple. The transfer into the android bodies happened fairly recently and we're still trying to get used to it. Apart from not eating, we also don't need to sleep anymore which took some getting used to."

"Then you're more like us in that respect with the long lifespan and the no sleep. We do need sleep but only about once a fortnight."

"I wondered if you ever slept. I kept seeing you awake when I traveled with you and the thought did cross my mind if you really did sleep or not."

"Yup, I do for a few hours every so often. Which is part of the reason why I travel all the time, just to find something to do to fill up all those sleepless days and nights."

The shuttle stopped by Pleasure Island and they all got out.

"Right," the Doctor said while the shuttle drove away," what do we want to eat?"

They conferred with each other and decided on seafood.

"If that's the case then let's go to Cap'n Jack's Restaurant then," Rose said with a grin.

"Gee, you think we should get Cap'n Jack to come back down here so he can come to his restaurant?" the Doctor said.

They nodded and he pulled his mobile out of his pocket. He dialed his number and there was a short pause before Jack answered.

"Hey, Buddy, we're going to go eat and we decided to eat at Cap'n Jack's Restaurant in the Pleasure Island section of Disney. Are ya hungry?"

There was a pause while the Doctor listened.

"Yeah, we can wait. Is Ianto there? Or anyone else? Oh, you are? Well, get your bum out of Cardiff and come join us. If you go to the hotel room, take a bus over to Pleasure Island, we're standing right at the point they drop you off so we'll wait. Okay, Te'lesau, see you in a few minutes then."

He hung up and put the mobile back in his pocket.

"Jack's by himself at the Hub but he'll come and eat with us," he said to them.

"Everyone else is at the house?" Awinita said.

"Yeah and he said they're still sorting out everything up there so he said to leave them alone. They also have the dogs up there now and they're trying to get them settled down and get used to the new house. Speaking of which, Maddie, I assume Barney is still with John and Wilf since I didn't see him when we were in the house."

"Yeah, he is. They're looking after him till we get back there permanently," Madison said. "I don't wanna keep going in and out and leave him there alone, especially since he's not used to the house yet."

The Doctor looked at River.

"We have two dogs now, Siberian huskies named Rory and Blizzard. Jack's team is looking after them until we get back from traveling through Florida."

"I didn't know you had animals on the TARDIS," River said.

"Well, we didn't get the dogs until after you left. And actually, my son Dex was on a farm and at the moment we have his cows and horses and chickens in a farm room until we figure out what to do with them. And I also have a butterfly room with hundreds of species of butterflies, which actually was there when you were on board."

"Well, I wish you would have shown me that. It sounds beautiful."

"It is, actually, it's very relaxing being in there with them. I also have ponds with different species of fish in it. I have a park room where the dogs normally go to relieve themselves. It's also a relaxing place. There are a lot of rooms on the TARDIS you didn't see."

"Daddy, what we doin'?" Dorothy said, walking over to him.

"We're waiting for your Uncle Jack to get his bum over here so we can eat," he said, picking her up and resting her on his right arm.

"She's so cute," River said, rubbing her arm.

"Yes, she is, she's as cute as a button, aren't ya?"

"No."

"No?" he said while they laughed. "Well, I'll have to stop saying that then."

Amelia and Opal came over and stood beside him.

"I wish he'd hurry up, Papaw," Amelia said.

"He'll be here, I'm sure he's waiting for another bus to come along," the Doctor said.

"And these are your grandchildren?" River said.

"Yup, this is my daughter, these are my grandchildren and Luke and Tony are my nephews and Rani's just some weird girl that tags along."

"Gee, thanks Doctor," she said while they laughed.

The shuttle bus rumbled towards them. It turned and stopped and they saw Jack getting off.

"There, there's Jack, now everyone can finally eat," the Doctor said.

"Sorry, everyone, I knew the coordinates for the hotel room but not this spot," Jack said, walking up to them. "So I guess now we can go eat at my restaurant."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They found two large tables and pushed them together so they could talk to one another. The waitress took their orders and they chatted with each other. The Doctor glanced at River who was sitting across from him.

"I have to say your skin looks very realistic," he said to her. "I've met androids before and some of them have rubbery skin."

"Yes, I dated one like that and it didn't last because the rubbery skin felt bizarre to the touch. But yeah, this is actually very realistic looking skin."

She held her hand out and the Doctor rubbed his fingers along the back of it and nodded.

"If I didn't know better I would think that was actual skin," he said as River took her hand away. "Lux must have quite a bit of money, but then again, biggest hard drive in history."

River nodded.

"Yup. Which is why he didn't want to lose that hard drive to the Vashta Nerada. He put too much money into it to lose it like that."

"So I'm assuming he'll build this new library on a system far away from the Vashta Nerada and use paper that doesn't come from their forests."

"Oh yeah, you better believe it. He's not gonna make that same mistake twice."

The waitress brought them their food and while they ate, they told River, Anita and Jennifer what had happened to them after Derillium. The three of them listened spellbound along with Madison and Julie who hadn't heard it either. Alan, Rose and Awinita told them some stories about their journey before they met the Doctor and the Doctor told them what happened after he was kidnapped by the Valeyard. While he talked, the Doctor helped cut up Dorothy's hamburger while she sat beside him and Alan did the same for Tony. River watched the Doctor and Alan interacting with the children with a smile on her face.

"You're very good with kids," River said to the Doctor.

"Yeah, I'm learning. Brother's better at it than I am."

"You're just as good with Dot as I am with Tony," Alan said.

"Yeah, but you're more childlike."

"Yeah, but that doesn't stop you from being goofy with Dot," Alan said.

"What d'ya mean, more childlike?" River said.

They laughed and Rose pointed to her husband.

"This man, I know they look alike, River, but trust me, you'll soon be able to tell them apart. Chronologically, Alan is a few weeks from becoming one year old and most of the time he acts like he's one."

"I do not!"

"Yes, you do Mister Go In The Shrubs."

"I'm not getting into that again, Rose. I told you I couldn't hold it in and Brother actually told me he was on my side when you went off to the loo."

Rose looked at the Doctor.

"No, you did not."

"Rose, we have the same thought patterns, you know."

"You wouldn't dare go in the shrubs, Doctor," she said while everyone else laughed.

"I would if I were in danger of wetting myself, Rose," he said.

"Ugh!" Rose said, shaking her head. "Anyway, apart from that, Alan is more manic and free spirited than the Doctor is, although the Doctor's learning to be like him more and more."

"So…pretty soon you'll be urinating in the shrubs?" Anita asked.

"If I have to," the Doctor said while they laughed.

"So you go by your actual age and not your physical appearance?" Jennifer asked Alan.

He nodded.

"Yeah, because I never age so if I went by appearance, I'd be late '30's for centuries," he said to her. "And I don't know if he mentioned it when you met Jack, but Jack's immortal and he'll look like he does forever more."

"You are?" River said to him.

"Yeah, I can die but I come right back to life. But the odd thing is I'm a Time Lord but I asked Imiko to let me keep my immortality so I'm like them except I can't regenerate."

"Because Jack wanted to be different," Donna said.

"Because Jack was scared of what he'd look like if he did change," Awinita added.

"Yup, why mess with perfection?"

River, Anita and Jennifer laughed when everyone groaned.

"Kidding, I'm kidding, guys," Jack said.

"So…basically everyone here except for the children will be living for a long time," River said.

"And in some cases a veeeeeeeeeery long time," Jack added.

"And except for Tony, we know for certain that everyone else will wanna become Time Lords and Ladies when they come of age," the Doctor said.

Alan looked at Tony.

"Hey, you wanna be a Time Lord like your Uncle Alan, dontcha?" he asked him.

"Yes."

"Good, because you have to become one in order to be with your girlfriend there."

The Doctor rolled his eyes while everyone laughed.

"He's absolutely convinced that Dot and Tony will become lovers one day," he said to River.

"Well, why not? They're the same age so they'll grow up together and fall hopelessly in love," Alan said.

"My brother has a very rich fantasy life he spends most of his time in," the Doctor said to River.

"Just wait, one day soon we'll be at their wedding, won't we, Pollywog?"

"No."

They laughed at the feigned shock on his face.

"Well, we'll just have to work harder at getting you two to fall in love, I guess," he said, cutting up a bit of his salmon.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After eating they strolled along the boardwalk. The moon was out, illuminating the lake that separated Pleasure Island from the Magic Kingdom section. In the distance, Cinderella Castle rose majestically in the night sky. The Doctor pointed to it.

"Around eleven, they shoot off fireworks so we can stay to see that," the Doctor said to River, Anita and Jennifer while they walked along.

"Where is this place?" Anita said.

"On Earth in America. The city is called Orlando and this is Walt Disney World."

"Never heard of it," Anita said, shaking her head. "But then, I've never been to Earth before."

"Me neither," Jennifer said. "This is my first time."

"Not mine, but I only came here when the Doctor did so that was my first time on Earth."

"Where are you lot from originally?" the Doctor said.

"I'm from Polaris in the Callium Galaxy," River said.

"So am I," Anita said.

"I'm from Belavarna in the Swirling Galaxy," Jennifer said.

"So you lot are from very far away."

"Yeah, after I got my degree, I went out with shuttles and worked with different teams in different galaxies," River said. "I didn't meet them until Lux assembled us. It was a shock to find Anita was from the same planet but we lived in two different countries so that's why I had never met her before now. I haven't been back to Polaris in donkey's years though. The shuttles I rode in took me so far away it would have taken awhile to go back. I didn't have that many family members there anyway, just my mum and dad. I had a younger sister but she died in a shuttle crash several years before I met you."

"Oh, I'm sorry," the Doctor said.

She smiled.

"Yeah, it was a blow to mum and dad. She was their favorite. I was a bit of a rebel."

He grinned.

"I can tell that," he said. "What about you two? Any family, friends?"

"I have my dad. My mum died when I was six from Daggar's Syndrome," Anita said. "And I was an only child. He and I didn't get along because I was a bit of a rebel too. I always wanted to go and see new worlds and becoming an archeologist was one way of doing that. He wanted me to become a doctor so you can imagine how upset he was when I went against his wishes."

The Doctor nodded.

"But you followed your heart, that's what's important," he said.

"Yeah and I don't regret my decision, even though it did result in my "death". But even then I got to meet you and that was worth getting eaten."

"Same here. I'm glad I met you and Donna. She was my first real friend," Jennifer said. "And I'm so glad her memories were restored to her because she deserves to be with you. As for me, until I was transferred to the data core, I was a bit of a dimwit."

She held up her hand when the Doctor started to protest.

"I was, trust me. They weren't kidding when they said I mistook the escape pod for the loo twice. My mother and father though were very successful entrepreneurs. My father had several health clubs that had several franchises and my mum helped him run it. He wanted me to do that but I wasn't very good at helping him run it so he used his money and influence to persuade Mister Lux to take me on as an assistant, presumably so I could learn from him. Him and Lux knew each other from university, I think, and were good friends so that's why I was there with them that day. But I was always behind in my studies and had to have special help at school and was constantly teased so like I said, Donna was the first real friend I had."

"But somehow your intelligence was increased inside the data core?"

Jennifer nodded.

"Yeah, I told Donna that when I was trying to help her. We were just information in there, data, and somehow I think a decimal point got shifted in my IQ and I came out of there more intelligent than when I went in. I don't know for sure how it happened, I'm just glad it did because I was able to help Donna realize the truth about where she was."

"I'm glad you did that and helped her," the Doctor said to her.

They stopped and leaned on a wooden railing while they stared out at the lake. Behind them the rest of the family was chatting and going in and out of the department stores.

"So now you want us to come with you and live in Little Gallifrey, eh?" River said.

"If you want to. I mean it when I said I'd like to remain friends with you."

"I'd like to come and live there. I love all your family. They're all wonderful," River said. "We just have to ask Other Dave and Proper Dave."

"Well, I have a mobile that can call all over time and space if you wanna ask them now. That way it saves us a trip if they decline," the Doctor said, reaching into his pocket.

"You have a mobile that calls anywhere in time and space," River said.

"Yes, you know their phone numbers, right?"

She nodded and he handed her the mobile. River excused herself and walked a few feet away to make the call. Anita moved closer to him.

"Can I ask you something?" she said.

"Sure."

"You said that when you go back to Nova you'll take anyone who wants to go with you when you leave?"

"Yes, why? Do you wanna come with me?"

"I wouldn't mind it. I think it'd be fun."

"We'll you both are more than welcome to come with us if you want to. I think you both would make excellent companions."

"Even me?" Jennifer said.

"Yes, even you," the Doctor said.

"Daddy!"

The Doctor turned when Dorothy run up followed by Madison and Julie. She was wearing a little lavender Minnie Mouse t-shirt and had on Minnie Mouse ears. The Doctor grinned at her and picked her up.

"Well, look at you, all Minnie Moused now," he said.

He grinned, took the Minnie Mouse hat off her head and put it on his own. He put the strap around his chin and they laughed while he wagged his eyebrows at his daughter.

"That's you, Doctor, definitely," Julie said.

"Yeah, I especially like the little red bow between the ears, that just completes the look," Madison said.

He glanced back at River who hadn't noticed him yet and lounged casually against the railing while Dorothy laid her head on his shoulder.

"Iiiii'll just wait here till River completes her call," the Doctor said while they giggled.

"Oh yeah, that looks stunning on ya."

The Doctor looked to his right and saw Donna, Mingxia and Awinita giggling at him. They all had Planet Hollywood shopping bags in their hands. Awinita walked up to him.

"Love the ears, Bro. Especially the bow, it just screams out I'm a manly man," she said, flicking the bow.

"Well, I needed a bit of accent for my Mickey Mouse ears, ya know," he said to her. "What'd you get?"

"We got t-shirts," Awinita said, reaching into her bag.

The Doctor rolled his eyes when he saw hers. It was a dark blue t-shirt with ET on it. Under him in white block letters it said, ET PHONE HOME.

"Ugh, you had to go and buy something with him on it, didn't ya?" he said.

Mingxia showed him her t-shirt. It was black with Jet Li on it in a kung fu pose.

"Love Jet Li, he's very sexy," she said.

Donna pulled out her souvenir. It was a small 8 x 10 reproduction of the Gone With The Wind movie poster.

"I didn't find a t-shirt I liked," she said. "Figured I'd get this for my room in our house."

"I like it."

"Okay, what the hell is that thing?"

The Doctor turned his head and they laughed when they saw the bemused look on River's face while she handed his mobile back to him.

"It's my Minnie Mouse hat, don't you like it?"

"Mmmm," River said while they laughed. "Yeah, I can tell you've definitely lightened up, Doctor. Not only are you wearing odd little hats, but the shorts and t-shirt as well."

"Well," the Doctor said, pocketing his mobile. "This outfit is temporary because it's hot and humid in Florida. Once we leave, I'm going back to the suits you know and love. Alan, however, wears trousers and t-shirts so that's another way you can tell us apart. Also, this little hair band on my wrist is my daddy bracelet. It's so Dot can tell us apart but you can use it as well until I get back in my suits. So…what did they say?"

"They said no," River said. "They actually have adjusted better to life on Rumlus than we have so they don't wanna move. But they do wanna keep in touch with us."

"Then I'll fix your mobiles so they can call across time and space so you can keep in touch with them and with us as well. And there is a three bedroom house still available so you can each have a room of your own. I believe it's right next to Jack's house. So do you still wanna do that?"

They nodded.

"Good, well, I can help you get moved and get settled then. The house is all paid for so you don't have to worry about that. Just wait until the children go to bed before we do it because it takes awhile and it's a bit of a headache for me."

"That's fine," River said. "Whenever you're ready."

"And do you three wanna become part of our family officially? Because Rose knows this Gallifreyan bonding ceremony that we do to welcome people into our clan so you lot wanna become our sisters?"

They smiled and nodded.

"Great."

He looked at Dorothy.

"Hear that, Dot? You're getting more aunts. You have more aunts now than you know what to do with, dontcha?"

He kissed her cheek and she laid her head back on his shoulder while he relaxed and chatted with everyone.


	170. Chapter 170

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy

Alan and Rose came out of Planet Hollywood. Alan had Tony in his arms. He was playing with a stuffed Bugs Bunny Alan had bought him. They walked back to the Doctor and paused when they saw the Minnie Mouse ears on his head.

"Okay, apparently the Doctor has decided to just completely let go of all inhibitions now," Rose said while Alan sniggered.

Rose walked up behind him while he stood looking out at the lake.

"Okay, firstly that's too small for ya and secondly, it's a girl's hat hence the cute little bow between the ears."

He turned with Dorothy in his arms.

"Firstly, this belongs to the female child with the small head that is currently sitting in my arms. Secondly, mind your own business, Rose "Whinge, whinge, whinge." Timelord. I'm an adult and I'll wear Minnie Mouse ears if I want to."

He stuck his tongue out at her and spun back around while Dorothy giggled. He spun back around.

"We are welcoming three new sisters into the flock, be ready with the words and you know which words I mean."

He spun back around.

"Here's a thought, Doctor. To save time, why don't I go locate a tannoy system and just read the bonding ceremony aloud over it and make the whole of Disneyworld our family?"

The Doctor spun back around which caused Dorothy to giggle.

"If you wish to ferry them around in the people carrier, have at it. I'll be in my TARDIS, nice and comfy. And now if you'll excuse me, I need to spin again and make my daughter sick to her stomach so she'll vomit on me."

He spun back around and Dorothy laughed. He looked back at them.

"She likes this, can't ya tell?"

"Well, hello there, Minnie, don't you look cute!"

The Doctor looked to his right and saw Jack standing a few feet away with Madison and Rain.

"Let me guess," Jack said. "You got hired by Disney to be one of the characters but their budget is tight so the ear hat is all they could give ya, am I close?"

"Close, but I'm not a character. They actually hired me to be what they like to call, Daft Insane Person Who Stands On The Boardwalk With Minnie Mouse Ears On His Head. It's a long, complicated job title but I'm proud of it."

Jack looked at Alan.

"What? You mean you didn't get Minnie Mouse ears too?"

"I had no idea Brother had those but now that you mention it, that is a good way to embarrass the misses, I'll be right back!"

"Oh, no you don't, Timelord, you're not going anywhere!" Rose said, stepping in front of him when he turned around.

"I wasn't getting them for me; I was getting them for Pollywog!"

"Yeah, sure ya were, over to the railing, march!"

"Yes, mummy," he said, walking over to the Doctor's side.

Rain came up on his other side and giggled while she flicked an ear.

"Oi, quit that. I don't like people flicking my second pair of ears," he said.

"So I'm assuming that belongs to the teeny one there," she said, gesturing to Dorothy.

"Yes, but she's allowing me the gracious use of them," he said.

"Probably because she's about to go to sleep," she said.

The Doctor glanced over and noticed Dorothy had her head on his shoulder, her eyes half closed.

"Are you sleepy, my darling?" he said to her.

"Yes, Daddy."

"Let me go back with her to the hotel," Rain said.

"It's alright, the fireworks are just about to start and then we'll head back," the Doctor said. "We just need to round up the rest of the gang wherever they may be."

He telepathically called to them, telling them to hurry up so they didn't miss the fireworks and asking the humans and androids to do the same. They all told him they would and he relaxed against the railing.

"Once we get back to the hotel," the Doctor said, "I wanna do the bonding ceremony and then go get the TARDIS again so we can help River, Anita and Jennifer move into their new house. I want us all to go this time so the kids can see their houses. If you don't mind, Latara, I'll let Dot sleep in her new bed and you can keep watch over her while Tony goes and sleeps with Jackie."

She nodded. They looked over when the rest of their family walked up beside them and he explained what he wanted to do.

"Then let me see if I can round up the rest of the team while we're at our houses so they can help them move," Jack said.

"And we can ask John and Wilf and anyone else there to help out as well," Alan added.

"Yeah, because I don't wanna spend two or three days at this like we did the last time. We're here on holiday which is why we'll bring the TARDIS back later on tonight when we finish and…"

He sighed when the mobile rang in his pocket.

"And I'm beginning to hate mobile phones," he said while they laughed.

Rain took Dorothy from him and held her while he took the mobile out.

"Hello? Hey Sarah, we're about to go back to Nova and I'm gonna let Luke and Rani see the house if you wanna be there…"

He trailed off and his eyes widened in disbelief.

"What?" he said.

Everyone looked at each other and moved in closer.

"When? For how long?" the Doctor said angrily.

"What is it, Love?" Rain said.

He held up a finger.

"Did you stop him? Good. Because I don't want anyone doing surveillance on you like that."

He shook his head when everyone gasped.

"Wait a tic, Sarah; I just scared my family members."

He lowered the phone.

"It's not Jasper this time, it's Sylvia. She apparently hired a private investigator to spy on Sarah so Sylvia will know if Donna or Wilf come to see her."

"I'm gonna murder that woman," Donna growled.

He raised the phone back up.

"Okay, sorry about that but they were thinking it was the spies for the slave hunters and that's why they panicked. So you did get him to stop then…okay, well, I'm gonna go back over there and give Sylvia a piece of my mind right now. In the meantime, I'll have Jack lend Alan his manipulator and he's gonna go get the TARDIS and take everyone to Nova so the children can see the houses and also because River, Anita and Jennifer wanna move into the house next to Jack's so we're gonna help them do that…yes, they're gonna be sisters as well…I know, that's pretty much what Rose said," he said while Rose giggled. "So, I'll go on to Sylvia's and sort this out before she does it again and ask Mister Smith to keep on watching the house. Okay, I'll see you later; love ya, Sarah, bye."

He put the mobile back in his pocket and sighed.

"I'm sorry, everyone, but this needs to be taken care of straight away."

"Let me go with you then, Doctor," Donna said.

He nodded.

"Jack, can you loan Alan…"

"Don't worry, Doctor, we'll take care of everything," Jack said while they nodded. "You just go do what you need to do with Sylvia."

"Thank you. Enjoy the fireworks, everyone, I'll see you lot on New Hope."

He pulled out the manipulator and he and Donna ducked down while everyone gathered around them and hid them from view. Once they were gone, they all stood at the railing and talked amongst themselves.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"OPEN UP, SYLVIA! NOW!" the Doctor screamed while he pounded on her door.

Donna stood behind him and looked around at the few people who were out going about their business in the early morning hour. They all gave the Doctor odd looks but he ignored him as he pounded furiously on Sylvia's door. For a moment, Donna didn't think she was going to answer and then finally the door was flung open.

"What do you want?" Sylvia snarled.

Both she and Donna gasped when the Doctor lunged at her until he was inches from her body and stared down at her with his eyes ablaze.

"What do I want? I want you to stop hiring private investigators to follow my family members so you can keep tabs on Donna and Wilf."

He smirked when he noticed the shocked look on her face.

"Oh yeah, Sarah has a very good security system in place and she apparently spotted your private investigator straight away. Now, I'm warning you right here and now, Sylvia Noble, you leave my family alone, you got that?"

"She isn't your family," Sylvia said in a snotty voice. "Neither is Donna or Wilf. You don't have any real family. From what dad said once, you burnt them all alive and destroyed your own planet."

Donna grabbed the Doctor's arm when he noticed the murderous look on his face and Sylvia backed up a couple of feet in terror.

"Don't you ever say that to me again," he snarled. "You have no idea who I am or what I've been through. You have been a thorn in my side since I first met your daughter and just when I finally thought it got plucked out, you go and do something like this. I don't care if you think Sarah is my family member or not, I want you to leave her alone. You had the chance to come with us to New Hope but you turned it down and ordered us to leave you alone which means you lost the right to find out what your family members are up to. I will not have you harassing the ones who choose to remain here on Earth just so you can satisfy your curiosity about what they're doing. I mean it, Sylvia, don't you EVER try to spy on my family members EVER again, is that understood?"

Sylvia saw the rage and darkness in his eyes and nodded meekly. She looked at Donna who was staring at her coldly.

"I'm also warning you, Sylvia, if you do that again, you will live to regret it!" Donna said to her.

"Donna, please come away from this man. If you changed into his kind, then there must be a way for you and Wilf to change back."

"You just don't get it do you?" Donna said angrily. "I don't wanna change back and neither does Granddad. I like being this way and we like being with him. He offered you a chance to be with us and mend fences but you screamed at us to leave. And you know what? I washed my hands of ya and Granddad did the same. Jackie offered to be my mum and she is now. You lost the right to find out about us the night you threw us out and the fact that you tried to spy on Sarah Jane shows how despicable you really are. I'm warning ya, Sylvia, you do that again and I'll have you arrested for harassment and stalking us. You made your bed, now go and lie in it and leave us the hell alone from here on out!"

"But Donna, please listen to me…"

Donna and the Doctor turned and walked back out the door, ignoring her completely. She followed them out.

"Donna, he's dangerous. He'll get you killed! He'll get Wilf killed!"

"Better to die with him than die of boredom and despair in Chiswick!" Donna shot back. "So goodbye, Sylvia. Have a nice life and remember we have ways of findin' out if you're harassing Sarah Jane so don't think of tryin' a stunt like that again!"

He took the Doctor's wrist and glared at her while the Doctor set the coordinates on the manipulator. The Doctor gave her one last look of warning before he and Donna vanished from Sylvia's sight.


	171. Chapter 171

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy One

The Doctor and Donna landed in the Doctor's house. A few feet away, Rain and Jackie were sitting on the sofa talking quietly. They got up, went over to them and embraced them.

"It's done," the Doctor said. "Whether that stops her or not we'll have to see but hopefully I made it clear that we won't tolerate her doing that to us."

"Well, everyone went ahead and went with Alan in the TARDIS so they could get started with the moving. Jackie stayed behind with me and we put Dot and Tony down in her bed and Amelia and Opal are sleeping in ours. Luke and Rani are over at their house but I'm not sure if Sarah's there or not. Anyway, we've been talking and I told Jackie what happened."

"And I'm just as disgusted as you are," Jackie said. "The utter cheek of that woman hiring someone to spy on Sarah Jane. I hope you did stop her from doing that because the woman has enough to worry about without private investigators followin' her."

She hugged Donna tightly.

"I'm so sorry your own mum did that to ya," she whispered.

"She isn't my mum anymore, you are," Donna replied.

Jackie smiled and nodded.

"Rain put some tea on while you were gone so would you like a cuppa?"

"Yes."

"Come with me then," Jackie said, taking her hand and leading her into the kitchen.

While they did that, Rain kissed the Doctor on the lips.

"Rest for a bit. Alan's gonna bring the TARDIS back and then you can help them here. There's no need for the two of you to go hopping over there and trying to find them. Sit down and let me get you some tea, Love."

"I just can't believe I had to go and deal with that woman again," he whispered to her. "First, Francine tried to have me arrested on Mister Saxon's orders and now Sylvia tried to track Donna and Wilf down. At least Jackie didn't do anything more than slap the hell outta my cheek after I accidentally miscalculated and brought Rose back 12 months later instead of 12 hours. Why is it my companion's family members always give me as much grief as my enemies?"

He sat down while Rain kissed his forehead and went to get him a cup of tea. Donna sat down in the recliner while Jackie sat down beside him. Rain came back, gave him his cup of tea and he gave her a grateful smile while she sat down on his other side. They sipped their tea and chatted. The hours stretched by and the Doctor frowned when there was no sign of the TARDIS. He paused a moment and finally noticed that his family's minds were close.

_Brother, where are you?_ he thought to Alan.

_In River, Anita and Jennifer's house._

_You're back and you didn't tell me?_

_We have it under control, Brother. You just tangled with Sylvia and you and Donna need to rest. I'm assuming you're at your house?_

_Yes, we are._

_Then just rest, we're all taking care of this,_ Alan thought to him. _We're nearly finished anyway, so we'll be over there in about a half hour or so. _

_Okay, let me know if you do need help. _

_Will do; just relax with the misses and the family._

Rain explained to Jackie what was going on.

"Oh, I wondered why they didn't show up," Jackie said. "Listen, I'm gonna take them something to eat and drink so I'll let you three chat while I go back over to my house."

They nodded and she rose and left the room. They watched while she closed the front door behind her before they resumed their chat.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Honey, I'm hoooooooooome!" Alan said when he opened the door of his house and he, Rose and Madison walked in. "What's for dinner? I just came from a grueling business meeting and I want some roast and potatoes in my belly."

He paused and made a face when he saw Rain.

"Oh, on second thought, if Assface cooked the dinner, I don't want it."

"Go suck a lemon, Bro," Rain said while they laughed.

He walked over and kissed her cheek.

"Are the children asleep, Te'lesu?"

"As far as I know. Opal and Amelia are in our bed and Dot and Tony are in hers."

"Really? You put the lovers together, did ya?"

She rolled her eyes while he pinched her cheek.

"You know, I sincerely hope they do become lovers because I can imagine the hissy fit you'll have if they don't," Rain said to him.

"They will, my Time Lord psychic abilities say so."

She snorted and he kissed the top of her head.

"So, I'm assuming the slight snag with Sylvia got sorted out?" he said to the Doctor.

"It better have or Donna and I will arrest her for stalking Sarah. I'm not gonna put up with her petty, childish behavior."

"Nor I. She's a grown woman, she needs to act like one," Alan said.

Rose leaned over to Rain.

"I will refrain from making a comment 'bout how he needs to act like a grown man," she said winking while Rain giggled.

Alan leaned over her.

"My immaturity does not include sending private investigators to stalk and harass other people," he said.

"Yeah, you're right. You're just immature in a fun way," Rose said.

Alan sat down beside the Doctor on the couch.

"I tell ya what, Brother. This has been one exhausting holiday. I think we need a holiday to recover from our holiday."

"I agree completely," the Doctor said.

Madison came up to them.

"They're all still asleep," she said.

"Good, I'm glad. Let them rest while we collapse," the Doctor said to her. "Rose, we only have tomorrow left at Disney, right?"

"Yeah, this is our last overnight at Disney. We just have the day left now until the park closes," Rose said, sitting on Alan's lap.

The Doctor stared at her.

"We need a few more chairs in here," he said, gesturing to her.

"Oh I don't know, Rose on my lap is kinda nice, I'll be her chair if she wants."

The Doctor pointed to Madison.

"What about her? Where will she sit?"

Madison laughed while Alan stared at her.

"Rain, move your tushie to the Doctor's lap and give you sister room to sit, yeah?" Alan said.

Alan shifted to the Doctor's lap and Madison sat down.

"Like I said, we need more chairs," the Doctor said to him. "Anyway, as I was saying, do you lot just wanna go ahead and go to the other theme parks? We've seen almost all of Disney."

"I wouldn't mind it," Rose said. "I'm kinda bored with Disney now."

"Yeah, I am too. There's a lot more to do besides it," Rain added.

"It's fine with me," Donna said, holding up her hands. "I'm ready to move on as well."

"And I make it unanimous," Alan said.

"So we let them sleep and go back to the hotel in the early morning and head out?" the Doctor said.

They nodded and the Doctor communicated telepathically with the rest of the family letting them know what was going on.

_Better ask Sarah if Luke and Rani can go on with you past Disney then,_ Jack thought.

_I will, I'll ring her in a moment after I finish resting a bit._

_How'd it go?_ Awinita thought.

The Doctor thought to his family members telling them what happened. As he did, he felt their disgust and anger in his mind before all of them calmed back down.

_We'll have to sort out who's going then,_ the Doctor thought. _Jack, are you and Ianto coming back with us? _

_If there's room,_ Jack said.

_Yeah, I'll come if you have enough room,_ Ianto thought.

_Martha, how 'bout you?_

_If there's enough room, I will,_ she thought.

Well, I figure the six of us in here are going and there's three children definitely going. We'll have to find out about Tony.

"I'll run over and ask mum," Rose said, getting up from Alan's lap.

_Rose is going to find out about that now, but that's nine and possibly ten._

_I'm going back with you, Bro,_ Awinita thought.

_And me, Dad._

_And me,_ Julie thought.

_And me,_ Mingxia thought.

_So, that's fourteen so far and if Luke and Rani come, that'll be sixteen which leaves us four spots open. _

_If no one else claims those spots, I'll come,_ Jack thought.

_And me,_ Ianto thought.

_And me,_ Martha thought.

_So we have nineteen out of twenty spots filled if Luke, Rani and Tony come,_ the Doctor thought. _Anyone else?_

Rose came back in the house carrying a car seat.

"Mum said it's fine for Tony to go with us through Florida," Rose said, setting the car seat down and closing the door behind her.

_Tony's going with us so I have to ring Sarah and find out about the teens_, the Doctor thought. _Wait a tic and I'll do that now._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor got off the phone, looked at the others and shook his head.

_They're not coming. Rani's parents want her to come back in time for school and she wants Luke to come home as well,_ he thought to them. _She's using the manipulator to come up to the house and get them so they won't try to convince us to take them. So we're down to seventeen. Can someone go ask River, Anita and Jennifer if they wanna come?_

_I will,_ Jack thought.

_Thanks, Jack. Anyone else wanna come?_

The rest answered no. A few minutes later, Jack thought back.

_Jennifer doesn't but Anita and River said they will and I went ahead and asked the rest of my team and they don't want to either._

_Brilliant, okay so that's nineteen then._

_Well can we trade back up to the twelve person people carriers then because we'll be crammed in again,_ Donna thought.

"Rose, is that alright?" the Doctor said to her.

"We might as well. We might as well see if they have the ones that sit fifteen while we're at it since we'll have all that gear along with everybody else," Rose replied.

The Doctor nodded and thought that to the others.

_Yes, get the large people carriers back please,_ Ianto thought.

_I will, at least get the twelve person ones so we'll have a bit more room,_ Rose thought.

_Just tell River and Anita to pack lightly since we all have bags and we usually get what we need along the way,_ the Doctor thought to Jack.

_Will do._

"Good, not that that's sorted, let's all rest for awhile and get our breath back before we head down and get ourselves mixed up in another crisis," the Doctor said to them.


	172. Chapter 172

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Two

(And now we pause our story for a commercial break…)

Rain and Jenny are sitting on a pink blanket in the middle of a field. It's a bright sunny day and flowers and butterflies are everywhere. The two of them are lounging on the blanket letting the soft breeze blow over their faces. While they relax, Jenny suddenly looks at Rain.

"Mum?"

"Yes, Jen?"

"Do you ever get that not so fresh feeling?"

"Um…I used to but not any more. I'm sterile so I don't have periods now."

"Neither do I. Why are we in a tampon ad then if we don't need them?"

"I haven't the foggiest, Hon. Let's go back to the TARDIS and watch a movie."

"Okay."

They both get up and walk away while a voiceover says…

"TAMPAX TAMPONS…FOR THAT NOT SO FRESH FEELING THAT MOST WOMEN GET EXCEPT FOR THOSE WHO WERE MAGICALLY CHANGED INTO TIME LADIES AND NO LONGER HAVE PERIODS."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next commercial comes on and we see Dorothy and Tony sitting side by side on a wooden bench. While they fidget and look around the voiceover says…

"DOT AND TONY, TWO TODDLER LOVERS SWEPT UP IN THE HEAT OF PASSION! THEIR LOVE BURNS ACROSS TIME AND SPACE AND SETS THE UNIVERSE ALIGHT!"

"Daddy?" Dorothy says, looking around.

"Alan?" Tony says, looking around.

"DOT AND TONY, TWO SOULS UNITED BY DESTINY AND BOUND BY LOVE!"

"I'm hungry, Daddy!" Dorothy whines.

Tony slides off the bench.

"I gotta go pee pee," he says, walking away.

Alan quickly runs towards him and leads him back to the bench.

"No, no, you sit here and be a good boy," Alan said.

"Alan, gotta pee!"

Alan sighs. He takes him to the bathroom. Meanwhile, Dorothy slides off the bench.

"Daddy? I'm hungry!" she says, walking away.

Alan comes back with Tony and notices Dorothy has walked off.

"Oh for the love of God," he says, putting Alan on the bench. "You stay here, I gotta go find your girlfriend!"

He walks off while Alan sits on the bench. A moment later, Alan carries Dorothy back to the bench and sits her down beside Tony.

"Stay!" he says to her.

"I'm hungry, Alan!"

Alan fishes around in his trouser pocket, finds a small packet of chocolate chip cookies, opens them and hands them to Dorothy. He pats her on the head and walks out of shot while the voiceover starts up again.

"DOT AND TONY, NOT SINCE ROMEO AND JULIET HAVE THERE BEEN TWO LOVERS SO DEVOTED TO ONE ANOTHER, SO WILLING TO DIE FOR THEIR LOVE!"

Tony stares at Dorothy's cookies and reaches for one.

"NO, YOU LEAVE MY COOKIES ALONE!" Dorothy screams at him.

"I WANT A BISCUIT!" Tony screams back.

"NO, MY COOKIE. YOU LEAVE ME ALONE!"

"GIVE ME BISCUIT!"

Dorothy wails when Tony smacks her in the face and grabs her cookies. Alan sighs as he walks back over and gives Dorothy more cookies. Dorothy stops crying, sniffs and takes the cookies. Both children eat while Alan walks away and the voiceover begins again.

"DOT AND TONY, TRUE LOVES WHO HAVE BEEN BETROTHED TO ONE ANOTHER AND WILL GROW UP TO MARRY AND BE A TIME LORD COUPLE, ALAN HIMSELF SWEARS IT!"

Dorothy slides off the bench.

"Daddy? Gotta pee pee!" she says.

Alan throws up his hands, mutters "I give up, go to another advert!" and leads her away while Tony gleefully hogs all the cookies and eats them as quickly as he can.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"The Doctor and Rain," the voiceover says as the two of them stand in their house, "a happily married couple who have just moved to a brand new house, eager to begin a life of blissful domesticity!"

"Ugh," the Doctor mutters under his breath.

"But what this happy couple don't realize is…they're about to be invaded by their wacky brother…ALAN!"

The word, Alan, appears in big black block letters directly over their bodies. The Doctor stands on his tiptoes and looks over the letters.

"Oi, not in front of our faces, you git!" he says.

"Yes, Alan, the on the dole brother who causes mischief and fun wherever he goes. The Doctor and Rain are in for the shock of their lives!"

There's a loud earth shattering BANG, BANG, BANG at the door.

"Gee, that must be Alan," the Doctor says dryly as he goes to answer it.

The Door opens and Alan zooms over to Rain.

"HIYA, SIS, I'M ON THE DOLE AND I NEED TO CRASH AT YOUR PLACE FOR A FEW DAYS OR WEEKS OR EVEN YEARS!"

He leaps backwards and lands directly on the couch.

"Yup, Rain and Doctor thought they were gonna have a blissful married life in a house by themselves until Alan showed up."

The Doctor walks over to Rain and sees him lounging on the couch. He looks at the camera.

"Um…Alan lives here. Remember? He and Rose share the house with us. We were expecting him to move in with us."

Alan gets up and walks over to him.

"No, Brother, this is supposed to be one of those films where the wacky brother moves in with the unassuming conservative married couple and causes havoc."

"Conservative, me?" the Doctor said in shock.

"Just…pretend for this film that you are and I don't live here with Rose and I'm your wacky, shiftless, lazy brother that moves in and disrupts your lives."

"Okay…um…if you say so, Brother," the Doctor said, shrugging.

Alan pats him on the shoulder and flops back down on the couch while the voiceover begins again.

"Yes, anything can and will happen when Alan's around!"

"Got that right," Rain muttered.

Alan gets up and strolls to the bathroom. A few minutes later, a stream of water floods the room.

"Oops, it appears I've stopped up the loo, dearest Brother," Alan calls out. "Have no fear, I've read Idiot's Guide To Being An Unlicensed Plumber, I'll soon sort this out!"

The Doctor and Rain look down as the tiny stream becomes a tidal wave and they find themselves waist high in a lake. They watch while Alan paddles by them in a canoe.

"Sorry, I guess I didn't study the book thoroughly enough. I'll go fetch help."

"Yes, the Doctor and Rain are in for one wild ride!" the voiceover said.

Alan paddles past them again with Jack behind him in the canoe.

"No worries, I got Jack. He'll help me," he said as he paddles to the bathroom.

The Doctor and Rain look at each other while they listen to the two men arguing in the bathroom. Suddenly there's an Earth shattering KA-BOOM and the water floods up to the Doctor's neck and Rain's forehead. The Doctor lifts his wife up above the water so she can breathe.

"See, Alan, I told you not to pull that!" Jack yells.

A few minutes later, Alan and Jack come by in the canoe.

"Never fear, Brother dear, going to fetch more help," he said, paddling by them.

"Yes, anything can and will happen when Alan Timelord moves in!" the voiceover says.

"Hey, wait a tic," Alan says off camera. "I can just open the front door and let all the water ouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut!"

The water quickly drains away while Alan and Jack are swept out the door, screaming in terror. The Doctor watches while the last of the water drains away and gazes around him at the wet, soggy interior.

"Good job I brought more houses since this one's ruined now," he says to Rain.

The word, ALAN, once more appears over their faces.

"So run, don't walk to your nearest cinema and see…ALAN! The wackiest comedy in years!"

"Come on, Latara, let's go somewhere where people won't put huge letters in front of our faces and we won't be in danger of dying in a manmade lake," he said, taking her hand while they walk off.

"ALAN!" the voiceover says, "rated S for silly, silly shenanigans!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alan stands in a large white room. He has a solemn expression on his face.

"Hello there, are you depressed, worn out, tired of life? Why not join our family and have fun, fun, fun! Yes, if you're sick of your current situation. If you're being oppressed by family members, if you're a square peg in a round hole, then come and be one of us. We will not only welcome you, we will change you if you like."

All of Alan's family including Dex gather around him.

"As you can see, there are many, many members of our family and it's growing each and every day. And as you can see, we're very open and accepting of all kinds of people. So whether you're British, American or Chinese, whether you're black, white, Native American, Asian, alien, robot or android, we want you to be one of us. We offer you bundles and bundles of love and affection and joy. We offer comfort and protection when you need it and you can rest assured that Brother will come and personally scream at your nosy, overbearing bitch of a mother if she tries to spy on you without your permission. Is life always easy for us? No, we do have our disputes from time to time, we can get on each other's nerves and there's always the chance some homicidal alien maniac will capture you and torture you mercilessly in order to make you betray the Doctor and join his army of mindless zombie slaves, but hey, isn't that a small price to pay for being with us? I mean, look at us, we're a walking party that's dedicated to having fun and laughing and singing and dancing wherever we go. Sure there's the responsibility of protecting the whole of creation and making sure the universe doesn't implode and kill untold trillions but there's no reason why you can' help us do that with a smile on your face, eh? So won't you come and join our little clan and make the Doctor happy? In return for making sure he never succumbs to the darkness again you'll get your own spiffy little house on New Hope and the chance to travel and get out of that rut you're in. So if your family is trying to force you to be a chartered accountant when all you really wanna do is climb Mount Everest, then why not chuck it all in, leave your past behind and come and party with us? Come, be one of us!"

He smiles and waves while everyone else chants, "One of us, one of us, one of us!"

While the screen fades to black a voiceover reads a disclaimer aloud…

ENTRY INTO ALAN'S WACKY FAMILY DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU'LL BE PROTECTED FROM DEATH, DISMEMBERMENT OR THE RISK OF BEING DRIVEN COMPLETELY INSANE BY MADMEN HELLBENT ON YOUR DESTRUCTION. ENTRY INTO ALAN'S FAMILY CARRIES A RISK OF TITTY TWISTERS WHENEVER ALAN GETS BORED AND RAIN'S NOT AROUND. FAMILY MEMBERSHIP WILL BE CANCELLED THE MOMENT YOU BETRAY ANY OR ALL OF THE OTHER FAMILY MEMBERS. THIS OFFER IS VOID IN CLEVELAND, PUDSEY, THE NORTH POLE AND BOLLA BOLLA IN THE BLACK SWAN SYSTEM. MEMBERSHIP FEES MIGHT BE REQUESTED UPON ACCEPTANCE INTO ALAN'S WACKY CLAN. THE CRYSTALS MAY OR MAY NOT CAUSE CANCER OR BIG POTATO-LIKE TUMORS THAT GROW OUT OF YOUR BACK. ALAN AND HIS FAMILY ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY CANCER OR TUMORS YOU MAY INCUR WHILE YOU USE THE CRYSTAL. ALAN TIMELORD IS A SUBSIDIARY OF ALAN TIMELORD INDUSTRIES, LTD, INC, USA, BBD, PDA, BLT, MOO, BAA, ARF, SQUEAK, OINK, CLUCK, ROAR. ALAN TIMELORD CANNOT BE ENSLAVED WITHOUT HIS PERMISSION UNLESS YOU'RE POINTING A GUN AT HIS HEAD AND THEN HE MAY CONSIDER IT. ALAN TIMELORD THINKS RAIN IS A BIG SMELLY ASSWIPE, SO THERE!


	173. Chapter 173

A/N: Before getting back into the story, I'm gonna do one more little parody thing that's based on the cartoon, The Jetsons.

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Three

(Sung to theme tune of The Jetsons)

Here's…the…Doctor!

The Doctor is driving his hover minivan through the sky. Rain is beside him and Jenny and Dorothy are sitting behind him.

His girl, Dotty!

Rain pushes a button on the car seat and a domed shield appears over Dot. The floor opens and Dot zooms down to the Nova Preschool.

Daughter, Jenny!

Jenny activates a force dome over herself and the floor opens up. She zooms down to Nova University.

Rain, his wife!"

The Doctor tries to hand her some money but she reaches into his pocket, grabs his credit stick with the unlimited credit, quickly activates the force dome and zooms down to the shopping center while the Doctor sighs and shakes his head. He drives to his home, goes in the house and flops down on the sofa while the song ends. He lays there, eyes half closed as K9 the Maid passes by dusting everything with a feather duster attached to his tail. He hears the dogs barking and opens his eyes to see Rory, Blizzard and Barney looking up at him.

"What do you want? You wanna go walkies? Okay, we'll use the new automatic dog walker pavement I installed."

(15 minutes later…)

The Doctor's screaming as the conveyer belt he's on goes out of control and he's sucked over and under the dog walker pavement while the three dogs hop onto the patio and watch him. He continues to go around and around the pavement while he screams out…

RAIN! HOW DO YOU STOP THIS CRAZY THING? RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIN!

(Ahem…and now back to our story…)

After getting back to the hotel room, they packed up everything and checked out. They rode a bus out to the parking lot and stopped near the vans. When they got out, River and Anita looked around at the vast sea of cars.

"My God, I noticed it was crowded but I've never seen so many cars before," River said while everyone loaded up the minivans.

"Well, there are actually six separate parks so that's why the car park is so full. But yeah, this is the big attraction here in Florida," the Doctor said. "And believe me, the motorway that goes by here is a nightmare to drive."

"I can imagine," Anita said, nodding.

They finished loading the vans and installing Tony's car seat in the seat behind Dorothy's. They put her and Tony in the seats and then stood outside while they decided who would go where.

"Come with me, everyone! Ours is the party people carrier," Alan said.

River and Anita gave him odd looks.

"Trust me, you really will be able to tell them apart very quickly," Rose said to them. "And you better not start the party now, we need to trade the people carriers for larger ones, remember?"

Alan nodded. Rose, Awinita, Julie, Mingxia, Jack, Ianto, Martha, Opal and Amelia went with him while the rest got into the other one. The Doctor climbed in the driver's side while Rain sat beside him. Madison sat with her daughter and Donna sat beside her. Jenny sat with River and Anita sat in the very back. Donna closed their door and both vans pulled out of the parking lot. Alan followed the Doctor while he went towards the exit.

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They found an Avis and traded their two minivans in for twelve seaters.

"Thank God, some room to breathe," Jack muttered.

They installed the car seats in one, split the gear up and put them in the backs before they climbed in. with more room they spread out a bit more and breathed a sigh of relief when they were able to turn in the seats and stretch their legs out a bit. While they waited, Alan and Rose and Rain and the Doctor stood in between the vans discussing where to go next.

"We could go to Universal Studios or Sea World," Rose said to them. "Get those out of the way and then concentrate on the smaller things."

"How about we tackle one of those today and then go out to eat tonight before we find a hotel room," the Doctor said.

"What about that mystery dinner thing? Do they have that here?" Rain asked.

"Yeah, they do, I'll have to go to the library and check and see what the address is and what time the show starts, but I'd love to do that as well."

"Well, how 'bout this? We go to Sea World since I'm sure it's not as big as Universal Studios and then do that tonight?" Alan said.

"Sounds good to me," Rain said.

"Yup, I can do that," Rose said.

"Let's do that then," the Doctor said, "go ahead and go to the library. We'll wait in the people carriers while you run in and check the internet."

Rose nodded and they all got into the minivans, started them up and drove off.

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After making a stop at the library so Rose could get directions to the dinner theater and the time that the show started, they went on to Sea World.

"So no one's been to this one before, yeah?" Rose said.

"We haven't," the Doctor said. "We didn't go to Universal Studios here either since we went to the one in Osaka."

"I just hope they have things for toddlers since Busch Gardens barely had anything," Rose said while they slammed the doors.

They walked off towards the park entrance.

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River and Anita were in awe while they followed their family around the park. They had decided to look at some of the sea life first and see the show with Shamu before heading to the few rides that Sea World had. Neither River nor Anita had seen any seals, dolphins or orcas before so they stared at them in fascination while the Doctor held Dorothy and Alan held Tony.

"These are gorgeous," River said while they looked at the orcas. "What are they called again?"

"Orcas or killer whales," the Doctor said.

"They're beautiful," Anita said.

"And very intelligent. They and dolphins are among the most intelligent of the ocean dwellers," the Doctor said.

They were staring at them from above and then went underneath to see the underwater view. They stood in front of a large piece of glass while the orcas swam up and stared at them.

"Free Willy!" Awinita said.

River and Anita gave her an odd look while the other adults laughed.

"It's this movie about this little boy who is forced to work in an aquarium like this after he vandalizes it and he becomes friends with this orca named Willy and he and his friend sneak him out so he can go back to the ocean and live there," she explained.

"There's this famous scene where Willy's in the ocean and they're coming to get him and he has to jump up over the boy standing on this sandbar to get to the safety of the ocean and you see him leap over him and he's standing there smiling while this two ton whale sails over him," Rain said.

"I don't think I'd stand under that, I'd be terrified he'd miss and land on me," Anita said while they laughed.

"Well, it wouldn't be much of an inspirational ending if Willy miscalculated and crushed his best friend under tons of whalely blubber," Alan said.

"But it'd be interesting to watch," Awinita added.

"Daddy, look!" Dorothy said, pointing to the orca when it came up to them.

"Yeah, isn't that neat?"

Dorothy nodded. The Doctor leaned in so she could put her hands on the glass while the orca stared at her.

"Ooo," Dorothy said.

She watched intently while the orca swam away. They lingered a moment more and then walked up to the surface.

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After viewing a few more animal exhibits and catching one of the Shamu shows, they stopped to rest a moment.

"That was neat, Papaw, how they rode on the orcas and did flips off them and stuff," Opal said. "I'd love to do that too."

"You can't, you're a Time Lady in training," Alan said, wagging his finger at her. "You must turn away from the whales and think about the universe."

They laughed when Opal stuck her tongue out at him. They all relaxed and lazily watched the other people walking by.

"Well, do you lot wanna ride the roller coasters first and get those out of the way so Dot and Tony won't have to ride a ride, wait and then ride another ride?" the Doctor asked.

They nodded.

"I volunteer then to watch the little tots while you scream your lungs off on the roller coasters," the Doctor said.

"I'll sit with you," Ianto said.

"Aw, come on, Yan, live a little," Jack whined.

"I don't like roller coasters, Jack, I'm sorry," Ianto said. "Go ahead and ride them, no one's stopping you."

"I'll sit them out as well. I also don't like ridin' them," Donna said.

"I wanna take a look at it first before I decide," River said. "I've never ridden one before."

"Same here," Anita said.

Rain glanced down when he mobile rang. She frowned as she stood up and took it out. She glanced at the display for a moment and then answered.

"Hello?" she said while the Doctor put his arm around her shoulder.

He frowned when she sighed angrily.

"No, Ma'am, I'm not interes…"

"Who is it?" the Doctor asked her.

Rain held her finger to her lips. She sat the phone on her lap and pressed the speaker button.

"…believe that your soul can only be saved through accepting Christ as your personal savior," the woman was saying. "We don't want to see you consigned to the fires of hell and damnation."

All of them groaned.

"I understand, Ma'am, but I'm not interested," Rain said.

"But surely you understand that only by accepting Jesus as your savior can you hope to go to Heaven."

Rain threw her hands up in the air. Alan grinned and walked over to her. He put his finger to his lips and winked.

"Ma'am," he said into the mobile while everyone bit their lips.

There was a pause.

"Oh, hello, I thought I was speaking with a young woman," the lady said.

"Well, she's here but I sent her away to get the snakes ready," Alan said.

There was another pause.

"I'm sorry, Sir, did you say snakes?"

"Yes, that's a part of our religious services, the snake handling," Alan said. "We're not interested in becoming Christians because we're members of the Mambanites."

There was another pause while everyone fought to keep from laughing.

"I'm sorry, Sir, I've…never heard of that religion."

"Well, it's because we're fairly new. We Mambanites believe in the snake God, Mambos, who is a black mamba snake. It is said Mambos created the world from his shed skin, the sun and moon from his eyes and the seas, oceans and lakes from his venom. We Mambanites handle black mambas and dance with them naked in celebration of our snake god's majesty and wonderfulness."

River and Anita were giving him odd looks while the Doctor shook with silent laughter. Over the phone there was another long pause.

"You…dance naked with snakes?" the lady finally said.

"Sure do and if they bite us, we consider it a blessing from Mambos. Granted most people die from the bites but they go blissfully to snake heaven where they can dance all day long in the presence of our god. The woman you were talking to was my wife, Lucretia, I'm actually her twentieth husband. The other nineteen were blessed by Mambos and are now up in snake heaven dancing naked with our blessed god."

There was another long pause and everyone except River, Anita and the children were shaking with silent laughter.

"Um…yes, but…have you ever considered becoming a Christian, Sir?" the lady finally said.

"For a few seconds, but Christianity doesn't have naked snake dancing so I said, "Naaaah!"

"I see…well, thanks for your time then, Sir," the lady said hurriedly.

"Not at all and may Mambos bless you with his sacred venom!"

"Yeah, bye," the lady muttered before she hung up.

Everyone finally let out their pent up laughter.

"There ya go, Te'lesu, that woman will never ring ya again," Alan said, patting her on the shoulder.

The Doctor grinned at River and Anita who were staring at him with a mixture of shock and amusement.

"Like I said, in no time at all you'll be able to tell us apart," he said to them.


	174. Chapter 174

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Four

River and Anita stood by a metal fence with the others and watched as a people rode upside down on a manta ray shaped coaster.

"Um…I'm not sure about this," Anita said. "I think I'll sit it out. Somehow I know if I was able to vomit, I would."

"Yeah, I'm the same way. This doesn't look like my cup of tea," River said. "I'll sit it out as well."

"Okay, well, we'll see you lot later then, have fun taking care of the toddlers," Alan said.

Everyone except River, Anita, the Doctor, Donna and Ianto walked off. They walked across the pathway to a couple of wooden benches Doctor sat with Dorothy and Ianto sat beside Tony. Donna sat beside Ianto and River and Anita sat down beside the Doctor and stared at the roller coaster.

"Do you like riding these?" River said to the Doctor while she gestured to the coaster.

"Some of them. I don't really like the ones where you hang upside down. I prefer to see where I'm going. Not all of them make you vomit though. There are tame ones and intense ones. There was one at Disney called Big Thunder Railroad that Dot liked but she's not tall enough for this one and neither is Tony."

"Daddy, I'm thirsty," Dorothy said to him.

"Daddy, I'm thirsty, Daddy, I'm hungry, gotta pee, gotta poop, gotta go, go, go!" the Doctor said, tickling her.

He looked all around.

"I s'pose there's a beverage distribution center around here somewhere," he said.

He got up.

"You wanna go with me to find the wee one something to drink?" he asked them.

They nodded, stood up and walked with him.

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They found a small restaurant not far from the roller coaster and went inside. The Doctor studied the menu.

"What ya want, Ladybird? Coke, juice or milk?"

"Coke," she said.

"Okey dokey, get ya a Cokey," he said, picking her up. "I think I'll get one as well and wet my whistle."

"Wish I could," River said while she stood behind him. "Wish I could get anything to drink or eat."

He turned to look at River and Anita.

"Aren't some androids able to eat?" he asked them.

"I think so. It depends on how sophisticated they are," River said. "Lux brought us out and gave us these bodies but I don't think he wanted to spend that many credits on us so we just got the basic bodies."

"Yes, but some androids never lived to begin with, you both did so it would make sense to allow you to function like normal humans and eat. I'll have to check my computer when we get back to the TARDIS. Maybe I can find someone who would be willing to upgrade you both and give you a gastric system and taste buds so you'll at least have the joy of tasting food again."

"That would be wonderful," Anita said while they moved up in the line. "Last night when you lot were eating, I was so jealous of you. I would have done anything for a bite to eat."

The Doctor shook his head.

"Lux is an idiot if you ask me," he said. "If he's gonna restore ya, he should have done it properly so you could live like normal humans. I'll see what I can do for you and Jennifer."

"Thank you," the said in unison.

"Also…I think they can also enhance your "brain" so you can communicate telepathically. I know some androids communicate that way with their owners. If you can do that, then you can speak with us since all of us talk to each other telepathically."

"I'd like to do that too," River said.

"Good because there have been some instances in our travels when we needed to be quiet and we communicated telepathically. Plus, it's helpful to be able to tell everyone something and not have to tell you vocally. When we get back to the TARDIS after this holiday, I'll look up a competent person who would be able to upgrade ya. Also, do you have dataports where you can hook into a computer and upload information?"

They nodded. River pointed to the back of her head.

"Back here. It's hidden by my hair."

"Mine too," Anita said.

"If you like, I can also hook you up to a computer in the TARDIS and let you upload information about Earth since we come back here all the time."

"That would be great," River said.

"Yeah, I'd be grateful if you did that for us."

"Happy to help," the Doctor said as they walked up to the counter.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they got their drinks, they walked back to the bench and sat back down. They sipped them while Dorothy and Tony walked around in front of them. While they did that, a woman passed by leading her two year old around on a leash and harness. The Doctor snorted.

"I hate that. I think it's so degrading," the Doctor said to them while he gestured to the toddler. "That's a child, not a dog. We don't do that to Dot and Tony and they aren't wandering off."

"I agree. Put the poor kid in a pushcart or hold their hand, don't make them walk on a lead," Donna said.

The little girl in the harness noticed Dorothy and Tony and slowed down to watch them. The woman kept on walking and the little girl was nearly jerked off her feet.

"Lady! Watch it!" Donna said. "Your kid almost got pulled down to the tarmac!"

The lady glared at Donna and snorted as she and the child walked off.

"Git," Donna muttered. "If you don't want to hold your child and look after her, leave her at home with someone else."

Dorothy walked up to the Doctor and stared at him while she sipped her Coke through her straw. The Doctor smiled and rubbed her back.

"You havin' fun, Ladybird?"

"Yes."

"Good."

Tony walked up to him.

"Are you Alan?"

The Doctor showed him the daddy bracelet. He stared at it.

"Where's Alan?"

"He went over there on that big scary roller coaster and he's probably soiled himself by now or vomited on your aunt Rain," he said to him.

Tony walked over to Dorothy and stared at her while he sipped his Coke. Dorothy stared back at him.

"Hi," Dorothy said.

"Hello," Tony said.

"I got a Coke," Dorothy said to him.

"Me too."

"Gee, too bad Alan's not around to see this, he'd probably say that this is beginnings of love for them," Donna said.

The Doctor chuckled and nodded. Dorothy pointed up at him.

"This is my daddy," she said.

Tony sipped his drink and looked at him. The Doctor waved and he waved back. Tony climbed up on his lap and Dorothy climbed up beside him. They sipped their Cokes while they looked around.

"You look cute with children around ya," River said.

The Doctor grinned.

"Yup, haven't had much experience with this one," he said, tapping Tony on the head. "He's more Alan's buddy than he is mine. I have Dot and my granddaughters though."

Tony looked at River and held his cup of Coke up to her.

"Oh, you would have to do that," she said while they laughed. "I'm sorry, hon, I can't drink that."

"I will try to get someone to fix that," the Doctor said. "Especially if we are at home and have barbecues with the rest of our family. It's no fun for you three to sit there while everyone else eats."

"Yeah, that would be torture," River said.

"You don't want?" Tony asked River while he held his cup up.

"No, Sweetie, thanks anyway," River said.

Tony went back to sipping his Coke. A few minutes later the rest of the family came walking up.

"How was it?" the Doctor asked.

"Not bad, we were under the belly of the manta and at one point it went down across the surface of this pond so we got a bit wet," Alan said to him. "Children been behaving?"

"Yup, they've been as good as gold," the Doctor said.

He told them about the woman leading the child along on the leash. They rolled their eyes.

"I hate that as well. Get a dog if you're gonna put something on a lead," Rose said. "I'm glad the poor child didn't fall over and get hurt. And she had the nerve to glare at Donna when she tried to tell her that almost happened to her kid."

"Well, we can't fret about it now," the Doctor said.

"Sure we can. We can go off, search for the woman, seize the child and adopt it as our own. Then we'll flip a coin to determine who the daddy will be," Alan said.

"You can be the daddy, I've already got enough children," the Doctor said.

"Okay, Starlight, go, seek, find the negligent woman and take the child away so we can raise it as our own."

"Nah, I'd rather go ride the other roller coaster," Rose said.

"Or…we could ride the other roller coaster," Alan said, shrugging. "Makes no difference to me just as long as we have fun."

They all stood up. Alan picked up Tony and the Doctor picked up Dorothy while they headed towards the other roller coaster.


	175. Chapter 175

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Five

After spending the rest of the afternoon at Sea World, they went and found a hotel room for the night and got settled in. They reserved four rooms side by side and opened the communicating doors.

"What are we gonna do now, Papaw?" Amelia asked the Doctor while he hooked up the DVD player to their TV.

"We're gonna get showers and then we're going out to this dinner theater thing and see a play while we eat and then tomorrow we're going to see Universal Studios and after that, I haven't the foggiest."

"I liked Sea World," she said to him. "Thank you for getting me the orca plushie."

"You're welcome, Sweetie," the Doctor said, tousling her hair. "I'm glad you're enjoying yourself. I love havin' ya here with me."

"Is it this much fun goin' through time and space?" Amelia asked.

"Even more fun than this," the Doctor said with a gleam in his eyes.

"I wanna go, Papaw."

"I'll take you to places I know are safe but you'll have to wait till you get older before you can go along with us to dangerous places," he said to her.

"I don't care as long as I get to be with you."

His hearts melted and he gave her a hug and a kiss.

"My thoughts exactly," he said to her.

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A few hours later they arrived at the dinner theater.

"If you two wanna order something, we'll eat it for ya," Alan said.

"Gee, thanks, not only can I not eat the food I order I have to watch all of you eat it for me, how wonderful," River said while they laughed.

They all went inside the building. They stood in the lobby and looked around. It was in an old theater. The second floor had white plaster walls with cherub statues affixed to the corners.

"This is different from the other theater," Rain said.

"Yeah and I think the play is different tonight, this isn't the one with crop circles, is it, Rose?" the Doctor said.

"No, I think it's about a murder on a Georgia plantation in the 1930's," Rose said.

All of them went into the theater and the Doctor and Rain noticed it had the same layout that the theater had in the other universe. Thirty round wooden tables were grouped around the stage. They chose two tables down front next to center stage and sat down.

"I guess there's no chance now of some couple sitting with us that you can lie to," Rain said to the Doctor.

"What do you mean?" River asked, sitting next to her.

The Doctor chuckled and explained about lying to the couple in the other theater. They all laughed when he finished.

"Yup, that definitely sounds like something you'd do," River said.

Everyone picked up the menus that were lying on the tables.

"All they have is steak or chicken?" Jack said, turning around to talk to the Doctor at the other table.

"Yes, but the play is the point of the whole evening, Jack. Besides, I don't think they make enough money to supply a lavish buffet."

"Do they at least have something for kids?" Madison asked. "I'd rather she had a cheeseburger and French fries than steak and chicken."

The waitress came up to the take the orders and Madison asked her about a kid's meal.

"Yes Ma'am, we can make a cheeseburger and fries for her," she said.

"Can you make that two?" Alan said from the other table.

"Better make it four," the Doctor said, gesturing to Amelia and Opal sitting across from him.

Everyone else gave her their orders and she moved on to the other tables while they relaxed.

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"This is really neat," Mingxia said while they ate and watched the play. "My parents used to take me to something like this in Beijing."

"Now if we can get through it without some crisis coming up," Awinita said.

"If that happens, the Doctor and Rain can go since they've done it before," Mingxia said to her.

The Doctor looked behind him and raised his eyebrow.

"Nope, I'm off duty from everything including house buying and furniture moving," he said. "I'm here to relax and that's it."

He turned his head and noticed Dorothy was eyeing his steak and baked potato.

"And what do ya think you're doin'?"

She gave him a coy look.

"You were tryin' to nick my food, weren't ya?"

"Dot, eat your food and leave Daddy's food alone," Madison said to her daughter.

Dorothy turned her attention back to her meal. The Doctor spooned out a bit of his baked potato and fed it to her.

"Well, hello there. Where did you come from?"

The Doctor turned in his seat and saw a little black girl standing by Tony. She was four years old with dark skin and her hair in cornrows. She was wearing a white sundress and sandals.

"Where did you come from?" Alan repeated.

The little girl walked over to Dorothy. She stopped and stared at her.

"Hi," Dorothy said.

"Hi," the little girl said.

"What's your name, honey?" Jenny asked her.

"Tameka."

The Doctor stood up.

"Anybody lose a Tameka?" he said aloud.

A young black woman several tables behind them stopped talking to her friends and jerked her head towards the empty seat beside her.

"Tameka Price! Get your butt back here!" she said, walking over to them.

She gave them an apologetic look while she took Tameka's hand.

"I'm sorry, she's fast. I took my eyes off her for just a moment."

"Well, sometimes that's all they need. No harm done. She's a cute little girl."

"Thanks. She's actually my sister's child. I volunteered to babysit for her so she could go out on a date."

"Well, that's kind of you to do that for her. I'm John Smith."

"Marie Price, nice to meet ya. I'll let you folks eat in peace now. Come on, Tameka."

They smiled and waved at Tameka while Marie led her back to their table.

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Everyone sat and finished eating while they laughed at the play. Like the one about the crop circles, the play was a comedy and all the characters were exaggerated stereotypes. While they watched, the Doctor's sensitive hearing heard Marie whispering for Tameka to come back to her. He glanced behind him and saw her heading for Dorothy. Julie, sitting on Alan's right side, noticed her coming up to the Dorothy and looked at Alan.

"Alan, Tameka's back," she whispered to him.

He and Rose looked at Tameka who was standing beside Dorothy.

"Hi," Dorothy said.

"Tameka, don't make me blister your behind," Marie hissed as she came up in between the Doctor and Alan. "I'm sorry again."

"It's fine. She's not hurting anything," the Doctor said. "Don't punish her just for being a curious little girl."

"I know she is a little child but at the same time I don't want someone to take her. No offense."

"None taken. I understand completely."

They all waved at Tameka when Marie led her back to her seat.

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"That was a great show," Rose said as they walked back to the minivans. "I'm glad you did that on your honeymoon. I'd never thought of doing something like that otherwise."

On the way there, they noticed Marie and Tameka getting into a black Honda Civic with. Tameka yelled at them and Marie jerked her head around and smiled.

"You just like that little girl, dontcha?" she asked Tameka.

She let go and Tameka walked over while the Doctor sat Dorothy down on the ground. Alan let Tony go and Amelia and Opal walked up to her. They all talked while Marie walked over to them.

"That was a very good play," she said to them.

"Yeah, it was," Jack said. "Our friends thought of that and I'm glad they did."

"So where ya'll from? Some of you have British accents and some of ya'll have American, I noticed."

"We're from England," the Doctor said. "We're all friends and family members here on holiday."

"I s'pose you've been to Disneyworld then," Marie said, gesturing to the children.

"Oh yes, and Sea World and we're tackling Universal Studios tomorrow," the Doctor said.

"I've lived here all my life and sometimes the tourists and the traffic tie ups are a headache but I like being around everything. You can get discounts on all this stuff if you're from here and Disney gives you year round passes which is what I have so we can go to Disney any time we want."

"Brilliant," Alan said.

"Yeah, but after awhile it kinda loses its novelty," Marie said. "Still, it's nice to go every once in awhile and take the kids. Are you going back to England after you see Universal Studios?"

"No, we're going through Florida," Rose said. "We started at Key West and we're going up to the border and then we're heading back."

"Wow, wish I had enough time to do that. Well, ya'll have fun then and it was nice to meet ya!"

They nodded and waved at Tameka when Marie took her hand. They watched while Marie walked her back to her car before they climbed into their minivans.

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"Oh! Another night of fun under our belts," Alan said while they all walked in the Doctor's hotel room. "And now we can relax."

He walked over to the balcony door, slid it open and stepped out into the warm night air. He groaned as he stretched his back muscles. He sensed someone behind him and turned to see the children out on the balcony with him.

"What? You lot think I was doing something interesting out here?"

Suddenly, the door slid closed and Rain grinned as she locked it and walked away.

"Hey! You snot!" Alan said, running to door while everyone inside laughed.

He peered in and saw Rain sitting on the bed waving at him with a smirk on her face.

"You wanted some night air, Snotbag, now you can stay out there for hours and hours and get some," she said.

"Brother, let us in," he called to the Doctor.

The Doctor looked at his watch.

"Hey, I have a good idea, let's go get River and Anita fixed so they can eat and communicate with us. Come on, everyone, back to the TARDIS."

"Oi!" Alan said while they watched everyone go through the communicating door into the next room. "You better not or I'll kick the glass in and don't think I won't do it!"

Rose came into the room and walked up to the glass. She folded her arms across her chest and leaned against it while she smiled at her husband.

"Starlight, let me in," he said.

"What'll ya give me?"

"The right to live since I'll murder ya if you don't open this door."

Rose stared off into space while she considered that. She looked down at the children who were laughing.

"You lot wanna come inside?" she asked them.

"Yes," they said in unison.

"Okay, I'll let you in but not my husband because he was rude and threatened to murder me. So here goes."

She unlocked the door and gasped when Alan instantly jerked it open and stepped through.

"If you think I was gonna just stand there and let everyone else pass me by, you apparently don't know me that well," he said to Rose while he and the children walked past her.

Rose grinned. She ran and leapt up onto his back.

"Oi, I'm not a camel!" he said while the children laughed.

He grabbed onto her and carried her into the next room while the children followed.

"Oh bugger, she let him inside," Donna said. "We were hopin' a storm would come along and you'd end up drenched."

"You wanted that for the children as well because they would have been out there with me," Alan said.

"Nah, we would have pushed you back and gotten them inside," Awinita said.

"Then locked the door and stood there watching you get all wet," Rain added.

"In that case, I would have carefully climbed down, come back in, come back up in the lift, used my screwdriver to open the door and throw you out there in my stead," Alan said to Rain.

"All kidding aside though, we were talking and I figured now was as good a time as any to take River and Anita and Jennifer somewhere to get upgraded so we can get it out of the way."

"And we have to go back to Nova," Jack said. "Me and Ianto and Martha loved being with you but we do need to go back to work again."

"So I'm gonna get the TARDIS and take them back so I might not be back by tomorrow but you lot go ahead and go to Universal Studios, I've already seen it."

"If you don't mind, Love, I wanna go with you. I've already seen it too," Rain said.

"Yeah, so have I," Mingxia said.

"And I wanna go as well. I'm not that excited about amusement parks. I'd rather come with you and take a rest from them and come back when we're done with Orlando," Donna said.

Alan and the Doctor were taken aback.

"Good job I'm going to get the TARDIS then," he said. "Anyone else not staying?"

Everyone else shook their heads.

"Right, let me get the TARDIS and bring it here then if that many people are going. Everyone else is in charge of the children."

"I'll extend the stay then for one more day so you can come back here after you're done," Rose said.

The Doctor nodded. He took out his manipulator and disappeared.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Wow," Alan said after the Doctor brought the TARDIS back and everyone left, "it's quiet now."

They put in Robin Hood for the children to watch and he and Rose were sitting on the bed across from them while the rest of the family played cards at the table.

"The people carriers will feel empty in the mornin'," Rose said.

"I'll say," Awinita said, "why did we even get the twelve seaters back if everyone's gonna leave again?"

"Well, I think Donna, Rain and Mingxia are comin' back for sure. They just don't wanna go through another theme park and I don't blame em. I'm also a bit tired of them."

Alan slid down and rested his head on the pillow.

"Poor Brother, he's not had much of a rest," he said, staring up at the ceiling. "Every ten minutes there's something else for him to do."

"I know. Dad has to be exhausted by now," Jenny said. "We should have found a way to bring the TARDIS with us since we keep havin' to use it."

"I agree," Awinita said. "Too bad Bro couldn't stuff it in a duffle bag like the DVD player."

"We need to do something special for him," Madison said. "Throw a thank you party or something to show how much we appreciate him."

"That's a great idea," Rose said. "Lord knows the man deserves it."

She sighed.

"Although I s'pose he'd tell us we didn't need to do it because he doesn't like people to honor him, yada, yada, yada," she said while they laughed.

"He doesn't like people honoring him?" Julie asked.

They nodded.

"He does what he does because he wants to make a difference in the universe," Alan said. "So he hates it if people make a big deal and have parties and ceremonies in his honor. He doesn't want a big fanfare, he just wants to do what he needs to do and then leave quietly."

"Yeah, but we're his family, surely he wouldn't mind us doing something for him," Julie said.

"I wanna bake a cake for Papaw," Opal said, looking at them.

"Yeah and give him some presents," Amelia added.

"Well, we could do the presents but there's no kitchen in here so we can't bake him a cake. We could get him one though from a shop, is that okay?"

They nodded.

"Why don't we do that now then," Alan said. "If you kids don't mind, why don't we pause the film and go find a Wal-Mart or something and get him some cake and presents and surprise him when he comes back. Sound good?"

"Yes!" the kids said in unison.

"Sounds great to me. I'd rather go shop than play cards," Awinita said, setting her cards face-down on the table.

All of them got up. Alan turned off the DVD player before they all headed out the door.


	176. Chapter 176

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Six

"Okay," Alan said when he parked the minivan and looked behind at his family. "Your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to go in there and rip Wal-Mart apart and get yourselves arrested so we can brag about being in prison in Florida."

"How about not?" Rose said while she sat beside him.

"Or how about not," Alan said while they laughed. "Okay, new assignment then. We go in there and get the Doctor the biggest, most extravagant cake they got so we can embarrass the snot outta him. And get fireworks if they got em so we can make tons of noise and then get thrown into prison in Florida. Okay, everybody out!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The children were laughing while they ran to catch Alan as he zoomed down the aisles with the shopping trolley.

"Hurry up, slowcoaches! We need to get a move on before tomorrow. We need to find that cake before we ride the roller coasters!"

He did a quick stop and grinned when everyone ran into him.

"I'm sorry, I didn't put on my brake lights, my bad," he said to them.

"Hey, Bro," Awinita yelled, waving at him while she stood with the others halfway across the store. "Do you need our help or do you want us to just wait in the car?"

"Oh, I s'pose I'll include you lot," Alan said while he pushed the trolley back towards them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They found the bakery section and looked through the cakes in a large refrigerated display case. It was nearing eleven and none of the bakery staff was working.

"Blast, I wish someone was here," Alan said. "I was gonna hand them a photo of Snotbag and ask them to make a naked cake outta her."

He giggled when the children said, "Ewwww!"

"What? You don't wanna see Rain naked?" he asked them.

"No!" they said in unison.

"Attention Wal-Mart shoppers," a woman said over the tannoy system. "There are some great deals in the toy aisle. Dora the Explorer dancing dolls are now only 19.99."

"Ooo, Starlight, let's get the Doctor one of those," Alan said to Rose.

"Also on sale, Trivial Pursuit, the Harry Potter edition, now only 25.85 and Spider-Man board games are now only 9.79."

"What about naked cakes, are they on sale?" Alan yelled up to the ceiling while everyone laughed.

"In the automotive department, Castrol motor oil is now 19.99 a case, pick some up today and keep your car running smoothly!"

"That's it, we'll get the Doctor a case of motor oil," Alan said while they laughed.

"Firestone Tires are also on sale, buy three, get one free and our friendly staff will put them on your car at no additional cost!"

"But what about the flippin' naked cakes?" Alan said to the ceiling.

"All these deals and more are available at Wal-Mart where prices are falling each and every day."

"Falling? Are you sending all these poor prices to hospital then?" Alan said. "And what about the naked cakes? Are they on sale, lady?"

The voiceover was replaced by music.

"Apparently naked cakes aren't on sale," Madison said.

"Ah well, it wouldn't be appropriate for children anyway," Alan said while they turned their attention back to the display case.

They looked at the selection of cakes. Alan made a face when he noticed most of them were for birthdays.

"Got any just because cakes?" he said. "It won't be his birthday till Valentine's day."

"I wanna get one with toys on it," Opal said, pointing to a Sesame Street cake that had Big Bird, Elmo and Cookie Monster plastic figurines on it.

Alan looked at it.

"Hey, the man might like it. He certainly likes toys," Alan said, shrugging.

Awinita giggled and pointed to a Dora the Explorer cake.

"We oughta be complete bastards and get him this and the dancing doll they mentioned," she said.

They giggled. Rose pointed to a Strawberry Shortcake one with pink icing.

"Nah, this one's even more feminine, let's get him this one," she said.

"So now we're getting my brother a poncy cake?" Alan said.

"Well, girls do outnumber the boys in this group," Rose said, shrugging.

"Get him the Care Bears one," Julie said, pointing to one on the end.

Alan snorted out laugher when they opened the case and grabbed the Care Bears cake. Giggling all of them hurried towards the toy aisle. They laughed harder when they found the dancing doll and put it in the trolley.

"You're turnin' this into one big joke now, I gather," Alan said.

"Well, from what you guys said, the Doctor wouldn't take it seriously anyway, right?" Julie said.

Alan considered that and nodded. Grinning he followed the women while they went through the aisles trying to find feminine toys for him. They found the stuffed Care Bears and looked them over.

"Get him Grumpy Bear," Madison said.

"Nah, get him Funshine Bear," Awinita said, pointing to the yellow one with the smiling sun on its tummy.

"Could get him Secret Bear," Julie said, pointing to the bear with the lock and key on its tummy.

Rose considered that.

"Hey, if anyone has secrets, it's him," she said.

They laughed when they took it down and put it in the cart. Awinita pointed to a purple raccoon.

"Could get him Brightheart Raccoon too since he's so smart," she said.

"Or Proudheart Elephant," Madison said, pointing to the pink elephant next to it.

"Nah, let's just get him Secret Bear to snuggle with and find something else, "Rose said.

They turned into the next aisle and saw Rainbow Bright toys.

"There ya go, get him Rainbow Bright!" Awinita said while they laughed.

They laughed harder when Rose put a Rainbow Bright doll into the cart and they hurried on.

"God, I can't wait till he gets back and sees what we did," Awinita said.

"I know, I'll have to have my camera ready because I wanna capture the look on his face," Rose said.

"Mommy, Teletubbies!" Dorothy said, pointing to some plushies.

Everyone laughed.

"Hey yeah, get him Tinky Winky," Julie said.

They laughed when Rose grabbed it and put it in the cart. They turned the cart and saw electronic toys.

"Get him a basic math game or something so he can exercise that brain of his," Madison said.

"Or something that teaches him his letters and numbers so he doesn't forget those," Awinita said.

"How about one of these Leapfrog things that read books to you?" Julie said, pointing to it. "Because I'm sure he needs help reading."

Rose grinned, grabbed it and grabbed a Barney book, a Scooby Doo book and a Teletubby book from a rack beside it. By now all of them were giggling uncontrollably. They were almost to the end of the aisle when Awinita suddenly grabbed a bear and put it in the cart.

"We've got to get him this. It's a Bubba bear. A friend of mine had one when I was little and it's one of the most annoying things on the planet. It'll drive him insane."

"Why? What does it do?" Rose asked.

"Um, well you start by squeezing its paw but I'm kinda afraid to do it here because once you get it going, it's very hard to shut it up," Awinita said. "But it does things like asks you to turn it on its head so it can be upside down and if you don't do it, it gets pushy and keeps asking till you do it. It's annoying as hell."

The women looked at each other, grinned and Alan laughed when they nodded and walked off.

"What about motor oil?" Madison said. "The lady said it was on sale."

They laughed and headed to the automotive section.

"Yeah, but not a whole case, just a couple," Rose said, grabbing two Castrol motor oils. "Just enough for the joke."

They nodded and walked down the aisle. Awinita laughed and pulled a car air freshener off a hook. It was in the shape of a pine tree.

"Here, maybe if he rubs this under his armpits he can smell like a forest," she said throwing it in the cart while they laughed.

"Anything else you lot can think of?" Rose said while they stopped at the end of the aisle.

"Tires?" Jenny said. "Buy three, get one free."

"Nah, I don't wanna carry that up to our rooms," Rose said.

"Towels, does the man need pink towels?" Awinita said.

"Or a toilet bowl brush?" Madison said.

"Maybe some tampons?" Julie said.

Rose laughed and went to find the tampons while the rest of the women howled with laughter and ran after her. They found them and Rose got him a big box of Tampax tampons along with a box of douches and some medication for yeast infections.

"To take care of his feminine problems," Rose said while they all bent over laughing.

"Blimey, this is gonna be great. I'm tempted to call him back now just so we can see him open all this," Alan said.

"I know, it'll be hell waiting for him to come back so we can do this," Awinita said.

"Anything else you can think of?" she asked the women.

"How about some Slimfast? The man is very chubby and needs to be on a diet," Madison said.

"Where? Where is it?" Rose said gleefully.

Madison thought for a moment and then led them over to it. They laughed when Rose got him a big can of chocolate Slimfast drink mix.

"You're right, the man needs to be on a diet," Rose said. "He has to weigh at least 45 stone and all that fat is bad for his hearts."

"How about some knickers?" Jenny said.

"Nice pretty pink knickers?" Rose said.

Jenny giggled.

"Yeah, pink knickers with butterflies on em."

They headed over to the lingerie aisle. At the last moment, Rose turned and went to the kid's section instead. She looked through the children's underpants and found a packet of three pink ones with Strawberry Shortcake's face on it. She lobbed it into the trolley while they laughed.

"Get him a bra then," Alan said. "Man needs a bra to go with those knickers."

"Yeah but you better get him a training bra so he doesn't injure himself," Awinita said.

Rose laughed. They walked around until they found the training bras. She selected a white cotton one and put it in the cart.

"Oh God, this is gonna be great," Rose said, looking at the items in the trolley. "I think that's enough for him. We don't wanna fill the room up and I have a feeling most of this stuff will end up going to us or the children but just seeing his face will be enough. Let's get some wrapping paper and a nice non-funny card so he does have something nice from us and then head back to the hotel so we can wrap this stuff up and get it ready."


	177. Chapter 177

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Seven

The Doctor sighed while he and his family walked down the pavement of Alzarius Minor. They had dropped off Jack, Ianto and Martha before finding a reputable person that would fix River, Anita and Jennifer. After they dropped them off for the day they went to find something to eat. They found a small café and ordered a light lunch. They took it outside on the patio and ate together while they chatted.

"Hopefully, this won't take too long," the Doctor said. "In the meantime, we can stay in the TARDIS until they get finished and once they're done we can drop Jennifer back off at her house and go back to the hotel room."

"Which Alan will probably have wrecked by that time," Rain said.

"Nah, Latara, Alan won't wreck it. Just…dent it a little," he said with a wink.

Donna chewed her salad while she looked around. It was a bright sunny day and aliens and humans of every size, shape and description were walking past the wooden deck the tables were on. The buildings around them were made of some kind of crystal material that glittered in the sun and each one was topped with a round crystal dome. It was a magnificent sight and Donna stared at them while she chewed her salad. While she chewed, she suddenly felt someone put their hands on her shoulders. She paused and noticed the rest of her family was staring up at the person in confusion.

"Hello, Donna."

Donna frowned, wondering who could possibly know her when she hadn't been to the planet before and then it suddenly sank in who the voice belonged to. She jerked her head around and her mouth dropped open when she saw Lee McAvoy smiling down at her.

"Lee?" Donna said.

He smiled.

"Yes, Donna, it's me."

"You…I can't believe it's you," Donna said.

"Who is it, Donna?" Rain said.

She looked at the Doctor who was just as confused as everyone else.

"Doctor, it's him. Lee from the data core. The one I was married to in there."

Comprehension dawned on the Doctor's face and he looked at him.

"So you are real," the Doctor said.

"Yes, I am," Lee said.

"Yeah, but there wasn't anyone with the name of Lee after everyone got out of the data core, I checked," Donna said.

"Um, well, I didn't have a library card and I borrowed my sister's card the day I got saved to the hard drive," he explained.

"You're not stammering either. Did you do that because of a glitch in the hard drive? Because our friend, Jennifer, when she got saved, it messed up her face and shifted her IQ."

"No, I did stammer and I did see you, Donna, with him as I was stepping onto the teleporter but I couldn't get your name out and I was teleported away before you could see me. After that, I had speech therapy so I could learn to speak properly just in case I did see you again. And lo and behold, I was passing by here and there you were, sitting and eating so I had to come and say hello to you."

"Well, pull up a chair and sit with us," Donna said.

He grabbed a chair from an empty table and all of them made room while he brought it over beside Donna and sat down. Donna made introductions and everyone else said hello.

"So do you live here?" Lee asked her.

"No, we have sisters…actually, three sisters who got killed by the Vashta Nerada and got uploaded to the hard drive. They actually retrieved their consciousness and put them in android bodies but the man who built the bodies didn't give them the ability to eat so we're here getting that remedied and also they're gonna implant a chip that will allow them to communicate telepathically with us," Donna said.

"You're all telepaths?" Lee asked.

"Yes, Donna's no longer a human. I'm a Time Lord and she's a Time Lady and so are the other women here," the Doctor said. "Do you live here then?"

"Yeah, this was originally my home world," Lee said. "The Library isn't too far from here actually."

"No, it's not," the Doctor said.

"So…those Vashta Nerada things, are they here?" Mingxia said.

"Some, but in miniscule amounts. This planet lies just outside the worlds the Vashta Nerada thrive on so there aren't large infestations of them, so don't worry, Te'lesu, you don't have to count your shadow here."

"Thank God for that," Donna muttered.

"So have you lived here all your life, Lee?" Rain asked.

He nodded.

"Oh yeah, I haven't gone too far in my life. The Library's the furthest I've been. My sister loved The Library and kept badgering me to go and I finally gave in."

"And when you did, you ended up saved to the hard drive," the Doctor said.

"Yeah and that's the last time I take her advice," he said while they chuckled.

He smiled at Donna.

"I wondered where you went, Donna. I kept searching for you and asking around, course I didn't know your real last name so the search didn't get very far but you made quite an impression on me in that make-believe world. I hope you were searching for me while I was searching for you."

Donna swallowed hard and glanced at the Doctor.

"Um…well, when I couldn't find your name in the library records I assumed you weren't real like our kids and I didn't bother to look after that."

"Oh. But if you did think I was real would you have looked?"

Donna's family grinned at each other when they saw the shocked look on her face.

"Yeah, I would have, Lee," she said.

Lee grinned. He leaned forward and caught her lips in a kiss. The rest of Donna's family grinned when Donna quickly got over her shock and kissed him back.

_Um…should we go to another table now?_ Mingxia thought to them.

_Donna? Do you want some privacy?_ Rain thought to her.

Lee finished the kiss.

_Um…well, I mean…you don't have to but it would be nice, yeah,_ Donna finally thought back.

The Doctor winked at his sisters.

_Come on, let's let them have some private time,_ he thought to them.

Lee frowned when everyone except Donna got up.

"No, you don't have to go," he said to them.

"Actually, we need to go check up on our sisters and see how their operation is coming along," the Doctor said. "You and Donna sit and chat and we'll be back shortly."

Lee nodded. They waited till they were off the deck and walking along the pavement before they shared another kiss.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was a short ten minute walk to the android repair shop. They waked inside and a tinkling bell over the door announced their arrival. An elderly man wearing a white lab coat and wire rimmed glasses stepped out from a back room.

"Hi, we're here to check on the progress of River Song, Anita Dermont and Jennifer Evangelista?" the Doctor said.

"We're done with Miss Song and Dermont and we're just about finished on Miss Evangelista," he said. "If you just have a seat, I'll send the two finished ones out."

A moment later River and Anita came out of the back.

"Well, we can eat again," River said.

"And defecate," Anita added.

_What about telepathy?_ The Doctor thought to them.

_Yup, we can do that too,_ River thought back.

_Good, we came to check on you but also because we suddenly needed to give Donna some private time, _he thought.

"Oh?" River said aloud, "Why?"

The Doctor smiled and explained about Lee. River was shocked.

"Her pretend husband from the data core is here and found her again?" River said.

"Yup and it appears they're rekindling their relationship right now which is why we came here because the two of them were starting to snog in front of us," the Doctor said.

"So…he's coming with us, I take it?" River said.

The Doctor shrugged.

"If Donna has her way, he will," Mingxia said.

"I don't think Lee will put up much of a fight if she does insist he go," Rain replied.

"No, I think Lee and Donna are well on their way to becoming a real life couple now," the Doctor said.

A few minutes later, Jennifer came out of the back room, all smiles. They hugged her.

"Thank you, Doctor, I feel better now, more human," Jennifer said.

"Happy to help. Can I ask you a question though? When you helped Donna out in the data core, did you know she had a family?"

"She had a pretend virtual family, yes," Jennifer said, nodding.

"Well, it seems the husband she had wasn't pretend."

He explained about Lee and Jennifer's eyes widened.

"He's here, he found her?"

"Yes, we went to a small outdoor café to eat and he found her there and I'm sure she has several love bites all over her neck by now," he said while they laughed.

He thanked the man when he came out to check on them and they all left to go back to the café. By the time they got back, both Donna and Lee were next to one another, face to face and holding hands while they whispered to one another. They paused and stared at them for a moment.

"Wow, Donna's got a new boyfriend," River said.

"Well, an old new boyfriend," the Doctor said, shrugging. "I am glad I brought the TARDIS because I have a feeling he's about to join us and I'm sure eventually she'll move out of her house into a three bedroom house with him which means more furniture moving for me which means I will be collapsing in my own house again after it's all over."

Rain tousled his hair.

"You just can't catch a break with the moving, can ya, Love?"

"Nope, I sealed my doom the moment I offered to help Grace, Maddie, Dot and John move into their first house."

Donna finally noticed them and beckoned to them. They walked over to them.

"Let me guess, he's coming with us," the Doctor said when they reached the table.

Donna looked at Lee.

"Would you like to?"

"Come where?"

"Well, half of us are in Florida on Earth and the other half are in Nova on New Hope. I'm going to New Hope first to drop them off so if you wanna spend time alone with Donna there…"

"I'd love to," Lee said.

"You don't mind, do ya, Doctor? I mean, the whole theme park thing doesn't really appeal to me."

"I don't mind one bit. I'll come back for ya when you wanna come back. For the moment, just get reacquainted with Lee, okay?"

She nodded and he gave her a hug.

"And do a good job with the rekindling so me and Alan won't be the only married couple," he whispered in her ear.

Donna gave him a playful slap on the back while he chuckled. He broke apart and Lee and Donna stood up and followed all of them back to the TARDIS.


	178. Chapter 178

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Eight

Alan, Rose and the others relaxed in their hotel room. They had spent the day at Universal Studios and they and everyone else were watching The Emperor's New Groove and laughing at it.

"Brother needs to see this one," Alan said to Rose while they lay together on their bed. "He'd like it."

"Speaking of him, where is he? I want him to open his presents," Rose said, sighing.

"I know, he needs to get his butt back here so we can have some laughs at his expense," Awinita said while she sat in one of the chairs beside the table.

Just then, they heard the Doctor calling from the next room.

"'Bout time," Rose muttered. "Good job we hid the presents in the third room."

The Doctor, Rain and Mingxia entered the room.

"Fellow travelers, our numbers have been severely reduced," the Doctor said. "Jack, Ianto and Martha have gone back to work; River, Anita and Jennifer went home to recover from the operation and Donna…"

He smiled at Rain and Mingxia who giggled and he explained to them where Donna was. Alan's eyes boggled.

"So this Lee was a real bloke," he said.

"Yup and at this very moment, I believe the two of them are snogging and probably doing more than that in her house. So Julie, Awinita and Mingxia, don't be surprised if the house is in a bit of a mess when you get back to it."

"So she's not coming back?" Rose said.

"I told her to phone when she's ready," the Doctor said. "She said she really wasn't that interested in theme parks anyway, but for the moment this is it for our travelin' party."

"Papaw," Opal said.

"Yes, Dear?"

"We got a surprise for you."

He frowned.

"A surprise? What kind of surprise?" he said while they giggled.

Rose stood up.

"Doctor, you've done so much for us and have always been there when we needed ya and you've been running around trying to help everyone get settled in and movin' furniture and things like that so we decided to honor you with a party."

"No, you didn't have to. Oh Rose, you know I don't like things like that," he moaned.

"I know, Doctor, but you deserve this. Now come and sit down and we'll get you your presents and then we'll have cake."

"Presents and cake? Did you lot even go to Universal Studios?"

"Yes, we did and we enjoyed it. So sit down and have a rest because I'm sure any minute now you're gonna have to go back and fetch Lee's things and bring them to Nova."

The Doctor snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Spot on, Rose. I'm sure I will," he muttered.

He looked at Alan when the women went in the other room.

"This wasn't your idea, was it?"

"Lord no, Brother. This was all their doing," he said.

The Doctor smiled when the children gathered around him and hugged him. Amelia put a paper crown they had colored and designed on his head and he smiled at that and poured love into their minds.

"Thank you," he said to them.

His eyes widened when he noticed the women coming back in with all the presents.

"Wow, they really went all out," Rain said to her husband while she sat a couple of presents down on the bed.

"Yeah, they really meant it when they said they had presents for you," Mingxia added when she sat some presents on the bed with the others.

"Where this cake though?" Rain asked.

"It's in the fridge," Rose said, pointing to the little mini fridge next to the dresser. "We'll give him his presents first and then he can have cake. So, Doctor, this is from us to you for all you've given to us."

She picked out a present, brought it over and sat it beside him.

"You didn't have to do this, Rose, really," the Doctor said. "I love you all and I'd do anything for you."

"We know that but this is our way of saying thanks," Rose said.

She kissed his temple and stepped back. He noticed the children giggling.

"What's so funny?" he asked them.

"Nothing, Papaw," Amelia said innocently.

They laughed when he gave them a wary look.

"Why do I suddenly have the urge to duck down while I'm openin' this?" he said.

Rose readied her camera while the Doctor sighed and pulled off the wrapping. They laughed when he stared at the Dora doll in shock.

"What?" he said.

"It's a Dora the Explorer doll, Bro. It dances for you," Awinita said while Mingxia and Rain laughed.

They laughed harder at the long, hard stare he was giving the doll.

"Okay, thanks for the dancing doll," he said.

Rose brought over the next gift. The Doctor unwrapped it and Rain and Mingxia laughed at the Care Bear.

"There ya go, it's Secret Bear," Rose said. "He's the Care Bear that you can tell aaaaall your secrets to and he'll guard them forever."

They laughed at the odd look on the Doctor's face. Slowly a grin spread over his face and he chuckled.

"Is this your idea?" he said to Dorothy.

"No."

"Oh God, what's next?" Mingxia said to Rain.

"Yeah, bring the next present over, please," Rain said to Rose.

Rose brought him the next present. He unwrapped it and they laughed at the Rainbow Bright doll.

"Call me bonkers, but I notice that so far the presents seem to be a bit feminine in nature," the Doctor said.

He chuckled and waited for the next present. Rose brought it to him and he unwrapped Bubba Bear.

"Mmmm, bit heavy on the toys, I see," he said while they laughed. "Bubba? The poor thing's name is Bubba?"

He noticed a little push me sticker on his right paw. He pushed it.

"Hello! I'm Bubba!" the bear said. "I wanna be your friend. Say, can you do me a favor? Can you turn me upside down?"

"Very cute, what's next?" the Doctor said, pushing it off to one side while Awinita snickered.

"Hey!" Bubba said. "I said, can you turn me upside down?"

They laughed when the Doctor gave him a shocked look. He looked at Opal and Amelia who were giggling.

"The bear can tell when he's not upside down, imagine that!" he said.

"I said, can you turn me upside down?"

They laughed when the Doctor grabbed the box Bubba was affixed to and turned it and him upside down.

"Whoa, you look weird like that," Bubba said. "I'm getting sick, will you turn me right side up now?"

The Doctor set him upright.

"Phew, that feels better. Now can you put my sunglasses on my face?"

"Anyway, Rose, what's the next gift?" the Doctor said.

"Hey! I said, can you put my sunglasses on my face?"

"No, you're an intelligent demon bear, do it by yourself!" the Doctor said to him while they all laughed.

He turned his attention back to Rose who was holding his next present and laughing.

"I said, can you put my sunglasses on my face?"

"Rose, how the hell do you turn Bubba off?" the Doctor said.

Rose shrugged.

"See what I mean about the thing being annoying?" Awinita said to Rose. "Just let it run its course, Bro. It will shut up…eventually."

"I'm beginning to understand the reasoning behind getting me Bubba," the Doctor said while they laughed.

"I wanna sing the ABC song, will you sing with me?"

"No, Bubba, I wanna open the rest of my presents in peace without you badgering me," the Doctor said while they laughed.

"ABCDEFG…"

They laughed harder when the Doctor tipped the box over and smashed the bear's face into the table. He sighed angrily when it kept on singing and he threw it across the room while the children laughed.

"Anyway, next present," the Doctor said to Rose.

The Doctor rolled his eyes when Bubba declared that he liked the ABC song soooooo much, he wanted to sing it again.

"I will burn the bear after we get done with this so don't anyone get too attached to it," the Doctor said to them

He took the next present from Rose. He opened it up and stared at the leapfrog pad.

"It's a leapfrog pad," Awinita said. "There are all sorts of games to help you learn math and spelling and your ABCs and we got you some beginning books that leapfrog will read to you and you can learn how to read along with it."

All of them laughed when the Doctor slammed the box down on the table and gave her a wry grin.

"You lot were really, really bored last night, weren't ya?" he said.

He sighed when Bubba began to count.

"I hate that toy," he said while they laughed. "If that thing ever wears out, do not, I repeat, do not touch it ever again, any of you!"

Rose handed him the next present. He tore it open and they laughed when they saw the Tinky Winky doll.

"Boy, you lot are gonna have fun with these toys after they get done having their laughs," the Doctor said to the children.

"I want Bubba," Opal said.

"No, Bubba's going to the bin where he belongs," the Doctor said. "Or I'll take the voice box out and then you can have the thing. I'm not going through Florida listening to him screaming at me to put his ruddy sunglasses on his face."

He paused a moment and breathed a sigh of relief.

"And it appears he's shut up now," the Doctor said.

"He has? Well, I'll start him up again!" Rain said.

"You so much as move a toe in the direction of that demonic thing and I'll divorce you right here and now," the Doctor said while they laughed.

Rose brought him the next gifts. He opened them up and they laughed when he slammed the motor oil down on the table.

"Nice to know you lot moved beyond the toy aisle at some point," he said to them.

Rose handed him the next tiny present. He opened it up and rolled his eyes at the air freshener.

"Wow, I'm completely underwhelmed by all of this," he said to them.

"They had tires. Buy three, get one free but we decided not to get those," Jenny said.

"Why? Buy three, get one free is a tremendous bargain," the Doctor said dryly while they laughed.

Rose brought over the next gifts. He opened them and Rain and Mingxia fell against each other laughing when they saw the tampons, douche and yeast infection cream.

"For those feminine needs you have," Madison said.

"You lot are completely off your soddin' trolleys!" the Doctor said while they laughed. "Gee, who can we give these to since you're all sterile?"

"I'll give them to me mum. She can use em," Rose said.

"Oh, thanks Rose, just the image I wanted in my head, Jackie using tampons, douche and yeast infection cream!" he said while they laughed.

They giggled when Rose brought over the next gift.

"Be thankful I love all of you because I would have punched your lights out otherwise," the Doctor said to them.

"Be thankful Jack is gone," Alan said.

"Yes! Of all the people I don't want here witnessing this, it's Jack!" the Doctor said while they laughed. "I'm so glad he went home before this happened and don't anyone breathe a word of this to him, you hear me?"

He opened the gift and stared at the can of Slimfast.

"It makes healthy weight loss shakes because we all know what a tremendous blubberbutt you are," Awinita said.

They roared with laughter when the Doctor threw the can at her and it missed her leg by inches.

"And finally, the final gift," Rose said handing it to him.

"I dread to think what the finale is to all of this," the Doctor said.

He opened it up and Rain and Mingxia laughed when he pulled out the bra and panties.

"So…no presents for me at all then," he said. "This was just one big practical joke for all of you."

Rose handed him a card. He took it out of the envelope. It was a pale yellow card with several roses on the front and above it in blue cursive writing were the words, FOR SOMEONE SPECIAL.

"If I open this, is a banger gonna explode in my face?" he said to them.

They shook their heads and Rain and Mingxia came up behind him while he opened the card. It was blank inside except for a handwritten note by Rose.

Doctor,

I know we were just having a laugh at your expense with all these gifts but we are dead serious about you being so special to us. You have helped each and every one of us out in so many ways. You've been there for us, cried with us, laughed with us, kissed and held us and have been a family member to us even when our own family members turned our backs on us. You are an amazing, wonderful man and that's why we keep adding family members left and right. It's because everyone sees in you what we see and that's someone unique and special. Every one of us has grown and become better people because of you and for that we are eternally grateful. We love you all so very much, Doctor, remember that no matter what life brings your way.

At the bottom were everyone's signatures along with two tiny scribbles. The scribbles had arrows pointing to them that indicated which scribble was Dorothy's and which was Tony's. The Doctor sat the card down on the table and everyone hugged him tightly while he sent love into their minds. Rose took the card and gave it and a pen to Rain and Mingxia so they could sign it. After they were finished, Rose had everyone gather together around the table for a photo and then she went and got the cake out of the fridge. She brought it over to him and opened it up and Rain and Mingxia laughed when they saw the Care Bears.

"Yup, I can definitely tell I'm surrounded by women," the Doctor said.

He leaned back and smiled while he watched Rose bring over a plastic knife and hand it to him. They brought over paper plates, cutlery and cups along with three two liter bottles of soft drinks and they slid Dorothy off his lap while the Doctor took Grumpy, Bedtime, Funshine and Tenderheart Bears off his cake, licked the frosting off their feet, set them aside and cut the cake for everyone.


	179. Chapter 179

Chapter One Hundred and Seventy Nine

After they ate, the Doctor divvied up the gifts among the children. He gave Tinky Winky to Tony since it was the only plushie that wasn't too feminine. He gave Dora to Amelia, Rainbow Bright to Opal and Secret Bear to Dorothy.

"No one's getting Bubba," he said while the adults laughed. "Bubba the badgering bear's going bye bye in the bin!"

He grinned when they let out a chorus of "No!"

"Alright, Bubba lives, but the thing's getting a voicectomy before I give him to ya."

He let Dorothy have the leapfrog pad and gave Tony the Scooby Doo book. He examined the underwear and gave it and the bra to Amelia. He raised his eyebrow and everyone laughed when he picked up the Slimfast can.

"The housekeeping staff can have this," he said, putting it on the bedside table. "As for the motor oil, we can put one each into the people carriers and the air freshener…"

He took a sniff and made a face.

"Oh blimey, this stays here, I'd get a headache in seconds breathin' that in," he said, putting it by the Slimfast can.

"And the feminine products go to..."

The Doctor stopped Rose.

"Don't finish that, I'm still trying to erase the thought from my mind," he said to her.

He gave one Care Bear cake topper to each of the children and after that, he kissed them and lay back and rested with Rain at his side. Amelia put Dora on the bedside table and they watched her push a button on the base and Dora swiveled around while she sang to her.

"Aw," Rain said. "At least you guys got something out of Papaw's surprise party."

"Are you sure you don't want this, Papaw?" Amelia said.

"No, Dear, I'll survive without Dancin' Dora, thanks," he said while they laughed.

He sighed.

"So now what?" he asked Rose who was lying beside Alan on the other bed.

"You wanna go up to Daytona? See if we find that ghost tour here?" Rose asked.

"Makes no difference to me," the Doctor said. "If we do, Latara, you are going to stay in sight of me at all times. I'm not gonna have another drunk try to assault you behind another mausoleum."

"Trust me, I'm not making that mistake again," Rain said.

"We're gonna see ghosts?" Amelia said.

"I'm not sure, Sweetheart. Mamaw and I didn't see anything when we went through this ghost walk in the other universe but even if we don't, it's kinda spooky anyway because you're going through dark buildings and graveyards at night. Does that frighten you?"

"Not if you're gonna be with me," Amelia said.

"We will be, don't worry," the Doctor said. "But I don't wanna do this if you and your sister and Dot and Tony are gonna be too scared."

"Hang on," Amelia said.

She went in the other room and came back a moment later with Opal.

"Dotty's mom said she can look after Dotty and Tony because she thinks they might be too young to go and she said she'd rather stay in. she's not really interested," she told him.

"Okay, that's what I thought. How about you, Opal?"

"If you go with me," Opal said.

"Nah, we're gonna go into the spookiest, creepiest graveyard and leave ya to fend for yourselves."

"Be quiet, Alan," Opal said while they laughed.

She looked at the Rainbow Bright doll in her hands.

"Who is this, Papaw?" she asked him.

"I haven't the foggiest, Dear. Some woman named Rainbow Bright, that's all I know 'bout her."

Rain propped herself up on her elbow.

"Rainbow Bright, if I remember right, is this little girl who's in charge of all the rainbows in the world and she has friends that represent all the colors of the rainbow and she rides a horse named Starlight with a rainbow mane. She lives in Rainbowland, I think and she has these little puffball creatures called sprites that harvest these crystals that make the rainbows. There's these villains called Murky and Lurky and they want everything to be dull and lifeless so they try to stop Rainbow Bright. I watched the cartoon when I was around your age, Hon."

"And there you have it, that's who Rainbow Bright is."

"Who is this then?" Amelia said, pointing to Dora.

"Dora's this little Mexican girl. She's an explorer and she has these friends that help her explore and the Care Bears are little bears that have different things on their tummies and they teach people how to care and share with each other. That's Funshine Bear, she likes to have fun and you have Tenderheart Bear and she cares about other people, I think."

"Wow, we now know a heap of things about female cartoon characters," Alan said to the Doctor.

"Yes, it's fascinating how much I learned in just five minutes," he said while Rain and Rose laughed.

"What's the purple thing Tony has?" Amelia said.

"Ah, I know that one," the Doctor said. "That is Tinky Winky, one of the Teletubbies. They're little…um…alien…tubby children things that talk like babies and have a baby for a sun that drools on them and that's how it rains on their planet and they trip over bunnies all day while they dance and play and they have a weird vacuum cleaner thing that frankly looks like the stuff of nightmares but I guess children like it."

"And how do you know this, pray tell?" Rain said with a grin.

The Doctor looked at the amused grin on her face.

"Brain buffing when I was a toddler," he said, tapping the side of his head.

"Really? Gallifreyans knew about Teletubbies, eh?" Rain said.

"Oh yes, did tons of research on the little buggers, we had volumes of books dedicated to them and classes at the academy."

"Mmmm, sure ya did, dear," Rain said while Rose giggled.

"Then Teletubbies must be very important to the universe if you spend all that time learnin' 'bout em," Rose said.

"Weeeell, not all our time is spent studying about them, we also learn about Lazytown and Postman Pat."

"So…Time Lords are very, very interested in Cbeebies then," Rose said with a smirk.

"Cbeebies? What's that?" the Doctor said, feigning innocence.

He chuckled when Rose swatted his arm and he tousled Amelia's hair.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After the children finally went to bed, most of the adults watched TV in their rooms except for Rose, Rain, Madison and Julie. They changed into their bathing suits and went down to the heated indoor pool to swim for a couple of hours. While they swam Rain told them about the ghost walk in Daytona.

"Cool! I've never been on a ghost hunt before," Julie said.

"I hope you guys have fun then," Madison said. "I'm staying behind with the toddlers. I'm really not interested in hunting for ghosts so I'll stay behind."

"If this is the same ghost walk that was in the other universe, it's a bunch of old buildings, cemeteries and a jail. We didn't see any ghosts but I did almost get raped by a drunk pervert."

"What?" Julie said, shocked.

Rain nodded and told her and Madison what happened.

"Oh my God, Rain. I'm glad the Doctor was around to help you out," Julie said when she finished.

"Me too," Rain said while they all sat down on the steps leading into the shallow end of the pool. "Back when that happened, I was still human. The Doctor did to me what he did to the kids and opened my mind so he could me but I couldn't speak to him telepathically like they can't. So when it happened, he could tell I was terrified, but I wandered off when he wasn't looking right at me so he had no idea where I was until I got away from the bastard long enough to run away from the crypt and show myself to him. The guy pulled me back to the crypt but my husband saw me and came for him. If I hadn't done that, I don't know if he would have found me before the guy did something."

"So what did he do to the guy?" Madison asked.

"Well, he held him there until the cops came but for a few minutes I thought he was gonna kill the guy because he was furious and believe me, when the Doctor gets angry, don't mess with him. There's only been two times I've seen him completely enraged and this was one of them. Both times it frightened me to see him in that state?"

"Why?" Julie asked.

"I can't speak for Rose, but I don't think you two have ever seen the Doctor nearly out of his mind with rage. His eyes turn coal black."

"I've seen it before," Rose said, nodding. "I saw it during his ninth life and a couple of times during this life. She's right. His eyes darken and there's no warmth in them like there normally is. Even when his eyes were blue, they would darken to this impenetrable midnight blue. I've never seen anything like it before."

"Neither have I," Rain said. "The Daleks called him The Oncoming Storm and Awinita and I used to tease him because he's so sweet to us we couldn't imagine him being that dangerous. I found out that night that there are times when he can be because if no one had been there with him and that guy, I'm betting he might have beat the shit out of him until he was unconscious or worse."

"Would he ever hurt us?" Julie asked.

"No!" Rose and Rain said emphatically.

"No, he won't ever hurt the innocent…at least not intentionally," Rose said. "And he loves all of us. That's what Rain means about it being a shock when you see him enraged to the point his eyes darken because what you saw with him earlier, all the laughing and joking, and the times he gets that angry, he's like Jekyll and Hyde. That's why we're all trying to help him heal so he finally let go of all that pent up anger and darkness."

"But you said there were two times you were scared of him, what was the other time?" Madison asked.

"Well, this was before you and Julie joined us. We went to this fair on an alien world and this guy saw me there, wanted me and tried to kidnap me. The Doctor and Alan tried to stop him and got taken with me when he activated his vortex manipulator. That's where the Doctor got it. Anyway, we escaped from him and we got out of the building and was going across the parking lot to this field when one of this guy's guards shot a poisoned dart into my neck that would have killed me permanently. Turns out the guy was behind a bush with two of his guards and was waiting for us. He made the mistake of gloating about what he did to my husband and the Doctor just lost it completely and barreled into them, knocked out the guards and just beat the guy and kept on beating him in a blind rage until he was dead."

They gasped.

"Oh my God, he killed someone in front of ya?" Rose said.

"In front of me and Alan. He just lost all control and didn't stop until…"

She sighed.

"If I tell you this, please don't let the Doctor know you know about this. Madison knows because she heard me call him this when we first met her but the Doctor lets me call him Thete which is a name only I'm allowed to use and I can only use it when no one else can hear us. Just before I passed out from the poison, I screamed that name to him and that was enough to bring him to his senses. But yeah, I saw him kill someone and his eyes were just as dark as they were that night in the graveyard. But he won't ever hurt us. So don't worry about that."

"How did he pick the name Thete for a private name?" Madison asked.

"It's a shortened form of an old nickname he had when he was at the Time Lord academy. They used to call him Theta Sigma but he hates that nickname because people use it to taunt him. I wanted something more personal to call him besides Doctor and he chose Thete. He lets me use it because he knows I'll use it respectfully. But I can only call him that, never Theta Sigma, and no one else can call him Thete, so don't use it or let him know I told you about it. He knows about Maddie and Alan knowing it but no one else is supposed to know."

"I won't say anything," Julie said.

"Me neither," Rose said.

Rain looked over when Alan entered the room. He smiled at them.

"Evenin' ladies," he said while he walked over to them.

They noticed he was fully clothed.

"A little overdressed for the pool, Dear?" Rose said.

"Nah, didn't come down here to swim. Brother's behind me and we're just coming down to say hello and give you a bit of news. Besides, I want to see my wife and gaze upon her beauty."

"Same here," the Doctor said, coming inside, "nothing I like better than seeing my wife in a cozzy. "Donna phoned us."

They sat down on the deck beside the women.

"And?" Rose said. "Is he movin' to a house?"

"He's movin' but not to a house. He doesn't wanna live with others at the moment. But he is getting a flat nearby so he can be close to Donna. There's one about a mile from us so it's still in the general vicinity."

"Oh God, you have to go move things again," Rain said to him.

"No, not this time. The flats are furnished and most of his furniture is old and worn so Donna let her use her mobile and he rang friends to go and get what stuff they wanted and throw the rest away. He also spoke to his landlord and his boss and got all that sorted out. According to Donna, he's a construction worker and with these new housing developments going up around Nova, he'll have no trouble finding work, I think."

"So is Donna moving in with him then?" Julie asked.

"Not yet, they're gonna give the relationship a trial period. They do fancy one another but you have to admit they were thrown together in an odd way and they wanna make sure they really are right for each other before they move in together and before he becomes one of us since Donna also mentioned that to him. And he took her being a Time Lady very well, thankfully, but then again, he lived on a planet that was home to several species of alien so he didn't act like James. But she's gonna stay there so they can have some more privacy time and try to bond with one another. So this time, thank the heavens, I don't have to move things around."

They laughed when he let out a melodramatic sigh of relief.

"She's also checked up on our android sisters and they're all recovering nicely and Donna said she bought them some biscuits and they all ate them with gusto."

"How does that work?" Julie said. "They actually did put in a stomach and bowels for them?"

"Well," the Doctor said, scratching his nose. "The point of it all is to give them sensors in their mouths that function as taste buds which allows them to savor the taste of the food. But the food just can't drop into their bodies and rot there so they simulate a digestive system with an artificial stomach that pumps in acids that are similar to stomach acids to digest the food and then it goes through a series of tubes where it's broken down further like it would be in an intestine and then they add an anus and mechanical muscles around it to make it act like a normal anus would so they can go to the bathroom and not just drop feces out like a cow. Now besides the chip, that's all they did to them. They could have done more and gave them simulated organs and made their insides resemble humans and also add fake veins that would bleed if they were cut but that costs thousands and thousands of credits and I think the only reason an android would have that done is if they were a spy or assassin and had to appear as human as possible. But…anyway, they're all fine now. So that's the other big announcement. And now that that's out of the way, I can kiss my wife."

He leaned in and Rain kissed him.

"Ah, that's lovely," the Doctor sighed while they laughed.

Rose looked at Alan who leaned in to her lips with a hopeful look on his face. She grinned when he puckered up and quickly ran away towards the deep end. They laughed when he stared after her with wide eyes and puckered lips.

"Hey? Where's my lovin'?" Alan demanded.

"Come and get it," Rose said, winking.

They laughed when Alan began to strip his clothes off as quickly as he could.

"Oh God, I'm not looking at him naked," Rain said, quickly getting up.

"Same here," Madison said.

The Doctor laughed when Alan glared at the three women as they all exited the pool.

"It's not shriveled up and diseased, I can assure you of that," he said, annoyed. "And it's nothing you haven't seen before, Snotbag, I'm your husband's clone, ya know."

"You're also my brother and I don't wanna see it. I don't care how similar it is to my husband's," Rain said, grabbing her beach towel. "Besides you can now go skinny dipping with the wife so have at it."

Alan paused and looked at the Doctor.

"If I did, would they throw me out the door?"

The Doctor glanced up at the rules posted on a large sign on the wall. He pointed to number three.

"No naked swimming, Alan," he said, pointing to it.

"Bollocks, fascist hotel staff. Give me the resort on Aswad any day. Ah well, I'll put my kit back on, go upstairs and wait for Rose to get lonely being by herself and come willingly into my carefully spun web. See you later, little fly."

The Doctor laughed when Rose rolled her eyes and headed back towards the stairs.


	180. Chapter 180

Chapter One Hundred and Eighty

The next morning, they loaded up everything and headed for Daytona. They put a quart of motor oil in each of the minivans and divided up the family between them. The Doctor and Rain took one and Alan and Rose took the other. Dot, Tony, Madison, Amelia and Opal rode with the Doctor and Rain and the rest of them rode with Alan. Once they got inside, Rain put in Cinderella for them and he went out of the parking lot with Alan following behind him. Rain drove while the Doctor sat beside her sipping a little bottle of Coke. He glanced back and noticed all the space between the passengers.

"I would have suggested we lose one of the people carriers except we have thirteen," the Doctor said.

"No way, this is nice. I like not being crammed in," Madison said to him.

"Me too, it was crowded with all those people around," Amelia said from the back seat.

The Doctor noticed Dorothy was sipping some juice while she watched Cinderella. He grinned and tickled the underside of her leg. She jerked it and grinned at him.

"Quit, Daddy," she said.

"Not a chance, you're all strapped in and at my mercy, I'll tickle ya if I want."

To prove his point, he did it again and smiled when Dorothy laughed.

"Oh no."

The Doctor looked at Rain.

"What is it, Latara?"

She pointed to the other minivan as it was coming up alongside them.

"Alan's decided to be an infant again, I guess," she said to him.

"Alan's not driving, Rose is."

Rose was driving while Alan was sitting in the passenger side. The moment he locked eyes with Rain, he pressed his hands against the glass and smashed his face against the window while he widened his eyes and stuck his tongue out. Rain glanced at the Doctor.

"She may be driving, but I have a feeling it was his idea to come alongside us," she said while Amelia and Opal laughed.

She glanced over and noticed he was breathing heavily on the glass, fogging it up.

_Good,_ she thought to him. _Keep doing that so I don't have to see your creepy face any longer._

_It's interesting to me that you refer to my face as creepy when the Doctor and I have the same face. Comment on your husband's looks as well?_

_No, because I differentiate between my mature husband and my creepy younger brother, _Rain thought.

_Ever see Ben Hur? _Alan thought to her.

_No, why?_

_Well, there's this famous chariot race between Ben Hur and Messala where Messala tries to kill Ben Hur during the race. I thought we might recreate that scene here on the motorway and we can run you off the road and laugh as your people carrier explodes in a gargantuan mushroom cloud of flame._

_And it'll kill all the children in here too. You do see them in here with us, right?_

_Brother, kindly use the manipulator and bring everyone except Rainy over here so we can run her off the road and make our group an even dozen._

_No thanks, I'm not in the mood for a manipulator migraine, _the Doctor thought to him.

_Traitor! _He thought back while they laughed.

"Daddy?"

The Doctor looked back at Dorothy who was straining to reach him.

"I wanna hug you, Daddy!"

"You do? Well…"

Madison scooted over and made room for him while he came back and sat down beside her. He gave her a hug.

"There, that better?"

"No, I want…I want out."

"Well, you can't get out, you have to stay in here so you'll be safe," the Doctor said to her.

Opal came up behind him and gave him a hug from behind.

"There, Papaw, now you got two hugs."

"I feel like a million pounds now, thank you," he said.

Amelia came up beside Opal and gave him a hug.

"And now I feel like two million pounds."

Madison laughed and hugged him.

"Make that three million."

"I'd hug ya, Dear, but I'm a little busy driving right now so I'm hugging you in spirit."

"Well, then I feel like four million pounds," he said.

He picked Secret Bear up off the floor and put it on Dorothy's tray.

"'Ello, I'm Secret Bear!" he said. "I keep deep, dark nasty secrets so tell me anythin'."

"Hey, Secret Bear, I got a secret!" Amelia said.

The Doctor held it up to her face.

"Papaw's weird!" she said in a loud whisper.

The Doctor held the bear's snout up to his ear.

"She says I'm what?" the Doctor said while the children laughed.

The Doctor turned in the seat and put his nose against Amelia's.

"Secret Bear said you said I'm weird," he said.

"I thought Secret Bear kept secrets," Amelia said.

"Secret Bear likes me, he tells me everything you say," he said while she and Opal giggled. "Now what's this rubbish about me being weird?"

"You have to ask that when your face is in my face?" Amelia said while Opal giggled.

The Doctor breathed heavily on her and she quickly ducked down.

"Papaw, your breath smells!" she squealed.

"It does not!" he said.

"It does too. It smells like pizza."

"What? I haven't had pizza in a couple of days and I clean my teeth. You're completely potty!"

"I'm not a potty!" Amelia said.

"I didn't say you were a potty, I said you were potty."

"What's that mean?"

"Means you're crazy."

"I am not. You're potty then."

"No I'm not. You are."

"No, you are."

"You are."

"Hey!"

They looked at Opal who was pointing up to the movie.

"Cinderella's on now," she said.

"Oh, bugger all to Cinderella, she's potty too. Daft woman talks to mice and rides in pumpkins, she's obviously on some sort of hallucinogenic substance."

"She is not!" Amelia said while Rain and Madison laughed.

"Weird git makes clothes for mice and she think that entitles her to marry royalty. She needs to be put far away in a loony toony bin for that."

"No, she doesn't, Papaw!" Opal said, laughing with the others.

"Yes, she does. Probably married that prince and he did nothing except sit on his bum all day eating bon bons and ordering her about. She cleaned the house every day from top to bottom, ya think he's not gonna take advantage of that and put her to work waxing and polishing the palace floors? Fairy Godmother's fat and frumpy as well, probably on the dole and just wandered in half drunk because she thought Cindy would pay her for turning mice into horses and a pumpkin into a coach. Bibbidi boppidi boo, my alien bum, she was just makin' it up as she went along."

"Shut up, Papaw," Amelia said, laughing.

"I betcha if I had the inclination, I could turn Dotty here into a vole or a shrew just by saying namby pamby jack-a-dandy and it'd work!"

Everyone was laughing hysterically.

_What are you lot laughing at?_ Alan thought to them.

_Your brother's gone insane and ranting about the Cinderella cartoon that's playing right now,_ Rain thought back.

"And furthermore, I wouldn't let any old woman with a large white bouffant order me about and tell me to clean. I'd be shoving that broom handle up her poopy chute and saying, "Oi, you leave me alone, whitey haired bouffanty lady, I'm too busy chatting up mice. You go and get that dust bunny yourself, yeah? And while you're at it, walk through that sunbeam and get eaten by the Vashta Nerada, you and your appearance challenged children. Ugly old buzzards, the whole lot. They all need broom handles up their poopy chutes."

"Now I understand why Rose has to pull over sometimes when she's driving because I'm thinking of doing the same thing," Rain said to Madison.

"And while we're on the subject of dim princesses, how 'bout that Sleeping Beauty. First off, how dim can you get, touching a spindle on a spinning wheel. Ooooo, sharpy pointy thing, let me touch!"

The children laughed when he mimed touching something and flung his head down on the seat while he snored loudly. He woke back up.

"Dim woman like that, I wouldn't wake her up, I'd put her on display and charge people to see the dim woman who likes to touch sharpy pointy things. And she also had naff fairies hoverin' 'round her, what is it with women and fat, frumpy fairies? I think these fairies are the rejects of Fairyville who just wander around looking for ways to keep busy. You don't see Tinkerbell fat and frumpy, do ya? Course Tinkerbell lived with Peter Pan and the Lost Boys and they probably ate up all the food and left her crumbs, but still…you don't see Tinkerbell straining her little wings because she weighs 200 stone, do ya? No, she's on that Slimfast stuff they tried to give me last night."

He laughed when Rain finally pulled over to the side of the road.

"I made Mamaw pull over because she's laughin' so hard," he said proudly.

Alan pulled in front of their minivan and he and Rose leapt out.

"Okay," they heard him say while they walked up, what is he saying?"

He slid open the door and he and Rose peeked inside. The Doctor quickly swiveled around in his seat and neatly folded his hands in his lap.

"I'm sorry, why have we stopped?" he said, frowning. "Is there a problem with the motors? Do they need to be serviced or something?"

"He's not gonna do it now," Rose said, rolling her eyes.

"Do what?" the Doctor said, feigning confusion. "I mean, shouldn't we be on our way to Daytona? If we're gonna stop, shouldn't we use a slip road and find a McDonalds or something? This is hardly a safe place to stop, you know."

Rain and Madison laughed when he gave them a confused look.

"Really, this is not the place to stop," he said. "We need to go on and find a lay-by at least or perhaps a restaurant of some sort. We're in great danger here if someone veers off and smashes into us."

"Right, Doctor," Rose said, rolling her eyes.

"What? I'm not right about the danger?" he protested while Alan shut the door.

He watched while they walked away and then spun back around in his seat.

"Where was I? Oh yes, dim princesses and fat fairies," he said while everyone bent over laughing.


	181. Chapter 181

Chapter One Hundred and Eighty One

They found an off ramp on the outskirts of Daytona and pulled into a Kentucky Fried Chicken to eat lunch. They all went inside, ordered chicken dinners and sat down together in booths next to one another. The Doctor was sitting with Rain and across from him was Amelia and Opal. Directly behind him were Rose, Alan and Tony and across from them were Mingxia, Jenny and Awinita. On the other side of Alan's booth, Madison sat across from Dorothy helping her eat. The Doctor grinned while he pulled a strip of white meat off his chicken breast and popped it in his mouth. He leaned over to his granddaughters.

"And furthermore, why is the proprietor of this place called Colonel Sanders?" he whispered to the giggling girls. "Is he really a colonel or was that the nifty title he thought up after he took too many drugs in the 1960's and went irretrievably insane?"

"Aha, now he's doin' it!" Rose said to Alan.

The Doctor leaned back up and looked at her.

"Doing what, pray tell?"

"Being odd and insane," Rain said, picking up her chicken leg.

The Doctor leaned into Rain.

"And furthermore, I don't think there are eleven herbs and spices in this chicken. I think there's only seven. Do you think there are seven? I think there are seven."

Amelia and Opal giggled when Rain lowered her chicken leg and smiled at the Doctor.

"No, I think there's only two."

The Doctor's eyes bulged out of his head.

"Two? What a radical thought. You're suggesting that KFC is suggesting that there are nine more herbs and spices than there actually are?"

"Yeah and the two spices are pepper and dirt from the ground out there," Rain said.

"Pepper and dirt, interesting theory," he muttered while Alan and the others sniggered behind him.

He leaned over to Amelia and Opal who leaned in.

"Now I was thinking the seven herbs and spices were pee, poop, snot, ear wax, eye grit, hair follicles and dead skin from corpses, but pepper and dirt is a credible theory too."

Amelia and Opal laughed while Rain made a face.

"Thanks, Dear, just the thing to hear when I'm eating."

Alan reached over and tapped her on the shoulder.

"What was that you were thinking to me earlier about my brother being more mature than me?" he said while they laughed.

"I'm on the verge of amending that statement now," Rain replied.

The Doctor pointed to a large statue of Colonel Sanders standing by the door.

"See the fake colonel there? He died in 1980 but they still have his statue here. You think when no one's around just before opening and closing times they make all the employees strip naked and bow to it in reverence?"

The girls giggled.

"He's the god here?" Opal said.

"Yeah, Colonel Sanders is the employee's god. Everyone who works here has to agree to that in order to get paid," the Doctor said. "And this chicken here, this is given in sacrifice to him before they fry it up and put the pee and poop and corpse skin on it."

Rain snorted out laughter.

"Pay no attention to him, kids, or you'll end up as nutty as he is," she said to them.

"So if you go to McDonalds, is Ronald their god?" Amelia asked him.

"Yes and if you go to Long John Silvers, that's their god. Long John Silver employees get Treasure Island novels along with their handbook and they're ordered to read it reverently or they're taken out to the car park and flogged with the cat-o-nine tails for insubordination."

"I feel for ya, Sis. Alan's influence has finally taken him over," Rose said to Rain.

"So I guess the Taco Bell employees worship the Chihuahua then," Awinita said.

"And Wendy's employees worship Dave Thomas," Rain said back to her.

"And they make the employees poop and use that to make the sacred biggie fries," Awinita said.

"You people have really odd conversations sometimes," Madison said while they laughed.

"But you have to admit we're never boring," Alan said.

"No, you're definitely not," Madison said.

They grew quiet when several old ladies passed by them carrying their food. They sat down in the booth behind the Doctor.

"So there was this big growth on my left breast and it just swelled up with fluid until the other night I woke up and there was blood and pus all over my nightgown."

The Doctor stopped eating and glanced at Rain.

"Ewww," Amelia whispered to Opal.

"And I realized a hole had popped in the skin and when I squeezed it, this fat came out that had been building up inside it."

Rain made a face.

_Problem is, she really isn't talking that loudly,_ the Doctor thought to her. _It's our sensitive hearing that's allowing us to pick up her conversation. _

They jerked their heads over when they saw Alan walk past them.

_What is he doing?_ Rain thought to the Doctor.

"Ma'am? Hi, I'm Doctor Alan Timelord. I couldn't help but overhear your conversation and I was wondering if I could be of assistance?"

"You're a doctor?" the lady said.

"Yes, I am, Ma'am," Alan said, fishing out his psychic paper and showing it to her.

"Alan, for Christ sake," Rose muttered.

"Have you had this growth checked by a physician?' Alan asked.

"I called my Doctor and he said to let it drain and keep it clean and put gauze over it. But here, take a look and see what you think."

Rain slammed her hand over her mouth and Rose let out a groan when the Lady pulled open the top of her t-shirt and let him look at the growth.

"Papaw!" Opal whispered to the Doctor.

"I know, Opal. Turn around and eat," the Doctor whispered back.

"That looks very red," Alan said. "If I were you, I'd go see your doctor in person and let him take a look at it just in case you have blood poisoning."

"Blood poisoning?" the lady said, alarmed, while her friends exchanged looks.

"I'm only suggesting precautionary measures…what is your name?"

"Beatrice."

"Beatrice, nice to meet ya. As I was saying, Beatrice, I'm only saying you should go get that checked out straight away just to be on the safe side."

"Thank you, doctor."

"Not at all, happy to help. Enjoy your meal."

He strolled back to his seat and sat down.

_Are you insane, Alan?_ Rose thought.

_Starlight, I was sitting here trying to eat while listening to the woman talk about her pus-filled, bloody growth. If I have to listen to that while I eat, the least I can do is try to help the poor woman, _Alan thought back.

_Did you enjoy staring at an elderly woman's breasts, Brother?_ The Doctor thought to him.

_Yup, highlight of my day,_ he thought back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they ate, they found a Holiday Inn on the beach, checked in and quickly changed into their swim suits and trunks. Madison gathered up Dorothy's shovel and pail, raft and turtle and everyone else grabbed the beach towels and suntan lotion. They found a spot halfway down the beach, set down their towels and gear and everyone went for a swim except for the Doctor and Alan who stayed behind with the children. He requested the TARDIS make them all life jackets in their sizes and he made them put them on.

Then he quickly used his breath to inflate the raft while Alan inflated the turtle. Once that was done, Alan took the turtle along with Tony and headed towards the surf. The Doctor took his grandchildren and daughter and walked with them. He squatted down and grabbed Dorothy with one arm before they waded out into the water. Once he was out a few feet, he lay Dorothy down on the raft on her stomach and pulled it while his grandchildren swam with him. He noticed Alan swimming towards him pulling Tony who was sitting inside the turtle.

"Keep between us in case you need help," the Doctor said to Opal and Amelia.

They nodded and swam out with him towards the open ocean. Alan swam alongside him, keeping his eyes on everyone while the Doctor did the same. The further out the four of them got, the gentler the waves got until they were bobbing along.

"Papaw, I need to rest," Opal said.

"Come to me."

The Doctor took her in his right arm and tread water while she held on to him. Alan beckoned to Amelia and did the same with her.

"Daddy, hold me," Dorothy said.

"Let go for a moment," the Doctor said to Opal.

She let go and tread water while the Doctor urged Dorothy into his arms.

"Can you get on the raft, Love?" he said to Opal.

She swam to it and the Doctor held it steady while she climbed on. Once she was on, the Doctor tread water, holding Dorothy to him while he looked around. Dorothy pointed when Rain came up out of the water a few feet away from him and smoothed back her hair.

"View's just as beautiful as it was at Key West," she said, pointing down. "Is everyone alright?"

"Yeah, we're just having a rest," the Doctor said.

"Need me to pull anyone back to shore?"

"Can you take Dot on the raft?" the Doctor said.

"Sure, I can take Opal too if she holds on to the side of it."

"Nah, I wanna stay with Papaw," Opal said, sliding off into the water.

Once she was in the water, Rain helped Dorothy back onto the raft.

"I'll go with her and take Tony," Alan said. "Do you wanna stay, Amelia?"

She nodded and let go of him. The three of them watched while Rain and Alan towed the toddlers back to shore. The Doctor beckoned to his granddaughters and they swam off to the left slowly going back towards the beach.

"I can't wait to go chase ghosts tonight," Amelia said while they swam.

"Don't get your hopes up, Sweetie. We didn't see any when we went on the same trip in the other universe," the Doctor said.

"I wish I was grown up so I could go with you," Amelia said.

"So do I, Sweetie."

"Can't you go forward in time and get us when we're grown up?" Opal asked.

"Um…well, I could but that means you won't see me for years, Sweetheart. And Tony and Dot won't see me for years either. Do you want that?"

"No," they said.

"Then you'll have to wait, I'm afraid. I'll take you places I know are safe in the meantime, I promise."

They reached the shallow area and stood up. They were stepping out of the water when suddenly Opal screamed in pain. The Doctor went on red alert and picked her up out of the water. He saw a large crab let go of the big toe on her left foot.

_What happened?_ Awinita thought.

_Crab pinched her big toe while we were stepping out of the water_, he thought back.

Opal clung to him while he carried her up on the sand. He rubbed her back, sat her down and examined her toe while she sobbed.

"It's alright, Sweetheart," the Doctor soothed while Alan walked over. "He just gave ya a pinch, nothing more."

Alan bent down beside her.

"Just some redness and a bit of swelling, probably bruise a bit but she'll be alright," the Doctor said to him.

"Boy, I bet that gave Crabby just as big a shock as it gave you, eh?" Alan said to her.

Opal sniffed and nodded and Alan kissed her cheek while the Doctor found a pressure point and applied pressure to it.

"What are ya doin', Papaw?" Amelia asked.

"I'm using a special technique to stop the pain," he said.

He glanced up when everyone else walked up to them.

"She's fine, bit of a pinch to the toe," the Doctor said.

"You scared us for a moment," Jenny said, bending down. "We thought you were badly hurt."

"I guess I have to watch where I'm going," Opal said to her.

"Is this helping?" the Doctor said to her.

"Yes, Papaw."

He stopped applying pressure. While he did that, Awinita noticed the waves washing the crab up on shore. She walked over and grabbed it by its back legs.

"Wonder if this is the same one?" she said, walking over with it.

She sat it down near them and Alan examined it.

"Fiddler crab," he said.

Amelia and Opal walked over to him.

"See this huge claw," he said, pointing to the left claw. "And this tiny one. See how it's waving the large claw back in forth in front of the smaller one like it's playing a violin? That's how it got its name."

Rose and Rain held the toddler's hands and brought them over for a closer look. Dorothy tried to touch it but Rain jerked her hand away.

"No, just look, no touch," she said, sternly.

"Can you believe that these little buggers have gigantic cousins that enslaved humans once? They did!" Alan said.

"Where?" Opal said.

"On an Earth colony in the future," the Doctor said. "They were called the Macra. I was there in my second life with my companions Polly, Ben and Jamie and then I saw them again billions of years later on New Earth but by then they were just animalistic beasts. But this little guy is just a flea compared to them."

Alan tapped the crab gently on its shell.

"Oi, Crabby, you quit hurting my family and…"

They laughed when the crab turned and scurried towards him. He leapt up and ran behind Rose.

"Spousal unit, save me!" he said in a high-pitched voice.

They laughed harder at the odd look on Rose's face.

"Ya know, at least with the Doctor I could kinda predict his behavior but you are so far gone, I don't know what you're gonna do next, so congratulations, your goal to become completely different from the Doctor has succeeded."

"Less talk, more battle, my love. Fight the Macra wannabe! Kill it!"

"You kill it, I'm gonna rest on my towel and let the sun dry me off," she said, walking away.

Alan's mouth dropped open when she walked away. Dorothy toddled over and stood in front of him.

"Aha! Someone who has decided to become my defender! Get the crab, kill him!"

They laughed when Dorothy started after it and Alan swooped her up.

"On second thought, you take what I say waaaaaaaaaaaaay too seriously. I don't want Brother bashing my head in for getting ya pinched, so come along, play in the sand make a castle with me time!" he said while they headed with him back to their towels.


	182. Chapter 182

Chapter One Hundred and Eighty Two

Later on in the evening all of them got ready to go on the ghost walk while Madison relaxed with her daughter and Tony and let them watch TV. The Doctor had thought of bringing Jack along and had gone to get him so he was currently getting ready in the third room's bathroom.

_It's a shame none of the others wanted to come,_ the Doctor thought to Jack while they got ready.

_Yeah, I know, but ghost hunting didn't sound interesting to them and they were all tired from a long, hard day. Me, I'm up for adventure with you anytime, anywhere. So are any of the kids coming with us?_

_Amelia and Opal. The little ones are staying here with Madison. She's not that interested either, _the Doctor thought.

_Nope, searching for ghosts isn't my thing, _Madison thought._ You guys have fun though. I'll be here entertaining the toddlers._

Amelia and Opal went into the bathroom the Doctor and Alan were using. They both had on jeans and a light jacket. The men smiled when they came in the room.

"All ready to get scared?" Alan said to them.

"Nah, I'm not gonna be scared," Opal said.

"That's the spirit! Be brave little adventurers," the Doctor said. "Consider this more training for when you get old enough to help me fight monsters."

Opal noticed he had his brown pin striped suit on.

"You're not wearin' your shorts, Papaw?" she said.

"Nope, it's s'posed to be a bit chilly tonight which is why you have your jeans and jackets on and with my legs as white as they are, I don't want people mistaking me for a ghost and throwing a net over me," he said, winking while he bent down. "But I'm still being casual. See, I have my t-shirt on underneath my shirt and jacket."

"Yeah but Alan's not wearing a shirt and jacket," Amelia said, pointing to him.

"He never does. He likes the very, very casual look," he said to her.

Alan finished smoothing out the wrinkles in his blue trousers and black t-shirt and used a comb to straighten his hair. Opal walked over to him.

"You fixin' your pouf?" she said.

He looked at her.

"My pouf?"

"Yeah, you got pouf hair on top like Papaw."

"Oh, so do you call his hair Papaw's Pouf then?" he said.

"Um, no but I like that."

She turned to the Doctor and poked his back.

"Papaw's Pouf," she said while Alan giggled.

Alan laughed harder when Amelia joined in, poking his belly while they chanted, "Papaw's Pouf!" over and over. The Doctor roared and thrust his arms out and snickered when they ran away in mock terror. He grabbed his comb and pretended to arrange every follicle of his tousle carefully while Opal and Amelia watched from the communicating door and giggled at him. While they stood there, Rain and Rose came up behind them.

"Drat, he's ditched the shorts," Rain said, making a face.

"Yeah, guess it was nice seeing their legs but now we're back to the business suits," Rose said, sighing.

"We'll go back to shorts in the mornin', it's a little bit parky out there tonight and as I was telling my granddaughters, I don't want anyone mistaking my so-called lily white legs for ghost legs and nabbing me by mistake."

"Papaw's playing with his pouf," Opal said to Rain.

"He is?"

"Yup, Alan called it Papaw's Pouf," Amelia said.

Rain and Rose snickered.

"Papaw's Pouf, I like that, it's got a nice ring to it," Rain said, walking past them to the bathroom.

She came up to him and tousled his hair.

"Oi, watch it, you're messing up the pouf," the Doctor said.

Jack came up beside Rose.

"Nuts, they're wearing their trousers. I was gonna make a few ghost jokes tonight," he said.

The Doctor jabbed his comb at him.

"And that's the other reason why we put our trousers back on, because of him," he said while they laughed.

The rest of the women came out behind Jack. All of them had on trousers and jeans and light jackets.

"Shoo, move up," Jack said to Opal and Amelia.

They moved away from the door and all of them walked inside. Jack walked over to Dorothy, grabbed her and swung her up in the air.

"You be good tonight, alright?"

"Yes."

He sat her down and swung Tony up when he reached for him. Tony giggled and hugged him while he gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"You be good too or I'll take you back to your mum when I go back home," he said.

"No!"

He grinned and tickled Tony before setting him down on the bed. While he was doing that, Madison came up to the door.

"I checked the weather and there's more rain coming in but not till three or four in the morning."

"Bugger, why this place isn't under twenty feet of water at all times is beyond me," Alan said. "We need to buy a rubber raft so we can use it in case a tidal wave does come into the room and sweep us all away."

"Or we can just hold on to Jack since he can drown and come back to life repeatedly."

"Gee, I love you too, Awinita," Jack said while they laughed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After finding the location of the ghost walk, all of them stood with other people on the porch of an old house and waited patiently for the guide to arrive. Finally, a woman in her thirties with long blonde hair in a ponytail drove up to the curb in a white, unmarked bus and parked it. She was thin with slightly tanned skin and was wearing blue jeans, a white t-shirt with Daytona Ghost Tours on the right hand side of it and white Nike tennis shoes.

"Hi, I'm Linda, I'll be your guide for this evening," she said.

"Blast, I was hoping we'd get the same bloke as our guide," the Doctor said to Rain.

"I know, that would have been really freaky," she whispered back.

"Just follow me and get into the bus and we'll begin the tour," Linda said, beckoning to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Their first stop was an old Victorian house that was slightly run down.

"Didn't have this house on the other tour," the Doctor muttered to Rain while they walked with Amelia and Opal. "Good, it's not gonna be exactly the same then."

"This house was owned by Clarence and Amelia Butler," Linda said while she stood on the porch steps in front of them.

"Hey, she had my name," Amelia said, while the Doctor tousled her hair.

"They had four children and on July 7th, 1872 Clarence took an ax and murdered them all while they slept in the upstairs bedrooms. Clarence was a devoutly religious man and he told others just before the murders that Satan was trying to possess everyone and would succeed if he didn't do something so it's believed he "protected" his family by killing them."

"Nutter," Alan said under his breath while he and Rose stood behind the Doctor.

"He then killed himself with a single pistol shot to the head presumably in order to join them and protect him."

"Major nutter," Alan muttered.

"And now the house is supposedly haunted by not only his family but by him as he protects them from demonic forces."

"Major, off his trolley, nutter butter," Alan muttered while Rose snickered.

"So everyone go inside and look around for awhile and see if you can find Clarence and his family," Linda said. "I'll be waiting in the bus, so when you're done, come back and get on."

"Find Clarence the nutter butter and then go back to the bus, gotcha!" Alan muttered as his family giggled.

They all followed everyone else inside.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once inside, they stuck together and explored the house. Several chandeliers were left on in the main rooms, providing them with light. The house was large with wooden floors and a large wooden staircase going up to the second floor. The wallpaper was faded and there was dust and cobwebs everywhere. They had been walking around for ten minutes but there was no sign of any ghosts or paranormal activity.

"Nice house," Rose said, shrugging. "I mean, the man musta had money since the wallpaper and furniture is nice."

"I like this," Awinita said, pointing to a settee that had a red, velvet cushion. "Bro, use the manipulator and steal this for our house."

"No thanks, I'm not luggin' around heavy furniture tonight," the Doctor called back. "And don't you think of doing it, Jack."

"I'm not," Jack said indignantly while they laughed.

They walked into another room and saw a portrait on the wall of a man dressed in a black Victorian suit. His brown hair was slicked back and pence-nez was perched on his nose. He was sitting at a small, round wooden table and his hand was resting on it while he held a bible in the crook of his arm.

"Creepy Clarence the axe murder?" Julie said.

"Willing to bet my money on it," Alan said. "The bible's a nice touch. I guess he really did want the world to know he was very devout."

"He looks like someone that lived down the road from us when we were in 1863," Amelia said. "That guy was mean too."

"Maybe this is the same bloke then?" the Doctor asked her. "Linda said it happened in 1872, maybe your creepy neighbor moved down here, went insane and chopped up his family."

"I hope not. He used to come to the house sometimes and talk with Pa. Opal and me stayed far away from him when he came."

"Hear that? Dex may have been consorting with ax murderers," Alan said.

"I doubt it's the same man," the Doctor said. "Then again, who knows? We left in 1863 so maybe he could have moved here. But let's move on and go upstairs so Linda can move on to the next spot."

They walked out of the room and walked over to the staircase. The Doctor started to climb and noticed Amelia and Opal were hesitating.

"Come on, Dears, nothing up here but cobwebs and dust," he said, beckoning to them.

He and Rain took their hands and they walked up to the second floor. They noticed a man and woman coming out of a bedroom. They waited till they were done and went inside. An electric lamp on an oak bedside table lit the room. The bed beside it was an oak canopy bed with intricate carvings on the headboard. There was an old white bedspread on the bed. Jack walked over to it while the Doctor examined a washbasin and pitcher sitting on top of a dresser by the door.

"Doc," Jack said.

He turned and Jack pointed to some rust colored splotches on the bedspread.

"Dried blood," he said.

The Doctor squeezed his grandchildren's hands while they walked over with everyone else. Everyone gathered around the bed and leaned in.

"So this is the actual covers they were using the night it happened," Awinita said. "Creepy."

The splotches were up near the pillow and ran down the bed. The Doctor stepped back and pointed to some more rust colored dots on the wood floor.

"Whoever slept here apparently lived long enough to get out of the bed," he said, putting on his glasses.

He reached into his pocket, grabbed his flashlight and turned it on. They saw several dots that went away from the bed to the window several feet away.

"Tried to open the window to call for help?" Jack said.

The Doctor pointed to a few dots of blood on the windowsill.

"I think so," he said while everyone stared at it. "Judging from the bed and decoration, I'm guessing this was his wife."

"So this isn't like Lizzy Borden where the man just kept on hacking until they were dead," Julie said.

"Seems not. Maybe he was going to but she screamed and it woke up the children so he had to go dispatch them."

He shined the flashlight around but didn't see any more blood on the floor.

"She didn't get far though. I'm guessing she probably died right here by the window," he said.

They paused a moment.

"Um, should we go in the children's rooms with…"Alan said, pointing to Amelia and Opal.

"No, let's not, I think we've seen enough disturbing things in here," Mingxia said.

"Yeah, we got the general gist of what went on in…"

Rose trailed off when all of them suddenly heard a knocking on the wall to their right.

"Papaw," Opal whispered.

He put a comforting arm around her and shined the flashlight on the wall. There was a faded photo of a stern elderly lady dressed in a black Victorian dress with a black bonnet and two gas lamps on either side of it that were both extinguished but that was it. The Doctor shrugged, turned off his flashlight and started to put it back in his pocket when they heard the knock again.

"Why am I not convinced it's a ghost?" the Doctor muttered to them.

Jack held up his finger and put it to his lips. They watched while he inched towards the door. He slowly went out it while they heard another knock.

_Knocks kinda remind me of the Crusader vehicle you were on,_ Alan thought to him.

_Yeah, but this time I'm betting the source of the knock isn't a monster or an alien and certainly not a ghost,_ the Doctor thought back.

"Aha! Got ya!" they heard Jack yell.

He appeared in the door a moment later holding on to the arm of a ten year old boy. They recognized him as one of the others from the tour group.

"Here's the ghost," Jack said. "Thought he'd be cute and try to scare everyone."

"Kid, if I were you, I'd go back to your mommy and stay with her all night long," Julie said angrily. "Because if you pull a stunt like that again, you're gonna get more than a jerk on the arm."

Jack let go and the kid ran away down the stairs.

"So, now that that's sorted out, shall we follow him down and go on to the next spot?" Jack said to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next spot was a cemetery. The Doctor noticed a mausoleum similar to the one in the other universe and asked Rain to stay with him.

"Trust me, I'm not gonna go out of your sight this time," she said.

Linda supplied everyone with flashlights who didn't have one and they all walked off to explore. Jack noticed the kid and shot him a warning look when he noticed he was beginning to follow them. The kid quickly went off in the other direction while Jack looked at his family and shook his head.

"Betcha he was hoping we weren't gonna notice him and hide behind a tombstone or something," he said to them.

All of them fanned out and studied the inscriptions on the tombstones looking at the names and dates. They suddenly heard Alan laugh and turned their flashlights on him. He was pointing up to a weeping angel statue and pointing to his wife who was now several rows back.

"She thinks it's gonna get her," he explained. "I did tell her about the Weeping Angels, Brother. She did this when we were in another cemetery in the other universe. I'm standing here, blinking, and I'm still here, so once again, Rose, this is not one of those weeping angels. Come back here!"

"What's he talking about, Papaw?" Amelia asked.

The Doctor hesitated.

"Um, if I tell you, will you not do what Rose is doing and freak out every time you see a weeping angel statue?"

They nodded and he briefly explained about the Weeping Angels to them and to Julie who was behind him. They walked over and the Doctor stood in front of it with Alan. They ordered everyone to turn their backs and they closed their eyes for a moment.

"Still here, everyone," Alan said. "This is just a statue. So come back, Rose. You're safe."

"I really regret the day you told me about those things," Rose said, walking back to him.

Alan rapped his knuckles on its dress.

"Yup, just stone," he said. "Although it would be nice if it weren't and it zapped Mister Ten Year Old Funnyman back to the day the Earth was created."

Jack laughed.

"Yeah, that'd teach him not to bother us."

Opal walked around to the front of the pedestal the angel was resting on. She shone her flashlight on the inscription.

"You are living, so was I," she read aloud. "But soon it'll be your turn to die."

"Where are you seeing that, Hon?" Rain said.

She waved them over and pointed to the inscription.

"Cheery sentiment," Jenny said.

"He's just reminding everyone that they're all mortal and gonna die like him someday," Jack said. "And you shut up, Doctor!" he added when he noticed him slowly turning his head and giving him a raised eyebrow. "I know I'm the exception so don't even bother saying it."

Amelia looked down.

"Um…aren't we standing on him?" she said, pointing down.

"We are, but I don't think he'll mind anymore, Sweetie, he's not there. It's just decaying dead matter. His soul's somewhere else," the Doctor said. "Probably in Heaven thinking up more nifty verses that are full of gloom and doom."

They walked on, shining their flashlights around at the gravestones. They paused at one when Opal pointed to it and saw a skull carved into the top of the tombstone.

"That's even more cheery," Awinita said. "Apparently in olden days the dead just wanted to scare the crap outta the living."

"But back then there were more illnesses and diseases killing off the population," Alan said. "This was their way of reminding everyone except Jack of their mortality."

"N'yuk, N'yuk," Jack said while they laughed.

"You live forever too, don't you, Papaw?" Amelia asked.

"Nah, not forever, but I live a very, very long time," he said to her.

"How old are you, Papaw?" Opal asked him.

He gave her a wide eyed look.

"I'm four billion years old," he said in a hushed voice.

"Really?"

"Nah, I'm twelve hundred and five," he said while they laughed. "But I had ya there for a moment."

"You're over a thousand years old, Papaw?" Amelia said.

"Yup, I'm a very old codger," he said, tousling her hair.

"He's ready for the nursing home, Amelia," Rain said.

"You are?"

"No, I'm not," he said while they laughed. "Mamaw's just havin' ya on. I'm fine and fit as a finely tuned fiddle."

"Crab."

The Doctor looked at Opal.

"Hmm?" he said.

"Crab, fiddle crab," she said.

"Oh! Yes, I'm fit as a fiddler crab," he said while they laughed.

They neared the mausoleum. Alan walked around the back.

"If there are any drunken rapists hiding behind here, I suggest you move this instant!" they heard him say.

He came back a moment later.

"All clear, no drunks," he said, shrugging.

"Thank God for that," Rain muttered.

They walked around to the front and looked through the iron gate that served as the door. Inside at the back were several vaults, several were in use and covered with marble covers that were inscribed with the names and dates of the deceased. The other vaults were empty and uncovered. The Doctor noticed three at the very top that were child sized. One of them was in use and he read the inscription.

"Elizabeth Simpson. Two days old," he read.

"Oh, poor thing," Rain said, looking at it.

"How come they're not in the ground?" Opal asked the Doctor.

"Um…some people preferred to be buried this way," the Doctor said. "This is a family crypt so all the family members can be buried together. That's why some of the vaults are still open. Some people just wanna show off their wealth, I guess."

"Do you have family buried like this?" Amelia asked.

"No, my family and friends burned with Gallifrey," he said to her. "And I wouldn't want this anyway. I want to be cremated."

"What's that mean, Papaw?" Opal said.

"It means I want my body burned and reduced to ashes."

"While you're still alive?" Opal said.

"Um…no," the Doctor said while his family laughed. "I would like to be permanently dead before you throw me on the wood."

"No, Opal, we won't do that. we're gonna wait a few years and just take him out one day, bound and gagged, throw him on the wood and have a big weenie roast while he dies."

The Doctor swatted her head while everyone giggled.

"If you're around one day and you see Mamaw heading to our bedroom with a large pile of rope in her hands, stop her," the Doctor said to the children.

"Okay, Papaw," Amelia said, giggling.

Alan looked back and noticed most of the others were back with the bus now. All of them turned and headed that way so they could go on to the next site.


	183. Chapter 183

Chapter One Hundred and Eighty Three

The next stop was another graveyard.

"This one is a bit smaller than the other one," Linda said to them. "It also has several confederate soldiers buried here and there have been reports that the ghosts of several soldiers have been seen in and around the surrounding area. So be on the lookout for them while you explore."

She went back to the bus and they entered. The tombstones were crumbling and there wasn't a newer section like there was in the other graveyard. There were a couple of smaller mausoleums and a small hill in the center of the graveyard. Opal walked over to the hill and climbed up it. She stood on top, looking around.

"Wow, you can see everything from here," she said.

Jack passed in front of it.

"This is another crypt, Opal," he said. "It's just partly belowground."

Opal walked down the side of the hill and came around to the front. She saw bricks in an arch and a rusted metal door that had several holes drilled into it. She pointed to the tiny arched door.

"This is tiny, who'd fit in here?" she asked while everyone else came up behind them.

"No, what happened is there used to be steps going down to the door and they filled those in with concrete, Opal," Jack said, pointing at the concrete. "What you're seeing is the very top of the door."

"Oh," Opal said, looking down. "Why did they put holes in the door then if people were dead?"

"Probably to keep it aired out so when they opened it back up, they didn't have the smell of decay to deal with," the Doctor said. "This is an old crypt so I'm sure they didn't use the modern embalming techniques they do now."

Amelia got down on her stomach, put her flashlight against one of the holes and looked through another.

"You see anything, Sissy?" Opal said.

"Yellow."

"Yellow?" Alan said.

"Yeah, I see something yellow."

"Are you sure you're not seeing the light reflecting off something?" Jack asked.

"No, it's bright yellow like a dress or something."

The Doctor got down on his stomach beside her and looked through a hole.

"I don't see anything, Love," he said. "Let me look where you're looking."

They switched places and Amelia held the light for him while he looked.

"There is something yellow in here," he said to them.

"Can I see, Papaw?" Opal said.

He got up and pointed out the hole he was using. He dusted himself off while she looked.

"Was it very yellow?" Jenny asked.

"Yellow enough that I knew it wasn't the torchlight reflecting off something."

"Maybe it's a dead body, Papaw," Amelia said, looking up at him.

"Body came out of its crypt maybe?" Jack said, shrugging.

"Or someone tried to grave rob it and that's why they filled in the steps," Julie said.

"If that's true, seems a bit odd to just leave someone hanging out and not rebury them before they sealed it up," Alan said.

"Have to ask Linda when we get back to the bus," Rain said. "Maybe she knows something about it."

The Doctor nodded. He urged the children up and they walked on. They found a few confederate graves and bent down to look at them. While they were doing that, Amelia tapped the Doctor's shoulder.

"Papaw, I see one," she said.

"See what, Amelia?"

"Ghost."

They stood up.

"Where?" the Doctor asked.

She pointed to a clump of trees next to the graveyard.

"Are you sure it's not that kid again?" the Doctor asked her.

"No, he was dressed like a soldier. I seen confederate soldiers before and he looked like one. He was over there watching us."

They walked over towards the trees and stepped inside while they shown their flashlights around.

"If he was here, he's not here now," Rose said.

"Sissy," Opal said, tugging on Amelia's jacket.

"What?"

She bent down and picked up a cartridge shell. The Doctor took it and examined it.

"It's from that time period," he said, handing her the shell. "You found a Civil War souvenir at least."

"I found more than that," Jenny said.

They looked over and noticed her beckoning to them from a few feet away. They walked over to her and paused when they saw a human skull up against one of the tree trunks. The Doctor bent down beside it and put up his hand when he noticed Amelia and Opal coming near.

"Careful, we don't know how old it is, it could be a recent death and if it is, we need to preserve the crime scene," he said to them.

They nodded and stepped back. He pointed to a hole in the front part of the skull.

"That looks like a bullet hole to me."

"Maybe it's one of the soldiers and someone tried to dig him up," Jenny said.

"Could be, we better tell Linda about it though just in case it's a fresh murder that needs to be solved."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Thank you for telling me about that," Linda said when they finished telling her about the skull. "You're right; it could be a recent crime. A lot of people would have just picked the skull up and made off with it so thanks for doing that."

"Not a problem," the Doctor said.

"That crypt over there," Opal said. "We saw something yellow in there when we looked through the holes."

"Oh! Yeah, no one's sure what that is. There's an urban legend that it's a little baby girl and you're seeing her dress but no one can say for sure and their not about to rip up the concrete and go down there to check on it. Trust me; you're not the first person to see it."

"I think I saw a ghost too," Amelia added. "A confederate solider, back where we saw the skull and we found this."

She showed her the cartridge.

"Wow, that's cool. Yeah, people have also seen soldiers back there in the trees and found some spent cartridges and other Civil War paraphernalia. But the odd part is there was no battle near here so no one knows where these shell casings come from."

They smiled when Amelia stared at the shell casing with wide eyes. She took the Doctor's hand while all of them walked over to the bus and got back on it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next stop was an abandon insane asylum.

"Ooo, nutter ghosts, maybe Clarence comes here when he's off duty from protecting his family and plays cards with them," Alan said.

They all walked inside the abandoned building. The front lobby was dirty and run down. The linoleum floors were stained with blood, urine and dirt. There was a pungent odor of urine that hung in the air and everyone made a face at it. The cubical by the lobby where reception sat was deserted and dirty, the metal of the desk they sat at was dented and rusty, there were metal filing cabinets that hung open with nothing inside it. And just outside the cubical were several wooden benches with leather cushions that were dirty and urine stained.

"Ugh," a man said while they looked around. "It smells of piss, we can tell that much. Phew."

The Doctor led his family through a set of double doors into a corridor. On each side were rooms that housed the inmates. The beds were old with soiled, urine and feces stained mattresses and had leather restraints attached to rusty bedrails. Between it and the door was an overturned bedside table and there was graffiti all over the walls. The Doctor kept the children close to him while they looked around. They heard a noise behind them and turned to see a young teenager coming into the room. She was Hispanic with long, black hair, a plump heart shaped face and piercing dark eyes. She was wearing a white tank top and blue jean shorts and tennis shoes.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you," she said to them. "I'm Melody."

They introduced themselves.

"Nice to meet you. This is my first time on this tour and I'm here by myself. My friends thought this was a waste of time. But it's pretty interesting so far, except I haven't seen any ghosts but interesting all the same. Nice to meet all of you."

They nodded and she left the room. A few minutes later they heard her scream and all of them ran out. They ran in the next room and noticed a homeless man was menacing her with a switchblade.

"Get behind me, Melody," the Doctor said. "Whoever you are, we're part of this tour and we're here to look. We're not trying to steal anything and we won't hurt you, now calm down."

"This is my room! Get out!" the drunken man barked.

They nodded and all of them slowly stepped back outside.

"Stay with us, Melody, just in case," the Doctor said.

He paused and narrowed his eyes when the man came towards them, his switchblade at the ready.

"We're leaving you alone but I'm warning you, you come after us and I will stop you any way that I can," he growled.

"I said, get out of my room!" the man bellowed, running towards him.

The Doctor tensed his body and he lunged at him while Alan and Jack followed. He grabbed the man's wrist and jerked it, making him drop the weapon as he howled in pain. Alan came up behind him and knocked him out with a blow to the head.

"Wow, you guys are good," Melody said.

"Come on, we better tell Linda he's in here," the Doctor said while the three men walked back out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After getting everyone out, Linda piled them back into the bus and drove on.

"I told the police to come and get the man," Linda said to the Doctor. "Thanks again for your help."

"I'm just glad we were able to help Melody out before he stabbed her," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, me too. I'll go in with you guys for this next one. It's a prison so there's a chance some more homeless people are using it for the night."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the prison, they asked Melody to come with them and everyone else gathered into groups for safety. Linda went first with some people yelling out that she was with the ghost tours and they had a right to be there while the others followed her.

"That won't do much good if they've come in here to sleep," Awinita said. "I'm sure they think they have as much right to be here as we do."

"Just stay close and keep your eyes open, above and below," the Doctor said, pointing up to the catwalk on the second level. "Hopefully that attack will be the only attack tonight."

"Are you from England?" Melody asked.

"Yes, I am," he said. "Are you from here?"

"I am, my parents were Cuban refugees, fled there in the '70's and settled in Miami," she said. "We moved up here a few years ago when our neighborhood got too rough."

"How old are you?" Jenny asked.

"Eighteen, just graduated high school last month."

"Congratulations," the Doctor said.

"Thanks, next stop, college if I can get scholarships or financial aide to help out."

"Papaw, look," Opal said, pointing to a cell next to them.

"Papaw? You're kinda young to be a grandfather, aren't ya?" Melody said, amused.

"I'm older than I look. I've had plastic surgery," he said while his family stifled their laughter. "What is it, Opal?"

"Picture," she said, walking into it and picking up a photo that was lying underneath the bed.

"Wow, your granddaughters have good eyes," Jack said while they walked over.

She handed him the photo. It was a faded photo of a blonde haired woman. Her hair was teased up in a 1980's style and she was wearing a blue top with enormous shoulder pads. Beside her was a young girl of about six or seven. She was grinning and some of her teeth were missing. She was wearing a blue sweater with ET on it.

"Old photo," Jack said. "Wonder how long it's been here."

"There's something under the bed, Papaw," Amelia said.

She shimmed under the bed while Opal knelt by it. She pushed a Reebok shoe box out and crawled out behind it.

"You're just finding all sorts of things on this tour," Alan said while they laughed.

They shined their flashlights at it while she opened it up. It was filled with keepsakes. Amelia picked up a white, leather baby shoe and she and Opal examined it before she gave it to the Doctor. Next she pulled out a little black teddy bear with a red ribbon around his neck.

"Are these this person's things?" Opal asked the Doctor.

"Probably. Probably was a little keepsake box he kept that reminded him of his family," the Doctor said to her.

Amelia pulled out some yellowed pieces of paper that were folded in half. She opened them up and looked at them.

"His name's Richard, it says so in this letter," she said, handing it to him.

Amelia pulled out a newspaper clipping and read the headline.

"Local man sentenced to death for the murder of woman and child," she read.

She handed it to the Doctor.

"He killed someone, Papaw," she said while the Doctor quickly read the clipping.

"Yes, or they claim he did. Killed a woman and her baby after breaking into their house," he said. "He didn't want to appeal his sentence so according to this, the date of his execution was 20th of November, 1985."

"So they missed this box when they were cleaning out his cell?" Rain said.

"Or maybe moving him to the death chamber," Jack said. "That picture was half under the bed, maybe he was looking at it when they took him away and it fell out of his hands."

_You know,_ the Doctor thought to them while Opal handed him up a women's handkerchief_. Rain and I found something like this in a similar cell on the other ghost tour but we found graffiti of a man's name on the wall and bloody scratch marks on the wall and part of the sheet hanging off the cell door so we figured someone hung himself in the cell or tried to hang himself. Personally, I think these finds are much more interesting than finding ghosts. This is a man's life, a box of his keepsakes to remind him of the people he loved while he was locked in here._

He noticed Amelia was reading a piece of paper with a frown on her face.

"What is it, Honey?" Rain said.

"Notice of Execution?" Amelia said, handing it to her.

She looked at it.

"Oh, this is a copy of a document that told him he was going to be executed and when and where, Honey. It's part of the court's paperwork so they'd have a record of his death sentence."

"I found a ring too," Amelia said, handing up a gold wedding band.

"That's beautiful," Rain said, taking it.

She noticed an inscription on the inside of it.

"Richard and Judy, so his wife's name was Judy," Rain said.

"And his daughter's name was Vicky," she said, showing him the inside of a small photo album.

Inside the cover was written, with love from Judy and your precious Vicky. The Doctor took the photo album and held it out so everyone could see the photos. They paused at their wedding photo. They were standing inside a church by the altar. Richard had on a black tuxedo and Judy had an eggshell white colored wedding dress on with pearls stitched into the bodice and a long veil that cascaded down her back.

"I love her dress," Rose said, peering over the Doctor's shoulder.

He turned the page and they smiled when they saw Judy lying in bed cradling her newborn daughter while she slept. She was looking towards the camera with an exhausted smile on her face. They finished looking through the photos and looked down at Amelia and Opal.

"Anything else?" he asked them.

"Nope, that's it," Opal said. "What do we do with it?"

"Put everything back and put it back where you found it. He's dead now and we should just leave this here where we found it," the Doctor said.

They put everything back in the box and put the family photo on top of it. Amelia closed the box and shimmied back under the bed. She crawled out a moment later and dusted herself off before all of them went back out and continued their exploration.


	184. Chapter 184

Chapter One Hundred and Eighty Four

Madison looked over when the door opened up and everyone stepped inside.

"Hey, did you see any ghosts?" she asked them.

"I think I did," Amelia said, walking over to her. "I saw a confederate ghost and I found a confederate soldier's bullet when we went to look.

She showed her the shell casing.

"Oh wow, this is cool," Madison said, examining it. "So what else did you guys do?"

Everyone told her about what happened. When they mentioned Melody, Madison began to look around.

"What are you doing?" the Doctor asked.

"Looking for our new sister. You did make her into one of us, right?" she teased.

"Um, no, not this time," the Doctor said while they laughed.

Madison's mouth dropped open.

"You mean you're gonna let a human being go without changing her? Doctor, that's not like you, I thought you were gonna convert all of planet Earth."

They laughed when the Doctor swatted the back of her head. They finished describing their night.

"I'm glad that homeless man didn't hurt any of you and I'm sorry that you didn't find any real proof of ghosts, but it sounds like you had fun anyway."

"Oh yes, we had fun exploring," the Doctor said. "And now, Amelia and Opal, you need to take a shower because you both have been crawling around in the dirt and dust. So off ya go, get a shower before this thunderstorm starts."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After Amelia and Opal took a shower, they sat with Dorothy and Tony and watched a movie before bed. The women were in the other room talking and the men were out on the balcony talking to each other. The kids were watching Snow White.

"I had fun tonight, Sissy," Opal said while they watched.

"Yeah, me too. I wish we could be Time Ladies and go with Papaw on real adventures," Amelia said.

"I wanna be timady too," Dorothy said, looking at them.

"Yeah, but we gotta wait to be Time Ladies, Papaw said so," Opal said to her. "I hate that we have to wait. I wanna be like everyone else."

While they watched a piece of paper suddenly appeared above them and floated down. It landed on Amelia's head.

"Hey, quit putting paper on my head, Opal!" Amelia said angrily.

"I didn't do anything," she protested.

Amelia took the paper off her head and looked at it.

"It's a letter…to us."

She looked up and around but they were the only ones in the room.

"What's it say?" Opal said while the toddlers turned and listened.

Dear Amelia, Opal, Dorothy and Tony,

You don't know me but my name is Imiko. I am the one who helped your family become Time Lords and Ladies and I gave the Doctor the crystals that allowed him to change anyone he wants into a Gall…Galli-frey-an. Romana has been listening to the Doctor and has heard your desire to be like him along with his concerns about it disrupting your young bodies. Please tell the Doctor he has nothing to fear. If you change you will continue to grow until the age of twenty when you will stop and remain as you are. Also, the knowledge of time and space he has will not be yours until you reach twenty years old so you will still think and act like children until you are old enough to handle the responsibility of time and space. What you will gain are your two hearts, your respiratory bypass system and the ability to regenerate. However if you regenerate before the age of twenty you will become an adult in your second life. You will also be able to feel them and speak with them telepathically. Please pass this letter on to the Doctor so he can change you now if he wants to. Let him make the decision since he's the one that has the crystals. I wish you all the luck and blessings in the world, little ones.

Love,

Imiko.

"We can!" Amelia squealed. "We can change if we want to. Papaw!"

They all hopped off the bed and ran to the balcony door.

"Papaw! We can!" Amelia and Opal yelled as they ran out to him.

"You can, what?" the Doctor said.

"We can change, look!" Amelia said, handing him the letter.

The Doctor walked over to the light coming from the room and read the letter. He cocked an eyebrow and a grin spread over his face when he finished and passed it to Alan and Jack.

"They can, look," he said to them.

Alan grinned while he and Jack read the letter.

"Romana and Imiko interfering again, I see," Alan said, handing him the letter.

"Can we? Can we?" Amelia and Opal said.

"Gee, I don't know. It says I'm the one who ultimately decides," the Doctor said, folding his arms and leaning back against the glass.

"But Romana said we could."

"Romana's not the boss of me!"

They laughed when he feigned shock and put his hand over his mouth while he looked around.

"At least I don't think she is," he said to the children in a loud whisper while he winked.

He telepathically summoned the others to the balcony. Once they were there, he showed them the letter.

"So…are you gonna change them?" Rose asked.

"Please, Papaw?" Amelia begged.

"First off, I don't think your mum will mind since both your parents are Gallifreyan. Madison, do you mind if Dorothy does it?"

"No, as long as she's allowed to grow up and not have the responsibility of the time lines until she's twenty, I don't mind," Madison said.

"Does this mean I won't have the knowledge of time and space until I'm twenty?" Julie said. "I mean, I thought I changed completely."

"Maybe she just means them since they're so young," Awinita said. "Maybe she picked twenty when she made the crystals because it's an even number."

"Okay, other thing is I'm not changing Tony without Jackie's permission because I don't want her mad and coming after me because she did want him to wait."

"I'll phone her and ask," Rose said.

He nodded.

"Okay then, I'll let you three change if it's not going to interfere with your childhoods," he said.

"Yeah!" Amelia and Opal said.

They hugged him and he patted their heads.

"I want you to understand something before I do this. You will look human but you won't be human any longer. But I don't want you telling other people you're not human for safety reasons. I'm sure most people would say you were using your imagination but you never know when someone might believe you and try to kidnap you and take you to Area 51 or something like that. So this is just between all of us, alright?"

They nodded and he reached into his pocket. He brought out three crystals and handed two of them to Amelia and Opal.

"Break them open and get your wish," he said.

They broke them open and everyone smiled when they felt them fully in their minds. Once they were finished, he put his fingers against their jugular veins and felt the double pulse.

"Did it work, Papaw?"

"Yes, you're Time Ladies now."

"Yeah!" they squealed, jumping up and down.

"Me now," Dorothy said, tugging on his arm.

"You now? What if I don't wanna?" the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Me! I wanna be timady!" she said to him.

The Doctor handed her the crystal and she stared at it before she put it on the ground and rolled it.

"Oi, no Ladybird, you break it open and you let the pretty light wash over you. That's how you change."

He gave it to Dorothy and gently broke it open for her. The light enveloped her and she blinked in surprise when it faded.

"What was that?" she said while they laughed.

The Doctor felt the pulse in her wrist and felt the double beats.

"You're a Time Lady now, Dear," he said to her.

"At least now they have a safety net if something does happen to them," Jack said. "At least you know now that if, God forbid, they are in danger of dying, they'll regenerate."

"Yes, that's another blessing. I now have peace of mind when it comes to that."

"Me now!" Tony said.

The Doctor looked at Rose.

"I'll ring mum," she said.

"Me now!"

"Sorry, Pollywog, gotta get your mum's permission before you can do it," Alan said, scooping him up.

"Me! I wanna do it!" Tony said.

"Hurry, Starlight, ring Jackie before he explodes from waiting so long!" Alan said to her.

"Wait a tic," Rose said.

She walked over to the Doctor.

"I know you already asked mum and dad about changin' but I'm gonna keep at em because I want them to change so I'm gonna ask her while I'm askin' 'bout Tony. I just want to have them around. Donna has Wilf and Rain has her family and I want mine and I'm sure Martha will feel the same way."

"She does. She's already mentioned that she's going to try to convince her family to do it," Jack said. "And now Mickey's thinking about it since Martha's a Time Lady."

"What about Gwen then?" Alan said.

"We're trying. But if she does, then I'm sure she'll convince Rhys to do it."

"So now it's snowballing," the Doctor said.

"What do you mean?" Jack said.

"I mean, it's spreading. It's no longer me or Alan that's recruiting people it's the rest of the family. You lot are going to be living a long time and you want your family members to be with you so you're going out and convincing them. And that's fine with me, trust me, if they want to change I'll give you guys the crystals but what I'm saying is it's spreading out past our immediate circle now. You want your family to become Gallifreyan and Martha wants her family to change, Mickey wants to be a Time Lord, Gwen might become one and then she'll ask Rhys. And you know the moment Luke, Rani and Clyde find out that they can change safely, they'll wanna do it. Then Luke will most likely try to convince Sarah to do it and Rani and Clyde will ask their families. Donna will probably try to convince Lee. That's what I mean by it's snowballing. Everyone is asking everyone else to become Time Lords and Ladies now. We're getting more and more people now because no one wants to outlive their families and loved ones."

"Kinda like a pyramid scheme," Jack said. "One person changes and they get their family to change and they get their family to change…"

"And on and on," the Doctor said, nodding. "Pretty soon we will have to find a new planet and make a new Gallifrey because one housing development won't be able to hold us. But if you can do it, Rose, be my guest. Just be sure to tell her it is your idea."

"I will. And since mum finally moved after she swore she'd never come back to this universe I think I have a fair chance of changin' her mind again."

"Jackie Tyler, a Time Lady. Bye bye universe," Alan said.

They laughed when Rose smacked his arm and she turned to leave.

"Wait, Rose," Jack said.

She turned and looked at him. He held up a finger.

"Doc, I have something else to tell you. A request from Pete. He wants you to take him back over the void at some point because he wants to try to convince Jake to come back and work with us and possibly get a flat where Lee is.

"Do you want that, Jack? I mean, this is the same Torchwood that nearly worked Rose to death," the Doctor said.

"Jake's not like that though," Rose said. "He was actually against them working me to death and he was against the dimension cannon because of what you said to him about how jumping dimensions puts the universes in danger."

"So why didn't you listen to him and not use the dimension cannon?" the Doctor said to Rose.

"Because…I needed to find ya."

"Because you wanted a snog?"

"Well, I was trying to find ya to stop the stars from going out but….yeah, I needed a snog as well," she teased.

"If you're comfortable havin' him with your group and if he wants to come I'll bring him back over," the Doctor said to Jack. "Just make sure he's trustworthy and won't try to undermine your authority."

"Trust me, he won't, I won't let him," Jack said. "The other thing I have to tell you is we found a possibly site for our Hub on Nova but it needs some modifications and extra space. So we talked to Lee when we could get him away from Donna and since he's a construction worker, we offered to pay him to help us build this new Hub to our specifications. That way he has some employment and we have someone we can trust to put in the top secret additions we need."

The Doctor nodded.

"Good, I'm glad you're helping him out then," he said.

"And he and Donna are getting along great," Jack said. "They're really enjoying their time together and River, Anita and Jennifer are adjusting too."

"Good," the Doctor said, nodding.

"But I just wanted to ask you about Jake so Rose, tell Jackie or Pete that if Jake wants to come, the Doctor will take him over."

"Tell him I'll do it after I get back from my holiday though because I really don't feel like doin' it now."

"I will," Rose said. "And now if you'll excuse me, I'll go phone them because I'm sure Tony will hate me if I don't get an answer for him in the next five minutes."

They let her through and she stepped into the room. The Doctor smiled at the children.

"As for you three, I s'pose I'll have to teach you how to talk to us telepathically and how to use your respiratory bypass system. At least, I'll teach you two, I don't know if Dot will fully understand everything till she's older but I'll give it a go. But at least you can stop badgering me about becoming Time Ladies. Now you are."

"Can we go and fight monsters now, Papaw?"

They giggled when he threw up his hands.

"Then again, maybe the badgering won't stop," he said while they laughed harder.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rose was still talking to her mum so the Doctor decided to pass the time by taking his grandchildren and Dot down to the swimming pool to teach them about their respiratory bypass systems. He let them change into their swimsuits and went down with them in his swim trunks after telling Rose where they'd be.

Once they got down there, he laid their towels and turtle down on the deck chairs and helped them into the water. He kept them near the steps in case he needed to help them. Sitting on the top step, he instructed them on how to breathe underwater and watched while they tried it. Both Amelia and Opal did it with ease and he grinned when they sat underwater at the bottom of the steps and stared up at him with smiles on their faces. He tried to instruct Dorothy but she couldn't quite get the hang of it and the Doctor gave up after five attempts and went to get her turtle. He put her in it and pulled her around while Amelia and Opal swam underwater beside him, getting further practice on using their bypass systems. Dorothy watched them intently while the Doctor pulled her along behind him. When they came up for air, he stopped them and practiced telepathy with them. Once again, they did it with ease and the Doctor tried to teach Dorothy but she still wasn't able to do it. The Doctor shrugged.

"Ah well, she's three, she'll learn eventually," he said to his granddaughters. "She just needs to grow up enough to understand what I need her to do. The fact she is having trouble indicates that she hasn't gotten the Time Lady intellect yet which is good since I want her to be a child and not a super genius toddler. Same with you. I want you both to grow up and be kids. You'll gain all the knowledge of time and space when you're twenty and old enough to handle all that. For now, you need to just worry about being children."

"Can we stay up all night now like you can?" Amelia asked.

"Dunno, Imiko didn't say. I s'pose we could let you stay up tonight and see what happens if you promise to tell us when you do get sleepy because I really do wanna know if we still have to put you to bed or not. Same with Ladybird here. I'll let her stay up and see if she falls asleep or not."

_Doctor, are you there?_

The children giggled when Rose suddenly thought to him and they heard it.

"That's so cool," Amelia said to Opal.

_Yes, Rose, I'm here. I'm in the lido with the children, what's goin' on?"_

_Mum said yes to Tony and I got her and Pete to say yes to becoming Gallifreyan after I begged her to do it so we could all be together._

_I told ya, Rose, you lot are the ones who are going to be doin' the convincing now, not me, _he thought.

_Rose, can you hear me?_ Amelia thought.

_Yes, Sweetie, I can. Can you breathe underwater?_

_I can and Opal can but Dorothy's not old enough to know what Papaw's talkin' about._

_Ah well, Tony'll probably be the same way. They'll learn to do it in time,_ Rose thought. _But I'm glad you can do this now so you can be in on our secret conversations._

_Me too. I love being this way. _

_Did he teach you how to block minds?_

_Yeah, we did that too._

_Good, _Rose thought._ Well, welcome to being Gallifreyan then._

_Thanks, Rose, _Amelia thought.

_Doctor, did you want Alan to go ahead and get a crystal for Tony? _

_He can, they're in my right trouser pocket._

_I'll get one, Brother,_ Alan thought_. Tony's begging to become a Time Lord so I better do it now. So get ready to feel him. _

There was a pause and then the Doctor felt Tony's mind growing stronger in his own.

_There, he's a Time Lord now,_ Alan thought. _So he can calm down now._

The Doctor chuckled.

_Just wait till Jackie becomes one, mate,_ he thought.

_Don't remind me._

_Oi!_ Rose thought while the Doctor laughed.

The Doctor went back to swimming with his family for another hour and a half before all of them went back upstairs to join the others.


	185. Chapter 185

Chapter One Hundred and Eighty Five

After a couple of hours, the children were still awake and all of them watched while the adults played cards. The thunderstorm was beginning outside and the Doctor scooted back so his daughter could sit on his lap and be comforted.

"Still can't believe Jackie's about to join the ranks of the Time Ladies," Alan said while they snickered. "Can you imagine her in full Time Lord regalia."

"We oughta ask her to put some on and take a photo," the Doctor said. "I'm kinda curious to see what she'd look like in the robe and skullcap and frill."

"Probably whinge about how hot the thing was," Rose said. "But I'm glad she's doin' it even if you aren't. I love me mum and dad and I didn't want them to watch me and Tony stay young while we grew old. She said as much to me when we spoke. And I don't think she's interested in time travel with ya. She just wants to be with me and Tony."

"So she'll be one of the complacent lazy Time Lords that used to sit on their bums and observe," Alan said.

They laughed when Rose shoved him. The Doctor looked at Amelia and Opal.

"Sooo, update on sleepiness?" he asked them.

"I'm not sleepy," Amelia said.

"Me neither."

The Doctor looked at Dorothy who was looking at her foot and Tony who was on the floor playing with his Tinky Winky.

"And they both look wide awake, maybe they will be able to stay up all night long now," he said to them. "So are we leaving in the morning then?"

"I thought we'd go over to Ocala, that's where they have those glass bottom boats and they have river tours you can take so you can watch fish and alligators and birds," Rose said.

"Cool," Amelia said. "I wanna do that."

"And we were talking while you were down swimming," Alan said. "And we were going to try to find somewhere to camp out so that the children and everyone else can have the fun we had plus we both miss doing it."

"Brilliant, I'd love to camp out for a night or two," the Doctor said.

"I think the glass bottom boat place has camping there so I'm gonna check at the library in the morning before we leave," Rose said.

"I've camped out before," Julie said.

"Really? Where?" the Doctor asked.

"When I was about their age," he said, pointing to Amelia and Opal, "I was in girl scouts and we had summer camp at this park and we'd go there during the day for four days but on the fifth day we set up tents and camped out in the woods and they taught us to live off the land and cook over a fire and things like that."

"Brilliant, you'll be the camp slave then," Alan said.

"I don't think so, Alan," she said while they laughed.

"Sissy and I used to sleep out on the porch and the yard when it was warm enough," Opal said.

"You did?" the Doctor said.

"Yeah, we used to pretend we were far, far away from the house," Amelia said. "And we'd tell ghost stories and stuff like that."

"I've camped out before when I lived on Boeshane and obviously in World War Two and sometimes with Torchwood."

"So are you coming with us?" the Doctor said.

"Yeah, I'll neglect my duties again and see more of Florida," Jack said with a grin.

A thunder boom rattled the balcony door.

"Daddy!" Dorothy whimpered.

He put his arm around her.

"We're here, Ladybird, it's okay," he said, watching while Tony ran to Alan and climbed up on his lap.

"I'll get her some juice, that might help soothe her," Madison said, leaning up to kiss her cheek. "I can get Tony something too if you think it'll help him."

"Yeah, if you don't mind," Rose said, rubbing her brother's back while he clung to Tony. "That's the bad part about them being able to stay up all night now they won't be sleeping through the thunderstorms."

They winced when thunder crackled through the sky and lightning lit up the curtains over the balcony door.

"I'm gonna switch to the Weather Channel," Mingxia said. "Just in case there is severe weather out there."

She got up and went over to the TV while Madison came back with sipper cups of juice for Dorothy and Tony. She handed the cups to them and sat back down.

"We're under a tornado watch," Mingxia said to them. "There's a really strong storm headed right for us and they think there's been tornado touchdowns inside it."

The Doctor cursed silently while Amelia and Opal gave each other fearful looks.

"Tornadoes?" Amelia whispered.

"It's alright, nothing will hurt you, I promise," the Doctor said, laying a hand on her head.

Just then a tornado siren went off in the distance at the same time the tornado siren went off in the building.

"Tornado warning," Mingxia said. "One's touched down near here."

"Come on, everyone, we have to go downstairs," the Doctor said.

They got up. He carried Dorothy, Alan carried Tony and Jack took the children's hands while they hurried out the door. They went to the stairs with everyone else on the floor and filed downstairs. A man on the ground flood stood just inside the stairs telling everyone to go further down into the basement. They followed everyone down into the basement area. It was a series of passageways made out of concrete. A staff member told everyone to get up against the walls and sit down for the moment.

"Everyone remain calm," the male staff worker said. "This is just a precaution. You're safe down here."

"You hear that?" the Doctor said to his granddaughters who were visibly frightened. "Everything'll be alright. Just relax and keep calm."

They nodded and huddled close to him and Rain. They rubbed their backs while Dorothy wandered around near him and looked up at the pipes running along the ceiling above them. A lady walked by them listening to the weather on a small portable radio.

"We had tornadoes sometimes in Georgia," Amelia said to the Doctor. "Pa had a storm cellar by the barn but we never had to use it. But he knew someone that got caught out in a storm when I was five and this tornado came along while he was trying to get home and it picked his horse and buggy up in the air and slammed them into the ground and killed him."

The Doctor winced.

"Ouch," Jack muttered, leaning up to look at him. "That would have been frightening if you're in a flimsy little buggy. Believe me, I drove a horse and buggy when I landed in the 1800's and I can imagine it being tossed around by a tornado."

"So can I," the Doctor said softly. "I've also driven horse and buggies in the past. Not my favorite mode of transportation."

"Ugh, it's hot down here," Jenny said, turning her head and putting her cheek against the cold concrete.

Jack glanced at the number of people along the wall.

"It's all the body heat in this confined space. It's heating up the air," Jack said to her while she nodded.

Two women came by and passed out bottled water to everyone. They thanked her when she got to them and she smiled and continued passing it out to the others.

"That was kind of her," Alan said, opening up the water and taking a swig.

"How long are we gonna be down here, Papaw?" Opal said.

"Until we grow hair on our eyeballs," Alan said to her.

"Be quiet, Alan," Opal said while they laughed.

"I s'pose we'll go back up when they give the all clear," Rain said.

"If there is an up once the killer tornado zooms through!" Alan said with wide eyes. "But never fear, we'll use the manipulator and get to safety while everyone else suffocates and dies."

"I don't think so, Brother," the Doctor said.

"Then have Jen dig us out," Alan said.

"What?" Jen said to him.

"You heard me. If there's rubble blocking the way, you just get in there and dig us out, then crawl through the rubble up to civilization and get help to us while we sit here drinking water and holding our urine in."

"You do it, Uncle Alan, I'd rather sit here and hold my urine in," she said while they snickered.

"Mingxia, you were with UNIT, you go."

"No thanks, you're the one who thought of it and if you die, we have a spare you so you go," she said.

"Everyone, it's safe to return to your rooms now," the female staff member yelled.

"Then again, I guess no one has to go," Alan said as they got up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

For the rest of the night, things remained calm and all the children managed to stay awake without any trouble.

"Oh goody, we'll have toddlers tugging at our trousers 24/7 now," Alan said.

They packed everything up, checked out and went out to the minivans. They loaded everything inside it and divided up their group into the two cars. The Doctor and Rain drove the one with the children inside and Madison and Jenny rode with them while Alan drove the other one with Rose in the passenger seat. The Doctor let Alan drive off first and he followed them while they made their way to Silver Springs near Ocala. They drove west along some back roads. The Doctor drove while Rain was turned in her seat, talking to Madison and Jenny while Amelia and Opal played with the leapfrog pad in the back seat and Tony and Dorothy colored in their coloring books.

_Brother, follow us, we found something interesting so we're taking a small diversion,_ Alan thought to the Doctor.

_Um…okay…_the Doctor thought back.

"Where are they goin', Papaw?" Amelia asked.

"I haven't the foggiest, Sweetheart," the Doctor said.

They followed them onto an off-ramp and kept on following them until they turned into a parking lot. There was a large white block building with a sign posted by the front door. He stared at the sign.

THE WORLD'S BIGGEST PECAN. WORLD RECORD HOLDER INSIDE!"

The Doctor rolled down the window when Alan came around to his side.

"What is this?" he said to him.

"The world's biggest pecan, can't ya read? Come on, come inside and see it!"

The Doctor looked at Rain and shook his head when she laughed.

"Hey, can't pass up the chance to see the world's biggest pecan, Love," she said, opening her door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they were all out of the cars, they went inside the building. Inside there was nothing except a thirty foot fiberglass pecan standing up on its tip and a few signs with facts about pecans posted on the walls around it.

"This is what you wanted to see? A fake pecan?" the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Yes, it's a world record holder," Jack said. "See how large it is?"

"See how fake it is?" the Doctor said, rapping his knuckles against the fiberglass sculpture.

"But you have to admit, it looks real," Alan said. "Come on, everyone, we need a few photos because no one will believe we were here with this monster nut!"

"I think the only monster nut around here is you," Rain said.

Alan tapped his chin while he muttered, "Now let me see, is there a way to tip this over and squash Rainy?"

"Well, come on, everyone. Let's get a picture of us standing by the tourist trap so we can go and look at the biggest ball of twine next," Awinita said.

They all stood in front of it while Rose and Jack readied their cameras. They conferred with each other and then feigned shocked looks while they pointed up at the pecan. Rose and Jack laughed and took several photos of them.

"What's next on the agenda, the biggest wad of snot?" Julie said.

"Or the ear wax sculpture of Lincoln's head?" Rain said.

"Okay, just the children now so we can compare sizes," Jack said.

"Come on, Dears, stand here and look ridiculous so Jack can get a photo of you," the Doctor said while Amelia and Opal giggled.

They took Dorothy and Tony's hands and stood in front of the pecan and took more photos of them. Once they were done and off to the side of the sculpture, Alan walked up to the side of it, grabbed it and opened his mouth wide as if he were about to eat it. They laughed and took photos of that.

"Any other ideas?" Jack asked.

Alan grinned. He went over to the Doctor and whispered in his ear. The Doctor chuckled and walked over to the children. He whispered to Opal and Amelia what he wanted them to do and all of them walked over to the right side of the nut while Alan stayed on the left side. The Doctor knelt down and gathered all the children into his arms while Alan put his hands against the side of the nut. He pretended to push it over onto the Doctor while he knelt with the children and looked up in terror while Amelia and Opal pretended to scream. All of them laughed and Jack and Rose took some more pictures of them.

"Now see, we can have fun wherever we go," Jack said when the Doctor stood back up.

"Just a tic, one more photo. Rain…" the Doctor said.

Rain came to him and he whispered in her ear. She laughed and swatted his chest but followed him to the pecan. The Doctor lunged his back up against it and splayed his arms and legs while Rain pressed up against him. She pretended to kiss him passionately while the Doctor closed his eyes and hung his mouth open. The others howled with laughter. Jack handed his camera to Rose, ran over to their right side and stood there, finger on chin, while he studied them. Rain giggled and made the Doctor look. The Doctor shrugged and closed his eyes again while everyone else laughed. Rose took pictures both with her camera and Jack's. Once she was done, Alan ran over, gave the cameras to Jack and led her to the nut. He put her up against the nut, grabbed her from the side and put his tongue against his cheek while he froze with a maniacal look in his eyes. Jack giggled and took photos with his and Rose's cameras.

"Are the next set of photos gonna be even more x-rated now?" Awinita said.

The Doctor had another idea. He cleared everyone out and stood in front of the pecan. He pointed to it with a puzzled look on his face while he scratched his head. They laughed and Jack and Rose took his picture. Alan ran up and whispered in his ear and they laughed harder when the two of them embraced and stared into each other's eyes while they stood in front of the pecan.

"We're never gonna get to Silver Springs at this rate," Rose said, taking their picture.

"Yeah, you're right. We'll just take two more group photos, one with Rose in it and one with Jack and then we'll be on our way," Alan said.

They took turns posing as a group in front of it while Rose and Jack took the pictures with each camera and then they finally filed out of the building, giggling uncontrollably while they went back to the minivans.


	186. Chapter 186

Chapter One Hundred and Eighty Six

After finding Silver Springs, they found the large theme park and paid the admission and also paid for a couple of cabins at their nearby camp site. They decided to go on the glass bottom boat first. The boat was large with a canvas canopy overhead to provide shade. Everyone sat on wooden benches around the sides of the boat while in the middle the bottom of the boat was glass allowing them to see what was going on underwater. They sat with several other people in the boat listening to a female tour guide while she pointed out fish swimming under them and also birds and reptiles on the shore around them. While they listened and watched, Alan frowned when he suddenly felt something in his right ear.

"Um, Starlight, is there something in my ear?" he asked.

She turned her head and her eyes widened when she saw a wasp walking around his ear.

"There's a wasp, Alan, don't move."

"Bollocks," Alan whispered.

He tried to turn his head slightly to encourage the wasp to fly away. He opened his mouth in a silent scream when the wasp stung inside his ear.

"Alan!" Rose whispered while the wasp flew away and he slammed his hand over his right ear.

"I think that was the wrong thing to do," he said, gritting his teeth at the pain.

The Doctor who was sitting across from him with Rain and the children stood up, took a large step over the glass and sat down beside him when Rose and the others scooted over.

"Let me see, Brother," he said, taking his hand away.

He examined the ear and winced at the swelling.

"When we get back to the dock, we'll go to first aid and see if they have something that'll help," he said. "Until then, there's not much we can do."

"S'alright, the pain's becoming more bearable now," Alan whispered. "Good thing it flew away because I would have squeezed the little bastard in two."

"Is Alan alright, Mamaw?" Amelia asked.

"I think so, Honey; wasp just stung him right in his ear."

"I hate wasps, I've gotten stung before," Opal said.

"I felt him though, Mamaw, I felt his pain," Amelia whispered to her.

She nodded and leaned into her ear.

"We all can. We can feel everyone's emotions and you'll know if someone's in pain now. You'll get used to it, Honey," she said.

Amelia stood up and went across the glass to him.

"Alan, are you okay?" she said, sitting down on the Doctor's lap.

"I'm fine now. It doesn't hurt that much anymore," he said, smiling. "I've had worse pain than that, trust me."

She leaned into her ear.

"I felt your pain," she whispered.

"I bet. I'm surprised everyone on the flippin' boat didn't feel my pain, Gallifreyan and human alike. Just do me a big favor and keep an eye out for more flying menaces. I don't feel like spending the rest of this regeneration deaf because wasps decided my ear canals might make nifty nests."

"Okay, Alan."

He smiled when she kissed his cheek and he sent love into her mind in return.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they were off the boat, they inquired where first aid was and walked to it. The nurse examined his ear and gave him an ice pack to put over his ear. She offered him aspirin but he quickly shook his head.

"I'm allergic to aspirin," he said to her.

"How about ibuprofen?" the nurse said.

He nodded and she gave him two tablets. He put them in his mouth, took a plastic cup of water and swallowed them. He thanked her and gave it back to her.

"That's really all we can do for you. Just hold the ice pack over your ear and the swelling will go down," she said.

They thanked her and walked out.

"Okay, now I feel like a moron," Alan said while he walked around with the ice pack on his ear.

"Alan, was that true about you being allergic to aspirin?" Amelia said.

"Yes and the same goes for you now. All of us are allergic to aspirin. It can kill us so don't ever take any, alright? You can have other pain killers but not that one, okay?"

She and Opal nodded. They found a bench and rested for a moment so the swelling could go down a bit. Rose took Alan's hand away and looked at it.

"It's not as bad as it was, Love," she said.

"It doesn't hurt anymore. Especially not with this on it. Bloody wasps."

He jerked his head back when another wasp flew in front of his face.

"Go away!" Opal said, waving her hand at it.

"No, Sweetheart, don't do that. It just makes him angry," the Doctor said, grabbing her hand. "Just ignore him and he'll fly on by, hopefully."

"Yeah, just as long as he doesn't make a pit stop in my other ear," Alan muttered.

After ten minutes, Rose checked his ear again.

"I don't see any more swelling. Everything looks normal," she said.

"Great, get me some ear muffs now for the rest of the day," Alan said.

Alan took the ice pack away from his ear. He stared at it wondering what to do with it.

"Um, anyone want this?" he said to passerby while his family laughed.

He looked at the ice inside.

"You're a baby. You teethe, here suck on this," he said to Dorothy.

Dorothy took it from him. She dropped it when she felt how cold it was.

"Guess not," Alan said, picking it back up.

He stared at it and grinned when he put it on Amelia's bare leg. They laughed when she shrieked and ran to the Doctor's side. Jack walked over to him, held out his hand and Alan gave it to him. He put it across the top of his head.

"Ah, relief from the heat," he sighed as he walked back to his spot.

They laughed when he leaned back and hung his mouth open while he sighed contentedly.

"Isn't that uncomfortable?" Awinita asked him.

"Slightly, I'm having brain freeze without eating ice cream," he said, taking it off his head and putting in on the bench. "My suggestion is just leave it here and let someone else take it if they want it."

"Or I could take it and wait till Rain's not looking and put it down her knickers."

"You do and I'll make what the wasp did look like a pimple," Rain said.

"On second thought, I'll leave it here," Alan said while they laughed.

All of them got up and walked away, looking for something else to do.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After taking a second glass bottom boat tour or as Alan put it, "Getting back on the horse," they left it without incident and sat for awhile in a huge amphitheater watching a birds of prey show. Then they went and looked at two albino alligators. The gators, who were pure white with pink eyes, lounged on the riverbank, staring unconcerned at the tourists.

"Okay, that's kinda creepy," Awinita said. "The whole white body and pink eyes is a bit unsettling."

"Gee, they didn't have any of these guys at Gatorland," Jack said. "I thought Gatorland was supposed to be famous for their gators. Where was their creepy albino reptiles?"

"Maybe Silver Springs nicked them and brought them here and Gatorland hasn't gotten them back yet," Rose said.

"Or Gatorland felt sorry for Silver Springs because they didn't have any gators so they let them borrow Casper the Friendly Ghost One and Two," Awinita replied.

They walked on and came to a small lake that had about twenty flamingos in it. The flamingos were standing on one leg, resting or feeding from the lake. They stared at them. Suddenly one of the flamingos dropped his leg and waded over towards them.

"Aha, a close up view of Pinky," Alan said.

The flamingo came to the water's edge, lifted its leg and stared at them silently.

"Yes, is there something we can do for you?" Jack said while they laughed.

"Maybe he's the lone flamingo that's fed up with people staring at him all day," Mingxia said.

"Or maybe he's bored and this is his entertainment, watching us," Jenny added.

Alan reached into Rose's pocket.

"Well, If you're gonna oblige us with a close up view…" he said, pulling out her camera.

While he took a photo, the flamingo lowered his leg and came up on shore towards them.

"Um…you know how the fence we're leaning on has a wide open area and the bird's beak is level with our manhood?" Jack said. "Having said that, shouldn't we back up a bit, just in case he thinks we have enormous worms for him?"

The adult women laughed when Jack lifted up Tony and all of the men quickly backed away. The flamingo stopped by the fence and raised his leg while he stared at them.

"What's the next stage? Jumping the fence and pecking us to death?" the Doctor said.

"It's pretty," Opal said.

"You won't think it's so pretty when it's over the fence on top of ya pecking your eyeballs out of your sockets," Alan said.

The flamingo turned and waded back into the water.

"And that was Pinky's entertainment for this afternoon," Alan said. "Now Pinky will go and stand in the water on one leg for the rest of the day while he wonders why he's stuck in a theme park in Florida with a bunch of other birds."

All of them turned and headed on. They came to a little petting zoo with cows, goats, miniature ponies and rabbits.

"Wow, they have cows and bunnies in Florida? Who knew?" Jack said.

They opened a little gate in the wooden fence and went inside. Once they were inside, they took some feed pellets from little vending machines and tried to feed the animals. The Doctor took Dorothy and Alan took Tony. They put a bit of feed in their hands and knelt with them while the animals came over to them. The miniature pony came towards Dorothy and ate from her hand while both of them petted it. Meanwhile, Jack was kneeling with Alan while Tony fed a calf.

"Remember, Alan, these are the most intelligent animals on Earth," Jack said to him.

He giggled.

"Moo moo moo moo moomoomoo," he said while Jack chuckled.

Opal walked over holding a bunny in her arms.

"I like this one, it's fluffy," she said.

"Hello, Bugs, do you like being put in here with animals you wouldn't associate with in broad daylight?" Alan said, stroking it. "Do you like running from the cows and horses while they try to stomp you into the ground?"

"And then the goats try to butt it," Jack said.

"Yes, are you constantly in fear for your life, poor bunny?" Alan said while Opal giggled.

Dorothy walked over with Madison and petted the bunny.

"Bunny, Mommy."

"I know, he's cute, isn't he?" Madison said.

Alan looked around and noticed the Doctor was outside the fence leaning on it. He wandered over to him.

"Get your fill of the barnyard?" he asked the Doctor.

"Yes, this held my interest for approximately 2.7 minutes," he said to him.

"I have an idea. Let's go interrupt Donna's canoodling so she can come pet the pony."

The Doctor snorted.

"You wanna risk a knuckle sandwich, be my guest," he said to him.

He laughed when the goat went up to Alan and lightly butted him on the butt.

"Blimey, Brother, nature is not on your side today," the Doctor said.

"Right, I'm getting out of here this instant before I rip off this bugger's horns and ram them up his anal region," Alan said, walking to the gate.

He opened it, went through and shut it.

"There, I'm out of your kingdom, your Royal Bleating Highness," he said while he went and rested next to the Doctor.

The goat walked over to Amelia who was feeding the horse. She gasped and stumbled when the goat butted her butt.

_Everyone get outta here, the goat is being belligerent_, the Doctor thought to them. _It butted Alan and nearly knocked Amelia down. _

They picked up Dorothy and Tony and headed to the gate.

"There, we're all leaving. Now you can rule your small section of dirt in peace," Alan said to the goat as everyone walked out.

Jack shut the door behind them and they walked on.


	187. Chapter 187

Chapter One Hundred and Eighty Seven

After they got done exploring the park, they drove over to the campsite section. To Alan's great disappointment, there were large wooden cabins instead of tents. The cabins were large with four bunk beds, two on each side of the wall. Each cabin had a television with a couch in front of it, refrigerator, stove and food and supplies.

"Okay, how is this camping? It's basically a tiny version of a hotel room," Alan said while they stood in one of the cabins.

"Well, I'm sure they don't want a huge mess and tents everywhere plus this way they don't have a bunch of fires that might rage out of control and burn the forest down," Rose said to him. "Just be happy, Alan. We can have a barbecue and pretend we're back in the forests of Japan while we do it."

"So, we also have the cabin across the way then, right?" Jack said, pointing out the window to an identical cabin several feet away.

"Yup," Rose said.

"Great! Boys get that one and girls get this one and we'll have our own gentlemen's club, no girls allowed!" Jack said, running out the door.

The women looked at the Doctor and Alan.

"And are you part of the gentlemen's club too?" Awinita asked.

"Well, I wasn't planning on it since I'm married," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, it would seem odd for me to be anti-female and be married," Alan added.

They looked at Tony who was beside Alan's leg.

"Are you going to be in the gentlemen's club?" Alan asked him.

"No."

"Well, guess Jack's got the other cabin to himself then," the Doctor said, shrugging.

They looked through the refrigerator and cabinets and found hamburger meat, hot dogs, condiments, potato chips, charcoal, lighter fluid, matches, paper plates, plastic cups and cutlery and four red clay flowerpots containing citronella candles.

"Good, we can use these tonight so the mozzies don't eat us while we eat," the Doctor said.

"I'll get the charcoal started," Alan said, gathering up it, the lighter fluid and the matches.

He and the Doctor walked outside.

"Sorry, Jacky boy," they heard Alan said. "No one's interested in being a gentleman except you!"

"Traitors!" they heard Jack yell.

Amelia walked over to the windows. They had small metal cranks under them. She used one to open the window outwards.

"Papaw, you need help?" Amelia asked the Doctor who was lighting the candles.

He smiled at her.

"Not yet, Sweetheart, just relax. Brother and I have this well in hand," he said.

"Okay."

Rain smiled at her.

"You're being very helpful, Honey."

"I'm a Time Lady now, I'm s'posed to help Papaw," she said.

The ladies chuckled while Rain gave her a kiss on the cheek. The Doctor came back inside the cabin.

"Okay, I s'pose we can start putting out some of the condiments and the paper plates and cups and cutlery.

"Me!" Amelia said, walking over to him.

"You?"

"I'll do it, Papaw!" Amelia said, walking over to the counter.

"Well, thank you, Sweetie."

"She's a Time Lady now, she's supposed to help you," Rain said, walking over to him. "Her words."

He grinned at that and put an arm around his wife while he watched Amelia and Opal carry the things out.

"Yup, they're gonna be brilliant Time Ladies when they come of age," the Doctor said.

He looked down at Dorothy who was carrying a bottle of mustard.

"Are you being a helpful Time Lady as well?" he said.

"Yes."

"Okay, you just follow Amelia and Opal then, junior Time Lady, and they'll show ya what to do."

"Okay, Daddy."

They watched while she walked over to the door, opened it and walked outside. Amelia was coming in as she was going out.

"Dear, follow Dot to the table and make sure she puts the mustard on it, alright?"

"Okay, Papaw," Amelia said, turning around.

Opal came back in the room, walked over and grabbed the rest of the condiments. She walked back out the door just as Amelia and Dorothy walked back in. She checked the counter and walked over to the Doctor.

"Anything else?" she asked him.

"Blimey, you lot are eager beavers now, aren't ya?" he said to her. "Just busy, busy, busy being helpful. No, Sweetie, you're done for now, you can have a rest."

"Just let me know if you need help," she said, walking over to the bunk bed.

The Doctor grinned at Rain. He clapped his hands twice.

"Come to me!" he said to Amelia.

She walked over.

"Yes?"

"Okay, here's what I want you to do. I want you to go fetch some building supplies and build me a castle worthy of my majesty and…oi! Get back here, I wasn't done orderin' ya about yet!" he said when Amelia walked back over to the bed. "You're s'posed to be helpful Time Ladies, so where's me castle?"

They laughed when he walked over and kissed her head. While he did that, Opal walked in and walked over to him.

"Do ya need anything else done, Papaw?" she asked.

"Aha, a willing volunteer who'll build my castle," the Doctor said.

"Your castle?" Opal said.

"Yes, my Time Lady in training. Procure some building materials and build me a grand castle worthy of my majesty and…oi, don't walk away from me when I'm giving you orders!" the Doctor said while she quickly went back out the door. "So they'll only help if it's something they wanna do, I get that now. They love me, but not enough to build me a palace. Fine, I'll go outside and check the charcoal and dream of my palatial abode that I hope my Time Lady granddaughters will build for me."

They laughed when he let out a "Hmmph," jerked his head in the air and walked back out. He walked down the steps and over to the grill by the picnic tables. He peeked inside and noticed the charcoal was mostly white.

"How's it coming along?" Rain asked walking up to his side with Amelia and Opal.

"I believe it's about ready, Latara, and then we can have burgers and frankfurters," he said.

"Well, there are cans of green beans and corn in the cabinets so we're gonna fix that in the meantime."

"Brilliant."

Rain kissed his cheek and tousled Amelia and Opal's hair while she walked back to the cabin. They came up beside him and looked inside.

"Nearly there," the Doctor said to them. "When the charcoal is completely white, that's when we can put the meat on the grill."

"Papaw, can I ask ya a question?" Amelia said.

"Sure."

"What does Latara mean? You keep callin' Mamaw that."

"You don't know what that means?"

They shook their heads.

"So, I s'pose language comprehension won't happen until you're twenty then," the Doctor said. "Latara is Gallifreyan for rain. It's my personal name for her."

"Can I have a personal name too?" Amelia said.

"Yeah, me too," Opal said.

"Hmmm, I don't see why not. But…gotta think up something that fits you both. Give me a moment, Dears. I need to think."

"Okay," they said in unison.

Jack came out of his cabin and walked over to him.

"Traitor," he said.

"Oi, Harkness, I'm married so it doesn't make any sense to join your boys only club, same goes with Alan. It works for you since your significant other is a male but I enjoy being with my wife so have at it, cabin's yours, mate."

"Nah, I don't like being alone," Jack said. "If I wanted to be alone, I'd sit in my office in the Hub. Is everything under control?"

"Should be, my two Time Lady helpers helped out and we don't need to do anything else till the grill is ready. The women are fixing green beans and sweet corn so there's nothing else to do 'cept relax."

"Gotcha," Jack said.

He wrinkled his nose when he smelt the pungent odor coming from the candles.

"Ugh, hate that citronella stuff," he said.

"I do too. But I consider it a fair trade off if the smell keeps the mosquitoes away," the Doctor said.

Jack tousled the girl's hair and walked over to the other cabin. The Doctor went and sat down on the seat of the picnic table and leaned his head back.

"Personal names for you," he muttered while Amelia and Opal sat down beside him. "Hmm, are you wanting me to choose Gallifreyan names for you like I did with Mamaw?"

"Yes," they said in unison.

"Hmmm, well, unlike rain, there was no opals on Gallifreyan so I can't use that. I could use jewel though since we had other jewels. Jewel is telos in Gallifreyan so I could call you Te'telos which is beloved jewel. What about that?"

"Yes, I like it, Papaw," Opal said.

"Okay, Te'telos, that's your name then," he said, giving her a kiss on the temple. "And now for you, Amelia. Actually, my brother calls Rose, Amo'tiri which is kindred soul. Amo is our word for soul so I actually could call you Amo'ya which means my soul and kinda sounds like your name. Would you like that?"

"Yes, that's pretty."

"Okay, then I dub you Te'telos and Amo'ya, my Gallifreyan grandchildren," he said.

"Thank you, Papaw!" Amelia said.

"You're welcome, Amo'ya," he said.

"Come on, Te'telos, let's go tell everyone else about our names," Amelia said.

He smiled when they ran over to the cabin and went inside. Rain came out a few minutes later, walked over and kissed him.

"I love their names, I'm glad you did that."

"Well, they deserve to have special names just like you do," he said. "And now that I'm done naming, I'll go check the grill," he said, getting up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After putting several burgers and hot dogs on the grill. The Doctor minded them and occasionally flipped them. While he was doing that, Amelia and Opal wandered up and watched.

"Hello, my newly named grandchildren," he said. "Looking for more ways to help me?"

"Yes," they said.

"Have you ever helped barbecue meat before?" he said.

"Um…Pa took us to a barbecue one time but I was three so I don't remember much about it," Amelia said.

"And you were one then, Te'telos, so I assume you don't remember at all," he said to Opal.

She shook her head.

"Well, here…" he said, handing the spatula to Amelia. "I want you to take this and put it under the burgers and just lightly turn them over; can you do that for me?"

She nodded. He watched while she turned one.

"Good, just do that for me and you can use these tongs and turn the frankfurters a bit for me," he said to Opal.

He nodded when she turned them on the grill.

"Very good, you two are dab hands at this," he said.

Amelia finished turning the burgers.

"Excellent, Amo'ya, now we let that side cook for awhile," he said, taking the spatula from her.

He grinned and took the tongs when Opal was done.

"Yes, you both are very helpful," he said.

"Can you teach us more Gallifreyan, Papaw?" Amelia asked.

"Sure, if you want to learn, I can teach ya."

They nodded and he rubbed both their backs. Suddenly his mobile rang.

"I'll get it, Papaw," Amelia said.

"Have at it then. It's in my left trouser pocket."

Amelia reached into the pocket of his brown trousers and found his mobile.

"Do you know how to use it?" the Doctor said.

"Yup, Sarah taught us," Amelia said, flipping it open.

She pushed the talk button.

"Hi, this is the Doctor's phone," she said into it while the Doctor chuckled.

She giggled.

"Hi, Sarah. Yes, Papaw's here. He's cooking burgers now so I answered his phone," she said. "Okay…"

She held it up to him.

"Thank you, Amo'ya," he said while she smiled.

He put the phone to his ear.

"Hello Sarah, hope you didn't mind my personal secretary answering. She's screening all my calls for me," he said while Amelia and Opal giggled. "But we're at a campground having a barbecue and they're helping me out now. What's goin' on? Sylvia's leavin' ya alone, I hope? Good…hopefully, she learned her lesson then. Um…I have something to tell ya after you get done tellin' me what you have to tell me because it involves the children. Okay…well…"

He explained about the children becoming Time Lords and Ladies while his granddaughters helped him turn the food.

"Yeah…so, I s'pose Luke and his friends could become Time Lords and Ladies as well unless you want to keep that titbit from them until they do turn twenty. But just lettin' ya know that there is a way they can become Gallifreyan and still be children. But it's up to you whether or not Luke is ready…Okay, well I'll give you the crystals the next time I see ya then. What did you want to tell me or are you just ringing me up out of boredom….Um…Latimer…Oh! Timothy, yes, I remember. Wonderful bloke, met him in 1913 and…what? You're kidding me…he's still alive? But…he must be over a hundred years old by now. One hundred and thirteen? Wow! Wait a tic, let me tell Alan."

He lowered the phone and telepathically called to Alan. Alan walked out the door of the cabin and came over to him.

"You called? Need help turning the burgers?"

"Nope, these two are in charge of that. I'm talking to Sarah and she saw this interview on telly with Timothy, the boy I met in 1913."

Alan's eyes bulged out of his head.

"What? He's still alive?" he said.

"Yeah, he's the oldest surviving World War One veteran. They spoke to him in the old folk's home and according to Sarah; he mentioned me and his desire to see me and Martha again before he died. According to Sarah, he's in poor health now and she thought we might wanna go and see him before he dies."

"Who is he?" Amelia asked him.

Alan took them aside and explained it while the Doctor went back to his conversation with Sarah Jane. After he finished with the explanation, he went and fetched Jack and told him what was going on. Jack nodded.

"I'll see if Martha's available then," he said to him, taking his mobile out of his trouser pocket.

Alan walked back over as the Doctor hung up the phone.

"Are you going?" he asked him.

"Yes and I think you should too. I told Sarah we'll eat and then use the manipulator to go back earlier in the day to see him."

"Jack's ringin' Martha now," he said.

"Can we go, Papaw?" Amelia asked.

He nodded.

"Yes, I'll see if Rain wants to come and perhaps Rose will want to as well. But right after we eat, we'll go and visit Tim and have a nice little chat with him."


	188. Chapter 188

Chapter One Hundred and Eighty Eight

After eating, the Doctor, Alan, Rain, Rose, Amelia, Opal, Jack and Martha went over to the nursing home mentioned in the interview.

"Can't believe Timothy is still alive," Martha said while they walked inside it.

"Neither can I, but it's nice to know he survived the war," the Doctor said.

They stopped at the nurse's desk and asked for his room number. Once the nurse on duty gave them the information, they thanked her and walked down a stark white hallway toward his room. The smell of stale urine hit their nostrils and they switched to their respiratory bypass systems to keep from gagging. They found Timothy's private room and the Doctor knocked on the door.

"Come in," an aged voice called out.

They opened the door and walked into a comfortable room. Unlike the other rooms, this one had green carpeting. The two huge windows let in ample light. There was a hospital bed by the door and beside that was a bedside table with a water picture, cup and books on it. Beside that was a blue recliner and Timothy was sitting in it with a grey lap blanket over him while he watched television. His eyes widened in delight when he saw the Doctor and Martha.

"Hoped you were watching the telly when I said that," he said to them.

"Actually, we weren't. A friend of mine was and told us about the interview," the Doctor said. "I'm glad to see ya. I can't believe you're still alive."

Tim chuckled.

"Yup, neither can I. I certainly hung around, didn't I?" he said, his eyes sparkling with mirth.

He looked at the others and noticed Alan.

"Okay, my vision is a bit wonky sometimes so forgive me if I'm seeing double," he said while they laughed.

The Doctor brought Alan forward, introduced him and briefly explained about him being a clone. After that, he introduced everyone else.

"Married, with grandchildren? My, my I didn't figure you were the marrying type, Doctor," he teased.

"Yup, well, I didn't either till the right woman came along," he said.

Tim looked at Martha.

"And how 'bout you? Find someone?"

"Not yet. I had someone but it didn't work out so I'm still searchin'," she said. "How 'bout you? You find someone?"

"Oh, Lord yes, wonderful wife. Melanie, we were married for fifty two years. Met her right after the war," he said. "She died about five years ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Tim," the Doctor said.

Tim shrugged.

"She lived to a ripe old age. Besides, I can't complain since not many people make it to one hundred and thirteen. And the fact that you two haven't changed at all when I became a crusty, old codger makes me sick to my stomach."

He winked while they laughed.

"Well, I'm not exactly a kid meself," the Doctor said.

"Oh, I don't doubt that one bit," he said. "I saw how old you were when I held the watch and speaking of…please, look in the drawer of my bedside table there."

"I'll get it, Papaw," Amelia said.

"Thank you, Sweetie," Tim said while she walked over.

She opened the drawer and looked in.

"Do you see a watch, a fob watch?" Tim said.

The Doctor's eyes bulged.

"You didn't. You don't still have…"

"Why wouldn't I have it? It's my good luck charm, Doctor," he said as Amelia took out the fob watch and closed the drawer.

She walked over to him with it.

"No, give it to him, Sweetie," Tim said, smiling.

"Tim, I can't…I gave this to you," he said.

"And I'm dying, Doctor. I have no close relatives and none of my distant relatives would care about an old fob watch. I want you to have it back, to keep it safe for me."

"I will, Tim," he said.

Amelia stared at it.

"This was where you were, Papaw?" she said to him.

"Yup, Sweetie, your grandfather hid himself in there," Tim said, smiling at the memory. "After he became himself again, he gave that to me and it saved my life during the war."

"Oh, how so?" the Doctor asked.

He explained about the near miss from the bomb.

"I saw that in a vision actually, my mate and I were going to die so I knew to move quickly at quarter past one and we missed being killed. So yes, Doctor, the watch brought me luck and I've treasured it all these years."

He leaned forward.

"And this isn't the first time I saw you since the day you left me," he said. "I saw you and Martha during the Remembrance Day ceremony. You were standing to the left of me just at the edge of the park and Martha was pinning a poppy on your lapel."

The Doctor, Martha and Alan stared at him in shock.

"I wanted to say something but I didn't think it was proper to interrupt the vicar during her reading of For the Fallen," he said. "I was the only World War One veteran there. I daresay I'm the only one left unless a few other chaps made it to a hundred and thirteen. Which I doubt…but then again, here I am which is why they were so eager to interview me. Apparently I'm about to breathe my last so it was important to get my thoughts preserved for posterity but I saw it as a way to get in touch with you and Martha and here you are, so in that respect, the interview served its purpose."

He smiled at Alan.

"So, you're no longer the last if he's here, I s'pose," he said to the Doctor.

"Um, well actually, all of the people in here are Gallifreyan and there's more out there so I'm really, really not the last."

"Oh? You're all Time Lords?"

They nodded.

"Even the wee ones?" he said.

"Yup, we're Time Ladies now," Opal said.

"Now? You were human before?"

The Doctor explained what happened and Tim shook his head.

"You're amazing, Doctor. I thank God every day that I met you. The day we fought the Family was terrifying but it was also one of the best days of my life. I…do have a bit of news to tell you about Matron Redfern after you left her, unless you don't want to know."

"No, I'd like to know what happened to Joan," the Doctor said.

"Well, she was obviously devastated after you left. She and I actually became quite close during my time there and she never got over you, at least she was heartbroken during the time I was there. She spoke of you often, hoped you and Martha were alright and she treated that journal of yours like the Holy Bible. Every time I saw her, she had it or it was nearby. But, from what I heard, she eventually married a man and got on with her life, although I understand the man resembled you somewhat so even then she couldn't let go. I lost touch with her eventually. I fought in World War Two for a few years and after that, I no longer heard from her again because we moved here to London with our family. But I know she did honestly love you, Doctor. You made quite an impact on her life just as you did with me."

"Yes, I seem to have that effect on people," the Doctor said while they laughed.

"I don't doubt it. You're a remarkable man. I can see why Martha chose to risk her life and follow you around. I would have done the same but I felt I was needed on the battlefield but I always wondered…there were times I would look up at the stars and dream about the sort of adventures you two were having without me."

"Do you want to have those sorts of adventures, Tim?" the Doctor said.

"At my age, Doctor, are you joking? Look at me, I can barely make it to the toilet now," Tim said. "I think I'm a bit past my prime now."

"Well, you see, what happened to my family here could happen to you as well. I have the means to turn you into a Time Lord like me."

Tim stared at him.

"But don't you stop aging?" Tim said.

"Yes, you do."

"So I'll stay an old geezer for all eternity?" he said, pointing to his body.

They laughed.

"Well, no…you would regenerate eventually and most likely gain a youthful body. At least you wouldn't be one hundred and thirteen anymore. And I have machines in the TARDIS that could rejuvenate your body and make you feel younger plus becoming a Time Lord would also help. But I won't do it unless you want me to, Tim. I ask everyone I care about if they want to change and I like you, always have. You made as big an impression on me as I did on you."

"And me as well," Martha said. "And I'd love it if you became a Time Lord. You'd make a brilliant one."

"But if I never aged or died, wouldn't they get suspicious after several years?" Tim said. "Especially if I didn't die?"

"Well, if you want, we can pose as your distant family members and request that you be moved from here. You shouldn't be in here anyway, it stinks."

Tim snorted.

"Tell me something I don't know, Doctor," he muttered.

"I can take you to a planet in the year 2180 called New Hope. We all have houses there where we go to rest and relax. My wife's father is there along with another family member's grandfather so you'd have people that are older that you can talk to and spend time with. In fact, if memory serves me right, they're in a three bedroom house so there's another bedroom you could use if you want to come live with them. They don't travel with me; at least they haven't gone with us except for short trips. There are several family members who don't really travel with me; they became Time Lords and Ladies so they could be with their families through the centuries. Anyway, if you want, I can take you there and no one would suspect you were different since aliens of all sorts live in the city."

"And you want me to do this?" Tim asked.

"I would be chuffed if you did, Tim. We didn't really get to know one another, especially since both Martha and I were pretending to be different people and now that you really don't have any close family; you could come and be with us. Just how distant are these distant relatives of yours?"

"Very distant, second and third cousins. I've outlasted nearly everyone and I was an only child so I have no siblings. My two girls are dead now along with their husbands and my grandchildren are in America and haven't been to see me in years."

"Then come with us," the Doctor said. "Even if you don't want to change, I can still help heal your aged body and make you more comfortable than you are now so you can die surrounded by friends. No one should have to be in here, alone and forgotten, Tim, certainly not you."

Tim thought about that. He looked at Amelia and Opal.

"Please, come with us, it's fun being a Time Lady," Amelia said.

"It is?" he said while they laughed. "I'll become a lady then?"

"No," they said, giggling, while he chuckled.

"You two are very beautiful," he said, laying a hand on Amelia's hair.

He looked at the Doctor.

"Are they truly your grandchildren?"

"Yes, they're my biological grandchildren. Their father is my actual son and I have another daughter that's adopted me and another daughter that was cloned from my hand. But if you really wanna know, these two were taken by me along with their mum and dad to the present day. They were living in 1863, Georgia, so you have no right to complain about being old since Amelia was born in 1853 and Opal in 1855."

"My, you two have aged very well," he said while they laughed. "A lot better than I have."

He thought for a moment and then smiled.

"You know what; you talked me into it, Doctor. I was all ready to die until you came along with your cute little grandchildren and this tempting offer of becoming a Time Lord, so I'll do it."

They all cheered and the Doctor withdrew a crystal from his pocket while Alan went and closed the door.

"All you have to do is break it open and it does all the work," he said, handing it to him.

"And then what? You bring the TARDIS here and spirit me away?" he teased.

"If I have to," the Doctor said, winking while they laughed.

"I'll take care of it, Doctor. Just go back to your holiday and Martha and I will handle getting him out of here and taking him to Nova," Jack said.

"Oh? Where are you having a holiday at?" Tim said.

"Florida, we're going through Florida at the moment."

"Sounds nice, I've never been to America."

The Doctor tapped his chin.

"Will they let you get out of here if someone offers to take you…say on a trip?" he said.

"I think so, I hope they're not holding me prisoner in here," Tim said.

"Jack, go back to the nurse and ask if we can take him with us. I need to take him to the TARDIS and heal him anyway, just tell him you're a…nephew."

"Consider it done," he said.

They waited till he went out and then once the door was closed, Tim looked at the crystal and broke it open. They smiled when the light washed over him and giggled when he blinked in surprise.

"Blimey, that bugger's bright," he said while they laughed harder. "And that's it?"

"That's it, you're now a Time Lord," the Doctor said. "So if you do die in the next five minutes, you'll regenerate."

"Well, we can't have that. Don't wanna frighten the staff here," he said while they laughed.

They all gave him hugs and sent love into his mind which he enjoyed.

"Now once Jack comes back, we'll take you outside and away from the building so they'll think we're taking you to a car but after that, I'll use my vortex manipulator to take you back to the TARDIS, get you healed and take you to New Hope."


	189. Chapter 189

Chapter One Hundred and Eighty Nine

After getting Tim out, they took him out in the parking lot behind a minivan. They helped him stand and gathered around him. They held on to each other while the Doctor activated the manipulator and went back to the TARDIS. Once they were there, Rain called the rest of the family in Florida and her dad to tell them what was happening. Alan opened the door and they helped him walk inside.

"Well, I finally get to see the inside of this thing," he said while they laughed.

The Doctor asked the TARDIS to make a path to the med bay and she moved the med bay directly to the back door. Once inside, they helped him lay down on the bed and the Doctor went to fetch the rejuvenator while Martha took his vital signs.

"Brother, while we're here and Jack's here. Can you have the TARDIS duplicate the void crosser so he can take it and put it somewhere safe," the Doctor asked him.

"No problem," Alan said.

"Thanks, I wanna make sure that gets done while I help Tim out."

Alan left the room while the Doctor took the portable rejuvenator over to Tim. Rose used the x-ray screwdriver on his body, scanning his body parts so the Doctor could see where to heal him. The Doctor started at his feet, healing and rejuvenating his worn and aged bones and tissues while Amelia and Opal watched. In the meantime, Alan gave Jack the void crosser and he went out to store it away until the other Hub was built.

"This will help you, Tim," the Doctor said while he healed him. "But as old as you are, it might not last for very long and your body might regenerate just because it's worn down. What I'm doing will help you as far as walking goes and you'll feel years younger but it's really just a temporary fix."

"That's fine, Doctor. I'd rather regenerate and get a new body anyway," Tim said.

"Well, this will make a significant difference. You won't have to use a wheelchair or walking frame any longer once I'm through and the change restored your memory and hearing and other senses."

"I noticed that. I feel better already."

"Well, I'm glad you did this, Tim," the Doctor said. "And we can add you to our family as well after this is done."

He finished with one leg and had him bend it.

"How does that feel?" he said to him.

"Like new. I had arthritis in it and that's gone. It's amazing," Tim said.

The Doctor smiled and started on the other leg while Rose helped him. While they worked, Amelia and Opal came up and stood beside him, watching. Tim smiled at them.

"I hope you never get to be this old, it's painful," he said to them with a wink.

"We're gonna grow until we're twenty and then we stop," Opal said.

"And we also get all the knowledge of time and space then and we can go help Papaw," Amelia added.

"They've already been helping me. They're both stellar," the Doctor said to him while he worked.

"Your grandchildren don't come and see ya?" Opal said.

"No, they're in America somewhere. I haven't seen em in years," Tim said to her. "I think they're too busy with their lives to care about me."

"Be our Papaw then, our mommy's papaw's in heaven so you can be our other papaw now." Amelia said.

The Doctor and Rose beamed at them.

"How 'bout it? Wanna share grandchildren with me, Tim?" the Doctor said.

"I would be honored, Doctor."

The Doctor caught their eyes and mouthed thank you to them. They nodded and he smiled. Rain came back in the room.

"I talked to our family in Florida and on Nova and Dad and Wilf said they'll gladly take him in," she said to him.

"Excellent and I guarantee ya, Tim, they'll help look after ya along with everyone else there," the Doctor said.

He moved up into the pelvis and chest area.

"Slowly, little by little, you're being healed, my friend," the Doctor said to him.

"I can feel it. I haven't felt like this in years," Tim replied.

The Doctor grinned at that.

"Latara, remind me to give Sarah a big ol' smootch when I see her next," he said to her.

"What about this, Papaw Doctor?" Amelia said, holding up the watch.

"You have it, Sweetie," Tim said. "Keep it safe for me."

"Thank you, I will," she said to him.

The Doctor smiled when she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"I'll have to hurry so you can meet my daughters now," the Doctor said to him while he worked. "You'll love them as well. Especially my little Dot. She's a three year old ball of fun."

"How old is the other one?" he asked.

"Jenny's approximately twenty four years of age. They took a tissue sample from my hand on this planet called Messaline and cloned her and she came out fully grown. She's biologically my daughter. Dot's father abandoned her when her mother Madison became a Time Lady so she asked me to be her dad and I accepted. Then their father is my son but he was born a Time Lord and grew up on Gallifrey like I did and their mother was human but she became a Time Lady so they could be together."

"Wow, this is all a bit complicated."

They laughed.

"Yeah, I'll have to explain where everyone's come from because we have people from all walks of life now and several nationalities and colors and we even have three android sisters so we're very diverse and accepting. You'll fit right in, Tim-Timothy-Tim!"

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After the Doctor finished healing his body, he helped him to sit up.

"How does that feel?"

"Feels wonderful, Doctor."

He smiled.

"Then let's see you try to walk, old friend," he said.

Tim slid off the bed and smiled when his legs supported him. The Doctor watched with glee while he walked around with ease.

"You are a miracle worker, Doctor, I haven't walked like this in years," he said.

"Well, I can't have you in a wheelchair, not as long as I can help ya," he said.

"Well, I'm glad now that I went through that interview. Thank you so much for making me a Time Lord."

"Thank you for accepting," the Doctor said.

He gave him a hug.

"Now that we're done here, I need to get a few dampers because some of my family members need them along with the psychic paper and Alan and I will have to build more screwdrivers again. Blimey, we really do need an assembly line at this rate. But for now, will you accompany us back to our campsite?"

"I'd be delighted," Tim said.

He put his hand on Tim's back and they walked out the door.

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After bringing him and Martha back, they let them eat some of the leftover food while they chatted with them. After they were done, Rain volunteered to clean up while the rest of them went into the cabin to talk some more. While she was putting everything away, she noticed some movement in the woods out of the corner of her eye. She looked over just in time to see a little girl slip deeper into the woods.

"Hey," she said, putting down the plates and cutlery and following her.

She headed into the woods, her eyes adjusting to the dim light of the moon.

"Hello?" she said, walking further into the woods.

Then she saw her again, a little girl with bronze skin and long black hair like hers. The girl started to run again and Rain held up her hand.

"Hey, wait, I'm not gonna hurt ya, I promise," she said to her.

The girl paused and stared at her through the trees. Rain hunched down and held her hand out to her.

"My name's Rain, what's yours?" she said gently.

"It," the girl said.

"It, what?" Rain said, frowning.

"That's my name…It."

Rain stared at her.

"Your name is It?" she said in disbelief.

"It's what they call me. They never gave me a real name."

"They? Who's They?" Rain asked.

"The men who killed my mommy and hurt me," the girl said.

Rain was shocked. She inched closer.

"I won't hurt you, Honey," she said. "If someone's hurting you, I'll protect you, I promise. Will you come with me?"

The girl hesitated a moment and then stepped through the trees towards her. Rain's eyes widened when she saw how emaciated she was. Her stomach turned when she saw dozens of bruises and scratches on her arms and legs and she noticed she was barefoot.

"Baby, where'd ya come from?" Rain said, concerned.

"Dunno, I ran away. I finally got away and just ran and ran. They wanted to do things to me."

"What kind of things?"

"They beat me and killed animals and smeared me with blood. They were gonna have sex with me but I ran before they could."

Rain was horrified.

"How…old are you?" she managed to get out.

"Eleven…I think."

"Listen, my husband can help you. Do you mind if I bring him out here?"

"Will he hurt me?"

"No, Baby, he won't hurt you. He'd protect you from the people who would hurt you. My whole family and I would. You don't have to be afraid around us, will you trust us?"

She nodded and Rain called to the Doctor and told him where she was. A moment later, he came through the trees. The girl started to run off but Rain held her hand up.

"No, Baby, he won't hurt you, I swear," she said.

The Doctor stopped just behind her and smiled warmly.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor," he said gently. "What's your name?"

"It."

The Doctor frowned.

"It?"

"She claims these men who abused her never gave her a name. That's all they called her," Rain said.

The Doctor knelt down beside his wife and held out his hand.

"Please, come here, we won't hurt you," he said.

She stepped back into the moonlight and Rain squeezed the Doctor's hand when he saw how thin she was and all her injuries.

"Um…are you hungry?" the Doctor asked.

The girl nodded.

"Come and eat then and we can talk away from these woods," the Doctor said. "Whoever's hurt you, I won't let them do it again, I swear. Will you trust us and come with us?"

She nodded and took the Doctor's hand. Both of them stood up. Rain took her other hand and they led her back to the cabins.


	190. Chapter 190

Chapter One Hundred and Ninety

After convincing the frightened girl to come into the cabin, Rain fixed her some food while Martha examined her. She was wearing a dirty and torn white t-shirt and red shorts. There were bruises all over her, scratches on her arms and legs and she was dirty with matted and unwashed hair. Everyone kept back letting her have some room and allowing her time to get used to them while they stared at her sadly. While she ate, Rain and the Doctor stayed with her trying to determine what happened to her. What little they found out turned their stomachs. She told them that she was part of a satanic cult and that her mother had been brought from India as a sex slave and sacrifice. She became pregnant with her and was killed at her birth when they slit her open, removed her baby and left her to die as a sacrifice. The Doctor felt rage bubbling up within him when she told of her being enslaved and beaten by them, made to take part in satanic rituals and that once she began to menstruate she would be impregnated and be slaughtered like her mother while they took her baby and start the cycle all over again. She had managed to escape and had run mindlessly through woods and fields looking for somewhere to hide from them until she came upon their camp and saw their food. The Doctor smiled when she said she was going to steal some of their hamburgers when they weren't looking.

"There was no need for that. We would have fed you," he said, gently. "But you don't need to worry. You're safe here. Trust me; if these men even think of coming here, all of us would beat them up before they could blink."

"Thank you," she said.

"And I have a way to heal all these bruises and scratches," he said, withdrawing his tissue rejuvenator from his pocket. "If you'll let me, I'll heal you after you eat."

She nodded and looked over when the other children came up to her.

"Hi, I'm Amelia. And this is my sister, Opal and this is Dot and Tony."

"Hi," the girl said.

"What ya gonna call yourself?" Opal asked.

"Yeah, you gotta have a real name. We don't wanna call ya It," Amelia said.

The girl glanced at the Doctor.

"I agree, you need a proper name. It isn't a proper name, it's a pronoun, and you're certainly more than that," he said. "If these bastards didn't name ya, then this is the perfect time to name yourself…unless you want some help with that and then we can help you choose something."

The girl thought.

"Um, I'm not sure what to call myself," she finally admitted.

"Well, you're of Indian descent. Do you want an Indian name or an American name so we can narrow the choices down a bit?" Rain asked.

"Um, I guess Indian since that's what I am," she said.

"Indian…" the Doctor mused. "So Hindi, need a pretty Hindi name for our new friend. Hmmm…"

The girl frowned.

"You know the Indian language?" she said to him.

"I know Hindi, yes," he replied.

He scratched his chin thoughtfully while Jack went outside to make sure the area was secure. Rain looked at Amelia.

"Honey, see if you have some clothes she can borrow. We need to get her out of these dirty clothes."

"Okay, Mamaw," Amelia said.

Rain looked at her hair and grimaced when she noticed how matted and tangled it was.

"Oh Honey, this…this is gonna take a lot of combing to get through all this," she said. "We might have to cut some of it off because I have a feeling it'll hurt if we try to jerk a comb or brush through this."

"Cut my hair off?"

"Not all the way off, Hon. Just enough that we can comb it. Have you been sleeping on the ground?"

She nodded.

"That's why, Honey. You have twigs and leaves and everything else in here. It's down to the middle of your back and I think if we cut it back to shoulder length, it'll be easier to deal with."

"Not to mention it'll disguise her a bit in case those bastards are out searching for her," Alan said.

"Can you give us a description and tell us where you came from or the route you took so we can tell the police to go get them?" Rain said.

She nodded.

"Good because they need to be stopped before they hurt and kill anyone else," Rain said.

The Doctor clicked his fingers.

"Got something you might be able to use," the Doctor said. "How about Tara? That's Hindi for star."

"I like that," she said.

"Brilliant. Then that's what we'll call ya. Much prettier than It," the Doctor said.

"I got some clothes for her, Papaw," Amelia said, coming over to him with a pink t-shirt and blue jean shorts.

"Excellent. I think I have a pair of scissors in my pocket so we can get some of that hair cut off and we can take her to Wal-Mart and get her some more clothes and shoes," the Doctor said, rooting around in his trouser pocket.

He found a small pair of scissors and a comb and laid them on his knee.

"Now, Tara, do you mind if I come in with you while you change your clothes so I can see your injuries?" he said to her. "I promise I won't hurt you in any way."

She nodded.

"Okay, well, let me and my wife take you to the lavatory and we'll get you sorted out," he said taking her hand.

They led her into the bathroom and closed the door. Rain turned on the shower and laid her clothes down on the sink counter. The Doctor gently urged her to take off her clothes and both of them gasped when she removed her shirt and they saw a satanic pentagram carved into her chest. The Doctor fought to keep his rage under control while Rain's eyes misted over.

"You're coming with us, Tara. I'm not about to let you fall back into these monster's clutches," the Doctor said. "We can take you somewhere safe. Somewhere where they'll never find you and if anyone touches you again, they'll live to regret it. Thankfully, I can make this horrible thing disappear along with all your injuries."

"How?" Tara asked.

He held up the tissue rejuvenator. She flinched when he put it up to the pentagram.

"No, I promise you this is painless," he said to her.

He turned it on and both he and Rain breathed a sigh of relief when the scarring vanished, leaving only smooth brown skin behind. Once he was finished erasing it, he let Tara examine it.

"How'd you do that?" Tara asked him.

"I'm very clever," he said, winking. "Now watch as I make your bruises disappear."

He took her left arm and ran the rejuvenator over it. Tara watched in wonder while the bruises healed.

"I also have a special milkshake that'll help you gain some weight and get you back to a healthy size," the Doctor said. "I had to give those to my daughter when I found her again because she was also as thin as a rake like you are."

"Which one is she?" Tara asked.

"Well, the young blonde haired woman that wore her hair in a ponytail is my daughter, Jenny, and the other tiny blonde haired toddler is my adopted daughter, Dot. The third blonde haired woman is my brother's wife, Rose."

"And your brother is the one that looks like you?"

"Yup, his name is Alan. And there we are, that arm's all mended."

Tara looked at her left arm and ran her fingers over the healed skin.

"You…how?"

"It's kinda long and complicated but I will explain it. Who we are is kinda amazing in itself but like I said, I won't hurt ya, neither will Rain or anyone else. You're safe here."

He finished healing her body and then he examined her hair. He picked a spot just above her shoulders and cut there. Rain helped him by trying to smooth out her hair as much as she could while he cut straight across.

"We might have to take you to a beauty shop to get this trimmed up but at least you'll have most of the debris out," the Doctor said to her while he cut.

Once he was finished, the Doctor let her go inside the shower. He cleaned up the hair while Rain went out and brought her rucksack back in. She fished out her shampoo and conditioner, body wash and loofa and handed them to Tara. Once the Doctor was finished cleaning up the hair, he went back out to update the others while Rain waited for Tara to finish. Once she was done, she handed her a towel and held her clothes while Tara dried out. Then she handed her the shorts and shirt.

"We'll have to get you some underwear, Honey. My granddaughter's panties are a bit big for you at the moment," she said. "We'll have to check and see if her sandals will fit you too so you'll have something to wear to the store."

"Are we going there now?" Tara said.

"Yes, the Doctor and I will take you there and get you fixed up."

"What's his name?" Tara said.

"The Doctor."

She chuckled at the confused look.

"Trust me, that's his name, Sweetie. We will explain it to you but he's called the Doctor."

"Okay."

"And it's not because he's evil and trying to hide his name. That really is his name…or it's the one he uses anyway. But he won't hurt you. He tries to stop people like the ones that hurt you and we help him do that, all of us. And trust me; I pity these men if they try to take you away from us because the Doctor means what he says about making them regret doing that. But he's kind and gentle to people like you and so are the other men here. No one here will violate you, Love. I realize you've never had people around you who didn't have evil intentions but I swear no harm will come to you. We're going away in the morning; up north towards Jacksonville where my sister, Julie, has an apartment and we're gonna help her move. You've run up from the south, right?"

Tara nodded.

"Then we're going away from them," she said.

She gave her a hug and kissed her cheek.

"You're safe now, Tara," she said to her.

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Amelia's sandals were a bit big but they stayed on so they let her wear them until they could find her some at Wal-Mart. They took her in the minivan to Wal-Mart and parked near the front door so Tara would feel safe. Once inside, they took her over to the children's clothes and tried to get her clothes to wear for the moment and clothes that would fit her once she was back to her normal weight. While they did that, the Doctor explained about him being an alien and chucked at the shocked expression on her face.

"I'm not an evil alien though. If I were, I wouldn't be helping ya out," he said with a wink. "I'd be taking you on board my ship to do these anal probes humans think we do. Rain's also an alien and so are the rest of my family but you have nothing to fear from us. You have more to fear from the humans who harmed you but you know what? I dare them to show their faces around here now."

After getting her some t-shirts, shorts, jeans and a jacket, they moved on to another section and get her some underwear and a training bra for later use. Then they went to the shoe section and got her a pair of Nike tennis shoes and some leather sandals. The Doctor whistled cheerfully while they got her some toiletries.

"I take it you haven't started menstruating yet, Tara," he said.

"No, I haven't."

"Well, when the time comes you can have my tampons," he said.

"What?" she said while Rain laughed.

The Doctor pointed to Rain.

"Her and the rest of my family thought it would be funny if they got me a bunch of girl things for gifts and hold this pretend party in my honor. They got me tampons and until now I really didn't have anyone to give them to but you can have them."

Tara looked at Rain.

"Can't you use them?" she asked her.

"No, Sweetie, I'm sterile. I don't get periods," she replied. "None of us do because we're not human and our kind don't reproduce like humans do."

"Oh, okay," Tara said, frowning.

"We'll explain, Honey. I promise," she said.

They finished getting her toiletries and the Doctor thought for a moment.

"Would you like some books to read?" he asked.

"I don't know how to read or write. They never taught me."

Rain hugged her from behind while the Doctor sighed angrily.

"Rain, just pray I don't find these gits because I promise ya I'll have to flee Earth or face murder charges," he said to her.

He leaned down to her.

"We'll teach ya. I believe they have things that'll help young children read and write, yeah?" he said to Rain.

"They should have activity books in the toy aisle. Usually they have that kind of thing with the coloring books."

"Brilliant, we'll get a few of those then."

"And we have that leapfrog thing. That also teaches you how to read and numbers and letters," Rain added. "The extra books should be there too."

"Well, it's a good thing you gave me that for a gift then," he said while she giggled. "Okay, we'll do that then and we'll help you to read and write. We'll make you our newest assignment and help give you a new life."

"Thank you, Doctor," Tara said.

He smiled and put his arm around her shoulder while they headed off to the toy aisle.

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After getting her some activity books and leapfrog books, they got her a black teddy bear to help comfort her and then some drinks and snacks. After they got through the checkout, they headed back out to the minivan.

"Tara, when's your birthday?" he asked her while they were putting everything away.

"I don't know," she said, shrugging.

"But you think you're eleven," the Doctor said.

"I think so."

"Well, today is July 15th. How about we make that your birthday since we are declaring this the end of your old life of torment and the start of a new life. That sound good?"

She nodded and the Doctor put his arm around her while they got in the minivan.

"I want to ask one other thing of you," the Doctor said when he got in the driver's side and she got in beside him. "I have the ability to see into people's minds and I would really like to see your memories and if possible, permanently remove a few of the more horrific ones you have so you won't be troubled by them any more."

"Will it hurt?" she said as Rain got in behind them and closed the sliding door.

"Nope. In fact, I can put you into a deep, dreamless sleep while I do it and you won't even know I'm looking at your memories and when you wake you won't remember the ones I take out. See, Tara, if what you went through is as horrific as you say then I have a feeling that you might need some therapy. We can help to heal you and I can take out the most horrific memories in your mind but you've had eleven years of hell and you may need to see a therapist just to talk to them and let them help you. Is that alright?"

She nodded.

"Believe it or not, we can time travel and we all live in the future on another planet. The city we live in is more advanced that cities are now and the therapy will be more effective than it would be now. You can even live in our house. Dot's room is large and you can room with her and you'd have Maddie and Alan and Rose living there with us. And it's 2,171 years in the future so there's no chance that these men who abused you will come after you again. How's that sound?"

"I'd like that."

"Brilliant. Let's get back to the campground then and you can rest for awhile and get to know us a bit more and when it's time for you to sleep, I'll put you to sleep and work on getting some of these memories of abuse out of your mind for good."

"Thank you," Tara said.

"Not at all, I'm just glad you decided to stop at our campsite. And tomorrow we'll try to find something fun to do since we're on holiday here in Florida. We're past Disney I'm afraid, but we make our own fun wherever we go," he said, winking.

He started the car and pulled out of the parking space.


	191. Chapter 191

Chapter One Hundred and Ninety One

After getting back from Wal-Mart, the Doctor took Amelia and Opal outside for a moment and told them about Tara being unable to read and write.

"I need your help, my little Time Ladies. I want you to be her friend and help her learn to read and write. We'll help as well but she needs friends now, so will you do this for me?"

"Yes," they said.

He smiled.

"Thank you, my darlings. I'd love it if you did that for me."

"Is she coming back with us to Nova?" Amelia asked.

"Yes, she is. She's gonna live in our house."

"So are ya gonna adopt her then?" Opal said.

He thought about it.

"I'd like to. She doesn't have anyone and if her mum was brought over here from India and killed when she was born then I don't think there's any way we can track her family down. We'll have to be her family now."

"And you can be her daddy and Mamaw can be her mommy," Opal said.

"We'll see. She just came to us tonight, half starved and half dead, at the moment I'm more concerned with making her safe and comfortable than I am with adopting her."

"But if you do adopt her, she'll become a Time Lady, right?" Opal said.

He grinned.

"You two move fast, don't ya?" he said while they giggled. "Like I said, let's cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, we just need to make sure she knows she's safe and loved and we need to help her learn to read and adjust to a life outside this cult she was in, alright?"

They nodded and he hugged them.

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For a couple of hours, the Doctor let her stay awake and let the children talk to her and make friends with her while the rest of them kept watch for any sign of trouble. When she finally became too tired to stay awake, the Doctor led her to one of the bunk beds. He let her get comfortable.

"I'll wake you in the morning," he said. "And don't worry, all of us are watching out for any suspicious activity. No one's gonna lay a finger on ya tonight or any other night. And in the morning, we'll be gone from here and heading up north."

"Thank you for doing this for me," Tara said.

"You're welcome," he said, smiling.

He gave her the teddy bear and let her snuggle with it. He bid her goodnight and put his fingers against her temples. Once she was asleep, he went through her memories. What he found there chilled him to the bone. The majority of her memories were images of abuse and neglect and sorrow and anguish. There were so many he wasn't sure which ones to pull out. He concentrated on the ones he deemed most horrendous and took them away from her mind permanently including the subconscious image he found of her looking at her dying mother after they picked her up out of the womb and held her aloft over her body. Even though he was sure she didn't remember it consciously, it was still a memory that would still affect her on a subconscious level. The memories he saw made him sick to his stomach and it enraged him that an innocent girl would be subjected to horrors that he himself had witnessed as an adult. He knew once he was back inside the TARDIS he would have to have a mental enema just to purge himself of the images since he didn't want to remember them either. He took about an hour and a half going through before he finally stopped and then he took another couple of hours setting up mental blocks and opening her mind so they could feel her. Once he was through, he pressed his lips gently to her forehead and walked back outside where the others were sitting at the picnic table, temporarily compartmentalizing the memories so they wouldn't depress him for the rest of the night. He sat down at the table beside his wife and she rubbed his back while he explained some of what he saw, trying to sanitize it a bit so he wouldn't upset the others.

"I took out the worst memories, but I couldn't take out everything because that would have left her with practically nothing. The poor girl's life has been nonstop hell and constant abuse, it's amazing to me she survived with her sanity intact. But hopefully what I did will help to cure her and I've put up barriers around her mind and opened her mind up so we can feel her and be alerted if something does frighten or upset her. All I can say is I'm glad she stumbled onto our campsite because I'd hate to think what would have happened to her if they found her again. I also saw all the men who did this to her, I know their names and I know they live in Winter Haven near Orlando so I'm ringing the police and I'm tellin' them what I know so they can go stop them once and for all."

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The next morning when the Doctor woke her, Tara did seem better. She seemed less skittish and more trusting of the men in her group and even smiled for them which warmed their hearts. After getting everything cleaned up, packed and in the van, they headed northeast towards Jacksonville. Tara rode with the children and with the Doctor, Rain and Madison. Tara sat in the backseat with Amelia and Opal and they played with the leapfrog pad while they started to teach her how to read. The Doctor smiled while he drove, listening to the children giggling and listening to his granddaughters patiently teaching her how to read.

Around noon, they pulled off and went to McDonalds to eat lunch. Alan, who was driving the other van, pulled up beside the Doctor and he and Rose and the others piled out. Alan ran up to the door and stood by it. He watched while everyone passed him and then he suddenly seized Rain around the middle when she tried to pass by.

"Nope, none for you. You can eat your saliva," he said, trying to pull her away.

"Let me go, Snotbag, before I make you eat a McKnuckle Sandwich!" she said.

Amelia and Opal ran up to him and slapped him on the butt.

"Hey, you leave Mamaw alone," they said.

"No, I'm not letting her inside. I want to eat my Big Mac without listening to her loud breathing," he said to them while they giggled.

Tara came up behind them and watched while the other children tried to pull Rain away from him.

"No, you mustn't fight me!" he said while they laughed. "Her loud breathing distracts me from eating. I can't let her go in and…Oi!"

He looked at Opal who was reaching down the back of his trousers to give him a wedgie. He let go to stop her and Rain got away. Alan feigned shock while the children, save Tara, ran away and got behind her to protect her while she went into the restaurant. He smiled at Tara who was confused.

"Her and me, we are very bratty towards each other but we love each other," he said. "It's just a special bonding thing between us."

"Aliens do that?"

"Do what? Act like brats?"

"Yeah."

"Um…we do. But I'm a bit of an overgrown kid meself so don't mind me. I'm just a big old child in adult form," he said smiling at her while they went inside. "Ever had McDonalds food before?"

"No."

"No? Well, you're in for a treat then. It's greasy goodness," he said while they headed towards the queue. "But I wanna tell ya something because you've been hit by people your whole life. What Rain and I do is just pretend fighting. We hit each other but it's all in fun and we don't hit that hard. So If you see me slap her, I'm just joking and so is she, okay?"

Tara nodded. Alan held up his finger and walked up to Rain who was standing behind the Doctor. He swatted her on the head and ran back.

"See, only kidding," he said when Rain shot him a look.

She walked back to Tara and took her around the arms.

"Come away from the weirdo, Honey. He's bizarre," she said.

Tara giggled while she walked up beside the Doctor.

"You don't wanna be around that oddball too much. He has cooties," Rain said to Tara while the Doctor chuckled.

She reached into her pocket and pretended to give her something.

"Take this, it's a special oddball cootie spray that protects you against him," she said to her while the Doctor snickered.

His hearts warmed when Tara giggled and pretended to take the spray from her. Rain put her hand on her shoulder and patted it while they stood in line.

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After getting their food, the Doctor and Rain led Tara over to a booth and she sat across from them with Opal and Amelia. While they were sitting down, Alan walked up to their booth and looked at the empty booth behind him.

"What are you doing?" the Doctor said.

"Checking to make sure a blue haired woman isn't sitting here. I don't want to hear about another elderly woman's growth," he said while they laughed.

He swatted Rain's head on the way over to Rose. Rain rolled her eyes.

"He's a pest, Tara. Be sure to use the cootie spray I gave ya," she said to her.

"Cootie spray, indeed. The cheek of Rainy for even suggesting she spray me with some kind of nit repellant," Alan said to Rose while they ate with Tony, Julie and Jenny.

"Rain, got any extra cootie spray?" Rose asked.

Alan's mouth dropped open while everyone laughed and she mimed passing some back to her.

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After they finished eating, they walked back out to the minivans and went on their way. The Doctor followed Alan and Rose while he and Rain sat together and talked quietly. They had put on Scooby Doo for the children and everyone was watching it. Tara noticed that every once in awhile, Amelia and Opal were giggling at something other than the movie. They noticed her confusion and smiled.

"Alan's over in the other car making up silly songs for us," Amelia said, pointing to the minivan in front of them.

Tara stared at it and looked at them.

"How are you hearing him if he's over there?" she said softly.

"We're Time Ladies like Mamaw and Maddie and all the other girls. We can hear people in our minds and we can talk to them too. Alan likes to be silly so he did this thing called a privacy block where we're the only ones hearing him and he's being silly with us. Papaw has a magical crystal that can change you into a Time Lady and that's what he did to us so we're like him. We're not full Time Ladies though, that won't happen till we're twenty years old but we have two hearts and we can shut off our breathing when we want like if we go underwater and we can feel everyone in our heads and talk to them. It's neat."

Amelia leaned in.

"My Papaw up there, he's wonderful and he and Mamaw will love you if you let them," Amelia whispered to her. "We asked Papaw if he'd be your daddy and he might do it and Mamaw can be your mommy and then Dot and Jenny can be your sisters and you can be in our family. Papaw's fun to be with and we love him lots. He's taking you back to his house to live with him but Opal and me think you should ask if he and Mamaw will be your mommy and daddy because they need you, especially Papaw. He was sad for a long time before he found us and we make him happy and you'd make him happy too."

Tara glanced at him.

"But what if he doesn't wanna be my daddy?" she whispered to Amelia.

"I bet he will. But if he doesn't, my great-uncle Alan will be. Alan loves kids too and he's also fun to be around and Rose is nice too. Everyone is nice and there's more on Nova and we have another woman named Sarah Jane that has a son named Luke and friends named Rani and Clyde and they come to see us too. You're very lucky you ran into us because we will love you now. So you just forget about these bad men that you were with because they don't matter anymore, we do."

Tara considered that. She looked up at the Doctor who was driving and chatting with Rain and Madison. She stared at them while she thought over everything that Amelia said to her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Finally they reached Jacksonville. The Doctor followed Alan who was listening to Julie while she directed them to her apartment building. Once they found it, they both pulled up in front of it and got out. Tara waited until the Doctor was out stretching his back before she came over to him. He smiled warmly at her.

"Hullo, Tara, we've made it safe and sound. Although I s'pose I'll have to move some furniture now. I've been busy moving furniture on this supposed holiday of mine. I'm thinking of making my ship a removal van since that's what I've been using it for these past couple of days."

"Um…can…can I talk to you before we go inside?" Tara said hesitantly.

"Sure. Just let me tell the others what's going on and I'll be with you shortly."

The Doctor walked over to Rain and told her while Tara tried to calm the butterflies in her stomach. Once he was done, he strolled back over to her while Rain and the others went inside.

"She's on the first floor so that means if I do have to move heavy furniture, I have a flight of stairs to go up and down which means I'm going to go get my ship again because I'm not tripping down the stairs with her telly and killing myself. But enough about me and my moving woes, what's on your mind, my little friend?"

"Um…your granddaughters were talking to me."

"I noticed. I'm glad you get along with them so well. They're both splendid and very helpful."

"They said they were Time Ladies."

He nodded.

"Um…can I be one?"

The Doctor blinked in surprise.

"Well, I don't see why not but you sure you want to be? I mean you've only known us for a few hours. You sure you wanna make that kind of a commitment now rather than wait and get to know us better."

"Well, I like you and Rain, you've been so nice to me and I like your family."

"Thank you," the Doctor said. "We like you."

He frowned when he noticed her hesitation.

"However, I sense something else you wish to say to me," he said to her.

"Well, Amelia wants me to become your daughter."

The Doctor sighed.

"I told her not to pressure ya but Amelia is very strong willed which isn't surprising given that her father is my biological son and strong wills and running gobs seem to run in the family. Look, Tara, don't listen to her, yeah? I mean if you don't wanna be my daughter, you don't have to be."

"But I wanna be…" she blurted out before she caught herself.

The Doctor knelt down beside her and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I mean I shouldn't have said…you have enough family without me," she said quietly.

"Tara, do you want to be my daughter, really?"

Tara shuffled her feet.

"I…I'm sorry, I'll be quiet now. I hate to bother you."

"No, wait, you're not bothering me," the Doctor said, taking her arm when she started to walk away. "If you were bothering me, I never would have helped you and I would have left you to fend for yourself. If you want to be my daughter, I will let you but you have to want it, alright? Don't be pressured by my granddaughters into doing something you don't wanna do. No one will think any less of you if you don't wanna be in our family."

"I wanna be though. I like you and I like Rain. I want her to be my mommy."

"Really? Is that really what you want?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll be your daddy," he said. "Now I'm sure Rain will adopt you as well. But just to be sure…"

He held up a finger and telepathically called her back outside. Once she was outside, he explained what was going on while Tara waited nervously. When he was finished explaining, Rain looked at her.

"Are you sure that's what you want, Sweetie? Because I will be your mommy if you want that."

"I want that. I want you to be my mommy and daddy."

"Okay," the Doctor said, patting her on the head. "You are then."

He hugged her and Rain hugged her from behind.

"So, you gonna go talk to someone about adopting me?" Tara said.

"No, I'm gonna call you my daughter and skip all that rubbish. I don't need a piece of paper to make you my daughter and neither does she. Besides we're going to take you into the future and I really don't wanna wait around for the government people to sort through tons of paperwork and make it official. You are in my mind my daughter because you want it to be and so it is from here on out."

"And the same goes for me," Rain said.

They hugged her again.

"Now about this being a Time Lady, I ask again, is that what you want? Because I don't want you to do anything you don't wanna do, Tara. You had quite enough of that living with the nutter cult members."

"I want to be if that's what you are."

"But do you want it? Really want it? We'll love you just as much if you're human, trust me."

"I want it, Daddy."

He smiled.

"Blimey, we've had an interesting time coming through Florida," he said while Rain giggled. "We've had…six people join us plus Lee plus Jake might come back to this universe now. Like I said, if there is a chance I have to go through that trial in future, it will take awhile if everyone in the family's gonna beg for my release."

"Huh?" Tara said.

"It's something that might happen a long time in my future, Love. It's nothing to be concerned about."

He took out a crystal from his pocket.

"I'll go back in and inform everyone about our newest family member while you're doing that. It's apartment 202 by the way."

The Doctor kissed her before she kissed Tara.

"Welcome to the family, my daughter," she whispered.

They hugged each other tightly before she went back inside. The Doctor showed her the crystal.

"Did my talkative granddaughter explain what will happen if you break this open?" he asked.

"I…get two hearts, I can cut off my breathing, I can talk to you in my head and feel you in my head and I will become a full Time Lady when I'm twenty."

"Yup, granddaughter likes to run the old gob," he said with a wink. "Yes, you will get all that and when you become a full Time Lady at twenty, you will have the knowledge of time and space and you'll be able to understand every language in the universe. But I'll explain all that in more detail later. You will also gain the ability to regenerate which I will also explain in detail later. And you will look human but you won't be human any longer, you'll be Gallifreyan which is what I am. So you still want this?"

She nodded and he handed her the crystal.

"Then you break it open and make it happen," he said.

He smiled when she broke open the crystal and the light surrounded her. When it faded, he hugged her.

"Just had a thought, we did this kinda out in the open, hope Julie's neighbors weren't watching that. But no matter, you are now a part of the family and a part of me and Rain and we'll love you just as deeply as if you were our flesh and blood."

He gave her a hug and sent love into her mind.

"And…don't let me granddaughters talk ya into doing things you don't wanna do. They can be a bit overbearing just like their grandfather," he said with a wink.

He stood up and put his arm around her.

"And now that we've gotten through this little moment of joy, I s'pose I'll have to start moving the chest of drawers and the telly and the bed and the fridge and the block of flats and the grass and the trees and…"

He grinned when Tara laughed and he rubbed her back while they went inside the building.


	192. Chapter 192

Chapter One Hundred and Ninety Two

Once they got back inside, everyone hugged Tara and welcomed her into the family. Alan walked up to the Doctor and hugged him.

"You gave me another niece, thank you!" he said.

"No problem. Always happy to help expand the family," he said.

He sighed.

"So, I s'pose I'll have to go get the TARDIS and help move this stuff out," he said to Julie.

"Not all of it. I'm leaving the furniture. I have furniture in my house. All I want is just my personal belongings. I'll spare you the torment of moving the sofa."

"Thank you!" the Doctor said, sighing while they laughed. "But I'll have to go get the TARDIS anyway if you're gonna move out your personal effects. Besides I need to go get the milkshake mix for my daughter so we can start getting her back up to a normal weight. So everyone just wait here, I'll be back in a trice."

He took out his manipulator and disappeared. Tara was shocked.

"Hey, where'd he go?" she said.

Rose walked over to her and put her hand on her shoulder.

"He went to get his TARDIS, that's his time machine. He'll be back…"

They suddenly heard a wheezing and everyone watched as the TARDIS landed right on top of Rose and Tara. Tara watched while the TARDIS interior materialized around her until finally it was solid and they were standing by the console.

"What happened? Where are we?" Tara said, looking around in a panic.

"It's alright, we're inside the TARDIS. Certain people don't know how to drive it properly and landed right on us," Rose said, gesturing to the Doctor.

"Certain people need to step away from the spot I'm gonna land it in," the Doctor said, walking around the console.

He smiled at Tara while Alan unlocked the door and looked inside.

"This is my TARDIS, our time ship," the Doctor said to Tara. "Our main home and someday it'll be your main home as well when you're old enough to travel with me full time. This is my console where I fly it and this is the console room. And if you'll come with me I'll take you to the kitchen so we can get those milkshake mixes plus a bio-damper for your finger."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor led her back to the kitchen while Alan and Rose followed behind him. He gave her a short tour while they walked pointing out the living room, bedrooms and bathroom to her before they reached the kitchen. Once inside, the Doctor whistled cheerfully while he rummaged through the cabinets for the milkshake mix. Tara looked around while he did that.

"What d'ya think?" Alan said to her.

"It's amazing," she said.

"That it is. It's a wonderful ship and it'll take you anywhere in time and space you want to go."

Tara watched while the Doctor took down a plastic mug, poured the drink mix into it and ran some water into it. She looked from him to Alan.

"Um…how will I know who's my daddy?" she said.

Alan walked over to the Doctor and pointed to the hair band on his wrist.

"This is what Dot uses, this is his daddy bracelet," Alan said.

"Yes and usually I wear suits and he just wears trousers and t-shirts," the Doctor said. "But trust me, Tara, soon you'll be able to tell us apart just by our personalities."

"Yup, I'm the goofier one," Alan said, walking over to her.

"Got that right," Rose muttered.

"This is Rose, she's the mouthy one," he said while Rose swatted his arm.

The Doctor finished stirring the mix and brought the milkshake over to her.

"I need you to drink one every day for awhile," he said. "It's a special mixture that'll help you gain weight safely."

Tara took a sip.

"It's good. It's chocolate."

"Yup, I don't believe that healthy drinks should taste like chalk. But anyway, drink up and I'll take you to my lab because we need to get you a damper and on the way there I'll explain why you need it."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tara stared at the tiny bio-damper and looked at the Doctor.

"You have people that are chasing you like I do?" she said.

"Well, I'm not sure. I had people who were spying on me but I'm not sure if they're doing it now but this is just a precaution because if you travel in here you'll soak up harmless background radiation that they can track. Everyone has them on. It's nothing to be alarmed about; it's just a way to make sure we're safe."

Tara nodded. She took a sip of her milkshake while she looked around the lab.

"Just think, Brother, pretty soon we'll have to have another all night build the screwdrivers session," the Doctor said to Alan.

"Ugh! Don't remind me," he said.

Alan turned and laid his head on Rose's shoulder.

"Why, why, why are screwdrivers so tedious to build?" he muttered.

"You could always teach the rest of us to build them and we could help ya out," Rose said.

Alan jerked his head up.

"What a splendiferous idea, Starlight. We teach all of you and then just make you lot build and build the blasted screwdrivers while Brother and I relax. Why didn't I think of that before?"

"On second thought, I'm staying in our house and you can go roam time and space without me," Rose muttered.

He grinned and kissed her cheek. The Doctor put his hands on his daughter's shoulders.

"Well, I s'pose we should go back out and see what needs to be moved, eh?" he said to her.

Tara nodded and took his hand while all of them headed back towards the front door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Most of what I want to take is in here," Julie said to her family while they sat in her bedroom. "I have most of my personal stuff in the closet here and actually there are some stuff the kids can have like games and stuffed animals that are just collecting dust in here. Anyway let me take a look and see what I have."

She slid open the closet doors and looked around. She pulled down several board games from the top shelf.

"See, now the kids can have these," she said. "I have chess, checkers, Monopoly, Chinese checkers, Scattergories and Trivial Pursuit. I don't play them."

"Why not?" Rose said.

"I don't have anyone to play them with."

"You have us," Alan said, shrugging. "You know we're always looking for things to do."

"Well, I'll set them aside then and let them be our family board games."

She looked again and brought out a green plastic tub.

"These are old stuffed animals and dolls that they can definitely have," she said, bringing it out and setting it on the floor.

The children gathered around it except for Tara who sat in between the Doctor and Rain on Julie's bed. She took the lid off and everyone looked inside.

"Now let's see…" Julie said, looking inside. "I think I'm gonna have the same problem the Doctor had when he passed out his gag gifts. I don't know if I have very many boy toys for you, Tony."

She rummaged around in the bin and pulled out a small colorful clown doll.

"This might be alright for you to have and…"

She gasped when Alan snatched that from her hands and hid it behind his back.

"What are you doing?" Julie asked.

"Mingxia's afraid of clowns," he said to her.

"I can handle clowns if they're photos of clowns and clown dolls, I'm not gonna freak out from seeing that," Mingxia said while they laughed.

"Just making sure, Te'lesu," Alan said, handing it to Tony.

Tony stared at it. It had a white face with a red mouth and back triangles around its eyes and it was dressed in a rainbow colored outfit. He held it close to him.

"What do you say, Tony?" Rose said.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, Hon," Julie said.

She rummaged around again and pulled out a pink bunny rabbit.

"Any takers?" she asked.

"I like it," Opal said.

She handed it to her and Opal thanked her while she snuggled it. Julie looked over at Tara who was sitting quietly on the bed.

"Honey, come here, see if you want something from my toys," she said to her.

Tara glanced at the Doctor who smiled warmly. She got up and made her way over. Julie moved the stuffed animals around while Tara looked. She noticed a unicorn with purple hair and a sparkly gold horn and pointed to it. Julie handed it to her.

"Thank you," she said.

"You're welcome, Hon. Enjoy."

She started to walk back to the bed when Julie took a hold of her arm.

"Stay here, you can have some more," she said.

"Really?"

"Yup, sit your butt down and get your share of the treasure," she said while everyone laughed.

She smiled and sat down beside Amelia while she held her unicorn to her chest. Alan got up from the bed, came around behind her and peered in. He pulled out a Princess Diana beanie baby bear.

"Mine," he said walking back to the bed while the kids laughed.

He sat down beside Rose and held it against his chest.

"Hello, my one year old husband, find a nice plushie?" Rose said.

"I like beanie babies, ask the original owner of this hand if he also likes them."

Everyone looked at the Doctor who jerked his eyes up towards the ceiling.

"Is that a crack up there? Better fix that before the ceiling falls on us," he said while they laughed.

Julie let Amelia look inside while she moved her stuffed animals around. Amelia smiled and pulled out a stuffed Scooby Doo.

"We just saw the movie and I liked him. He was funny," she said.

"Yup, I like Scooby Doo too," Julie said. "Dot? You want something?"

Dot came up and everyone started laughing hysterically when she grabbed the handle and started to pull the bin away.

"No, wait, you can't have everything," she said while they laughed harder. "You silly girl. We're dividing these up so you pick one right now."

Dorothy looked inside and pulled out a beanie baby butterfly. The moment she did, Alan got up and walked back over. He whistled while he pretended to steal it from her and they laughed when she clutched it to her chest and ran away from him.

"Bollocks, I was also hoping to get that one for my collection," Alan said, walking back to the bed.

Julie looked through and shifted things around. She pulled out a stuffed Simba and handed it to Tony.

"How 'bout that one?"

"Yes," Tony said, taking it.

He glanced at Rose who raised her eyebrow.

"Thank you," Tony said while Rose smiled.

"You're welcome," Julie replied. "Now for Opal."

Opal looked in and pulled out an elephant. She thanked her and Julie smiled at Tara. Tara looked in and studied what was left. She picked a brown female teddy bear wearing a frilly pink dress and thanked her. Amelia looked in and picked a white polar bear and thanked her. Dorothy looked in and got a small Dalmatian puppy. All that was left after that was a tiny koala bear and Julie gave it to Tara who thanked her.

"There we go, that's taken care of," Julie said, putting the empty bin and lid in the corner.

"Hurray, something I don't have to move," the Doctor said.

Julie went back in her closet and dragged out a long blue bin.

"Now this, I do wanna take, this is all my personal keepsakes and some things my mom had when she was growing up," she said.

"Really? Like what?" Alan said.

"Well…"Julie said, taking the lid off while the children gathered around it and looked inside. "I have a bunch of things that I've collected over the years and mom gave me some of her stuff that she had."

"Well then we'll have to take this," the Doctor said. "Especially if you have some of your mum's things in it."

"Ooo," Opal said, picking up a long purple gown.

"That's what I wore when I graduated high school," Julie said. "And this is the mortarboard that goes with it."

She pulled out a square mortarboard cap that had a purple and gold tassel hanging off it.

"Purple and gold were our school colors," she explained.

"This is pretty," Amelia said, looking at the mortarboard.

"Yup, I liked my school colors. This is my class ring," she said, pulling out a small jewelry box and opening it.

The children passed it around and looked at it. When they were done, the Doctor tapped Opal on the shoulder and she handed it to him so they could look at it. Amelia handed the cap and gown to Rose while Julie pulled out a fat gray book.

"This is a senior book. It's filled with photos and things I wrote about my senior year," she said.

Amelia took it and looked through it with Opal while Julie pulled out a small thin book. She opened it up and turned it around.

"And this is my high school diploma," she said handing it to Opal.

Amelia started giggling.

"What?" Julie said.

She showed her what she laughing at. It was a photo of a Caucasian woman with long dark hair sitting on the toilet looking up at the camera with a shocked look on her face.

"Oh yeah, that's my best friend, Anne. We were on a field trip to this museum our senior year and we went to the restroom and while she was peeing, I went into the next stall, climbed on the toilet and took a picture of her from above. She wasn't too happy about that," she said while they laughed. "But we were always doing nutty things like that."

"Make a note of that everyone," Jack said. "Julie is not above going into toilet stalls and taking pictures of us on the bog."

Julie gave them an evil grin and nodded before she went back to searching through the bin. She pulled out a small pair of shoes.

"My baby shoes," she said. "Which might fit Dot, come to think of it."

Dorothy stared at them in fascination before she took one back over to Madison.

"Yup, they look a lot like the ones you used to have, Baby," she said to her.

Julie pulled out a red velvet dress with a lace collar.

"And this is a dress I wore when I was about her age, in fact I have a photo of me wearing it somewhere in here, I think with Santa Claus," she said.

Opal took the dress and felt it. She held it against her cheek and smiled at the softness before she passed it on. Julie reached in and pulled out a tiny white sleeper.

"This is what they dressed me in after I was born, have a picture of this too," she said.

The Doctor, intrigued, slid down beside the children and folded his arms on the side of the bin while he looked in. Alan came and sat down beside him and looked with him.

"Wow, you saved a lot," Alan said, picking through some of the items.

"Yeah, I have a lot of sentimental things in here," Julie said.

"I bet, this is wonderful," the Doctor said. "A treasure trove of items from your life. And hullo, a video," he said, puling out a VHS tape.

He read the writing on the side of it.

"The Music Man?" he said.

"Yeah, I was in that my junior year. I was Marian."

"You acted?" Alan said.

"If you can call it that, yeah," Julie said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, we need to have a dekko and judge for ourselves," the Doctor said, setting it aside.

"Seriously? You're gonna watch a video of a high school musical I was in?"

"Yes, I wanna see your performance," the Doctor said.

"And we have another one," Alan said, pulling out another VHS tape. "Wizard of Oz."

"I was the Wicked Witch."

They giggled.

"Really? You were the witch?"

"Yeah, I have a program from it that has a picture of me. I'll find it for you," she said, digging through her things.

She rolled her eyes when the Doctor put the video on top of the other one.

"Any other theatrical performances?" the Doctor asked.

"You really wanna be bored to tears?" Julie said.

"No, I'm fascinated. I only just met you, you know. I wanna know about your life," the Doctor said. "I'm glad you have this because these odds and ends say a lot about you and who you are."

"Aha, another video," Alan said, pulling out another tape.

He frowned.

"Choir concert, April 25th, 2005?" he said.

"I was in swing choir too. That was our spring concert."

"You sing as well?" Alan said.

Julie looked at everyone else while they laughed.

"They seem to think I'm some multitalented virtuoso or something. This is my crappy high school stuff where I could barely carry a tune in a bucket and my acting would put people to sleep."

"I shall be the judge of that," the Doctor said, putting it on top of the other tapes.

"Rain, your husband must be hard up for entertainment," Julie said while they laughed.

"He enjoys amateur talent," Rain said.

"Yeah, so does Alan apparently," Rose added. "Just don't be surprised if they ask you to sing something for them now."

"We might," the Doctor said.

Alan pulled out a pair of pink leg warmers.

"Those were my mom's," Julie said.

"What are they?" Amelia asked.

"They're leg warmers, Hon. You put them on your legs and they're supposed to keep them warm but people in the '80's wore them to be fashionable."

"Can I try them on?" Amelia asked.

"Sure, go ahead."

Alan handed them to her and she walked over to the bed. Rain helped her get them on and then she stood up.

"They're nice. They do keep your legs warm," she said, walking back over to the bin and sitting down.

"Ducky!" Dot said, pulling out a small brass duck piggybank.

"Oh yeah, my mom got that for me when I was a baby," she said while Dorothy stared at it.

She sat down beside the Doctor and played with it at while she was watched what was going on. The Doctor reached inside and pulled out a bunch of keychains that were hooked together.

"A small keychain collection," Julie said.

The Doctor smiled and looked at them. There was a Fred Flintstone one, a maroon one with a peace sign, a rubber chicken one which Alan loved, a pink whistle, one that read, nosy little bastard, ain't ya? and one that read, hide the guns, I'm PMSing.

"Brilliant," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, love the rubber chicken one," Alan said. "I'll have to borrow that and smack Rainy with it."

"You do and the rubber chicken's goin' up your nose into your brain," she said.

Alan reached in and pulled out a thin book that had Gizmo on the front of it.

"Oh, Gremlins, love this movie," Alan said.

"It's a read along; it's got a record in the very back of it."

Alan opened it to the back and saw a small record fitted into a slot.

"I think mom got it from McDonalds back when the movie first came out. I have three or four so they came out every week," Julie said.

She pulled out another thin book with a record.

"They also had these in the happy meals at some point. These are about dinosaurs," she said.

The Doctor took the book from her and quickly turned the pages.

"Nope, nope, got the coloring wrong, doesn't look like that, never was gray, nope, didn't have a frill, brachiosaurus didn't look like that. Rubbish, all of it," he said, quickly putting it back in the bin while everyone laughed.

He tousled Julie's hair when she rolled her eyes. Opal reached inside and pulled out a little pink fan. She turned a small switch on the base and smiled when the fan started. She held it against her face and then turned it on Alan.

"Ooo, that's lovely," he said, taking it from her.

They giggled as he fanned himself while he continued to look in the bin. He reached in and pulled out a black velvet pillbox hat that was shoved down the side of the bin. It had a small black veil in the front and a black elastic chin strap. They laughed when he put it on, pulled the veil down over his eyes and continued to fan himself while he looked.

"Oh, that's definitely you," Julie said while they laughed.

"Whose is it? Your mum's?" Alan said, pointing to it.

"Um…I think it was my grandmother's. My mother gave it to me when I was a teenager. Unfortunately, I shoved it down the side of the bin which I know not to do now."

"I have a box you can use," the Doctor said. "You're right; you need to take care of this once you get it off my brother's head."

"I might keep it, it reminds me of the sort of hats they wear at funerals," Alan said. "Where the woman in black is weeping with the white handkerchief and has this on. Rose, Love, find a funeral for us to attend so I can wear this and mourn whoever it is that's died."

"Yes, Alan, I'll do that straight away," she said while they laughed.

The Doctor took it off his head and put it on Tara's head. The adult hat slid down over her forehead and they laughed when she smiled and pushed it back up on the top of her head. Opal reached in and pulled out a book. It had different buttons off to the side of it with pictures on it and when she pushed them, they made animal sounds.

"Have you ever seen these?" Julie asked her.

She shook her head.

"You read the story about the barnyard and when you see a picture of one of the buttons, you push the button and get the animal sound," she said.

Opal opened the book and noticed the pictures mixed in with the writing. She pushed the picture of the cow.

MOOOOOOOO!

She, Amelia and Tara giggled. They pressed the button with a chicken on it and listened to it clucking. Then they pushed one with a picture of a pig and listened to it oinking. Alan held out his hand and Opal put the book in it. With an evil grin, he began to jab the buttons.

MOOOOOOOO, BAAAAA, BAAAAA, CLUCK CLUCK CLUCK, MOOOOOOOO, OINK OINK OINK, ARF ARF, MOOOOOOOOOOO, BAAAAAA.

"Are you having fun, Dear?" Rose asked him.

"Tons!" Alan said, pressing the buttons while they snickered. "I'm my own barnyard symphony."

The Doctor pushed the duck button and the adults groaned when both of them pressed the buttons while the children giggled.

"Okay, we've had our jollies now," Alan said when they finally stopped and they put the book aside.

Jack walked over to it and grabbed the book.

"Apparently Jack is going to take up the slack now," Awinita said while he walked back to Martha.

"I'll refrain from the animal noises…for now," Jack said, winking.

They looked back in the bin.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

They looked at Jack.

"Wasn't me, it was Jones," he said pointing to her while she snickered.

"Ought-oh, Jack's a bad influence on Martha," Awinita said.

They turned their attention back to the bin.

COCK-A-DOODLE DOOOOOOOOO!

They looked back at Jack. He was pointing to Tim who was sitting beside him on the bed. They laughed when Tim giggled and shrugged.

"We need to get that thing away from them," Mingxia said.

Alan turned off the fan and set it aside. He reached into the bin and pulled out a tiny plastic hamburger. It was on its side with eyes in the bun and little feet on the bottom. There was a little wind-up dial on the side. He wound it up, sat it on the floor and the children watched while it walked towards the bed.

"Walking weirdo burger," Alan said.

Tony walked to it, picked it up and watched the feet as they continued to go. Tony put the top of it in his mouth and walked back over to the others while he sucked on it. Julie reached down and pulled up a large black photo album.

"Aha," the Doctor said, gleefully.

"You've made his day, Julie," Rain said. "You've given the man pictures of your life."

The Doctor and Alan opened it up and looked at the photos while they glanced up occasionally at the other thing she was pulling out. They smiled at Julie's baby photos and pictures of her as a child with her parents. They looked through her life, her childhood, her adolescent and teenage years, her graduation and senior photos and then they stopped when they saw a small death announcement and a newspaper clipping about her parent's death. Julie noticed what they were looking at and swallowed hard. Alan rubbed her back and gave her a sad smile while he threw up a privacy block.

_They loved you, Te'lesu. They're proud of you now,_ he thought.

_I know they are, Alan,_ she thought back.

_I'm glad you are sharing this with us_. _I know you think some of it's rubbish but this really is fascinating, this peek into your life and what's important to you,_ he thought while the Doctor passed the photo album to the people on the bed.

_Well, I'm just glad I met you guys. Coming with you was the best decision I ever made. _

_And we're glad you did come with us, Te'lesu._

She gave him a sideways hug and he sent love into her mind before dropping the block. She continued to pull out things and show them to her family while they watched and smiled.


	193. Chapter 193

Chapter One Hundred and Ninety Three

After they got everything back in the bin, the Doctor and Alan took it into the TARDIS and put it in Julie's bedroom for safe keeping. Once they were done, he looked at Alan.

"I s'pose while we have this here I should go get Pete and have him talk to Jake," he said to him. "But first I wanna ring the police and get those bastards behind bars before they hurt anyone else."

"Good idea," Alan said. "And I hope they catch him before he harms anyone else."

They walked out and Alan started to find Jack when the Doctor stopped him.

"Ask Tim if he wants to come back with us when we go back to Nova to get Pete," he said to him.

"Gotcha."

He walked off while the Doctor pulled his mobile out of his pocket, went out on Julie's balcony and sat down in a padded chair by a metal table. He dialed 911.

"911, what's your emergency?"

The Doctor described the men and told the female operator their names and the location of their house in Winter Haven. While he was doing that, Tara came outside carrying her unicorn and a bowl of orange slices. The Doctor smiled and winked at her while she walked over to him.

_Can her hear me, Tara?_ He thought to her.

Tara frowned and nodded.

_I'll teach you how to respond back but I just wanted to tell you I'm talking to a lady who'll get the police to go get the men who hurt ya. When I saw into your mind I saw what they looked like and I know their names and where they live so she's ringing the police in Winter Haven to go and get them._

Tara smiled at that and he sent love into her mind.

_I'm going to go to Nova in a few minutes on an errand. Would you like to come and meet other members of our family?_ He thought.

She nodded. He held up his finger while he talked to a policeman at the Winter Haven police station. He gave them the same descriptions he gave the woman. He paused a moment and listened. A grin slowly spread over his face.

"You do, they're in custody now? Thank you so much. I'm so glad. Please do everything you can to make sure they stay in prison for a long time, will ya?" he said.

He smiled and thought to his family.

_They already have the bastards, he thought to them. They broke into a house at night near their headquarters because they thought Tara was hiding with there and the man who owned the house shot one of them in the leg after he surprised them. The police took him to hospital while they found the others hiding in the woods nearby. The men surrendered, confessed everything and took them to their hideout and they're gonna prosecute them._

He grinned when everyone cheered in his head. He finished the call with the policeman and hung up.

"Ah yes, now you don't have to be afraid, Tara. They're all in jail now!"

He kissed her cheek and hugged her.

"You're safe, my Star, they won't hurt you now," he said.

He kissed the tear away that ran down her cheek.

"Now we have even more reason to celebrate," he said. "But first, we need to take care of some business so I can finally get it over and done with. So come with me and I'll take you for your first ride in my TARDIS."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor, Tara, Jack, Martha and Tim came along while everyone else stayed behind to help pack and relax in Julie's apartment. Jack, Martha and Tim all opted to go back home and the Doctor phoned Wilf and John to make sure they knew Tim was coming and phoned Jackie and Pete to make sure they were home before he finally set a course for his house. They landed in his living room and he opened the door.

"This is it, home sweet home," the Doctor said while they stepped out. "And now it's your home as well, Tara."

She looked around in wonder while Tim stepped out behind her.

"Wow, this is wonderful. Do all of them look like this?" Tim asked.

"Pretty much. The only difference is the four bedrooms have this bedroom here on the first floor. The three bedroom ones, the bedrooms are all on the second floor. Ooo, that's not gonna be a problem for ya, is it?"

"Apparently not, I went up the stairs to Julie's flat with no trouble," Tim said.

"Great. Let me show you our house so you have an idea what they look like and then we'll walk over to see John and Wilf.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So you added one more, I see," John said, smiling at Tara who was standing beside the Doctor.

They were sitting in the living room of Wilf and John's house with Tim. Jack and Martha had bid them goodbye at the Doctor's house and went back to their home.

"Yup, I did. I have another daughter which brings my grand total to three," he said.

Wilf smiled at Tim.

"And it's nice to have someone around my age. I can't stand all these young people," he teased, winking.

"Well, it's nice to have a proper house again and not be in the old folk's home."

"I don't blame ya for that. I know my Donna would die before she saw me consigned to a place like that."

"Same with my daughters," John said. "And you will be loved here. Believe me, everyone looks out for everyone else and it's a wonderful place to live. It's like a small town of our own right in the middle of the city with everyone visiting everyone else and making sure they're alright. And the same for you, Tara. Your father will leave from time to time but you'll have the other children here and we'll help take care of you."

"Leave me?" Tara said, panicking.

"I have to go away sometimes but I'll be back frequently. I'm not abandoning you. There are some places in time and space that are too dangerous for you to go to at your age but I will take you to safe places and come back and stay for a few days in between. Maddie told Dot to think of it as your daddy going away on business and coming back in between and I want you to think of it the same way until you're old enough to be with me full time, okay?"

She nodded and he kissed her temple.

"Trust me, Love," Wilf said. "There's a whole heap of people who live here and you'll have all of us to talk to and play with so you might not even miss him when he's gone."

"And I have a time machine so I can come back at any time I choose so I could be gone for ages and come back two seconds after I said goodbye," the Doctor said. "Course I will space out the time I'm gone most of the time because I don't wanna see you as an eleven year old for one hundred years of my life so you will have to get used to me being gone but like he said, there'll be others here to be with you and you can ring me whenever you want and we can talk to each other as long as I'm in this universe. And you can feel me in your head and I'll feel you as long as I'm in this universe. So don't worry, I'll still be in your life. You can count on that. "

She nodded and he hugged her while he sent love into her mind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After chatting for about a half hour, they bid them goodbye and he took Tara over to Jackie and Pete's house. Jackie smiled when she opened the door.

"Who's this then?" she asked.

The Doctor introduced her and explained briefly who she was and what happened to her.

"Oh, you poor dear," Jackie said when he finished. "Well, you have a home with us, all of us. Come on in, Pete's nearly ready to go with ya."

They stepped inside and she closed the door.

"Cup of tea?" she asked the Doctor.

"No thanks, Jackie," the Doctor said.

"How 'bout you, Love? Would you like something to drink?"

Tara shook her head. The Doctor reached into his pocket and gave her two crystals.

"And these'll make us change?"

He nodded.

"Just break em open and the light does the rest," he said.

"You have any more? Francine and Tish wanna do it as well."

"They do? Martha didn't say…"

Jackie held up her hand.

"I asked Francine because I like her and I wanted her to do it, both for us and for Martha, and Tish agreed to do it for the same reason. I want for Martha what my daughter and Donna and Rain have, their families. I have to admit I was hesitant to do this at first because it seemed strange jumping universes again but I'm glad we live here because this has become a close little community and everyone's become family in every sense of the word."

"Good because that's what I was hoping would happen," the Doctor said.

Jackie smiled at Tara.

"And you're a part of it, Sweetie. Trust me, you'll enjoy livin' here and you can come across the road to see us anytime you want."

"Thank you."

"So is Francine and Tish home now? So I can introduce them to Tara?"

"Should be. I just got done chatting with Francine a half hour ago. I think they're still over there. Go ahead and go over there and I'll let Pete know where you are if you're not back by the time he's done."

"Thank you. I'll be brief."

"Wait a tic."

Jackie put one of the crystals in her pocket and broke open the other one.

"There ya go, just wanted to try that out," Jackie said, when the light faded.

"Well, I am glad ya did it especially for Rose's sake."

"Me too and now I can help ya look after the little ones while you're gone."

"Thank you, Jackie."

"Well, be off with ya, Time Lord, and do what you're gonna do before Pete gets out of the lavatory."

The Doctor nodded and took Tara's hand. They walked out and headed next door.

"I feel her now, Daddy," Tara said while they went down the steps.

"I do too and I never thought I'd be saying that about Jackie Tyler," he said.

"What do you mean?" Tara said while they walked across the yard to Francine's house.

"She and I didn't get along for the longest time. Francine and I had our differences as well but eventually we became friends," he said to her. "Donna, who you'll meet eventually, has a mother who never accepted me and didn't want to come here when we offered so Jackie became her mother when her own mother disowned her. What happened with you happened with Donna. She was adopted by another person who loves her now just as much as her own child. But that was Rose's mother and this is Martha's."

They climbed the steps and the Doctor knocked on Francine's door. Tish opened it and smiled.

"Doctor or Alan?"

The Doctor chuckled.

"Doctor. In case you get confused, I wear the suits and I also have this daddy bracelet on my wrist so Dot and my newest daughter can tell us apart."

"Really? This is your daughter?" she said, coming outside.

"Yes, this is Tara. Tara, this is Tish, Martha's sister."

Francine stepped out behind her daughter.

"And this is Francine. Francine, this is my new daughter, Tara."

"Oh my God, she's beautiful," Francine said, bending down. "She looks like Rain. Is she also American Indian?"

"No, she's an India Indian. At least that's her heritage. She's American."

He explained to them what happened and both Francine and Tish stared at him, shocked.

"Oh my God, that's disgusting," Tish said when they finished. "I'm glad those bastards are in prison. Honey, you have a home here now and a wonderful father here who'll take care of you and love you."

"And we'll help take care of you," Francine added. "You can come over here any time you like."

"Thank you."

Francine smiled and gave her a hug.

"So, where's everyone else?" she asked.

"They in Florida at the moment. I came here to get Pete so we could go get Jake."

Francine nodded.

"And according to Jackie, you two wanna become Time Ladies."

They laughed.

"Yes, Jackie talked me into it and my daughter wants to do it if I'm going to change."

The Doctor reached into his pocket and gave them two crystals.

"Just break them open and let the light do the work."

Francine handed Tish one and they broke them open. The light surrounded them and faded away. The Doctor gave them hugs and telepathically told Martha what happened.

_Seriously, you're both Time Ladies now?_ Martha thought to her mother.

Francine frowned.

"Concentrate on her mind and think to her," he explained to them.

_Can you hear me, Martha?_ She thought after concentrating.

_Yeah, I can, Mum. So you really did it?_

_Yeah, Jackie convinced me to do it and your sister didn't wanna be left out so yes, we're both Time Ladies now._

The Doctor grinned when he heard her cheering in his mind.

_So am I to assume the rest of Torchwood will be following suit?_ The Doctor thought to them.

_Um…maybe, we're trying to convince them…_Jack thought back.

_Donna? How bout Lee?_ The Doctor thought to her.

_Well, I want him to but he still needs a bit of convincin'_, she thought.

_Where are you?_

_I'm at home. Lee's in his flat. What are you doin' here? _

_I have a new member of the family. Let me pop over there for a moment and introduce ya._

_Wait for me, Doctor, I wanna see her too, _Grace thought. _Amber and I are here._

_Brilliant, meet me at Donna's house. But be quick, Pete's waiting for me._

The Doctor took Tara's hand and started over towards Donna's house. While he did, he noticed that not only were Grace and Amber coming out but so was River, Anita, Jennifer, Jack, Martha and Ianto with Gwen, Mickey and Rhys.

"Ah, nothing like telepathy," he said to Tara.

"They all heard you?"

"They all heard me. You can block people and shield their minds from the others if you want to talk to them privately but if you don't do that, anyone that's Gallifreyan can hear you and everyone is coming over to meet you now."

Donna came outside on her porch and smiled at Tara. The Doctor walked up with her and stood beside her waiting until everyone was assembled on the porch. After everyone was there, the Doctor introduced her and introduced everyone else and explained who she was and how she came to be with them. He could feel everyone's anger when he explained about the cult and they quickly sent love into her mind when he told them she was a Time Lady.

"Well, we're glad to meet ya, Love," Donna said. "And we're glad you're a part of the family now. I normally travel with the Doctor but someone I met once found me again and we've been getting reacquainted but I will come back now if you don't mind."

"Miss us already?"

"Miss ya terribly, Space Man," Donna said while they laughed.

"Anyone else here wanna come with us?" the Doctor said.

"Not right now. Amber and I are still getting acquainted," Grace said. "But I will eventually."

"Same here. I'm still getting adjusted to being here," Jennifer said.

"So am I," Anita said while River nodded. "But I will also come with you eventually."

"I have to stay here at the moment, got work to do," Jack said. "Although I will see you again, Tara. I love traveling with the Doctor."

"Same here…and I can't believe you did that," Martha added when Francine and Tish came up on the porch.

She gave them a hug.

"Yes, well, I'm like Jackie. I don't wanna watch you stay young while I grow old," Francine said.

"Same here," Tish said.

"Mickey, Gwen, Rhys, wanna join us?" Jack said to them.

They stared at him.

"Us?" Gwen said.

"Might as well. You're the only humans left now."

"Lee," Donna said.

"Okay, you and Lee and possibly Jake if he comes over but why be in the minority when you can be in the majority?"

"You're serious. You want us to live forever?" Rhys asked.

"No, I'll live forever, you'll live a long time but you'll eventually die," Jack said.

Mickey glanced at Martha and smirked.

"I'll do it, why not?" Mickey said, shrugging.

Jack and Ianto bit their lips and gave each other a quick knowing glance.

The Doctor gave him a crystal. They watched while he broke it open and the light surrounded him.

"Welcome to being Gallifreyan," Jack said. "Okay, Gwenie, how 'bout it?"

"You know, I just came over here to meet Tara, Jack," she said to him.

"Yeah but now the whole team will live for centuries except you," Jack said. "Might as well join us. Besides, you won't have to sleep, you can communicate with everyone here, you'll never age."

They laughed when Gwen looked around at everyone.

"You're a human surrounded by Gallifreyans. Resistance is useless," Jack teased.

"Don't let him badger ya, Gwen. If you or Rhys don't wanna do it, don't do it," the Doctor said.

"Yes, Gwen, don't do it and sleep while the rest of us stay up all night and party," Jack teased.

"You're gonna keep at me until I do it, aren't ya?" Gwen asked.

He gave her a grin and a wink.

"You don't have to if you don't want to, Gwen," the Doctor said.

Gwen sighed and looked at Rhys.

"Would you hate me if I did?" she asked him.

"No, it's your body. If you wanna be a Time Lady, I can't stop ya," Rhys said.

"Do you wanna do it with me?"

"Will he keep on badgering me if I don't?" he said, pointing to Jack.

Gwen looked at Jack who sighed.

"I'm kidding, alright? If you don't wanna do it, that's fine. I'm just giving you both a hard time," he said to them.

The Doctor grinned when he suddenly felt Pete in his mind.

"Who was that? Was that Pete just then?" Jack said.

The Doctor nodded.

"So Pete and Jackie have now joined the ranks," Jack said to Gwen.

The Doctor glanced over when he saw Pete come outside his house and head over towards them.

"I have to go, Jack. Pete wants to leave. I'll give you two of the crystals and you lot can argue this out while I'm gone," he said, reaching into his pocket.

Gwen held out her hand.

"Go ahead and give me one," she said.

"Are you sure, Gwen? Seriously, I'd rather you wanted to do this instead of them badgering you about it," the Doctor said. "Because once you do it, you're a Time Lady and short of putting you under the chameleon arch, that's what you'll be for the rest of your lives so I'd rather you did this because you wanted it and not regret it and hate us later on."

Gwen smiled.

"I do want it. I do enjoy being with everyone here and I really would like to be with the others instead of growing old and dying before they do. Everyone here has become my family and I wanna enjoy that for a long time. So yes, I'll do it."

"Yes!" Jack said when she took the crystal and broke it open.

Gwen looked at Rhys when the light faded.

"Oh bugger, now I'm alone, right?" he said while they laughed. "I'm the lone human here."

They all nodded while Pete climbed the steps and walked over to the Doctor.

"Changing others?" Pete asked him.

"Not me, the others are convincing them to change, I'm just standing here watchin'," he said to him.

"So who's left then?"

Everyone laughed and pointed to Rhys.

"I'd do it if I were you, mate. If your wife is anything like mine, you won't hear the end of it until you do," Pete said.

"Oh blimey, I just got finished telling everyone not to do it if they're being badgered," the Doctor said.

Pete smiled.

"Nah, I did it because I love Jacks. She did badger me but I did it in the end because I love her and Rose and Tony and I wanna be with them and everyone here. I'm only joking, Rhys. You don't wanna do it, don't do it."

"With the underlying message that I should do it," Rhys said.

"No, you big berk, we're not sayin' that!" Gwen said while they laughed. "We're being completely serious. If you don't do it, I will still love ya! We're standin' here because we were meetin' Tara, not because we're hoping you'll become a Time Lord. You don't wanna change, don't. Honestly, really, seriously, we're only joking, alright?"

"Can I think about it?"

The Doctor laughed when everyone groaned and Rhys threw up his hands. Jack quickly raised his hand up.

"Yes, you can think about it, Rhys. We're teasing you, alright. Just relax."

The Doctor gave the crystal to Gwen.

"In case he does change his mind and it is completely his decision," the Doctor said. "No pressure!"

"No pressure!" Gwen said.

"Nope, we won't pressure the remaining oddball human that's living in our housing development."

"Jack!" the Doctor said while they laughed. "Oh blimey, Tara, you've been adopted into an unusual family, that's a dead cert. Now I'm gonna leave with Donna and Tara and Pete, you lot can stand here and badger him to your hearts' content if you like. And to everyone who did change, I'm glad you did but don't run the lone human in here out of Nova and drive him insane. And on that note, I bid you all good afternoon."

They laughed and gave him and Tara hugs. He waved to them while he and Donna and Pete walked off the porch and went back to his house.


	194. Chapter 194

Chapter One Hundred and Ninety Four

The Doctor closed the door and strolled up to the console where Tara, Donna and Pete were standing.

"Fiver says they have the poor sod changed in five minutes," he said to them while he started up the TARDIS.

"With Jack around, I'm betting that's a possibility," Donna said.

"Oh and what? You won't be badgering Lee?" he teased.

"Mmm, maybe…" she said.

The TARDIS began to rattle and the Doctor put a calming hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"We're going over the void into another universe, it's alright," he said.

Pete frowned when everyone winked out of his mind except for the three other occupants in the TARDIS.

"Is that what you were on about when you said you can't feel the others when you cross universes?" he said.

"Yup, that's exactly what I was on about."

"What happened, Daddy?"

"When we cross universes," the Doctor said while he flipped some switches nearby, "we cross over this dead space called the void that separates one universe from another. It acts as a barrier not only between universes but it can also block minds and when we crossed over, you lost the connection to the people who are still in the other universe and they lost the connection to you. Once we cross back over you'll feel them again but for now you can only feel me, Pete and Donna. So…I s'pose land near Torchwood since you no longer have the mansion?"

Pete nodded.

"Just a word of caution, mate. Now you're in as much danger of being dissected by Torchwood as I am," the Doctor said to him when they landed.

"Believe me, I'm not letting them know what I did," Pete said.

"Someone's gonna hurt us, Daddy?"

"No, they won't, Love. Because believe me, if they try to, they'll be sorry they did," he said while all of them walked towards the front door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Doctor, great to see ya again," Jake said, shaking his hand.

"And you, Jake, I hope you're doing well."

"Never been better. Now why are you lot here? I thought you left for the other universe?" he asked Pete.

"I did but I want you to come back with me," Pete said.

"Me? Why?"

"I need you. There's another Torchwood in another universe that can use your expertise. I'm working with them and Mickey is as well."

Jake shrugged.

"I don't mind going especially if you and Mickey are there but shouldn't we discuss it with the boss?"

Pete looked at the Doctor.

"Can you give us a few minutes. I need to talk to my old boss and try to convince him to let Jake go."

"Sure, we'll amuse ourselves. Just think to me when you're done."

"Think to him?" Jake said.

"I'll explain while we're on the way to see Roger," Pete said, putting an arm around his shoulder.

They walked off while the Doctor, Donna and Tara watched.

"So…this is the non-Jack Torchwood," Donna said, looking around.

"Yup, the Torchwood I really don't trust," the Doctor said.

"Then why are we bringing this Jake back with us?" Donna asked as they walked away.

"Because apparently Pete, Mickey and Jack trust him. I worked with him before and he seemed trustworthy enough. Time will tell though. But I think Jack will keep him in line and Pete and Mickey will as well so he won't cause trouble and try to do things they shouldn't be doin'. I trust Jack to keep an eye on him."

Donna nodded while they walked.

"So, you and Lee…" the Doctor said.

She smiled and showed him a ruby ring on her finger.

"Engagement?"

"Not yet, just a love token but it's a start," she said.

"Congratulations, Te'lesu. Hope it works out. See, told ya once ya got your mind off Jack Harkness, you'd find someone else."

"Yup, you were right, I did."

"Was your boyfriend there when Daddy was talking to everyone?"

"No, Love, he lives in a flat…an apartment…about a mile away from us and he's not a Time Lord."

"Not yet, anyway," the Doctor said with a wink.

"Do you want him to be one?" Tara asked her.

"I wouldn't mind if he did. He's a nice bloke. I stayed behind for awhile to have some alone time with him so we could get acquainted but I miss travelin' with your dad so now I'm comin' back with ya once we get out of big, white, sanitized building here and get back to the other universe."

"Yes, compared to Jack's Hub, this place is positively spotless," the Doctor said, glancing around at the white walls.

He glanced at the closed doors, several of which had restricted painted on them in big block letters.

"And I don't like the fact there are a number of rooms we're not allowed into," he added. "Makes me wonder what they're doing behind their restricted doors."

"Why, Daddy?"

"Because, Love, there was a Torchwood much like this in our universe and they did some things that shouldn't have done and nearly ended up destroying the world. And what they did do, they claimed it was all in the name of Earth defense so I'm a little ill at ease being here especially with my daughter in tow."

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come with you."

"No, I don't mean that, Tara darling. I love that you're here; I just don't like you being _here_ in this building where people could detect what you really are and possibly get interested in that. Same with you, Donna. Pete knows his way around this building but we don't and I don't like that. The other Torchwood's motto was if it's alien, it's ours and I don't doubt they have the same motto here which is why I wanna get out of here and get my TARDIS outta here before we all find ourselves behind these restricted doors. I hate being cut off from the rest of our family now. I have all the TARDISes and Jack couldn't use his manipulator if something did happen. Thankfully, I do have my manipulator so we can get outta here. And I'm not trying to frighten ya, Tara. Being cautious is how I lived so long and after dealing with the other non-Jack Torchwood, I'm not giving them the benefit of the doubt. I…"

They paused when they noticed a large set of closed doors beside them.

"I believe that most likely leads to a hangar," he muttered. "Doesn't say restricted on them. Which means I can take a peek without getting nabbed."

They walked over to them. The Doctor looked around, turned the handle and opened the door a crack. He stuck his head in and quickly closed the door.

"And?" Donna said.

"Shaltonian Spacer being taken apart and most likely examined," he said to her. "Probably being cannibalized for technology they can use to bring down more alien ships, that's all, nothing to worry about. Torchwood is definitely on the level."

"Bit heavy on the sarcasm?" Donna said.

"I'm not being sarcastic. You asked me what I saw in there and I'm telling you exactly what the responsible, compassionate Torchwood people are doing with the ship that probably just landed directly in their hangar. Most likely the Shaltonians were tired of it and gave it to them so they could buy a bigger, posher model to cruise the universe in. Yes, I'm sure that's exactly what happened because the fine people here are surely on the up and up."

Donna looked at Tara who was giggling.

"Bright spark there. She hasn't been with ya that long and already she knows when you're being caustic," she said to him.

"I pick only the brightest and finest for my children, I'm shocked you're amazed at that," the Doctor said.

They glanced over when a middle aged woman with graying brown hair walked down the hall towards them. She had a metal box in her hand and it was beeping softly. While she walked by Tara, the beeping increased and she stopped in her tracks. The Doctor raised his eyebrow when she turned and walked towards her.

"Whatever that is and whatever it's doing, get it away from my daughter this instant or I'll make you eat it," the Doctor growled.

"You're not human," she said.

"Very good, I'm glad your scanner doodah works. Now get it away from us and go away before I render it inoperable. And if you bring others to seize us and drag us away, I will render _you_ inoperable, got it?"

She nodded and quickly turned away from the cold, hard look he was giving her.

"Like I said, I wanna get outta here before we get subjected to an battery of uncomfortable exams."

_Doctor, can you hear me?_ Pete thought to him.

_Yes, are you ready to leave?_

_Yes and Jake's coming with us. They're allowing him to turn in his resignation, so come back now._

"Thank all the gods in the universe for that, let's go everyone so we can finally leave this place and this universe behind for good," he said, taking their hands.


	195. Chapter 195

A/N: This chapter has an AU version of a character from Planet of the Dead. There's no real spoilers for the episode, I just loved the character and wanted to stick him in my story.

Chapter One Hundred and Ninety Five

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief when all of them were finally heading out the front door back to the TARDIS.

"Another item I can tick off my list of things I needed to do," the Doctor said while they rode down in the elevator. "I s'pose now you need furniture moved."

"A few things, yeah," Jake said.

"Well of course ya do because that's what I am now, the furniture mover man," he said while Donna chuckled. "I need to start charging people for my services except I don't need the money so I don't need to charge people. Apparently, I 'm doing all of this out of the kindness of my hearts."

The elevator door opened and they walked out into the lobby.

"Yup, I'm doing things out of the kindness of my hearts and pretty soon Alan and I will have to make more screwdrivers, also out of the kindness of our hearts."

"Why do you need to make screwdrivers?" Tara asked.

They stopped by the door and the Doctor took his sonic screwdriver out of his trouser pocket and showed it to her. He briefly explained what it was and what it did while they walked outside. While he talked and gestured to it, Tara held it and stared at it, enraptured.

"Can I have one, Daddy?" she said.

"When you're a bit older," the Doctor said. "And then I'll make you and the other children one and…"

He trailed off when they rounded the corner of the building and noticed a short man wearing a lab coat examining the TARDIS with something that resembled a Geiger counter. He was Caucasian, late 30's with close cropped brown hair and granny glasses. He was running the device over the front door while it made static noises.

"Oh no you don't!" the Doctor said, walking up. "Get away from my ship right now!"

The man turned.

"This is your ship?" he said.

"Yes, it is. Now step away from it and stop whatever you're doing this instant!"

"It's fascinating. I'm getting radiation readings that are unknown to us here at Torchwood. Almost 500 Malcolms if my calculations are correct."

"I'm sorry, 500 what?" the Doctor said.

Pete sighed.

"Doctor, this is Malcolm Taylor, head scientist at Torchwood. He's a bit cranky so you have to just kinda ignore him."

"Doctor?" Malcolm said in awe.

His eyes bulged.

"_The_ Doctor?"

The Doctor was shocked.

"How do you know me?" he said.

"He told us," Malcolm said, pointing to Pete.

The Doctor glanced at him.

"I talked about you because they wanted to know who defeated the Cybermen plus I had to explain where Rose came from."

"And I mentioned ya as well and so did Mickey and Rose talked about ya almost nonstop," Jake added.

"To him?" the Doctor said, gesturing to Malcolm. "All of you talked to him?"

"No, we mentioned you to a few of our friends but you know how people tend to gossip…" Pete said.

"Doctor, it's an honor to meet you, Sir!"

"Yeah, that's enough with the sir," he said to Malcolm.

He gasped when Malcolm lunged at him and seized his right hand.

"You are the one who helped stop the Cybermen and saved our world," he sniveled. "I've heard so much about your exploits. You are a legend, Sir!"

"Oh, here we go again," the Doctor muttered.

"Daddy, what's he talking about?"

"Daddy? Is this your child?" Malcolm said.

"Yes, this is Tara, my daughter."

Tara gasped when Malcolm grabbed her shoulders.

"The Daughter of the Doctor, how lucky are you?"

"Oi, get off her!" the Doctor said, pushing him away.

"My dear, it must be wonderful having such a famous father!"

"Huh?" Tara said, giving the Doctor a confused look.

"I'll explain later, Tara. Malcolm, clear off, I want in my TARDIS!"

"Oh please can I have a look inside?"

"No, you can't. Now go away!"

"But, Doctor…"

"Malcolm, leave him alone right now before I go back up to the managing director's office and have you sacked," Pete said.

"Very well," Malcolm sniffed. "I will leave, but I must insist on a private chat with you in future, Doctor."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to jot down an appointment in my diary as soon as I can, now will you please leave?"

"Fine, I'm going. But you've not heard the last of Malcolm Taylor!" he said as he walked away.

"Thank God I'm leaving this place so I can get away from that irritating little git," Jake muttered.

"Yup, Malcolm was one person I didn't miss working with," Pete said. "He doesn't have very many friends as I'm sure you can guess and a lot of people want him sacked but he's a brilliant mind and that's why Torchwood keeps him around. Anyway, I'm sorry about that, let's get going and…"

Suddenly, two laser blasts came out of thin air behind Pete and Jake and hit them in their backs. The Doctor yelled and he and Donna started to run to them when suddenly there was a shimmering light and two humanoid panthers appeared holding large blasters. The Doctor and Donna both stopped in their tracks and backed up, protecting Tara from them. Tara glanced down at the screwdriver still in her hand and quickly put it in her pocket.

One of the panthers put his blaster in his holster and began to use sign language to talk to the Doctor.

_You will take us in your ship,_ he signed to the Doctor.

_What have you done to my friends?_ The Doctor signed back.

_They are stunned, they will recover._ The panther signed. _Take us in your ship._

_I will, but you will let the women go._

_No, they are coming with us._

_Let the child go then, please._

_No._

_Why?_ The Doctor signed.

_We want her. We want all of you._

_Why?_

_We need you._

_Why?_ The Doctor signed.

He gasped when the other panther shot the wall beside the TARDIS.

_Take us back to our planet,_ the other panther signed to the Doctor.

_I beg you; I will do that, but let them go. I'll do whatever you want,_ the Doctor frantically signed.

Tara screamed when the other panther shot the pavement right in front of his feet. With heavy hearts, the Doctor turned and kept Tara shielded while he opened the door.

"Daddy, what are they doing?"

"Just stay by my side, my Star, and you'll be safe," he replied.

He urged her inside and let Donna go in before he turned back to the aliens.

_What about them?_ He signed and then pointed to Pete and Jake who were still unconscious.

_We will leave them. We have no need of them. We only need you, the woman and child. You will undergo the ritual of transmogrification. _

The Doctor's hearts stopped at the word ritual.

_Let the child go, please!_ He signed desperately.

_Get inside or all will die,_ the panther signed back.

The Doctor turned to go inside. Suddenly, he turned and lunged at them.

"Tara, Donna, run back inside! Get to safety!" he yelled while he tried to overpower them.

Tara and Donna screamed when the panthers shoved him away and shot him with the stun blaster. The Doctor's body quivered for a few seconds, then his eyes rolled up in his head and he lost consciousness.


	196. Chapter 196

Chapter One Hundred and Ninety Six

"How do you play this, Alan?" Amelia asked while she and Opal stood beside him.

He, Rain, Rose and Awinita decided to play Monopoly while Jenny, Mingxia and Madison watched TV. The children were standing around the dining room table watching while they set up the game. At the same time, Julie was in the kitchen looking through her refrigerator.

"You just watch and I'll explain while we play. It's not too difficult to learn," Alan replied, dividing up the money and passing it out to the others.

"Guys," Julie said, coming out of the kitchen. "If we're leaving, I'm gonna go ahead and use a lot of my food so it doesn't go to waste. So I'll make beef stew and biscuits for supper."

"Ooo, sounds delicious," Alan said.

"Also, I have oranges and apples in here so I'm gonna cut them up and make some snacks for you guys while you're playing and watching TV."

"I'll help you, Julie," Madison said, getting up and going to the kitchen.

"You know, guys, I had a thought," Awinita said while she arranged her money under her side of the board. "Since it was Tara's birthday yesterday maybe we could take her to Chuck-E-Cheese and let her have that birthday dinner. Not to mention we have actual children who would enjoy the singing rodent now."

"What's that?" Opal asked her.

"Chuck-E-Cheese is this pizza place where you can watch robot mice and dogs and things sing," Rain said to her. "They have all these games and some games have tickets that you can exchange for prizes."

"Ooo, I wanna go," Amelia said. "But do you think Papaw will be back so he can go with us?"

"He should be, how long does it take to go get Jake from Torchwood?" Rose said. "But I like that idea, plus we should make a day of it and just take her to a few fun places since she hasn't had any real fun in her life until now."

"Well," Julie said, coming out of the kitchen, "they have a zoo like all big cities do. They have a museum of science and history but I'm not sure how interested she'd be in that. They have the beach here, she might like that. That's the only things I can think of at the moment, like I said, I haven't been here that long so I'm not sure what there is besides the zoo and beach and the science museum."

"That's okay, we'll find something for her," Rain said. "But we all know they'll enjoy Chuck-E-Cheese."

"Permission to stay in the TARDIS while you watch the singing mouse!" Alan said.

"Permission denied!" Rain said gleefully. "Tony needs his best buddy with him, you know."

"Tony needs to learn to live without me from time to time," Alan muttered.

Rose tousled his hair.

"You've been through worse things than a singing mouse, Love," she said.

"Yeah, you're right, I have. So…now that the game's ready, who's going first?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tara grunted when one of the panthers shoved her into a room and slammed the door shut.

"Where's my daddy and Donna?" she yelled.

She heard the door being locked and pounded on the door.

"Where's the Doctor and Donna?" she screamed while she pounded.

There was no answer and she leaned against the door, sighing angrily. She paused a moment and noticed that she couldn't feel the Doctor in her head or Pete or Jake, just Donna. She did what the Doctor said to do and concentrated on Donna's mind.

_Donna? _She thought.

_Yes, Love, are you alright? _

_Yeah, I guess. I'm locked in a room. I can't feel Daddy in my head._

_He's still unconscious…I hope. If people are unconscious, we can't feel them. Pete and Jake must still be unconscious as well. _

_What do we do?_

_Just wait for me, I have a sonic screwdriver. They didn't search my pockets so I'm gonna use it to get out of the room they put me in._

_Hey, I do too. I still have daddy's screwdriver._

_Good. Just point it at the lock, Sweetie, and turn it on. The door will unlock and then we can find each other._

_Okay, wait a minute. _

Tara pulled the screwdriver out. She put her finger on the button, aimed it at the door lock and turned it on. She heard the door unlock and she opened it a crack_._

_It worked, Donna, _she thought.

_Great, just…make sure no one's around and be careful. Keep to the shadows if you can and we'll try to find each other. Bugger, I wish this telepathy came with GPS tracking but no matter, we'll find each other and find the Doctor so just keep calm and keep silent. _

_Okay, Donna, _Tara thought.

Tara opened the door a bit more and stuck her head out. She tried to keep calm and do what Donna said while she used the same tactics she used to escape from the cult members. She stepped out into a dimly lit concrete hallway. There were a few doors on either side of the passageway. She kept to the shadows, inching along; looking all around her while she tried to calm her beating hearts.

_Donna, are you out now?_ She thought.

_Yes, Sweetie, I don't see you. Where are you?_

_A hallway. It's kinda dark and there are metal doors around me and there's a spider thing crawling across the floor. _

_I'm in a hallway too but I don't see you. Do you see stairs?_

_No. _

_Blast, just keep moving slowly and mind your surroundings and hopefully we'll run into each other at some point. _

Tara slowed her pace; keeping her back up against the cold concrete while she made her way down the hallway. Suddenly, a door opened beside her and she froze and sucked in her chest trying not to be seen. A panther man came out of the room and shut the door behind him. Tara watched him while he went away from her and turned the corner. She stood there, her hearts beating out of her chest, terrified she'd be recaptured at any moment. Suddenly, she felt the Doctor's mind wink back into hers.

_Daddy?_ She thought to him.

_Ugh, Tara. My beloved, where are you? Are you alright?_ He thought groggily.

_Yeah, I'm out in a hallway. Donna's out too. We're trying to find each other,_ she thought back.

_Doctor, are you alright?_ Donna thought.

_Well, if you can call being strapped to a table with a drip going in my arm alright, then yes, I'm fine and dandy,_ he thought.

_Drip? What are they doing?_ Donna thought.

_Turning me black, judging from my skin color. I'm in my y-fronts at the moment. My clothes are in the corner across the room so no chance of me using the manipulator. But I think they're turning me into them. They said transmogrification which is what turning me into a panther person is. Tara, find Donna and get away from here. Try to find the TARDIS and hide in it. Don't worry about me, I'll be alright._

Tara stared at the door beside her.

_Tara, did you hear me?_ The Doctor thought.

_Daddy, was a panther person in the room with you?_ Tara thought.

_Not sure, I just woke up a moment ago, why?_

Gathering her courage, Tara inched towards the door the panther had come out of and slowly opened it. She peeked inside and opened it wider when she saw the Doctor lying on a metal table. The Doctor's face was black and catlike. His eyes were yellow and catlike and his fingernails were beginning to sharpen into claws.

"Tara," he said in a loud whisper while she closed the door and ran to him.

He kissed her when she threw her arms around her neck.

"My Star, you're alright. Thank God," he whispered.

"Daddy, what are they doing?" Tara whispered back.

"Changing me. I have a feeling you and Donna are next, so you need to get out of here and hide in the TARDIS. Please, my hearts, do as I say."

"No, I'm gonna get you out of here so the bad people won't hurt you," she said.

The Doctor cast a terrified glance at the door before he turned his attention back to his daughter who was examining the metal restraints. She thought for a moment and then withdrew the screwdriver.

"Yes," the Doctor said, nodding, "use that on the locks and it'll unlock the restraints."

She put the tip against the lock of the metal restraint around his wrist and turned it on. It snapped open and he tousled her hair.

"Hurry, use it on the other restraints," he said, grabbing the IV needle that was in his other arm and pulling it out.

Tara went around the table, unlocking all the restraints while the Doctor gave her a proud smile. When the last restraint was unlocked, he sat up and cupped her face with his hands, giving her a grateful, loving kiss on the forehead.

"Thank you, my Star," he said.

"Daddy, are you gonna stay like this?" Tara said, pointing to his black skin.

"Dunno, there might not be enough of the serum in my body for the change to be permanent. It might flush out of my system, given time. If not, I can use the chameleon arch in my ship to restore myself. But for the moment, we need to get out of here, find Donna and get the TARDIS back."

He ran over to the corner, grabbed his clothes and threw them on as fast as he could. He left his shirt unbuttoned and put his tie in his pocket. He threw his jacket on without buttoning it up and then took his daughter's hand.

_Donna, Tara found me and helped me escape. We're gonna try to find you and the TARDIS,_ he thought.

_Be careful, I had to duck in a room because several cat people that just came down here, _she thought back._ I have a feeling they were coming to get me._

_Lovely, just what we need, for the puss cats to find out about our escape. Just lay low, we're coming. _

_Okay._

The Doctor opened the door a crack and stuck his head out. He quickly looked left and right and didn't see anyone in the hallway.

_Come, and stay by my side at all times,_ he thought to Tara.

She nodded and they stepped outside together. He closed the door and they kept to the shadows.

_At least I have black skin now_, he thought to Tara. _Good bit of camouflage that._

_What were they gonna do to you, Daddy?_

_Dunno, maybe assimilate us into their society. I've never seen these aliens before, Tara, I have no idea who they are or where we are. That's the bad thing about being in a different universe where they have species I've never heard of before. But we'll escape from here and make it back to the rest of our family, I promise._

Just then he felt Pete's mind wink back into his.

_Pete, are you alright? _He thought while he and Tara slowly inched down the hallway.

_Yeah, Jake's still unconscious but someone must have found us because we're in the Torchwood med bay. Where are you?_

_Well, as I was just telling my daughter, I haven't the foggiest. I've never seen those aliens before and I don't know where they took us because they knocked me unconscious several minutes after you._

_How did you know how to talk to them then, Daddy?_

_Oh, standard sign language that different species use to communicate. It's mainly used by traders when they're at bazaars and markets but others learn it just so they can communicate when they have to. Apparently it's the same sign language as the other universe which is very helpful_, he thought to her. _But apart from that, Pete, they've tried to change me into them. I'm half panther at the moment and I would have been all panther if my daughter hadn't found me. But for the moment, I have a feeling you lot are useless. It's up to us to bring ourselves back home so just relax and we'll keep you updated. I have to cut off communication now so I can concentrate on getting out of this place._

_Okay, good luck, Doctor._

_Thanks, we'll need it._

He cut off communication as he and Tara inched down the hallway.

_Oh bugger, Doctor, I was right, they were coming for me. I hear them out in the corridor telling the others that I'm gone, _Donna thought.

_So they can communicate vocally then, _the Doctor thought.

_Sounds like it. _

_Just stay hidden. Let us find you, _the Doctor thought._ The last thing we need is for you to end up half panther like me._

_Boy, the rest of the family's in for a shock, _Donna thought.

The Doctor snorted.

_Tell me about it. On the other hand, the children will have no trouble telling Alan and me apart any longer._

_I don't want you to stay like this, Daddy._

The Doctor smiled at her.

_Oh, I won't. I have a way to change back if this doesn't wear off. It's a painful way to change back but I've done it before. Don't worry; you won't have a kitty cat for a father. _

He glanced down at his clawed hands.

_Then again, _he thought to her,_ these could come in handy. I think puss cats gave me a handy dandy weapon. What about my teeth, what are they like?_

He opened his mouth and Tara saw elongated canines.

_Do I have fangs, my Star?_

_Yes._

_See, handy dandy weapons. Not to mention I have enhanced vision on top of my already enhanced vision. So they'd be wise not to mess with your father now._

He stopped himself and Tara and sniffed.

_And I have enhanced smelling abilities now on top of my enhanced Time Lord smelling abilities and I can smell them. And boy, do they need a hose down. Phew, stinky felines._

He grinned when Tara laughed softly.

_You're being very brave, my love. I'm proud of you,_ he thought to her.

_I had to do this when I got away from the bad men._

_I know, my Star, and that's why I'm so proud. You're keeping calm and you helped me out. You'll make a stellar time traveler. _

He gave her a sideways hug when she beamed at that. Suddenly, they saw a panther man turning the corner and both of them pressed their bodies up against the wall. The Doctor hissed softly when the panther sniffed the air and perked his ears up. He flexed his claws and tensed his muscles ready to ambush the alien who was now on red alert. The panther wasn't moving; he was sniffing the air and growling.

_Come on, ya furry git, make a move so I can, _the Doctor thought.

Suddenly, Tara ran out of the shadows away from the cat. The panther man hissed and ran after her. The Doctor's fist came out of the shadows and he decked him in the face. Tara stopped running and got back in the shadows while the Doctor jerked the stunned alien to his feet.

"Where are we? Who are you and what do you want with us? The Doctor snarled at him. "Answer me or I'll rip your throat open with my teeth!"

The cat opened his mouth wide and the Doctor jerked him.

"You better be opening your mouth wide to answer me or yawn because if you yell for help, you'll be sorry!" he hissed.

"We were only taking back what the humans stole from us," the panther hissed back.

"What does that mean?" the Doctor said, narrowing his eyes.

"That place, the people there made us crash in the countryside outside the city. We lost two of our crew members, a male and a female. We escaped when they weren't looking and cloaked ourselves. We saw your ship and your females and decided to take you."

"And change us?"

"Our numbers are limited; we can't afford to lose any of our people."

"And her, why her if you lost an adult man and woman?" the Doctor said, jerking his head at Tara.

"She's a child; we could use her as well."

The Doctor growled low in his throat.

"You stole the wrong child. You took the wrong people because I'm no ordinary alien and I can easily make your lives a living hell! Now where is the other woman? Take us to her and take us back to our ship and let us leave before I skin your hide and use it for a rug."

"Please, don't hurt me; I was only trying to ensure the survival of our species."

"By infringing on the rights of mine? I have a right to exist as well, so does my daughter and my sister. I'm sorry that you're kind is in danger of extinction but you can't do this to others, it's wrong. You can't change other people into your kind. I can help, let me help you find a way to ensure your survival, but first you have to let us go. I won't help if you're gonna hold us captive."

"And you change my daddy back this instant!" Tara said, coming up to him.

"But…if I do that, they'll kill me. I have my orders."

"Yeah, well I'm higher than any authority here and I'm overriding those orders. Change me back and let us go or suffer the consequences!"

For emphasis, he opened his mouth wide, baring his fangs, and hissed at him.

"I like my new pearly whites, nice and sharp and ready to rip and tear," he sneered. "And the same goes for my new fingernails, now do as I say, I'm in charge now and you'll listen to me…or else!"

He jerked him closer to his face and growled menacingly at him. The panther man swallowed hard when he saw how hard and cold his expression was and he nodded.

"Alright, but you have to promise not to tell the others I did this. They could kill me."

"I don't think you need to worry about them, you need to worry about me and what I could do to you," the Doctor growled. "Now, first things first, where did they put my sister?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The panther, whose name was Histore, paused at the top of a flight of steps leading down into a corridor. The Doctor was behind him, his hand around the back of his neck and his blaster aimed at his back. Tara was behind him, looking around.

"Well, I'm waiting," the Doctor said to him. "Move!"

Histore grimaced when the Doctor dug his claws into his neck. Sighing angrily, he went down the stairs. At the bottom they noticed several doors on both sides of the empty hallway.

_Donna, we just went down some stairs into a hallway,_ the Doctor thought. _If you're in a room, open the door a bit and peek out, see if you can see us._

His eyes darted to a door several feet away when he noticed it opening slightly. He smiled when Donna opened it more and stuck her head out. She froze and her mouth dropped open when she saw him.

"Doctor, oh my God, what have you done to him?" she said in an angry whisper while she came out and came towards Histore.

"Oh boy, mate, now you're in trouble. You not only kidnapped me, you kidnapped someone who'll beat the ever-loving crap outta ya," the Doctor said to him.

"Too right I will, you better change him back, Furry, or I'll pull all your fur out bit by bit and make it into a hairpiece!" Donna snarled.

"And I'll help!" Tara said, coming around to her side.

"Yup, I travel with strong, independent, kick the crap outta ya women," the Doctor said proudly. "So now that I've found my sister and she's safe, how 'bout that antidote so I can go back to my family as my old lovable self?"

Just then, two panthers passed by the stairs.

"HELP ME! THEY'VE ESCAPED!" Histore screamed.

Donna gasped when the Doctor shoved him violently against the wall, knocking him unconscious.

"Never shoulda trusted a cat, learned that back on New Earth!" he snarled as he let go of him.

He spun around and hissed at the two men who were coming down the stairs. He leapt at them with lightning quick speed and quickly knocked one unconscious when he threw him against the stairs. Tara noticed the other one taking his blaster out of his holster and she ran towards him. She smacked it out of his hand while the Doctor spun around. The Doctor grabbed him by the neck and smacked him against the wall, knocking him unconscious.

"You saved my life again," he said to Tara. "Perhaps I can take you with me on long trips if you're this capable of taking care of yourself."

He sighed and looked at the unconscious guards while Donna came up to him.

"So now we have no way of finding the TARDIS unless we go nab another cat. Still, we're back together so at least that's accomplished. We can put these three in a room and lock it but we need to move quickly now and find our ship before the whole building is put on red alert and we all become new members of their feline fraternity."


	197. Chapter 197

A/N: Another tiny reference to Planet of the Dead.

Chapter One Hundred and Ninety Seven

The three of them hurried through the shadows of the corridor trying to find a way out. The Doctor pulled out the manipulator and secured it around his wrist.

"I can't use it to find the TARDIS since I have no idea where it's at but we can teleport to safety in a pinch," he said.

"Daddy, you said your TARDIS is alive, right?"

He nodded.

"Can you talk to her like you can talk to us?" Tara asked.

"I can, but I don't think it'll do us much good if she's in a room and doesn't know where she is. However…she does have a limited telepathic reach outside the TARDIS if I can get her to keep a watch for our minds then if we pass by her, she might be able to detect us and let us know where she is. Wait a tic."

He closed his eyes and used his ingrained link with his ship to communicate with her and tell her what he wanted her to do while Tara and Donna kept watch. After a couple of minutes, he opened his eyes.

"She's keeping an eye out for us, so to speak. She knows she's in a room but that's as far as her knowledge goes. You lot, how did they get you out?"

"We walked but they blindfolded us and made us walk in front of them until we reached the rooms. They left you behind so someone else must have taken you after they left," Donna said.

"Probably wanted to get you in a room as quickly as possible so you wouldn't suss out where you were," he whispered. "But apart from the stairs, did you hear or sense anything else on your way to your cells?"

"I heard water running," Tara whispered.

"So did I, like a waterfall," Donna said.

"Good, so look for a possible waterfall," he said.

They walked on. The Doctor used his newly gained senses to keep abreast of any possible danger while Tara and Donna followed behind him and watched his back. He finally felt Jake in his mind and breathed a sigh of relief knowing they were safe. He was tempted to use the manipulator to go back to Torchwood so Tara and Donna would be safe but since he had no idea where he was he had no way of knowing how to get back to get his TARDIS, so for the moment, he had to trust that both his girls knew enough to stay alive and keep themselves safe while they looked. He was proud of his new daughter, not once did he feel any hint of fear in her mind. She was calm and alert and he began to wonder if perhaps she might be old enough to go with him full time. He knew that in order to survive what she survived she had to have incredible courage, resilience, strength and intelligence and a strong enough will that allowed her to keep on going without giving in and going insane. He needed people who had all these traits and she had them in great abundance. He saw now that all the adversity she had went through had honed her into a capable fighter and survivor and he had no doubt that she would handle anything that came her way.

_After all,_ he thought to himself. _Sarah lets Luke and his friends assist her and they're not much older than she is._

For the moment though, he had to concentrate on getting all of them out of the building and back to Torchwood.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor froze along with Tara and Donna when they noticed a female panther turning the corner up ahead and coming towards them. He noticed that she was wearing a black bodysuit that matched her skin color perfectly, giving her the illusion of nakedness. The Doctor waited till she was walking next to him before he leapt out, grabbed her neck with one hand and slammed his other hand over her mouth.

"If you yell, I'll render you unconscious," he snarled. "Now, I'm the man you nearly turned into a cat, I want my ship back and I want you to take us to it right now before I take you to the nearest zoo and leave you there, got it?"

She tried to reach for her blaster but Tara came up behind her, grabbed it and aimed it at her.

"Give that to Donna, my Star, don't use it on her," the Doctor said to her.

Tara nodded and handed it to Donna who was standing behind her.

"Now, about my ship?" he snarled at the panther woman.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The woman guided them along while the Doctor walked behind her, keeping one hand gripped on her right arm and the other clamped around her muzzle. While they walked, they suddenly noticed a waterfall pouring down in an alcove built into one of the walls of the corridors. The water from it ran out through a little channel that went down the rest of the passageway and around the corner.

"Very pretty. Your water supply?" the Doctor said softly.

The woman nodded. The Doctor took his hand away but kept it on her left shoulder ready to cover her mouth again.

"Why do you need a waterfall like that?" he said softly.

"Because we're on a desert planet deep underground," the woman replied.

"Mm, and where is this desert planet and what species are you?" he said.

"This is Shar'sharia and I'm a Tulok."

"Haven't heard of either but it's nice to meet you. I'm the Doctor, a Time Lord."

"Haven't heard of your kind either."

"That's because my kind only exist in one universe and it's not this one," he replied. "And your name would be?"

"Tesha."

"Tesha, nice to meet ya. Tell me, Tesha, about this supposed shortage of your kind?" he said while they walked along.

"Our planet used to be lush and green until the Swarm came along."

"Swarm?"

"Metal creatures, they devour civilizations and planets and turn them into dust. The planet was mostly tropical rainforest so we built shelters like these to escape the heat of the day; this is where the survivors took refuge after the attack. We managed to find an underground lake and tapped into it. That's what the waterfall is."

"So we're underground now," Donna said.

"Yes, you are, the planet is no longer inhabitable up above. We're slowly dying out because there aren't many females. Just me and one other now and we can only give birth to one cub a year so we're in danger of dying off completely when both of us go into our menopause cycle which is only about two years away now."

"So, if you have a ship and can make it to Earth, why don't you start again somewhere else where this Swarm hasn't attacked?"

"We were trying to do that, we sent our only ship, a small space skimmer to find a suitable uninhabited planet we could live on but the humans of Earth shot it down and captured the survivors. They were trying to escape and find a ship when they found yours. We need to keep our numbers at a constant level to keep this facility going and just to survive."

"Did it ever occur to you that we don't wanna be Tulok? That we're happy being Time Lords?" the Doctor said.

"We didn't have a choice."

"Yes, you do. You should have explained the situation and asked me for help rather than stun me and drag us back here to be turned into panther people. I would have helped you move to another planet if you'd just taken the time to talk to me. Instead, I find myself having to fight my way out of a building and protect my family so they don't end up looking like I do. Now, do you want my help or not? Because I will help, but you have to stop doing this to others. You need to find somewhere where you can live without fear of death and have time to grow in numbers. So, your choice, do you want my help and we can work together or do you wanna fight and risk injury and possible death of one or more of your members in the resulting fray? Your choice, Tesha."

"I want you to help us, Doctor. We know this is wrong, changing others, but we didn't think we had a choice."

"Then if I help you, will you not attack us anymore or try to hurt us?" he said to her.

"I will stop the others from hurting you and your family."

"Good, this is my daughter, Tara, and my sister, Donna. Just so you know they're people and not objects to be transmogrified at will. Now take me to my TARDIS and give me an antidote to what you've done if you've got it and then gather your people together and let's work out a solution to your problem in a peaceful and friendly manner."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Oh no you don't, you come back here, Rose Timelord, and pay me what you owe me!" Alan said when Rose tried to skip Boardwalk and move to the Go spot. "I have a hotel there which means you gotta pay me mucho dinero so fork it over, woman, pay the piper now!"

Rose looked at her money. She had a 500 dollar banknote, two 10 dollars and a 20 dollar.

"Come on, you owe me," Alan said. "Pay up."

Rose gave him a winning smile while Rain and Awinita watched them.

"How 'bout I give you something in trade for allowing me to stay in the game?" she said, sweetly.

Alan folded his arms over his chest.

"I'm listenin'," he said.

Rose smirked and leaned over to whisper in his ear. She leaned back a moment later with her tongue poked between her teeth. Alan scratched his chin.

"Okay, you got a deal. I'll overlook the rent."

"Oh no you don't!" Awinita said. "I can guess what she just offered you and sexual favors doesn't count."

"Yes, they do, I'm the banker so I'm in charge of rent," Alan said. "Haven't you ever heard of bartering? For a night's delight, I'm allowing her to stay in my hotel rent free."

"Okay, that means you gotta do the same for us, so give me back the rent I paid you for Pacific Avenue," Rain said, holding her hand out to him.

"Bartering, remember, what'll you give me?"

"The right to keep your pretty boy face!" Rain said, making a fist.

"Not good enough. Rose is now obligated to do what I say or she's out on her bum which means if you hit me, I will command her to hit ya back. So try again."

Rain started to say something sarcastic when they suddenly heard a wheezing and saw the TARDIS materializing in the corner of the room.

"Saved by the bell…or the wheeze," Alan said, leaping up.

The door opened up and the Doctor came outside. He was completely normal and fully dressed and whistling while Tara and Donna came out behind him.

"Hello all, you'll never guess what happened to me," he said, grinning.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Later on, after the Doctor explained what happened and they had eaten stew and biscuits, he stepped outside on Julie's balcony and sat down in her chair while the others played board games and video games. While he sat and stared at the setting sun, he listened to his family laughing and joking inside and smiled at that. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and smiled when Tara peeked her head outside.

"Hello, my Star, care to join me and enjoy the sunset?" he said.

She nodded and came outside.

"Are you okay, Daddy?"

"I'm fine now, my hearts. Back to normal thanks to Tesha. Not a trace of panther left in me. How 'bout you? Are you alright?"

She nodded and he drew her into his lap. She gave him a hug and he returned it while he sent love into her mind. She relaxed against his chest while he rubbed her back.

"Are you afraid of traveling somewhere else now, Daddy?" she asked.

"Me? Nah, I've been through worse, my Star, just like you have. We're both survivors, you know, and both of us have bounced back, stronger than ever. It'll take more than that to scare me away from time travel. However, I've been thinking about what you did today. All that courage you showed. You were just as brave as me and Donna and I love that about you. You had every right to be scared and go hide after what you've been through in your life but you didn't, you came and rescued me and helped me fight until the Tulok finally came to their senses. I know you won't become a full Time Lady till you're twenty but I do think you can handle being out there and I think I will take you along with me at times and teach and train you the way I did Rose and Donna and everyone else. You proved yourself today, Tara. You actually proved yourself when you ran by yourself across Florida, barefoot, but I know now that you can handle being around aliens and alien threats and not panic."

"I can go with you?" Tara said.

"You can go with me, yes. But…I do still want you to go to school because you do need an education. However, I can take you along and bring you back whenever I want so perhaps a few weekend trips. Nothing really dangerous at first but places I know of where I can supervise and train you so you're more confident and able to handle yourself a bit more. Now mind, this is only for you at this point. Dot and Tony are too young and I'll have to test out Opal and Amelia somewhere safe so I can judge if they're old enough to come with me. But I trust that you can take care of yourself after seeing you in action today so that's why I'm allowing you to do this. But a few conditions, alright? One, you will have to listen to me and do what I say until you are able to handle more. I don't want you wandering off and trying to take on twenty bad guys by yourself just because I said you are capable of handling yourself. There's a difference between being brave and being foolhardy and you need to know the difference, especially in life or death situations. Can you do that?"

"Yes, Daddy."

"Two, you have to agree to come back and go to school. You're still a bit young to go with me full time and you do need to learn how to read and write and strengthen this natural intelligence of yours. So if I ask you to stay home, you have to do that and not make a fuss, alright?"

She nodded.

"Good, just consider that part of your Time Lady training because at the very least you have to know how to read which is another reason why I want you with me at first so you won't get badly hurt because you went past a sign that said danger and had an accident. And third, I want you to do something for me. I want you to look after your new sister while we're gone and help protect and guide her so she'll grow to become a time traveler too. Your whole life you've been a follower and did what others told you to do and I admit that's what you'll be doing with me for awhile. But unlike your slave masters, I'm going to mentor you and turn you into a leader because that's what you're meant to be. You and Opal and Amelia are all born leaders, I can tell just by looking at you. And one thing a leader has to do is set an example and help others and that's what I want you to do when you're at home with Dot. You become her mentor and help her grow into another leader. Will you do that?"

"Yes," Tara said, nodding.

"Good, then if you agree to follow these conditions, I will agree to take you on as an apprentice time traveler and let you assist me."

He kissed her forehead when she grinned at that.

"I bet you're thanking your lucky stars right now that you wandered into our campsite, aren't you?"

He chuckled when she nodded her head rapidly.

"Well, funnily enough, I'm thinking the exact same thing, my Star," he said as he held her close and rubbed her back.


	198. Chapter 198

Chapter One Hundred and Ninety Eight

The Doctor and Tara rested together. The Doctor held her closely while the sun went down. While he stared at the red and purple sky and the last sliver of sun as it sank below the horizon, Dorothy came outside and walked over to him.

"Aha, the other daughter. So what you've been up to since I went and got myself turned into a kitty cat?"

"I had a bath, Daddy."

"You did? Is that why I suddenly smell the heavenly aroma of strawberries upon the night breeze?"

Dorothy drew near and he reached down and rubbed her back.

"We gonna eat pizza tomorrow, Daddy," Dorothy said.

"We are? Who says?"

"Mommy says we goin' to Chuckcheese."

"Oh, blimey, here we go again, singing rodents mangling old songs," he said.

"What's Chuckcheese?" Tara asked.

"She means Chuck-E-Cheese. It's this pizza shop that has these games and food and singing robots that drive you insane with their bad renditions of old songs. However, they have birthdays there so perhaps we can celebrate your birthday there tomorrow."

"You guessed," Rain said, coming outside with a cup of tea and a glass of Coke for them.

She sat them down and kissed all of them.

"Yup, we're gonna do the birthday thing for Tara and let her enjoy the day. They also have a zoo, science museum and the beach so we figured we'd give her a special day tomorrow."

"Brilliant, she deserves it. And I've decided something as well while we were out here."

He blocked the children's minds from theirs and thought to the rest of the family about taking Tara as an apprentice. Rain nodded.

"Good because I agree, she is strong enough to handle being out there. But, Love, you do have to listen to him because he knows what to do and how to do it, alright, Honey?"

"Yes, Mommy."

She kissed her forehead.

"Drink your tea and Coke so you can come back inside and enjoy the board games. And…Julie has a Super Nintendo, Playstation, Gamecube and Xbox with a lot of games. So there's a lot to do. I trust you're also taking our ship back to it's position in Cardiff later?"

"Yup, have to get Julie's stuff onto it first and I wanted to drop by Sarah's place to let her meet Tara and give her the crystals for Luke and his friends."

Rain kissed him.

"You changed back too soon, Love, I wanted to see your kitty cat face," she said while Tara giggled.

"Just picture me with a panther face without the big snout and a black body with claws and, hey presto, me as a cat."

"You were a kitty, Daddy?" Dorothy said.

"Yes, but not a fluffy sit in your lap kitty, I was a huge ferocious monster that slobbered and snarled and said, "ARRRWAGHAAWAGAWAGA!""

Rain rolled her eyes and kissed his forehead while Tara and Dorothy laughed. He grinned and winked while she ruffled her hair. He looked over when Jenny came outside with a bowl of milk.

"For you, Kitty Dad," she said.

"Oi, that's quite enough of that, cheeky!" he said while they laughed.

Amelia and Opal came outside. Amelia held up the stuffed Simba.

"Did you look like this, Papaw?" she said while they giggled.

"Wow, it's amazing how much sympathy my family has for my plight," he said, shaking his head. "I turned into a panther and they're out here making milk jokes and shoving Simba in my face. I love how amusing I am to you lot. If I'm not being subjected to cat jokes, I get fake surprise parties thrown in my honor."

"Well, that because you tend to take yourself a bit too seriously sometimes," Rain said.

"Yeeeah, I admit I do but still I was a cat, don't you have any sympathy at all for me?" he said loudly.

Rose ran through the door and hugged him.

"I do, little puss cat!" Rose squealed.

They laughed, inside and out, when she sprinted back inside. Alan stepped out a moment later.

"For the record, I had nothing to do with my wife's outburst. I was playing this revolutionary war simulation video game with Awinita and am winning, happy to report. I'm the British side and she's the colonials and wouldn't ya know it, I've nearly suppressed the rebellion of the traitorous rebels."

"HEY, GENERAL GAGE, GET YOUR BUTT BACK IN HERE, IT'S YOUR TURN!" Awinita yelled. "AND IF YOU DON'T GET BACK IN HERE IN TWO SECONDS, I'M SWITCHING GAME PADS AND PLAYING YOUR SIDE AND BELIEVE ME; I'LL MAKE YOU LOSE EVERY COLONY YOUR GLOATING SELF HAS WON!"

"Excuse me; I must go protect my seized colonies from rebel infiltration. FOR KING AND COUNTRY! PIP PIP!"

He whistled Rule, Britannia while he strolled back inside.

"This is what you want me to come back inside for? I'm having a nice peaceful sunset with Tara and you want me to willingly go back into all the madness?" the Doctor said to them.

"Come on, Dear, have a nice cup of tea while you play Monopoly with us," Rain said.

The Doctor considered that.

"Monopoly sounds good."

Rose ran back out and grabbed hold of Rain.

"Are you insane? If he sees the little dog token, he'll want to chase it up a tree!"

They bent over laughing when she ran back in.

"Tell me, my family, did you put Rose on a caffeine, speed, Red Bull diet while I was over in the other universe?" the Doctor said to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After coming back inside, the Doctor played Monopoly with Rain, Rose and Julie while the children watched. While they played, Donna and Mingxia played chess on a card table set up beside it while Madison and Jenny sat on either side and chatted with them.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Awinita said.

They all looked over when Alan leapt up and whooped and hollered and pumped his fist.

"Are the colonies British now?" the Doctor said.

"As British as can be! I won, I won! Whoooo-hooo…and…"

Alan laughed hysterically.

"According to the ending dialogue on the telly screen, we just hung everyone for being traitors including Georgie boy! Take note, my family, I have changed history! I am truly a Time Lord!"

The children giggled when he walked down the hallway towards the bathroom whooping and hollering and shouting, "IN YOUR FACE, AMERICA! THE SUN NEVER SETS ON US! WHOOOOO-HOOOOO!"

They heard the bathroom door slam. The Doctor looked at Awinita.

"Sorry, you're British subjects, I s'pose."

"Well, given the fact that both America and Britain treated my people like crap, I guess it doesn't matter much who won," she said, shrugging.

Alan opened the bathroom door and strode back out whistling Rule, Britannia. He strode over to Rain.

"Now I can come after you, my British subject, and give you nonstop wedgies and noogies at my leisure."

"Good luck, Dorkface. At that time France, Mexico and Spain were between my people and the colonies. Not to mention you also had eleven jillion Indian tribes from the east to the west, most of them armed, dangerous and ready to fight the paleface. And by that time most of the western civilizations had screwed them over, killed and enslaved them so you wouldn't be able to claim you were some kind of mystical tribal god and sweet-talk your way across to me. So have fun fighting the rest of the world to get to the Navajo lands and phone me if you reach Arizona in one peace…mate!"

Alan leaned over and stared at her properties.

"You have the purple crappy ones, I see, and Brother has Park Place this early in the game. I predict you will lose first, so have fun losin'."

He patted her on the head and walked back to the sofa while Rain discretely flipped him off. He slumped down beside Awinita and grinned at her.

"So…what we playin' next?"

"Something that doesn't involve you yelling at the top of your lungs and getting Julie thrown out on her ass before we're ready to leave here," she said.

"Splendid and that game would be?"

"It's called shut up and don't talk till I do, go!"

She stared at him silently.

"Nah, rubbish, hate games like that," he said while they snickered.

Whistling, he strolled over to the video games arranged in small plastic clear bins and looked through them. He pulled up Final Fantasy and stared at it.

"Julie…"

"Yes, Alan?"

"This one of those games where you walk around a magical village, gormless, talk to weird people and then fight a monster before you walk around gormless again?"

"Um, I guess so," Julie said, shrugging.

"Nope, hate that sort of game, bores me to tears," he said, putting it back in the bin. "Hullo, Genghis Kahn. Hey, another take over the world and gloat game. Let's play this, Te'lesu…"

"Are you gonna refrain from yelling your lungs off if I play it?" Awinita said.

"Only if I lose…which I won't…so good chance I will then."

"Modesty is a virtue, you know," Rain said.

"So is patience but that's something else I've never mastered," Alan said to her. "So? Genghis Khan?"

"If we must…" Awinita said, gesturing to the Super Nintendo.

"Splendid. To battle then!" he said, putting it in.

"Here we go, more yelling and screaming like a maniac," Donna said. "Why I came back now, I'll never know. Must have been out of me head when I agreed to come back."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

All of them jerked their heads up when they heard a man screaming next door.

"Oh crap," Julie said.

"What's going on?" the Doctor said.

"Everyone, I have jerk neighbors that get drunk and argue for hours, another reason why I'm glad you guys are taking me with you," she said. "I've tried to get the landlords to do something but they won't because they're idiots. The walls are paper thin so we have to listen to this now."

"I HATE YOU, YOU GODDAMN BASTARD!" a woman shrieked.

"Not necessarily. Come on, you lot, in the TARDIS. Bring the games, the video games and everything else. The TARDIS thankfully is in another dimension away from the screaming, drunken people next door. I'm not about to let the children hear language like that all night long. I…"

They flinched when they heard the faint sound of something shattering against a wall.

"They won't do anything, Te'lesu?" Alan said. "Are you kidding? Sounds like an all out brawl over there."

"Yes and that's the first time that's happened. Go ahead and do what he said, guys, I'm calling the cops since the landlord isn't here now and getting them out here to stop them. I wanna take the games and video games with us anyway so we don't have to move them back out."

They nodded and started gathering up everything while Julie went into her bedroom to call the police.


	199. Chapter 199

Chapter One Hundred and Ninety Nine

After they set up everything in the TARDIS living room, they sat back down and resumed their games. All of the children except Tara watched while Alan and Awinita played Genghis Khan. Tara stood beside the Doctor and Rain and watched the Monopoly game. The Doctor read to her what the properties were and the things written on the cards while of them helped explain how to play the game.

While they played, the Doctor's mobile rang.

"I'm not becoming a cat again!" he said while he took it out of his pocket. "Hello?"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU WERE A CAT?"

Everyone laughed when they heard Jack screaming at him through the mobile.

"I was a panther for awhile, Jack," the Doctor said. "I assume Pete and Jake told ya?"

"Yeah, we just back home, fed your dogs, and went to see them. Jake's gonna live with Jackie and Pete for the moment till Pete finds him a flat so they were both there and told us what happened. Are Tara and Donna okay?"

"They're fine. Both of them are fine," the Doctor said, rolling the die while he talked. "I was the only one who changed. Did they also tell you about my rant to Torchwood when we got back there?"

"Pete said you yelled at them."

"Oh, I yelled all right. It was because of them that the Tulok were stranded there in the first place. The Tuloks were trying to find another home, an uninhabited planet so somehow; I don't think they were up there raining death and destruction down on Earth which means that Torchwood's usual excuse about defending Earth doesn't work. Once again, Jack, Torchwood acted irresponsibly and I suffered for it. Rest assured when I helped the Tuloks find a new home, I told them to stay as far away from Earth as they possibly could. And I sincerely hope Jake toes the line if he's gonna work for ya."

"He will, I'll make sure of that," Jack said.

The Doctor paused a moment and searched his mind for his family's minds.

"I don't detect any new minds. Rhys is still human then?"

Jack chuckled.

"Yup, still haven't convinced him to become one of us yet."

"That poor man doesn't have a chance, that's for sure," he said while Jack chuckled.

"So…what are you doing now?" Jack said.

"I'm playing Monopoly in the TARDIS. We have it here in Julie's flat."

"Do you need help moving her things?"

"No. But we're celebrating Tara's birthday tomorrow and making a whole day of it. Wanna come?"

"Sure, I'd love to celebrate her birthday."

"Even if we go to Chuck-E-Cheese?"

"Oh. On second thought…" he said. "I'm kidding; I'll endure the singing rat for her. So is she turning twelve then or is she still eleven?"

The Doctor frowned. He looked at Tara.

"My Star, do you wanna be eleven or twelve now?" he asked her.

"Um…twelve."

"She's twelve," the Doctor said to Jack.

"Figures she'd wanna make herself older when she got the chance. But I'll be there in a few minutes, just checking in and I'll tell everyone what's going on and let them know I'll be gone for the day. Oh…and should I bring some catmint with me?"

"N'yuk, n'yuk, just come over here when you're ready."

"On my way, talk to ya then."

Rain looked at him when he hung up.

"Jack's coming?"

"Yup, wants to come with us tomorrow."

"And is everyone else coming? Torchwood, I mean," Rose said.

"He didn't say. He's gonna talk to them before he leaves so maybe some of them will come with him."

They kept playing while they waited for Jack. After an hour, Alan paused the video game.

"How long did he say it'd take before he got here, Brother?" he asked the Doctor.

"He said he was coming in a few minutes but that was about an hour ago," he said, shrugging. "Said he needed to talk to the others."

"Where were the others? The North Pole…on Pluto?" Alan said.

"I haven't the foggiest."

"Hello?" they heard Jack yelling from the console room.

"Living room, Jack!" the Doctor yelled.

Jack came in a minute later with a backpack on his back and a paper bag in his arms.

"Sorry it took so long, no one else came with me but everyone sent gifts for the birthday girl so that's what the holdup was."

"Me? They got me presents?" Tara said.

"Presents and cards to celebrate your twelfth birthday," Jack said. "I also spoke to Sarah and she's coming tomorrow with the teens so she's gonna her use her manipulator to come here."

"Brilliant and tell everyone thanks for the gifts when you see them," the Doctor said while everyone nodded.

"No problem," Jack said, setting the backpack and bag on the floor. "Tara, do you wanna open them now?"

"No, I'll wait till Sarah Jane gets here," she said.

Jack nodded and walked over to the table.

"Who's winning?" he asked.

"The Doctor," Julie said.

"And Rainy's looooooooooosing!"

"No, Dork, I'm not."

Jack looked at Rain.

"He thinks you're gonna lose?"

She snorted.

"You have to ask that?" she said while Alan snickered.

Jack looked down when he felt someone tugging on his trouser leg and saw Dorothy and Tony.

"Hello," Dorothy said.

"Hi there, Mini-Munchkin," Jack said, bending down to them. "Are you two being good?"

"Yes," they said.

He gave them hugs and picked Tony up while he took Dorothy's hand. He walked over to Donna who was playing chess with Mingxia while Madison and Jenny watched.

"So, you came back?"

"Yeah, I missed everyone. Lee's a nice bloke but I missed being here with my family."

"Even though you immediately got kidnapped by the panther people?"

Donna chuckled.

"I kinda liked it. Bit of excitement, why I love travelin' with him."

"Yup, same here."

He smiled at Tara when she walked up beside him.

"And you had your first taste of excitement with the Doctor."

"Yup, I helped Daddy escape."

"Yes, she did," the Doctor said, looking over his shoulder at her.

"Well, you'll fit right in here. We've all helped the poor sap escape death at one time or another. If it wasn't for us, he'd have run out of lives long ago," Jack said while the Doctor snorted.

"What do you mean?" Tara asked.

"I see you didn't tell her about regeneration," Jack said to the Doctor.

"I was getting to it. I wanted to tell her things in small portions so she wouldn't be overwhelmed by everything," he said.

"Allow me," Jack said.

He explained the concept to her. When he finished, Tara wandered back over to him.

"You had ten different bodies?"

"Yup, this is number ten and when you die, you'll get a brand new body as well. Twelve of them in all."

"Do you look the same when you do it?"

"Nope, I looked totally different in my other lives."

"Then how will I know who you are?"

He grinned.

"Time Lords don't rely on appearances. We use minds to tell one another apart which is why we can feel one another. Your mind won't change, my Star, I'll still be able to tell it's you even if you don't look the same."

Rose tapped her on the shoulder and showed her a picture of the ninth Doctor.

"This is what he looked like in his last life, Sweetie. It's what he looked like when I first met him."

Tara studied the picture and looked at the Doctor.

"You're older."

"Yup, I was slightly older than I am now."

"So, you can be different ages?"

"Mm-hmm, lots of different ages, races, hair colors…except I wanna be ginger and I can't get myself to be ginger, blast it all. But yes, you could potentially be any race, species and gender you want."

"So you could be a girl if you want?" Tara said.

"I could, but I don't think your mum would fancy that," he said with a wink. "Might be a bit strange if I suddenly changed sexes on her."

"What else have you looked like?"

"Like a clown!" Awinita said.

"Oi!" he said while they laughed.

"Like an old geezer," Madison added.

"Like Moe from The Three Stooges," Awinita added.

"I did not look like Moe from The Three Stooges," he said while they laughed. "Ignore these daft people, Tara; they don't know what they're talking about."

"Do you have any other pictures of you?" Tara said, handing the photo back to Rose.

"Um…hold on a tic, I'll be right back," he said.

He walked out of the room and came back with some of the photos and drawings Jasper's spies had taken. He handed them to her.

"There ya go. And I arranged them in order. Top one is my first life and the bottom is me now."

Tara sat on his lap and looked at them while Julie wandered over and looked over his shoulder. She went through the photos and stared at them.

"Some of these pictures look old, Daddy," she said to him.

"Some of them are. A few of them were taken back in the 1800's, I think."

"People take your picture back then?"

"Oh yeah," he said.

"And they've drawn him and painted him and chiseled him," Jack said. "We oughta go back down to Sarasota and show her and Julie that tablet and painting that's in that guy's art collection."

"What ya mean?" Tara asked.

"Oh, this guy has an art museum back in southern Florida and he's got two items in his collection that have your dad in them," Rose said.

Tara looked at him.

"Really?"

"Really! I was in this stone tablet with Donna and this TARDIS and then there was a painting of me standing on a hill while I watched a fox hunt."

"And gee, we're going to another museum tomorrow. Wonder if we'll find more things with him in it?" Rain said.

"Well, he promised to take us back to the British Museum so you can go see my Fortuna statue there," Rose said.

"You're in paintings and things, Papaw?" Opal said, coming up behind him.

"Yup, I s'pose I am," he said.

"Actually, I can show you a couple of photos I know of," Rose said. "Bloke named Clive has a website about him and he collected photos and drawings from different places because he was curious about the Doctor. We can use the computer over there and I'll look up the site for ya."

"Actually, I have a laptop," Julie said. "You can use that if you want and that way you don't have to move from your spot. I'll be right back."

She ran out and came back ten minutes later with the laptop. Rose thanked her, opened it up and found the website while everyone gathered around it. She pointed to a photo of the ninth Doctor under HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?

"This is part of a larger photo," Rose said. "And I'll show you where he's at."

She found the photo and pointed to him standing in a crowd.

"Look at what he's watching," she said, pointing to the bottom of the photo.

Julie's eyes bulged when she saw President Kennedy and Jackie Kennedy riding in a car.

"You saw JFK assassinated?"

"Yup, it was very sad," the Doctor said.

She clicked on the photo of him standing with the family beside the Titanic and clicked on the drawing of him at Krakatoa.

"This is what we mean when we say he appears in drawings and old photos and things. Actually, I've never looked at the other photos because I was only interested in the life I knew but let's see what else Clive found.

She went to the beginning of the thumbnails and clicked on one while the Doctor got up and joined the others. The photo showed the fifth Doctor on a terrace at a table with two women. They were smiling and holding wine glasses aloft.

"My fifth life with Tegan and Nyssa. I believe we were in Rome having dinner when a man snapped our photo," the Doctor said.

She clicked on the one after that and they saw the second Doctor standing sideways to the camera. He was pointing to something on fire in the distance while several people stood with him, their faces frozen in horror.

"Second life with Jamie and Zoë, they're standing behind me. That is the Hindenburg disaster. The thing on fire is the remains of the Hindenburg. Someone must have been taking a picture and got me, Jamie and Zoë in the shot with it."

Rose clicked on the next thumbnail. They stared at the drawing of the tenth Doctor. It was a drawing of him and Rain from the chest up. They were both smiling.

"When was this?" Jack asked.

"No idea, I don't think it's happened yet," the Doctor said, fascinated. "Nice drawing though. See, Love, we have this to look forward to apparently."

Rose clicked on the next thumbnail. It was a photo of several Native American men dressed in plains tribes regalia. Four of the older men were standing up and three older men were sitting. Beside the three that were sitting, Rain was sitting with them in a buckskin dress and sitting beside her, sticking out like a sore thumb was the tenth Doctor in his suit, grinning from ear to ear.

"What the hell?" Awinita said while they laughed. "Go visit some Indian tribes, did ya?"

"Wow, Dear, you just stand out more than usual," Rain said while they laughed. "Especially since everyone's in native dress including me. What, you didn't wanna wear buckskins and feathers for the photo?"

"How should I know? We haven't done this either. Maybe they didn't have something in my size."

"I'd believe it, as thin as you are," Donna muttered.

The Doctor eyed her while they giggled. Rose clicked on the next thumbnail and their eyes bulged out when they saw the eleventh Doctor. He was standing on a porch beside a coffin. The coffin was up on its end and the lid was off. They stared at the dead man lying inside it.

"Someone you killed?" Awinita said.

"I hope not, according to the caption below the picture, I'm standing beside Jesse James," the Doctor said.

"That's you? You didn't have a photo of this body," Julie said.

"That's because this is the body that's coming after this one."

Julie's mouth dropped open.

"This is you when you regenerate? This kid?"

They laughed when the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Yes, I apparently grow younger," he said.

Rose clicked on the next photo and saw his eleventh self and Alan. They were holding bows and arrows and had one foot each on a large dead bison that was lying somewhere out on the plains surrounded by other dead bison. Both of them had proud smiles on their faces.

"You mean to tell me you and Alan killed that buffalo with bows and arrows," Awinita said.

"Apparently so. Isn't that brilliant, Brother? We bag a buffalo sometime in the future."

"Go us!" Alan said.

"Somehow I don't believe you killed it. I'm betting someone else killed it and you two just ran over and put your feet on it while you begged the person to take the picture," Awinita said.

"I'm an expert with a bow and arrow," the Doctor said.

"Yeah and I'm a clone of the expert with the bow and arrow," Alan added.

They snorted while Rose clicked on the next thumbnail. It was the eleventh Doctor in a tintype photo from the 1800's. He was standing with Rain and Jenny beside him. Sitting in front of them was a blonde haired woman, an Indian woman and an Asian woman. The Doctor frowned while he stared at the three people in front. He stared at the Indian woman, then his eyes drifted over to his daughter standing beside him and he looked back at the twenty year old Indian woman in the picture.

"Tara, I think this is you," he said, pointing to the picture.

"Huh? That's not me, I'm not that old."

"Yes, but Love, you will be. Jenny had a premonition where she saw this version of me and according to what I told her, I won't regenerate for a couple of centuries and by that time you're gonna be an adult Time Lady. This is you and I'm betting the blonde is Dot and… I have no idea who the Asian woman is."

"Another adopted child?" Jack said.

He shrugged.

"Might be since this seems to be a family photo."

"Spoilers?" Donna teased.

"Eh, I've already been spoiled since I saw what I'm gonna look like in my next life. Might as well look ahead and see what my family will look like two hundred years or more from now. And judging from the way you look, Tara and Dot, you will both become beautiful Time Ladies."

"I'm gonna be two hundred here?" Tara said, pointing to her adult self.

"Maybe, when Jenny saw me in her vision, I'd been in this body three hundred years so you could be five hundred years or even older. Don't feel bad, my Star, I'm twelve hundred and five now so here I might be over seventeen hundred years old."

He gave her a sideways hug when her eyes nearly popped out of her head.

"You'll understand completely in time, I promise. But it's nice to know you, Jenny, Dot and Rain are all still on your first life when this was taken."

"Yeah, cause I go first remember?" Awinita said.

"Hmm, then I wonder if there is a photo of you with your next body then so we can get a sneak peek at that," he said, winking at her.

Rose clicked off the photo and was going to click on the next thumbnail when she noticed a link to videos up in the right hand corner. She clicked on that and noticed one video for downloading. She clicked on it and after it downloaded, she clicked on the full screen and they watched. It was a video of the eleventh Doctor and Rain. They were sitting together at a table in what appeared to be a reception hall. In the background at another table, they could see Jackie, Wilf, John, Tim and Pete talking and laughing while they ate.

"And here they are, the happy couple," they heard Jack say while he filmed. "Happy anniversary!"

The Doctor and Rain glanced at each other.

"Okay, this is freaky," she said while they laughed. "I'm watching an anniversary video that's not been filmed yet."

"Wibbly wobbly, my dear. Wibbly, wobbly," the Doctor said, waggling his eyebrows.

They turned their attention back to the video. Both of them raised wine glasses and drank them while they stared into each other's eyes.

"Okay, okay, we gotta get the whole family in here," Jack said while they saw his hand waving in front of the camera. "Dorothy, Jenny, Tara, Emi and also Amelia and Opal. Gotta get the kids and grandkids in the shot."

"Yeah," the eleventh Doctor said. "Come here so we can look the way we did when my tenth self saw this video."

Everyone watching the video laughed.

"Which is right here, right now!" the tenth Doctor said.

They watched while several people came in from both sides and clustered around him. Once they were in place, Rose paused the video and they stared at them.

"Okay…there's Jenny, Dot, Tara…that must be Emi then," the Doctor said, pointing to the Asian woman behind Rain, "and the two behind me must be Amelia and Opal."

Both children leaned their heads in over the Doctor's shoulders and stared at themselves. Their hair was down their backs and they were smiling warmly while they rested their hands on the Doctor's shoulders.

"Which one is which?" Amelia said, shaking her head.

"Don't ask me, I haven't seen you as adults yet," the Doctor said.

Rose resumed the video and they watched while everyone smiled and waved at the camera.

"How's it feel knowing your parents and grandparents have been married for five hundred and twenty years?" Jack asked.

"Five hundred and twenty?" Tara said while they laughed.

"Blimey, Rain, we are old," the Doctor said.

"I remember when I couldn't believe they were this old and now they are," Tara said in the video.

Everyone laughed when twelve year old Tara's mouth dropped open.

"Hey, you just referenced yourself, my Star," the Doctor said to her.

"I…this is weird," Tara said while they laughed harder. "Where are we, Daddy?"

"I have no idea, Tara," the Doctor said. "A big reception hall somewhere at sometime…I'm assuming in the past on Earth since Clive couldn't have gotten this from the future or from another planet."

The camera panned over to the next table and they saw Alan and Rose sitting with several people.

"Hurray, I look the same five hundred and twenty years from now," Rose said.

"So do I. But who are all these people with us?" Alan said, pointing to the two men, two women and an alien woman with lavender skin and white hair. "That woman's species is Ulu, friend perhaps?"

"And here we have Alan with Rose, Tony and all their children," Jack was saying.

Their mouths dropped open.

"Our children? Everyone? Even the Ulu?" Alan said.

Rose paused it. There were two women with long brown hair, a Caucasian man with short brown hair that resembled Pete, a young Middle Eastern man with short black hair and dark eyes and the Ulu woman.

"That's Tony, gotta be," Rose said, pointing to the Caucasian man. "But…the rest of these people are our kids? When do we get them?"

"What are their names so we can look for them in our travels?" Alan said. "Turn it back on; I wanna see if Jack mentions their names."

She resumed the video.

"And over here…" Jack said, moving away.

"Bugger! Jack, you git, make a note to name these people with us when you do this!" Alan said to him while they laughed.

He stopped at the next table and they saw Donna sitting with Gwen and a young woman with blonde hair in a shoulder length bob. They laughed when Rose paused the video and the Doctor pointed to Lee and Rhys sitting beside Donna and Gwen.

"Apparently the badgering will work," the Doctor said to Jack and Donna.

"Yeah, but who are these two?" Jenny said, pointing to the blonde woman and an older man with sandy blonde hair sitting beside her.

Rose resumed the video.

"And here are some more happily married couples," Jack said.

"Oooooooh…" they said, looking at Donna who was pumping her fist in the air.

"Yeah, but who is that?" Awinita said pointing to a blonde haired woman. "Is it one of us or someone we haven't met yet?"

"Where's your husband then if this is the married couples table?" the woman asked Jack.

"I'm getting to him, Awinita, hold your horses," Jack replied.

Their eyes bulged and Rose paused the video again.

"I'm blonde?" Awinita said while they laughed. "I turn into a blonde, white woman?"

"Apparently so, but you are lovely as ever," the Doctor said.

"Okay, Jack, who the hell is he?" she said, pointing to the man.

"Apparently, he's your husband if that's the married couples table," Jack said, shrugging.

"You better say his name then," Awinita said.

They resumed the video and Jack panned off them while the people watching groaned.

"You douche!" Awinita said to Jack while they laughed.

He panned over to Ianto sitting at a table with Mickey, Martha, a young five year old black girl and a teenaged Caucasian boy with tousled brown hair and a slight mustache.

"Okay, since Awinita griped, I'm now filming the other married couples table with the love of my life, Ianto, and Mickey and Martha."

Everyone laughed when Jack jabbed his finger at Mickey and Martha.

"Aha! So they do fall in love!" Jack yelled.

"And with them is their lovely daughter and our wonderful son," Jack said while he filmed.

"Son? We have a son?" Jack said while they laughed.

"Wow, this is fascinating!" Alan said. "Not only do we see what this batch of children is gonna look like all grown up, we get to see the next batch as well."

"Okay, so far the Doctor and Rain get another daughter somewhere down the line, Alan and Rose get several kids, Mickey and Martha get a daughter and we get a son," Jack said.

The camera panned to the next table and they saw Madison, Julie, Mingxia and to their shock, Sarah Jane sitting next to Luke, Rani and Clyde.

"I better give Sarah four crystals then when we see her," the Doctor said while they laughed. "Blimey, anyone else in this family? No wonder we need a big reception hall, we certainly fill it."

"And some more of our large and loving family," Jack said behind the camera. "Wave for the camera everyone!"

All of them waved for the camera and Jack panned over. Their eyes widened when they saw five men and woman sitting together. The three men and two women waved before Jack panned away.

"Who was that?" Awinita said.

"Family, friends, some people we're gonna meet," the Doctor said, shrugging.

Jack panned to the next table and they saw Patience sitting with a man with ginger hair and a slight beard. They had their arms around each other and smiled for the camera.

"Patience and…Dex in a future life?" the Doctor said, shrugging. "Unless Patience decides to divorce him and marry someone else."

The camera panned over and they saw Francine and Tish sitting with a young black man with a bald head and a black boy and girl that was around eight or nine.

"Wave for the camera!" Jack said to them.

"Yeah and then tell us your names and how you're related to us," Alan said while he watched them wave. "Gah, this is frustrating. Who are these people? Is this Tish's husband, her kids, Francine's kids, what?"

They groaned when the camera panned over to Wilf, John, Tim, Pete and Jackie who also waved. Behind them they could see River, Anita and Jennifer who were also waving for the camera.

"And that's it," Jack said. "Our family…or the ones who could make it here anyway."

"There's more?" Alan said while the others laughed. "Blimey, I'm wondering if we have enough to settle a small country when it's all said and done. I just wish Jack had been kind enough to tell us who everyone was as he was filming."

"Yeah, I wanna know who my husband is," Awinita said.

"I wanna know who our kids are," Rose said.

"Sorry, guys, I guess I didn't think it was important to name everyone," Jack said.

"Wasn't important? We're watching this now and we knew we watched this video and you're here now watching it with us so why didn't you tell us who these strangers were while you were filmin' it?" Donna said.

"I don't know, Noble, maybe there was a reason why I didn't say and we haven't found out the reason yet," Jack said. "I haven't done this yet so I can't tell you. I guess you'll find out in five hundred and twenty years."

The Doctor tapped his chin when the video ended.

"Five hundred and twenty…" he muttered. "So…my eleventh self said I wouldn't regenerate for another couple of centuries and when you saw him in the vision he'd been in exile for three hundred years which means conceivably this could have come after I was captured by the Valeyard. So I could still be banished and be around for this after being rescued. Well, at least it won't be a thousand years of exile if I'm here for this."

"Huh?" Tara said.

"Yeah, what do you mean banished?" Opal said to him. "Where are you going?"

"It's a long story that may or may not happen, kids," the Doctor said. "And since I really don't wanna explain it right now, perhaps we better not look at any more of this website. We've seen enough spoilers now to keep us wondering about the future and I don't want to accidentally muck things up and prevent this lovely anniversary from happening. So just put it away, Rose."

She nodded and clicked off the site before she gave the laptop back to Julie.

"An Ulu child, that'll be interesting," Alan said to the Doctor. "Especially since they can change colors like chameleons."

"Yup, that'll come in handy on our travels," the Doctor replied. "I'm just happy you lot get children of your own so I can have more nieces and nephews."

"So do I. I can't wait to meet them but you're right, I don't wanna muck things up either so best not to look at any more spoilers."

He bent down to the children.

"You all are lovely though, you grow up to be beautiful children just like we figured you would," he said with a wink before he walked back over to the sofa with Awinita to resume their game.


	200. Chapter 200

Chapter Two Hundred

All of them went back to what they were doing while Jack sat down beside Alan and watched them playing Genghis Kahn. All of the children except Tara went to Amelia and Opal's room to play. Tara stayed with the Doctor and sat on his lap while they finished their game. While she watched, Tara's thoughts drifted back to the video and photos and what she was gonna look like and what the Doctor would look like. She was still a bit confused about the regeneration and sad that her father would die and become a different person. She began to wonder if he'd love her when he was different and if she'd love him just as much as she did now and if it would hurt when he died and when she died. She was so focused on her thoughts that she didn't realize at first that the Doctor was calling her name telepathically over and over.

_Huh?_ She finally thought.

_Well, there you are, finally I got your attention,_ he thought to her. _What's wrong? You're very sad. I blocked our minds so no one else will hear you. So you can tell me. Did the photos and video upset you?_

_Yes._

_Why? _

_Because you're gonna be different someday._

_Yes, different in body and perhaps in personality but not in mind. _

_Will you love me when you change?_

He chuckled in her mind.

_Yes, my Star, I won't stop loving you when I change. You saw us, we were all standing there together and you were right beside me so I apparently don't stop lovin' ya. I know you haven't had love like this in your life but you don't have to worry. I promise I will always love you the way I love you now. You and everyone else here and in future when we meet them._

_I don't want you to die. I like you this way._

_Well, I like me this way too but eventually I will have to change and so will you. Like I said, you'll understand when you reach twenty and have the full knowledge of the Time Lords. And if you're worried about the exile we mentioned, don't. We're taking steps now to prevent that and if it does happen, you'll have a ton of people here who'll keep ya company until I find a way back._

_Does it hurt to die?_

_Nah, not really. Love, this won't happen for a long time and for you, regeneration won't happen for five hundred and twenty years or more. Please don't worry about this. Just let whatever happens, happen and enjoy the here and now. I'm here, I'm not going anywhere and I love you and you'll get to enjoy this gorgeous body for two hundred years at least. So will you cheer up and be happy now?_

_Yes. _

_Good, now I'm dropping the privacy block and you just relax and watch your dad win this game and then get to gloat like your uncle Alan did._

She giggled and he kissed her cheek before he dropped the privacy block.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Ha! I won!" the Doctor said when the others finally went bankrupt.

They looked at him and he shrugged.

"There, my gloating has ceased and I'll be silent now," he said while they laughed.

He looked at Tara on his lap.

"However, young lady, I need ya to move because your dad has to go to the loo. So if you don't mind…"

She got up and he rubbed her back before he put his hands in his pockets and walked out of the room.

"Another game?" Rose asked.

"And watch him win again?" Rain said. "Nah, let's find something else. I think I saw more games in one of his closets. Let's see what else he has."

The three women got up and left while Tara watched them. She wandered over to Jenny's side and stood with her while Mingxia and Donna finished their game. Madison caught her eye, smiled and winked at her. Tara smiled back and glanced at Jenny who was studying the chess board.

_Um…can I talk to you privately for a moment?_ She thought to Jenny.

She felt her mind being blocked.

_Sure, what do you wanna talk about?_ Jenny thought.

_Um, you're Daddy's other daughter, I mean besides me and Dot, right?_

_Yup, I am._

_Well, you're kinda older than I am and I was just wondering if you liked me because I'm a kid and you're not._

Jenny gave her a shocked look.

_Yes, I like you. You're sweet,_ she thought to Tara.

_I was just wondering. I mean, you're older than I am and I'm just a kid…_

_And you're my new sister and I love you,_ Jenny thought. _Are you scared I won't love you?_

_Yeah, I mean, I'm sorry…I'm not used to being around others and having them love me._

Jenny smiled and put her arm around her side.

_I know you're not. I was the same way. Dad didn't like me when I was first created and was kinda a…jerk towards me. But he grew to love me and now we're close as a father and daughter can be. I wasn't created to love or be loved, Tara. I was created to be a soldier and fight wars so all this was new to me as well. But I do want ya for a sister and I hope you want me._

_I do. I want to have a family. _

_Well, you do now. You have me and Dot and Mum and Dad and then there's the rest of the family, _she thought_. And we all love ya. And I don't care if you're half my age, so what? We can still have fun and be friends, right?_

_Right. _

Jenny hugged her tightly.

_I love ya, Tara._

_I love you too, Jenny._

_Is that what you wanted to speak to me about?_

_Yeah, just wanted to know if you wanted to do sister things sometime?_

_We can. Sure, we can. Don't worry about all of this. You've only known us for two days, it'll take time to bond with everyone but we do want you with us._

_Thank you._

She gave her another hug and then dropped the block.

"Man, oh man, Awinita, you're getting pummeled."

Tara and Jenny looked at Jack. Alan was snickering and Awinita was rolling her eyes. Tara glanced at Jenny and she took her hand while they walked over.

"Pummeled in what way?" Jenny asked, coming up to the sofa.

"I nearly have the entire world conquered. Or well, the entire world that was known during Genghis' time," Alan said. "I started out from Britain and now all of Europe and Russia is mine and I'm going down into the Middle East while Awinita is still trying to conquer China where she started out at. Once again I'm changing history and making Great Britain the master of the world."

"D'ya need help fighting him?" Jenny asked Awinita. "Soldier knowledge, ya know."

"Would you?" Awinita said.

"Oh no, we're not getting outside help from anyone! You are on your own, Harris."

"Speak for yourself, Bro. Yes, Jenny, help me! I'm getting trashed here."

They scooted over and let Jenny sit down while Tara sat on the armrest.

"What do you have to do?" Jenny asked her.

"Well, when it's your turn you can do four things out of a number of different options. You can train your troops, hire more, buy them weapons, move the troops, feed your villages or give them gifts of money and grain, make war, balance your budget, make decrees, have sex with your wife and make children..."

"Seriously?" Jenny said, grinning. "That's an option?"

"Yes and when you give birth, you get to name them which Alan loves and then when they reach their teen years you can marry them to your generals to ensure their loyalty to you since some generals and troops will sometimes betray you and switch sides."

"Which is why I've married off my daughters, Buttsnot and Pooptoes, to my most brilliant generals so they won't defect," Alan said.

"Buttsnot and Pooptoes?" Jenny said.

"Yeah, see, he's one of those people that love to use the naming option on video games to give people weird and vulgar names."

"And you don't, woman who named her son Bunghole?" Alan said while Jack laughed.

Awinita blushed while the Doctor came into the room at that moment and froze.

"Who named their son, Bunghole?" he said.

"It's this Genghis Kahn video game, you can have virtual children and it allows you to name them. He named his daughters Buttsnot and Pooptoes and I named my son, Bunghole."

The Doctor gave her an odd look while Alan snickered.

"Okay, I won't ask any more questions. I'll just go past and pretend I didn't hear that," he said, hurrying back to the table.

He stopped when he noticed no one was at the table.

"I see my gaming partners have scarpered," he said.

"They went to find other games, Daddy," Tara said, walking over.

"Where?"

"Mommy said you had some in your closet."

"I do? They must have been poking around in the closets then because I don't remember having anything besides draughts and chess."

He began to put the board and pieces back in its box. Tara helped him and he smiled and ruffled her hair.

"No! This is not fair!"

The Doctor looked at Alan.

"What's not fair?"

"Jenny's helping Awinita win. Now they've conquered China and their heading towards me! I can't lose all the territories I've gained, I just can't!"

"Yeesh, what a sore loser," Madison said.

"Which is why I never play games with him," Donna said.

"Mingxia, you were with UNIT, help me since Jenny's helping Awinita!"

"I'm playing chess," Mingxia said, glancing back at him.

"You're always playing chess; we know how brilliant you are at it, now come and help me!"

"I don't wanna help you beat Awinita. You seem to be doing alright on your own. Winning isn't everything."

"It is to him," Donna muttered.

"Can I help it if I think like him?" Alan said, pointing to the Doctor. "He also hates to lose."

"Yup, I do, sorry. I'm afraid he inherited that trait from yours truly," the Doctor said, putting the lid back on the box. "Losing is bad."

He winked at Tara while he sat the box aside and sat back down.

"So, I hope you have fun tomorrow," the Doctor said, pulling her into her lap. "I think you'll like Chuck-E-Cheese. I thought most of it was pants but then again, I'm not a child and that's what it was designed for. But you already have presents there and I'm sure you'll get more prizes at Chuck-E-Cheese along with a trip to the zoo and museum and the beach so you can see how white I really am and Jack can make more ghost jokes."

Jack chuckled.

"Make more ghost jokes along with the brand new cat jokes I'm thinking up."

The Doctor looked at Tara.

"Laughing stock of the family, that's what I am. Punch line, me. But that's okay, I'm remembering every single joke at my expense and someday, someday soon, retribution will come, you just watch."

Jack snorted.

"Bring it on, Doc. I'm not scared of ya in the least."

"That's what they all say," the Doctor said to Tara. "Until I unleash my reign of terror upon them and then they learn too late how dangerous I really am."

He winked at her and whispered in her ear.

"And I know where the Tulok live so I can go back and get me fangs and claws back anytime I want."

She giggled and leaned into him while he rubbed her back and sent love into her mind.


	201. Chapter 201

Chapter Two Hundred and One

The next morning, the Doctor opened the front door of the TARDIS and he and Alan looked outside at Julie's apartment.

"It's still here and it's quiet, apparently World War Three passed us by," Alan said to the Doctor.

"Yes, her flat wasn't burgled and demolished, that's a very good sign."

They looked down when Dorothy came between them and stood there while she looked out.

"Greetings little adventurer, are you brave enough to go outside and see if the flat is stable?" Alan said.

Dorothy took two steps out and looked around.

"The floor didn't fall in and send her to her death, I guess the rumpus next door didn't bleed over into this flat," the Doctor said.

They stepped out and looked around.

"So, another day, another adventure," the Doctor said to him while he picked up Dorothy.

"Yup, back to Chuck-E-Cheese so we can be tormented by singing mice and dogs," Alan said. "And she and all the other children can enjoy it. I'll be in the people carrier pretending to be asleep."

"Heh, you honestly think Rose will let you get away with that?"

"Probably not, but it's worth a try. Maybe she'll take pity on me and leave me there."

"Somehow I doubt it, Brother," the Doctor said, reaching into his pocket for his mobile.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After calling Sarah Jane and letting her know they were ready to see her, she used the manipulator and brought herself, Luke, Clyde and Rani to the apartment. She gave them both hugs and hugged Dorothy.

"Good to see ya again," Sarah Jane said.

"And you. I have something for ya," he said.

He reached in and gave her four crystals.

"Four, why did you give me four?"

"Just in case you talk to Maria and she wants to do it," the Doctor said innocently. "That's the other friend, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah but I doubt her father would let her do it. Still, I'll keep it just in case."

"Can we change now, Mum?" Luke said.

The Doctor and Alan laughed at the shocked look on her face.

"Can I give them to you without you ripping them out of my hand?" she asked.

The teens laughed and nodded. She passed them out and they opened them up. The Doctor and Alan grinned when they felt them in their minds.

"There you go, now you're a Time Lord," Sarah Jane said to Luke when the light faded.

"Ace!" Clyde said. "'Cept I don't feel smarter."

"You won't get the full knowledge of the Time Lords until you're twenty," the Doctor said. "Which means you'll still have to go to school."

They laughed when the teens groaned.

"Always a catch," Clyde said.

Sarah Jane rolled her eyes.

"Teenagers, never happy about anything," she muttered to the Doctor while he chuckled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After meeting Tara, Sarah Jane gave her a card and she and the teens hugged her and welcomed her into the family. After that, they all went out of the apartment down to the cars. They piled into them and drove over to Chuck-E-Cheese. Once they were inside, the younger kids looked around them in awe while they headed up to the queue waiting to order their food.

"Wow," Opal said, looking at all the video games. "This is cool!"

"Yeah, can we play some of those, Mamaw?" she asked Rain.

"We will as soon as we get tokens for them," Rain said. "Now what kind of pizza do you want?"

"I want pepperoni," Amelia said.

"Me too."

"Two for pepperoni," the Doctor said.

"Dot probably wants pepperoni too," Madison said.

"And Tony," Rose said, looking behind her.

"What about you, my Star? What do you like?" the Doctor said while she held his hand.

"Um, I just like any kind of pizza. I didn't get very much but I liked it."

The Doctor suppressed the rage he felt at hearing that and smiled.

"Well, we can get a couple of pepperoni and a meat lovers and combination. That oughta take care of everyone."

"And cheese sticks, must have gooey cheesy goodness."

"And the flippin' cheese sticks for Alan," Rose said while he snickered.

While Alan and Rose got in the queue, the rest of them went to find seats in the other room. They walked into the dimly lit room. The curtain was closed so they made their way up to a table near the center stage and sat down. They let the kids sit at the end nearest the stage while they sat down behind them. Madison noticed Dorothy and Tony didn't quite reach the table and went to get plastic booster seats for them from a rack near the door. While she did that, the younger kids looked around at the other tables.

"Is that where the singing mouse is?" Tara asked the Doctor while she pointed to the curtain.

"Yup, in a few minutes the curtain will rise and the robots will sing," he said.

He took a booster seat from Madison and helped Dorothy sit down in it while she put Tony in the other one.

"Daddy, what ya doin'?" Dorothy said while he made her stand and put it under her.

"I'm raising ya up so you can reach the table. You and Tony are just teeny tiny totty tots and you need a bit of a boost so you can eat your pizza."

She sat back down and he kissed her cheek before he sat down beside Tara. While they talked, Alan and Rose came back inside, sat the piece of plastic with the number down in front of them and sat down across from Donna and Mingxia at the end of the table. They talked quietly while they listened for their number to be called.

While they were talking, the Doctor noticed a young five year old boy walk up to the stage. He was Caucasian with brown hair cut in a tiny Mohawk and had on a red shirt, blue jeans and white Air Jordans. He and the children watched while the child walked up to the curtain, lifted it up and looked under it.

"Michael, get back here now!" his mother said from two tables over.

They watched while Michael climbed up on the stage under the curtain.

"Oh for heaven's sake, get back over here!" his mother growled as she stomped over to him.

She jerked the curtain up, pulled him back up and the Doctor flinched when she spanked him hard three times on the bottom before she pulled her crying son back to the table. He felt Alan throw up a privacy block.

_I know the child needs to behave his mum, but he was just being curious. Did she have to spank his ass for that?_ He thought to him.

_And spank it that hard?_ The Doctor thought back_. Makes me wonder how hard and how long she would have spanked if there hadn't been witnesses. Why people think that corrects children is beyond me. All it does is make the child hate and fear the parent and grow up resentful of them. I've never spanked any of our children and they're not running through the restaurant being hellions. But then again, some people seem to enjoy being feared rather than loved._

They heard their number being called and all the adults and the teens got up.

"Tara, I'll be back. There's a lot of food and they don't bring it out to ya. You have to get it yourself so that's where we're going."

"Do you need help?" Tara said.

"Yeah, we can help too," Amelia said.

"Nah, you sit and relax. We've got enough adults. Just mind the toddlers for us."

They nodded and watched while they all walked into the other room. While they did, Michael came back over to their table and stared at them.

"Hi," Opal said.

"Hello," Michael said, waving.

"We're having a birthday party. Tara's twelve now," Amelia said, pointing to her.

"Hi!" Michael said.

"Michael Jonathan Grant, get over here now!" his mother growled at him from her table.

"You better go back over there before you get another whippin'," Amelia said to him.

Michael sighed and walked away.

"How many times do I have to tell you to keep your ass in that seat?" his mother said when he walked back over.

"What a jerk," Tara said to Amelia and Opal. "He was just over here saying hello."

"I guess she doesn't want him over here saying hello," Amelia replied.

The lights dimmed and the curtains pulled back. All the children's attention was focused on the show as it started. Tara felt someone come up behind her and saw Alan setting a pitcher of Coke and Mountain Dew down beside her.

"Um…Alan?" she said.

"Hmmm?" he said, smiling at her.

"Just making sure that was you," Tara whispered.

"Yup, it's little old t-shirted me," he whispered. "Rose is behind me with the cups so ask her to get you something to drink. I gotta go get the plates now."

He tousled her hair and walked back out while Rose came up holding several plastic cups that were stacked on top of one another. She sat them down and separated them.

"Hey, Sweetie, Coke or Mountain Dew?" she whispered.

"Coke," she whispered back. "That boy was here again."

"What boy? The one who tried to get on the stage?"

She nodded.

"He was over here saying hello and his mother yelled at him to go back."

"Yeah, well I understand the mother being concerned about his safely but the spanking went a bit too far if ya ask me," she muttered, handing her a glass.

While she asked the other kids what they wanted, Alan came back with the plates and the Doctor and Rain came back with two of the pizzas. Alan passed the plates to the children and after asking if they wanted pepperoni or combination, he passed them out while the others came back in with the cutlery, the other pizzas, two plates of cheese sticks and several small bags containing tokens. Luke passed the bags out to the children and pocketed his own bag while he took some pizza. Tara, Opal and Amelia stared at the bags.

"What's this, Daddy?" Tara said.

"Tokens to play the games out there when you get done eating," he whispered back.

Tara nodded and he ruffled her hair before he took a couple of slices of pepperoni and sat back down beside her. He sipped his Coke and talked softly to the adults while the children and teens ate and watched the show. He glanced back over and smiled when he heard the younger children giggling at a joke Chuck-E-Cheese told and turned his attention back to the other adults.

"Michael, get back to your seat!"

The Doctor turned his head back and noticed Michael was standing at the head of their table while Amelia tried to get him to go back.

"Michael, you're gonna get a whippin', go!" Amelia said in a loud whisper.

Alan stared at Michael and looked over at his mother who was chatting on her cell phone, completely oblivious that he wandered off again. He got up and walked over to him.

"Hullo, would you like a piece of pizza, is that why you're over here?" he whispered to him.

He nodded and Alan got him a piece of pepperoni.

"There ya go, now run back to your mum fast as ya can," he said.

Michael ran back to his table, eating his pizza while Alan went and sat back down.

"See, I can fulfill a child's needs without spankin' the living daylights outta him," he said.

"Where did you get that?"

They all looked over when they heard Michael's mother yell at him and they saw him pointing their way. The mother sighed and seized his hand, pulling him back over to their table.

"I'm sorry, he must have taken some of your pizza," she said.

"No, I gave him some when he came over here, if you'd been busy paying attention instead of talking on your mobile you would have seen that," Alan said angrily. "Now leave the boy alone and let him eat his bloody slice of pizza in peace."

She stared at him in shock and then noticed the angry looks of all the adults. Snorting, she pulled Michael back over to their table.

"Is it me or does anything else here think Earthlings should have some sort of test administered to them before they can become parents?" Alan muttered, rolling his eyes.

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After the show ended, the children turned their attention back on the food and ate while the adults talked. Suddenly, two staff members wheeled up the trolley to their table.

"Whose birthday is it?" a lady said.

They pointed at Tara.

"What's your name?" the lady said.

"Tara."

"Happy birthday, Tara. How old are you?"

"Twelve."

They smiled when the woman and the man who was helping her sang happy birthday to her before they passed her a slice of pepperoni pizza and her gifts. Tara thanked them and they walked away.

"Happy birthday, Honey," Rain said.

"Thank you. Um…but I'm kinda full. I don't really think I can eat another pizza."

Alan stood up, walked over and put his cheek against hers.

"Hi, I'm a very hungry Time Lord who loooooooves pizza, may I relieve you of that greasy burden on your plate?"

She giggled.

"Okay."

"Excellentemundo, goody goody, say bye bye to the slice because it's about to meet Mister Gastric Juices inside me."

They laughed when he took the pizza away and went back to his seat. She stared up at the balloon attached to the tiny lunch box.

"Says Happy Birthday," the Doctor said pointing to the writing. "And underneath Chuck-E-Cheese it says, from Chuck-E-Cheese."

Tara grabbed the string, pulled the balloon down and stared at it while Opal examined the lunch box.

"What's this do?" Opal said.

"It's a tiny lunch pail. Um…I s'pose you could use it but it's not that big, you'd have to pack a very teeny lunch in it," the Doctor said.

Amelia looked at the red bag and opened it.

"You got more tokens now," she said, pulling one out.

"Ask your daddy to teach you skeeball," Rain said to Tara. "And let him play a few rounds so he can win you some tickets for prizes up front."

"Yeah, I could win you a ukulele. That's what I won when your mum and I went to another one," the Doctor said.

"I won a Chuck-E-Cheese beach ball and a doll," Alan said. "I'm super-dee-dooper at skeeball too. I won lots of things."

"But you sucked at air hockey," Awinita said.

"I won't fail this time. You just watch, I'll win!"

"Sure ya will, Timelord," Awinita said, snorting.

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After they ate, they went back out to the games section. The teens played some of the video games and Madison and Rose took Dorothy and Tony to play in the ball cage. Amelia, Opal and Tara followed the Doctor, Rain and Alan to the skeeball section. The Doctor showed them what to do and played a round, getting a perfect score along with Alan who had his own tokens. Alan continued to play while the Doctor and Rain watched the children and coached them on what to do. He smiled when they did well and won several tickets.

"Brilliant, do you want to play a bit longer or do something else?" he said to them when they finished.

Tara looked at her seven red tickets.

"What do we do with them?"

"There's a place near the front door where you can exchange these for prizes," he said.

"Will I get a lot with this?"

"Not very much."

"I wanna play more then."

"Me too," Opal said.

"Yeah, I wanna win something big."

The Doctor nodded and watched while they played a second round.

"Of course your brother is behind me bowling perfect games," Rain said, hooking her thumb back at him.

"I'm brilliant, naturally," he said, rolling a ball. "I have my Time Lord mind and I can calculate the distance and speed I need to keep winning."

"I can do that too so big deal," Rain said.

"Then why aren't you doing it?"

"Because I'm not interested in playing skeeball like you are," she said.

"No, you're afraid I'll make you look bad."

"Bro, you make me look bad just standing by my side."

She gasped when Alan took a wooden ball and bopped her on the head.

"Checking for wood beneath that hair," he said, rolling it, while the children giggled.

"See, kids, he's as much a kid as you are," she said to them.

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After playing four games, the Doctor played two more rounds for each child so they could get more tickets and then they decided to go up to the front with their tickets while Alan continued to play. The Doctor and Rain passed by Rose and Madison who were standing outside the ball cage watching Dorothy and Tony run around in them, giggling while they fell in the balls and threw them in the air. They went past the teens who were playing the video games and Julie and Awinita who were playing the air hockey game while the rest of the family watched them. They went up to the glass counter and gave the woman their tickets one at a time. Amelia chose a small plastic purse and a whistle, Opal got a Frisbee, kazoo and plastic pink ring and Tara chose the purse, a small Chuck-E-Cheese stuffed animal and a purple ring. Once they were done, they walked around with the Doctor and Rain looking at everything. They passed by a small enclosed booth with a curtain over it. Amelia walked over and looked in.

"It's a tiny cinema according to the writing on the outside," the Doctor said. "Wanna watch the show?"

They nodded and the children squeezed inside it and sat down on the wooden seat while the Doctor put a token in the slot. He pulled back the curtain slightly and he and Rain watched a cartoon with them.

"I've never seen this before," the Doctor said to Rain while they watched cartoon flowers dancing in a garden.

"Me neither. I have a feeling not many people have. Probably one of those obscure cartoons you can get on crappy DVD collections at Wal-Mart for two dollars," she said.

The curtain moved and Alan peeked inside.

"What's this?" he said.

"Some crappy cartoon about dancing flowers," Rain said.

Alan raised his eyebrow while he watched a violent rainstorm threatening the flowers.

"Uh-huh…" he said while they laughed. "I'm guessing not many people have seen this cartoon or would be interested in it unless they were Dot's age."

"I know, this is boring," Tara said.

"You wanna stop watching it?" the Doctor said.

They nodded and everyone stepped back to let them out. The children stared at the pile of tickets in Alan's hands.

"Wow, you won all those?" Amelia said.

"Yeah and I mugged a few other kids and got the rest," he said, winking. "Come with me though and I will get you something and then win something for Dot and Tony."

They followed him back to the booth where he turned in his tickets and let the children pick out more things. Amelia and Tara got large Chuck-E-Cheese dolls while Opal got a snare drum. Alan picked out a kazoo with the remainder and they walked away.

"See, I told ya to let the Doctor or Alan play skeeball for you," Rain said to them.

They passed by Awinita at the air hockey table.

"Excuse me, my Dears, I must make Awinita eat her words before going back to the skeeball section," he said.

He walked over to the table while they walked on. Jack noticed them and came up behind them.

"You won some things I see," he said to them.

"We won a lot and Alan won us the big things," Opal said.

"Well, that was nice of him. I'll have to try that and see what I can win," he said.

They passed by a doorway leading to a dark room. They paused at it and went inside. Inside were several designs and paintings done in day-glo paint and lit by a black light. The paintings glowed while they looked at them.

"Interesting. Don't remember this in the one we went to, do you?" the Doctor asked Rain.

"No, I don't. I guess it's just for show since I don't see anything in here except the painted walls."

"Mamaw, look at your shirt," Opal said.

She looked at her white t-shirt and noticed it was glowing.

"Yup, it does that to white things. Look at the white parts on your tennis shoes," she said, pointing down to her shoes.

They looked down and ooed and ahed at it.

"Gee, Doc, how come your lily white skin isn't glowing like her shoes?"

He sprinted out the door when the Doctor tried to take a swing at him.

"Better run, Harkness," he muttered while the children giggled.

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"I won! I won!" Alan said as everyone walked back out to the minivans. "I won at air hockey!"

"That was luck, dumb luck!" Awinita said to him.

"Yakkity yak, yada, yada, yada," Alan said, opening and closing his hand.

The Doctor smiled down at Dot who was holding the Chuck-E-Cheese doll Alan won her.

"Did you like it in there?"

"Yes, Daddy."

"Good, I'm glad Alan won you and Tony something," he said, looking at Tony who had the snare drum. "And now Rose will have non-stop headaches."

Rose snorted.

"Too right I will. Thanks, Alan, for letting him pick that."

"You're welcome, Starlight."

He ducked away when she tried to swat at him.

"So now where do we go?" Sarah Jane said.

"Well, we were thinking zoo, museum or beach. What do you wanna do next, Tara?" the Doctor said.

"Whatever you guys wanna do."

"No, this is your day. What do you wanna do?" he said.

"Um…zoo."

"Okay, we'll go to the zoo next then," the Doctor said while they opened the minivan doors and got inside.


	202. Chapter 202

Chapter Two Hundred and Two

"Okay, let's get one thing straight before we go further," the Doctor said after they paid their admission and entered the zoo. "If this place has panthers, do not, I repeat, do not make jokes and call him my brother or whatever else you might think up."

"Sure thing, Bagheera," Jack said.

They laughed when he sprinted away from the Doctor as he threw his hands up in the air.

"Why did I agree to let him come with us after he found out I became a cat?" he muttered.

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The Doctor eyed his family when they neared the lion enclosure and they began to giggle.

"I mean it, no jokes," he said, raising his eyebrow when he saw Jack nudge Alan.

"We won't make jokes, we weren't lion when we said we wouldn't make fun of you," Jack said. "Get it, lying, lion? I made a cute pun!"

They laughed when he sprinted away after the Doctor tried to hit him.

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The Doctor eyed them when they neared the panther cage. He tried to walk past it while everyone else stopped.

"What's wrong, don't want to chat with your fellow felines?" Jack said to him.

"No, because I'm not a fellow feline anymore which means I have no connection with them other than the fact that I'm a fellow living being. They're very nice and now I'm moving on before I get more Lion King jokes from you lot."

He walked past the big cats and stopped at the monkey cage several feet away. Tara walked over to him and stood by his side.

"What? You gonna joke about my being a big old puss cat?" he said to her.

"No, I don't like looking at the panthers after what they did to you."

He smiled and put his arm around her.

"I actually had a friend named Ace that almost became a cheetah," he said to her. "There were alien cheetahs and they not only tried to turn her into one of them but also this enemy of mine called The Master. Not to mention I had another companion named Peri who very nearly became a bird so I've dealt with that sort of thing before. It would have upset me more if they'd done it to you or Donna."

"Why? Because you love us?"

"Yup, because I care for the people I love and I don't like bad things happening to them. And yet, I encourage them to come with me where bad things might happen, odd, huh?"

"But I like being with you, Daddy."

He smiled.

"I know, that's what everyone says who travels with me. Say that they like me, I mean, they don't call me Daddy," he added while she giggled.

The others walked up.

"Enjoy watching apes throw poo?" Jack said.

"No, I was talking to my daughter while I waited for all of you to quit sniggering over the big cats and get over here. Now that you're here, we can move on."

They walked on while they looked at the animals. While they did that, Jack's mobile rang. He spoke to Ianto while he looked into the cages and enclosures.

"Hey, Doc?"

The Doctor looked at Jack.

"Yeah?"

"Yan wanted to know if you can come back to Nova tonight. Everyone wants to throw a barbecue party for Tara's birthday."

"Would you like to do that?" the Doctor asked Tara.

"Yes."

"She wants to do it, so let everyone know," Jack said to Ianto.

"I s'pose I better ring Lee and tell him to come over so he can meet Tara," Donna said.

"Good, we can help you convince him to change over while he's there," Jack teased.

"No, you let me handle that," Donna replied.

"Do you want him to change?" Sarah Jane asked her.

"I'd like that, yeah. He's wonderful and I'd love for him to be with me through the centuries."

"We saw him in this video with Donna," Opal said to Sarah Jane. "He was a Time Lord."

"He was? Where did you see this?" Sarah Jane asked.

The Doctor explained it to her while they looked at the animals. Sarah Jane raised her eyebrows when he finished.

"So you're gonna get another child sometime in future?" she said.

"Yup, Alan and I are gonna have large families apparently," he said.

"I'm glad you and Rose will have children of your own," Sarah Jane said to Alan. "You'll make wonderful parents."

"Aw, thanks, Sarah," Alan said, smiling.

"Were we in the video then?" Rani asked.

"Yes, all three of you were there," Alan said.

"And Sarah was there too," Amelia added.

Sarah Jane froze and looked at the Doctor.

"Four crystals? Why do I suddenly have a feeling the fourth one isn't for Maria," she said to him.

"I was giving the crystal to you because of what I saw in the video and I figured that meant you'd change your mind at some point," the Doctor said.

"Would you like me to change?" Sarah Jane asked him.

"I would, but that's your decision," he replied.

"Do it, Mum, so you can be with us," Luke said.

"Yeah, you can use your Time Lady knowledge to fight evil," Rani added.

They stood around her while she thought it over.

"This video, you recognized me straight away?" she asked.

"You looked exactly the same as you do now," Alan said. "So apparently you'll be able to keep your current body for five hundred and twenty years or more."

"And they will as well?" Sarah Jane said, nodding her head at the teens.

The others nodded.

"I'm the only one that changed except for Dex," Awinita said. "Patience was sitting with a young red haired man and we're assuming that was Dex."

"Hmm, five hundred and twenty years looking like this. Do I really want that?" Sarah Jane said while they chuckled.

"At least you'll be with us," Jack said.

She smiled.

"Yes, that's true and that'll be more than worth the change. I'll do it."

They all cheered and hugged her. She took out the crystal and they gathered around her while she squatted down. She broke it open and they cheered and hugged her when the light faded.

"So Maria doesn't join us then?" Sarah Jane said when she stood back up.

"Dunno, Jack said while he was filming that not everyone could make it to the party so if Maria does change, perhaps she was in Washington D.C. and wasn't able to come to wherever we were. We didn't see Jake there either," the Doctor said.

"But you saw Lee and Rhys," Sarah Jane said.

They nodded.

"I suppose you're gonna ask them tonight then?" she said.

"I'll tell Gwen and let her ask Rhys," Jack said. "I want her to convince him so he doesn't think I'm badgering him."

"And I think Lee will do it," Donna said. "He does love me and I told him about being a Time Lady so I think he'll definitely want to change."

"What about Mickey and Martha?" Sarah Jane asked. "Are you gonna tell them?"

They looked at each other.

"I might tell Mickey about it. Not too sure about Martha though," Jack said.

"I think I'll chat with her tonight and just casually ask her about working with Mickey and find out that way," the Doctor said.

"Good idea," Jack said. "That way she won't suspect anything."

"But she must like Mickey if she's gonna marry him, Papaw," Amelia said.

"Yes, but we're wondering if she does now, we know at some point she will but what we saw was five hundred and twenty years from now," Jack said. "We're just a bit curious."

Sarah Jane looked down when Tara tapped her arm.

"I'm glad you changed cause you're nice and I want you to be around for a long time."

Sarah Jane kissed her cheek.

"Well, you lot are the reason I decided to do it. I know you saw me in the video but it's probably because I really did want to be with you and be with my son and Rani and Clyde."

"Well, we're happy to have you," Mingxia said. "Tara's right, you're too special not to have around."

Sarah Jane smiled and gave her a hug.

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After seeing the zoo, they climbed back inside the minivans so they could head to the museum. The Doctor followed Alan and Rose while Jack spoke to Ianto and updated him on what happened while Donna spoke to Lee. While they did that, Jenny sat in the back seat with Tara.

"I'm glad Sarah changed," Tara said to her.

"Me too. I love her. She's wonderful," Jenny replied.

"This is fun. I'm having a good time."

"Me too, Tara," Jenny said, giving her a sideways hug.

_Brother, come with us into this car park,_ Alan thought to the Doctor. _Rose and I have an idea._

_Okay, _the Doctor thought back.

He followed their minivan when it turned left into a parking lot. He pulled into a space beside them and stopped.

"What's the matter?" the Doctor said, rolling down the window when Alan got out and approached him.

"Nothing. But if you look, you'll see that the building in front of us is a bowling center with miniature golf added. We were wondering if Tara would like to do this instead of the museum."

"Tara, would you like to go here instead?" the Doctor said, looking back at her.

"I don't know how to bowl or play golf."

"We can teach ya, Honey," Rain said.

"Don't let Rainy teach you how to bowl. She might break your leg and send you to hospital," Alan said.

He jerked his head away when she tried to smack it.

"Okay, I'll do it if you show me what to do," Tara said.

"Brilliant," Alan replied.

They got out of their minivan while Alan went to tell the others.

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"I'm glad you spotted this," the Doctor said. "I think this'll be more fun than the science museum."

They were all sitting down and putting on their bowling shoes while they were talking.

"Especially for us," Alan said. "I really didn't fancy going through another primitive Earth science museum for a few hours."

"You know, I've been thinking. Instead of taking the TARDIS back to the Hub again, why don't we pack it in after tonight and head back to Nova not only for the barbecue party but for a few days rest before we go somewhere else. I think we've seen most of what Florida has to offer, don't you?"

"Yeah, I agree," Rose said. "We had to keep on using the TARDIS anyway and kept getting interrupted so let's just turn the cars back in and go home for a bit so we can try out the houses."

"Besides, I need to get a bed for Tara and some more furniture for our living room. With seven people in our house, a sofa and chair isn't gonna be enough."

"We're quitting, Papaw?" Opal said.

"Yes, we'll stop going through Florida," he replied. "Why? Are you scared of going back because you'll have to go to school again?"

"Yes," Opal said, making a face while he chuckled.

He tousled her hair.

"I'll take you other places, but like I said before, you lot still need to go to school," he said. "But just because we've stopped here doesn't mean we won't have fun somewhere else."

"Ugh, I don't like these shoes," Amelia said, walking over to him. "They're stiff like the shoes we wore back in 1863."

"I know, why do we have to wear shoes like this?" Opal said.

"Because they help keep you from slipping on the alley and because I wanted to add to the torment of you going back to Nova and school," he said, winking.

Tara came up beside him. He chuckled while he watched her walking around in the shoes trying them out.

"They're stiff, aren't they?" Amelia said to her.

"Yeah, they're uncomfortable," Tara said.

She looked at the ones on the Doctor's feet.

"They look weird on you, Daddy," she said.

"Well, they look weird on you too," he said.

He gave her an Eskimo kiss and stood up.

"So, I guess we split up into a couple of groups in order to play?" he said to the others.

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The Doctor's group consisted of his wife, daughters, grandchildren and Alan and Rose. Rose sat at the table keeping score while the Doctor stood beside the children giving them a basic tutorial on the game. While he talked Rain looked at Alan who was sitting beside her.

"Why are you with us? Aren't you scared I might fling the ball back at your skull?" she said.

Alan put his arm around her and Rose and didn't say a word.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Rain said.

"Means I'm trusting that your bowling skills have improved since we last played and as a sign of my confidence in them I'm staying right here and being comfy," he said.

Rain looked at Rose.

"He's here because the moment I get up he'll start making jokes."

"No, I'm here because I'm comfy," Alan said.

"Uh-huh, suuuuuure you are," Rain muttered.

"Besides, I'm interested in watching the children and seeing how good they are at bowling," Alan said, shrugging.

After explaining everything, the Doctor stepped back and watched Amelia pick up a child-sized bowling ball from the rack and move towards the lane. Tara and Opal stepped back and everyone watched while she moved towards the lane. She let the ball go and it rolled halfway down before it went in the gutter.

"Is that bad?" Amelia said.

"It's not good but you'll get the hang of this. Try again," he urged.

She waited till her ball came back and picked it up. When she tried again, she managed to topple two pins on the right. Everyone applauded when Amelia walked back to the seat and sat down beside Rain. Opal went next and took another child-sized ball off the rack. On her first attempt she managed to knock down four pins. Everyone applauded while she waited for the ball to come back. On her second attempt, she threw it too hard and they laughed when the ball sailed over into the other family member's lane and followed the ball Jack threw down the lane a few seconds before. His ball knocked down most of the pins and hers finished them off.

"Thanks, Opal!" Jack said, coming around to their side.

"No! That doesn't count!" Mingxia said while she sat at their table.

"Course it counts. It counts because I say it does," Jack said to her.

Mingxia turned to the rest of the family.

"Does it count?" she said to them.

"No!" they said in unison.

"Sorry, Jack, you're outvoted, you only knocked down seven pins," Mingxia said.

Jack bent down to Opal.

"Just between you and me, that counted," he said.

He patted her shoulder and walked back to his side. Donna retrieved her ball and gave it back to her before sitting back down.

"Go again, Te'telos, we won't count that," the Doctor said to Opal.

She tried again and managed to knock down two more pins while they applauded. The Doctor nodded to Tara and she picked out a ball. She ran towards the lane but went too far and everyone grimaced when she slid on the slick wood and skidded a few feet down the lane.

"Jesus, I felt that in my head," Jack said while they all ran over to their side. "Tara, are you okay?"

The Doctor walked over to her and bent down.

"You alright, my Star?" he said.

"Yeah, it hurt though when I slid."

"I know, we all felt it," the Doctor said while the rest of the family laughed.

He checked her arms and legs and noticed she was alright. He helped her up and they walked back together.

"See where the lane starts? Don't go beyond it because it's slick here. Run up to the edge of it and then throw the ball, okay?"

She nodded. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when he handed her the ball and Jack's group went back to their game. The Doctor stood by the lane and pointed to a spot in front of it.

"Stop right about here, Tara," he said.

She nodded and he stepped back slightly and watched while she tried again. She stopped where he told her and threw the ball. It rolled into the gutter near the end.

"Almost got it," the Doctor said. "Just angle your body a bit more when you come up the next time."

Tara tried again and they applauded from both sides when she knocked down four pins. Alan and Rose scooted over and she sat down in between Alan and Rain.

"Are you alright, Sweetie?" Rain said. "You really skidded across the floor there."

"I think so," Tara said.

Alan looked at her left leg and arm.

"Got a bit of a red spot on your leg from where you slid," he said, pointing. "Blimey, it must have hurt when you did it because I felt your pain loud and clear."

"I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's alright. I'm just glad you're okay. Least you know now not to go down the lane and luckily you didn't just keep on sliding right into the pins. We would have had a bit of a problem getting you out of the pin setter down there. Then we really would have felt your pain."

He put his arm around her while he watched the Doctor bowl and hit seven of the pins.

"He did that on purpose," Alan said to Tara. "Your dad could have gotten a strike but he misdirected his aim so the rest of us could have a fair shot. Actually, if we wanted to everyone except you and Amelia and Opal could bowl strike after strike."

"How?" Tara said.

"Oh, simple mathematical calculations, it's not that hard to do when you have a Time Lord mind. I could do the same with the miniature golf as well but I'm going to do what my brother's doing and misaim to make it more fun."

"Can you do that for everything?" Tara said.

"Um…not everything. Not for board games like Monopoly and video games like the ones we were playing last night. But things like this and the golf and the skeeball, things where I can control the outcome, I can calculate and factor in everything to get perfect scores. That's why I won a heap of tickets for you lot."

"Doesn't that get boring?"

Rose giggled when Alan rolled his eyes.

"Yes, it does. It gets very boring. I know I said I like to win and I do but I would like a bit of a challenge when I play something and being able to get nonstop perfect scores bores me to tears. This place, I'm mainly here to watch you and Opal and Amelia bowl and golf since you don't have the ability to calculate everything yet like we do."

"So, should we have gone to the museum?"

"No, Sweetheart, that would have been worse because Earth science is primitive compared to what our kind know and I would have been walking around, half asleep. This is more interesting compared to that."

Rose got up to take her turn.

"Woooooo, spousal unit!" he cheered.

Rose blushed while everyone on both sides laughed.

"Just giving ya a bit of support, Dearest," he said while the Doctor sniggered.

"Could you give me some support in a quieter voice, Alan?"

"No, because you might not hear over the loud rock music blaring overhead."

"Then do it in my head."

Alan made the OK sign with his fingers. He winked at Tara.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! He thought with all his might.

Everyone laughed when Rose's head jerked back from the intensity of his mental cheer. Jack's group laughed harder when Sarah Jane's eyes bulged and she shook her head.

"I see I'm finally privy to these kinds of conversations," she said.

"Yup, welcome to the fun that telepathy brings," Jack said.

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After finishing a couple rounds of bowling, they decided to try the miniature golf. They got their shoes back and then paid for a round of golf. The man behind the counter handed them putters and day-glo orange balls and they headed over to a doorway in the arcade section. They walked inside and noticed the course was painted in day-glo colors and lit with a black light. The walls and statues were all circus related.

"Weird," Amelia said. "This is like the room at Chuck-E-Cheese."

"Gee, the Doctor's skin still isn't glowing," Jack said as he came into the room.

"Jack, I now have a putter in my hand so I don't believe you should be making jokes at this moment," he said to him.

Madison walked in with Dorothy and Rose came in with Tony. Both toddlers looked around the room in awe.

"Stellar," Clyde said, coming in the room with Rani, Luke and Sarah Jane. "Mini golf in the dark."

"Mommy, look!" Dorothy said, pointing to a day-glo purple hippo in front of the eighth hole.

She took her over to it and she ran her hand over it in fascination. While she was doing that, Alan came inside with Tara and Jenny.

"Wow, this is freaky!" Alan said, looking around. "I have an idea, let's not play golf and play hide and seek instead."

He ran over to a lion and crouched down behind it.

"Okay, find me!" he said.

Amelia giggled and ran over.

"There you are!" she said, pointing to him.

"No, I'm Papaw, you need to find Alan."

"You're Alan, Papaw's over there!" she said, pointing to the Doctor who was standing at the beginning of the golf course.

"No, there was a mysterious cosmic accident and Alan and I switched minds. It's me, Amo'ya, allons-y?"

"Yeah, right, Alan," Amelia said, walking back towards the Doctor.

Dorothy walked over to Alan and took his hand.

"Doodlebug, you found me!" Alan said. "Congratulations, I'll give you a wet, sloppy kiss for your prize."

"No!" Dorothy said, running over to the Doctor.

They laughed while Alan stood up and pretended to cry while he walked over to the first hole.

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After explaining the rules, they took turns putting and going through the course. The children had more luck than they did bowling and they could tell they were enjoying it more now that they had a better chance of winning. While they did that, Madison took Dorothy and Tony to get something to eat since neither one was able to understand what to do. While they played, Tara kept looking at her father, remembering Alan's words to her about the game being too easy for them. She could tell he was slightly bored and only perked up when she or one of the other children and teens were playing. When she was done with the eighth hole, she walked over to him while he waited to play the ninth hole. He smiled at her.

"Lot of people to wait on in this game. We can't split up like we did on the bowling," he said to her.

"Are you bored?" Tara said.

"A bit. I heard what Alan said to ya when we were bowling. I'm the same as him and I know your mum also gets bored now. But we love watching all of you play so it's worth it."

"Are you bored with Earth?" Tara said.

"No, no, Earth fascinates me. I love Earth. It's just that the science is primitive here and most games are too easy for me. If you have the knowledge of time and space it's hard to find something that'll hold your interest for long, you'll be the same someday, which is the only thing I hate about you being a Time Lady. Once you gain all that knowledge, ennui will become a very common thing and you'll also have to search for stimulating things. That's why I'm glad you don't have that knowledge yet so you can still be a kid and have fun playing things like this. I never would have let you change otherwise. Oops, it's my turn now, my Star; I'll chat with ya in a minute."

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After they left the bowling center, they went back to Julie's apartment to get changed for the beach. When they entered the TARDIS, the Doctor stopped Tara and took her hand.

"Come with me, I need to do something for you," he said to her.

She nodded and they waited till everyone went past before following them. While they walked, the Doctor thought to the TARDIS asking her to make a room for Tara and give her clothes and a bathing suit for the beach. The TARDIS made a way directly to the room and they stepped inside.

"This is yours," the Doctor said. "I asked the TARDIS to give you a room you can use when you travel with me. And she scanned your body and gave you clothes. They should be in the closet and the chest of drawers and lo and behold a pretty lavender cozzy for ya on the bed. Can you swim?"

She shook her head.

"Well, I can help you with that and I'll help you with your respiratory bypass system. If you can stop your breathing, you can come under the water with me and you won't have to worry about drowning. I'll show you where you can change into your swimsuit and then we'll practice your bypass system together.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

While he waited for her to get changed into her swimsuit, the Doctor asked the TARDIS to give her a beach towel and life jacket. There was a flash and both things appeared in his hands.

"I love you, old girl. I don't have to go out and buy things when you're around," he said.

When she got out of the bathroom, they walked back to the console room together. The Doctor told her how to work her bypass system while they walked and he watched while she tried to cease her breathing. He gave her a pleased smile when she did it after two tries.

"Brilliant. We'll try it in the water and then we'll take a little peek underwater," he said while they joined the others in the console room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they got to the beach, all of them headed for the water except for Madison, Donna, Mingxia and Rose who stayed on the beach with Dorothy and Tony, chatting and sunning themselves while they watched the toddlers building sand castles. The Doctor, Alan and Rain stayed with Amelia, Opal and Tara, making sure they were safe while they went into the water. For the moment, she was out of the life jacket and the Doctor let his daughter hold onto him while they practiced her bypass system. Both of them would cease breathing and the Doctor would go underwater with her still holding on to him to make sure she could still use her bypass system in the water. After he was satisfied she could, he instructed her on how to use her legs and arms to move forward and then the six of them went underwater. The adults swam around the children, keeping their eyes on them while they explored. Tara watched what the adults were doing and quickly got the hang of using her arms and legs, much to the Doctor's delight. He relaxed when he saw that she was comfortable underwater and all of them chatted telepathically, pointing out things to one another.

_Lovely, It's beautiful down here,_ Rain thought while they swam.

_Yes, it is, I love exploring the ocean,_ the Doctor thought.

_Papaw, are mermaids real?_ Amelia thought.

_Um, not on Earth. There are aliens that are like mermaids on other planets. _

_Can we go see them? _Tara thought.

_Maybe, I think I can find a planet where the mermaids are safe to interact with, _the Doctor thought.

_You mean, there are mean mermaids?_ Opal thought.

_Well, there are some that are more shark-like than human and they might attack if they get angry enough,_ the Doctor thought. _But there are some that are more like the traditional Earth mermaids who are very friendly and I s'pose I could take you there so you can say hello._

_What about kitty cat planets? _Jack thought to him.

_On second thought, perhaps I will visit the shark merpeople and let them have Jack for dinner,_ the Doctor thought.

While they swam, something caught Tara's eye. She reached down and plucked a gold piece out of the sand below her.

_Blimey, you found a Spanish doubloon, this is your lucky day,_ Alan thought.

_Who, what, where? Who found some doubloons?_ Jack thought. _Where are you?_

The Doctor grabbed a hold of Tara and they surfaced so Tara could show Jack her doubloon. Jack, who was twenty feet away, quickly dove down. The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Here he goes, my Star, he's gonna tear up the ocean floor looking for treasure," he said to her.

"Do you think there's more treasure, Daddy?"

"Dunno, but now you're gonna have to beat Jack with a stick to get to it," he said to her.

Rain, Alan and the children surfaced nearby.

"I pointed out where the doubloon was and Harkness is now digging frantically through the sand," Alan said to the Doctor. "Wanna go down and watch the idiot? That is, if you can see the idiot through all the sand he's stirring up. It's why we finally decided to come up because we can't see our hand in front of our faces now."

Julie, Awinita and Jenny surfaced a few feet away.

"We can't see squat now because Jack's throwing up sand," Julie said.

"I know, that's why we came up," Alan said while they swum over. "Tara finds one doubloon and suddenly it's the underwater version of the 1849 gold rush."

The Doctor looked over and waved when the women on the beach waved back at him.

_Where are Sarah and the teens?_ He thought.

Rose pointed off to her right. They turned their heads and saw them walking along the surf about fifty feet from the women. Sarah Jane waved to him.

_We decided to take a break from swimming and find some seashells and shingles,_ Sarah Jane thought. _Who found the doubloon?_

Tara held it up for her to see.

_Wow, that's wonderful. I'm glad you found it, Tara,_ Sarah Jane thought.

_Yes and now Jack's down under the water digging around like a maniac trying to find more,_ the Doctor thought.

_No, I'm not. I gave up on that. I'm just swimming around looking at the fish and coral,_ Jack thought back.

_How can you see anything after all the sand you stirred up?_ Alan thought to him.

_I didn't stir up that much sand, Alan._

_Are you kidding? It looked like an underwater sandstorm,_ Alan thought back. _We had to come up just to get away from the sand swirling in our faces. _

_Well, I can assure you the sand has settled now, _Jack thought.

Alan popped down under the water for a look.

"Yup, he's right, it has," he said when he came back up. "You lot wanna go back to being Jacques Cousteau and company?"

"Nah, I'm going to head back for a bit and dry off," the Doctor said. "Tara, you wanna go with them?"

She nodded and Alan came near so she could hold on to him. Tara gave him the doubloon.

"Have fun with your exploration and I will guard this with my lives so Jack doesn't nick it," he said, pointing to the doubloon.

He went under the water with everyone else and swam back to shore while the others stayed together and explored. He got back to the shore and stood up and walked back to the women.

"Hullo, my beach babies, soaking up the sun?" he said.

"Yup, we're just tannin' and chattin'," Rose replied.

The Doctor grabbed his towel, laid it down beside Rose and sat down on it. Rose took the doubloon from him and the women examined it.

"So this is what Jack was tearin' up the ocean floor for?" Rose said, grinning.

"Yup, he thought he could find a treasure chest and become a jillionaire, I suppose. Apparently, there was nothing else there because he gave up the search. And blimey, that sun is bright."

"Yes, that's why we're wearing sunglasses," Rose said, pointing to the ones she was wearing.

"Course you didn't think of bringing any," Donna said.

"Oh contraire, I am always ready for any emergency," he said, getting up. "I'll be back in a mo and you'll see what I mean."

He ran off the beach to the minivan. He returned a few minutes later with his clothes. He sat down on the towel, reached into his trouser pockets and brought out his glasses and sonic screwdriver. Holding the glasses up, he used the screwdriver to darken the lenses of his glasses.

"See, I'm prepared for the sun any day," he said, putting them on.

"Wow, sonic screwdriver can do that? What else can it do, make a cappuccino?" Mingxia said.

"I'm wondering if it's sentient like the TARDIS is," Madison said.

"Yeah, does the sonic screwdriver have feelings?" Rose said to him.

"I like to think it does," the Doctor said, sniffing.

He relaxed and watched Dorothy and Tony make sand piles nearby. While he did that, Jack surfaced by the shore, stood up and walked towards them. He paused when he saw the Doctor's sunglasses.

"Nifty, where'd you get those?" he said, pointing to them.

"I made them out of my specs," the Doctor said.

"He used the screwdriver to tint the lenses," Madison said.

"It does that?" Jack said.

"If you use the right setting, yes," the Doctor said.

"Impressive, what else can it do? Turn you back into Garfield?"

"Jack!" the Doctor said while the women laughed. "I swear, if you don't stop with the cat jokes right now…"

"Actually, it would be quite a feat if it did turn him into Garfield since Garfield's fat and he's not."

Donna held up her hands when the Doctor eyed her.

"I'm only making a point," she said while Jack sniggered.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and lay back on the towel. He closed his eyes and sighed while the wind cooled his body and the sun warmed it at the same time. He frowned when he felt something being poured onto his chest and he opened his eyes.

"Oi!" he said when he saw Dot using her spade to pour a pile of sand on his chest. "You don't do that to me, Ladybird, I don't wanna be a part of your sandcastle."

"Sand, Daddy!" Dorothy said, picking up some more beside him and putting it on him.

"I know, keep it on the beach and not my body," the Doctor said. "I'm trying to get a tan so Harkness won't make ghost jokes on top of the cat jokes and…Oi!"

They laughed when Tony came around the other side and started pouring sand on him.

"Great idea, kids! I'll help!" Jack said, using his hands to scoop up some sand.

"You put that on me and I'll bury your head like an ostrich," the Doctor said.

"You're letting them put sand on you," he said, nodding his head at Dorothy and Tony.

"No, actually I'm trying to get them to stop and you're not helping by threatening to put more on me. Now drop the sand pile and let me be."

Jack shrugged, dropped the sand and got the remainder off his hands while he went to get his towel. Madison and Rose got up, got the children away from the Doctor and sat on Madison's towel and played with them while the Doctor relaxed.


	203. Chapter 203

Chapter Two Hundred and Three

After they got back to Julie's apartment, everyone went into the TARDIS to shower and change and then they went out and got the remainder of the stuff she wanted to take with her while Julie went to talk to her landlord. She was gone about an hour and by that time; everyone had managed to put her stuff in her room. They were all in the console room when she came back inside.

"And, are they gonna let you out of your lease?" Rain said.

"Nope."

"No, what are you gonna do?"

"Leave with the Doctor, never coming back. Don't care if I get in trouble, bye bye apartment in Florida!"

They laughed and the Doctor walked over and put his hand on her shoulder.

"That's the spirit! Tell the ones in charge to piss off, I like that attitude," he said. "So, I s'pose we take the people carriers back with us or are we just gonna leave them behind and say piss off to the car rental companies?"

They looked at each other, grinned and blocked the children's minds while they telepathically shouted piss off! The Doctor giggled.

"Yup, I've definitely rubbed off on you lot. Okay then, let's get the stuff out of the people carrier, bring it back up here and it's off to Nova we go!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The TARDIS materialized in the corner of the Doctor's house and everyone filed out. Everyone except the occupants of the house left to go to their own houses while the Doctor looked around. He looked at Alan.

"We just put our first house into our second house, weird, huh?" he said to Alan.

"Weirder that we actually have a second house to go along with the first one."

"You'll get used to it, Mister Anti-domestic One and Two," Rose said, stretching.

"What's weirder is we have bedrooms we'll never use," the Doctor said to Alan.

"Oh, we'll make use of them alright," Rain purred in his ear.

Alan snickered at his wide-eyed look when she walked away.

"I'm gathering you're thinking of all the fun you'll have with the new bed?" Alan said.

"Mmm, yeah," he said.

"So am I, mate. So am I," Alan said with a wicked grin.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After getting settled in, the Doctor moved the TARDIS next door so they could unload Julie's things. The women helped him move and arranged everything. Once they were done, he moved his TARDIS back, open the doors, walked over to the sofa and slumped down on it with Alan.

"No more moving, never again!" he said.

"You forget we're gonna get more family members in future," Alan said.

"Yeah, well I'll buy them a removal van and they can move themselves," he replied.

He glanced at Tara when she came up beside him.

"Although I still have to get you a bed and us some sofas and chairs but thankfully, the furniture shop has men that do the moving for us. Maddie, you have the people carrier, right?"

"In the garage, Doctor," she said from the bathroom.

The Doctor smiled at Tara.

"Fancy a little shopping trip, my Star?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A half hour later, the Doctor and Tara were in the furniture store picking out furniture. Tara noticed how pleased the staff members were to see the Doctor and they practically fell over each other in their rush to help him.

"I've brought a lot of furniture from here," he whispered to her. "They love me because I spend a heap of credits in here. Now, pick out a bed you like and I'll concentrate on the living room."

"Everything looks like Earth stuff, Daddy."

"Well, this is an Earth colony. Trust me, Tara, I know they have flying cars here but humans can be very set in their ways and if it works, why change it? Beds, furniture, buildings, food, not much has changed in two thousand years so go ahead and pick out whatever you like and I'll stand here and pretend I'm domestic."

He kissed her forehead and watched while she walked over to the beds.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Right," the Doctor said when they came back in the house. "Tara has chosen a lovely white wooden bed and I got another large matching sofa and a chair for the living room and they'll deliver it in the morning. And hopefully that'll cover us and any visitors we'll have here. So when is this shindig of ours?"

"Jack called about fifteen minutes ago. Jackie's having it at her house and Pete and John are cooking the food now. So Jack figured about another half hour or so before we go over," Alan said.

"Brilliant, I will rest on our comfy sofa and watch a bit of telly while I keep on pretending I'm domestic."

He used the remote to switch on the holo-television.

"Rain!" he yelled.

"Yeah?" Rain called from upstairs.

"Fetch me a beer and a paper while I scratch me bum and fart all over the place," he said.

They all laughed and Rain came down the stairs.

"What's this, you pretending you're a homebody, Love?" she said, walking over to him.

"Yeah, now where's that beer and some crisps and a fan to blow away the fart I just made?" he said to her. "Oh and pull my finger while you're at it."

Rain made a face.

"No thanks, I'll pass on that," she said, heading for the kitchen.

Alan giggled, ran out the front door and came back in.

"Rosie, I'm home!" he said, closing the door while the Doctor giggled. "Oh, I'm knackered. Big, big day at the office. Lots of important business decisions. But that's par for the course when you're the managing director."

Rose came out of their bedroom and walked over to the kitchen.

"Are they bored now after being home for ten minutes?" she asked Rain and Madison.

"I think this is role-playing," Rain said to her. "Pretending to be normal people who live in houses and fart or something like that."

Tara came down the stairs.

"Hello, Sara!" Alan said.

Tara stopped.

"Huh? I'm Tara, Alan."

"Oh yeah, right. Sara, Tara, I work so hard I keep forgetting the name of my child. But it's nice to see ya and here ya go, I brought you some worthless trinket to demonstrate how much I love ya."

"Daddy, what's going on?" Tara said while they laughed.

"We're having a bit of fun pretending to be working fathers who live in houses, my Star."

Dorothy came out of the kitchen and walked over to the Doctor.

"And there's my daughter I haven't seen in donkey's years," the Doctor said. "Hello, daughter I rarely see and hardly know. How's life been treating ya?"

Madison peeked out and laughed at the confused look on her daughter's face while she stared at the Doctor. Tara walked over to her.

"Daddy and Alan's being silly, Dot," Tara said, taking her hand.

"Okay," Dorothy said.

"Oi, Rain, where's the beer and crisps and paper?" the Doctor yelled back.

"We don't have beer so I guess the beer's at the liquor store. Crisps are in the cabinet so move your legs and get them and we don't get a paper here yet so…go buy one," Rain said while Madison and Rose giggled.

The Doctor looked at Tara.

"Star, go in there and get your mother to follow my commands this very instant."

"Mommy, Daddy wants you to be his slave!" Tara yelled.

"I didn't say that!" the Doctor said while the adults laughed. "I said for her to follow my commands. That's a one time thing. I only want a beer, crisps and a paper."

"What are crisps?" Tara said.

"British name for potato chips. I want a beer, potato chips and a newspaper. Say…you have a pulse, run and fetch all those things."

"No, Daddy," Tara said, giggling.

The Doctor sighed when Alan sat down next to him.

"What do we have to do to get a beer, crisps and paper around here, Brother?"

"Um, my guess is plant our trainers somewhere in our wives' anal region and yell move?"

"Bit messy, might get poo on our shoes," he said to him while Tara giggled.

Rain came out of the kitchen with a bowl of potato chips.

"Here! Crisps, your lordship," she said, putting them in his lap.

"Spiffy, where are the other two items then?" he said to her.

"You have legs, you have use of the car or the blue box in the corner, go and get them," Rain said.

"But you're up and walking around, you have more experience being domestic and you're female, so you go."

"Excuse me, was that a sexist remark I just heard?" she said while Madison and Rose laughed.

Madison came out of the kitchen and came up behind her.

"Seems like Mister Time Lord thinks he's too high and mighty to go fetch his beer and newspaper."

"Bang on, now where are they?" the Doctor said. "I and my brother are the lords not only of time but of this manor. We are the kings of the castle and we need to be fawned and waited on every single moment of our lives. You all are female so go and do and we'll sit and fart and mark our territory like the lions we are."

"Yup, in the pride the lionesses do all the work while the lions lay around and yawn and roar and eat the cubs, so go, lionesses and kill us an antelope or wildebeest or even an elephant. Go get Jenny to help ya with that one though since she has special lioness training to take down elephants."

"Are you gonna be like this all the time, Daddy?" Tara said.

"Like what? Lordly and demanding of my women? You better believe it. Now go upstairs and sweep your side of the room so we can set your new bed down in a pristine area and you…little one…giggle and play for our delight. We enjoy your toddler antics, so amuse us."

"Huh?" Dorothy said while they laughed.

"Play, frolic, be a child, my Ladybird. Go over there by the holo-telly and be cute."

The mobile rang in his pocket. He flipped it open and answered it.

"Go away, I'm busy being lordly and important," the Doctor said.

There was silence on the other end while the Doctor snickered.

"Well? Who is it? I can hear ya breathing," he said.

"I'm just wondering how to answer that," Jack replied.

"Ah, Jacky boy, another male. Good, we need more males to rule the roosts here. Males rule and females drool, ya know."

"I'm sorry; did you get hit on the head sometime between the time I left your house and now?" Jack said.

"Nah, Alan and I are pretending to be pig-headed men who make our wives slave over hot stoves for our benefit. What'd ya want?"

"Well, Pete called me and they're ready for everyone to come over now. Should I call him back and tell him to wait till you're done being lordly and pig-headed?"

"No, I'm starvin', I'll be lordly and pig-headed later," he replied.

"Okay, well, we're heading over there now so we'll see you at Jackie's."

"Gotcha, see ya at the shindig."

He hung up and put the mobile back in his pocket.

"Right everyone, let's skidoo over to the barbecue," he said, smiling.


	204. Chapter 204

Chapter Two Hundred and Four

After getting her presents from inside the TARDIS, everyone walked across the street to Jackie's house. The Doctor knocked on the door and Jackie opened it.

"Great to see ya," she said, hugging them. "And you, Tara. Party's out back. Just make yourselves at home."

They thanked her and went through the house. Some people were sitting in the house and they waved to them and got up to hug and greet them. Others were out back around the barbecue grill and the pool chatting with each other while Pete cooked.

"Great to see ya again," Grace said to the Doctor. "We heard what happened to you. I'm glad you're alright."

"Yeah, me too. I didn't fancy spending the rest of my life as a cat."

Grace hugged Tara.

"Happy birthday, Honey. I'm glad you're safe too."

"Thanks, Grace."

"Did you like the presents we got ya?"

"I didn't open them yet," she said, pointing to Alan who was holding the bag and backpack.

"Oh, you didn't have to wait, dear. You could have opened those," Grace said.

"That's okay, I'll open them here so I can thank everyone," she said.

Grace smiled and hugged her. She put her hand on her shoulder and looked at the Doctor.

"I hear Sarah and the teens have joined the ranks now," she said to him.

"Yup, they're Gallifreyan now. All that's left is Lee, Rhys and Jake."

"Weeeell, actually, there is another one. A woman has actually moved into a house on the other side of the development here."

"What? A woman invaded our territory? How dare she!" Alan said.

They all laughed.

"Yeah, we were thinking the same thing," Martha said while she sat on the sofa with Gwen. "We have a stranger in our midst now!"

"So, did we find out the stranger's name?" Alan said.

"Patricia, although she wants us to call her Patty," Grace said. "She's nice. I was out on the porch talking to Wilf and John the other day and she just walked down the street. We called her over and spoke with her. She's single, 29, white woman with long blond curly hair and she has these pink highlights on her bangs and tips. She works at Johnson and Mathers, this office building downtown as an executive assistant. She just moved in here. There are one bedroom houses on the other side. She gave us her phone number, wanna invite her over here?"

"Sure, I'm curious to see…THE HUMAN!" the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Better not let Rhys hear that," Gwen said, pointing to him standing and talking to Pete at the grill.

"So, he is still human then?" Alan said.

"Yup, still trying to decide," Gwen said while Grace got her mobile out to call Patty. "I told Jack to leave him be though."

"That's a tall order considering it's Jack," the Doctor said.

"Well, Rhys is already a bit wary of living with him and the rest of the team without him followin' him around trying to make him a Time Lord," Gwen replied.

The Doctor sat down on another sofa while Alan put the bag and backpack on the ground and joined him. Tara wandered into the kitchen with Dorothy to see what her Mother, Rose and Jackie were doing.

"She'll come over," Grace said, hanging up and putting her mobile back in her pocket.

"Brilliant, we get to see "the human," Alan said ominously while they giggled.

"Are there any other interlopers in our territory?" the Doctor asked.

"If there are, they haven't wandered through here yet," Grace said.

Tara tapped the Doctor on the shoulder. He looked over and saw her holding a crystal bowl filled with peanuts.

"They wanted me to bring these out here," she said.

"For me? Thanks!" the Doctor said, seizing the bowl.

"They're for everyone, Daddy!" she said while they laughed.

"Oh, they are, oh. Sorry, I figured this big heap of peanuts was for my tummy," he said, setting them down on the coffee table.

He took a handful and pointed to the space beside him.

"A woman is coming over here from the other side of the housing development," the Doctor said to her. "She's a human named Patricia."

"Are you gonna change her?" Tara said.

They laughed.

"Yes, Tara, the moment she opens the door I'll hand her a crystal and tell her it's a fortune cookie and if she breaks it open she gets a fabulous fortune," he said with a wink. "Then I'll construct some sort of flame thrower device and just spray all the humans I see with the crystal power and make a new Gallifrey for us in no time. That way I don't have to waste time asking new people."

He frowned when Rain came over and sat a large glass plate down beside the peanuts. It had a round nut covered ball on it with some crackers and a butter knife.

"Okay, what is that thing?" Alan said, pointing to the nutty ball.

"It's a cheese ball. See, you take a bit of the cheese and when I say a bit, I mean a bit, not the whole ball, and you spread it on a cracker. Then you pop it in the hole in your face and chew…with your mouth closed, I might add."

Tara giggled when Alan and Rain stared at each other silently.

"I don't know if you know this, but when you're sarcastic, your pupils narrow ever so slightly giving you a slightly reptilian appearance," Alan said to her.

He snickered when Rain rolled her eyes and walked back to the kitchen.

"You just love being a bastard to her, dontcha?" Gwen said.

"Aw, she knows I'm only joking. She acts like a bastard to me as well. It's just a sibling thing," Alan said.

Rose came out of the kitchen, walked in front of Alan and plopped down on his lap while Tara giggled.

"So, nice to see ya again, Grace," Rose said.

"Hello? What's this? Why am I suddenly a chair here?" Alan said from behind her.

They laughed when Rose leaned back and yawned.

"Anyway, I hear we're having someone coming over to see us?" Rose said.

"Wish I could see. Seeing would be handy right about now," Alan said behind her.

Tara got up and sat down on Rose's lap. They giggled at Alan's grunt at the extra weight.

"You know, I may be a Time Lord but my bones can still break like a human, particularly my leg bones that are currently being sat upon by my wife and niece. Why am I suddenly being treated like a chair?"

"Where's Dot? I bet she's tired and needs to sit down," Rose said, looking around.

The patio door slid open and Jack walked in. He paused when he saw Alan.

"Having fun?" he asked him.

"No, I'm in pain because my legs are being mashed into the sofa, would you mind getting this weight off me?"

Jack walked over and gathered Tara up in his arms.

"Oh, thank you, now get the wife to move, please!"

There was a knock at the door.

"Are we expecting someone?" Jack said.

"Yes, we are," the Doctor said, getting up.

"Help, someone get the wife off me!" Alan said while they laughed.

He sighed when Rose got off him.

"Blessed relief from pressure," he sighed while she kissed his forehead.

The Doctor opened the door.

"Hello, are you Patty?"

"Yup, I am. Am I in the right place? Grace said you guys were having a party."

"Yes, we are. I'm the Doctor, welcome."

"The Doctor?" she said while the others giggled.

"Mm-hmm, the Doctor, won't you come in?"

"Okay…um…Doctor," she said while they laughed harder.

Grace got up and went over to her.

"Hi, great to see you again. Let me introduce you to everyone else," she said while the Doctor shut the door.

She went around the room introducing everyone.

"And this is Alan," Grace said when they got to him.

"Hello, Patty."

"You're his twin, I take it," Patty said, pointing to the Doctor.

"Yup, I'm his younger twin brother."

She gave him a wry grin.

"So if he's the Doctor, why didn't your mother name you the Nurse?" she said.

Everyone laughed while Alan grinned at that.

"I don't know, but that's a nifty idea. I'll have to start referring to myself as that when we meet people," he said.

Grace introduced her to everyone else in the room and then went outside to introduce the others.

"The Nurse, I like that," Jack said when they went outside. "You really should think of changing your name to that."

"Nah, I think that's more Rainy's title than it is mine," Alan said.

Dorothy passed by the sofa and Alan threw his arm across her path.

"Toll road, pay the toll," he said.

"Huh?" Dorothy said, looking at him.

"You come through here, you gotta pay the toll and the toll for you is a kiss for me, so pay up."

He puckered up his lips and everyone laughed when Dorothy turned and went the other way.

"Fine, be that way. I'll collect what's mine sooner or later," Alan said.

They laughed when Dorothy came around the other way and climbed up on the Doctor's lap.

"Bright spark," Martha said when the Doctor put his arms around her and leaned her back against him.

Alan leaned in.

"Can I still have a kiss?" he said to her.

Dorothy stared at him for a moment and then kissed him.

"Ah, thank you, Doodlebug, that was delightful," he said, leaning back.

He felt something being draped around him and looked down to see an apron on his chest. He looked up at Rose.

"Come along, husband, we need some help in the kitchen," she said.

"Yeah and you have help in there, I'm relaxing."

Rose came around and grabbed his hand, trying to pull him up.

"Come on, if you help, I'll let you nibble on some of the food."

"You mean I get first dibs on some things?"

"If you come and help us."

"Okey-dokey," he said, getting up and following her.

"How much ya wanna bet the food will be gone by the time he gets done?" Grace said.

"Nah, the women will be in there to monitor his snacking and…"

He trailed off when a celery stick with ranch dressing on the end was suddenly dangled in front of his eyes. He glanced up and saw Rain standing over him, winking.

"Is this a lure to get me into the kitchen as well?" he said.

"No, this is me being a nice woman and feeding you."

The Doctor grinned and took it from her while she walked around the sofa and sat down next to him. He gave her a grateful kiss on the cheek, broke the celery stick in half, smeared some of the ranch dressing on the other end and gave it to Tara.

"So, this Patty seems like a nice woman," Rain said, gesturing to her while she sat outside at one of the patio tables chatting with Mingxia, Awinita, Donna, Lee and Julie.

"She is, I haven't talked to her very much since I've had to work but she's nice," Grace said. "I have to ask her if anyone else is living over there now, I've only seen her and that's because she decided to take a walk over here one day."

"We oughta start doing that some evenings," Rain said to the Doctor. "Just walk around and see if others are living in here."

"Is that what domesticized people do?" the Doctor said.

She rolled her eyes.

"He feels that since he has a house now, he has to pretend to be domestic," Rain said. "He and Alan have already started acting like they're from the 1950's or something."

"Can I help it if I want a beer, crisps and a paper when I get home to my house?" he said. "I have a house, might as well act like I live in it."

"Yeah and I want you to wear pearls while you vacuum our floor, Rose!" Alan said loudly. "Isn't that what 1950's housewives do?"

"Alan, belt up and fix the vegetable plate," they heard Rose reply.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After everything was done, everyone grabbed a plate and cup and ate. There were hot dogs, burgers, salad, French fries, the vegetable plate, a cheese plate and assorted soft drinks, milk and tea. The Doctor sat in the living room with Alan, Rain, Rose, the children and Martha. The Doctor glanced around and saw Mickey was outside at a table talking with Gwen, Ianto and Jack. He cleared his throat.

"So," he said casually to Martha," how d'ya like living with the rest of your team?"

"It's alright. Takes a bit getting used to but we get along," she replied.

"Even Rhys?" he said.

She chuckled.

"Yeah, I think he's finally adjusted to us. We still have your dogs over there. I'll go and get them as soon as we're done eating."

"Gee, will they even remember us?" Alan said.

"I bet they will. I don't think anyone or anything could forget someone like you," Martha said to him.

"What about you though? Have you adjusted to working with Jack and the others? I mean, you and Mickey are the newcomers so it must have been odd for you and him to join them when they've worked together for years."

"Yeah, but we adjusted quickly. I'd already worked with them once and after Owen died, I just became his replacement just like Mickey replaced Tosh."

"Do they ever talk about them?" Alan said.

"At times, I think they're still coming to terms with it. It was a bit of a shock for all of them and I still think they're going through a bit of adjustment with us. But Jack's been wonderful and very patient with us. I'm glad I joined and I think Mickey's also glad."

"Do you like working with him?" Rose said. "I mean, having dated him I know he can be a bit difficult to be around at times but he's also very sweet."

"He is. You're right about both things but I can be a bit stubborn too so I have no room to complain when he wants to do something his way. But I don't have as much trouble with him as Jack does."

"Jack and him fight?" Alan asked.

"They don't really fight but they do have disagreements. I've listened to him and Jack and from what they told me, he's come a long way. He used to be a bit of a wimp."

Rose shot the Doctor and Alan a look when they snickered.

"Oh, come on, Starlight. He was a bit of a wimp back then," Alan said.

Rose rolled her eyes.

"Okay, yes, he was."

"With that girly scream of his," the Doctor muttered.

Rose sighed angrily when both of them sniggered.

"Ah, yes, room full of vacuum packed rats, AIEEEEEEE!" Alan said.

They chortled while Rose sighed.

"When was this?" Martha said.

"Oho, Mickey boy didn't tell ya about the Krillitaines?" Alan said.

"No. Why? He screamed like a girl?"

"Honestly," the Doctor said, holding up his hand. "His shrill little scream makes Dot here sound like a baritone."

"Oh he is not that shrill, Doctor," he said while he and Alan giggled.

Alan grinned, blocked out the people who weren't in the room with them and projected his memory of the scream into their minds.

"Hear that Alvin and the Chipmunk voice in the background while Brother, Rose and Sarah were standing there? That's Torchwood's finest," he said while the Doctor laughed.

Martha's eyes widened in shock. She turned and looked at Mickey still talking with the other members of Torchwood while the Doctor and Alan laughed.

"I've never heard him scream like that," Martha said.

"Oh, he's screamed some more since then?" Alan said gleefully. "Can you show us some memories in return?"

"Um, no, I don't think I better," Martha said, turning back around. "I'd like to keep my good standing within the team. I don't want Mickey finding out I showed you a memory of him screaming and having him mad at me."

Alan glanced at the Doctor and quickly blocked his mind.

_Might as well lay the proverbial cards on the table_, he thought to him before dropping the block.

"So…do you fancy him then?" Alan asked her.

Martha was taken aback while all of them waited for her response.

"Well, I do, yeah," she said. "I mean, he's a nice bloke and I love working with him. But…"

She lowered her voice.

"I don't know if he fancies me," she said.

The adults glanced at each other.

"Are you afraid to ask him?" Rose said.

"A bit. After Tom…"

"Yeah, but…if you want my opinion, I think he's different," the Doctor said. "I mean, the boy used to be a bit dim and a bit timid but he has come a long way since I first met him and I don't think he's as married to his work as Tom is. I mean, obviously, he's here with us. Would Tom have done that?"

"No, probably not," Martha conceded.

She looked back at him through the glass door, laughing and joking with Jack, Gwen and Ianto.

"Why don't you ask him?" Amelia said.

She looked at her.

"I s'pose I could but if he said no, it'd be a bit awkward livin' with him," Martha said to her.

"Then you could come live with us and ma," Opal said while they laughed.

"Or go live in one of the empty houses," the Doctor teased. "But I don't think it'd be like that. Even if he did say no, I don't think the living situation would suddenly become intolerable. I don't think Jack would tolerate that anyway. If you ask me, I say go for it, what have ya got to lose? You're single and so is he and I know he's been just as unlucky in love as you have. You never know until ya try, Martha. Come on, you've faced Daleks and Sontarans, you can ask Mickey if he fancies ya."

Martha grinned.

"I will but I'll wait till we're alone," she said.

"Really? You mean we can't all stand around and gawp at ya like we're watching a soap opera?"

"No, Alan, you can't," she said while they laughed.

"Darn, I was hoping for the Gallifreyan version of Eastenders or something," Alan said to the Doctor.


	205. Chapter 205

Chapter Two Hundred and Five

After eating everyone gathered in the living room to watch Tara open her presents. The Doctor grinned when he noticed Martha was standing right beside Mickey while they watched. In the interim, Martha had gone and retrieved the dogs from their house and after a joyful reunion; Rory and Blizzard were resting on Alan and the Doctor's laps while Barney rested beside Dorothy on the floor. She received clothes, new Nike tennis shoes, cards, credit gift cards to shopping centers and toy shops and a stuffed zebra and snow white teddy bear. Tara thanked everyone while Rain and Rose scooped up her stuff before Barney chewed on it. Then, they dimmed the lights and brought out a birthday cake with twelve lighted candles. Everyone sang happy birthday to her and cheered when she blew out the candles with one breath. Rose took the cake back to the kitchen and all the women went with her to cut up the cake and pass it out along with chocolate ice cream. While they were doing that, the Doctor noticed tears in Tara's eyes. He put Blizzard down on the floor and knelt down to her, embracing her while he put up a block around her mind.

_Are you crying because you're happy?_ He thought.

_Yes._

_Good, I'd rather have tears of joy than of sadness. You deserve this, my Star. I'm glad you're here with us now._

_Me too, Daddy._

He grinned and kissed the tears off her cheeks while he dropped the block. While he did that, Alan leaned down and frowned.

"Oi, I can't stand watery cheeks, it makes me sad," he said.

She giggled when he kissed her cheeks.

"Bleck, salty tears taste bad but I'm happy to Hoover them up for ya," he said, giving her a hug. "And now you have to go to school, whee."

She made a face and he laughed.

"Yeah, but you'll like it there, lots of new friends," he said.

"Well, actually, Brother. I've been thinking about getting her a private tutor at first until she's caught up with her reading and writing and maths. I really don't want her to go to school and get teased for being illiterate."

Alan nodded.

"Yeah, I agree. You need a little one on one attention at this point to get you caught up with others of your age. Then you can go to school and have fun," he said.

"Can I still go with you?" she asked the Doctor.

"Yes, but remember our agreement. I want you to get your education as well, alright?"

She nodded. The Doctor looked up and thanked Rain when he took the plates of cake and ice cream from her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After the party, everyone said their goodbyes and went back to their houses for the night. After they took Tara's stuff into her and Dorothy's room, Alan and Rose settled down to watch the holo-television and the Doctor and Rain went out on the porch to sit on the porch swing. Blizzard and Rory rested nearby and slept while the suns slowly sank into the sky.

"Been quite a day," the Doctor said.

"Yup, Thete, it was wonderful," Rain said.

"Heh," the Doctor laughed.

"What?" Rain said.

"You haven't called me that in awhile. Which is because we really haven't had a moment alone until now."

"Except for the dogs," Rain said.

"Yeah, well I trust the dogs aren't gonna blurt out your name for me," the Doctor said. "And if they do blurt it out, I'm gonna find a manager, take them on tour and make money off of them."

He sighed and closed his eyes while Rain lay against him.

"I s'pose I should take Tara, Amelia and Opal into the city tomorrow to find out how to enroll them in school and get a tutor. Unless Patience has already enrolled her children in school…"

He spoke to her telepathically and asked her.

_Yes, I enrolled them, Doctor. Do you need to enroll Tara?_ She thought back.

_Well, I wanted to get her a tutor at first and have her learn at home so she's not behind everyone in her class,_ he thought. _Would the school know where I could find a tutor?_

_I think so, just come over in the morning and I'll give you the information,_ Patience thought.

O_kay, thanks Patience, _he thought.

_Now my children are asking me if they can have a tutor,_ Patience thought. _I just told them no so now they're bellyaching._

The Doctor and Rain laughed along with everyone else in his head.

_Can I have a tutor too, Doc? _Jack thought. _I need to brush up on my ABC's!_

_You find your own tutor then, Jack,_ the Doctor thought back.

Tara came out on the porch. She petted Blizzard and Rory when they woke up and came to her side.

"Is Dot getting a tutor too, Daddy?" she asked him.

"Um…I think she's a bit young, right? I mean…help me out, Dear. You know this stuff better than I do."

"They might have preschools here where she can go and play with other kids and learn."

Maddie, do you want me to find Dot a preschool? The Doctor asked.

Madison came out on the porch.

"You can if you want. I think Dot might benefit from going to preschool," she said to him.

"Okay, I'll ask the school where I can find one," the Doctor said.

Alan and Rose came outside with Dorothy. While Alan closed the door, Rose thought to Jackie.

_Mum, you want Tony to go to nursery school as well if the Doctor can find one_? She thought.

A moment later, Jackie opened her door and walked down her steps. She came across to their house.

"Sorry, I like face to face chatting a bit better than telepathy," she said to Rose. "I realize it's easy for you to sit here and think to everyone without movin' but I still need to get used to it. Yes, if you can find a good nursery school, then try to get Tony enrolled as well. Even though there are other children here, they need to find others their age and start makin' friends. You're gonna have someone tutor her at home then?"

"Yeah, to start out. I'm afraid she might be teased if she went to a proper school," the Doctor school.

Jackie rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I agree, some children are cruel and she's had enough cruelty in her life. But if you wanna travel with them, Maddie, I can mind the children till you get back."

"Thank you, Jackie. I'm gonna stay here for awhile just till Dot gets adjusted and Tara too but I will go back from time to time. Time traveling is way too fun."

"I'm glad you think so. I've had a few so-called adventures with him and I've had more than my fill of it. I only changed so I could be with my daughter and son. I'm don't fancy fighting monsters like they do so if you need someone to look after the children, I'll be here. I also told Patience that and I know Francine and John and Wilf and Tim will do it as well. They're the ones that will be stayin' home for the most part. And if you do find someone else and want to go on a date, we'll baby-sit then too."

"Thanks, Jackie."

"So, is Pete having any success with the Vitex?" the Doctor asked.

"He's trying. He's been askin' around and I think he has a few people who might be interested in marketin' it."

"And these people will be able to market it around the empire?" Alan asked.

"I think so, yeah. Which is nice since Pete will now have more planets to sell to. That's another reason why he liked comin' here. He gets to see his daughter and he can grow his business and make it bigger than it was before. He…oi, yes, I see ya," she said, rubbing Blizzard as she nudged her legs. "And they're gettin' bigger as well."

"I know, it's amazing how much they've grown just in the time we were in Florida," the Doctor said. "Blizz, stop that, heel!"

Blizzard went over to the side of the swing and lay down at the Doctor's command.

"You got them trained, yeah?" Jackie said.

"Yup, we took them to a good training academy when we first got them. We didn't want them running out of the TARDIS the moment we opened the door and getting killed. And both of them have more than earned their keep now protecting the TARDIS."

"Rose said they stopped some men from coming inside," Jackie said. "I'm glad. Anything to keep you lot safe out there is fine with me. Listen, I better get back over and make sure Tony hasn't destroyed the house. Thank you for taking him with ya."

"No problem, we loved having him with us," the Doctor said.

"What time do you wanna come get him tomorrow?"

"Not sure, early morning probably, around 8 or 9."

Jackie nodded. She gave everyone hugs and waved before she walked back over to her house.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Later that night, both couples decided to try out their new beds. Both of them went in their rooms and closed the doors while Madison watched TV with Tara and Dorothy. They undressed and got into their beds together. The Doctor and Rain lay together, the Doctor was staring up at the ceiling while Rain lay with her head on his chest. She started giggling.

"What, Latara?" he said, amused.

"I'm just wondering if you're freaked out by this and thinking about running back to your TARDIS," she teased.

"The thought had occurred to me, yeah," he said with a grin. "I'm in a room in a bed in a house and it's mine. Who would have thunk it. Me in a house in a bed staring up at my ceiling?"

Rain giggled.

"Just relax and don't panic, Thete," she said.

"I'm trying. Are my little hearts beating out of my chest?"

She smiled and listened.

"Nope, they're as calm as could be," she said.

"Oh, that's odd, I figured they'd be in severe arrhythmia by now, ah well, give em time. They'll soon learn where I'm at."

_Brother, is this odd to you?_ Alan thought to him.

They both laughed.

"Now see, I'm not the only one ill at ease here," he said, winking.

_Yeah, we were just lying here discussing how odd this is,_ he thought.

They grinned when they heard Madison and Tara laughing in the living room.

_Why is it odd, Daddy?_ Tara thought.

_Because, my Star, I'm not used to being in a bed that's not on my TARDIS. I haven't lived in a proper house in over a thousand years and even then I was barely home so both me and your uncle are a little weirded out by this. _

_Do you need me to come over and hold your hand? _Jack thought.

_No, Harkness, _the Doctor though while everyone in the house laughed. _I'll be fine in a few minutes, I don't need everyone in Little Gallifrey over here holding me hand. _

_Are you sure, Bro, we have nothing better to do right now, _Awinita thought.

_No, that's okay, Awinita, we're fine and dandy right now, _the Doctor thought.

_Okay, we'll go back to watching The Fast and the Furious on the Classic Movies channel, _she thought.

Rain laughed.

_Really, that's a classic movie now?_ She thought.

_Yeah and so is Saw 3, that was on before it_, Awinita thought back.

"Ugh! Sounds like this classic movie channel needs to get a better batch of movies," the Doctor said to Rain. "I can't believe they're over there watching that junk, ugh!"

"Well, just concentrate on me and don't think about it," Rain purred.

"Hmm, much better idea," he said.

He waggled his eyebrows and rubbed her back while they began to kiss one another.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Come on, Alan, just relax and stop thinking about the fact that you're in a house," Rose said to him while they lay in bed.

"I can't help it, Starlight. I'm used to our bed inside the TARDIS. I'm used to her rumbling and grunting and creaking while we make love. It's kinda like white noise to me. You heard Brother, he's just as uneasy as I am."

"Yes, but apparently the two of ya weren't uneasy enough to buy a house and live here. You might as well get some use out of this room since you don't sleep all that much.

Alan turned on his side and faced her.

"Can I ask ya something, Starlight?"

"Sure, what?"

"That video we saw. That family we had, do you want that?"

Rose ran her finger down his bare chest while she thought.

"I s'pose I do. I wouldn't mind having a family of our own but I don't know if I'm ready yet. I mean, we have to bring them up and that means one or the both of us would have to stay here for awhile. And you will stay here with me, I'm not bringin' them up by myself while you go zooming through time and space with your Brother."

"He's leavin' Dot and Tara behind."

"Yes, but he's coming back to see them."

"Well, so would I," Alan said, amused. "I'm not gonna kick ya out the door and tell Brother to go before you could get back in. I would like to be a father to my children whenever we do have them…or find them…or they find us or whatever happens that brings them into our lives."

"Seriously, you really do wanna be a father?"

"Yes, Starlight, I wanna be a father. My question is do you want it?"

"I do. I'm just afraid of being a horrible mother."

"What? What is that s'posed to mean?"

"Leavin' them behind."

"So is my Brother a bastard for leavin' his kids behind to go off into time and space?"

"No, I s'pose not."

"Then why are you? Because you're the mum, is that it? The whole must nurture the children every second kind of thing?"

"Well, yes, I mean I'm their mum and I wanna be there for them."

"Yes but there are other people in our lives who can help out. You heard Jackie. Don't you think she'd look after our kids as well?"

"Yes, I'm just afraid they'll hate me for leaving them behind until they come of age."

"Oh for heaven's sakes, Rose, they won't hate you. They didn't look like they hated you on the video. They were sitting with both of us; they weren't forty feet away giving you hateful looks. Just don't worry about it; you'll be a tremendous mother. Stellar, absolutely wonderful. And our kids will love you, even the Ulu one who'll probably be able to blend into the wall and hide from ya when it's her bath time."

He kissed her.

"You, Rose Timelord, will be a wonderful mother to our children just like Brother and Rain will be wonderful parents to Tara and Dot and Jenny and this Emi child they're gonna get. And I'm not gonna leave ya behind to raise them yourself. I wouldn't want that anyway. I love kids too much to sit on the sidelines. Make a good teacher, remember?"

Rose nodded and he kissed her lips.

"Now, future mummy, how about you and I engage in a little activity that would normally make the sort of children we're talking about if we weren't both sterile?"

She giggled and nodded. Alan grinned, kissed her and began to stroke her mind along with her body.


	206. Chapter 206

Chapter Two Hundred and Six

"Ooo," Awinita and Mingxia said when Donna came down the stairs in a black evening dress and heels.

Donna stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned around slowly while they admired her.

"Oh yeah, ready for a hot date with Lee?" Awinita said.

"Very ready," Donna said. "The Doctor and Alan aren't the only ones who'll be snoggin' people tonight."

"Are ya gonna ask him to change?" Mingxia asked.

"I don't know. I know what the video said but that could be ages from now."

"Not really since Lee looked the same as he does now," Mingxia said.

"Yeah, but I don't wanna put pressure on him," Donna replied.

"Just ask him hypothetically," Awinita said. "Say something along the lines of if you had a chance to be a Time Lord, would you want to be one?"

"Yeah and if he says yes, you could show him the crystal," Mingxia said. "If you have a crystal, that is."

"I do, the Doctor gave me one," Donna said.

She sighed and sank down in a brown recliner beside the sofa.

"I hope this works out. It's an odd way to start a relationship, being trapped in a virtual world with him as my fake husband," she said.

"Yeah but maybe you were placed with him because they read your minds and saw you compatible," Mingxia said. "I mean, there has to be some reason you were placed with him, right?"

Donna thought about that.

"I s'pose you're right. That Doctor Moon was trying to make me think he was my husband."

"And he was the one who was guarding the database, right?" Awinita said. "Which means he could look into your minds and place people with each other."

Julie came out of her bedroom on the ground floor.

"I agree, Donna, I don't know the whole story yet but you and Lee make a cute couple," she said, putting her long red hair up in a ponytail. "I think you're just nervous about asking him. But once you do that and he changes, you'll probably wonder what all the fuss was about."

"Do you need help arranging your things, Sis?" Awinita asked Julie.

"Nah, I'm about done, Awinita, thanks," she said. "I'm just coming out here for a glass of milk while I take a break. You look great, Donna."

"Thanks, Julie," she said, smiling.

Julie went in the kitchen and poured a glass of milk. She walked out and sat down on the sofa beside Mingxia.

"Fast and the Furious still on?" she asked Mingxia.

"It's about over. The Empire Strikes Back is on next," she replied.

"Good job I'm going out. I've seen that a dozen times," Donna said.

They heard a honking horn.

"There he is, wish me luck," Donna said, grabbing her purse off the coffee table.

They wished her luck and waved while she walked out the door.

"Here's hopin'," Awinita said when she closed the door.

She and Mingxia went to get a couple glasses of Coke before the next movie started.

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In the Torchwood team's house, everyone was relaxing for the night while they prepared to watch The Empire Strikes Back.

"I love how all these movies are considered old, old classics now," Jack said. "Especially The Fast and the Furious."

Yes and it's interesting that the host in between the movies just informed us that Vin Diesel will win three Oscars before he dies at the age of 95," Ianto said.

"Awfully quiet without the dogs here," Gwen said from the kitchen.

"Yeah, well they're probably busy watching the Doctor and Rain having sex now," Jack said.

"And next up on Earth's Classic Movies, we have a classic sci fi movie from 1980," the host said while she sat in a red leather chair on a set designed to look like a living room. "This is The Empire Strikes Back, the second of George Lucas's Star Wars movies, although it's actually the fifth in the saga, it was the second one made after the blockbuster Star Wars in 1977. Considered the best of the series, it introduced the popular character, Yoda…"

"You know, a pizza sounds good right about now," Jack said.

"I'll get it if you phone ahead and order it," Mickey said.

Martha, who was sitting in the chair beside him, suddenly had an idea.

"Let me go with you then," Martha said to Mickey. "I've seen this a thousand times so I won't miss anything."

Mickey shrugged.

"Sure, come on then," he said.

"I'll order some pop too if Martha's going with you," Jack said, looking through the phone book for the number. "Go ahead and go, by the time you get there, it'll be ready since all they have to do is hydrate it."

Mickey nodded. He beckoned to Martha and she went and got her purse and followed him out the door.

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"Is this film any good?" Jenny asked while she and Amber prepared to watch The Empire Strikes Back.

"Oh yeah," Amber said, stroking Katie while she lay in her lap. "It's a lot better than the first three movies in the series."

Grace yawned and came down the stairs. She was wearing a white t-shirt and black shorts. She paused on her way to the kitchen.

"Odd that Jenny is here after being gone so long," she teased.

"Yeah, we wondered if we were gonna have to rent out her bedroom," Amber said with a wink.

"Might as well, I won't be using it that much," Jenny said.

Grace petted Katie while she sat down beside Jenny.

"Can't believe the Doctor turned into a cat for awhile," Grace said.

"Yeah, that's freaky," Amber replied. "Kinda sounds like a skinwalker. In fact, I think Rain mentioned George turned into a panther when he attacked Alan."

Jenny nodded.

"Yeah, we saw his memory about it," she said. "According to Dad, he looked like one but didn't have the snout or tail or ears and no fur. So just picture him as a cat with the nose, eyes, fangs, claws and black skin."

Grace frowned.

"Okay, trying to imagine that," she said. "I'm just glad they didn't hurt Donna or Tara."

"Me too," Jenny said. "I understand their wanting to ensure the survival of their species, but at least Dad asks people if they want to change, he doesn't just force them to do it and Dad had even more justification for keeping his kind alive."

They watched while Leia kissed Luke while she was recovering in the med bay.

"Um…incest anyone?" Amber said.

"Yeah, but she didn't know that at the time," Grace said.

"Why? Are they related?" Jenny asked.

"Yeah, brother and sister, but you don't find that out until the movie after this one," Amber said. "Apparently George Lucas planned all of them from the start so I guess he had the incest angle back when he first thought up Star Wars."

_Jenny?_

Jenny held up her hand when she heard Tara thinking to her.

_Yes?_ She thought.

_Can I come over and spend time with you?_

Jenny smiled.

_Sure, Sis, come over,_ she thought.

_Okay, I'll be over in a minute_.

_I'll unlock the door, just come on in,_ Jenny thought getting up from the sofa.

"I'm glad you guys found her. The poor girl, it's sick what they did to her," Amber said.

"I know, it's a good thing the Doctor didn't get a hold of them before the cops did," Grace said.

"Never mind Dad, I would have torn them limb from limb."

"Already protective of your new sister?" Grace said.

"Very. Tara was afraid to be sisters because I'm older than she is but I told her that we can still be close and I meant that. I want her in my life just as much as dad does."

They smiled when the door opened and Tara peeked inside.

"Hey, Tara, come on in," Amber said.

She came in holding a plastic mug in her hand.

Daddy heard me and fixed me a milkshake before I came," she said, shutting the door behind her.

"I had to drink those for awhile," Jenny said.

"They're not bad, they taste like chocolate," Tara said, sitting down beside her. "When did you drink them?"

"When Dad first found me again. I tried to do what Dad did and save planets and people but I was rubbish at it and I got in trouble with the Shadow Proclamation and they tried to hunt me down. I was forced to go into hiding and kept running to escape them and I got as thin as you are because I couldn't eat much."

"So it helped you?" Tara asked.

"Oh yeah, you'll get back to a normal weight soon, I promise," Jenny said.

"What are ya watching?" Tara said.

"The Empire Strikes Back," Grace said.

"Oh, I've seen parts of this before," Tara said.

"I've never seen it," Jenny said. "I haven't seen many movies, only ones Dad and the rest of the family have gotten."

"But you came out of Daddy, right? Like Uncle Alan did?"

"Yup, from his right hand."

"But, Uncle Alan got all Daddy's memories. Did you get that too?"

"No, Sis, I didn't get much of anything. The machine that made me didn't even make me a full Time Lady. I had two hearts but that was it. I was programmed to be a soldiers and that was all. So most of my memories were about fighting techniques and theories and history."

"And all you were supposed to do was fight and kill?" Amber said.

"Yes. And Dad didn't like that but he showed me I didn't have to kill people so he saved me before I became a killer and Dad and the others helped me become a normal younger woman which is why I'm here watching films instead of fighting on a battlefield."

Tara noticed Katie, she walked over and petted her.

"Who's this?"

This is Katie, our cat," Amber said.

"She's pretty," Tara said, petting the Siamese cat while she purred contentedly.

She went back to her spot and sipped her milkshake. Katie walked over to her, leapt up on her lap and she smiled while she petted her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Mickey and Martha sat in the pizza shop waiting for their order to come up. The shop was crowded and there were several orders in front of theirs.

"These hydrating pizzas, I wonder if they got the idea from Back to the Future?" Mickey said while they sat in a booth sipping polystyrene cups of Coke.

"Oh yeah, they had that scene in the film, didn't they?" Martha said. "Maybe they did. This is an Earth colony after all."

Mickey chuckled.

"Hard to believe we're here. In three years, I went from London to an alternate London to Cardiff and now here."

"Yeah, amazing how much I've changed since I met the Doctor two years ago," Martha said. "Meeting him was the best thing that ever happened to me."

"Yeah, same here. Although I didn't think so at the time. I thought he was just some nutter trying to come between me and Rose. But Rose and I were heading for a breakup before he came along."

"Well, maybe you were meant to find someone better," Martha said.

"Maybe, I haven't found that someone yet though," he said, shrugging.

"Same here, I thought I found my soulmate when I met Tom but I was wrong."

Tom was a wanker," Mickey said. "He was an idiot to let someone like you get away."

Martha raised her eyebrow.

"Really?" she said.

"Yeah, well, I mean you're a nice woman. Any man would be lucky to have ya," he said.

Martha smiled at that. She took a sip of her drink.

"You know, I found out that the Doctor found a video of us that was five hundred and twenty years in future."

Mickey's eyes boggled.

"Us? You and me?"

"Well, all of us. We were at the Doctor and Rain's wedding anniversary."

"Blimey, I mean I know we live that long now but still, hard to believe we're still around then. Did we look the same."

"Yes. And the Doctor said we have a little girl."

"We? You mean…us?"

Martha nodded.

"The Doctor told me you fancied me," she said after a short silence

Mickey grew silent and shifted uneasily.

"Look, Martha," he said. "I didn't want you to know. I mean, you'd just broke up with Tom and…"

He trailed off when she laid her hand over his hand.

"Mickey, I fancy you too," she said.

He stared at her.

"You do?"

She smiled and nodded. Mickey hesitated a moment and then he leaned in and gave her a kiss. He was going to deepen it when they heard their number being called. They broke off the kiss and smiled as they took each other's hand, got up and went to the counter to get the pizza and soft drinks.

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Lee and Donna sat together in a posh restaurant. Lee was eating steak and baked potatoe while Donna ate grilled chicken and salad.

"This is a nice restaurant," Lee said.

"You oughta go to McDonalds here," Donna replied. "It's even posher than this place."

"Well, maybe we can go there on our next date," Lee said.

"Yeah," Donna said, nodding.

Lee stared at her. The light from the candle in the center of the table illuminated her face, making it glow. He touched her cheek.

"You're so beautiful, Donna," he said to to her.

"You really think so?"

"Course I do," he said. "I know we were thrown together in that virtual world but I've fallen in love with you in the real world and you are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life."

She blushed while he reached over and stroked her cheek.

"I just wish I could be with you if you're going to live hundreds of years," he said.

Donna perked up when she heard that.

"If you could become a Time Lord, would ya then?" she asked.

"Well, yeah, I love you, Donna. I would love to be with you for a very long time."

"Well, if that's what you want, there is a way."

Lee raised his eyebrow.

"There is?"

"Yeah."

She explained about Imiko and the crystals. Lee sat in a stunned silence for a few moments after she finished speaking.

"And this is why there are so many of your kind?" he finally said.

"Yes. The Doctor used to be the only one, the last of his kind. But Imiko gave him this gift, the ability to turn others into his kind. But he doesn't force people to do it, everyone who's gone through the change has decided to do this on their own and I'm offering you the same choice. I will love you whatever you decide but if you want to be a Time Lord, I can make it happen."

"You'd do that for me? You want me to change?"

"I'd love for you to change."

"Then, my Donna, I'll do it."

Donna smiled and kissed his lips.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tara leaned against Jenny while the four of them watched Empire Strikes Back. They looked over when they heard a knock on the door.

"Come in!" Amber called.

The door opened and the Doctor came inside.

"Hello, just wonderin' if Tara was stayin' over here tonight or coming back to our house so I know where to find her when we leave tomorrow."

"I'll come back, Daddy. I'm just watching Star Wars," Tara said.

"Okey-dokey, I…"

He trailed off when he suddenly felt a new mind entering his own. The Doctor examined it and grinned.

"Lee's changed, now only Rhys is left," he said.

_Doc, that was Lee, wasn't it?_ Jack thought.

_Yup, he's with us, now. So go and badger Rhys,_ he thought teasingly.

_Gwen, where are ya? Get Rhys to change!_ Jack thought to her. _He's the only human left!_

_No, there's Patty, _Julie thought.

_Patty isn't a part of the family, Julie,_ Jack thought. _I…_

_Jack, what is it? _The Doctor thought.

_News flash, Doc. Mickey and Martha are now a couple,_ Jack thought. _They came in the door and just informed us of that. _

_Bout time, _Awinita thought. _Now get Rhys to change!_

_If you lot want him to change, do it yourselves,_ Gwen thought.

_Okay! We will!_ Jack thought back.

_No, Jack, leave the man alone. We don't want him resenting us,_ the Doctor thought_. Let him change when he's ready._

_Bonkers, the lot of ya, _Jackie thought.

_Yes we are and proud of it!_ Alan thought back while everyone laughed.


	207. Chapter 207

Chapter Two Hundred and Seven

The next morning, the Doctor went over to Patience's house to get Amelia and Opal so he could take them over to their school. Alan and Rose decided to come along with them while Madison went with Jackie to take Dorothy and Tony to the zoo.

After receiving directions from Patience, the Doctor drove them into the city and found the school. It was a large four story white building that houses all grades from preschool up to 12th grade.

"That'll be handy. We can just enroll Dot and Tony here then," the Doctor said while they got out of the minivan.

They walked through a set of glass double doors into a large cheerful lobby that looked more like an office building than a school. A young woman in her mid-twenties with dark hair pulled back into a bun sat at a white wooden desk typing something on a computer. She smiled when they came up to the desk.

"May I help you?"

"Yes, these are my grandchildren. They're eight and ten years old and we wanted to see their classrooms. I also need to hire a private tutor for my daughter and enroll two three year olds in nursery school."

"Well, their classrooms are on the second floor, I can ask their teachers to give you a tour of the rooms. Not sure about a tutor though, what exactly does your daughter need help with?"

"My daughter was recently adopted by me. She was abused by a satanic cult and they never taught her to read or write and she's never attended school."

"Oh, you poor thing. Well, actually, what we can do for her is give her a condensed range of knowledge that are beamed through her eyes directly into her brain where she'll have instant understanding of everything that a 12th year old should normally know. We have to do that sometimes for aliens and humans who come here from other planets that also need to catch up to others in their grade levels. We can do that here today if you like. It doesn't take that long and she'll be at her grade level and can attend normal classes."

_Sounds a bit like the brain buffing you received in the nursery,_ Alan thought.

_Yes, it does. If they can give her instant knowledge, I'd rather do that than hire a tutor,_ the Doctor thought back.

"Sure, I'd like to do that," the Doctor said aloud. "If that means she'll be able to attend school with people her own age."

"Will it hurt?" Tara asked.

"No, Honey, it's completely painless and very quick," the woman said. "So if you want to go ahead and enroll her and your three year olds, we can perform the knowledge transfer and then all three children can tour their classrooms."

The Doctor nodded and took a clipboard with paperwork on it over to a nearby chair to fill it out.

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After filling everything out and receiving a couple of school schedules for the year, the receptionist, whose name was Clare, led them to a little room down the hall from her desk. Inside it were several brown leather chairs and a large white table with a black metal machine sitting on top of it. The machine was a box with two glass lenses in the front and a stool right in front of it. Beyond it was another door.

"Okay, Tara, just sit on the stool and look through the glass lenses and the machine does the rest," Clare said.

Tara sat on the stool while everyone else sat down in the chairs and waited. Clare went through the other door and a minute later came back carrying a small silver disc in her hand.

"This contains all the knowledge she should have learned by the age of twelve," Clare explained, showing them the disc. "That way she'll be ready to enter the 6th grade in three weeks time. Now, Tara, look into the box and sit still until I tell you to stop looking."

Tara looked through the lenses while she inserted the disc in a slot in the back of the machine and turned it on. There was a humming while a light shown through the lenses and Tara sat and stared at it quietly.

"The light is concentrated knowledge that's being beamed directly into her brain," Clare explained, stepping away from the machine.

"Cool," Amelia said.

The process took about ten minutes and then the light shut off. Tara blinked and turned on the stool when Clare told her they were done. She took the disc out and went back into the other room.

"How d'ya feel, Hon?" Rose asked.

"Smarter," Tara said.

"Spell house," the Doctor said.

"H…O…U…S…E," Tara said.

"What's the sum of eleven and twenty?" Alan said.

"Thirty one," Tara said.

"Hey, brilliant, it worked," Alan said happily.

Clare came back into the room with several papers that were stapled together and a pen.

"Tara, I want you to take this test to see if the process worked," she said, pushing the machine further back on the table.

She handed her the test and Tara spent twenty minutes filling in the answers. When she was done, Clare checked her answers and nodded.

"Every one of them is correct, you're ready for the 6th grade," she said while her family cheered. "And now that you've done that, we can take a tour of your classrooms."

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The seven of them toured the classrooms, meeting the teachers who were readying their classes for the school year. Opal's teacher's name was Miss Gantry and Amelia's teacher's name was Mister Snow. Both of them were young, articulate and very kind. Miss Gantry was a short, plump woman with a round face, black curly hair that came down to her shoulders and green eyes. Mister Snow was a black man who had an afro. He was muscular with piercing dark eyes and wore glasses with black frames. Both teachers showed them around their classrooms and explained the curriculum to the adults while the three children walked around on their own. Tara was thrilled when she read everything she could see without any help and she realized that she would look forward to attending school.

When they got to her classroom, they were surprised to find that her teacher was an alien. She had a bald, snow-white head, deep set black eyes and slits for nostrils. She smiled a lipless smile at them and shook their hands with her white hand that had long, spindly fingers.

"I am Azon. We Zor don't have surnames."

"Neither do we normally," the Doctor said, shaking her hand.

"And what species are you?"

"I'm Gallifreyan, a Time Lord. This is my daughter, Tara."

Azon smiled at her.

"Nice to meet you, Tara. I look forward to having you in my class."

Tara nodded and smiled. The Doctor put his hand on her shoulder while Azon showed them around her classroom.

"I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but 6th graders take a weekend school trip to Alphonius Metazon."

"Oh really?" the Doctor said. "What do you do there?"

"Well, part of the curriculum this year is alien cultures. So we're going there to see the ruins of the Klackton and also spend some time in Meta City touring the museums and historical sites."

"Lovely, when do you do that?"

"Halfway through the school year. It should be listed in your schedule but they'll also send a letter home closer to the time we leave. Everything is provided on the trip, room board and transportation."

"Brilliant. We got you enrolled just in time then," the Doctor said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Now see," the Doctor said to Tara when they left the building. "Even when you're aren't traveling with me, you'll still get to see another planet and have an adventure."

"I can't wait to go," Amelia said while they got into the minivan.

"Yeah, me too, but I like my teacher, she's nice," Opal added.

"Yup, they were all friendly," Alan said, getting in beside Tara. "I have a feeling you'll enjoy being here."

The Doctor got in the front with Rain while Rose climbed in behind Alan and sat with Amelia. They closed the doors and the Doctor looked at them.

"You lot wanna go get some ice cream?" he asked.

They nodded and he started the car.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They found an ice cream shop a few miles from the school and went inside. The shop was large with peach colored walls and linoleum floors. Along the left side were several tables and chairs and the right side was a large refrigerated case that held the huge tubs of ice cream and a counter with a cash register. The walls were filled with pictures of ice cream and people eating and enjoying ice cream along with a small plastic clock at the back that had a pink ice cream cone in the center of the clock face. Several men and woman worked behind the counter and case, making ice cream cones and sundaes for people. Above the case along the back wall was a large menu that listed all the ice cream flavors and what the shop offered. The Doctor stood with Tara and smiled while she read it.

"Nice to be able to read things properly, eh?" the Doctor said to her.

"Yes, I'm glad they did that for me."

"Me too. What do you want then?"

"Um…I want chocolate chip ice cream, Daddy."

"I want a banana split. I like bananas."

"Me too, Papaw," Amelia said.

"Well of course you do, you're the offspring of my son," the Doctor said with a wink.

They got in the queue that was waiting to order their ice cream. Alan stood behind Tara and bent over to her.

"What are you getting?" he asked her.

"Chocolate chip ice cream."

"Cone?"

"Yes."

"How many scoops?" he asked.

"Um…one."

"One? One? That's it? I'm getting twenty scoops of chocolate."

"No, you're not," Tara said, giggling.

"I most certainly am. I want my ice cream to be five feet tall so I can chase Rainy with it."

"I'll be getting a banana split then so I can shove the banana in your ear," Rain said, looking back at him.

"Can I help, Mommy?"

"Excuse me? Can you do what?" Alan said, putting his hands on her shoulders and leaning over to look at her.

"Help Mommy."

She giggled and she went to stand up beside Opal and Amelia while the Doctor ordered for them.

"Tara's threatening to injure the uncle who loves her, Starlight," he said to Rose who was standing behind him. "Are you gonna stand for that?"

Rose stared at him quietly.

"I said, are you gonna stand for that?"

She stared at him, trying to keep a straight face. Tara walked back towards him with her ice cream cone and hugged him with her free arm.

"I love you, Uncle Alan."

She walked away with the Doctor, Amelia and Opal who both had a scoop of chocolate ice cream on their cones.

Rose patted his shoulder.

"There, Dear, you're loved. Now get your twenty scoops of ice cream and relax."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they ate, they were driving back home when they noticed a tiny playground in a park. The Doctor stopped and they got out so the children could play for awhile. The playground included a swing set, slide and seesaw in the shape of a flying saucer and a large white box that turned out to be a motion simulator ride. The Doctor opened the door in the side after climbing up three metal steps. Inside the interior was dark and lighted with little lights positioned on all four corners. There were four rows of three seats and at the front was a large movie screen. Alan noticed a slot for a credit stick beside the door and stuck his inside it. After it was scanned a menu came on the screen and everyone climbed inside and put on seatbelts. The kids sat in the front while the Doctor, Rain and Rose sat behind them. Alan shut the door and sat in the seat behind Rose.

"What do we do, Papaw?" Opal said to him.

"I believe you have to pick one of the scenarios there," he said, pointing to the screen. "So you wanna try Roller Coaster, Space Flight, Aeroplane Ride or Happytown Train?"

The children debated for a moment and finally decided to try the roller coaster simulation.

"Press the little black button on the screen next to it," the Doctor said, pointing.

Opal touched the screen and the simulation started. They were in a roller coaster station and they could see the front of the front car of the roller coaster. The car started along the track and the motion simulator moved slightly to simulate the bumpy ride. When they reached the first hill, the box titled back. Tara looked back at the Doctor.

"This is really gonna be like being on a roller coaster?"

"Yup," the Doctor said.

And when we get to the loop-de-loop, the simulator will go all the way upside down," Alan said.

"Really?" Amelia said with wide eyes.

"No, Amelia, he's kiddin'" Rose said while Alan snickered.

The simulator titled forward when they sped down the hall. The four adults raised their arms and everyone whooped and hollered while the simulator rocked and went up and down in sync with the film. They groaned when they pulled back into the station and the lights came back on as the film ended.

"This is fun, let's do it again," Alan said.

He got out, scanned his credit stick and got back in while the menu screen came back up. He shut the door and fastened his seatbelt while the children debated what to do next.

"What's Happytown Train?" Opal said. "Let's see that one."

Amelia and Tara nodded and she touched the button onscreen. They sat back and stared at a cartoon train station. The side door opened and a cat dressed like a conductor came outside on the platform and waved at them.

"Hello there, I'm Moe, welcome to Happytown! ALL ABOOOOOOOOOARD!"

He walked off-screen and the train whistled and chugged out of the station. The simulator went back and forth while the train chugged along. The Doctor stared, wide eyed, at a happy faced sun who sang in the sky while trees with wide mouths sang along and cats and dogs and mice and rabbits dressed in human clothes sang and danced around the train.

"Okay, so far this is really daft and incredibly weird," Alan said. "I don't think I wanna live in Happytown after seeing this."

"You? A town where everyone's dancing and singing and you don't wanna live there? Are you serious?" Rain said while Rose snickered.

"Yes, well even I get tired of constant singing, dancing, soppy behavior," he replied.

The train rounded a bend and they saw more animals dancing and singing while they frolicked amidst candy canes, licorice sticks, gumdrops and gummi bears. They rounded another bend and saw a purple hippo wearing a pink ballerina outfit standing directly on the train tracks waving at them.

"Wait!" the hippo yelled in a falsetto voice, waving to them. "I wanna get onboard!"

The train stopped in front of her.

"Wow, the Happytown Train stops on a dime, that's impressive," Rain said.

"She was standing right in front of us so she could flag us down, isn't that a bit dangerous?" Rose said.

They watched while the hippo ran towards the train. They gasped when the simulator tilted sharply to the right while they heard a loud CREEEEEAK! Then the box became level again.

"Wow, they felt the need to simulate Purple Tutu Hippo getting on the train," Alan said while they laughed. "Imagine what would have happened if the Happytown Train crashed into her."

The train started up again. It came to a point where two sets of tracks split and went off to the left and right. The action stopped and buttons appeared over each track.

"Which way should we go? Choose our destination!" they heard Moe say. "I must warn you though, the track on the right leads to danger!"

"Oh, let's throw caution to the wind and take the dangerous route," Alan said.

"Okay," Amelia said, leaning forward to touch the right button.

"Okay, here we go, hold on to your hats!" Moe said while the train went down the right track.

"What? Moe didn't say something like, you git or turn back, you fool?" Rose said.

"Maybe they're too happy to say things like that in Happytown," the Doctor said.

They went up a small hill and then suddenly the box tilted forward while they plunged down to a deep tunnel set in a mountain. They went through the tunnel into darkness while the adults thrust their arms in the air and cheered. The train went around a bend and the interior was lit with an eerie light. They saw ghosts floating around and skeletons dancing and laughing evilly while they menaced the train.

"Okay, where are we? Why is Hades next to Happytown?" Alan said while they laughed.

"You wanted them to take the dangerous route," Rose said to him. "Maybe skeletons and ghosts is Happytown's idea of dangerous."

The train stopped in front of a group of skeletons who were blocking the track.

"Ought-oh, maybe it's time to throw Tutu Hippo at them. I bet she'd clear the way," Alan said.

"No, let Papaw get out and chase them away," Amelia said.

"Hey yeah, Dear, you're used to this kind of thing. Go fight the skeletons," Rain said, nudging him.

"Oi, Boney! Clear off!" the Doctor yelled at the screen. "Don't make me come out there and…"

He trailed off when the skeletons began to dance in formation and sing a scary song.

"Evasive maneuvers, Brother? They're trying to lull you into a state of complacency with their cute little song and dance?" Alan said while Rose and Rain giggled.

"No, they've got something up their sleeve…if they had sleeves," he said while the skeleton danced around.

The skeletons finished their song and dance and cleared the tracks while the train moved again.

"Okay, maybe that was the Hades Cabaret and they just wanted to perform for us," Alan said.

"I don't know which is worse, the singing animals or the singing bones," the Doctor said while the train chugged along.

They reached the end of the tunnel and the box tipped back while they went up a steep hill.

"Oh yeah, that was really dangerous all right," Rose said, rolling her eyes.

"It was dangerous compared to Happytown," Alan said. "Instead of enduring the horror of watching hippos in tutus dance and sing for ya, you get the horror of skeletons and ghosts dancing and singing for ya."

They heard the train puff out, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!" while it slowly went up the hill.

"Oh, I didn't know The Little Engine That Could lived in Happytown," Rain said.

They noticed while the train went up that there was a small squirrel sitting on a tree limb watching them.

"Why isn't he laughing and dancing and singing?" Rain said.

"Probably the lone depressed citizen of Happytown. That's why he's by himself out in the middle of nowhere. He's a social pariah now because he won't dance or sing," the Doctor said.

They reached the top of the hill and went back down.

"I KNEW I COULD, I KNEW I COULD, I KNEW I COULD!" the train said happily.

"I wonder why they always have trains saying this when they go up and down steep hills. They did that in Dumbo too," Rain said to the Doctor.

"Because deep down inside, every steam engine is insecure and have to talk to themselves to boost their self-esteem," the Doctor said.

"But why would there be an insecure train in Happytown?" Rain teased.

"I don't know, maybe for the same reason there's a suicidal squirrel," he said, winking.

"That squirrel wasn't suicidal, Papaw," Amelia said, looking back at him.

"It wasn't? Then why wasn't it dancing and singing and wearing a sailor suit, eh? Eh? Why, Amelia, why? Huh? Huh?" he said, poking her cheek repeatedly.

Giggling, Amelia turned back around in her seat and he continued to poke the top of her head while the children laughed.

"Huh?" he said, poking. "Why? Why wasn't he wearing a dinner jacket and singing O Come All Ye Faithful or the Macarena or something like that? Why was he just sitting there? Why? Hmmm? Hmmm? You're not answering me, Amelia, why?"

"I don't know!" she said while everyone laughed. "You're right, Papaw, he was suicidal, okay?"

"Okay, that's more like it," the Doctor said, stopping the poking and sitting back in his seat while they laughed. "You need to learn one thing. Agree with everything I say and life will go smoothly for us all."

He grinned and poked her on the head again while the train pulled into the station.

"Okay, Papaw, you're right!" she said.

"I'm not pokin' ya because of that, I'm just pokin' ya to be pokin' ya!" he said while the children giggled.

The movie stopped and the lights came back up.

"Wow, that was a long one," the Doctor said. "Long and disturbing. Makes me wonder what Space Flight and Aeroplane Ride will be like."

"Brother, if we're gonna see those shouldn't we phone Maddie and let her know where we are in case she's wondering why school registration is taking five hours?" Alan said.

"That's true. Especially since we weren't planning on taking these little fun diversions on the way home. Okay, I'll ring her and let her know where we're at before we see the next simulation."


	208. Chapter 208

Chapter Two Hundred and Eight

Maddie looked over when the door opened and everyone came inside.

"Well, there you are, did you enjoy the motion simulator?" she said.

"Yes, it was very psychedelic," Alan said, closing the door. "Especially the Happytown Train simulation. Somehow I can imagine that one is quite popular with people who consume illegal substances that bring about freaky hallucinations. And…our furniture got delivered, I see."

"Yup and Tara has her bed now."

"Ooo, let's go see," Alan said.

They climbed the stairs and went in her and Dorothy's room.

"Wow, that's beautiful," Rose said when they saw the white wooden bed. "Wish I had a bed like that when I was small."

"Mine, all mine," Alan said, plopping down on it.

"It is not, it's mine, Uncle Alan," Tara said, giggling.

"No, I want it. It's lovely," he said, laying down on it with his legs over the side. "I sat down first so I claim it for me. I'd plant a little flag on it except I don't have one so you'll just have to pretend and now I'm knackered, night all!"

The children giggled when he shut his eyes and snored loudly. Amelia walked over and poked his cheek.

"Get up, Lazy, this is Tara's bed."

Alan snored louder.

The adults laughed when the children giggled and tried to poke and smack him awake. Dorothy climbed up on the end of the bed and crawled around to his other side. She put her mouth by his ear and screamed. They bent over laughing when Alan jerked his body up and covered his ear.

"Oi, I'd like to keep my hearing in this ear for the rest of this regeneration," he said. "Blimey, you're shrill. I think we oughta staple ya to the wall and let you be the burglar alarm."

"Well, you wouldn't get up, Alan," Opal said.

"Yes, but I was only havin' ya on, that doesn't mean you can burst my flippin' eardrum," he said, getting up. "Wow, I'm still getting a ringin' in me ear. Now I really do need to lie down just to get rid of the massive migraine. Phew! Little screamer that one."

"Dot, say you're sorry for doing that to him," Madison said.

"I'm sorry," Dorothy said, sliding off the bed and walking over to him.

"Apology accepted, Doodlebug," he said, picking her up. "I know you're just playin' around with the others. But in future, keep it to a dull roar, eh?"

He looked down at Tara.

"And you…this is a beautiful bed and I hope you'll enjoy it but I want use of it every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday in months with an R in them. Although…do they even have the same names for weeks and months here?"

"Yes, they do, thankfully," Madison said.

"Good, because I really don't want to stop and remember which day is Zoomba or Swittersday or something like that," he said while they went out into the hall. "And we enrolled the children, three weeks from today they start school including Miss Brain Download here."

"I need to go find a college then and enroll. If Dot will be at preschool during the day, I can take some classes so I can get out of the house and get a degree so I can work somewhere that isn't fast food," Madison said while they went down the stairs. "And Doctor, I need to show you something while you're here."

"Oh? What?" he said.

She led them over to the sofas. The Doctor grinned and patted the dogs' heads when they got off them and ran over. Madison turned on the holo-television and they noticed there were ads and announcements while soft music played in the background.

"I've been looking through the channels and this is the public access channel, I think," she said. "It has local shows on sometimes and ads and announcements. It actually has a menu you can bring up from the remote and I need to show you this because I happened to be channel surfing and saw this commercial. It concerns you."

"Me?" the Doctor said.

Madison nodded and worked the remote while everyone else sat down and waited. She accessed the menu and scrolled through thumbnails of all the ads and announcements before she found the one she was looking for. She highlighted the box, pressed it and they saw a heavyset, Caucasian man with brown thinning hair sitting on a stool in front of a plain ecru colored backdrop.

"Hi, I'm Ernest, president of the Doctor Watchers Society," he said.

"The what?" the Doctor said.

"We here at the Doctor Watchers Society admire that legendary Time Lord, the Doctor, and all his exploits. If you are interested in finding out more about him, come to our monthly meeting tonight at 8 p.m. at the Nova Metropolitan Theater. Refreshments will be served and there will be a presentation on this most mysterious of men, the Doctor. So if you're in the area, drop by and join us for a stimulating discussion on…the Doctor."

The Doctor groaned when the ad ended.

"If you want to go and listen to them talk about you, I looked up the address on the local map quest thing in the TARDIS and I have the directions to it," Madison said.

"How do they know about you here, Daddy?" Tara said.

They chuckled when the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"You remember what Malcolm said to me, my Star?" he said.

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm more well known here in this universe. For almost a thousand years, I've gone around time and space saving people and planets and because of that, lots of people know me and revere me and some people who apparently have nothing better to do with their time form little…clubs. Great, so this means I'll have to disguise myself whenever I go out so berks like Ernest won't be badgering me for autographs and photos?"

"Well, if you go tonight, wouldn't they recognize you anyway?" Rain said.

"You could use the imager and just go there for a laugh," Alan said.

The Doctor ran his hand across his hair and down the back of his head while he thought about it. A smile spread across his face.

"You know what? I believe I will go just to see what they have to say about me," he said. "Might be amusing."

"Blast, I guess I can't join in the fun then since I look like ya," Alan said.

"Not necessarily. I can ask the TARDIS to duplicate the imager and we could both go incognito."

"Can I go, Papaw?" Amelia asked.

"Yeah, I wanna listen to what they say about you," Opal said.

"I don't see why not," the Doctor said, shrugging.

Alan snickered.

"Let's send out a call to our brethren, maybe all of them will wanna go and have a giggle with us," he said.

The Doctor smirked and telepathically contacted everyone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Everyone accepted except for Jackie, Pete, Francine and Patience. Jackie volunteered to baby-sit Dorothy so they dropped her off there before hopping on the local bus and going downtown. Both the Doctor and Alan were using the imagers to disguise themselves. The Doctor was a black man, slightly overweight with a tight afro, red t-shirt, black trousers and black trainers. Alan was a middle-aged ginger haired Caucasian with pierced ears, nose and eyebrow. His long hair was pulled back in a ponytail and a pair of large glasses with brown frames was shoved up his nose and black clothes and shoes. Rose giggled at his appearance.

"You look very odd, dear," she said.

"I'm trying to look odd; I'm a geeky Doctor worshipper. I can't go as myself, you know."

"Actually, you shoulda gone as yourself just so you and he could give speeches to your devoted fans," Jack said.

"Yeah and confuse the crap outta them when they see two Doctors in the same building," Awinita added.

The bus stopped near the theater. They asked the driver exactly where it was and after he directed them to the building; they all got out and headed towards it.

"So…" River said. "Those of us who have traveled with you, are we allowed to tell them our stories?"

"Do you wanna be mobbed by a bunch of slobbering, obsessed fans?" Grace said to her.

"We don't have to say we actually traveled with the Doctor, just heard the stories somewhere from other people," Rose said.

They entered the theater. Inside was a large lobby with dark red carpeting and carvings of people and cherubs all over the faded tan colored walls. A Caucasian man with slicked back black hair, goatee and dark eyes walked over to them. His eyes were wide with shock.

"Are you all here for the Doctor Watchers meeting?" he said.

"Yes, we are," Rain said.

They noticed the gleeful look on his face.

"Wow, the ad on public access worked," he said. "I'm Randy. It's nice to meet all of you. There's punch and cookies on a table over in the corner. Help yourselves and then take a seat in the auditorium."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Okay, I understand now why he was so surprised to see so many of us," Awinita said.

They were sitting in a group near the back of the auditorium. The only other people in the room was a young bald headed black man who looked bored and a geeky looking white man with several zits on his face and greasy blonde hair who was sitting directly in front of the Doctor. The man turned and extended his hand.

"Bart," he said to him.

"I'm Tyler, Tyler Swashbuckler, nice to meet ya. This is my wife, Stormy and my daughter, Scarlett."

_Stormy and Scarlett? _Rain thought to him while everyone else tried to keep straight faces.

_Stormy is a derivative of Rain and Scarlett lived in Tara, hence the witty pseudonyms, _he thought back.

_Swashbuckler?_ Jack thought, amused.

The Doctor turned his head to look at him and shrugged while they giggled. He looked back at Bart.

"So, how long have you been a fan of the Doctor?" he asked him.

"Oh, I'm more than a fan, I'm an addict. I can't get enough of the Doctor's adventures. I search online just to find any tidbit I can. To me this is more than a hobby, it's a religion!"

The Doctor was stunned while his family fought to keep from laughing.

_All hail our Lord,_ Awinita said while they laughed telepathically.

"What about you? Are you just as obsessed?" Bart said with a gleam in his eyes.

"Oh yeah, the Doctor is a god to me," the Doctor said while the mental laughter increased. "I can't get enough of him. I paper my walls with pictures of him. I wish I was him in fact!"

"So do I!" Bart said happily.

He looked around and leaned in.

"Sometimes, I pretend I am him."

_Oh geez,_ Grace thought to them while they laughed telepathically. _Yup, you're right; this should be an interesting evening._

"Um, what would you do to…the Doctor if you saw him?" Tara said, uneasily. "Would you hurt him?"

_Yeah, good question, Tara,_ Julie thought. _Because I have a feeling he'd be on the Doctor slobbering on his face if he knew he was talking to him._

"Hurt him? I wouldn't hurt him. I love him."

The Doctor raised his eyebrow at that.

"How do you love someone you don't even know?" he said to Bart.

"I just admire him. He's a force for good in the universe. He's saved so many lives and traveled so far. He's just an incredible person and how could you not fall in love with that?"

_Bloke's got a point,_ Rose thought. _I fell in love with him too, so…_

_Yeah, but you never jumped on my body demanding that I sign your breasts with a biro,_ the Doctor thought back. _Nor did you plaster my picture all over your walls and roll around naked in pig's blood in front of them while you chanted my name like a Buddhist mantra._

_Nah, I just do that with Alan's pictures,_ Rose thought with a wry grin.

They laughed telepathically when they noticed Alan's wide eyes and goofy grin upon hearing that. The auditorium door opened and Ernest and Randy came down the aisle.

_Behold, Brother, your high priest!_ Alan thought while everyone snickered. _The Grand Poobah of Saint Doctor the Magnificent, may he reign forever in beauty and grace, amen._

The Doctor chuckled when the sniggers increased. Randy sat down in the front and Ernest walked up to the stage, climbed the steps leading to it and a curtain was drawn back revealing a wooden podium, a slide projector and a small movie screen. He turned on the projector and brought up the first slide. It was a sketch of the Doctor in his ninth life.

_Behold! The reverent face of our Lord!_ Jack thought. _Drop to your knees and fawn over him, O wretched ones!_

Everyone snickered quietly while Ernest walked to the podium.

"Welcome, everyone. It's nice to see a lot of newcomers tonight," Ernest said into a microphone attached to a podium. "Bart, good to see you again."

Bart waved. Ernest looked at the bored black man.

"And what's your name?"

"I'm Anthony," he said.

"And how long have you been a fan of the Doctor?"

"I'm not. Bart asked me to come along, said he'd pay me fifty credits if I came."

Ernest looked at Bart.

"Friend of yours?"

"No, just someone I met outside the theater. I didn't figure we'd get as big as turnout as we did tonight since it's usually just you and me so I tried to get someone else interested in the Doctor."

The Doctor and his family bit their lips and slammed their hands over their mouths, stifling their laughter. Ernest looked at them.

"And you, all of you, are you fans?" he asked them.

_Brother, you wanna take this one? _The Doctor thought to Alan. _I think you're better at doing maniacal, obsessive fan than I am. Besides, I wanna hear what you come up with._

_Okey-dokey, one mentally unbalanced Doctor worshipper coming right up!_ He thought back.

He had a sudden thought, ducked down and switched off his imager, revealing his true self.

_Alan, what are you doin'?_ Rose thought.

_Being an obsessed fan, Starlight. Watch,_ he thought.

He took off the imager and handed it to her while he stood up.

"Hi!" he said in a deep baritone voice while he waved at Ernest. "My name is Davros. Davros Jones. I had my name changed legally after I heard about the Doctor defeating the leader of the Daleks. Like Bart here, I live and breathe the Doctor. I even went so far as to get extensive, painful plastic surgery so I could look in the mirror every morning and see his face staring back at me. The man has been a true inspiration to me and that's why I formed a church of my own. We are the members of Saint Doctor the Divine and Illuminated, may his holiness shine forever, amen."

"Amen," the other adults said in a monotone voice while the Doctor sniggered.

"Really?" Ernest said with interest. "Where's this church at?"

"Well, we just got started so it's in me mum's basement right now. It's cramped and musty and there's mice everywhere but it's a start and I feel confident that soon we will gain enough members and funds to build a cathedral to his Exaltedness, the Doctor, may his holiness shine forever, amen."

"Amen," the other adults said.

"Anyway, we saw the ad on the public access channel and knew we had finally found kindred spirits who understand the Doctor, may his supremeness live forever in grace and beauty, amen."

"Amen," the others echoed.

The Doctor bit his lip when he noticed Ernest, Randy and Bart were now saying amen with them while Anthony looked like he was seconds away from calling the mental institution.

"Then perhaps, Davros, you'd like to come up and help with the meeting?" Ernest said.

_Oh God, Alan, do it!_ Jack thought to him. _Give us all a good laugh._

_Okey-dokey, my church members,_ Alan thought back.

"I shall consider it a sacred honor to help lead this meeting, fellow brother," Alan said, bowing.

His family could barely contain their laughter while he went past them and out into the aisle.

_Yup, it was definitely a good idea to have Alan introduce us, Doc_, Jack thought.

_Precisely why I did that. I figure if anyone could turn a boring meeting into a laugh riot, it's him,_ he thought.

_I am humbled that you think so highly of me, Brother,_ Alan thought while he walked up. _That is why I worship you, may you live forever and kick numerous bad guy's arses._

_Amen, _everyone else thought to him while he giggled softly. He strode up the steps and walked over to the podium. Ernest stepped aside and he put his hands on the side of it.

"Fellow worshippers…and Anthony here," he said, nodding at him. "We have come together to celebrate the life of a man who should be nominated for sainthood. A man who has touched all our lives. A man who is really, really swell. And now, before we begin the discussion on how magnificent he is, I would like to open the proceedings with a prayer my brethren and I use. If you don't mind, Ernest…"

"Please, go ahead," he said to Alan.

"Thank you, my brother. Let us bow our heads in reverent worship of the Doctor's majesty while I recite the prayer of thankfulness."

Everyone except Anthony bowed their heads. The Doctor's family snickered when their sensitive hearing picked up his mutters about their level of sanity. Alan cleared his throat.

"O-yea, we are gathered here today to celebrate the life of a man who is more than a man, but a god," Alan intoned. The Doctor, may his name be written in the stars and nebulas of the universe, please watch over us from your celestial TARDIS in the heavens and bless us, for we are scum compared to you. And yea, please descend from your heavenly abode and pick us up so we can also share in your adventures and risk death at your side, O Lord. Please bless these proceedings and come by sometime for tea and scones, we'd love to have ya."

The Doctor's family giggled when he said in a high-pitched singsong voice…

"AAAAAAAAAAA-MEN!"

_This is better than the paperwork we were supposed to fill out tonight,_ Jack thought to the Doctor.

Alan stepped aside and let Ernest take the podium.

"Thank you, my brother," Ernest said. "That was a beautiful prayer."

_Is anyone else disturbed by the fact that they're taking all of this waaaay too seriously,_ Awinita thought.

Ernest turned to the sketch of the Doctor on the screen.

"This is the Doctor for those of you who don't know who he is," he said, pointing to it.

"And that would be…Anthony down there," Rain whispered to the Doctor.

"And this is the Doctor's current life," Ernest added.

The Doctor perked up at that.

"Wait, they don't know you…" Rose whispered to him.

The Doctor shrugged.

_They didn't say anything to Alan when he said he got plastic surgery to look like me,_ he thought. _Maybe they've got my lives mixed up. And if they do, that could be a blessing if they're looking for my ninth self. Means I can be left alone here._

_Can I go say something, Papaw? _Amelia said.

He eyed her.

_If you do, do not tell them you're my granddaughter, _he thought._ I don't want these nutters knowing who you are and bothering you._

_I won't tell them, Papaw. I just wanna say something about you._

The Doctor nodded and she stood up and held up her hand.

"Hey, can I say something?"she yelled.

Ernest nodded and Amelia came down the aisle. She walked up to the podium and stood behind it. Alan came over and adjusted the microphone so she could speak into it.

"Um…I just wanted to say something about the Doctor," she said. "I love him very much and I'm glad he's alive."

Rain put his arm around her husband when he grinned at that.

"I can understand why you all love him because I do too," Amelia said. "He's wonderful and I just wanted to say that…in case he's listening somehow."

The Doctor grinned as everyone except Anthony applauded. Amelia walked away from the podium, got off the stage and walked back to her seat. The Doctor sent love into her mind when she patted his hand.

"Can I say something now?" Jack said, waving his hand.

Ernest nodded and they watched while he got up.

"Following Ameila's lead here," he said, going towards the aisle.

He walked down the aisle to the stage and got behind the podium.

"Hi, I'm…Barry," he said while the others giggled. "Um…I just want to add on to what that girl said and say that he's also been an inspiration to me. I was a wayward soul until the Doctor inspired me to be a better person and because of him, I am. So I just want to thank the Doctor, wherever he is, and tell everyone how much I admire and love him. Thanks."

Everyone applauded when he jumped down from the stage and went back up to his seat.

"Anyone else like to give praise and testimonials for the Doctor?" Ernest said.

Tara hesitantly raised her hand.

"Yes, you, come up here and speak," Ernest said, pointing at her.

Tara got up and went down the aisle. She got up on the stage and went to the podium while Alan adjusted the microphone for her.

"Hi, um…I like the Doctor too but you shouldn't be worshipping him like this. He's not a god," Tara said. "He's just a person like we are. Um…I know you're doing this for fun but it's kinda scary to me because I knew people who hurt other people because they worshipped someone like you're doing now and I don't want the Doctor or anyone else to be hurt because you think he's a god."

"Thank you," Anthony said. "Finally, someone with some sense in their head."

"What do you mean?" Ernest said.

"Well, I mean that if you get too obsessed with this then you might do things like kill people for him," Tara said.

Rain squeezed the Doctor's shoulder when he noticed his eyes getting misty.

"But, aren't you a part of the congregation back there?" Ernest said, pointing to the people in the back.

"No, we're not a church. My family came here because we were curious about what you had to say but you're acting weird, you and Bart and Randy. And you need to quit being so obsessed with one man and thinking he's a god, because he's not. We're makin' fun of you and you're taking it seriously," she said.

"Good girl," the Doctor whispered when he saw the stunned look on Ernest's face.

"You're making fun of us?" Ernest said angrily.

"Well, yeah, you're acting like dorks," Tara said.

The Doctor and his family sniggered at that. Bart turned in his seat and glared at them.

"You think it's funny?" he said.

"No, actually, I think it's sad that you don't have anything better to do than to be obsessed over one man like this. If the Doctor saw ya, I'm betting he wouldn't be thrilled that you're worshippin' him; he'd be embarrassed and angry. This is why this club of yours only has three people in it because everyone else thinks it's pants."

"Then, leave if you think it's so stupid," Ernest said to all of them.

They shrugged and got up while Alan took Tara's hand and walked down off the stage.

"I'm with them. Keep the fifty credits, you guys are all loony," Anthony said, getting up and walking out.

"Come on, you lot, we'll go get something to eat before going back home," the Doctor said as they filed out into the aisle.

They walked out into the lobby and the Doctor hugged Tara.

"Thank you, my Star, you just vocalized all our thoughts about this daft club thing," he said to her.

He and Rain took her hands and all of them walked out of the theater into the cool night air.


	209. Chapter 209

Chapter Two Hundred and Nine

"Ah, home sweet home," the Doctor said, walking inside the house.

He paused when everyone followed him inside and filled the living room.

"Um, what are you doing?" he said.

"Following you, you're the great and marvelous Doctor, so we're following you, wherever you go!" Jack said while they laughed.

"Well, you can make yourselves at home if some of ya don't mind sittin' on the floor. I have to go to the loo though, you gonna follow me in there?"

"Can you pee in a cup so we can sell the urine on Ebay?" Awinita said.

The Doctor rolled his eyes when they laughed.

"I will be urinating into the toilet without the aid of a cup," he said while everyone groaned. "I'll see you when I get done."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After talking with his family for awhile, all of them said goodbye and left. The ones who were left sat in the living room. The adults sat on the furniture while Tara and Dot played on the floor with the dogs.

"Phew, what an evening," the Doctor said.

"I thought it was quite entertaining," Alan said. "These little groups that spring up around you amuse me."

"They're not gonna hurt you, are they, Daddy?" Tara asked.

"Nah, I'll be alright, my Star," he said, reaching over to tousle her hair. "I think they mainly just gather to chat about me. They won't be sacrificing me or anything like that. But I loved what you had to say and I understand completely how uneasy that made you feel since you know what obsessive groups are capable of but some groups are harmless and I think this is one of those groups. Besides, if they do come after me and carry me away I have several housefuls of people to stop them."

He sighed and leaned his head back against the back of the sofa.

"Not that I want to do it, but I s'pose while we're here and resting we can go get more parts for more screwdrivers and work on that."

Alan groaned.

"Ugh, hopin' you wouldn't think of that, Brother," he said. "But you're right, it has to be done sometime, might as well be now. So I guess quick trip in the TARDIS to a parts shop?"

"Ready when you are," the Doctor said.

"Okay, go!"

The others laughed when neither one of them moved.

"I see we'll have to force ourselves to do this," Alan said.

"Can I go, Daddy?"

"Can she go, Daddy?" Alan said.

The Doctor opened his eye and looked at her sitting on the floor while he debated it.

"I s'pose it's alright. Don't think we'll run into anything nasty going for parts."

"Famous last words," Rain said, patting his hand.

"Yes, my thoughts exactly," the Doctor said. "But Tara held her own against the Tuloks so I think it'll be safe for her to come along."

Tara leapt up and went to get her jacket.

"Anyone else wanna come with us?" the Doctor said.

"I don't fancy goin' for screwdriver parts, I'll stay here and have a shower while you do that," Rose said.

"Same here, I'm a bit exhausted. I was thinking about a short nap to recover from everything that's happened over the past couple of weeks," Rain said. Gotta get some use out of that bed of ours."

"Yeah, same here. I'm a bit sleepy too and I gotta get Dot her bath and see if she'll lay down because I've noticed she's also been tired of late," Madison said.

"So…just me and Tara then?"

"I'll go, you need an extra set of hands and I know what you need to get," Alan said.

"So me, you and Tara."

He looked over when Tara eagerly ran up to him.

"And only one of us is excited about going," he said while they laughed. "Well, I s'pose well have to borrow a bit of her enthusiasm then so we can do what needs to be done."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After kissing their wives and Dot goodbye, they went into the TARDIS and closed the door. The Doctor stood at his console while he thought.

"Aren't we going, Daddy?"

"We will, just trying to decide on a planet that's safe for you. Hmmm…I think perhaps…Quatros? That's over in the Serpentine System and that's a fairly safe system, wouldn't you agree, Brother?"

"I think so. As far as I know, there's no wars going on anywhere near there and it's a bit remote so not too many people travel to it. I'd take her there."

The Doctor nodded.

"Quatros, it is then! Allons…"

He paused when he heard banging on the front door.

"What's wrong, you out of petrol in there?" Rose said while Rain and Madison laughed.

"We're deciding where to go, thank you!" the Doctor yelled back.

"Well, when you come back, don't track sand or dirt or dead bodies in here, we just vacuumed the carpet!" Madison said.

"Will you lot get back from the door so we can go?" the Doctor said while everyone laughed.

"Okay, we've stepped back now!" Rose yelled.

Alan snickered at the exasperated look on the Doctor's face while he helped him take the TARDIS into the vortex.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor and Alan stepped outside the TARDIS with Tara into a brightly lit city.

"This is Quatros City, capital of Quatros," the Doctor said to Tara.

Tara looked around at the neon signs and lit windows of the skyscrapers around them.

"It's pretty," Tara said.

"Yup," he said while Alan closed the TARDIS door. "It's a thriving city. The whole planet's peaceful. No wars for over five hundred years which is why I took you here. I don't want us shopping for screwdriver parts in the middle of a war zone or civil unrest. Come on, let's go get these parts and get back home so we can relax."

She took the men's hands while they headed towards a department store.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tara walked in between the Doctor and Alan while they browsed for parts. Alan had a shopping basket dangling on his arm while they pulled parts off the shelves and put them inside. Tara was fascinated with it and Alan began to name some of the parts while they looked.

"Daddy, will I know what to do and what to look for when I grow up?" she asked him

"You will but to be honest, the sonic screwdriver is my invention. It's not common Time Lord knowledge which is why only he and I know what to shop for."

"Wow, you invented it!"

"Yup, I've invented lots of things. I'm an expert at jiggery-pokery," he said to her. "You'll be able to do that one day. Make things."

"Cool!" Tara said.

"Aiiiiii-chit, chit, chit, chit!"

Tara frowned when she heard a strange noise. She looked around.

"What was that?" she asked the Doctor.

"A Weet, it must be someone's pet," he said to her.

"Aiiiiii-chit, chit, chit, chit!"

"It makes that noise," Alan explained. "They're annoying. I don't know why anyone would want one. But I think it's because it's considered an exotic pet and…oh, there it is."

He pointed back down the aisle and Tara saw an alien walking into it with a creature on a leash. The alien was bald with slightly rosy skin and white eyes. He was wearing a white tunic that came down to the knees on his long, thin legs. The Weet was about one foot high with short yellow fur, black bug-like eyes and thin antenna on the top of his head. He had long kangaroo rat-like legs, short stubby arms and a long tail. It sniffed the air.

"Aiiiiii-chit, chit, chit, chit!"

"Quiet, Bex," the alien said while he rummaged through the parts.

_Weird,_ Tara thought to the Doctor.

_Yes, they are. They're loud and they shed all over the place and it takes forever to toilet train them. Dunno why anyone would want them. Course I'm sure some people would say that about dogs._

Tara took the Doctor's hand and walked with him and Alan into the next aisle. The Doctor and Alan picked out a few more parts while Tara waited by the Doctor's side. While she did, she noticed the alien and Bex coming into the aisle. They walked over until they were about a foot away. The alien browsed the parts while Bex hopped over to Tara and stared at her quietly.

_Daddy, can you pet them?_ Tara thought to him.

The Doctor glanced at it and thought.

_I wouldn't, my Star, they're unpredictable,_ he thought._ It does bite and there's no telling how friendly it is around strangers. Best leave it alone._

_Okay,_ she thought back.

"Aiiiiii-chit, chit, chit, chit!"

The Weet sniffed around and then pooped on the floor behind the alien.

"Ew," Tara said.

_See, told ya they're hard to toilet train,_ the Doctor thought to her.

"Bex!" the alien said when he noticed the feces for the first time. "I can't take you anywhere, come on before we get thrown out of the shop."

"Aiiiiii-chit, chit, chit, chit!" Bex said as he hopped away behind his master.

The Doctor and Alan exchanged a glance and shook their heads before the resumed their shopping.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After getting the supplies, they went back into the TARDIS and the Doctor took it into the vortex. Tara walked around the console looking at the odds and ends while the Doctor and Alan flipped switches and turned dials.

"How do you know what to do?" she asked the Doctor.

"That's one of the things that come with Time Lord knowledge plus I've flown this TARDIS for over a thousand years so it's second nature to me. You'll know what to do when you get your Time Lady mind, my Star."

She watched with interest while the Doctor and Alan worked the controls. She walked over to the monitor and noticed the concentric circles on it.

"This is pretty," Tara said, pointing to them.

The Doctor walked over and looked where she was pointing. He grinned.

"That's our language, Tara. That's Gallifreyan."

"Really? It looks like that?"

"Yup. Ask your aunt to show you her tattoo sometime. She has Amo'tiri tattooed on her arm in Gallifreyan."

"What's that mean?"

"Means kindred soul. It's a pet name of mine for her," Alan said.

The Doctor smirked.

"Alan's got a tattoo as well," he said.

Alan groaned when Tara looked at him with interest.

"Had to say that, didn't ya?" he said while the Doctor snickered.

"What's your tattoo look like?" Tara said, walking over to him.

He rolled his eyes and pulled up his shirt sleeve. Tara stared at it.

"What's that? An alien?" she said.

"You've never seen Lilo and Stitch?" Alan asked.

She shook her head.

"Well, we'll have to make you watch it when we get back home which should be any second now," the Doctor said. "So hold on tight."

The TARDIS landed a few seconds later and powered down.

"Right, go ahead and tell your mum we're going to be in the lab forcing ourselves to work on the screwdrivers," the Doctor said to Tara.

"Okay, Daddy," Tara said.

The Doctor and Alan walked away through the back door while Tara headed for the front door.

"Mommy," Tara said, opening the door, "Daddy said…"

She trailed off when she noticed she was in the middle of a dense forest.

"Huh? Where's the house?" she said, stepping outside.

She looked around but there were only trees around the TARDIS.

"What's this?" Tara muttered. "Did Uncle Alan pull another prank or something?"

_Daddy? What did Uncle Alan do_? She thought.

_What? I didn't do anything!_ Alan thought back.

_What d'ya mean, Tara?_ The Doctor thought.

_Where's the house, Daddy?_

There was a short pause.

_Isn't it outside the TARDIS door?_ The Doctor finally thought.

_No, we're in the woods._

_Ought-oh,_ Alan thought. _Go ahead and keep setting up, Brother. I'll see if I can sort this out._

_Okay, _the Doctor thought. _Tara, stay right there and let Alan come out and see if he can figure out where we are. I'll be there in a minute._

_Okay, Daddy,_ Tara thought.

She walked around outside the door. The woods were quiet except for birdsong and she couldn't see anything except the trees.

"Makes me wonder if Brother accidentally turned the randomizer on."

Tara turned and saw Alan coming outside. He smiled warmly at her.

"No worries. The TARDIS does this occasionally. She has a mind of her own sometimes. Sooooo, where are we then?"

They walked around towards the back of the TARDIS.

"We'll try to figure out where we are, Tara," Alan said. "Perhaps there's a reason why…"

Suddenly with a scream, Tara fell through the ground beside him.

"TARA!" Alan screamed when he felt her mind wink out.

_Brother, what happened? Where's Tara?_ The Doctor thought.

_She…she went through the ground,_ Alan thought, dropping to his knees.

He felt around and felt his hand go through a barrier just as the Doctor ran outside.

"There's a hole here with a camouflage barrier over it," Alan said to him. "I'll go down. I should have kept a closer eye on her so it's my responsibility."

"You didn't see it, Brother. Don't blame yourself," the Doctor said. "But if you are going down, we need a rope so you don't get stuck. Wait a tic and I'll get one so I can lower you down.

The Doctor ran back in the TARDIS and ran back out a few minutes later with some rope. Alan grabbed one end and threaded it through the hole while the Doctor tied the other end around a nearby tree.

"Be careful," he said to Alan when he finished.

Alan nodded, took the Doctor's flashlight from him and put it in his pocket. He slowly lowered himself down while the Doctor watched nervously. The moment his head went beneath the barrier, he saw a hollowed-out passageway underground. Several glowing crystals were placed in the smooth dirt walls, evenly spaced out. He noticed a ladder against the left side of the wall. It was made from tree limbs and held together with rope. He went down about fifteen feet before his feet hit the dirt floor. He noticed a few rocks scattered around him. His hearts stopped when he noticed blood on one of the rocks directly under the hole. Fear gripped him when he didn't see his niece.

"Tara?" he yelled.

_Brother, do you see her?_ The Doctor thought.

_No, I don't see her. But she hit a rock when she landed. I can see blood on it,_ he thought.

He noticed the Doctor's legs coming through the barrier. Just then, he saw a person dressed in black clothes and a bulky featureless black mask come through a larger camouflaged barrier on the right side of the wall several feet from where he was standing. In the person's gloved right hand was a wooden spear with a steel arrowhead.

"Halt!" the man yelled at Alan and the Doctor who was sliding down the rope.

"Don't kill us!" the Doctor said, letting go of the rope and landing on his feet beside Alan. "Please wait, we only want my daughter. She fell in here and hit a rock. We mean you no harm. All we want is her returned to us, unharmed. Do you know what we're talking about?"

"The girl, yes. She was found here."

"Then can you take us to her?" Alan said. "All we want is for her to be brought back to us alive. And then we'll leave you in peace."

"Come with me," the man said.

They took a step and gasped when the man shoved the spear in their faces.

"But be warned, no tricks or you and the girl will die," he said.

"No tricks, I promise you. All I want is my daughter back."

"Then you go first through the security barrier," the man said, pointing to the camouflaged hole.

The Doctor and Alan put their hands up and walked past him to the hole. They stepped through it and saw two more people dressed completely in black and wielding spears.

"This way," a female said, pointing ahead of her with the spear.

They nodded and followed her and the other person.

"My daughter's name is Tara, is she safe?"

"Yes, she's unconscious, but she's resting comfortably," the woman replied.

"Good, I'm the Doctor by the way, this is Alan. And you are…"

The woman didn't answer him. The three people led them down a dirt passageway to what looked like a dirt wall. The woman stepped through another security barrier. While they neared it, the Doctor felt Tara's mind winking back into his.

_Tara!_ He thought.

_Daddy? Is that you?_ She thought back. _I fell and hit my head. I don't know where I am._

_We're being led to you now…I hope,_ the Doctor thought. _Just keep calm, my Star, we'll find you, I promise. _

_Okay, Daddy. Is Uncle Alan with you?_

_Yes, Sweetheart, I'm here. I'm coming too._

_Good. Cause I wanna give you a hug too._

Alan smiled at that.

_Hug sounds nice, Tara. _He thought.

The three people turned into another passageway and stopped them.

"What's this?" the Doctor said.

"You will be taken to a cell and secured there until we get some answers from you," the woman said.

"No, first you take me to my daughter. Then you'll get your answers," the Doctor said. "You said no tricks and we agreed to that, we expect the same of you."

"But you're not the one in control here, we are. You are humans from the surface world and you and the child have been out hunting us."

"No, we landed here by accident and when we tried to find out where we were, my daughter fell through one of your security barriers and got hurt. We mean you no harm. Please, all we want is Tara."

"You will go before the tribunal and answer their questions first. If you are telling the truth, then you can see your daughter," the woman said.

"I'm warning you, if you hurt her…" the Doctor snarled.

The woman thrust her spear in his face.

"Do not threaten us, surface dweller. You and your kind have hunted us for the last time. You will be put on trial before the tribunal and if you're guilty, you will die and be hung from the trees as a warning to the other humans, we will not live our lives as your prey."

"Then take me before this tribunal now. I don't want to wait," the Doctor said.

"Yes, if we have to go through your foolishness to get to Tara, I don't wanna wait either," Alan added.

"Very well, summon the tribunal," the woman said to one of her companions.

He nodded and hurried down the passageway. The woman turned her attention back to the Doctor and Alan.

"There, you got your wish. You will go before the tribunal now. But I warn you, if we find you guilty, you will wish you never invaded our caverns.


	210. Chapter 210

Chapter Two Hundred and Ten

Tara sat up in her bed waiting for the Doctor and Alan to come. The bed was made of wooden limbs lashed together with rope and an animal skin strung across it with a down mattress on top. Tara's blanket was another animal skin with thick brown fur on it. Her head was throbbing while she looked around the room. It was small and carved out of dirt. There was a table and chair also made of wood and rope. On top of the table was a clay jug and there was a small clay cup beside it. Other than that the room was empty and there seemed to be no way out. A few minutes later a child stepped through an invisible barrier in the door. His skin was pure white. He had piercing black eyes and a small white tuft of hair on his chin. Long white hair trailed down his back and he had a small golden horn in the center of his forehead. On his buttocks was a small bare tail with a white tuff on the end. He was completely naked and Tara averted her eyes from his penis while he walked over to her.

"Hello," the boy said.

"Hi, I'm Tara, what's your name?"

The boy hesitated.

"Phillip," he finally said.

"Nice to meet you, Phillip. You're very pretty."

"Thank you, you're kinda ugly though. But all humans look ugly to me."

"What are you?"

The boy frowned.

"You don't know? I thought all humans knew about us here."

"I don't come from here. My daddy travels in time and he has a ship and we got lost or something. My daddy and uncle are here. Do you know where they are?"

Phillip shook his head.

"I never met a human that didn't come from here," he said.

"I'm from Earth. But I moved to this other planet called New Hope a few days ago."

"I've never heard of them. I only know of Unica."

"Is that where we are?"

Phillip nodded.

"What are you?" she said.

"We're Unics," he said.

"Oh, well, I used to be a human but I'm Gallifreyan now. I'm a Time Lady…or I will be when I grow up."

She had a thought.

"My daddy's kinda famous. He's the Doctor, do you know him?"

Phillip shook his head.

"He's very nice. He won't hurt you and my Uncle Alan won't either. Can I go see them?"

"I don't know, I'll have to ask my father. I'll be right back."

She nodded and watched while Phillip stepped through the barrier.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor and Alan were led blindfolded into a room. Both of them were forced into chairs and bound to them with rope.

"This doesn't bode well, I'm thinking," Alan said to the Doctor.

"Just as long as I get Tara back unharmed, I'll put up with any questions or torture they have for us," the Doctor replied.

"You know, my brother had a similar situation like this on another planet. People jumped to conclusions and harmed him when they should have taken the time to just talk to him and find out what was going on," Alan said aloud. "Perhaps you lot could do the same before you do something you'll regret."

"Help us? You only hunt us!" the woman said while she tied them to the chair.

"No, for the last time, I don't hunt you. I don't even know who or what you are. My daughter fell through your hole that frankly should have been covered with more than just a force barrier. She's hurt and we came down here to get her. If you let me have her, we'll leave the planet and never return. Now could you follow my brother's suggestion and everyone talk this out instead of conducting a witch hunt?"

"You can talk to the tribunal," the woman said.

The Doctor sighed angrily.

"Someone's always gotta make it difficult," he muttered to himself.

They pulled their blindfolds off and left. The Doctor and Alan noticed three men sitting behind a table. All had white skin, black eyes, long hair down their back, tufts of hair on their chin and a long golden horn sprouting from their foreheads.

"Unics," the Doctor said. "At last, we're gettin' somewhere. Look, I'm not your enemy. My brother and I know about your kind. We know you're shape shifters and can change into what humans call unicorns. We know that you're hunted for sport and for your horns the way your ancestors were on Earth and I'm here to tell you that I'm not like those humans. We're not even human. We're Time Lords from Gallifrey."

"Impossible, Gallifrey was destroyed long ago," the male on the left said. "The Time Lords are extinct."

"No, they're not. In fact, they're being replenished thanks to a certain fox spirit," the Doctor said. "But listen to me, we're here by accident. We were trying to get back to our house on planet New Hope and my TARDIS…had other ideas, which frankly isn't the first time that's happened but this is my fault. I told my daughter to go ahead and go outside without checking to make sure we were in the right spot and when my brother went up there with her to see where we were, she fell through your security barrier and got hurt. We only came down here to find her so we can take her home, nothing more than that, I swear."

"Why was the child with you?" the man on the right said.

"Because we were going to a shop to get some parts for a device we were making and she wanted to come along. We're training her to be a Time Lady when she comes of age and I thought it would be good for her to come along and see a different planet. But we never meant to come here, this was an accident. Now, if by that question you mean did we use her as bait to trap one of you lot, no we did not. Believe me, I find it very reprehensible that the humans use innocent virgins as bait to lure your kind but even though she is innocent and a virgin, she was not here to be used as bait. Now will you please believe us and set us free? I wanna see Tara."

The three Unics conferred with each other. The Doctor sighed and glanced at Alan.

_Tara, Sweetheart, are you alright?_ The Doctor thought to her.

_Yeah, where are you? I'm waiting for you to come and get me,_ she thought back.

_Um…slight delay, my Star, but we're working on getting to you._

_Are they hurting you, Daddy?_

_No, Sweetheart, we're in a room answering questions and trying to convince these people that we came here by accident. We're fine, trust me._

_I met one of them. This little boy. I asked him if he'd take me to you and he said he'd go ask his daddy. I haven't seen him since. But he was very pretty. He had a unicorn horn._

_That's because he is a unicorn, Tara. He's called a Unic. They're from this planet but long ago, they tried to colonize other planets and Earth was one of them. The Earthlings hunted them to extinction there and the humans here are doing the same thing which is why they live underground with camouflaged barriers over their holes. They're shape shifters though, they can change into actual unicorns, what you saw was their humanoid form._

_Do they think you're gonna hurt them? _

_I don't know, my Star. I think they think we're from here and we're using you as bait to lure them out of hiding. I don't know if you know the old legends of the unicorn but unicorns are attracted to innocent virgins and they would come to them and lay their heads in their laps and hunters used that to sneak up and capture and kill the Unics. That's what they think you are, Tara. They think we're using you to lure them to the surface world so they can be caught. _

_If Phillip comes back I'll tell him I'm not._

_Phillip, that's the boy's name?_

_Yes…wait a minute, he came back inside._

_And?_

_He says his daddy said no._

The Doctor sighed angrily.

"Look, I don't have time for this," he said to the tribunal. "If you have to keep a guard around us at all times then do it, but let me go so I can see my daughter. I give you my word that no harm will come to you."

"And I give you my word as well," Alan said.

"And listen to me, I don't care about me, but harm my daughter, and I'll make what the humans do to you pale in comparison," the Doctor said.

"You swear you won't be a threat to us?" the man on the right said.

"I swear it," the Doctor said.

"And so do I," Alan added.

"Very well, we'll release you but you will be watched," the man on the left said.

"Spiffy, I love people watching me; it makes me feel all warm and cozy. Now please release us," the Doctor said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tara looked up when the Doctor and Alan came into her room.

"Daddy! Alan!" she said.

They fell on the bed and hugged her from both sides. The Doctor kissed her temple and sent love into her mind.

"Are you alright?" he said.

She nodded. The Doctor checked her head and she winced when he touched a knot on the back of her head.

"Sorry," he said when he saw her wince. "I think you'll be alright. You just got a bump but I don't think you have a concussion or anything. You…are having all sorts of adventures with us, aren't ya? I take you to places where I think nothing's gonna happen and lo and behold, something happens. You have just as much luck as I do at finding trouble."

"I asked Phillip if he heard of you because you said you were famous but he didn't know you."

"Well, Unica is all the way on the other side of the universe. It's a little remote like Quatros is. The humans that are here came here fairly recently."

How do you know all that?"

"More Time Lord knowledge," he said, tapping the side of his head. "Can you stand up?"

"I don't know, I haven't tried."

The Doctor and Alan helped her to stand.

"How's that feel?" Alan said.

"I'm okay."

"Good, let's get outta here," Alan said to the Doctor.

They tried to step through the barrier but were pushed back by two Unic males.

"Oi, listen, we wanna leave," the Doctor said. "You can follow us up to our ship and watch us leave but we will leave one way or another, either peacefully or fighting our way out, your choice."

"You must wait till our leader speaks with you," one of them said.

"What? I already spoke to your tribunal, now I gotta speak to the leader?"

"He wishes to speak to you. You are a Time Lord and he wants to chat with you about the humans here," he said.

The Doctor sighed and the three of them stepped back inside the room.

"Why do I get the feeling that this parts run is about to turn into a diplomatic mission?" he said to Alan.


	211. Chapter 211

Chapter Two Hundred and Eleven

The Doctor twiddled his thumbs while he sat on the bed with Alan and Tara.

"Come on, if the leader's gonna show up, get him in here," he muttered. "I wanna leave and go back home."

"Are they gonna make you go talk to the humans, Daddy?"

"More than likely, Tara. I usually end up doing things like that and getting in the middle of situations I don't wanna be in. I'm guessing they'll think if I go, they won't trap and kill me before I open my mouth to say something. If I have to go I'd wish they'd hurry up so we can get it over with."

Phillip came through the barrier carrying a clay plate filled with colorful berries.

"Hi, Phillip," Tara said.

"Ah, this is your friend then?" Alan said. "Hello there, nice to meet you and thank you for the food. Can you ask your daddy when the leader is coming to talk to us?"

Phillip nodded and went back out the barrier.

"Good, maybe we'll get somewhere," the Doctor said.

Tara looked at the fruit on the plate Alan was holding. She picked up a red berry that was the size of a golf ball and stared at it.

"Is this okay to eat, Daddy?"

The Doctor took it from her and sniffed it. He nodded and handed it back to her. She took a bite and made a face.

"What's wrong?" Alan said with a grin.

"It's sour, really sour, ick," Tara said, putting it back on the plate.

Alan glanced in the clay jug.

"No water, sorry, Tara. You'll have to suffer with havin' the taste in your mouth," he said to her.

A man stepped through the barrier. He was aged with a very long horn that jutted out from his forehead. The Doctor stood up.

"I assume you're the leader," he said to him.

"Yes, Time Lord, are you the leader of your people?"

"Weell, I like to think I am," he said with a grin while Alan snickered. "Anyway, what do you wish to see me about?"

"You are a Time Lord, one of the higher species…"

"And let me guess, you want me to go tell the humans to stop hunting you," the Doctor said.

"You are correct, Time Lord."

"Doctor, I'm the Doctor, this is Alan and Tara."

"I am Rafael."

"Nice to meet ya. Listen, isn't there a way you could come to a solution without involving me? I don't like being a diplomat between two races; I fall asleep during the debates and discussions."

"But you are our last, best hope. My brethren have not heard of you, but I have, Doctor. I have studied many of the legends of other star systems and your name comes up frequently. You fight injustices and right wrongs and on behalf of the Unics, I'm asking you to help us now."

The Doctor nodded.

"Alright, I will. I s'pose I could go and chat with their leader or leaders for a few hours."

"But there is more, Doctor. They captured two of our people and we believe they're holding them hostage. We want them back. We're tired of our friends and family being slaughtered by them because they think we're valuable. We were here first and we'll kill them if we have to in order to protect our people and way of life!"

"Yes, I understand that. But they're here now and there has to be a way for you both to live together in peace," the Doctor said. "I know there's been injustice and slaughter of your people but I won't see this escalate into all-out war where you or they or both of ya are annihilated. That solves nothing. I don't want genocide of either species. So if you agree to let us go afterwards, I'll go and speak with them."

"You have my word, Doctor. You are free to leave as soon as an agreement is reached."

_Which might take a zillion years_, Alan thought to the Doctor.

"I hope not," Rafael said to Alan. "If it does, I won't hold you here for…how did you put it, a zillion years."

He chuckled at the surprise on their faces.

"I studied with an ancient mystic who learned telepathy on another planet as a youth. He taught it to me when he returned so I could utilize it whenever those such as yourself tried to speak without voices. But rest assured, I'm the only one who has this ability."

The Doctor nodded.

"Now, one other condition, I'm not going alone. You have to come with me."

"I? I'll be slaughtered or imprisoned on sight."

"No, you won't, because I won't let that happen. You're the leader. You need to be there to negotiate with them. I can assist but you need to be the one to work out the agreement. I can't make decisions and leave; they won't accept them since I'm not the one they're at odds with."

"Can I come, Daddy?" Tara asked.

The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck.

"I'm not sure about letting you go, Tara."

"I'll do what you say, Daddy. I just wanna see, please?"

"I'll keep her safe, Brother. I'll break off anybody's hand if they try to lay a finger on her."

The Doctor nodded.

"Okay, but you stay with Alan and you listen to what he tells ya, got that?"

"Yes, Daddy."

The Doctor looked at Rafael.

"Right, whenever you're ready to leave then…" he said.

"I'll fetch two of my strongest men to carry you there. I would carry you myself but I'm a little old to have people riding me."

"I know how you feel," the Doctor muttered while Tara giggled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After Rafael selected two muscular young men to carry them, they went up to the surface and emerged from a cave. The three Gallifreyans stood beside it and watched while the three Unics transformed into unicorns.

"Cool!" Tara said while she stood next to Alan.

"I know, I bet when you got that plushie unicorn from Julie, you never dreamed you'd be riding one, eh?" Alan said.

"No, but I wish Sis was here."

"Dot? Dot wouldn't sit still and probably scream in their ears," Alan said, grimacing.

"No, Jenny."

"Oh. Well, we'll go somewhere else with Jenny. I'm glad you and she are getting along."

"I love her, she's cool too."

"Yup, she is, she's very cool," Alan said.

The unicorns knelt down and let them get on their backs. Alan and Tara were on one while the Doctor was on the other. They stood back up and Rafael walked over to them. His mane hung low over his body and his horn was longer than the two males. He had a regal air about him that the other males lacked. He looked at the Doctor.

"The one you're riding is called Nicodemus, the other is Artemus," he said to him.

"Lovely, nice to meet you, Nicodemus," the Doctor said.

Nicodemus snorted hello and nodded his head. The Doctor grabbed his mane while Alan directed Tara to do the same and wrapped his arms around her chest.

"Hang on, my friends, we Unics are swift," Rafael said.

They clutched the manes and all of them held on tightly when the unicorns galloped off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alan grinned, listening to Tara yelling with delight while they galloped through the woods.

"This is fun!" she said while he laughed.

"Yup, now you know why a lot of people wanna travel with your dad. Because they get to do things like this," Alan said to her.

Rafael ran in front of them leading the way while Nicodemus and Artemus carried their passengers. The Doctor was off to their left about twenty feet away. He caught Tara's eye, smiled and waved at her. Just then, Nicodemus jumped up over a fallen log, clearing it by a foot before landing back on the ground. The Doctor winked when Tara cheered at that. Suddenly, a hidden snare caught Artemus' back foot. He whinnied in distress when the snare tightened and threw him off balance. Alan grabbed Tara tightly around her chest and jerked her off his back, landing hard on his own back while Artemus crashed to the ground. Nicodemus turned around and the Doctor slid off his back before he stopped and ran to them.

"Brother, are you alright?" he asked, kneeling down.

"Got the wind knocked outta me but I'll live," he said while he pulled Tara off his body.

Tara walked over to Artemus who had shifted back to his humanoid form. He was lying on the ground, groaning, while she knelt beside him.

"Are you alright, Artemus?"

"Leg…broken," he grunted, pointing to the leg in the snare.

The Doctor and Alan came over with Nicodemus and Rafael. All of them knelt down beside him. The Doctor used his screwdriver and burned through the rope around his ankle.

"If we can get the leg stabilized, I can take him back to my ship and mend it," the Doctor said to Rafael. "If Nicodemus can carry him…"

"I don't think so. You're not going anywhere…"

They jerked their heads around when they saw a human dressed in camouflage emerging from the trees.

"You're all mine now," he said with a sneer as he aimed a blaster at them.


	212. Chapter 212

Chapter Two Hundred and Twelve

The Doctor quickly got to his feet getting between the man and his friends and family.

"Look, there's no need to use that," the Doctor said. "Just put the blaster down and let's discuss this calmly."

The man snorted.

"I don't discuss anything with people who are allied with the Unics," he said to him.

"Look, you're making a big mistake here. The Unics were here first. You have no right to…"

Tara screamed when the man shot him in the right leg.

"DADDY!" Tara screamed when he fell to the ground clutching his injured leg.

Alan, quick as lightning, jumped over his fallen brother, grabbed the gun and his wrist and jerked hard, dislocating it. The man howled in pain but he was quickly silenced when Alan knocked him out. He ran back to the Doctor who was sitting up while Tara held him. He was trying to calm and soothe her while she cried softly.

"I'm alright, my Star, don't cry. I'll be alright," he said, softly while he rubbed her back.

Rafael and Nicodemus bent down to examine his leg.

"See," Nicodemus said to Alan," this is what comes of trusting the humans."

"There's still a solution to this," Alan said.

"Solution? He shot him in the leg when he was trying to talk to him. He never threatened him. This is what humans do, they kill without thinking. These are the species we're supposed to live in harmony with?"

"You can't retaliate, it'll only get worse," Alan said.

"Worse? How can it get worse? We're already being hunted now, slaughtered without a thought. Because of him, Artemus's leg is broken and he's been shot. If we do nothing, we'll be exterminated."

"If you fight, then war will break out and you'll be exterminated anyway," Alan said. "You need to talk to them first before you take up arms. You need to try before there's bloodshed on either side. You're better than him; don't lower yourselves to his level."

Nicodemus shook his head.

"You're all fools. They'll never listen to you or to us," he said.

"Then," The Doctor said. "You'll either be hunted to extinction or be exterminated through war, either way your prediction about dying will be correct so why not go and talk to them just for the hell of it."

"But how? You're injured," Rafael said to him.

"I'll go," Alan replied. "I'll talk to them while you take him and Artemus back to our ship. Tara, Sweetheart, go with your dad and keep him company, alright?"

Tara sniffed and nodded while the Doctor kissed the tears off her cheek.

"I'll be fine, I've had worse than this," the Doctor whispered to her. "Be brave for me, my Time Lady-in-training, alright?"

She nodded and he nuzzled her cheek.

"We need to find two sturdy pieces of wood and perhaps some tough vines," the Doctor said to Rafael. "We need to make a splint on Artemus's leg so Nicodemus can carry us back to my TARDIS."

"You're not going anywhere!"

The looked around when several men wearing full camouflage suits and masks stepped out of the woods and surrounded them.

"You're our prisoners now and you…" he said, pointing to Alan. "You will die for injuring Alfred."

"Well, if Alfie hadn't lost his head and shot my brother in the leg, I wouldn't have broken his wrist and punched him in the face."

_No, Brother, wait. Not while Tara is with us, he might shoot her next,_ the Doctor thought to him. _Just surrender, give us time to formulate a plan._

Alan nodded.

"Okay, we surrender, just don't hurt anyone else," he said to him.

"Oh, we won't hurt you…yet," he said.

"If we come with you, let the child go," the Doctor said.

"And have her bring help? I don't think so," the man said.

The Doctor cursed silently while Alan bent down and put his arm around his shoulder. He groaned when he helped him stand up. Tara helped to steady his other side while Nicodemus gently picked up Artemus and cradled him in his arms. The Doctor limped while Alan and Tara helped him walk and Nicodemus and Rafael followed behind them. The men closed in around them, blasters aimed at their bodies while they went through the trees towards a clearing. In the clearing were a hover-lorry and four hover-bikes. The back of the lorry was a large cage. One of the men walked over, opened the cage up and Alan helped the Doctor inside and laid him on the steel floor while Tara crawled in and laid down with her head on his chest. The Doctor rubbed her back, watching while Nicodemus stepped inside and he and Rafael gently sat Artemus down on the floor beside the Doctor. The man slammed the cage and he and another hunter went around to the front.

"Jones, stay here and radio ahead to make sure someone comes and gets Alfred," the man said before he climbed in the passenger side. "We'd do it but we have a full load now."

Jones nodded and snorted with disdain at the captives while Nicodemus and Rafael sat down at the back of the cage. The remaining hunters got on their hover-bikes and all of them rose into the air above the trees.

"How are you doing?" Alan asked the Doctor.

"Hurts less now," he said to him while he rubbed Tara's back. "How 'bout you, Artemus."

"Hurts more now," Artemus groaned. "I'm hoping I don't lose this leg but I suppose that'll be better than losing my life."

"Just don't antagonize them. For the moment, do what they want till we find a solution to this," the Doctor said.

"In other words, do nothing while they shoot us some more!" Nicodemus said. "Is that your wonderful plan, human? Just let them torture and kill us or maybe sell us to the highest bidder somewhere?"

"Shut up!" Tara yelled at him. "My daddy is trying to help you. He's hurt and he doesn't need to listen to this! Leave him alone!"

Alan suppressed a smile at the shocked look on Nicodemus's face.

_Wow, your daughter's quite the little spitfire, Brother_, Alan thought to him.

_Yup, she's very protective of her old man_, he thought back with a grin.

_I love you, Daddy,_ she thought.

The Doctor smiled and kissed the top of her head.

_I love you too, my Star. But don't tell your mum this happened. She'll skin me alive when she finds out I let you come with me when you should have stayed hidden underground. _

_Mommy'll be upset cause you got hurt._

_Nah, I can heal myself back at the TARDIS, make my leg good as new along with Artemus's leg. All we need to do is figure out a way to get back to the TARDIS in one piece._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After thirty minutes, they landed at a large concrete building. It was one story with several plate glass windows scattered around it. The hover-lorry landed in the back near a loading dock while the bikes landed in the front by the front entrance. A metal door lifted and three burly looking men walked out on the loading dock and looked at the prisoners.

"Why are these humans back here?" one of the men said, gesturing to the Doctor.

"Because these humans were helping the horsies," the hunter said, getting up out of the lorry.

He took the hood off his face. He was in his thirties with dark hair in a military style buzz cut, a dueling scar down his cheek and a chiseled face. He walked up four steps to the loading dock and turned to look at everyone while he took his blaster out of his holster.

"Get up and follow us and no tricks," he growled at them while the other masked man came up the steps and covered him with his blaster.

"No tricks? Blast and I was all set to show you my acrobatic routine," the Doctor muttered while Alan and Tara helped him to stand.

Nicodemus gently picked up Artemus and held him in his arms.

"Where are our friends?" he asked the hunter.

"Oh, you mean, the two others we caught? Ben, where are they?" he asked the masked man.

"Um…Gee, John, caged up and at our mercy?" Ben said.

The Doctor rolled his eyes when they chortled.

"Never mind about your buddies. You should think about what's going on right here, right now!" Ben said. "And that's getting you to your own prison cells so you can await your fate in comfort."

They sniggered again while Alan sighed and helped his injured brother walk towards them.


	213. Chapter 213

Chapter Two Hundred and Thirteen

The captives slowly followed the men inside the building. The men stopped them just inside and searched their pockets, taking the Doctor and Alan's sonic screwdrivers and the Doctor's mobile and manipulator before they made them move on. While they walked, they saw several other men coming in and out of rooms. They stopped and watched them for a moment before going about their business. They walked over to an elevator and all of them got inside. They went down to a cellblock and the men separated the Doctor and Artemus and put them in one of the cages. Then he made Alan and Tara go into the cage on their left side and Nicodemus and Rafael into the cage on their right. They slammed the doors and stared through the metal bars at them. The Doctor sat up.

"What about him? Are you gonna help him?" he said, gesturing to Artemus. "The least you can do is give me the materials to make a splint for him."

The men walked away and went back into the elevator.

"Bastards," Alan muttered.

"Still think it's a good idea to negotiate with them?" Nicodemus said.

"No, but I'd rather escape and get away than stay and fight, especially since me and him are injured," the Doctor said to him.

The elevator door opened and Ben walked out. He threw two large pieces of wood and some rope into the Doctor's cage.

"There, a splint," he said.

"Thanks ever so much for your hospitality," the Doctor said cheerfully.

The man snorted and walked away. The Doctor scooted across the floor to the materials while Ben went back in the elevator. Ignoring the stabbing pain in his leg, he grabbed everything and crawled over to his injured friend while both sets of prisoners watched quietly.

"I was right about you, Doctor. You are a good man," Rafael said.

"I try my best," he replied, gently lifting Artemus's leg so he could position three pieces of rope under it.

He grabbed the pieces of wood, put them on either side of his broken leg, and made sure they were in place before he grabbed the bottom piece and began to tie it. With each rope, he had to jerk the rope tight to secure the break and Artemus groaned softly with each jerk.

"Sorry, my friend," the Doctor said.

"It's alright, Doctor. I'm glad you're doing this so my leg will be stable. It's worth a little bit of pain."

The Doctor finished and patted him on the shoulder while Artemus breathed a sigh of relief and rested on the cold steel floor. He scooted back over to the left side of the cage and reached through the bars to rub Tara's back when she scooted over to him.

"Boy, shopping for parts can be quite interesting sometimes," he quipped to her.

He smiled when she let out a soft giggle at that.

"Don't worry, Tara, we'll get out of here and we'll all have a laugh back at the house. That is, when I get through buying your mum a big bouquet of flowers to apologize for getting you into this mess. And, just in case you're wondering, my leg hurts less now. I won't be able to tap dance on it yet but at least it's not throbbing and driving me to distraction."

He leaned in.

"You know, there is a way to repair my body. I can lower my body temperature and go into a trance while my body freezes over and my leg is repaired. But I have this funny feeling the moment I did that, all H-E-double hockey sticks would break loose so I don't think I should."

"You can freeze your body?"

"Yup, like a fish finger. Would you like a fish finger for a father?"

She giggled.

"No."

"No, no fabulously funny-looking fish finger father?" he said with wide eyes.

She giggled some more and he grinned.

"No, I don't want that."

"No freaky frozen fish finger father gathering flies to flaunt and flog to floppy floo-floos?"

Alan giggled along with her.

"That's not a word, Daddy."

"It is too, father is too a word."

"No, floo-floo," Tara said, between giggles.

"Oh, well yes, that's not a word but I enjoy making up my own flippidly floppidy floopidy doopidly doodle doo words to amuse my daughter and stop her from thinking about the fact that her dear old dad got shot. And see, it worked, you're now giggling instead of crying so I've done my job. Alan's not the only one who can be wacky and spontaneous. I can too. Bread! See, I said that out of the blue in a wacky, spontaneous way."

He smiled lovingly at her when she giggled at that and sighed while he rubbed her back.

"But I'm afraid, all kidding aside, we need to find a way out of here before we end up with more than injured legs," he said, looking around. "Alan, no matter what happens, you guard her with your life, ya hear me?"

"You have to tell me this?" he said in disbelief.

"No, but you know me, ordering others around," he said with a wink. "However, just because Brother doesn't need to be told doesn't mean you don't, Tara. I want you to stay at Alan's side and do what he says. If they come in here and drag me away, you have to be strong and brave and be my little Time Lady, alright?"

Tara hesitated a moment and then nodded. He stroked her cheek when he noticed her eyes mist over.

"Can I tell you something, Tara?" he asked her.

Tara nodded.

"You know, there was a time when I didn't have a family like this and for the longest time I didn't want that. I wanted to be big and bold and brave and face danger head on and I still do that but just knowing I have people out there who are more than just acquaintances or traveling companions, people who are truly my family makes me happy and gives me the strength to face whatever life throws at me."

"Daddy?"

"Yes?"

"Um, one time when all the cult people were gone, I snuck into their living room and watched HBO and there was this movie called The Last Unicorn. And at the end of the movie, the prince died and the unicorn brought him back to life with her horn."

He smiled.

"And unicorns can supposedly purify water by touching their horns to it. That's a myth, Dear. Unics have magnificent horns so humans assume they must be magical. Which is why they're hunted and killed. They can't heal me or Artemus with them if that's what you're thinking."

"I thought Time Lords were smart," Nicodemus said. "Isn't that your daughter?"

"She is, but she's a former human from Earth and when she changed, her Time Lord knowledge was delayed until she reaches the age of twenty so she can be a child. She and every other human on Earth have grown up with the ancient myths and legends of the unicorn. So you'll have to forgive her for being misinformed."

"No, my child," Rafael said, "our horns are not magical. They are mainly used to attract mates and are an indicator of age. The older you are, the longer your horn is."

"Can you stab people with your horn?" Tara asked.

"Not very well," said Rafael. "If you notice, the tip is blunt and rounded. We were not designed by the Great Creator to be warriors. We are a peaceful race. We try to live in harmony with nature and we keep to ourselves. We lived peacefully in the woods of Unica until the humans came here about a hundred and fifty years ago. We tried to welcome them and live in harmony but they only wanted to capture, enslave and kill us. So we hid underground. Eventually, we went on raids when hunting parties came near and stole some of their technology. That's where the security barriers came from. When you came through the hole, you set off a remote alarm that alerted our guards."

"And the dark outfits, they were nicked from the hunting parties also?" the Doctor said.

Nicodemus nodded.

"We don't wear clothes. We put those on to protect ourselves because we don't want the hunters to get a good look at us. We try to stay as anonymous as we can," he said.

"But if you lot are so peaceful, why the bellicose behavior from him?" Alan said, pointing to Nicodemus.

"I grow weary of the humans hunting us down. I don't want to fight but if it's a matter of survival, then I will kill if I have to."

"No one's killing anyone," the Doctor said.

"Oh? And how do you propose we get out of here without killing?" Nicodemus said to him. "Especially since you and Artemus are injured."

"I don't know yet, I'm trying to think of something and…"

"Daddy?"

"Yes, Tara?"

"Um…remember when we were in the other universe and you said that you couldn't reach anyone because they were over the void. Well, we're in the same universe now. Can't you talk to them and tell them to come help us? I mean, I can still feel Mommy. Can't you say something to her?"

"But we have the TARDISes, Tara," the Doctor said.

"Jack has his manipulator though. Talk to Rain and see if she can get in touch with Jack," Alan said.

"Okay, I just hope your mum goes easy on me for getting you into this," the Doctor said.

He closed his eyes, concentrated on the faint impression of his wife's mind and began to call to her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rain sank down on the sofa beside Rose and Madison. They had showered and taken a nap. Dorothy was still asleep and the dogs were lying by the holo-television fast asleep.

"Those beds are comfortable," Rain said to Rose and Madison.

"I know, too bad we don't sleep more often. I could definitely spend several hours lying in mine," Rose replied.

"Well, get Alan naked and you can," Madison teased.

_Rain._

Rain frowned when she heard the Doctor faintly calling to her.

"That was my husband, wasn't it? He's far away and he sounds like he's in a deep, deep hole."

"Either that or Alan's trying to contact ya to call ya names," Rose said.

Rain snorted.

"In that case, he'll get blocked by me," she said. "Hold on though, maybe my husband is calling me to ask if we need anything fetched from the supermarket or something on the way home."

She concentrated on her husband's mind.

_Yes, Love?_

_I need your help. We're in trouble. I got shot in the leg._

"Shot?" Madison said, looking at Rose.

_Are you alright, Love?_

_I'm fine. It's not severe but we're in a cage along with some Unics and I don't have my screwdriver or manipulator. I need you to contact Jack. We need his help. _

"I'll do it," Rose said.

_Rose is contacting him now. Where are you? Are you still getting parts for the screwdrivers?_

_No, the TARDIS took us to a planet called Unica on the way home. The Unics here asked me to try to negotiate with the humans because they were killing them but on the way to talk with them we got ambushed and one of the Unics broke his leg and they shot me with a blaster. We're in prison now in their compound._

_Is Tara and Alan alright?_

_Yes, they're beside me in the next cage but they're unharmed._

"Thank God," Rain breathed.

While she was doing that, Rose was talking to Jack who was in his house. They noticed that everyone else was alarmed when she told them the Doctor had been shot and imprisoned and suddenly a chorus rang out in their heads when everyone announced they were coming over to the house.

"I'll unlock the door so they can come in," Madison said, getting up.

While Rain continued to talk to the Doctor and get information, everyone from the other houses began to come into theirs, including Sarah Jane and the teens who had been visiting Jackie and Francine.

"Is he alright?" Martha asked Rose.

Rose nodded.

"He got shot with a blaster and a Unic has a broken leg but so far they're okay. But they need help. If you're going Jack, I'm goin' with ya."

"So am I," Rain said, glancing at Jack while he continued to think to the Doctor.

"I'm going too if they're hurt," Martha said.

"And so am I," Grace added.

"I'm going too," Donna said.

"And me," Jenny added.

"And me," Mingxia said.

"Okay, that's it," Jack said. "My manipulator won't be able to accommodate all of you. Unless…the Doc did leave his other TARDIS here?"

Rain shook her head and he sighed.

"Tell him to leave that spare one here when he leaves so we can use it if we need to. We're not gonna take it on joyrides and mess up time and space. He was lucky I wasn't busy and couldn't do this. Sometimes he might need help and I won't have my manipulator handy, not to mention if we had the TARDIS everyone who wanted to go could go. Does he know where he is? The date, the time, I don't wanna land 500 years away from him."

Rain nodded. She told him where he was and Jack programmed it into his manipulator.

"Alright, everyone who's going, gather around me and let's go get the Doctor back," he said.

Everyone who wasn't going stepped back and watched while the others gathered around Jack and disappeared in a flash of light.


	214. Chapter 214

Chapter Two Hundred and Fourteen

"There," the Doctor said, sighing. "Rain's coming with Jack and the others."

"Who're they?" Nicodemus asked.

"Our family, our rather large and protective family," he said to him. "Our rather large, protective and militant family who will be making those men regret they ever captured us."

He smirked when he heard faint yelling coming from somewhere in the building at the same time some of his family's minds became clearer in his mind.

"And here they are now," he said to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Several men were at work on the loading dock. They were getting the prisoners ready for shipment to a safe house on another planet before someone suspected they were there. In addition to the two captives who were already loaded into a crate on a hover-lorry, they now had six more, three Unics and three humans that needed to be disposed of. Everyone was hurrying trying to get them off the planet.

Suddenly, there was a flash of light and they spun around to see several strangers standing behind them.

"Hello boys, sorry to interrupt whatever it is you're doing," Jack said. "But we've come to rescue our family members."

The men were stunned for a second while the strangers all rushed them. A blonde girl wearing her hair in a long ponytail did a roundhouse kick and knocked out one of them. That was enough to bring them to their senses and they attacked them, yelling for help while the strangers teamed up and punched and kicked them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

While they fought, Jenny and Mingxia noticed four more men running into the room. They glanced at each other and screeched at them, causing them to freeze momentarily in shock. The women ran towards them and the men recovered and rushed them, withdrawing their blasters. Jenny and Mingxia ducked and dodged the laser blasts. Reaching them, they kicked the blasters out of the hands of the men closest to them and felled them with roundhouse kicks to the face while the rest of the family, free from fighting the other men, ran towards the two remaining ones. The men stared at the eight warriors barreling down on them and tried to turn tail but Jenny and Mingxia got in front of them while the rest came up from behind. Jack seized the back of their necks.

"Where are the Unics and the Doctor, Alan and Tara?" he growled at them. "Take us to them, NOW!"

They looked over when three more men came rushing in. Jenny seized one of the blasters from the prisoner's holsters and fired it up at the roof, stunning the three newcomers. Rose grabbed the other blaster and fired at the wall behind them when they turned and tried to retreat. Quickly, the women surrounded them and pointed the blasters and their screwdrivers at them.

"I said," Jack said to his captives, "where are you keeping the prisoners?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor looked over when the door opened and the five captives were led inside by Jack and the women.

"Da-da-da-da-dadaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Alan said.

"Are you alright?" Rain said, going inside the Doctor's cage when they forced the men to unlock the cell doors.

He hugged her when he knelt down.

"Yeah, I'm fine. My leg isn't too bad. The laser blast cauterized the wound. This is Artemus though, he has a broken leg."

Rain stood up and hugged Tara when she ran inside the cage. Rose hugged Alan and then everyone hugged each other.

"I'm so glad you're okay," Rose said to Alan when they were done.

"And I'm glad to see you, Starlight. Nothing like seeing a gorgeous blonde after enduing a short spell in a cold, uninviting cage."

Martha went to check on Artemus while Grace knelt down beside the Doctor. Each one had a small first aid kit in her trouser pocket.

"I heard you went out for screwdriver parts," Grace said to the Doctor.

"Yeah and funnily enough, I ended up here. My TARDIS likes to bamboozle me from time to time and get me into trouble. I think it entertains her and keeps her from getting bored."

Donna knelt down beside him while Grace rolled up his trouser leg and examined the wound.

"There ya go, getting injured and throwing the entire neighborhood in a panic," she said to him.

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"I did?" he said.

"Yeah, Rose didn't block out Jack's mind so everyone flooded into your house, worried out of their mind about you and Alan and Tara," Grace said. "We all wanted to come but you didn't leave the other TARDIS at the house."

"And that's what I wanna talk to you about, leaving that other TARDIS with us," Jack said, walking over to him while he, Jenny and Mingxia searched the men and put them in the empty cage that Alan and Tara had occupied. "Until we can grow more TARDISes, we need one there in case something like this does happen and we need to come find and rescue you. We won't go all over time and space causing mischief, we just want a spare in case of emergency because believe me, almost everyone wanted to come and rescue you."

The Doctor grinned and his hearts warmed hearing that.

"Yes, I will take the Valeyard's TARDIS out when we get back home and leave it in the garage for emergencies," he said to him.

"Thank you."

They locked the door.

"Alright, everyone except Grace and Martha, we need to go and find the others and lock them up before they recover and attack us again so come with me," he said to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After rounding up everyone else and putting them in the cages, they went back to the med bay they found and got two gurneys while Jack returned the stolen items to the Doctor and Alan. They took the gurneys back down on the elevator, wheeled them into the cage and very gently put Artemus onto one while the Doctor stood up and sat down on the other one.

"I need to take him back to the TARDIS," the Doctor said to Martha and Grace. "We can mend him and me there."

"Where is it?" Grace said.

"It's back at their underground home. Nicodemus, can you take Alan back so he can go get the TARDIS and bring it here?"

Nicodemus nodded. He looked at Tara.

"Go with him, I'll be alright," he said to her.

She nodded. He bent over to give her a hug and a kiss. She took Alan's hand and they walked with Nicodemus over to the elevator.

"What happens to us?" Ben asked while he and the others watched them from their cage.

"That's up to you," the Doctor said. "I don't want to send you and the other humans to a prison planet but if that's what it takes to get you lot to stop hunting the Unics, I will. Now, where are the other humans at? You must have a settlement here, right?"

They glanced at each other nervously.

"Well, out with it. Where are the rest of ya at? I know there's more than this," he said, gesturing to the twenty three men in the cage.

"The others don't know about us," Ben said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jack asked.

The captives glanced at each other.

"Officially, there is a hands-off policy when it comes to the Unics, but there's money to be made capturing them and killing them for their horns so we had this place built in secret in order to hunt and ship them off-world to dealers."

"Aha! Now see, Rafael, not all the humans are like them. There are some who want peace. These are just a bunch of rogue ones who care only about themselves and their wallets. So what you're saying is, we should contact the ones in charge and ship you off to prison then."

"No, wait," Ben said. "Don't do that."

"Why? You're breaking the law, aren't you? Your leaders told you to leave the Unics alone and you went and did your own thing so now you have to be punished, not only for the capture and slaughter of the Unics but assault and attempted murder with me. Now, I notice that not one of you has told us the location of the other two Unics yet. Are they alive or dead? Because I hope for your sake they're still alive."

"They are, they're in the back of a lorry waiting to be shipped out."

"And what about others. Are others still alive on other planets?"

Ben nodded.

"Then you will go with Jack here to let the two Unics out and then when the authorities are alerted, you will tell them where the other captives are so they can be returned home and if you know what's good for you, you'll do it because if you don't, I'm coming after ya the moment my leg is mended."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Shortly after Ben led Jack to the two Unic females who were in the back of a stuffy closed lorry, he made him call the police to come and arrest him and his friends. While they were doing that, Alan returned with the TARDIS. He landed near the elevator and after telling Tara to stay inside the console room, he went down to let them know he was there. He, Grace and Martha came back up with the gurneys and went inside while the elevator went back down to get the rest of them.

Grace and Martha followed the Doctor's instructions, healing his leg with the tissue rejuvenator and healing Artemus's leg with a machine designed to properly set and fuse broken bones together. In the meantime, the others led the Unics to the kitchen and made some food for them while the rested.

The Doctor smiled when Grace finished fixing his leg. He hopped down and walked around on it.

"Good as new, Doctor Holloway," he said to her. "Thank you for that."

"No problem, just glad you had something like this."

"Keep it, I can make another one for myself plus we have the larger model in here," he said.

"Thanks, Doctor," Grace said.

"Oi, what about my handy dandy doodah?" Martha said while she finished healing Artemus.

"Oh alright, I'll make you one as well."

"Nah, only havin' ya on. Jack's got somethin' similar in the Hub," she said.

"He does. Not nicked from me, I trust?"

"Dunno, I'll have to ask him."

The Doctor snorted.

"Right, like he'd tell ya the truth," he said while the women laughed.

Tara came into the room with Jenny.

"See, I'm aaaaaaaaaaall healed now," the Doctor said, walking over to her.

"Goody," Tara said, giving him a hug.

"And you got your wish, here's Jenny as well!" he said, pointing at her.

"Huh?" Jenny said.

"Tara was disappointed you didn't come with us because she wants her sister to share in our adventures."

"Oh, really?" Jenny said, giving her a hug. "Well, next time I'll have to come along then, Sis."

_Doc, the police are here and the governor of the colony came with them. He wants to talk to you. Do you feel like talking to him?_ Jack thought to him.

_I can. I'm mended now thanks to Grace._

_Okay, I'll lead him to the TARDIS then,_ Jack thought.

"Excuse me, my family, gotta talk to the head honcho of the settlement," the Doctor said, walking past them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After greeting him, the Doctor led the governor back to the kitchen. The man, whose name was Darius, was a Caucasian man in his late sixties with grey hair, a wizened face and a short, plump body. He was wearing tan trousers and a red tunic with a patch on the right side of it. The patch said, Governor of Unica Province on it in black letters and underneath was a small depiction of the planet. The Doctor made introductions and the male and female Unics, including Artemus, introduced themselves. The governor sat down when Rose offered him a chair at the kitchen table and he looked around at them.

"Your brother, Jack, told me what happened here and I want to apologize for what happened. I had no clue this was going on, this place is far from the main settlement and we were led to understand it was a scientific facility. I and the rest of the settlement condemn what went on here and I assure you if there are any survivors on other planets, we will return them home as soon as we can."

"Thank you, Darius," Rafael said. "We wish only to live in peace with the human settlement. We are no threat to you. We're a peaceful people. All we ask is that the hunting and killing of our people stops."

"And it will, I promise you," Darius said. "These men will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law and we will take the slaughter and capture of your kind very seriously. In addition to that, these men have threatened the security of the settlement by antagonizing you and I'm thankful it was stopped before it led to bloodshed. I invite all of you to come and speak with me and my administrators so we can work further to ensure this doesn't happen again and we can all live here in peace and harmony."

"Thank you, Darius, I will be honored to attend such a meeting," he said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After the meeting was done and Darius left, the Doctor took the TARDIS back to the cave opening. Rafael stood with him and his family while the other captives and the other Unics stood at the mouth of the cave.

"I want to thank all of you for rescuing us and for stopping the slaughter of our people. We Unics are forever grateful to you," Rafael said to them.

"I'm just happy a solution was found and there was a way for you and the humans to live together in peace," the Doctor replied.

"As am I, and you and your brother were right, there was always a way to avoid bloodshed."

"There usually is. Problem is most people let their emotions get in the way of their logic and they fail to see it."

He gave a pointed look to Nicodemus who blushed and looked at the ground.

"I wanted to ask if all of you would be our guests and dine with us before you leave, a celebratory feast and a way for us to deepen our friendships with you. Because, Doctor, you and your people are welcome here always and we will always consider you a part of us."

"It would be an honor, both for the dinner and the friendship," he said while he and his family bowed their heads.

"Then come, we'll go back underground and chat while the feast is prepared," Rafael said.


	215. Chapter 215

Chapter Two Hundred and Fifteen

Everyone sat and stood in the living room of the Doctor's house.

"I hope Papaw's alright," Opal said to her mother while they sat on the sofa.

"I'm sure he will be, Sweetheart. He's used to doing this," she replied.

"I wish he'd let us know what was going on," Sarah Jane said. "Or Jack or some…"

They jerked their heads over when they heard a wheezing sound in the garage.

"Never mind," Sarah Jane said while everyone chuckled.

There was a pause and another wheezing while the TARDIS landed in the corner of the living room. The Doctor opened the door and jerked his head back in shock when he saw everyone standing in his living room.

"Blimey, you weren't kidding when everyone came over," he said to Rain when she came out behind him.

Everyone hugged him while the others came out into the living room.

"I'm alright everyone, I'm here, I'm fine!" he said when they got done. "We're all fine. We're all safe and we've all been fed."

"Fed?" Awinita said.

"Oh, lovely banquet our new friends threw for us," Alan said to her. "We had a bit of a celebration with the Unics before we came back. They wanted to thank us and make us all kindred spirits. And that includes all of you, we're all welcome to come back and see them whenever we want."

He picked up Dorothy and gave her a hug while Opal and Amelia walked up to him..

"Hello, Daddy," Dorothy said.

"Hello, my Ladybird, did you behave while I was imprisoned?"

"Yes."

"Good, I like that. My kids behavin' themselves while I'm in prison."

He glanced down at Opal and Amelia who were poking their fingers through the hole in his trouser leg trying to look at his leg.

"Nothing to see, it's all healed up now," the Doctor said to them. "I have to dispose of the ruined trousers but other than that, I'm fine and dandy."

"How come you didn't take us with you, Papaw?" Amelia said.

"Well, I was going out to get parts for sonic screwdrivers. The trip to Unica was an accident. I took Tara because Tara was sitting at my feet and she was old enough. You noticed that Dot didn't go, didn't ya?"

"Can we go with you somewhere else?" Opal said, eagerly.

"Yeah, can we go see mermaids now?" Amelia added.

"Can I sit on the sofa for five minutes before I climb back in the TARDIS?" the Doctor said while everyone laughed.

"Yes, you can sit, Papaw," Opal said, giggling.

"Well, that's a mercy," the Doctor said, walking over and sitting down.

Alan sat down beside him and rested while Tara sat on the floor with Dot, Opal and Amelia and told them about her adventures. Rain and Rose went into the kitchen to get them some tea while the others sat and stood around them.

"So, didn't get the screwdrivers built yet?" Awinita said.

"No, and now I really don't wanna build them," the Doctor said to her.

"Yup, I believe we'll leave the screwdrivers alone for a day or two," Alan said. "I need time to recover from parts shopping."

"But of course we have to take the little ones to see the mermaids now," the Doctor added while the children giggled.

"I'll draw them a picture of one, surely that'd work," Alan replied.

They took the tea from their wives and they sat down beside them and rested. The Doctor looked around at everyone who was still standing in his living room.

"Isn't Strictly Come Dancing on right now?" he said to them. "Don't you all have houses?"

"Isn't he hinting very badly that you should go?" Rain said while they laughed.

"We're just making sure you're alright before we leave," River said.

"I'm fine, look…"

They laughed when he hopped up and did a silly dance, kicking and spinning around before sitting back down.

"See, leg is functional, all is well, nighty-night now," he said with a wink.

"Well, fine, Mister Loner, we'll go then," Jack said. "Come on, Rain, Rose, Alan, Maddie, kids. He wants us all to go far away."

"I didn't say the occupants of this house could leave, just you lot," he said while they chuckled.

"Well, we're glad you're alright," Sarah Jane said to him.

"I am and it's a pleasant surprise to see you. You didn't use your manipulator and come up here, did ya?"

"No, we were here visiting," Sarah Jane said. "Everyone here heard you, even Lee. We had to tell Lee not to come over though."

"Why ever not? He's a member of the family now too. Blimey, we need to get the boy a house here now."

"I don't think that'll be necessary," Awinita said.

"Oh? Why not?"

"Beeeeeecause I think he's thinking about moving in with us and sharing Donna's room," she said.

"Not moving him. He can get a removal van or you lot can move him. I'm done doing that," he said while they laughed.

"No worries, we'll move him," Jack said.

The Doctor noticed Rhys standing behind Gwen.

"Still human?" he asked while everyone turned to look at him.

"Yes, I am."

"What'd they do, grab you by your shirt and drag you out the door?" he said.

"Yeah, Gwen just about dragged me down our steps, yelling at me to come over here because you were in trouble," he said while they laughed.

"You're a part of this community too," Jack said. "If there's a red alert, you're required to come over and assist."

"What about Patty? Did someone go get her?" Alan said.

"No, because she's not a part of the community. She's over in no-man's-land on the other side of the development," Julie said.

"I see, so we just invited her to the barbecue and now she's the social pariah," the Doctor said.

"No, we just didn't want to take the time to go running all the way across the housing development to go get her," Julie said. "You were in trouble so we came over here. Besides, then we'd have to explain to the poor woman who you are and where you are and what you are and why you can time travel and that takes up valuable time."

"And Jake doesn't count either, I s'pose," the Doctor said.

"Not sure about him yet, I think he's still getting used to us," Jack said. "But hey, even though we didn't get him and Lee over here, we got Rhys to come."

"Whoopee," Rhys said dryly while they laughed.

"You like us and you know it, Rhys," Jack said to him.

"I do but I don't like everyone grabbing me and dragging me out the door without an explanation. What would I have done besides stand around and wait?"

"You've helped us on some missions," Jack said to him.

"Some, but that was on Earth, not another ruddy planet."

_Maybe we shouldn't change him after all,_ Jack thought to the Doctor. _I suddenly have a feeling we'll be hearing nonstop griping from him in our heads. _

_Well, be fair, Jack. You didn't have to bring the entire household over here,_ the Doctor thought back. _I know you want him to be a part of the family but grabbing him by his shirt collar and yelling at him to come help me while he's bouncing down the front steps isn't gonna ingratiate him to us, ya know. We separated the TARDISes now, the spare one's in the garage so next time you can bring him along and he can make tea while we fight the bad guys._

Rhys glanced around when he noticed everyone snickering softly.

"I don't know about you lot," he said, shaking his head.

Gwen put his arms around his neck.

"Okay, crisis is over now so we'll take our leave of ya and go back home," she said to the Doctor. "I'm glad you're alright."

"Thanks, Gwen," the Doctor said to her.

One by one everyone came forward to hug him and tell him they were glad he was safe. The Doctor hugged Tim.

"Close call, eh?" he said to the Doctor.

"I've had closer," he said to him. "How are you doing? Do you need a tune-up in my med bay?"

"Nope, still going strong which is really saying something since I'm one hundred and thirteen but I absolutely love it here. Wilf and John are wonderful. We usually sit out on the verandah chatting away. Wilf and I have swapped war stories and Jack's even joined in on occasion since he and I are both World War One and Two veterans. My grandchildren have come over and they run around in the garden or sit and play on the verandah while we talk. It's lovely."

"Good, I'm glad you like it here. I'll have to come over and swap stories as well. Been to both world wars as well as the Civil War, the War of the Roses, the Crimean War, The war between China and Japan, the warring states period in Japan…"

"Alright, alright, I get the idea," Tim said while he chuckled.

He hugged the Doctor and patted his shoulder while he said goodbye. Jackie waited until everyone was done before she came up to him.

"You better be glad Tara wasn't hurt because I would have gone with Jack just to murder ya," she said to him.

"I'm fine. Daddy and Uncle Alan took good care of me," Tara said, looking up at her from the floor while she sat with Amelia and Opal.

"And she takes care of herself pretty well, to be honest," the Doctor added.

"Well it's a good thing because the last thing she needs is to lose her new father," Jackie said. "Apart from that, I'm glad you and Alan are safe and you made it through in one piece. You mind your surroundings from now on, got it?"

"Yes, ma'am," he said.

She gave him and Alan a hug. Tara stood up and she hugged her tightly.

"You're a very brave little girl to be travelin' with him. I have a feeling you'll have to be just to look after him," she said to her.

"I will be. I'm a Time Lady-in-training," she said proudly.

The Doctor and Alan beamed at that. Jackie gave her a kiss on the cheek and tousled her hair. She hugged Amelia and Opal before she waved goodbye and went out the door with Pete and Tony.

Once the door closed behind them, the Doctor looked at the others.

"Blimey, we sure can fill a room, can't we?" he said to Alan. "I was shocked at how many of us there really are."

"Tell me about it, makes the little traveling group Rose and I had pale in comparison."

"Yes, but now you know that if you do get in trouble, you have a ton of people who can come to your aid," Rain said, patting the Doctor's leg.

She jerked her hand back when he winced. He gave her a grin.

"Only kidding, Love. Leg's fine."

Everyone laughed when he covered his head while Rain swatted his head repeatedly.

"So Daddy, can we really go and see mermaids now?" Tara asked while she sat at his feet with Dorothy, Amelia and Opal.

The Doctor's eyes widened.

"Blimey, you're fearless. You just watched me get shot, got thrown in a cage with your Uncle and me and a bunch of unicorn people and here you are, begging for more," he said.

"I had fun."

"You had fun watching me get shot and crying while I rolled around writhing in pain?"

"No, that wasn't fun. But I liked meeting the Unics and the feast and everything else. I want more, Daddy."

They laughed when the Doctor grinned from ear to ear and patted her head.

"Yup, she's officially my flesh and blood now," he said to Rain. "No doubt about it, my children are tough! Jenny kicks everyone's arse within a ten mile radius, Tara stands up to Unics and nutter cult and club members and Dot…"

He stared down at her.

"Dot screams your ear off," Alan said.

"Yes, thank you, Brother. Dot screams your ear off," he said while they laughed. "Yup, I'm proud of each and every one of my daughters and my granddaughters as well."

"So can we go see the mermaids then?" Tara asked.

"I'll tell ya what. Let me get a shower and sleep a bit because I'm exhausted. I haven't had a proper rest in awhile and I need to recover, especially from the injured leg. Let me do that and then I'll take you and Amelia and Opal to see the mermaids in the morning."

"Me, I wanna go, Daddy!" Dorothy said.

The Doctor stared at her while he debated that.

"Erm, I'm not sure about you, Ladybird. I took Tara to get parts and she and I ended up in a cage. Better wait till the next time when I can think of something safer, alright?"

"No!" Dorothy said.

"But, but, but…" the Doctor said.

Dorothy stood up and put his arms around his neck when he leaned forward.

"Wanna go, Daddy!" she pleaded.

"Dotty, got a good idea," Alan said. "Why don't you and me and Rose go on an adventure of our own?"

"Where?" Dorothy said, walking over to him.

"Where? Good question," Alan said while they laughed.

He racked his brain trying to think of something while Dorothy climbed into his lap and watched him.

"Okay, how 'bout this?" Alan said. "We'll find an insane asylum, put you in a rubber room and you can bounce around it while we stand outside the door and watch ya through a window, sound good?"

"No!"

"No? Blast, that sounded kinda entertaining," Alan said while they laughed. "What to do, what to dooooooo?"

"Don't they have amusement park planets out there?" Rose asked.

"They do, but that's no guarantee she might get hurt. Sure you don't wanna play in the padded room in the insane asylum, Dot?"

"No!"

"Drat, oh right, I s'pose we could find a nice amusement park planet and make a day of it," he said.

"Can I come with you?" Opal asked.

"I thought you wanted to go see mermaids," Alan said.

"I wanna ride the rides now."

The Doctor threw up his hands while they laughed.

"You know, I could take you to a similar planet another day, Opal. You wanna see the mermaids, you could go and you wouldn't miss out on rides."

Opal thought it over.

"The big toss-up, mermaids or amusement park," Rain said.

"Okay, I'll come with you, Papaw," Opal said.

"Are you sure? You sure you wanna come with me and miss out on roller coasters?" he said.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I'll come with you, Papaw," Opal said.

"Maddie, wanna come with us?" Alan said to her.

"Sure, why not? I could use a day of fun," Maddie said.

Alan looked around.

"Where are the dogs?" he said.

"I let them out back for awhile," Maddie said, pointing to the patio door.

Alan got up and let them back in.

"Hey, Frick, Frack and Barney, wanna go see mermaids?" he said while they all jumped up on his legs and wagged their tails at him.

He walked back to the sofa with them following behind him. He sat down and he patted them while they sat at his feet.

"What about this lot then? Back to the Torchwood house?"

"Nah, I'll take em along, they're my TARDIS guard dogs," the Doctor said.

"Well, if you're going to go do this, Love, then why not leave Dex's TARDIS in the garage so there will still be a spare TARDIS just in case," Rain said.

"Why? Aren't ya coming with us, Latara?"

"Yes, I'm coming with you, but we can still summon help if we need it and most of the family has screwdrivers that can unlock the door if they need to get in. You just promised Jack you'd leave one here and now Alan's taking it."

"Alright, I'll get it separated after a shower and nap," he said to her. "And you should get a nap as well, Tara. You need to rest before our next big adventure."

"Okay, Daddy."

The Doctor smiled at that, he gave her, Dot and his wife a kiss before getting up and heading to the shower.


	216. Chapter 216

Chapter Two Hundred and Sixteen

The next morning everyone got ready to go on their separate adventures. The Doctor's group put their swimsuits on underneath their street clothes and put their beach towels, rafts and life jackets in the TARDIS while Alan's group got dressed in t-shirts and shorts. The Doctor led the dogs out and put them inside their TARDIS. Once they were inside, the TARDIS put a force barrier up over the door so they would stay inside while the Doctor went back in. While he was getting ready, Tara came up to him and tugged on his sleeve.

"Yes?"

"I was thinking, can Jenny come with us?"

"Sure, if she wants to, she can," the Doctor said.

"Okay, I'll go ask her then," Tara said.

She ran out the door and off the porch. It was a bright sunny day and as she went across the yard to Jenny, Grace and Amber's house, she saw Wilf, John and Tim out on their porch talking. They waved to her and she waved back.

"Where are you going today?" John called out.

"I'm going with Daddy to go see mermaids," she yelled back.

They chuckled.

"Sounds nice. I'd come with ya but I think I'm bit too old for mermaids," Tim teased.

"Yup, me too. Would have been nice to see in my younger days," Wilf said. "You have fun though and be careful. Don't let your dad get shot again!"

"I won't," Tara said.

They waved at her and smiled when she ran over to Jenny's house. She knocked on the door and Amber answered.

"Mermaids, eh?" Amber said, grinning.

"Yup, I wanted to see if Jenny can come with us."

"Jenny! Hey! Tara's here!" Amber called back into the house. "Wants to know if you wanna go see mermaids with her and the Doctor!"

Amber let her inside and closed the door. Tara looked around.

"Where's Grace?" she asked Amber.

"She had to go to work this morning. She'll be back this evening," Amber said.

Jenny came down the stairs and smiled at Tara.

"Hey, Sis, you're going on another adventure?" she asked.

"Yeah, me and Daddy and Mommy and Amelia and Opal are going to go see mermaids and Alan and Rose and Maddie and Dot are going to an amusement park planet. I just wanted you to come with us to see the mermaids."

"I'd love to. I have a mermaid tattoo, you know."

"You do?"

Jenny rolled up her sleeve and showed it to her.

"Ooo, I want one," she said.

"Um, I don't think Dad will let you get one yet. He was a little upset I wanted one. Tattoos aren't his cup of tea," she said. "But I'll definitely come with you, it sounds like fun."

"Yay! I'll go tell Daddy!" Tara said.

They watched while she ran out the door and closed it.

"She really wants you to come with her," Amber said.

"Yup, I have a feeling that she's the one who thought of asking," Jenny said. "I think she's looking for ways for us to get close to each other which is great. I wanna have her as a little sister."

"Well, have fun swimming with the mermaids then," Amber said.

"Yup, tell Grace where I went if I'm not back by tonight."

Amber nodded and waved when she headed out the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Finally, they were all done. Alan's group headed into their TARDIS. Alan waited till they were all inside before going in. He stood by the door and blocked his mind from the others while he thought something to the ship. The TARDIS rumbled out laughter and nudged his mind. Suddenly the opening horns for Man, I feel like a woman thundered through the room. Alan grinned at their shocked looks and said…

"Let's go, girls!"

He began to dance around while the song played and sang along to the song.

"I'm going out tonight-I'm feelin' alright, gonna let it all hang out. Wanna make some noise, really raise my voice…"

He stopped beside Dorothy and gave her a pointed look while he sang…

"Yeah, I wanna scream and shout."

The horns played again and during the short pause, Alan kicked his right leg back and let out an "Ah!" before he began to dance around the console. The Doctor and his group along with Jenny were passing by the open door of his TARDIS when they heard the song. They all stopped and looked inside at Alan who had gotten the other women to dance around with him and sing.

"Oh, oh, oh, go totally crazy-forget I'm a lady. Men's shirts, short skirts, oh, oh, oh, really go wild-yeah, doin' it in style, oh, oh, oh, get in the action, feel the attraction. Color my hair-do what I dare, oh, oh, oh, I wanna be free, yeah, to feel the way I feel. Man! I feel like a woman!"

"Wow, this is really disturbing," Rain said while her husband chuckled.

They stood and watched them and then applauded when the song was over. '

"I thank you," Alan said, bowing. "And that was my little song to set the mood for our fabulous adventure on Amuse-o-world. So now we're ready to hit the open vortex. Have fun on Aqualania."

"We will. Be careful, Brother," the Doctor said.

"You too, don't get tridented or turned into a merperson or something like that."

"Believe me, I have no intention of either one happening to me," the Doctor said.

They waved at them and stood back when Alan closed the door. The TARDIS dematerialized and all of them headed into theirs. The Doctor shut the door and headed over to the console where his family was gathered.

"Okay, a short speech before we go," he said to them, patting Blizzard's head when she jumped up on his leg. "This is not The Little Mermaid. You won't find little singing crabs or pet fish or things like that. The Aqualanians live in a highly advanced civilization so we must respect that. Don't grab one by the shoulders and shake her demanding she sing Under the Sea for you, got that?"

"Yes," the children said.

"Point two, you will stay by us at all times. No wandering off…or swimming off. I've had a history of companions going off and doing their own thing…Rose comes to mind, but you three are children and you need to listen to the adults because I don't want Jackie murdering me when I bring back three drowned and lifeless bodies, is that understood?"

"Yes."

"Say sir, yes, sir."

"Why?" Amelia said.

"Because I'm your commanding officer and you are my troops. So troops, you will answer me with sir, yes, sir."

"No, yes, no!"

Amelia and Opal snickered at Tara when she said that. The Doctor got down in her face.

"Are you being cheeky?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" she said while Amelia and Opal giggled.

"Are you disrespecting your commanding officer?"

"Sir, yes, sir, yes, no, yes, no!" Tara said while all the women laughed.

The Doctor looked at Rain who shrugged.

"And you wouldn't be just as cheeky?" she said to him.

"Well…yeah," he conceded.

He bent down to Tara.

"I admire your guts, soldier!" he said to her.

"And I admire your face, it's pretty," Tara said.

The Doctor rolled his eyes while the girls giggled.

"I can already tell you're gonna be a handful," the Doctor said. "Even more of a handful than Rose was. Right! Speech is over with then, time to leave."

"Yes, sir, yes, sir, no, no, no!" Opal said.

Jenny bent over the console laughing while the Doctor gave her an odd look.

"I hope for your sake you do manage to stay alive during this trip because if Jackie does come after me, I'm gonna raise your body from the dead and have her come after you," he said to her. "Anyway, let's get going now."

"Yes, ma'am, yes, sir, ja, oui, nein," Jenny said.

The Doctor gave her an exasperated look while the girls giggled. Jenny grinned and shrugged.

"Just bonding with my sister," she said, patting Tara's shoulder.

The Doctor smiled at that and set the controls. The rotor came to life and oscillated in its column while the TARDIS took them to Aqualania.


	217. Chapter 217

Chapter Two Hundred and Seventeen

The TARDIS materialized on a large island in the middle of a vast ocean that stretched endlessly in every direction. The sand on the beach was pure white and shimmered in the light of the sun above them. Beyond the beach was a dense forest of palm trees. The beach was deserted; the only sound was the lapping of the waves upon the shore. The Doctor stepped outside with his family and looked around while he closed the door. In addition to their swim suits and trunks they were wearing a tight wet suit that covered every part of their body up to their neck and holding a mask in their hands that was made of the same material. The mask had a bulge in the front of it where the mouth and nose were and a clear oval area over the eyes made of Perspex.

"The reason we're wearing these is the waters of Aqualania are frigid. This wet suit will help to keep us warm and the bulge on the front of the mask is a mini SCUBA apparatus that will allow us to breathe underwater without having to carry around bulky, heavy oxygen tanks. It's lightweight to allow us freedom of movement but durable to give us protection from the water. Now, we should be alright. These mermaids are friendly unlike some cultures who are more warlike but I meant it when I told you to respect their culture. Don't antagonize them because like the Unics, they will fight if they feel you're threatening them. Now, on with the protective masks and we'll be on our way."

The Doctor instructed them to flip a switch inside the bulge to turn on the oxygen before they put them on. He helped the children get their masks on and checked everyone's mask to make sure they were on properly. Satisfied they were, he motioned to them and they walked down the beach into the water.

_We'll have to communicate by telepathy,_ he thought to them. _There are no communicators inside the mask, I'm afraid._

_How far down are the mermaids, Papaw?_ Opal thought.

_Not far. Their cities are under the water but the water isn't that deep. I asked the TARDIS to land near one so we should be able to see it soon,_ he said while they swam_. I'm sure we'll be detected before we find them though. Most of the planet is water, there are islands like the one we landed on scattered about and they do come up occasionally to sun themselves but for the most part they live under the ocean. If they stay too long in the sun, they dry out._

They noticed several large fish swimming around them while they swam through the water.

_Um, there isn't anything that can eat us, is there? _Rain thought._ Like sharks?_

_There are sharks but they're tiny, not big enough to muck with us, _the Doctor thought._ Don't worry, we're safe. If there were massive monster fish, the Aqualanians couldn't survive here. Like I said, there are merpeople who are warlike but these are the peaceful variety. _

They paused when they noticed a mermaid below them kneeling in the coral, staring up at them with a mixture of curiosity and fear. The Doctor began to sign to her, assuring her that they weren't a threat.

_We're only here to explore_, he signed to her. _We won't hurt you. My name is the Doctor and this is my family._

The mermaid came out of hiding and swam towards them. She was pale with long blonde hair with blue highlights on the tips. The fish body was gray with pink stripes that ran along the side from her torso down to her fins. Her scales shimmered as she got closer to the sunlight filtering through the water. She paused in front of the Doctor and began to sign to him.

_You are strange looking creatures, I've never seen skin like yours_, she signed.

_No, this is a suit designed to keep us warm and let us breathe in the water, we're humanoid underneath it_, the Doctor signed back. _We're Gallifreyan._

_I've never heard of your kind before, but we Aqualanians do not have much contact with surface dwellers. Do you speak? _

_Yes, we can speak,_ the Doctor signed back.

The woman nodded and pointed upwards. She went up while the Doctor and his family did the same. Once they broke through the surface of the water, the woman looked around, noticed the TARDIS and then spoke to them.

"Is that yours?" she said, pointing to the TARDIS.

"Yes," the Doctor replied, his voice muffled by the mask. "It's our ship."

"It is strange looking. I've seen several ships come here before, none of them like yours," she replied.

"Its camouflaged and it's much, much bigger than it looks. The bulk of the ship rests in a different dimension," the Doctor said.

She nodded.

"I am Ariatne, daughter of the chief of the Aqualanians," she replied.

The Doctor quickly introduced the others and she nodded.

"Wait on shore, if you don't mind, and I'll fetch my father. I believe he will let you explore but he'll want to speak to you first since this is his territory."

The Doctor nodded and they watched while Ariatne dove back under the water. All of them turned and swam back to shore.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Now see," Alan said when they paid their admission and went through the gates into a massive amusement park, "this place just puts Disneyworld to shame. And unlike Disney, the entire planet is like this. Just one theme park after another after another. How's that sound, Doodlebug? Sound like fun?"

"Yes!" Dorothy said, walking with him and Madison while she held on to their hands.

"All righty then. Let's find you something to do then. I'm sure they have children's areas. Although…"

He pointed over to a massive roller coaster that had numerous twists, turns and loop-de-loops in it.

"We could put you on that and see how long it takes you to vomit, how 'bout that?"

"Okay," Dorothy said.

"Okay? You wanna vomit?" Alan said while Madison and Rose laughed. "Well, I aim to please. One puke inducing ride coming right up!"

"Maybe we better not, Dear," Rose said. "Unless you want the vomit flying in your face and watching as she hurls out of the car to her death."

"Yeah, you're right, that might be bad especially the whole killing her thing. I don't think Brother will look kindly on me when I bring him back the shattered remains of his daughter. Hullo, here's something though, a little bouncy cage much like the rubber walls of an insane asylum, let's put you in this for a giggle."

They walked up to a large white inflated rubber box. They put her down into it on a rubber floor filled with air and rested their arms on the top of it while they looked in. a humanoid man with bluish green skin pressed a button on a pole beside the box and shot air into the floor making the floor rise and fall. They grinned when Dorothy giggled as she tumbled around it and laughed when she tried to stand up only to be knocked off her feet back onto the bouncy surface. She got back up and tried to walk to her mother. She nearly made it when a bulge came up under her feet and she fell back and bounced on the floor making her laugh with glee. She tumbled and bounced for five minutes before the man stopped it. Alan reached in and grabbed under her arms.

"Did you like that, Doodlebug?"

"More!" she squealed.

Alan let go and looked behind him. He noticed no one was waiting to use it so he asked the man to start it up again and they giggled when she began to bounce and roll and tumble, giggling with joy while she had fun. After another five minutes, Dorothy was sitting on her butt in the center of the floor, giggling hysterically while the adults reaped the mental benefits of her happiness.

"More!" she squealed.

"Let's go find something else, Doodlebug. We wanna have fun too," Alan said, reaching in to grab her.

He hoisted her up and sat her on his arm while they went looking for something else to do.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor and his family sat on the beach beside the TARDIS waiting for the chief to come back. All of them had taken off their masks and laid them beside their bodies. The Doctor was lying back on the sand with his hands behind his head, his right leg twitching lazily while he stared up at the blue sky.

"Do you think they'll let us see the ocean?" Tara asked him while she sat beside him.

"I'm sure they will. I'm betting this is just a formality. Just a way for the chief to be aware of who is swimming around in his territory. If not, we'll get in the TARDIS and go to another part of the planet. It's huge, there's other places we could go."

"Papaw," Opal said.

He glanced at her, saw her pointing out to see and raised his head. He sat up when he noticed Ariatne had surface along with an older male who he assumed was the chief. The older male had white hair that was in dreadlocks. His face was wizened with bright blue eyes. The two of them went back under the water and surfaced again closer to shore. They pulled themselves up on the beach and they noticed that the male's fish body was identical to Ariatne's body. They pulled themselves up until they were about a foot in front of them and then positioned themselves so they were sitting with their hands back behind them to help keep them steady.

"I am Porthos, chief of Drosei Territory," he said with a deep baritone. "I welcome you to my domain."

"Thank you," the Doctor said. "As I was telling your daughter, we are explorers. We mean your people no harm, we're only exploring here because my daughters wanted to meet merpeople."

Porthos glanced at the children. He smiled when they waved at him.

"If your intentions are peaceful then I will allow you and your family to pass through our domain," Porthos said. "But I must insist on an escort. My daughter has graciously volunteered to come with you. I'm not doing this because I don't trust you. Quite the opposite in fact. I wish to form a bond of trust with you by allowing her to travel with you and because I want to ensure you safe passage through our territory and if you are interested in our world, she can act as a guide."

"I thank you," the Doctor said. "It would be an honor to have her with us and be our guide for the day."

"Then I take my leave of you. Feel free to explore any area of our territory and if you wish to visit our city, I will allow that as well. Have a good day."

"You too," the Doctor said.

He nodded. Turning over on his stomach, he pulled himself back into the ocean and dove back under the water when it was deep enough. Ariatne smiled and turned over onto her stomach.

"If you follow me, I can take you to a few undersea ruins," she said.

"Um, Ariatne?" Amelia said hesitantly.

"Yes?" she said.

"Um, can we touch your fish body just to see what it feels like?" she asked.

Ariatne smiled and the Doctor helped her take the skin tight glove off the children's hands so they could feel it. They walked over and knelt down beside her, gently rubbing their hands over her tail.

"It's really smooth," Tara said to her. "It feels nice."

"I like the pink along the side too," Opal said, it's pretty and I like the blue in your hair."

"Thank you. I dyed it using ground up star plant. It makes the blue color."

"Will it stay in there forever?" Tara asked.

"No, about a year or so," she said.

The children finished examining the fish tail and the Doctor helped them get their gloves and masks back on. Once everyone was ready, Ariatne turned and they walked into the water while she pulled herself in. Once they were out far enough, they dove under the water to begin their exploration.


	218. Chapter 218

Chapter Two Hundred and Eighteen

Ariatne led them through the water past schools of brightly colored fish and sparkling coral towards something in the distance. They could see it was big and metallic and when they got close enough, they realized it was an enormous spaceship. It's dark grey hull was sinister looking amidst the colorful fish and coral. There was an enormous hole in the side of the hull that gave the ship the appearance of a monstrous sea creature with a gaping mouth.

_It's a Braxonian War Ship,_ the Doctor thought. _And judging from the gaping hole, it looked like it's been through a war._

Ariatne paused, turned and signed to them.

_This fell into the water about two years ago,_ she signed.

_From a space battle?_ The Doctor signed back.

_We're not sure. It killed three of our own though. Three small children were playing in the coral when it fell on them._

_Oh God, that's horrible, _Rain signed back.

Ariatne nodded. She beckoned to them and they followed her. While they followed, the Doctor telepathically told the children what Ariatne had said.

_So, this war ship, it got bombed and then it fell and killed the children?_ Opal thought.

_I think so. That looks like a bomb or space torpedo penetrated it,_ the Doctor thought, pointing to the hole. _The Braxons live about three planets away from this one and they're very ruthless. They make war on others in addition to being pirates; they could have been doing either activity when they were shot down. _

_Are the Aqualanians in danger of being attacked then? _Jenny thought.

_I don't think so. They're a very simple people. They don't have any fancy technology, nothing that would interest the Braxons, _the Doctor thought._ They mainly prey on others for profit, hence the moonlighting as pirates. Plus, it would be hard for them to find the Aqualanians since they're underwater and I'm sure they have a million places to hide down here. So I think this ship was brought down from far above and just fell into the ocean._

They followed Ariatne into the hole. She raised her hand up in the dim light and they stopped. She swam down to the floor of the ship, grabbed a crystal that was secured in a holder made out of kelp and hit it against the floor, it glowed with a brilliant bright light and she handed it to the Doctor, instructing him through sign language to put it around his neck like a necklace while she grabbed some more. The Doctor nodded and put his neck through a large loop in the kelp. Once everyone was wearing one, they moved deeper into the ship. The interior was deathly quiet. The lights from the crystals threw shadows on the walls of the metal ship and illuminated control panels and machines. Ariatne stopped after a few minutes and signed to them.

_Some of our people have come in here to explore this ship,_ she signed. _That's why we have the crystals available. There are several dead bodies scattered throughout the ship, they're skeletons now. But I'm warning you about them so you won't be startled._

The adults thanked her in sign language and she turned and led them on while the Doctor mentally translated what she said to the children.

_Whoa, dead bodies?_ Opal thought.

_Well…skeletons to be precise,_ the Doctor thought.

They entered a room and saw a skeleton lying in an odd position on the floor of the ship. They came in for a closer look at it. The skeleton had a ridge rising up out of the spinal column and a large ridge on the top of the skull. The eye sockets were small and oval shaped and they could see fangs in addition to claws on the hands and feet.

_The Braxons were a reptilian species_, the Doctor thought to the children while he pointed to the body_. That's why it has ridges and fangs and claws. They were highly venomous too like snakes. They could bite people and inject them with poison like cobras._

Tara studied the body and then looked around the room. She noticed some metal cabinets against the wall and swam over to them. She opened one and peered in. she reached inside and pulled out a sealed metal container with alien hieroglyphics on the side of it. She swam back to the Doctor and he examined the box.

_This is freeze-dried botha beasts, kinda like a reptilian rat. It's one of their main food staples. Judging from the looks of things I'd say we're in their kitchen. _

He repeated his findings in sign language to Ariatne and then he broke the seal on the lid and peeked inside. He reached inside and quickly pulled out a green rat like creature sealed in plastic and showed it to them.

_Ew,_ Opal thought.

_Yeah, that doesn't look too appetizing to me,_ Jenny thought.

_Are there other things in the cabinets?_ Amelia thought.

The children swam back over and looked into the cabinets while the adults watched. Jenny joined them and swam next to Tara while the Doctor and Rain examined the bottom set of cabinets. Rain pulled out a red plastic bottle and read the writing on the front of it.

_Hey, I found the bleach, I guess,_ she thought to the Doctor.

_Ah yes, every alien ship has to have bleach to keep it squeaky clean and shiny,_ he thought back with a wink.

_There's not much here_, Jenny thought. _The cupboards are kinda bare. I wonder if Ariatne's people took things back for study._

The Doctor signed to her and asked. Ariatne nodded.

_Yes, some of my people have been curious about the surface world and we took back some of the items, she thought. We took back one skeleton as well but we left the others here. _

They nodded and the Doctor translated what she said to the children. After they finished examining everything, they moved on and examined the other rooms. They split up for a short while, keeping in contact telepathically. Rain went with Jenny and Tara and the Doctor stayed with Ariatne, Opal and Amelia. Rain's group entered though a large oval doorway into the sleeping quarters. On either side of the room were bunk beds. There were six metal bunk beds on both sides of the long room. In one bed lay a skeleton, the skull on the side and his arms and legs splayed. One leg was hanging off the end of the bed and the foot was below on the floor, broken into pieces. Tara hung onto the bed frame while she touched the skull.

_Do you think this one was asleep, Mommy?_ She thought to Rain.

_Maybe, sure looks like it,_ Rain thought back.

_What's that?_ The Doctor thought.

Rain told them what they found.

_We're in the front of the ship up near the control consoles. There's a couple of skeletons here, strapped into the seats,_ the Doctor thought back. _The windscreen is shattered but that could have been from the impact of the ship hitting the ocean bed. Most of the control panels are intact though. _

_The beds are too. They have metal bunk beds. The skeleton we found is lying on a bottom bunk so Tara wondered if he was asleep, _Rain thought.

_Could have been. These ships were designed to be lived in, for long journeys to make war or find other ships to board and plunder. He could have been asleep when it happened,_ the Doctor thought back.

Tara noticed another door at the far end of the sleeping quarters. Jenny and Rain followed her while they swam towards it. They grabbed hole of a large handle affixed to it and pulled with all their might. The door slowly creaked open and they saw a narrow metal corridor. They swam into it and went through the first door on the right. They looked around and saw various weapons on the walls and the floors.

_We moved past the bunk beds, Love. I think we found the arsenal now,_ Rain thought. _There's a bunch of weapons in this room. Swords, spears, laser blasters. _

_Cool!_ Amelia thought.

_Just don't let Jenny get any ideas about nicking some,_ the Doctor thought teasingly.

Rain noticed a sign on the wall next to a rack of spears. She went over and read it.

_Huh, they have rules for borrowing weapons here,_ she thought_. You couldn't check out more than two weapons at a time, you could only have them for half a day before you had to check them out again and you could only have one blaster._

_My guess is they did that to ensure the crew couldn't carry out a large scale mutiny,_ the Doctor thought to her. _They were ruthless and they frequently did turn on one another. It's just a guess but that's my theory. Then again, maybe there weren't enough weapons to go around. Are there a lot in there?_

_Not really, Daddy. Just some spears and swords and three guns, _Tara thought.

There was a pause.

_Ariatne said they only took one spear, sword and blaster so there could have been a sharing policy. But that's bonkers if they were making war on others so I'm guessing the mutiny theory is the right one. _

_Then if that's true, Dad, could the bomb blast have come from within? From sabotage? _Jenny thought.

_That's a good point. It's possible. Although why they'd wanna go down with the ship…then again, maybe it was an outsider who managed to escape beforehand. There are escape pods in here or there should be. Too bad they don't have a video or audio log we can look at. I'm pretty sure the water damaged the databanks and corrupted the files, shame…this is quite a find. I can see why the Aqualanians are interested in it. Then again, great big hunk of metal splashed down from the sky and landed on their back door, who wouldn't wanna investigate it?_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they finished with their tour of the ship, they met again beside the hole and the adults thanked Ariatne for the tour. She smiled and signed back.

_I have more to show you. There are some ruins near here. Ruins of a civilization that lived here before our kind did,_ she signed.

_Lovely, lead the way then,_ the Doctor signed back.

She beckoned to them and they swam with her through the hole.


	219. Chapter 219

Chapter Two Hundred and Nineteen

"Aha, a kiddy area where you can romp and play and be cute," Alan said when they came upon a playground area. "So go and romp and play and giggled and snicker and wee wee wee all over your knickers."

"You silly," Dorothy said, pointing to him while Rose and Madison snickered.

They laughed when Alan picked her up and touched his nose to her while he breathed heavily.

"Quit, Daddy!"

Alan raised his eyebrow while Rose and Madison laughed.

"By the constellation, don't you know who you're with? I'm not Daddy, I'm Alan, you silly, silly thing. Your daddy's on the other side of the universe swimming with fish people. I'm your Uncley Alonzo."

"Put me down."

"Nope, not gonna," Alan said, walking over to a large structure with several holes and Plexiglas windows in it. At the top was a platform that led to a slide. Alan put Dorothy down beside a large hole.

"Now, crawl inside and amuse me with your precocious antics," he said to her.

Dorothy stared at the large hole while Rose and Madison came up beside him. They watched while she tentatively crawled inside and went through a small tunnel to a Plexiglas window. Alan walked around to the other side and leaned over to stare at her in the window.

"Boo!" he said to her.

"Quit looking!" Dorothy squealed.

"No!" he said.

Dorothy turned to her right and crawled over to a set of steps that jutted out of the plastic interior. Alan straightened up and looked through a smaller window while Rose and Madison looked through a window across from him. Dorothy climbed the steps and crawled onto a plastic platform. She crawled around on her hands and knees looking at Rose and Madison who waved to her. Then she turned to look at Alan and giggled when his eyes bulged.

"I seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee yooooooooooooooooooooou!" he said in a falsetto voice.

He jerked his head back when Dorothy smacked the Plexiglas in front of his face.

"Are you trying to assault me?" he asked her while she giggled.

She smacked the glass again and giggled when Alan smacked his side of the glass in return. She went back down the stairs and Maddie and Rose knelt down by the first hole when she crawled out to them.

"You don't wanna go down the slide, Baby? There's a slide up there if you keep going up," Maddie said to her.

"No," Dorothy said.

Madison took her hand and Alan walked around the structure while the walked around the play area. There were several children playing, both human and alien. Dorothy stared, wide-eyed, at a brown skinned alien child that had a white furry Mohawk, white eyes and white swirls around his body. He had on a small white loincloth and nothing else. The alien boy stared back at Dorothy and she tottered over to look at him more closely.

"Hi," the boy said.

"Hi," Dorothy said.

"Ezerk," the boy's mother said as she walked over to him.

Her skin and eyes was identical to his but her hair hung down her back and she was wearing a toga-like dress.

"Don't go running off," she said to Ezerk.

She noticed Dorothy and knelt down beside her while Dorothy stared at her in fascination.

"Hello, little one, where did you come from?"

"She's with us," Alan said, walking over to her. "I'm Alan, this is Rose and Maddie."

"Shar'ra," she said, shaking hands with them. "Where are you from?"

"New Hope," Alan replied.

"I've never heard of it."

"It's an Earth colony," Alan said.

"You're human then?"

"No, we're Gallifreyan. Time Lord and Ladies," he said to her.

She was taken aback.

"I thought they all died."

"Not all of them. A few survived," Alan said.

"I'm from Onos."

Alan nodded.

"I love Onos, beautiful planet."

"Thank you, I think so too. Ezerk, come back here with her. Honestly, this child never sits still."

"Neither does she," Madison said. "That's Dorothy, my daughter."

Shar'ra bent down to Dorothy when they came back.

"Hello, Dorothy, how are you?" she asked.

"Fine," she replied.

Shar'ra looked at Alan.

"Are you her father?"

"No, I'm her uncle. Her father is off with some other members of his family on Aqualania," he said.

"My word, why are they all the way over there?" she asked him.

"My niece and grandnieces wanted to see mermaids," he said to her.

"Alan, come here!" Dorothy said, pulling his hand.

"Excuse me, I'm being pulled," Alan said while he walked away with Dorothy.

Rose and Madison talked with Shar'ra while Dorothy led Alan over to a wet concrete area that had several small holes in it. They watched while fountains jutted up through the holes and kids ran through the water. Dorothy watched the kids and waited till the fountains spurt up again before she ran through them, laughing hysterically. She came back towards Alan when the fountains died down. On her way back, she got caught in one and squealed while she ran to Alan. She clung to his trouser leg, getting it wet.

"Come on, Alan!" she said.

He took her hand and ran back through the fountain, laughing with her while the water made them wet. He turned and noticed his family, Shar'ra and Ezerk were staring at him and he shrugged when they laughed at him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor and his family followed Ariatne while they swam through the ocean. They had moved away from the spaceship towards the right and were making their way towards some abandoned ruins that were about a quarter of a mile away. When they were almost there, Ariatne turned and signed to them.

_These are the ruins of a land dwelling civilization,_ she signed. _There used to be more land on this planet but the planet warmed up because of their pollution and the ice caps at the poles melted and flooded their cities. That was eons before we came here. We have no idea who they were, it was so long ago that no skeletons remain, only the ruins of buildings and some artifacts scattered around them. _

The Doctor translated that to the children while they swam on. As they got closer, they suddenly saw several mermen and woman pop up behind the ruins and inside the crumbling buildings of the ancient city. Ariatne stopped while several of the men pointed and glared at the Doctor and his family. The Doctor and his family surfaced, unable to stay underwater once they stopped, and the others followed suit. The Gallifreyans treaded water while Ariatne confronted the angry merpeople.

"What is the meaning of this?" she said to them.

"Who are they?" a merman with long brown hair said, pointing to the Doctor.

"They are guests. My father has already given permission for them to be here," Ariatne said. "This is the Doctor and he and his family are exploring our territory."

"Oh yeah, for what purpose?" the man said, swimming closer.

"That is no concern of yours, Delta."

"It is my concern if surface dwellers are spying on our domain," Delta replied. "We already lost three children because of people like them."

The Doctor grabbed the bottom of his mask and pulled it up to his forehead so he could speak clearly while the others followed suit.

"I assure you, we had nothing to do with that," he said to Delta. "The people that crashed were Braxons. We're Gallifreyan and…"

"It makes no different what species you are. You're all the same, interfering intruders. Why are you here? Come to stare at us and gawp at the merpeople?"

"Delta, be silent," Ariatne said angrily. "My father has given them permission…"

"Your father is a fool, Ariatne. Surface dwellers are nothing but trouble. All they do is pollute and destroy. They don't live in harmony with the ocean or with nature. For all we know, this man is a spy sent in advance of a colonizing force."

"We are not interested in colonizing anything," the Doctor said. "We mean you no harm. We're just exploring your territory."

"And my father trusts them," Ariatne said. "I've been with them for almost two hours and they've not harmed me in any way. All of them have been respectful of me and our territory. Not all surface dwellers are a threat, Delta."

A man swam up beside Delta. He had long blonde hair with black highlights on the tips.

"I say we make them undergo the metamorphosis. If they're that interested in our culture, then let them become one of us. Those children could replace the ones killed by the other surface dwellers."

"You touch the children and I'll make you sorry you were ever born," the Doctor growled.

Jenny and Rain swam up beside him, forming a protective barrier between the merpeople and the children. Ariatne placed herself between the two men and the Doctor and his family.

"Go, leave us in peace, Delta. If they turn out to be a threat, I will take the responsibility for it. If you don't like my father's decision, take it up with him in his chambers and leave us in peace!"

Delta snorted.

"Your father's policy of cooperation with the surface dwellers will bring destruction to us all, Ariatne. But Porthos is still the chief and I will obey his decisions. But mark my words, surface dweller, if you have come here with evil intentions it will be you who will be sorry you were ever born."

"Just go," Ariatne said angrily.

Delta glared at the Doctor briefly before everyone except one lone child sank down under the ocean. Ariatne sighed angrily at the child.

"Go, Mirabella, follow your hot-headed father back to the city," she said to her.

"No, I wanna stay," she said, swimming towards them.

She was eight years old with shoulder length brown hair and blue eyes. She stopped a few feet away from Ariatne and stared at the newcomers quietly. She started to move forward but Ariatne quickly blocked her.

"I'm not gonna hurt them, Ariatne, I just want a look," Mirabella said.

Ariatne watched her warily while she swam around them. She swam up to the Doctor who smiled warmly at her. He raised his eyebrow when she put his arms around his neck and rested her head on her shoulder while she stared at the children behind him.

"Hello," Mirabella said.

The three kids glanced at one another and swam up to the Doctor's back.

"Hi, I'm Tara and this is Amelia and Opal."

"I'm Mirabella," she said, still holding on to the Doctor's neck. "The one that yelled at you was my father."

She hesitated a moment and then moved around the Doctor. The three adults turned and watched while Mirabella dove under the surface for a moment and then came back up.

"How are you able to swim with those stick appendages you have? They look like they'd be all over the place when you move them," she said.

"Those are our legs and we just kick them to move," Amelia said.

Mirabella went down for another look and came back up.

"They're weird looking," she said. "But kinda interesting. They're different than fins."

She looked at Ariatne.

"Can I come with you and explore, Ariatne?" she asked her.

"If you promise you'll be respectful of the Doctor and his family."

"I will. I'm not scared of surface dwellers like my father is," she replied.

"Then you can come with us."

"Cool," Opal said.

Mirabella watched while they pulled the masks back down over their faces.

"What's the purpose of that?" she asked Tara, pointing to her mask.

"It helps us breathe and keeps us warm," Tara said.

Mirabella was quiet for a moment while she considered that and then shrugged.

"If that is what you must do to survive…" she said.

Ariatne beckoned to them and everyone sank below the surface so they could continue their exploration.


	220. Chapter 220

Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty

Alan and his family walked with Shar'ra and Ezerk. The two of them decided to follow their new friends around. Dorothy walked beside Ezerk, talking to him while she held on to Madison's hand. Madison smiled at that, happy her daughter was getting along with someone who didn't look like her. They stopped at a snack cart and got some juice that resembled lemonade. They sipped the sweet tasting beverage while they strolled along. They stopped at one ride that consisted of an inflatable floor that was enclosed in a room. When you stepped inside, an antigravity field was activated while you floated up to the ceiling and literally bounced off the walls which were made of a clear rubber. Alan took a sip of his juice while he watched a human floating around in it. He looked down at Dorothy who was watching it with him.

"Wanna go on this, Doodlebug?"

"Yes!"

"Okey-dokey, follow me," Alan said.

He took her drink and Rose and Madison took it from him along with his own. He took her hand and got in the queue. Fifteen minutes later, they stepped inside the box. The park worker pushed a button on the side of it and both of them floated off the ground. Dorothy was stunned and was looking around in confusion while they floated up to the ceiling. Once they reached the top of the box, Alan pushed off with his hands and sailed back down to the bouncy platform. Meanwhile, Dorothy floated to the top and just stayed there with her face pressed against the ceiling, at a loss as to what to do.

"Hey!" Dorothy said with a muffled voice.

Alan floated up to her, grabbed her around the middle and pushed off. He held on to her while they bounced around the box. Dorothy squealed and giggled and Alan kissed the top of her head, sending love into her mind while they bounced. On one bounce, he floated up to the top back first and stayed there, holding her in his arms while they stared down at the floor.

"Are you having fun, Doodlebug?"

"Yes."

"Good, because I'm having fun being with you," he said. "I'm so glad you became a Time Lady so we can have centuries of fun now."

"I love you."

Alan's hearts warmed and he kissed the top of her head.

"Ditto, Dotty Doodlebug," he said, sending love into her mind.

They began to sink slowly to the floor.

"Oopsie, ride's over, my Poppet. Better turn' round before you become a pretty little pancake under me."

He quickly turned and lay in a prone position while he slowly came down and landed in the soft cushiony rubber.

"Wanna go have more fun?"

"Yes."

"Okay, let's do," he said, letting go of her so he could sit up.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You sure you don't wanna ride the roller coaster, Starlight?" Alan asked Rose, pointing up to the large one with all the twists and turns.

"Ugh, no, normally I'd ride one but just lookin' at that one makes me want to vomit. Besides, you need someone to mind Dorothy. You lot go and have fun. Shar'ra and I will sit here and chat and wait for you."

"Okay, have fun chatting and keeping the kids in line," Alan said.

He gave her a kiss on the lips and nuzzled her nose before he and Madison headed off towards the queue. Rose sat and chatted with Shar'ra while Dorothy and Ezerk sat between them sipping their juice and watching the people passing by. While they talked, Rose's phone suddenly rang. She excused herself and reached in her pocket for it.

"Hello?" she said while Shar'ra sipped her juice.

"Rose? Where the hell are ya?" Jack said.

"We're on Amuse-o-world, Jack. Me and Alan and Maddie and Dot. We're on holiday."

"Oh, well, I keep trying to phone Doc but he doesn't answer and all your minds feel like they're a million miles away."

"The Doctor's on Aqualania with Rain, Jenny, Tara, Amelia and Opal. They've gone to see the mermaids."

"Already? Damn, that was fast. So, there isn't a TARDIS available then?"

"There's Dex's TARDIS. It's still in our garage. Why? Do you need it?"

"Well, it would be nice. Lee finally made a decision and he's moving in with Donna and the others. He got permission to get out of his lease and everyone who's here volunteered to help him move his stuff but we don't wanna make repeat trips so I was trying to call the Doc to ask him if he could fly the TARDIS over there and just relax while we moved everything."

"Yeah, but won't he have to get rid of some stuff? I mean he's moving from a flat to a room now, yeah?"

"He's giving us most of his furniture for our new Hub. We're gonna put what he doesn't want in storage until we get the modifications built onto the building we found. Anyway, I was just asking if we could use the TARDIS, but if the Doc's gone…"

"Well, you have your screwdriver, yeah?" Rose said.

"Yup, I do."

"The Doctor said it was alright for you to go inside and get the TARDIS if you need it. Just be sure to bring it back to its place in the garage."

"No problem. Thanks, Rose. We're just as tired of moving as the Doc is and we don't want this to take all day."

"I'm just glad he's moving closer to us. What about Jake though?"

"I think he's going to move too. Mickey's going to share his bedroom with Martha so we have space for him. That way we won't have to waste time going and getting him every mornin'. He's asking to be let out of his lease also. I'm sure the landlord is surprised that suddenly two people who just moved in are moving back out, but oh well, we'd rather have them in here anyway."

"Well, I'll try the Doctor's mobile for awhile and if I can't reach him that way, I'll try to get his attention telepathically although I might have to scream in his head since he's way on the other side of the universe."

Jack chuckled.

"That might be hard since I'm sure the Doc is talking someone's ear off by now but you can try to interrupt his ramble. Anyway, sorry to disturb your fun-filled day, we'll put the TARDIS back where we found it when we're done. Have fun and tell everyone I said hi."

"I will, Jack. Take care."

"You too."

Rose hung up and apologized to Shar'ra before she resumed her conversation with her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor and his family swam with Ariatne and Mirabella into the ruins. The buildings were made out of limestone. Most of the walls were in pieces, scattered on the ocean floor but a few intact walls jutted up towards the surface and there were two large houses still intact. Ariatne paused frequently to sign to them and point out different things. Household objects made of stone, clay and bronze littered the ocean floor around the houses. The Doctor noticed a bronze goblet half buried in the sediment beneath him. He held onto a pillar, reached down and pulled it out. The cup's rim was etched with an ivy pattern and it had red jewels embedded in the bronze all around the cup. Rain came up beside him and held on to a section of wall to keep herself in the same place with him. They admired the cup while Tara came up behind him and put his arms around his neck.

_That's pretty, Daddy,_ she thought to him.

_Yes, it is, very pretty,_ he thought back.

He looked at the base and noticed an inscription that said, property of the house of Ulf.

_Well, the house of Ulf must have been wealthy then,_ the Doctor thought.

Jenny swam over to him carrying a small jeweled casket in her hands. Amelia, Opal and Mirabella swam behind her.

_This is nice, belonged to someone called Ulf,_ Jenny thought.

_This did as well, must have been an influential family_, the Doctor thought back.

Jenny opened the casket and her eyes boggled when she pulled out a large necklace. It had a bronze chain with a large sky blue diamond hanging off it.

_Wow!_ Amelia thought.

_Yup, must have been very, very wealthy,_ the Doctor thought.

Ariatne swam up and stared at the jewel. She turned it over in her hands, gazing at it in wonder.

_This is beautiful,_ she thought. _I've never seen anything like it. I had no idea the surface dwellers had things like this._

_Don't you have jewelry?_ Amelia thought to her. _Oh wait, you can't hear me._

The Doctor grinned and signed to her what Amelia asked. She signed back.

_She says they do but they use pearls and shingles and clams and things of that nature. They don't have very many gems like this and certainly none this large, _the Doctor thought to Amelia.

They watched while the children took turns trying on the necklace. When Mirabella tried it on, she frowned and signed something. Amelia looked at the Doctor.

_She was commenting on how heavy it felt around her neck, Amo'ya,_ he thought.

_I wish I was a Time Lady so I knew what they were talkin' 'bout_, she thought, shaking her head.

They started to put it back in the casket but Ariatne shook her head.

_We have no use for this,_ she signed. _Keep it as a memento of your time here._

_Are you sure? This is your territory and it rightfully belongs to you, _the Doctor signed back.

_Yes, but it's a useless bauble to us. Keep it._

The Doctor signed his thanks and told the children what she said.

_Okay, who gets it then? _Opal thought.

_Give it to Mamaw; she'd look pretty with it on, _Amelia thought.

_Um, that's a little bit too gaudy for my liking, _Rain thought.

_How 'bout you, Sis? _Tara thought to Jenny.

She shook her head.

_I feel the same as Mum. It's a little too large for my liking. _

_You keep it then, Tara, _Amelia said.

_You sure? _Tara thought.

_Yeah, Opal and I will just fight over it. It'll look pretty on you, _Amelia thought.

The Doctor smiled, proud of his granddaughter's selfless gesture. Tara took it from her and put it around her neck. She admired it for a moment and then took the Doctor's hand while they swam towards another section of the ruined city. The Doctor, Tara and Mirabella went towards one of the intact houses. On their way into the open door, they noticed a tiny brown crab scurrying along the stone floor. Mirabella picked it up, stared at it for a moment, ripped the shell away, plucked the legs off and ate the meat. The Doctor laughed in his daughter's head when she made a face at that.

_Probably a nice snack for her, my Star,_ he thought. _I'm sure she'd make the same face if you ate a burger in front of her._

Tara swam ahead, following Mirabella while the Doctor followed behind. The closed walls blocked out most of the light from above and the Doctor kept close to the children, guarding them while they explored the shadowy interior. In the dim light, the Doctor could see Mirabella turn her head around while she watched Tara swim. She signed something to her and the Doctor grinned.

_Huh? What'd she say, Daddy?_

_She basically said she thought your legs were useless compared to her fins,_ he thought to her. _She may have a point there._

Mirabella stopped moving, waited till Tara was beside her and grabbed her sides from above. She began to swim for them both while the Doctor chuckled and followed them. Tara relaxed and let Mirabella do the work while they explored. A small shark came through the window and everyone paused watching while the small grey creature swam by them while it minded its own business and searched for food. The Doctor felt someone touch his leg and looked back at Rain who was coming up to him. He took her hand and they swam behind Mirabella and Tara while they went further into the house. As they neared a dark room, the Doctor suddenly had a strange feeling and touched Mirabella's fin.

_Wait,_ he signed to her. _I don't like this. I don't trust the dark. I have a bad feeling. Move somewhere else._

Mirabella nodded and they turned away from it. They swam ten feet from the door when suddenly two of the mermen who had been with Delta earlier swam out of the dark room with bronze tridents. The Doctor instantly got in front of everyone, protecting them while at the same time he heard Jenny thinking to him, telling him Delta and the others had them surrounded outside.

_What is this?_ The Doctor signed to the men.

_This is us taking steps to get rid of you and your kind,_ one of the men signed back. _You are intruders and thieves._

He pointed to the pendant around Tara's neck.

_That was given to her by Ariatne. Don't believe me; ask her, _the Doctor signed.

_Believe me, she and her father will answer for this. For the moment, you will follow us back to the city as our "guests"_

The Doctor glared at him before he took Rain's hand.

_Swim home, Mirabella, this is no concern of yours,_ the man signed to her.

Mirabella let go of Tara. Tara swum up behind the Doctor and put her arms around him.

_These people are my friends. They're not thieves. Ariatne gave them the jewel,_ Mirabella signed to the man. _They're not hurting anyone. You're wrong about them._

The man moved to strike her but the Doctor quickly grabbed his wrist and shot him a warning look while he pushed him back.

_Don't,_ he signed to the man. _Don't you dare strike her or you'll have me to deal with. _

The two men stared at him in shock before the man he shoved struck him hard across the face. Both Rain and Tara moved to defend him but he telepathically shouted at them to stop.

_No, don't let this escalate_, the Doctor thought to them. _They're already looking for an excuse to kill us and they'll stab us though the body in a heartsbeat. We'll go with them and let Porthos sort these gits out._

Rain nodded. The Doctor squeezed her hand and told Tara to hang on to him while they followed one of the men out of the house. Mirabella glared at the man who had struck the Doctor before she stuck her chin out and swam behind them. The man snorted at that, shook his head and brought up the rear, guarding them with his trident while they took them back to the city.


	221. Chapter 221

Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty One

Delta and the others escorted the Doctor and his family and Ariatne and Mirabella back to the merpeople city. The city was hidden about a mile down in an underwater trench. They started to take him down when the Doctor jerked his hand out of Delta's grasp.

_No,_ he signed. _We can't go down there; the water pressure'll crush us._

Delta snorted.

_Weak surface dwellers, _he signed as he gave him a look of contempt. _How your kind managed to survive is beyond me. But I don't care. You're coming with us._

_No, you don't understand. We'll die,_ the Doctor signed. _Now granted, I'm sure that's exactly what you're hopin' for but if you try to make us go down there, I'll fight you with every fiber of my being and so will my wife and daughter. Let us go and we'll leave now. We'll give the jewel back and you can escort us back to our ship and sit on the shore while we leave. We're not a threat, Delta; can't you get that through your head?_

_Delta, I'm commanding you to let them go, _Ariatne signed to him._ I'm the one that gave them the jewel. The Doctor here wanted me to keep it but I insisted. If you try to force them to go down there where it'll kill them, then rest assured I will have you arrested and tried for murder. What you're doing amounts to treason and I will make sure you are tried for that as well._

Delta glared at the Doctor who glared right back.

_Where's your ship? _Delta signed to the Doctor.

_It's on the island near here. _

_Get your family and get outta here before I kill you all, _Delta signed to him.

_Fine, we're going. Believe me, we're not gonna stay where we're not wanted. _

_Give us the children first_, Delta signed to him._ They'll be changed into Aqualanians to replace the ones your kind killed._

_Touch them and someone will have to replace you, _the Doctor sighed while he gave him a murderous look.

_Leave them alone, Delta,_ Ariatne signed to him.

_No, I want their children. It's a fair trade for that huge jewel around the young one's neck._

_Leave them alone, Delta,_ one of the men signed.

_No, Tek, I want the children._

The Doctor sighed.

_I have no time for this rubbish. Either let us go, let all of us go or go fetch Porthos and bring him up here because I'm not gonna stay here for ten hours while we sort this out._

_Fine, we can do that,_ Delta sighed. _Tek, go get Porthos and tell him to come here since the surface dwellers can't handle a little water pressure._

Tek rolled his eyes and swam down into the trench.

_Don't you think you're taking this a bit too far, Delta?_ another man signed to him.

_Thank you, I agree,_ Ariatne signed.

_Shut up, both of you,_ Delta signed. _And you, Mirabella, get away from them._

_No, I'm not going to, they're my friends,_ she signed to her father.

_Bloody hell, this is getting annoying now,_ the Doctor thought to his family_. I hope Porthos gets up here and gets this resolved so we can leave without a trident through the hearts. _

Ten minutes later, they saw Tek swim up through the trench with Porthos who was holding a trident encrusted with pearls. He pointed it at Delta and signed with one hand.

_Let them go now, I order you to obey me, Delta,_ he signed.

_You are a fool, old man. These surface dwellers are a threat to us,_ Delta signed back. _They are nothing but spies and thieves._

_Father, I gave them the necklace. I…_

_Tek told me what everyone said, Daughter,_ he signed to her. _And you are not taking their children. Now stand down and leave them alone. I gave them permission to be here and I accept full responsibility for their actions. My daughter and your daughter have been with them every moment they've been here and from what I heard, they have done nothing wrong. They have been respectful of us and our domain and I will not have you threatening innocent people and kidnapping their children. That is not our way. It is the way of the surface dwellers which is odd since you seem to be repulsed by their behavior. You've lumped every surface dweller together and blamed them all for the actions of a few. I don't know what you have in mind concerning me but I am the chief of this territory and my word is law here, not yours. Either obey my orders or face imprisonment and trial for treason. Which is it, Delta? And that goes for you all that are allied with him. Think long and hard before you decide to fight me because I guarantee you will share his fate. _

The Doctor watched while the other men glanced at each other, lowered their tridents and swam past Porthos down into the trench, leaving Delta alone with Porthos, Ariatne and Mirabella.

_It appears your friends have deserted you, Delta, _Porthos signed to him_. Perhaps they possess more intelligence than you do? Now…what are you going to decide?_

Delta glared at him for a moment before he lowered his trident.

_Wise decision, Delta, _Porthos said._ Now, follow your friends, swim away and leave these surface dwellers in peace._

Delta sighed and quickly swam past him into the trench.

_Forgive me, my friends, he's bitter because his brother's child was one of the ones killed. _

_Then his grief and anger is understandable, _the Doctor signed to him._ We'll not exacerbate this situation further. We'll leave. _

_No, wait, don't, not yet, _Ariatne signed. _Come with me and Mirabella and finish your exploration. You won't be bothered again, I promise._

_What about Mirabella? _Rain signed._ She's Delta's daughter. Will he punish her for staying with us?_

_No, because I will talk to him and tell him not to. She's also innocent in this. You aren't a threat to us, that much is evident and I trust her around you. I and the elders will speak to him and his friends and we will counsel them on their behavior. We Aqualanians are better than this. We used to be known for our generosity but like I said, some surface dwellers like the ones who owned the skyship harmed us and now there are those who need to vent their rage on all surface dwellers even if they are innocent. My daughter is right. Continue your exploration. You have my protection._

The three adults bowed their heads. Porthos bowed in return and watched while they swam away before he turned and swam back down into the trench

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After three more hours of exploration, they finally decided to head back to the TARDIS. Ariatne and Mirabella went with them to the island and came up on shore, watching while they peeled off their wet suits.

"Wow, you look even more strange," Mirabella said when they finished stripping down to their swimsuits and trunks. "But I'm glad I met you."

"So am I and I'm sure you'll be welcome here anytime you wish to return. I will ask my father to allow you unrestricted access to our territory," Ariatne said.

"Thank you," the Doctor said.

They knelt down and gave them both hugs. They watched while the Doctor and his family turned and walked to the TARDIS. When they opened the door, Blizzard, Rory and Barney ran out from under the console and barked hello at them. The TARDIS threw up a force barrier over the door and they pawed at it, whining in frustration while the Doctor grinned at them. He saw movement out of the corner of his eye and noticed Ariatne and Mirabella pulling themselves closer.

"Would you like a look inside?" the Doctor asked.

They hesitated and stared at the frisky dogs at the door.

"Don't worry, we'll carry you," the Doctor said.

Ariatne nodded and he scooped her up in his arms while Rain picked up Mirabella.

"Back!" the Doctor said.

Blizzard and Rory backed up the ramp, but Barney continued to paw at the barrier.

"I see this one will have to go to obedience school," the Doctor said.

"I'll get him, Dad," Jenny said.

She walked through and picked Barney up. She commanded Blizzard and Rory to follow her and they all went through the back door. Once they were out of the room, the rest of them walked inside and headed up the ramp.

"This is beyond imagination," Ariatne said, looking around.

"Yup, that's our description for it," the Doctor said.

He and Rain walked around the console room showing it off and they gave them a brief tour of the back rooms before they took them back outside and sat them down on the sand by the surf.

"Thank you, Doctor," Ariatne said. "Thank you for this day because you have also changed my mind about surface dwellers. Not all of them are to be feared and I am happy to count you and your family among my friends."

"Me too," Mirabella said.

"And we feel the same," Rain said to them.

"Please, take care in your journeys and may Aqualania's blessings follow you always."

"Thank you and may you be blessed in return," Rain said while the Doctor nodded.

They gave them both one last hug and waved goodbye while they went back into their TARDIS. Both of them watched in awe as the TARDIS faded away. When it was gone, they shared a gleeful look before heading back into the ocean.


	222. Chapter 222

Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty Two

"Oh blimey, just one thing after another," the Doctor muttered after he got the TARDIS back into the vortex.

They were walking back to the living room when he suddenly turned and bent down to eye Tara.

"What, Daddy?" she said.

"You know, ever since we met you I've been turned into a panther, shot in the leg and now I was nearly kidnapped and killed by merpeople. Who are you?"

They laughed when Tara shrugged and giggled. The Doctor groaned and stretched his back.

"Well, I s'pose we could go join Alan's group at the amusement park," he said to Rain and Jenny. "Especially since Opal wanted to go but before we do that I need to rest and phone him to find out where they are on the planet so you lot go ahead and play or explore or have a snack and I'll let you know when we're ready to go, alright?"

They nodded and he tousled their hair before the three adults went off to the living room. The children walked with the three dogs. They were heading towards the kitchen when they suddenly decided to go exploring instead. They turned down a corridor to their right and walked along. The walls were the same color as the ones in the console room with the same roundels and they grew bored with looking at them.

"Why does Papaw want the walls to look like this?" Opal asked, gesturing to the walls. "They look ugly."

"I know, he needs to put wallpaper on them or something," Amelia said. "But I can't wait to get out of school and live here all the time. It's fun to go different places and see things like mermaids."

"Me too, I can't wait till I'm twenty," Tara said.

They heard a low rumbling above them and felt something nudging their minds.

"Okay, what was that?" Amelia said.

_It's me, my beloveds, the TARDIS._

They all looked around while the TARDIS rumbled out laughter. Suddenly the corridor changed and they saw a door right in front of them.

Come inside so we can talk, the TARDIS thought to them.

The children glanced at each other and opened the door. The dogs ran in with them and they noticed it was the park room. Their eyes boggled when they saw the blue sky with the sun shining overhead and the vast park that seemed to go on forever.

"Are we still inside the TARDIS?" Amelia said.

_Yes, you are, there are many rooms like this inside me,_ she thought to them. _And now, come towards the lake so we can have a chat._

They walked over to the lake on the right side. While they were doing that, they noticed a lady coming up over a hill to the left. She was young with long brown hair and was wearing a bright blue floor-length robe with gold trimming on the bottom, neck and the end of the sleeves. Along the right side of the robe was a gold embroidered design that resembled a figure eight. The lady smiled warmly at the children while she walked over to them.

"Hello, my Beloveds. This is still me. It's a holographic form I take at times when I wish to speak directly to those inside my walls. I don't do it often since it takes a lot of effort to form a corporeal body but I want you to see and hear me. Come and sit."

The dogs played nearby while the children sat down on a large blanket that suddenly appeared. The TARDIS sat down beside them. She smiled tenderly at them while a light breeze blew their hair around.

"I can't believe this is in Papaw's ship," Amelia said, pointing to the lake.

"Yes, I have made many rooms like this in the past because your grandfather loved to stay in me while he traveled and he wanted many different rooms that simulated many different environments," the TARDIS said. "There are thousands of rooms within me. Some are readily available to you and some are secret places reserved just for the Doctor that he has asked me to hide. You can say that a separate universe exists right here within me. But I can see every inch of it and know what's going on at all times within the confines of this ship."

"Like God?" Opal said.

"A little bit. I'm not a god by any means but I am all knowing and can affect the environment in here. I try to keep you safe but of course I cannot provide much assistance outside the confines of the ship and I can be disabled with the right machinery, but that is rare."

"Can you fly the ship too?" Opal said.

She chuckled.

"Yes, there are times when my database picks up disturbances or I can sense trouble in the universe and I override the Doctor's flight coordinates which is why you ended up on Unica. That was me. I knew the slaughter of the Unics had to be stopped so I created a little diversion on the way back to Nova."

"Doesn't Daddy get angry when you do that?" Tara asked.

She laughed.

"Sometimes, but I'm only aiding him in his sworn quest to fight injustice in the universe and he understands that. He lives for adventure so he doesn't stay mad at me for long. It's only recently that he's embraced the idea of family and having a house somewhere which I love because he needs a bit of stability from time to time and he needs to know there are others he can rely on and he can have a soft place to fall when he needs it. And I love that he has you in his lives because he also needs your love and innocence to help him heal. I know you haven't known him for long but he has changed so much in the past few months. He's more at peace, more able to laugh and relax and be happy and it started when he let Alan back into his life. He kicked him out of my door when Alan was first created, kicked him out with Rose and left them in the other universe and then Donna had to have her memories wiped and he was left alone and if he hadn't been forced to take River with him, I'm betting he would have stayed by himself. I know he was ready to stop the practice of taking others with him which is a shame because you now know how wonderful time travel can be."

She laughed when they nodded their heads rapidly.

"I'm also glad you're here and I wanted to talk to you to let you know that I want to become closer to you, as close as I am with the Doctor and this also includes Dorothy. If you notice, the Doctor talks to me often and you can do it too. I can hear everything you say and you can speak to me telepathically also and I can reply by telepathy, by the grunts and grumbles you hear or like this. I know that the Doctor is worried about you traveling with him when you're so young but I can sense that all of you are much more mature than your actual ages. Especially you, Tara, you have survived so much. I have seen into your mind, all your minds, and I know what you have suffered and survived and have great strength and courage. I agree with the Doctor that you are capable of handling time travel which is why I took the diversion to Unica when you were with him. I want the Doctor to see that he has nothing to fear from letting you travel with him. All of you are capable of helping him out even at your age. Now Dot and Tony are a different story but you three, I believe you're old enough. The Doctor had some companions in here who were not much older than you were and of course, Sarah Jane has teenagers who help her out. I know the Doctor is training and preparing you to be full Time Ladies so…I'm helping out a bit with your training."

They giggled when she winked at them. She paused a moment.

"The Doctor is talking to Jack right now. Seems Lee and Jake are moving into the houses to be with you," she said to them. "That's another thing I love. That the Doctor's surrogate family is in one spot where you can all be together and visit with one another. That's another thing that's changed about him. Time was, when someone left him, it was goodbye forever. Not anymore. Now he's beginning to reconnect with others and realize that what Sarah Jane said once was true, he has the biggest family on Earth and also in the universe."

"I'm glad Daddy's getting better," Tara said.

"I am too. And you're helping to make him better by being you and by loving him unconditionally. That's another reason why he's opened up so much. Because he's found people who will love him without judgment or condemnation, calling him idiotic things like the Bringer of Darkness or the Destroyer of Worlds. I always wanted to punch people who said that to him."

"Why didn't you?" Opal asked.

She laughed.

"Because usually the people who said that were outside of me at the time where I couldn't reach them. I can only manifest this form inside my walls and it would be a bit unladylike for me to punch someone. But that hasn't stopped me thinking about it," he said with a wink. "But I love the sound of laughter and joy inside here. Believe me, it's been rare to have that especially since the Doctor sees a lot of horrors and has dealt with a lot of tragedy. What happens in here is enjoyed just as much by me as by him. It makes me happy to see you laughing in here or see Dot run around, giggling while Alan chases her or see the Doctor and Rain kissing and holding one another. So much love and happiness, it gives me the strength to go on after so many eons. If all of you hadn't come into his life, I don't know where we'd be. I know there's a very good chance he would have continued to be a servant of the Valeyard and I probably would have stayed on Derillium, alone and forgotten while I waited for him to return."

She smiled when Blizzard and Rory came up to them and laid down on the edge of the blanket.

"Oh yes, it's nice having animals in here as well. Course I have to clean up their messes, but that's easily done. He's never had many pets either so this is also a change."

She mustered up her strength and solidified herself enough to scratch Blizzard's head. She smiled when Blizzard wagged her tail and kissed her hand when she drew it away. She paused a moment and grinned.

"The Doctor, I think, is ready to go so I think you better go find him and Rain and Jenny. I just wanted to talk to you privately and tell you that I will always be here for all of you as much as I am for him. I know it pains you to hear this but someday he will permanently die and you, more than likely, will be left because you are on your first lives while he's on his tenth. But you, all of you, must carry on without him and carry on his fight so you and I must get to know one another just as deeply as he knows me now so that when that time comes when you must cremate him, we can still carry on as before and bring light to the darkness of the universe. Would you like to do that, be bonded with me?"

They nodded and she smiled.

"Then I will open your minds a bit more so that you can understand me as he does. So that if I do grumble or rumble, you will know what I'm saying because like I said, this form takes a lot of concentration and energy and I don't like to do it often. So come to me, my beloveds, one at a time and let me give you the gift of communication with me."

One by one, she opened her arms and they held her while she embraced them. They felt their minds opening while she smiled and kissed their heads. When they were done, she stroked their cheeks.

"I've already done this with a few others, Alan, Rose, Rain, Donna, Jenny, his very immediate and closest family members. I don't mean that the others aren't worthy of deeper communication with me but I want to do this only with a select few and I've chosen the ones who are closest in relationship to the Doctor. His wife, brother, his former lover who became his sister, the woman who helped to heal him and became his closest confidant and his children and grandchildren. They and you are the ones who I believe he considers a part of his inner circle and will be the ones who'll inherit the most from his legacy. When Dot gets a bit older, I will also give her this gift because she is also a daughter of the Doctor. Tony, on the other hand, is closer to Alan than the Doctor so it remains to be seen if I will give him the same gift but I will give him my protection along with all of his family. And you are welcome to tell the Doctor what occurred here. This is not a secret meeting. I only wanted to talk privately to you while the Doctor rested.

_Kids, I'm ready to go to Amuse-o-world if you wanna join us up in the console room._

The TARDIS smiled.

"And on that note, I will dematerialize and let you go back to the console room but just because you can't see me in the flesh doesn't mean I'm not here. I'm all around you and inside your head so take comfort in that, my Beloveds, I am with you, watching over and loving you until the end of my days."

She gave them all final hugs and kisses and nudged their minds briefly. She waved at them when they got up to leave the room and once they were gone, she vanished into thin air.


	223. Chapter 223

Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty Three

While they were going back up to the console room, they debated on telling them what the TARDIS had told them.

"The TARDIS said she did the same thing for Mommy and Sis so I think we should tell them," Tara said. "Mommy and Sis probably already know."

When they got up to the console room, the three adults were lounging on the jump seat.

"There you are, I figured you'd gone to Timbuktu somehow," the Doctor said. "We were just about to send out a search party and get the dogs so we could put little barrels of brandy around their necks and pretend they were Saint Bernards."

"We were talking to the TARDIS, Papaw," Opal said.

He raised his eyebrows.

"You were?" he said, interested. "'Bout what?"

The children glanced at each other and told them what the TARDIS said. The Doctor grinned when they told them about the bonding and he looked up at the ceiling.

"You sly thing, you just love doing things behind my back, dontcha?" he said.

The TARDIS rumbled and grunted. The Doctor looked at the kids.

"What'd she say?" he said.

"She laughed and said yes," Tara said.

The Doctor beamed at that while Rain and Jenny laughed.

"My TARDIS just loves to help me out," he said to Rain.

"I can see that," she said. "Nice to know I'm a part of this so-called inner circle of yours."

"Course you are, you're my lovely dubbly wife, why wouldn't ya be? And it's nice to know she was informing you on my mobile conversation as well. Yes, Lee and Jake are moving into the houses and thankfully, Jack didn't call me back to move the sofa because I would have refused him flat out. I also informed Alan and Jack about what happened at Aqualania and assured them I didn't get turned into a fish or tridented."

The TARDIS landed.

"Ah, here we are. We should be outside the gates of the theme park they're in unless the TARDIS decided this would be a good time to help out on another training session."

The children giggled when she grumbled a laugh and nudged their minds.

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"Good to see ya again," Alan said when the met them just inside the entrance. "We actually had company for awhile, a woman and child, but they went home. So it was just back to being us again. This particular theme park isn't that bad. We've found a lot of things for Dot to do so the little Buttercup is nice and happy now."

"Good, good," the Doctor replied while they followed them back into the park.

He picked up Dorothy and kissed her cheek.

"Hello, Ladybird, havin' fun?"

"Yes."

"Good, good," the Doctor said. "You missed the mermaids, Dot. But then again, we nearly got speared by an angry group of em, so it's a good thing you were here riding the rides."

"You've been having a lot of trouble lately, Brother."

"I know, I said the same thing to Tara. Since she's appeared, I became a kitty, got shot and nearly got skewered. She's a teeny trouble magnet!" he said while Tara giggled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They spent most of the day riding the rides. When they got a moment alone, the Doctor pulled Alan and Rose aside and told them what the children had said. They both smiled at that.

"I'm glad. I want them to bond with the TARDIS as well," Alan said. "Nice to know there are others who have that special communication with her. And someday Doodlebug will be able to do it too."

He chuckled.

"What?" the Doctor said, amused.

"Don't know what to think of her telling them that they'll be able to seize power the moment you die. I guess me and Rose and Rainy and Jenny and Donna and the kids will all be fighting to the death to be the Doctor then."

"In that case, revive me so I can watch the fun," the Doctor said.

"I'll win. I'll use the misses as a shield and absorb the blows of the spears and swords that way."

"No, I think It'll be the other way around," Rose said.

She raised her eyebrow when Alan looked at her.

"I'm not helpin' ya," she said. "If it's a fight to be the leader, it's gonna be everybody for themselves, ring or no ring."

"Okay, I'll use Rainy as a shield then. You'll be dead so you won't care," he teased the Doctor.

"If you do that, make sure you kill her outright because once she regenerates, it'll be game over for you, mate!" the Doctor replied.

They looked over when the children came back with Rain, Madison and Jenny. They were eating something that resembled cotton candy.

"This is good, Daddy," Tara said, tearing off a piece and putting it in his mouth.

"Mmmm," he said, eating the purple confection. "Mmm-mmm-MMM!"

He smacked his lips and opened his mouth when Tara fed him some more. Alan got up and leaned forward. Tara giggled when he stared at her with wide eyes and whimpered like a puppy.

"I'm feeding Daddy," she said.

"I'm kinda like Daddy, only more fun," he said. "Feed me. I need lots of sugar in order to be wacky and gleeful."

Tara pulled off a piece and fed it to him.

"Mmmm-num-num-num-NUMMY! That's heaven in my tum-tum-tum-tummy," he said.

He put his chin on her shoulder and nuzzled her cheek while they laughed.

"You have a new best friend, Tara," Rose said. "You fed him sweets."

"Yup, feed me and my belly and I will follow you wherever you may go."

"That's a threat, Sweetie, think of it as such," Rain said.

They laughed when Alan tried to smack her head while she dodged and ran to her husband.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After spending the day in the park, all of them headed back to the TARDIS and returned home. When they landed, all of them went outside it into the living room of their house except for the Doctor, Alan and Tara. Tara stood by the Doctor's side while he spoke to his brother.

"So, wanna tackle the screwdrivers then?" the Doctor said.

"Might as well, it has to be done sometime," Alan replied.

"Is it hard to make screwdrivers, Daddy?"

"Not that hard, just tedious and dull and it's a strain on the eyes because there's all these tiny parts. You've seen how small it is, there's a lot of circuitry that goes into them," he said. "And it takes a long time which is why we're not thrilled about doing it. But you go ahead and go play. Have fun while we do this, yeah?"

She nodded and he tousled her hair. They watched her walk back to the front door before the two of them headed towards the lab.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A couple of hours later, the two of them each had half a screwdriver finished. Both of them were wearing glasses with magnified lenses while they worked.

"Thanks, TARDIS."

They looked over at the door and saw Tara. The TARDIS had moved the entrance to the back of the console room for her. She walked inside holding a plastic glass in her hand.

"Hi, Daddy. Hi, Alan."

"Hi, Star. Whatcha drinkin'?" the Doctor asked.

"Root beer. When Maddie was first here, she went out and drove around and explored and they have these sections of towns where people of different countries live. They have a British section and an American section and she found this store that sells A&W root beer in the American part of the city so she got a couple of 2 liter bottles."

"Can I have a sippy sip?" the Doctor said.

Tara held it up and he took a sip. He smacked his lips.

"Love root beer," he said.

"Can I have a sippy sip too?"

Tara walked over to Alan and gave him a sip.

"Nummy num num," he said.

"You want me to get you some?" she asked the Doctor and Alan.

"Could you? That would be nice," Alan said.

"Yes, I'd like some as well, please."

"Okay. Um…also, Maddie, Dot, Mommy and Rose are going to this Long John Silvers they found in the American section and they wanted to know if you wanted something from there."

Both brothers thought about that.

"I want a fish dinner with chips," the Doctor said to her.

"And I want one with fish and chicken and chips," Alan said.

"Okay, I'll go tell them."

They went back to work while she ran out the door. She returned a few minutes later and gave them their glasses of root beer. They thanked her and took a sip before sitting the glasses down beside them.

"They're going to get our food," she said.

"Aren't you goin' with them?" the Doctor said.

"Nah, I wanna stay here with you," she said.

"Where's Opal and Amelia?" Alan asked.

"They went back home. Their mommy's fixing roast beef and potatoes."

"That sounds good too," the Doctor said.

"I told Maddie to get me extra hush puppies. I like them," Tara said.

The Doctor smiled and sat back in his chair.

"I like them too. I first had them about three hundred years ago. I landed in Alabama in the early 1900's and ate dinner with a kind family and they served them to me. I'd never had them until then and I just fell in love with the taste. I should have asked you to…"

He held up his finger.

_Maddie,_ he thought.

_Yes, Doctor?_

_Have you ordered our food yet?_

_No, we just stopped in front of the restaurant. _

_Get me extra hush puppies, same as Tara._

_Me too, _Alan thought.

_Will do,_ she thought while Rain and Rose laughed in their heads.

_Thanks,_ he thought.

"There, now I can have some extra hush puppies too," the Doctor said while she giggled. "Anyway, I ate with this family and ate that and also ate some grits at breakfast the next mornin'. Although I wasn't as keen on that as I was on the hush puppies."

"Never had grits before."

"Do you like mushy food?" the Doctor said.

"No."

"Then you wouldn't like grits," the Doctor said while Alan snickered.

Tara watched quietly while the Doctor soldered a wire. She suddenly kissed his cheek.

"What was that for?" the Doctor.

"Just 'cause," she said.

Alan grinned when the Doctor beamed at that and returned the kiss.

"Daddy, where are we going after this?" she asked.

"Not sure, my Star," he said while he worked. "Where would you like to go?"

"I can choose?"

"Sure, I'm always open to ideas from my family," he said to her.

Tara fell silent while she thought it over.

"We can go anywhere and do anything, your choice," the Doctor added after a few minutes.

"Can I ask you something?"

"You can ask me anything you want," the Doctor said.

"Can…we go somewhere where it's Christmas?"

The Doctor stopped working and looked at her. She giggled.

"What?" he said.

"Your eyes look huge when you wear those glasses," she said.

He grinned.

"Well, these are special magnifying specs so I can see all the little parts," he said. "But…you wanna have a Christmas celebration?"

"I've never had Christmas, Daddy. I was just wondering what it would be like to see Christmas lights and things."

The Doctor was taken aback at that and Alan snorted.

"As a rule, Satanists don't celebrate Christmas, Brother," he reminded him.

He sighed angrily and nodded. He sat back in his seat and thought. He glanced around the room.

"Tara, I have a thought of my own. Instead of going somewhere, why not have Christmas in here? You see, my TARDIS can decorate in here just by making things materialize which means we can have a large decorated display and not have to worry about putting things up or taking them down. Plus, I'm sure everyone here would want to help you celebrate."

"We could take the TARDISes to different places," Alan added. "Go somewhere during the Christmas season so she could see decorations while we shopped for gifts."

"Yes, I like that. And split up into three groups so we can shop for each other. Then come back here and have a big celebration for her. We could fix her some Christmas dinner and Awinita still has her Christmas DVDs, we could watch those."

Alan snickered.

"Yeah, we could watch the cartoon where Santa punishes the town that won't believe in him," he said.

"Exactly."

"Hang on, I have an idea then," Alan said.

He looked up.

"TARDIS, kindly make us a cinema room, a private screening room where we can sit in a theater and watch our DVD films on the big screen."

"Brilliant! And add a snack area with it where we can have popcorn and soft drinks and sweets and all sorts of delicious goodies."

The TARDIS rumbled with laughter and nudged their minds.

"Yup, I'm glad you thought of this, Tara. I love Christmas and I think it's high time you experienced it. But first…we must get this done so when the women get back with the food, go and tell them what we want to do and let them spread the word, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy."

She nestled up against him while the Doctor and Alan went back to working on their screwdrivers.


	224. Chapter 224

Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty Four

The next morning most of the family gathered together in the Doctor's living room. After Maddie and the others had returned, Tara told them what they were going to do and Rose contacted the others. Most of them agreed to go in the TARDISes except for the older adults who preferred to shop in the city. But all of them agreed to hold the Christmas celebration in the TARDIS when they were done. They divided up into three groups. The Doctor's group consisted of him, Rain, Jenny, Donna, Lee, Alan, Rose, Maddie and all of the children. The second group was the Torchwood team with River, Anita and Jennifer and the third group was Grace, Julie, Awinita, Amber, Mingxia, Tish, Sarah Jane and the teens. All of them were dressing warmly while Jackie, Pete, John, Wilf, Tim and Patience sat on the furniture and watched them. The TARDIS had provided some winter clothes for Tara and she was putting on a heavy lavender coat with matching hat and gloves that had snowflakes embroidered on them. She also had a pair of lavender waterproof boots.

"So where exactly are we going?" Jack asked the Doctor.

He shrugged.

"Anywhere you want. I'm asking my TARDIS to just find somewhere nice and Christmasy so we can get in the holiday spirit. If you lot wanna shop in the middle of summer somewhere, go ahead."

"No way, we wanna get in the mood for Christmas too," Jack said.

"Besides we've never really seen Earth Christmas," Anita added.

"Yeah, wouldn't be the same shopping when it's not the Christmas season," Gwen added.

"So…just ask our TARDIS to find somewhere to Christmas shop?" Jack said.

"Yes, just tell the TARDIS you wanna go Christmas shopping and find a location in time and space that'll be nice and snowy and seasonal. Let them do the work for ya so you don't have to think of a million locations."

"What about Patty, Papaw," Amelia said.

They all paused a moment.

"Should we ask her?" Julie said.

"We can," the Doctor said, shrugging. "These Earth colonies have aliens living here so it won't be a shock if we tell her we're Gallifreyan. Perhaps we can get to know her better this way. After all, we only really talked to her once at the barbecue."

"I have her phone number," Grace said. "So she obviously wants to keep in touch with us."

"Ring her then and ask," the Doctor said. "She might like to do this with us."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After talking to Patty, she agreed to come over and all of them chatted while they waited for her to come. After a half hour, she knocked on the door and they let her inside.

"Time travelers?" she said when they explained a bit more about who they were. "Wow, that's so cool. I'd love to come along and I'm glad you're doing this for Tara if she's never had a Christmas before."

"Well, we're splitting into three groups so choose a group you'd like to go with," Alan said. "Everyone cluster together in your group so she can see who's goin' with whom."

They moved into their three groups. Patty noticed the older adults sitting on the furniture.

"We're not goin' with them. We're not that keen on time travel. We're gonna stay here and shop in the city," Jackie said to her.

"Oh. Um, well, I'll go with Tara's group then," Patty said.

"Yeah!" the children said, jumping up and down.

"Right, since we have our teams assembled then let's get goin' then," the Doctor said. "Everyone try to meet back here in the morning. That way it gives time for the others to shop tonight."

They nodded and headed out into the garage to get into the TARDISes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor's TARDIS landed and he glanced at his monitor.

"Indianapolis, Indiana…1983, wow," he said. "This should be interesting."

"No way, we're on Earth in 1983?" Patty said.

"According to the TARDIS we are," the Doctor replied. "So let's get out there and do some exploring."

They all zipped up their winter coats, put their hats, gloves and boots on and walked to the front door while the dogs watched them. The Doctor commanded them to stay when they started to follow and sighed when Barney didn't obey.

"Maddie, when we get back, would you allow me to take Barney to the same training academy I took my dogs. I really want him to be trained so he doesn't run out the door and get lost or hurt."

"That's fine," Madison said. "I'd rather he was trained anyway."

"Thank you. TARDIS, keep a force bubble around Barney until we get out the door please."

He opened the door and a blast of cold wind hit him in the face.

"Yup, it's wintertime alright," he said.

They went out while Barney frantically pawed at the bubble and whined at them. Once the door closed, the TARDIS released him and laughed when he went straight to the door and whined for a few minutes before going back to find Blizzard and Rory.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and the others emerged from the alley the TARDIS was parked in and paused when they noticed they were inside a circle of buildings built around a roundabout. In the center of the roundabout was a large white monument that had several statues around it. Hanging down from the top of the monument were strands of white lights, circling around it in the shape of a Christmas tree. Around the perimeter were statues of reindeer and toy soldiers. They glanced at the buildings around them and noticed several of them had some windows lit with green lighting that looked like Christmas trees with one bright window at the top to simulate the star.

"Yup, this is certainly festive," Alan said.

They stepped out onto the pavement, looked both ways and all of them hurried across to the monument. There were stone steps leading up to it and standing on the steps was a choir singing Christmas carols while they wore red and green sweaters and black trousers. Maddie picked up Dorothy and Alan picked up Tony. They stood together with a large crowd of people watching and listening to them singing. The Doctor put his arm around Tara and held her close while she held on to Jenny's hand. Behind the Doctor, Rain wrapped her arms around his neck and stood beside him while she rested her head on his trench coat sleeve. Alan put his arm around Rose and held her close while Lee did the same with Donna. Amelia and Opal stood in front of a steel fence that acted as a barrier and stared enraptured at the singers while Patty stood behind them and looked around at her surroundings in amazement. While they were watching, a man came up beside Amelia and Opal. They glanced at him and did a double take when they noticed he had a huge spiked blue Mohawk with a pierced ear and nose, a gold chain hanging between both and eyeliner around his eyes. He had on a leather jacket and leather pants with boots and a spiked band around his left wrist. They stared at him in amazement until Rain telepathically told them to stop. When the choir finished a song, they applauded and the man walked away. Amelia and Opal walked over to the Doctor.

"Wow, did you see that guy?" Amelia said, pointing to the man.

"It was a little hard not to see him actually," Alan said.

"Yes, but you shouldn't stare at people like that," Rain told them. "That's normal for this year even if you do think its bizarre looking."

"Yup, welcome back to the decade of the weird Xanadu fashions," Alan said.

"Yup, welcome to the early '80's when men dressed like women, women dressed like men and anything goes," the Doctor said to them. "I think my TARDIS planned this for a giggle, knowing her. Anyway, let's go find some shops and start shopping."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I think you're right about the TARDIS having a giggle when she brought us here," Alan said while they walked through a large department store.

Tara, Amelia and Opal were walking in front of them staring at everyone while they pushed a shopping trolley behind them. Some people looked relatively normal but there were others like the man with the Mohawk who were wearing day-glo clothes and had teased hair and eyeliner. While they walked through the store, Beat It was piped in overhead and both Alan and the Doctor were bouncing along to it while they walked.

"That's right, the Thriller album was released this year," the Doctor said.

They reached the toy aisle and noticed a sign by it.

Sorry, we're out of Cabbage Patch Kids, it read.

"And those were also released this year."

"It's a good thing they are sold out; I remember the riots over the ugly little things. I'd rather not shop and beat others back with a stick because they want to kill me to get to them."

The song ended and Mister Roboto came on. They laughed when both the Doctor and Alan stared at the ceiling.

"Can we have some Christmas music please and not some daft song from a cheesy Styx rock opera?" the Doctor said while they laughed harder.

They laughed when Alan started singing along to it.

"On the other hand, this is just perfect for Alan," Rose said.

"Domo arigato, Mister Roboto!" Alan sang while they walked through the store.

He danced up to the kids and they giggled while he sang to them and wiggled his butt in time to the music.

"I agree, Doctor, I want some Christmas music…Now!" Donna said while they laughed. "I grew up with the song and was sick of it back then, I really don't wanna hear it now."

"Look! There's the Thriller jacket," Rain said, pointing to a bunch of them on display by the clothes.

They walked over and the Doctor took one off the rack. He studied the red leather jacket and giggled.

"Jack perhaps?" he said, holding it up to them.

"I dare ya to, just for a laugh," Rose said. "I wanna see him wear it and dance like Michael.

The Doctor considered that for a moment and then looked through them. He found one that he figured was Jack's size and put it in their trolley.

"If it's the wrong size, the TARDIS can resize it," he said to them while he giggled.

"Now get him the record album so we can be sure he has the album," Alan said.

"So…are we going for '80's kitsch for all the gifts then?" the Doctor said.

"Hey, we're in 1983, might as well."

"I dare ya to get Jack a day-glo track suit or something," Maddie said.

They chortled when the Doctor seized the cart and ran off to find something.

"Yellow! Make it yellow, Brother, or orange, something that goes with his eyes!" Alan called while they ran after him.

"And get him the Michael Jackson sparkly socks!" Rain said. "That'll complete the look!"

"And get him the leg warmer things, those were warm!" Amelia called out.

They laughed when the Doctor stopped in front of a display of day-glo outfits and stared at them.

"Aha!" he said, grabbing a yellow track suit and throwing it in the trolley while they laughed.

"I dare ya to get one for mum," Rose said to him.

The Doctor paused.

"Do I want to die?" he mused while they giggled. "Will she appreciate the subtle humor of the joke?"

"Get her one and get her something nice so she won't murder ya," Donna said.

"Okay, I'll get her pink, that way when she goes out for a jog, Pete will be able to keep tabs on her from up to ten miles away," the Doctor said while they laughed.

He threw a day-glo pink track suit in the cart before going on.


	225. Chapter 225

Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty Five

The Doctor and the others continued to shop while 1980's music played overhead.

"What about the kids?" Rain asked. "Do we split up at one point so we shop for them?"

They thought about that for a moment. The Doctor snapped his fingers and gathered the children around him.

"At some point, I'll take you back to the TARDIS. You'll be safe there. While you're there, we'll buy gifts for you."

"Then we go out later and shop for you?" Amelia asked.

"You can, but the TARDIS can also make some gifts that you can give to us. This is mainly for you so we really don't care if we get gifts or not."

They continued on and went down an aisle containing ceramic figurines. They were looking at them when two women walked into the aisle. They were both Caucasian, in their early twenties, thin with bleach blonde teased hair. One had enormous gold hoop earrings in her ears and was wearing jeans and a Flashdance style ripped blue shirt with black Reeboks. The other one was wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans with white Reeboks.

"Are you serious?" the girl in the white t-shirt was saying to her friend. "That is just so wrong!"

"I know. My friend, like, totally dumped him. But he had mega acne and was, like, a total asshole."

"Do my ears detect Valley Girl talk?" Alan muttered to Rain.

"You are sooooo right. The guy's a total spaz. Monica can do soooo much better than him. Ohmigod, look at this totally cute unicorn statue. Oh my God, Jamie would, like, just freak if she saw this."

"Hello," Alan said, wandering up to them.

"Oh my God, you are, like, so cute," the Flashdance girl said.

"Thank you, am I totally bodacious?" Alan asked.

"Yeah, totally, to the max," Flashdance girl said. "I'm Alice and this is Janet."

"I'm Alan."

He introduced the others and Alan and Janet walked over to them.

"So, are you all, like, shopping for Christmas?" Janet asked.

"Yes, we are," Jenny said.

"We are too but it's hard to shop for my family," Alice said. "They're, like, sooo picky."

"So is my family," Alan said. "But we found a few things like this totally gnarly Thriller jacket."

"Oh puh-leeze, everyone I know has that now," Janet said, rolling her eyes. "I think it's ugly."

"Gag me with a spoon?" Alan said.

"Exactly," Alice said. "Totally grody to the max. I'm sick of the Thriller album. I like Duran Duran. Simon Le Bon is a total hottie."

"And Adam Ant," Janet added.

"Yes, Adam Ant is soooo hot, much better than the jerks around here. Give me a British man any day."

"Really?" Alan said. "Are we totally studly then?"

"Totally," Alice said, winking. "Your accent is great."

"And totally tubular and righteous?" Alan said.

"Ohmigod, yes, totally," Janet said while Alice giggled.

The Doctor noticed Tara, Amelia and Opal giving the women odd looks and he bit back his laughter.

"So are these, like, your kids?" Janet asked Alan while she gestured to the children.

"No, they're my brother's," Alan said.

The Doctor waved at them.

"That is so cool that you're twins," Janet said.

"Yes, totally awesome," Alan said.

"Yes, we're just totally twins," the Doctor said.

"Yes, you are," Alice said, giving him an appreciative glance.

"Well, we need to get going. We have a lot of people to shop for," the Doctor said. "But it was nice meeting you."

They girls looked disappointed but they nodded. They waved goodbye and the Doctor's group walked away. They got out of earshot before laughing.

"Rain, thank you so much for teaching me Valley Girl," Alan said. "I finally got to use it in a real life situation."

"I only wish Awinita would have been here, she would have been proud," she replied.

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After a half hour of shopping, they decided to use the restroom. The restroom doors were facing across from each other in a little hallway. The women went in the right door and the men in the left. Amelia, Opal and Tara finished up first and told Rain they were going outside to wait.

"Stay right by the door, kids, and wait for the guys. Don't wander off," she said to them. "I'll be out in a minute."

They nodded and went outside. They took a drink from the water fountain beside the door and leaned up against the wall to wait for the others. While they were waiting, the door to the men's room opened and a man stepped out. He paused a moment sniffing loudly. He had dark hair with blue highlights and a thin face with blue eyes. He was wearing a black t-shirt, black trousers and a white Members Only jacket. The children stared at a little gold spoon that was hanging from a gold chain around his neck. The man rubbed his nostrils and put his hands in his pockets before he walked off.

"Did you see that little spoon?" Amelia said to them.

"Yeah, wonder what that was for? It was teeny," Opal replied.

Alan came outside and sighed. He smiled at the children while he walked across to them.

"Much better," he said. "It's always helpful to shop with an empty bladder."

"Alan, did you see the guy with the blue in his hair?" Amelia asked.

"I saw him coming out of the cubicle when I was at the urinal, why?" Alan said at the same time the Doctor came outside.

"The man had a cold, I think. He was sniffing really loud," Amelia said while the Doctor walked up to them. "And he was wearing this baby spoon on a necklace, did you see that?"

Alan and the Doctor glanced at each other and rolled their eyes.

"What's wrong?" Tara said while the women, Dot, Tony and Lee came outside.

"Um…the man wasn't sniffing because he had a cold," the Doctor said, rubbing the back of his neck. "He took cocaine; the spoon is what he uses. He puts a bit of cocaine in the spoon and holds it under his nose while he snorts it."

"Huh? Where did you see that?" Donna said.

"Bloke in the lavatory with us," Alan said. "I saw him coming out of the cubicle but didn't pay much attention to him. But he came outside sniffing loudly and he had a coke spoon around his neck, they saw it."

"What's cocaine, Papaw?" Opal said.

The Doctor glanced at the other adults.

"Um, it's a drug that you snort in order to get high," he said to them. "It's this white powder. It peps you up and makes you hyper. Lots of people took it in the 1980's."

"Oh, I've never heard of it before," Amelia said.

"It was around when you were growing up in the 1800's," the Doctor said. "But it was mainly in cough syrup back then."

Amelia and Opal stared at him.

"He just put cough syrup up his nose?" Amelia said while Opal giggled.

The Doctor grinned.

"Yes, he did."

They grinned when Amelia and Opal giggled hysterically at that.

"Well, come on, back to shopping," the Doctor said to them.

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After they finished their shopping at one store, they decided to go out and look for another. They stepped outside into lightly falling snow. They stopped to admire it for awhile before they moved on. They walked down the pavement passing by other shoppers who were wearing winter wear and laughing and joking with each other. As they neared an intersection, they heard hip-hop music and noticed a young black man on the other side of the crosswalk who was break dancing. A felt hat was near him and people threw change into it while they passed by. They crossed the street and paused to watch him. They laughed when they glanced at the children and noticed the stunned expressions on their faces while the man twisted and turned and spun on his head.

"How's the bloke able to do that without breaking his neck?"

They looked around and noticed Patty and Lee were just as stunned as the children.

"He's very flexible," the Doctor said with a grin.

Opal started to go up to him.

"No, Sweetie, stay back, you'll get hit," Rain said to her.

Opal stepped back and all of them watched with a few other people while he flipped onto his stomach and did the worm for a couple of feet. When he was done, they all applauded. The Doctor reached into his trouser pocket, pulled out five dollars and put it in the hat before they all moved on.

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They found another department store and went inside. They slowly walked along with the shopping trolley occasionally finding some things but mostly enjoying the atmosphere. Unlike the other store, the speakers piped in Christmas music which they enjoyed. As they passed by the toy section, they noticed one aisle had nearly empty shelves except for one lone box. Alan walked over, grabbed it and rolled his eyes.

"Oh lookie, I got the last Cabbage Patch Kid," he said, walking back. "And it's…a preemie? Blimey, you mean they made dolls that were supposed to be premature children?"

He stared at the doll with distaste and showed it to the Doctor.

"Okay, bad enough the things are ugly but the fact that this one is bald is even more disturbing," he said to him. "Why these things caused riots is beyond me."

"Oh, I don't know, they're kinda cute in an ugly sort of way," Rose said, coming up beside him.

She tried to take the container from him. They laughed when he pressed it against his chest and began to swat at her head.

"No! Mine! You can't have it! I'll kill ya if you breathe on it wrong!" he said, smacking her head while everyone laughed.

He grinned and kissed her cheek.

"Did people really kill each other over these dolls?" Amelia asked.

"Yes, when they were first introduced, everyone had to have them and there were riots at shopping centers and department stores and people stepped on others and killed them to get the dolls," Alan said.

"Seriously?" Tara said.

"Very seriously," Alan said.

Tara stared in at the tiny doll.

"I know about them but I didn't think people killed people to get them," Tara said.

She stared at the name written on the birth certificate.

"Em…Em..malina Wendy?" she said.

"Yeah, that's the other daft thing. These things had the strangest names. Names I would never give my child. I would never name my child Emmalina. She'd spend her childhood gettin' beat up in the schoolyard while the other kids called her Semolina Emmalina," he said while they laughed.

"Um…everyone…" Jenny said.

They looked at her and she pointed past them. They turned to see a woman running frantically towards them with a panic-stricken look on her face.

"Okay, what's this? Fire, someone shooting up the place?" Donna said.

They looked beyond the panicked woman but couldn't see or hear anything out of the ordinary. The woman ran up and stopped short at the empty aisle. They heard her curse loudly and the Doctor sighed and rolled his eyes.

_False alarm, shopper looking for Cabbage Patch Kid_, he thought to the others.

The woman turned, dejected. She noticed Alan holding the box in his hand. They gasped when she ran over to him with a wild look in her eyes.

"Please, you have to give me that!" she said to him while the children backed up several feet in shock and fear. "My kid's gotta have a Cabbage Patch Kid. I'll give you a thousand dollars for it!"

Alan stared at her, shocked.

"Ma'am, calm down, please," he said.

"Please, I have to have it! I'll give you two thousand dollars for it!"

The Doctor and the other adults looked at each other and shook their heads.

"Three thousand!" the woman said when Alan didn't answer.

"Wow!" Amelia said. "She'll pay three thousand dollars for that?"

Alan sighed.

"Here, how about this? How about I give it to you for free?"

He jerked it back against his body when the woman tried to jerk it out of his hands.

"Correction, I will give it to you for free if you take it from me calmly and not act like some hawk that's just seen a mouse," Alan said angrily. "You are a rational human being, act like it!"

"I'm…I'm sorry, really I am," the woman said softly. "It's just that I've been looking everywhere for one. The stores are all sold out and my daughter's been begging me to get her one for Christmas. I want her to be happy."

"Yes, ma'am, we can understand that," the Doctor said, coming up beside Alan. "I have three children and two grandchildren and I would do anything for them, even give them the moon if I could. But at the end of the day, it's just a doll and it's not worth getting stressed out over. I know you love your daughter and you don't want to see her sad on Christmas Day, I understand that, but are you even listening to yourself? You'd willingly pay three thousand dollars for a toy she'll probably only play with for ten minutes before she moves on to something else? Not to mention there'll be more of them eventually, especially when everyone tires of them and moves on to something else. And ma'am, word of advice, don't cater to your child's every single whim, eh? You're her parent, not her servant. If you give in to her every time, not only will she grow up spoiled and feeling she's entitled to everything, but when she becomes an adult and goes off to live in the real world, she'll get a rude awakening when she finds out she can't have everything she wants when she wants it. Now we'll give you the doll, we didn't want it anyway, we were just looking at it but please keep my words in mind because I think you'll find if you don't indulge your daughter at every turn she'll grow up to be a better, more behaved young woman."

The woman nodded and Alan handed it to her. She stared at it and shook her head.

"You know, I don't understand why people like these things so much. They're ugly," she said to the Doctor.

He grinned.

"Yup, I feel the same way. It's sad that some people died in these riots they've been having."

She nodded.

"Yeah, I know. And you're right, you're absolutely right. In fact…"

She put it back on the shelf and walked away from it.

"She probably will only play with it for ten minutes and I don't wanna pay thirty bucks for it anyway, it's outrageous."

"Get her an ordinary lovely doll. I'm sure she won't be as devastated as you think," Rain said. "And if she is, she'll get over it quickly. Children don't have long attention spans anyway."

"Got that right," the woman said. "Well, you people have a very merry Christmas then."

"And you, good luck with shopping," the Doctor said.

"You too."

She waved to them and walked away.

"Good, she's gone!" Alan said when she got out of earshot. "Preemie's mine!"

They laughed when he mimed pushing them away and chuckled afterwards.

"Anyway, let's get going before Tickle-Me-Elmo gets invented," Alan said with a wink.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They walked through the toy aisles, slowly taking in the toys there. They paused when the Doctor noticed the Rubik's Cubes. He took one down and showed it to them.

"I have one in my attic. I can beat this thing in ten seconds," he said.

"What is it?" Amelia said, taking it from him while the children gathered around her.

"It's a Rubik's Cube. It's a puzzle game. You twist and turn the cube until every side has the same colors. It's challenging for humans but for a Time Lord it's easy."

Amelia put the cube back on the shelf and they walked on. They turned the aisle and Alan laughed when they noticed most of the shelves were stocked with Pacman items.

"Ah yes, another popular thing in the early '80's," Alan said.

"I've seen this. The cult members used to play it when I was growing up," Tara said.

"What is it?" Opal said.

"Pacman," Tara said. "It's this video game where this yellow guy here eats dots in this maze and he gets chased by ghosts."

The Doctor reached down and grabbed a little metal kid's TV tray from the bottom shelf. It showed Pacman running away from the different colored ghosts. He showed the children when they came up beside him.

"See, these ghosts chase him," Tara said to Amelia and Opal. "But there are big dots he can eat that turns them all blue and he can eat them then."

"I've never seen the game before," Opal said.

"I think Julie has it," Madison asked. "Ask her when we get back."

Alan pulled a little rubber finger puppet off the shelf. He put his thumb and index finger in the back of the Pacman and opened and closed his fingers to move the mouth. He giggled when he held it out in front of his body and went over to Rose.

"Run, Starlight, I'm gonna getcha!" he said to her.

Rose giggled and stuck her finger in the puppet's mouth. She screamed softly while Alan pretended to eat it. He noticed Tony standing at his feet staring at it and he put it in his hair.

"Roar!" he said, pretending to eat his hair while Tony giggled.

Rain came up beside them.

"They have Donkey Kong stuff too," she said, showing them a TV tray.

It showed Donkey King fighting Mario while his girlfriend screamed in terror. Alan smiled at it.

"Another fun game," he said.

They put everything back and explored the toy aisle some more. They found Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake, Rainbow Bright and Shirt Tales. The Doctor picked a Shirt Tale up. He was an orangutan that wore a green shirt that said I'm Bananas For You on it. He smiled and glanced at the tag hanging off his arm.

"Bogey, this one's name is Bogey," he said to Rain.

"I remember these when I was really little. They had a cartoon. I like the raccoon."

She picked up Rick the Raccoon who had Superstar written on his red shirt.

Their t-shirts say things," Rain said to him. "They constantly change and say different phrases and things."

"Cute," the Doctor said.

He picked up Pammy the panda bear. She had a pink dress on that said, I love you on it. He grinned and put it in the trolley.

"For Mingxia," he said.

"Aw, I think she'll like that," she said.

Alan came around the corner.

"Next aisle is Smurf central," he said to them.

"Oh! I love Smurfs!" Rose said while all of them followed him.

They went into the next aisle and saw both sides filled with Smurf items. Everything from Smurf plushies to little figurines. They all looked around. The Doctor noticed a little smurf figurine dressed like a doctor and got two of them for Grace and Martha. He noticed one that had a coffee cup in his hand and got it for Ianto. He noticed a clown one and with a wicked grin got it for Jack. He saw a hand reach up and looked at Rain while she took down a Smurfette and stared at it.

"Another cartoon I used to watch. I like Smurfette and…Baby Smurf, do they have Baby Smurf?"

She studied the figurines looking for it.

"Jesus, they sure did make enough of these," she said.

The Doctor showed her the ones he was getting and explained who they were for. She chuckled at the clown smurf.

"I love that you're not being sadistic and getting that for Mingxia, Dear," she said.

"Oh! I didn't even think about that but yeah, I guess I could be a bit of a bastard and get her Clown Smurf," he said with a wink.

She grinned and took down a smurf wearing large black glasses.

"Brainy Smurf, I believe this is you," she said to him.

Further down the shelf, she noticed a smurf in a wooden cage. The smurf had a sorrowful look on his face.

"And this is you, this is you in a cage," she said while the Doctor chuckled.

He noticed her still holding both smurfs.

"You're getting those for me?"

"Yes, because you're my little Smurf," she said to him.

He gave her a kiss on the cheek. She sighed.

"Nuts, no Baby Smurf. Here, Love, put these in your cart," she said, putting Brainy and Cage Smurf in the trolley. "Merry Christmas."

"Mwah ha ha," the Doctor said dryly while she giggled. "If I find Sarky Smurf, I'll get it for you."

He turned his attention back to the Smurf figurines. He noticed a bride Smurfette and giggled.

"I believe I will get this for Donna," he murmured, quickly taking it down and throwing it in his cart.

He saw a Smurfette holding a spoon and bowl.

"Get this for Jackie, she likes to cook," he muttered, putting it in the trolley.

He saw a Smurf that was blushing and holding a huge heart in its hands. It said I love you on the heart and he grinned while he put it in the trolley.

"And that one for Rain, I'll be nice and get her that instead of Sarky Smurf," he muttered to himself.

He felt someone grab his trouser leg and looked down at Dorothy. She was smiling at him while she held a stuffed Smurfette in her arm.

"I told her she could have that," Madison said to him. "She watched the Smurfs on Boomerang and she likes Smurfette. I told her that was one of her Christmas presents."

"Smurfette, Daddy," Dorothy said.

"I know, I love the Smurfs too, they're brilliant," he said, bending down to her.

He kissed her forehead and leaned back up. He picked her up and held her in his arm while they waited for everyone to finish up.


	226. Chapter 226

Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty Six

"Okay, so where are we?" Jack said when the Valeyard's TARDIS landed and powered down.

He glanced at the monitor.

"According to this, we're on Taurus in the year five thousand and sixty," he said.

"Blast, we're not on Earth," Anita said.

"Apparently not," Jack said. "But I've been to Taurus before. It's an Earth colony and they have most of the things that Earth has. So come on everyone and let's get to shoppin'!"

They stepped outside and noticed they were in the middle of a futuristic, modern city. There were hovercars zooming overhead and most of the buildings were made of crystal and glass. Jack closed the doors and they stepped out of the alley.

"I suppose we ask someone where a shopping center is," Jack said, shrugging.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After asking a passerby, they were led to a large five story department store in the heart of the city. The outside was made of crystal, polished and shimmering in the sunlight. They went through a revolving door and stepped into a large lobby. A receptionist, looking prim and proper in a blue trouser-suit, sat there filling out paperwork. Jack frowned.

"Did that lady direct us to an office building by mistake?" he said to them.

"Only one way to find out," Martha replied.

They walked up to her and she smiled warmly.

"Good afternoon, welcome to the Taurus Shopping Emporium," she said to them.

Jack frowned.

"This is the shopping center?" he said.

"Yes, Sir, it is."

"Are we in the wrong part of it? This looks like an office to me," he said.

The lady stared at him.

"Have you been here before, Sir?"

"No, actually we're visiting from off-world," Jack said.

"Oh! Well, here at Taurus Shopping Emporium, we believe in giving our customers a customized shopping experience so everyone is required to come in here and wait while we provide you with an android."

River raised her eyebrow.

"Why do we need an android?" she asked.

"Your android is your personal shopper. He or she will help you make selections and find the items you need."

"Listen…um…what's your name?"

"Demara."

"Listen, Demara," Jack said, "that's wonderful but we really don't need…"

"Please, we rather you take an android along with you. It's company policy."

"We've already got three of them now," Ianto said to himself.

Before Jack could say anything else, Demara was on the intercom telling an android to come and assist them. Jack sighed and got his group in a huddle.

"Your call, guys. Wanna stay here or try somewhere else?" he asked them.

"We might as well stay," Gwen said. "I have a feeling other shops will have androids too."

"Yeah, how bad can it be?" Mickey said. "So an android makes suggestions to us while we shop. Maybe he'll be helpful, especially since we really don't know what they have here."

Jack nodded.

"Got a point there. Okay, we'll put up with this android shopper then."

They waited. Five minutes later, a door beside Demara's desk opened and an android walked in. he was dressed in a grey business suit but his hands were made of skeletal metal and his face was made of transparent plastic with all gears inside fully visible.

"I am so glad Lux didn't put us in something like that," River muttered to Anita and Jennifer.

The android bowed.

"Good day, I am Randy B12, it's a pleasure to serve you," he said in a slightly high-pitched voice.

He looked them over and his eyes settled on River, Anita and Jennifer. He walked over to Jennifer and stared at her intently.

"What? What is it?" Jennifer said, creeped out.

"You are an android as well," Randy said to her.

"Yeah, so?" Jennifer said.

"What is your ident number?" he asked her.

Jennifer frowned.

"Ident number?" she said.

"Yes, the number assigned to you upon your creation."

Jennifer was taken aback and looked at Anita and River.

"We have ident numbers?" she said.

"Um, we never received ident numbers," River said to him.

"You must have received them upon assembly," Randy said.

"Um, if we did, our creator never told us what they were," Anita said hesitantly.

"We don't have them, sorry," River added.

"Well," Randy said haughtily, "seems some of us aren't full androids then."

Their mouths dropped open.

"Excuse me, Bolts?" River said angrily.

"Just pointing out the fact that only true androids have ident numbers, that's all. Anyway, back to the task at hand, your shopping experience," Randy said, walking back to the front.

"Excuse me, Miss, can we get a different android?" River asked. "Preferably one that isn't a complete arsehole?"

"I'm sorry, but all the other androids are busy at the moment," Demara said.

"And this is the last one, gee I wonder why he was the last one available then," Jack said while Gwen snorted.

"If you'll follow me, we'll begin your shopping experience," Randy said pleasantly.

They noticed Randy gave River, Anita and Jennifer a quick look of disdain before he walked off.

"He better watch it or I'm gonna find his ident number on his body, rip it off and make him eat it," River growled while they followed him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jack and the others let out angry sighs. Randy was being an annoyance as well as insulting River, Jennifer and Anita every chance he got. The three women were minutes away from dismantling him and every time they tried to ditch him, he somehow managed to find them again. He was constantly telling them that the gifts there were choosing were idiotic and not suitable for anyone and Jack had to stop himself from taking out his gun and shooting him. In addition to that, he had the same telepathic chip that their friends had, a fact they learned about the first time they tried to secretly cuss him out.

Finally, Jack had enough.

"You know what? Let's call the Doctor and see where he went and go there," he said to them. "I'm tired of trying to shop with Robocop here."

"I'm sorry, Robocop, who is he?" Randy said to him.

"A robot I sorely wish was here right now so he can take a gun and…"

He trailed off, shook his head and pulled his mobile out of his pocket. He paused when Randy came up to him and peered over his shoulder.

"Do ya mind, Tinny?" he asked him.

"I'm not made of tin," Randy sniffed. "I'm made of a super strength polycarbide plastic coating and my gears and circuits are…"

"Whatever, leave me alone!" Jack snarled at him.

Randy gave him a haughty look and moved away while everyone rolled their eyes. Jack dialed the Doctor's number.

"Hello?" the Doctor said.

"Doc! Where are you? We're on Taurus in the year five thousand and sixty and we're about to murder this android shopper they've forced on us!"

"Murder is a crime, you know," Randy said, coming up behind him.

Jack glared at him.

"Yeah? Well, I can make it so I won't get caught and you'll never be found, now go away!"

Randy stepped back two feet and stared intently at him.

"For the love of God, Doc, where are you?" Jack said desperately.

"Indianapolis, Indiana, 1983," he replied.

"Perfect, we're going to join you before we end up in prison here for android homicide!" he said. "Is there a way we can track you?"

"I'll take my bio-damper off, track my artron energy," he replied.

"Great, we're on our way then. I'll see you in a few," Jack said.

He hung up and put his mobile back in his pocket.

"Let's go," he said to the others between gritted teeth.

"I'm sorry, Sir, are you leaving without making a purchase?" Randy said, coming up to him.

Jack sighed and slowly turned to face him.

"Yes. And you wanna know why? Because everything we've chosen, you told us not to get and made us put it back. You are annoying, rude, hateful and I can see why you were the last android available. My friends and I are going far, far away from you so we can Christmas shop in peace. Now good day and go away!"

Randy gave them a haughty look.

"Very well, good riddance to all of you and especially you three common unidented ruffians back there."

"That's it, the bastard is scrap!" River snarled, running towards him.

Jack grabbed her.

"Whoa, no, wait! Don't! We wanna get out of here without being thrown in jail. Just let it go, River."

River nodded. She glared at Randy who had a smirk on his face.

"I am so glad Lux didn't make my body like yours. I think I would have electrocuted myself all over again," she muttered while she walked back to Anita and Jennifer.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Awinita powered down the TARDIS.

"Okay, we've arrived. Time to do a bit of Christmas shopping," she said to her friends and family.

They walked to the front door of Dex's TARDIS. They opened it and grunted when they had to push a snowdrift away from the door.

"Bit snowy," Grace grunted while they all pushed.

They finally got the door open and stepped out into the deep snow. They closed the door back and the TARDIS disguised itself as a snowman.

"Cute," Julie said, gesturing to it.

They stepped out away from it and looked around, puzzled. There was snow all around them as far as the eye could see. Off to their left was a dense forest. After several miles, the forest went up the side of a large hill and behind it were several more snowy hills stretching into the distance.

"Okay, where's a mall or store or something?" Awinita asked, looking around.

"Where's anything?" Grace said, looking with her. "Anyone see any sign of civilization?"

"Not a sausage," Sarah Jane said.

She sighed.

"Don't tell me this TARDIS is just as bad with coordinates as the Doctor's TARDIS is," she said.

"We're lost?" Tish said.

"Not for long. Come on, guys, I have a feeling there's nothing here," Awinita said. "Let's get back inside the TARDIS and…"

They paused when they heard something coming from the forest.

"Everyone hear that?" Mingxia asked.

"Yeah, sounded like a high-pitched whaaaa," Julie said.

They stepped forward a bit trying to see through the trees. Suddenly a three foot baby wooly mammoth bounded through the trees crying with a high-pitched whaaa.

"Yup, I definitely think we're not gonna find a shopping center here," Rani said.

"Whoa, look at that," Clyde said, "a proper mammoth."

The baby walked up to them, crying softly. They looked around but didn't see any other mammoths.

"Lost?" Mingxia said.

"Maybe, maybe it got separated from its herd," Sarah Jane said.

They rubbed its back.

"Cute little fella," Julie said. "What do we do with it?"

"How 'bout we put a big red bow around the middle and give it to Tara as a Christmas present?" Awinita said.

"This way! It can't be far!"

They jerked their heads around when they heard a deep male voice coming from the trees.

"Crap, hide!" Awinita hissed.

They ran back to the TARDIS. They reached it and noticed the mammoth followed them.

"What do we do?" Julie said.

"It's this way! I know it!" Another male voice said from the trees.

"Inside, all of us, even this guy," Awinita said.

They opened the door and went inside. The mammoth followed and Awinita thought to the TARDIS while they closed the door back. As requested, the TARDIS set up a force field, separating the mammoth from the console and back door. The mammoth walked around, crying, while Grace opened the front door a crack and peeked out. At first she didn't see anything, then two Neanderthal hunters wandered into view, looking around while they held spears at the ready. They were short and hairy with brow ridges over their eyes and short dark hair and beards. They were wearing wooly mammoth skins and fur boots. Their breath was smoky in the chilled air while they searched for their quarry.

"It came this way, I saw it!" one of them said to the other. "We've been tracking it for half a day, it can't have gotten far!"

Grace gritted her teeth when the baby let out another whine. The TARDIS quickly put some hay and carrots at its feet and the baby munched on it happily while the others breathed sighs of relief. Grace continued to watch them. The Neanderthal who had been speaking stomped his foot in frustration.

"We can't go back to the others empty handed. Not with Nanala about to give birth," he said to his friend. "The mammoths are about to move away for the winter and we can't afford to lose this one! We'll all starve!"

_Gee, should we give them the mammoth then?_ Julie thought. _I mean if its life or death for them…_

_We can't let them kill it, it's just a baby, _Rani thought.

_Yes, but it's probably dead anyway, Rani, _Sarah Jane thought._ If they've been tracking it for a half a day, I'm sure its herd has moved on by now and it'll die without its mother. It might be better to let them have it and ensure their survival than leave it to die and be eaten by other predators. We can't take it with us anyway, where would we keep it? _

_Sarah's right, _Grace thought._ It seems cruel but that's the way it is here. Either they die or it does and if one of them's with child, I'd rather the mammoth be the one to make the sacrifice. _

_Okay, how do we get it back outside without the cavemen noticing us and adding us to their hunting trophies? _Awinita thought.

Grace looked at her.

_Can the TARDIS leave and leave it behind? _She thought._ Just dematerialize around her?_

_Good idea. I'll set coordinates for sometime in Earth's future and ask the TARDIS to leave it behind._

Grace closed the door back and all of them gathered around the mammoth, rubbing its fur and ears, saying a final goodbye to it. Awinita finally pulled herself away from it and mentally asked the TARDIS to leave it behind. She sat the coordinates, started up the ship and they watched while the mammoth, hay and carrots faded away from their view while they flew into the vortex.


	227. Chapter 227

Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty Seven

Jackie and the others strolled through the Nova department store while they picked out gifts for everyone. They had offered to give the trolley to Tim in case he needed support but he waved it away.

"I'm fine, thanks to the Doctor," he said. "I feel like I'm in my twenties again after that treatment he gave me."

"I need to see him then. I need a bit of a tune-up," Wilf said, smiling.

"I'm next in line behind you," John added.

They wandered in front of them while Pete and Jackie walked and chatted with Francine and Patience.

"You know, I think the Doctor's a bit daft at times," Jackie was saying to Francine. "But he does think up good ideas and this Christmas party for Tara is wonderful, especially since she's never had any sort of Christmas before. I just hope wherever he took them they don't end up in trouble again."

"I was shocked that Tish wanted to go," Francine replied. "After all that happened with us and the Master, I figured she'd never want anything to do with the Doctor ever again. I was shocked when she agreed to become a Time Lady and I'm shocked now that she's traveling with them. But she's young and she's made friends with everyone, perhaps she feels safe enough to travel with them now."

"Not me, I've traveled a couple of times in it and there's no way in Hell I'll go with em full time," Jackie said. "Bonkers, the lot of em. The Doctor is nice enough but I wouldn't trust my life with him, even if I can regenerate now."

"Then why exactly did you change, Jackie?" Pete said.

"I told ya, so I could be with Rose and Tony. I never had any intention of gettin' in that TARDIS and flyin' all over time and space. You couldn't pay me enough to travel full time. I don't mind quick trips to safe locations but I'm not about to go fight monsters. It's no wonder the Doctor's on his tenth life now. He has a death wish."

"Perhaps," Wilf said, looking back at her, "but then again, think of all the places he's seen and people he's met. All that history and planets that he's visited in his ten lives. I figure that's a fair trade for goin' through ten lives."

"Are you saying that you'd go with him?" Jackie said.

"Oh, I might if I were a bit younger. Maybe when I regenerate. I do know that he took care of my Donna and kept her safe, must know somethin' about time travel if he can fight all those monsters and do that. I've seen the man in action, watched while he saved us from the Sontarans and the Daleks. I'd put my life in his hands and go with him if I were younger."

"Same here," Tim said. "I saw what he could do as well. And he managed to help save us back in 1913 when he wasn't even himself. I've seen his essence and I also trust him with my life, but like Wilf, I think I'll also have to wait till I regenerate before I go along with him. What about you, John? You're younger than we are? Fancy going through time and space with your daughter and son-in-law?"

John grinned.

"I would love to but I'm not sure Rainshower would like me in there with her and her husband. I'm sure they have a lot of intimate moments and wouldn't want the in-law intruding. But I also trust him with my daughter's life. I know he loves her and would die before someone harmed her, same with my adopted grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Since Tara's been with him, not once has she come to harm even though he's been hurt and the same goes for Amelia and Opal. All of them along with Jenny and Dot have never come to harm and that says to me that he's more than capable of taking care of everyone. He and Alan and everyone else. If neither one of them were capable, I would have forbidden my daughter, both my daughters from traveling with him long ago. I admit he and Alan are a bit unorthodox but sometimes you have to think outside the box in order to survive especially if you do what they do."

Jackie looked at Francine.

"What about you, Francine? Would you ever travel with him?"

There was a glimmer in her eye and she smiled a mischievous smile.

"Perhaps, if the mood struck me," she said. "I agree with John. I did have a problem with Martha traveling with him at first but I was listening to the Master's people at the time and Martha managed to survive that hell on Earth when a lot of other people died. Your Rose is the same way. She traveled with him for two years and now she's back traveling with him and she's perfectly fine. Yes, he might be a bit unorthodox but he's serious about protecting the people who travel with him and I'm sure if I ever did travel with him, he'd extend the same protection to me. Besides, might be fun seeing a distant planet someday."

"Yes, maybe someday I might take a trip with him too," Patience said. "The children love him and he's been good to them and to me. I would trust him with my life the same as everyone else he travels with."

Pete chuckled and put his arm around Jackie.

"Seems like you're in the minority here, Jacks," he said, winking at her while they continued to shop.

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The Doctor and his family waited outside the TARDIS waiting Jack's group. The snow was falling harder now and a wind had whipped up. Alan was holding Tony and Madison had Dorothy and both of them made the toddlers put their faces against their shoulder to protect them from the biting wind.

"I hope they get here soon, it's getting chilly out," Rain said. "Not to mention the snow is stinging my cheeks."

"They're tracking your energy, yeah?" Rose said.

"I told him to," the Doctor said, opening his hand and looking at his bio-damper for a moment before closing his hand again.

They heard a wheezing and saw the Valeyard's TARDIS materializing.

"And…there they are," the Doctor said.

The door opened and Jack jumped out.

"Oh thank God, Doc, it's you. We're here and away from that insane android!" he said while everyone came out behind them.

"Being a bit melodramatic, Jack?" the Doctor said while the others laughed.

"No, because the android was a complete pest," he said. "We were all ready to dismantle it. It kept giving our androids grief because they didn't have ident numbers."

"Yeah and what are ident numbers exactly?" Jennifer said.

"To my knowledge they're the serial numbers that are stamped on the metal frames at the factories," the Doctor said. "You lot weren't made at a factor though, yeah?"

"No, these bodies were built in a lab," River said.

"Well, that's probably why you don't have one. I'm sure Lux wouldn't be aware of them. I'm sorry that other android gave you a hard time though."

"Well, he's far away and on a different planet so it doesn't matter. I'd much rather be here on Earth anyway."

"Right, so let's get going then. Kids, if you can stay here and wait for us…" The Doctor said to them.

"Whoa, why are they waiting here?" Jack said.

"We need to buy their gifts so we told them at one point to go back to the TARDIS for awhile."

"Yeah but that's boring. Can't Alan go with them so they can get something to eat or look at decorations or something?" Jack said.

"Brother, do you wanna do that?" the Doctor asked.

"Sure, I don't mind taking the nipper kippers somewhere," he said. "I agree, they shouldn't be in the TARDIS when there's a whole city to explore. Besides Rose can shop for both of us."

"Let me go too," Rain said.

"Why?" Alan said.

"Because you're gonna have to keep track of two rambunctious toddlers in addition to the three children. The Doctor can shop for the two of us while I help look after them."

"Why? Are you afraid I'll lose them?" Alan said.

"No, but Dorothy and Tony are both hyper and we're in a strange city. I'm not denigrating your parenting skills, I'm just offering some help."

Alan nodded.

"Okay, I could use the help and the company," he said.

"Are you two gonna behave yourselves?" Rose asked.

"Oh, I think we can call a truce for a few hours," Rain said, grinning.

"Yeah, I'll lay off the wedgies and rope burns for a few hours, but only a few," Alan said.

He snickered when everyone rolled their eyes. Alan and Rain kissed their spouses and took the children in one direction while everyone else headed back to the department stores.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alan and Rain walked with the three older children while they held Dorothy and Tony in their arms. Once they got away from the bright lights of Monument Circle, the lights became softer and more colorful and they walked along enjoying them. Suddenly Alan stopped.

"What?" Rain said.

"Thought. If we're looking for somewhere to take the children, perhaps that Bocca di Beppo Italian restaurant. It was downtown."

"Yeah but is it here in 1983?"

"One way to find out."

He stopped a man and asked. The man nodded and gave him directions to it. Alan thanked him and they went on their way. They hurried across a crosswalk and stepped up onto an icy curb. While they were walking, they suddenly heard an oof behind them. They turned to see Amelia sprawled out on the pavement.

"Are you alright?" Alan said, dropping Tony and kneeling down.

"Yeah, I slipped on the ice," she said to them. "My knee hurts."

Alan helped her up and dusted the snow off her clothes while Rain held on to Tony's hand.

"You silly goose, you're s'posed to stay upright," he teased while he tousled her hair. "Still you're standing up with no broken legs, that's a good sign. I think you'll be alright. You just have to get used to walking on icy surfaces."

"We didn't have much ice in Georgia," Amelia said.

"Like I said, you have to learn to walk on it," he said, taking Tony's hand. "Someday you might have to outrun a snow monster across an icy planet and you can't be stumbling around the place."

They walked on. A couple of blocks from the restaurant, Alan stopped them again and pointed to a Christmas shop beside them.

"Another thought," he said to Rain. "Right before we met you, Rose and Awinita and I found a similar shop like this and Rose bought a first Christmas ornament there. I was thinking perhaps you could do the same for you and the Doctor and the children."

"I love that, Bro. And all of you could get ornaments for the rest of the family. Those would make great Christmas gifts."

They went inside the shop. It was small and cozy with wood paneling on the walls. Beside the door on the right side of the wall was a fireplace with a roaring fire. Several candles were lit and the smell of bayberry and pine hung in the air. On top of the mantle above the fireplace was a small boom box playing Christmas music. There were several bookcases along each side of the walls where ornaments were kept in boxes along with stuffed animals and other Christmas odds and ends. There were several artificial trees, both green and white, spread out inside the shop. The ornaments in the boxes were displayed on the trees and several more stuffed animals were sitting under them. The shop was empty except for an elderly man who was sitting behind a counter at the back.

"Can I help you?" he asked them.

"We're just looking right now," Rain said.

"Let me know if you need help then."

They thanked him and spread out to look at everything. Tara wandered around with her mother and Amelia and Opal looking at the ornaments on the trees. There were different types, everything from colored balls to cartoon characters. Tara wondered what to get everyone, especially her father. She hadn't known him for very long. She knew he liked bananas but she couldn't find any banana ornaments. She glanced at Alan who was on the other side of the shop looking at a stuffed reindeer. She wandered over to him and tapped his arm. He smiled at her and showed her the reindeer.

"I think I'll get this for Rose. What'd ya think?"

Tara smiled and nodded.

"Can I ask you a question?" she said.

"Ten dollars."

"Huh?"

Alan snickered.

"Picking my brain and getting answers from my brilliant mind requires a fee of ten dollars," he said, holding out his hand.

"Oh okay, bye then," she said, walking away.

Alan giggled and got in front of her.

"But…I'll waive the exorbitant fee since you're my niece," he said. "What's on your mind?"

"You have Daddy's memories, right?"

"Yuuuuu-pah!"

"What does Daddy like? I don't know what to get him!"

"Aw, he'd like anything you got him. I'm sure if you blew your nose in a baggie, he'd think it was delightful but that would be a bit unsanitary so let's find something suitable for everyone, shall we?"

They looked at the ornaments.

"I know Daddy likes bananas but I don't see banana ornaments," Tara said to him.

He chuckled.

"Well, he likes more than that. He likes a lot of Earth things. Like I said, Tara, he'd love anything you got him because it came from you. He's not really picky about…Hullo…"

"What? Did you find something for him?"

"No, something for Jenny that your dad could give her. Look."

He pulled an ornament off the tree. It was a Precious Moment's angel. The angel was a blonde haired child that was sitting on a fluffy cloud. My little angel was written on the cloud.

"You dad calls Jenny, Angel. That his personal name for her. And it kinda looks like Jenny so…"

He held up a finger and threw up a privacy block around the Doctor's mind.

_Brother, we found this Christmas shop on the way to get something to eat. It has Christmas ornaments and I found a little angel one sitting on a cloud. She's blonde and it says my little angel on the cloud, do you want me to get it so you can give it to Jen?_

_Yes, please get it!_ He thought back.

_Consider it got,_ he thought back.

He walked over to the shelf beside the Christmas tree and found the box containing the ornament.

_By the by, Brother, I also wanted to tell you that Tara is here with me and she's worried about finding you an ornament. She thinks you won't like what she gets you,_ he thought to him while he handed the box to Tara._ She was asking me what you liked since we have the same memories and she apparently was trying to find you a banana ornament but was stumped on anything else._

_I'll speak to her, just keep looking. If you find something pertaining to Rain, get it for me. Something nice, mind._

Alan giggled.

_I'll be nice to her, Brother,_ he thought. _We came in here because I suggested she get a first Christmas ornament like Rose and I got before we got to Albuquerque. _

_Brilliant idea! Where is this shop? I have a feeling the others might want to take a look at it._

_If you want, I'll direct you here. We were thinking about eating at Bocca di Beppos, that Italian restaurant we ate at before so you can eat with us once you get done shopping._

_Great, we're finishing up here. We'll put our stuff in the TARDIS and I'll contact you again when we're finished. It shouldn't take too long._

_Gotcha, _he thought.

The Doctor switched privacy blocks to Tara who was staring at a reindeer ornament.

_Tara? _He thought.

_Huh? _She thought back.

_I was just talking to Alan and he told me you were worried about buying me something from that shop. Don't worry about it, my Star; just get me something nice, I'll love whatever you get me. _

_Okay, Daddy._

_We're gonna come over there in a few minutes and then eat with you. We're about finished here. Afterwards, we can go look in another store._

_Okay, Daddy._

He sent love into her mind before he dropped the privacy block. She heard him explaining to everyone else about shopping at the store and eating out while she continued to look. She noticed Alan suddenly grabbing a box off a bookcase several feet from her and holding it against him while he ran up to the counter.

"Alan, what are you doing?" Opal asked, walking over to him.

Tara frowned when he showed her the box and threw up a privacy block around her mind while he told her something. He quickly paid for the ornament and had the man put it in a small plastic bag. Opal ran with it over to Rain and gave it to her while she whispered in her ear. Rain's eyes widened and she nodded and smiled. Tara wandered over to her mother while Opal went back to looking at the other ornaments.

"What's goin' on, Mommy?"

"We found something for you, Dear. That's why there was all this secrecy," she said to her.

Tara was curious about what was inside. She wanted to see into the bag but it was solid plastic. Shrugging, she went back to looking for ornaments for the others. Alan strolled back up to her.

"Right, find an ornament yet?" he said to her.

"No, what'd you get me?"

"Something special," Alan replied. "And that's all you need to know so far…"

He trailed off when he noticed some angel ornaments near the top of the green tree. One was a black woman with long black hair, the other was a Native American angel with a buckskin robe and eagle feathers for her wings. He pointed them out to her and whispered in her ear.

"Get the black one for Martha and the Indian one for your mummy," he said.

She nodded and they walked over to the shelf. Alan glanced over and noticed Rain was staring at the first Christmas ornaments. He put the Indian angel in his pocket and gave her the black angel to hold. They looked again and Tara noticed a unicorn ornament near the bottom of the tree. She walked over and found the box for it. She showed it to Alan.

"For Daddy. The Unics," she said.

"Brilliant. He'll love that," he said. "See, you can find something for him other than bananas."

Rain came over to them with Dorothy and Tony and Tara showed her the unicorn one.

"He'll love that, Sweetie! Why don't you get this one for Jenny?" she said, showing her one.

It was a Precious Moment's ornament. Two little girls were sitting on a bench holding ice cream cones. On the base under the bench it said, sisters forever.

"Ooo, yes, I wanna get that for Jenny," Tara said.

"Okay, who's the angel for?"

"Martha."

"Oh, she'll love that. I'm glad you're finding some things, Sweetie."

She went back to the other side of the room. Tara heard Amelia call to her and she walked over to her. She was standing by a tree near the front and pointed to a Pacman ornament.

"Get this for Alan," she whispered, pointing to him.

They giggled and found the ornament on the bookcase.

"Give it to me. I'll tell everyone I'm getting it for Papaw so Alan won't know," Amelia said.

"Thanks Amelia," she whispered.

Amelia nodded. She showed her a Scooby Doo ornament. Scooby Doo was wearing a Santa hat and had a wreath around his neck.

"This is what I'm really getting Papaw," she whispered.

"I like that," Tara whispered.

"Yeah," Opal whispered, walking up to them. "I'm getting Papaw a Care Bear ornament."

She showed them Funshine Bear.

"And I'm getting Alan this one," she added, showing them Bedtime Bear.

She showed them a Minnie Mouse one.

"And this is for Mamaw," she said. "Cause she had that shirt with her on it. And I gotta find one for Rose and everyone else but they have lots of neat ones over here, come look with me."

They walked over to the other side. While they were doing that, the Doctor contacted them again and let Alan know they were ready to leave. Alan gave him the directions to the shop and urged everyone to pay for the purchases they had so they could hide them in sacks before they came.


	228. Chapter 228

Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty Eight

When the Doctor and the others came to the shop, Alan, Rain and the children continued to shop with them but Alan managed to pull the Doctor aside to show him the ornaments for Jenny, Rain and Tara. They stood outside and the Doctor grinned at the angel ornaments.

"Gorgeous, thank you, Brother."

"Anytime. And I'll show you what I found for Tara. She knows we got her something but we were careful not to let her see. Rain and Opal know about it though.

He took the little bag out of his pocket and pulled out the ornament. It was a Precious Moment's Indian girl wearing a red sari and veil. The Doctor's hearts caught in his throat while he gazed at the tiny brown face with the big brown doe eyes.

"Brother, you are stellar."

"Yeah, tell me something I don't know," he teased.

He hugged Alan and put the ornaments into his pockets before they headed back into the store.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After spending an hour in small groups buying things for each other, they went up to the counter in the same groups, one at a time, while the others were careful not to look. Once all the Christmas ornaments were bagged, they all headed out the door and down the street to Bocca di Beppo. While they walked, the Doctor slowed his speed until he got alongside Patty.

"Hey, enjoying yourself?" he asked her.

"Yes, I am. This is mind-blowing. I still can't believe we're in the year 1983 on Earth. But I'm having fun."

"Good. We get a bit wild at times and it takes some time getting used to us but we make sure everyone has a good time and…"

"Quit it!"

The Doctor looked at Rose who was at the front of the group. Everyone was laughing while Jack was grabbing handfuls of snow and trying to put them on her head.

"I'm only trying to make you look more Christmasy, Rose."

"You're gonna think Christmasy when I grab a pine branch and ram it up your bum."

She squealed when Jack lobbed the snow at her head. Everyone scattered when Rose grabbed some snow and threw it back at him. The Doctor, Patty, the androids, Madison, Dorothy and Tony backed up when everyone starting throwing snow at each other. Rose squealed when Jack, Jake, Alan and Mickey started to chase her with two fistfuls of snow. They laughed when she ran behind the Doctor and ducked down.

"That's not gonna stop us, Timelord!" Jack said while they ran behind him.

Rose ran back out again.

"Ianto, Rhys, Lee, hold her while we mash this snow into her hair!"

"Don't you dare!" Rose said while the other men ran to stop her escape.

Jake put on a burst of speed and grabbed her from behind.

"Don't ya think of getting away from us, Missy!" he said, gleefully.

They laughed when Jack, Alan and Mickey rubbed the handfuls of snow into her hair while she squealed and struggled to get free. Jack gasped when the older children ran up behind him and began to smack him on the back repeatedly.

"Rowr!" he yelled, laughing when they all screamed and ran back behind the Doctor.

"What am I? The fort or something?" the Doctor said while they laughed. "Everyone seems to think I'm the safe place to hide."

They let Rose go and she swatted Jake on the head while he laughed and ran away.

"Betcha glad I came back with them, aren't ya, Rosie?" he said gleefully while they laughed. "Now I get to bother ya in this universe."

"You just wait, Jake! I'll get back at ya, I swear it!" Rose said, jabbing her finger at him.

The Doctor grinned and glanced at Patty.

"Like I said, this is the usual behavior for us," he said to her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They went into the restaurant and noticed it was pretty much the same as it was in 2009. Italian music played softly while they were led back to the dining room. They occupied four tables along the left side of the wall. Patty sat with the Doctor, Rain, Tara, Amelia and Opal while the others sat at the table in front and back of them. Above them the menu was affixed to the wall and they stared at it.

"What do you want, kids?" Rain asked them. "They have spaghetti."

"I want spaghetti. I like spaghetti," Opal said.

"Well, here they serve enough food for four or five people. So let's get a couple of things, spaghetti and a couple of other things and get some salad and breadsticks."

The waiter took their drink order and left. Tara frowned while she listened to the music overhead.

"What language is this, Mommy? Is this Italian?" she asked, pointing up.

"Yes, Love," Rain said.

They listened for a moment.

"Wish I knew what they were sayin'," Opal said.

"It's a love song, Opal," Rain said.

"You know what they're saying, Mommy?"

"Yup, I know every language in the universe. You'll get that when you turn twenty."

"Ugh, I wanna be twenty now," she moaned while the Doctor chuckled.

"You know every language?" Patty said to them.

"Yup, we have the knowledge of time and space. They don't though. They won't have the same knowledge till they're twenty which is why they were asking about the song," the Doctor said. "I understand it perfectly. It's a beautiful song. I also know it was written in the 1950's."

"I wish we had the silly songs back. I liked the robot one in the store," Ameila said.

Alan snickered behind her.

"Domo arigato, Mister Roboto!" he said.

Everyone at his table giggled.

"Billie Jean is not my lover; she's just a girl who claims that I am the one. But the kid is not my son…" Jack warbled to Alan.

He laughed.

"We can dance if we want to; we can leave your friends behind. Cause your friends don't dance and if they don't dance, well they're…no friends of mine," Alan warbled back."Saaay, we can go where we want to, place where they will never find and we can act like we come from out of this world, leave the real one far behind. We can dance!"

Everyone at all the tables laughed at that. Amelia got up, walked around to Alan's side and leaned in while the waiter came up with their drinks.

"Sing something else, Alan," she said.

Alan looked at Rose who was sitting beside him.

"What are ya lookin' at me for? Sing, it's what you're good at," she said.

"Love! Love will keep us together," he sang to her. "Think of me, babe, whenever…sooome sweet talkin' girl comes along, singin' a soooong, don't mess around, you just gotta be strong…"

Jack looked at Ianto across the way and pointed to him.

"Just stop! Cause I really love you! Stop! I've been thinking of you. Look in my heart and let looove, keep us together!"

He looked at Martha sitting beside Ianto.

"Take it, Martha!" he said.

Martha looked at Mickey beside her and sang the song while the waiter passed out their drinks and chuckled to himself. They waited till he went away before all three couples sang softly. Amelia leaned on Alan's shoulder and listened while Tara and Opal came up beside her and listened with her.

"Young and beautiful, someday your looks'll be gone," Alan sang to Rose. "When the others turn you off, who'll be turning you on? I will, I will, I will, I wiiiiiiiill!"

"I don't know those people," Donna said while she sat at the table behind the Doctor's table.

She winked at the Doctor and began to sing the song softly to Lee while Madison, River and Anita giggled.

"Well, Dear," Rain said to the Doctor. "Aren't ya gonna sing it to me?"

The Doctor leaned into her ear and grinned.

"Shake, shake, shake. Shake, shake, shake. Shake your booooty, shake your booooty!" he sang.

He leaned back up.

"I never follow the herd," he said with a wink.

Rain giggled and kissed his lips.

"Ew."

The Doctor looked at Opal who was now turned around and staring at them.

"Oi, don't you "Ew!" me, Te'telos. I can kiss Mamaw if I want."

He kissed her again.

"Alan, can I sit with you?" Opal said quickly while the Doctor and Rain giggled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once the food arrived, everyone ate and chatted with one another. The Doctor and Rain both spoke to Patty while the children laughed and talked to one another. While they were eating, the Doctor's mobile rang.

"That's either our other group or Jackie's ringing me to make sure Tara's still breathing," the Doctor said, reaching into his pocket.

Rain glanced around and noticed the stunned looks on the other diner's faces when they saw the mobile phone.

"Love, 1983, remember?" she whispered, pointing to it.

"Oh bugger," the Doctor said. "Forgot they only have the large clunky car phones at this point in time. I'll take it outside then, be right back."

He got up and noticed the people at the next table staring at the sleek looking cell phone.

"It's…a gadget I invented. I like tinkering with things," he explained to them. "I call it the Ringy Dingy, it's supposed to look like a Star Trek communicator. I'm an obsessive Trekkie, excuse me."

He hurried away while the diners looked at one another and shook their heads.

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The Doctor came back into the room several minutes later and sat down. Donna looked back at him.

"So who was that on the Ringy Dingy?" she asked while everyone else sniggered.

_That was the rest of our family,_ the Doctor thought to them. _They are now going to join us here because apparently my son's TARDIS is either confused about what the definition of Christmas is or it has an odd sense of humor. They've been to the Pleistocene era, then went to a Stalin era labor camp in Siberia and now they've given up and followed Jack's lead because I s'pose everyone figures I know what I'm doin' when it comes to time travel. So I took my damper off again and they're trackin' it. Hopefully, the TARDIS will track my artron signature and not the Rani's and take them to Volag Nok. So we're about to get more company, gang._

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After the TARDIS landed near the restaurant, the others sat with them while they ate and then parted company with them after they were finished and they had led them back to Monument Circle. They went into a couple more department stores and finished up their Christmas shopping while Grace's group started theirs. They kept in contact with each other telepathically and once the Doctor's group was finished, they headed back out to the roundabout to gaze at the lights for awhile. The snow was falling harder and a light wind was blowing it around.

"Beautiful," Rose said, looking around.

"Yes and this time it really is snow, not ash," Alan said with a wink.

"God, that seems like ages ago now," Rose murmured while she stared at the lights ringing the monument. "Lifetimes."

"It was the night I was kinda, sorta born too," Alan said.

They laughed while Patty frowned.

"What does that mean?" Patty said.

Alan explained it to her.

"You were once his hand?" Patty said to him.

"Yup," Alan said, showing her his right hand. "This used to be on him. Mind you, not for very long. It only lasted a day before it got cut off but if it hadn't, I wouldn't be here today."

"Not to mention I was ill for several hours beforehand," the Doctor murmured, staring up at the lights.

"You were sick, Daddy?" Tara said.

"Yup, I was sick as a dog right after I regenerated because my regenerations tend to go a bit wonky for some reason," he said. "But not all Time Lords are that way, so don't start thinking the moment you change, you'll become ill. Especially since you're not my biological daughter. If anyone needs to worry, it's Jenny."

"Hurrah for me," Jenny said, rolling her eyes.

"And Alan and perhaps Opal and Amelia, although Dex never said if his regenerations went wrong or not. I hope not because I don't want any of you getting ill or having something worse happen when you change."

"Papaw," Amelia said, tugging on his trench coat.

"Hmm?" he said, looking at her.

"Can Pa get out for this? I mean, come to be with us so he can have some fun too," she said.

The Doctor looked at Rain.

"He can get out on passes, right? I don't see why he couldn't come celebrate with us," Rain said. "Tara and Dot should meet him anyway since he's technically their big brother. And I'm sure Patience would want him there along with the children."

"I have a big brother too?" Tara said.

"Yes, you do. My first son, my biological son, Dex," the Doctor said to her.

"Can you go get him?" Alan said. "If you wanna go get him now, I'll keep an eye on the children…unless they wanna go."

"I wanna go see Pa, Papaw," Opal said.

"Me too," Amelia said.

"Okay. Tara, you wanna come and meet him?" the Doctor said.

"Yeah."

"Dot, honey, you wanna meet your big brother?" the Doctor said, walking over to Maddie and Dorothy.

"Who?" Dorothy said.

"His name's Dex. He's your big brother, you wanna meet him?"

"Okay."

"You wanna come with her, Maddie?"

"Yeah, I wanna meet him too," she said.

"Anyone else wanna go?"

"I'll go," Jenny said. "I wanna see my big brother again."

"I'll go too," Rain said.

"Anyone else?"

They shook their heads.

"Right, tell the others where we went. I'll be back with him as soon as I can."

They waved goodbye and the Doctor led his group back to his TARDIS.


	229. Chapter 229

Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty Nine

"Okay, let's go get Dex and get back to the others," the Doctor said while they flew through the vortex. "I'm glad you thought of that, Amo'ya. Dex should be in on the celebration as well."

"Where is he, Daddy? Is he living on another planet?" Tara asked while they stood around the console with him.

"Well, he is…but it's not what you think. He's in a mental institution."

"He's in the loony bin?" Tara said, shocked.

"Well, I don't like to call it that. I prefer the term, mental institution, but yes, he's in one," the Doctor said.

"Why?" Tara asked.

"Well…"

He sighed and explained it to her. Her eyes widened when he told her about everyone almost being burned alive in the hay loft. They widened further when he told her about Rain being kidnapped and changed with the chameleon arch.

"Is he safe to be around, Daddy?" she said when he finished.

"Yes, he's far better than he was when all that happened," he said. "I took him to the best mental institution in the universe. They have techniques there that are far advanced than what they have on Earth. They treat the whole body, not just the mind, and he's healed faster than he would if he were on Earth. Instead of spending years and years getting treatment, he should be in and out in a few months. And unlike the insane asylums of the 1800's, they're not chaining him to the wall and beating him. I've visited him before and he's calmer and more peaceful now and he's gotten past the anger he had when my first wife fed him all those lies about me and turned him against me. Believe me, if he was any sort of threat I wouldn't have agreed to this or let you or Amelia or Opal be around him."

"Will he like me and Dot?"

"I hope so. I think he will. He likes Jenny and Rain; I don't see why he won't like you and Dot. He'll be thrilled when he hears Amelia and Opal have changed because I know he wants to be with them in the centuries to come. Unlike Maddie's husband, Patience didn't flip out the moment he changed back into my son and became a Time Lord and she had even more reason than James did to be freaked out since not only did Dex become an alien, he became a different person from the one she knew."

"Good for her. I like Patience and I'd hate to think she would have rejected him and taken his children away from him like James was threatening to do with Dot," Maddie said.

"I think I would have had something to say about that, especially since they're my grandchildren," the Doctor said. "But thankfully, everything ended well and they're here with us making us happy with their childlike antics."

The TARDIS landed and powered down.

"Right, we should be just outside the wall of the Crystal Waters facility, let's check in and find Dex."

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"I'd love to come with you and see my new house and join in the Christmas celebration," Dex said. "I've been bored out of my mind here. I'll be glad when I can finally leave."

They were sitting under a tree outside with everyone else on a blanket provided by the institution. Amelia and Opal were sitting on one side and Tara was sitting on the other while Dorothy sat inside his sprawled out legs and looked up at them. He smiled at both of them.

"So, you're the recent additions to our odd little family," he said to Tara. "Nice to know I have a couple more sisters now beside Jenny."

"It's nice to meet you too. I haven't been with Daddy and Mommy for very long but I like being here," she said.

"I'm glad you're here too. Especially if you were abused for all those years. Blimey, some people are just sick. I know you love humans, Father, but some of them…"

"I know, that's one of the things I do loathe about them. Some of them have the capacity for cruelty, but Tara's a little survivor despite what they did to her."

"I see that. You would have to be tough to survive all that. You're what Father looks for in his traveling companions."

"I wanna do that when I grow up and travel with him," she said.

Dex looked at his daughters.

"And I s'pose you wanna do the same," he said to them.

They laughed when they nodded their heads vigorously. Dex smiled at Maddie.

"And it's nice to meet you too. Nice to know that there are other Gallifreyans now and our kind won't die out with me and Father."

"There are a few others that I need to introduce you to but they're still busy shopping. Our group was finished when Amelia asked if we could come and get ya. You don't have to get anything for anybody, your presence is enough of a gift but if you do want to shop, I can go with you and help you choose something and we have some food left over from an Italian restaurant we went to. I have it in the TARDIS if you wanna eat."

"God yes, I want some proper food for a change," he said while they laughed.

"And I have to tell you, I think you need to have a chat with your TARDIS. It seems to be confused about the definition of Christmas or it just loves pulling pranks. Some of the family members took it when we split up to go shopping and instead of taking them somewhere where they could shop and look at Christmas decorations, it took them to the last Earth ice age and then it took them to Siberia, both snowy places, but no Christmas along with the snow. They finally ended up with us and that's why we left them behind so they could have time to get caught up."

Dex rubbed the back of his neck.

"Um, could be the former. I'm not as well traveled as you are, Father. My TARDIS's first trip to Earth was when I hid in Georgia so I'm sure it was a bit flummoxed about what they wanted it to do. It probably figured Christmas is in the wintertime so it took them to snowy places. I'll have a chat with it so he doesn't do that again. My TARDIS never pulled pranks like that which is why I think it just got confused."

The Doctor nodded.

"I figured that. The other TARDIS belonged to the Valeyard and since the Valeyard had my memories, the TARDIS would have known what Christmas was. However, it took them to the year five thousand and sixty and they ended up stuck in a shopping center on Taurus with a snooty android so they came back as well. Apparently, we were the ones who got lucky when it came to picking locations."

"Well, I'm glad they didn't get hurt," Dex said.

"Yeah, me too. Apparently in the Pleistocene era they found a baby mammoth that some Neanderthal hunters had been tracking and they had to leave it behind when they hid it and themselves in the TARDIS. And the second time, they landed over a hill from a labor camp and nearly got nabbed by Soviet guards when they walked over the hill to try to find a shop. They were very thankful to be back with us, to say the least."

They looked over when a young woman with yellow skin, long brown hair and bright blue eyes sat down on the blanket beside Amelia. She was dressed in the same white scrubs Dex was wearing.

"Hi," the woman said happily.

"Hello there, what's your name?" the Doctor said.

The woman stared at her blankly.

"I don't know," she finally admitted.

"You don't remember who you are?" the Doctor said.

She shook her head.

"I think she was just admitted the other day," Dex said.

The woman looked at Amelia.

"Hi," she said happily.

"Hi! I'm Amelia."

The woman stared at her.

"Okay…" she finally said. "What are you doing here?"

"This is my pa," Amelia said, pointing to Dex.

"Okay…what am I doing here?"

Amelia and Opal shared a look.

"I guess…you're in here because you're sick," Amelia said hesitantly.

"Am I? That's nice."

Amelia and Opal stared at her while she looked around in confusion.

_Poor thing, I hope they can cure her,_ Rain thought, giving her a sad look.

The woman looked at Jenny.

"Who are you?" she said.

Jenny smiled.

"I'm Jenny, nice to meet you."

"You too. I wish I knew my name so I could tell it to you."

_Daddy, what's wrong with her?_ Tara thought.

_Um…there could be several things wrong. She has amnesia but there are several things that can trigger that,_ he thought back while the lady sat quietly with them. _Seems friendly enough but for all we know, she could be a murderer and not remember it._

_Well, I think we oughta get going and get back to the others, _Dex thought.

The Doctor nodded and touched the woman's hand to get her to look at him.

"Look, it was nice meetin' ya, but we have to go. You can have the blanket though so enjoy the nice, sunny day."

"Thank you, I will. And it was nice meeting you too," she said pleasantly.

They smiled and got up. She sat and watched them walk away for a moment before she turned her attention towards a leaf resting on one of the tree roots.

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"Dex, great to see ya!" Jack said, giving him a hug when he and his group came into the Doctor's TARDIS.

"You too. Great to be here. I notice there are some new faces as well."

Jack introduced the people Dex didn't know and they smiled and greeted him in return.

"There's still one more group. They're out shopping but I think they're about finished," Jack said to Dex.

"Is Patience with them?"

"No, she's back on Nova. She went shopping there with the older adults," Jack replied.

The Doctor brought Patty forward.

"This woman isn't a member of the family. She's a friend that's living in a house on the other side of our housing development. This is Patty, Patty, this is Dex."

"Nice to meet you," Patty said. "You have a wonderful and very large family."

He chuckled.

"Yes, I noticed it keeps getting bigger each time Father visits me but I told him I'm glad of that and it's nice to meet you too and have you as a friend. Now that I've met everyone so far, where this food I heard about?"

"Oh yes, the heaps of Italian food we couldn't finish?" Jack said. "It's back in the kitchen. Come and sit and we'll fill you in on what's happened while we wait for the other group to finish."

Dex nodded and they all walked into the back.

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Once the others got done shopping, the Doctor brought them back and made introductions. While everyone was talking, the Doctor lowered his shields and landed first on the Valeyard's TARDIS and then Dex's TARDIS before he headed back to Nova. When they landed back in the Doctor's garage, he reversed the process and separated the three before all of them came back outside with their shopping bags. Dex went inside his TARDIS to talk to it for a moment while the others went into the main part of the house.

"I'll call Dad and tell him to tell Patience that Dex is home," Rain said to the Doctor.

"Brilliant."

He leaned into her ear.

"Jack's gonna take a few other people back out in the Valeyard's TARDIS and finish up the shopping, get a bit more without the children being along. I'm gonna suggest Tara get a bath and Maddie will bathe Dot in the other bathroom so they won't hear them leave. I gave Jack some more ideas about what to get them but I just want you to be aware that they'll be going once Dex leaves with Amelia and Opal."

Rain nodded. She kissed his lips and went to try to convince Tara to take a bath.

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Once Dex had left with his daughters and Tara and Dot were having their baths, the Doctor nodded to Jack. He, the other Torchwood members, the androids and Grace's group went back into the garage. The Doctor stood in front of the garage door while Alan stood beside the bathroom door where Tara was taking a bath and listened for any sign she knew they were going. They heard the faint wheezing. It quickly faded away and the Doctor stepped away from the door. A couple of minutes later, Alan came back down the stairs.

"I don't think she noticed," Alan said to him.

"Good, I want the children to have a lot of gifts and it was hard to shop for them when they were right there with us," he said.

He looked over at Barney who was outside with Blizzard and Rory.

"_Te'lesu, gotta ask,_ he thought to Madison. _Do you mind if I take Barney to the obedience academy while I have a free moment here? _

_I don't mind. Go ahead,_ she thought back.

_Okay, I'll be back in a trice and we can go forward in time and get him after the Christmas party. I'm just afraid he'll come with us at some point and get hurt or killed because he can't follow commands._

_Daddy, can I come? I'm done. I'm just drying off and I can get dressed really quick,_ Tara thought.

The Doctor paused.

_Gee, should I? Every time I let you come, something happens to me, _he teased while Rain, Rose and Alan giggled. _Alright, you can come with me._

"What about the missing TARDIS?" Rose said.

He thought about that and shrugged.

"Jack's gone now, no harm in telling her. I just didn't want the children trying to badger him to take them along while they were trying to leave. Besides, she's coming with me; I don't think she'll be too devastated about not going with them."

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After getting dressed and getting a leash on Barney, the two of them headed out to the garage. Tara didn't ask about the missing TARDIS and the Doctor figured she probably figured out what happened. They took Barney inside it and the Doctor made him get up on the jump seat and tied the leash to the metal bar behind it to prevent him from wandering off. Tara closed the door and came up beside him. Sensing a golden opportunity, the Doctor let Tara help fly his ship, instructing his delighted daughter on what buttons and switches to pull while the TARDIS watched her in proud silence.

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The TARDIS took them to an obedience academy on Vega. When they opened the door, they were in the middle of another large city that was made mostly of glass and crystal with a large glass dome encircling it, providing protection while it allowed the Vegans to regulate the weather and seasons.

"Vega's a bit…inhospitable," the Doctor explained while Tara held Barney's leash and walked at his side. "Their sun is not very close and the air temperature outside is extremely cold and deadly. Person could freeze in under five minutes. That's why they live under the dome. That allows them to control the air temperature and the weather in here so they can survive."

"But why would they wanna live here if you can't live without the dome?"

"Well, ages ago it wasn't that cold but another star that was nearby burnt out and they lost that heat. The ones that survived were unwilling to leave their home world so they went underground for a few centuries until they built the domes. But the Vegans are super-intelligent and they're very empathetic so they can train animals in a very kind and loving and humane way. That's why the TARDIS brought us here. And here's the academy now."

They went inside and Tara stood beside her dad watching while he talked to a woman with bluish white skin and long dark hair. Tara held onto the leash and petted Barney while the Doctor filled out some forms and paid in advance with his credit stick. Once that was done, the woman took the leash from Tara and thanked them. She took Barney into a back room while the Doctor and Tara left.

"And now all we have to do is go ahead in time after the Christmas party and get him and he'll be fully trained like our dogs are. I just feel more comfortable knowing that he's trained, especially if he is going to be traveling with us from time to time. It's mainly Dot's dog and I know she'll be heartsbroken if something happens to him. Besides we can't have him jumping up on people and tearing things up and sniffing people's butts and doing inappropriate things to their legs. That would be a bit of an embarrassment."

The Doctor paused in front of a TV screen mounted on a metal pole on the pavement. Several people were clustered around it watching the news. A Vegan was sitting behind a crystal desk while he read the news.

"Sarnok Fanaran, convicted murderer, will be sentenced to die today for the murder of three Vegan females in a horrendous killing spree," he said. "He has been sentenced to die by exposure. The sentence will be carried out at midnight."

"Ah," the Doctor said to Tara as they resumed walking. "Death by exposure means that he'll be thrown out past the dome and he'll freeze to death, just like I said."

"I thought you said the Vegans were kind and loving," Tara said.

"They are, but a lot of humans are kind and loving and then you have the people who abused you. Being empathic doesn't mean they're not capable of committing crimes especially since there are cases of mental illness here. They are a kind, loving people but they believe in justice and if that man did murder three people then they believe he should lose his life in return."

"But isn't that cruel, Daddy?" she asked while they walked up to the TARDIS.

"It is, but that's the way they execute people here," he said, unlocking the door. "I've seen crueler executions methods than that. As cold as it is outside the dome, the body goes into almost immediate hypothermia and shock and they really don't suffer as much as you might think. It would be the same for us. Our bodies can withstand temperature extremes better than most but even we couldn't survive for long out there."

He shut the door behind them and put his hand on her shoulder.

"I know, it's puzzling but in my experience, most civilized and intelligent species, humans included, are a mixture of kind and cruel people. I think the more intelligent you are, the more aware you are of yourself and your inner nature and that means you can make the choice to give in to your baser nature and hurt and maim others. It's the great contradiction. The ones who are more intelligent and civilized are usually the most barbaric towards others and themselves. Okay, do you remember how we started up the TARDIS?"

She nodded and slowly helped to start it up while the Doctor smiled and nodded his approval.

"When the other Time Lords were alive, were they cruel like that?" Tara said while she helped the Doctor start up the TARDIS.

"Some were, but most were very lazy and complacent and did nothing but sit and watch the universe go by and that's just as bad," he said when they finished starting up the TARDIS and he put the coordinates in. "My people for the most part swore never to interfere like I did and the result is a lot of innocent people were hurt and killed because of their inaction. I vowed the exact opposite and…thankfully, most of our family has made the same decision I did. Now release the hand brake there and we'll go back home."

Tara pulled the lever and the Doctor put his arm around her while the TARDIS flew into the vortex.


	230. Chapter 230

Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty

The TARDIS landed in the garage and they went back inside the house.

"You're in trouble," Rose said to the Doctor, the moment they stepped inside.

"Why am I in trouble?"

Dot came out of the kitchen.

"Daddy? Where's Barney?" she said, walking up to him.

"Like she said," Alan said while he sat beside Rose, "you're in trouble."

"Whoops, um…Dot, um…how do I put this, Barney…had to go to school for a day."

"Why?" Dorothy asked.

He scooped her up in his arms.

"Because he has to learn to be a good doggie so we can take him places," the Doctor said while he walked with her and Tara into the kitchen.

He set her down and opened the fridge, getting out a carton of milk. He winked at Tara and opened it. She giggled while he made a big show of sniffing it to make sure it was fresh. She and Dot laughed harder when he crossed his eyes and snorted loudly.

"What in the world is going on in there?" Rose yelled out while they laughed.

She came from the living room while Rain came from the bathroom and they both came inside the kitchen. The Doctor feigned innocence while the children laughed.

"Show her what you were doing, Daddy!" Tara said, giggling.

"I dread to think," Rose said. "'Specially since we heard that elephant noise a moment ago."

"Do it, Daddy, show them!" Tara said, while Alan and Maddie joined them.

The Doctor chuckled. He crossed his eyes and snorted long and loud while Tara and Dorothy giggled.

"You're as mad as a hatter, Doctor," Rose said.

"What? Isn't that what you do? Sniff the milk to make sure it's safe to drink?"

"Yeah but there's a difference between sniffing it and snorting it up your nose like cocaine," Rain said while the children giggled.

"You could be a complete bastard and drink right from the carton now, Brother."

"A most excellent idea!"

"No, you get a glass and act like an adult, Milk Snorter," Rose said, shoving her finger in her face. "Don't make me correct you like I did when we were in Chloe's house."

"Why? Who's Chloe?" Madison asked.

"Chloe was this little girl that was possessed by this Isolus creature and when we first visited her house, we went into the kitchen with her mum to talk about her daughter and this git immediately grabs the jar of marmalade off the counter without asking, sticks his finger in it and starts eatin' it right in front of her."

"I was hungry, it was there sitting out in the open, I figured it was for guests," he said while Alan sniggered. "I don't know all the fine details of human culture."

"Oh, this comin' from a man who's practically lived with em for over a thousand years," Rose said.

"I didn't live in their houses!" the Doctor said while the children laughed. "I wasn't followin' them around with a video camera recording their every move while they went about the minutiae of their daily lives."

"No, you were too busy buying their Cabbage Patch Kids and leg warmers and puttin' them in your attic!" Rose said.

"They're curiosities!" the Doctor said hurriedly while they laughed.

The Doctor grinned at Tara and Dorothy who were giggling hysterically.

"Get used to this, Nipper Kippers, this is what happens when your Aunt Rose and I occupy the same space," he said, opening the cupboard and getting a glass.

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After getting a glass of milk, the Doctor sat down beside Alan on the sofa while Tara sat beside him. The other women were sitting on the other sofa watching the holo-television while Dot played with her stuffed animals by the coffee table. The Doctor glanced at Tara and grinned. He took a big swig of milk, swallowed it along with a large amount of air and then leaned into her ear while he belched loudly.

"Lovely, Doctor, just lovely," Rose said to him.

"Isn't that what people in houses do?" he said while Tara giggled. "Belch Earth shattering belches? Or New Hope shattering belches, I s'pose."

He took another swig and sloshed it around in his closed mouth while Tara and Dorothy giggled.

"Now what are you doin'?" Rose said to him.

_Pretending this is wine?_ He thought to her while he sloshed it around.

He swallowed hard and let out another belch.

"Rain, control your husband, will ya?" Rose said while Madison laughed.

"Dear, quit being disruptive," Rain said.

"Yes, Misses," the Doctor said while Alan sniggered.

He took another swig of milk while Tara and Dorothy watched him intently. He looked at them both.

"Problem?" he asked while they giggled.

"They're waiting for the next bonkers thing you're gonna do," Rose said to him.

"Very well," he said, setting his glass down on the coffee table.

He cleared his throat loudly while Alan chortled.

"A poem…by me," he said.

"Geez," Rose muttered.

"Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, I was stumbling blindly because I was soused."

Alan laughed while the Doctor pretended to think of the next line.

"The stockings were hung by the chimney with care; they were made of soiled knickers and torn underwear. The children were nestled, all snug in their beds, while I entered their minds and put porn in their heads."

Everyone was laughing while the Doctor grabbed his glass and took a swig of milk.

"And Mamaw in her kerchief and I in my cap were both Gallifreyan so there was no nap," he continued.

He stared up at the ceiling while he thought.

"More, Daddy," Tara said..

"Wait a tic; I'm trying to think of more witty verses. It's not easy being this brilliant."

He smiled and cleared his throat.

"The moon shining down on the new fallen snow set the scene for my poem, so ho, ho, ho, ho! When what to my wandering eyes should appear, but a petty, vengeful Santa and eight mouse reindeer."

"Huh?" Tara said while Alan, Rain and Rose giggled.

"It's from this bizarre Christmas cartoon we watched one day. We'll show it to you tomorrow," he said. "Um…"

He took a sip of milk and thought for a moment while Tara and Dorothy waited in anticipation.

"More rapid than eagles his courses they came and he whistled and shouted and called them by name. Now Fred and Ginger and George and Stan, on Ian and Simon and dear Marzipan."

"That's seven, where's number eight?" Rose said.

"He was in the sleigh on a coffee break," the Doctor said. "His name was Julius."

Rose rolled her eyes while they laughed.

"To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall, they slammed right into it and started to fall," he continued. "I ran out the door seeing Claus in distress. I ran to the wreckage and said, "Oh, what a mess!" Santa was bruised, bloodied and nearly was dead. I told the dying man he was out of his head."

Tara and Dorothy giggled hysterically while he paused and thought.

"Saint Nick said, "Help me, I'm going to die!" I nicked old Nick's wallet and kicked the poor guy."

"This poem has suddenly become very macabre," Rose said while they laughed.

"Oh, it's all in good fun," the Doctor said, winking. "Hmmm…the eight tiny deer all attacked me as one; I beat them all handily and made venison. I then killed the deer who was off on his break. I skinned and filleted them and made tons of steak. I went in my house and had a very nice meal and that is my story, I swear it's all real. The end."

He bowed when they applauded.

"I thank you," he said.

"More, Daddy," Tara said.

The Doctor thought. While he was doing that, Alan shifted over and sat on the armrest of his sofa.

"Allow me, Brother," he said. "Once upon a time, there was a Time Lord named the Doctor. This Doctor was a very handsome and dashing bloke but he had one fatal flaw, a weak dorsal tubercle in his right hand. One day, the Doctor was engaged in a life or death struggle for the fate of the Earth when a stupid, ugly Sycorax cut the hand off. The hand fell and fell and fell and, ker-plop, landed right in the middle of the street. The impact was enough to bring the hand to life and he rose up on his fingers and walked away in search of Christmas. And so, Handy the hand walked and walked trying to find someone he could celebrate Christmas with. While Handy was walking along and searching, he ran into a tall, immortal man. "Hello!" Handy telepathically said to him. "Can I celebrate Christmas with you?" "Who are you?" the man said. "My name is Handy. I was on the Doctor's hand and…" "Wait!" the man said. "You were a part of the Doctor?" And Handy said, "Why yes, I was, but…" "I NEED YOU!" the man screamed and he snatched up poor Handy and put him in a jar filled with chemicals and water. "Blub, blub, blub…" said Handy as he floated in the jar…"

"Was this you, Uncle Alan?" Tara interrupted.

"Yes, this was me once upon a time," Alan said. "I was poor, miserable Handy and no one cared about me."

The adults giggled when Tara got up and she and Dorothy gave him hugs.

"Thank you," he said, sliding down into Tara's spot while they sat on his lap. "The reason why I like hugs so much is because I was trapped inside a jar for so long, and no one cared. Jack used me to find your dad and the Master used me to age your dad and your dad…well, he just shoved me under the console and let me collect dust."

"How'd you become Alan then?" Tara asked.

"Funny story. Your Aunt Donna helped create me along with your dad. Course they didn't know it at the time. Your dad was trying not to regenerate and Donna was being Miss Curious George, but both of them had a "hand" in making little ol' me. And because of them, I finally found Christmas. Isn't that brilliant?"

"I liked Daddy's poem more," Tara said.

The Doctor snickered when Alan eyed her.

"Fine, don't like the things that come from my noddle, off you go. Scoot, scoot," he said, trying to push her off.

"No, I wanna sit with you," Tara said. "I love you."

"Oh…well, okey-dokey, you can stay then," he said while they laughed.

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After a couple of hours and after the rest of the family returned from their shopping trip and went to their homes, they decided to go to their bedrooms to take a short nap so they would have the energy for the Christmas celebration. The Doctor and Rain went into their bedroom and the dogs followed them. When they got into bed, the dogs hopped up on the end and the Doctor grunted when the bed lurched.

"I don't think you'll be able to do this for long," he said to them. "You're getting a bit big to be bed dogs."

He commanded them to lie down at the foot of the bed. Once they did, the Doctor pulled Rain into his arms and closed his eyes while he tried to drift off to sleep.

"Oi!"

The Doctor opened his eyes and saw Alan and Tara peeking around their door.

"It's after midnight, it's officially Christmas. Can we go open our presents, Dad?" Alan asked.

The Doctor glanced at Rain who was snickering. She looked at them.

"No, Son, go back to bed and wait till morning," she said while Tara giggled.

"Aw, we wanna open presents now," Alan whined. "It's Christmas mornin'!"

"Go back to bed, Son, before I light a fire and burn your presents," Rain said.

Alan stuck his tongue out.

"Fine, but it's Christmas mornin' no matter what you tell me," he said.

Tara walked in and stood by the bed.

"Isn't it crowded sleeping together?" she asked.

"Well, it'd be less crowded if the two monster mutts weren't on our legs," the Doctor said.

"Can I sleep with you?"

"No, I believe you have a bed of your own," the Doctor said while she giggled. "You can go sleep in it."

Tara kissed them goodnight and walked back out the door. Alan lingered at the door staring at them.

"What do you want, Geek?" Rain said.

"Just waiting till you admit it's Christmas mornin'," he said.

"I won't admit it because technically it's the middle of the summer and Christmas mornin' is months away. Now go to bed, Douchebag, and sleep with your wife before I come over there and slug ya."

"Fine, I will retire now but it is Christmas in my mind even if you think it's summer," he sniffed.

Rain rolled her eyes when he left. She looked at the Doctor.

"Rose must have the patience of Job because I would have snapped and been on that boy's back clubbing him to death ages ago!" she said to him while he snickered.


	231. Chapter 231

Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty One

When it was six in the morning, the Doctor, who had been up for a few hours with the other adults, went into his TARDIS.

"Okay, girl, I know you love Tara just as much as I do so let's give her a first Christmas to remember. Dazzle me with your decorating skills."

The TARDIS rumbled out laughter, nudged his mind, and there was an enormous flash. When the flash faded, there was holly garland strung across the top of the room and two enormous wreaths on the walls on both sides. By the door there was an enormous Christmas tree that reached almost to the ceiling that was brightly lit with Christmas lights, draped with golden garland, and had ornaments of every size and shape on it. Atop it, a golden star was lit, glowing softly.

"Thanks, girl, knew I could count on ya," the Doctor said.

He headed back towards the kitchen to get Tara's morning milkshake. The corridors had garland hanging down from the sides, spaced out at even intervals. Every room he passed by had a Christmas tree along with wreaths and garlands. The tree in the living room had a toy train set chugging around a train track that encircled the base and all of the presents they had purchased had been arranged neatly underneath and around the tree. All the presents were now wrapped in festive Christmas paper and bows. The Doctor stood and admired it for a moment before he headed to the kitchen. The kitchen also had a large tree, garland and a wreath. The Doctor patted the wall beside the door.

"I can't thank ya enough, Old Girl," he said to her.

There was a flash and three big red velvet bags appeared on the kitchen table.

"What's this?" he said to her.

_Toys and treats for the dogs, Beloved._

He smiled and patted her wall again while she nudged his mind.

"Although, I s'pose this means I should go get Barney back now since he has a Christmas present. So could you take me back to Vega a month from where we landed so he can be a part of the celebration?" he asked her.

The TARDIS grunted a yes and the Doctor prepared Tara's milkshake while the ship flew into the vortex.

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After they got back, the Doctor let Barney back into the house and commanded him to sit so he could take off the leash. He smiled when he immediately sat and he rubbed his head affectionately before he unhooked the leash from his collar. Barney ran away while the Doctor went back into the garage, set the leash down on a worktable and picked up the milkshake. He came back in, closed the door and walked to the kitchen. He noticed Alan was inside the room eating a bowl of cereal.

"Good morning, merry Christmas," the Doctor said to him.

"And you," he said. "Kids are still asleep."

"Then I'll wake them up," he said, setting the glass on the counter.

He went upstairs to the children's rooms. He smiled at his daughters asleep in their beds. He walked over to Tara's bed, bent over to give her a kiss on the cheek, and put his lips to her ear while he began to sing.

"Up on the housetop, reindeer pause, out jumps good old Santa Claus. Down through the chimney with lots of toys, so get up right now and make a joyful noise."

Tara giggled.

"Santa's dead and so are the reindeer. You ate them, Daddy," she said softly while she stared at him through half closed eyes.

"I went back in time and snatched them from their time line so they could deliver toys for you and Ladybird over there. Now up and at em and drink your milkshake so we can have some fun."

She kissed his lips and he nuzzled her cheek before he leaned back up. He turned to see Dorothy staring at him from her bed.

"Oi, I didn't tell you to wake up yet. I need to sing first," he said while they giggled.

He walked over to her and pulled her into a hug when Dorothy reached for him.

"Merry pseudo Christmas, my Dot," he said to her. "I brought your doggie back this morning so you can be happy now."

"I thought you were gonna get him tomorrow," Tara said while she sat up in her bed.

"Well, the TARDIS made a Christmas bag for each dog and I figured he should get it on Christmas. Besides, he's a part of the family and it didn't take that long for me to go get him."

"So he's trained now."

"Yup, he's now ready for TARDIS travel," he said to her. "Can you be a good girl and help your sister get dressed?"

She nodded and he tousled her hair before going out and closing the door to give them some privacy.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After getting herself and Dorothy dressed, Tara headed downstairs to the kitchen while Dorothy played on the floor of their bedroom. She didn't notice anyone else in the house and figured they were outside in the TARDIS. She petted the dogs when they came up to her.

"I'm glad you're here, Barney," she said, petting him while he wagged his tail in response.

She headed into the kitchen and paused when she saw Alan.

"Oh, I thought everyone was in the TARDIS," she said.

"Nope, I'm here, eating my cereal. Merry Christmas."

"Thanks, Uncle Alan, you too," she said, taking her glass.

She took a sip and walked over to him. He was leaning against the counter with his bowl and spoon in his hand. She took another sip while she looked at the cereal. She frowned when she saw the brown flakes.

"What kind of cereal is this?" she said to him.

He sighed.

"A fiber rich cereal that your aunt insists I eat so I can get my nutrients and have regular bowel movements," he said. "It's called Fiber-All but I prefer to think of it as Butt Blast because that's what happens when I go to the loo a few hours after I eat it. Regulates my bowel movements all right, two stone of feces shoots out my anus every time I sit on the toilet. Why she got it into her head that I needed this stuff is beyond me. Probably read it in Cosmo or something like that."

Tara plucked a flake out of the bowl and ate it. Alan nodded when she made a face.

"Precisely why she has to force me to eat it," he said to her. "If I don't comply with her health regimen, I hear about it the rest of the day and so it's much easier to just eat a bowl and be on my way without arguing about it. What about you? Never had to drink a milkshake so how does it taste?"

"It's good, it tastes just like a chocolate shake," she said.

He took a quick sip and licked his lips.

"It is good, much better than this rubbish. Consider yourself lucky, Sweetheart, that you'll be able to stop drinking these eventually. I'll probably be eatin' Butt Blast for eons to come."

Rain came into the kitchen. She kissed Tara's cheek.

"Merry Christmas, Sweetheart," she said.

"You too, Mommy."

She watched while she pulled the milk out of the fridge and got a glass down from the cupboard.

"Mommy?"

"Yes, Honey?"

"Does Daddy have to eat this cereal Alan's eating?"

Rain paused and noticed the cereal.

"Um…not to my knowledge, Tara. Why? Rose is making you eat that?"

He sighed and explained it to her. Rain gave him an odd look.

"Well, she must have started that recently because this is news to me. Maybe she's concerned about your health because you like junk food so much, Bro."

"Well so does the Doctor but you're not chasing after him with a bowl of brown, bland cereal demanding he eat it or else."

Rain finished pouring her milk and put it back in the fridge. She left the room and a moment later returned with the Doctor.

"You're being forced to eat fiber?" the Doctor said in disbelief.

"Go talk to Rose and make her see sense! I'm perfectly fine! I'm not half human anymore so she doesn't have to worry about my colon breaking down and exploding because the poo isn't coming out fast enough for her liking."

"It's gross, Daddy. It takes like cardboard!"

"Exactly! I feel like I'm eating a bowl of wood here," Alan said.

"Well, stand up to her and put your foot down then," the Doctor said, amused.

"Do you even know Rose?" Alan asked him.

"Yes, and I know she can badger people and is incredibly stubborn like her mum, but I also know I was able to get through to her…on occasion, but it did happen. Here…I'll talk to Rose and tell her to stop this nonsense, so put the bowl down, Brother, you're free!"

"Hurray! I've been liberated from Butt Blast!" he said, slamming the bowl down while Tara giggled.

He went past the Doctor. The Doctor looked at Rain and shook his head.

"You know, I'm so glad I married you instead of Rose because I now have visions of me walking around with a toilet glued to my butt while dung flies into it non-stop," he said while she and Tara laughed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A few hours later, everyone began coming over to their house. The Doctor directed them into the TARDIS and they walked through it admiring the decorations before the women and men split up. The men went into the living room to talk while the woman prepared the Christmas dinner. The TARDIS gave each of the children candy canes and they sat in Tara's room on the TARDIS playing together while they sucked them. Eventually the smells coming from the kitchen tempted them to go and take a look. They wandered into the kitchen and Dorothy and Tony were distracted by Jackie and Francine while Tara, Amelia and Opal helped the others cook the food. Patience and Rain helped instruct them on what to do and showed them how to cook some of the food while the other women laughed and chatted with one another.

Jack leaned his head in and sniffed.

"Yummy, we can smell this all the way to the living room," he said, coming inside. "Smells delicious, Ladies."

They thanked him. He walked over to Rose.

"So is this true? You were feeding your husband Butt Blast?"

The women laughed while she rolled her eyes.

"I was only trying to help. I thought it might do the junk food addict some good to have something nutritious but the drama queen made it sound like I was torturing him and sent the Doctor after me to tell me to stop," she said. "Forgive me for trying to make him eat something healthy. You'd think I tied him down to the rack and stretched him. Is he in there whining about me doing that to em?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Jack said.

She threw up her hands while the women laughed.

"That's the last time I try to help. Let the bugger get clogged arteries, have a massive coronary and regenerate then!" she said. "Anything to keep him happy."

Jack turned and walked out the door. Alan came in several minutes later and took her around the middle.

"I love that you're concerned about my health but you don't have to force feed me fiber, okay?" he said softly.

"Well, I would like you to live a long time and not regenerate early," she said softly.

He smiled and kissed her cheek.

"I'm fine. I'm healthy. I'm fit as a fiddle. You don't have to worry 'bout me. We don't have the same bodies as humans do, you know that. You wanna be worried about someone? Give a bowl of fiber to Rhys out there; he'll be dropping dead of a coronary long before I do. Just relax, I'm gonna be with you when Rhys is a pile of dust…unless we get him to change…which apparently Jack is still trying to do…which he better watch that because I think Rhys is about to slug him and move back to Cardiff."

He kissed her cheek and sent love into her mind before he looked at the food that had already been prepared. He noticed a vegetable plate and hissed at it while he made a cross with his fingers. He grinned when Rose chuckled at that and kissed her cheek.

"Is this for starters?" he said, gesturing to it.

"Can be. There's also a cheese tray and some peanuts somewhere in here."

"They're over here on the counter beside me," Rain said from her position at the stove.

"Brilliant, shall I take them into the other room?"

"If you want to," Rain said. "Tara, Amelia, help him carry them in, alright?"

They nodded and grabbed the large plate of sliced cheese and the bowl of peanuts and followed Alan into the other room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Aha, finally the food trickles in," the Doctor said while he sat and talked to the men in the living room.

They set the plates and bowl down on the coffee table.

"Ah, nibbles. Nothing like nibbles to start a Christmas off right!" the Doctor said, grabbing some peanuts.

The men shooed away the hungry dogs while Tara and Amelia wandered over to the Christmas tree and stared at it in wonder after the TARDIS moved the presents and the train set to the side of it. Tara's eyes boggled when she noticed one of the ornaments resembled Rain.

"Brilliant, isn't it?"

She and Amelia looked up at the Doctor who was standing behind him.

All the ornaments are little plastic versions of my companions and friends and my family and there am ten of me here," he said. "You won't know most of them but I know them all. Brilliant idea. I see you found Mommy."

She nodded and he put his arm around her and Amelia while he led them to the other side. He pointed to a spot on the tree and they saw miniature versions of themselves beside miniature versions of all the children and the dogs. The Doctor got down on his knees and took a replica of the TARDIS out from under the tree. He pressed the light on the top and the sides snapped open to reveal a replica of himself with his immediate family gathered around him.

"I like this, Daddy."

"I do too. I'm asking the TARDIS to save these decorations. I want them," he said.

He put the sides back up, put the TARDIS back under the tree and showed them the train. He pushed a button on one of the tracks stopping it. He picked the engine up and showed it to them. Inside the engine they could see the Doctor and Alan smiling and waving. He set it back down on the tracks and picked up each of the train cars. Each one had windows along the sides and when they looked in they could see themselves and everyone else sitting in the seats, including Patty.

"Wow, this is cool," Tara said.

"Yes, it is. Now come with me, I wanna show you something else," he said.

He put the train back together and turned it back on before leading them out the back door. They went down a corridor.

"The TARDIS showed this to me. She wanted to make sure I saw it," he said to them.

They entered a large room. The interior was a winter scene with fake snow on the fake shrubs and trees. In the center of the room, life-sized robotic replicas of the adult members of the family stood together in two rows. Everyone was dressed in Victorian clothes and holding song books. The Doctor closed the door and pushed a button on the wall beside it. A door on the side of the room slid open and a robotic Doctor stepped into the room, dressed in his normal clothes.

"Okay, okay, look alive, everyone," the robotic Doctor said to the other robots. "We're gonna have a singsong and we're gonna be brilliant! Now…"

He stepped in front of them with his back facing the audience. He pulled out a replica of his sonic screwdriver and held it like a conductor's baton.

"Everyone! Sing!" the robot Doctor commanded.

He conducted while everyone sang Jingle Bells.

"This is neat, Daddy!" Tara said.

"Yes, but watch, the best bit's comin' up. Because not only do these robots look like us, they act like us too."

"Whoa! Love, wait! Stop!" Robot Rain suddenly said.

"What's wrong?" Robot Doctor said to her.

She rolled her eyes.

"Snotbag is pinching my butt!" she said, hooking her thumb at the robotic Alan behind her.

"I'm moving my hand to the beat of the song," Robot Alan said innocently.

"Sure ya are, Bro."

"I am. Besides this song is absolute rubbish. It's so boring it makes me want to tear my eyes out. Can't we do something a bit more upbeat?"

"Like what, Maniac from Flashdance?" Robot Awinita said.

"Exactly!" Robot Alan said.

Tara and Amelia giggled when the robot stepped out of his spot and began to dance around them, singing Maniac loudly and off-key.

"See, my TARDIS has been doin' her homework," the Doctor said to the children while robot Alan wiggled his butt and strutted around.

"OI, WEIRDO!" Robot Donna finally yelled. "EITHER YOU CALM DOWN AND SING WITH US OR TAKE IT ELSEWHERE. THESE CLOTHES ARE HOT AND ITCHY AND I DON'T WANNA STAND HERE FOR HOURS WAITING FOR YOU TO STOP BEING A PRAT!"

Robot Alan stopped. Shrugging, he got back in his place while the children giggled.

"Carry on, Brother," robot Alan said.

The robot Doctor started again and conducted them while they sang Jingle Bells. Meanwhile, robot Alan was miming, pretending to gag and hang himself with an imaginary noose while the children laughed harder.

"That's exactly what Alan would do," Amelia said.

"I know, that's why it's so brilliant," the Doctor said. "It's how we really act, not just a bunch of stiff robots singing carols."

Suddenly, robot Jackie reached over, smacked robot Alan on the top of the head and glared at him while Alan meekly stopped his antics and sang along with everyone else. When Jackie turned her head back towards the front, they noticed Alan stick his tongue out and quickly flip her off before he went back to singing.

"And now it gets even better," the Doctor said to the children.

Suddenly, the robot Doctor's mobile rang. He pulled it out of his pocket.

"What? No, I can't help you move, I'm leading my family in song. I'm not a removal van!" robotic Doctor said.

He hung up and was trying to put the mobile back in his pocket when it rang again.

"Hello? What? No, I'm not interested in life insurance!" robot Doctor said while the real one laughed with his children. "I don't care, Miss, I'm not planning to die for a really long time. Now goodbye!"

He hung up and tried to put his mobile back when it rang again.

"WHAT?" he screamed while the Doctor and the kids howled with laughter. "I'M SORRY I EVER LET MARTHA GIVE ME THIS SODDING THING! PEOPLE BOTHER ME NIGHT AND DAY AND I NEVER GET ANY BLESSED PEACE! LEAVE ME BEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

He hung up and threw it in a snow bank.

"Believe me, I've had the same thought," the real Doctor said to the children. "I think the TARDIS has also taken a quick peek at my thoughts lately."

The robot Doctor went back to conducting. Suddenly the door slid open and Davros came inside with a couple of Daleks. The Doctor quickly identified them when he saw the confused looks on the children's faces. The children laughed when the Doctor did a double take and ran around the carolers while Davros and the Daleks pursued him. He ran around and around while the carolers continued to sing, taking no notice of his distress. The real Doctor laughed when Amelia and Tara yelled at them, pretending to get their attention so they could help the robot Doctor. At one point, Davros noticed Alan and signaled the Daleks to destroy him, calling him the Doctor. Alan did a double take and pushed through his family and joined the Doctor, running around and around while Davros and the Daleks followed. Suddenly, the action was speeded up while the Benny Hill theme played overhead and the Doctor explained the joke to the children while the five robots zoomed around and around the carolers. Suddenly, robot Alan screamed for everyone to stop and everyone halted in their tracks. The children laughed when Alan poked Davros in his eye and he howled while he spun around and around in front of the carolers who were still singing, seemingly unaware of what was happening. The Daleks watched while Davros spun around and around in a blind daze. One of them looked at the other.

"WHAT DO WE DO?" one Dalek asked.

"WE MUST DO WHAT THE CREATOR DOES!" the other one said.

They laughed when the Daleks spun around and around with Davros.

"This is funny!" Tara said to her real father.

"I know, I have to ask the TARDIS to preserve this room for future use. I could use a giggle now and again," he said to her.

The side door slid open and robot Doctor and Alan pushed the Daleks and Davros back through the door. Alan quickly got back in his spot after the door slid back down and the Doctor conducted them while they finished the song. After they were finished, they all bowed to the audience while they applauded and then fell silent as they switched off.

"See, my TARDIS is full of clever ideas," the Doctor said to them. "Anyway, just wanted you to see some of the personal touches she did for us. Now, let's go back in the living room and start eating while we chat with everyone, yeah?"

They nodded and he hugged and kissed them both, wishing them Merry Christmas, before all of them headed back out the door.


	232. Chapter 232

Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty Two

After finishing the cooking, the women let it sit while they all went into the living room. The TARDIS expanded the room and added seating for everyone, arranged in a wide circle so everyone could see and talk to each other. Tara, who was sitting in between her mother and father, was stunned by it.

"The TARDIS is so cool, Daddy!" she said to her.

"Yup, she's the greatest ship in the universe," he said. "That's why I don't wanna be anything but a Time Lord."

"So, how do we do this?" Julie asked. "Is someone passing out presents?"

"I will," Alan said, getting up.

"Let me help because there's a heap of them," Jack said.

The two men went back and forth, putting presents in front of everyone while the TARDIS piped in Christmas music and made a fireplace with a roaring fire. Jackie and Madison let Dorothy and Tony open a present to keep them quiet while they finished passing out the presents. Dorothy hugged her Scooby Doo plushie that Jack got her while Tony played with a rubber ball that Julie got him. When they finished, they slumped back down in their seats.

"Okay, I'm done, on to the Christmas dinner," Jack said while they laughed.

They began to open their presents while the TARDIS turned up the music slightly. The Doctor grinned when he open his unicorn ornament up.

"Aw, I love it."

"The Unics, Daddy," Tara said to him.

"Yup, looks just like them, doesn't it?"

He thanked her and kissed her cheek.

"Alright, who's the wise guy?"

They looked over and laughed when Jackie held up her track suit.

"Probably the same wise guy that got me this!" Jack said, holding up his.

"We were in 1983 and we figured you might like something from the '80's, Mum," Rose said.

Jackie's mouth dropped open while everyone laughed.

"I swear, Rose, you're just as bad as the Doctor," she said.

Jack opened another present and eyed the Doctor when he held up the Thriller jacket.

"Yeah, I can tell you were in 1983, Doc," he said while they laughed. "Did you get me the glove too?"

"No, we didn't find that, sadly," the Doctor said.

Jack looked at Ianto who was sitting beside him.

"It might look good on you," Ianto said. "Far better than the blinding lemon yellow track suit there."

Jack shook his head.

"All I can say is, '80's Earth fashions, what were they thinking?" he said, setting the clothes aside.

"Aw, I love this angel! Thanks Tara!" Martha said.

"What does it look like?" Jack said.

She took it out of the box and showed it to everyone.

"Look what Dad got for me," Jenny said, showing her angel. "I love it!"

"Good, I'm glad," the Doctor said.

"Aw, a doctor Smurf!" Grace said. "I love the Smurfs. I haven't seen em in years! Thanks Doctor for the doctor Smurf."

"You're welcome."

"Aw, I got one as well," Martha said, showing hers.

Jack noticed a tiny package from the Doctor. Guessing what it was, he unwrapped it.

"Okay, why did I get a clown?" he said while everyone laughed. "No wait; don't tell me, I think I know why!"

"Oh ha ha!" Donna said when she pulled out her Bride Smurf with a piece of paper attached to it that read, POCKETS!

"It's how we first met, Donna!" the Doctor said, shrugging.

Donna winked at him and thanked him. Amelia opened a thin present and stared at a CD.

"What's this?" she asked Rose.

"It's '80's songs. It has the robot song on it you love so much," she said.

"Oh good," she said. "Thanks Rose and Alan."

"You're welcome, I s'pose, I wasn't around when she picked it out but you're welcome," Alan said.

"I didn't pick it out either. I had Awinita get it when they left to do the extra shopping last night," she said to him.

Suddenly the Christmas music switched off and Mister Roboto started playing.

"Yeah! The Robot Song," Amelia said while they laughed.

"Aw, a Pacman ornament, thanks Amelia," Alan said to her.

He frowned.

"Okay, it's just Pacman. There's no Santa hat or wreath. Bit odd for a Christmas ornament," he said to Rose.

She shrugged. Alan shrugged and set it aside. He opened the next box and they giggled at Bedtime Bear.

"And I got a Care Bear too," Alan said.

"Me too," the Doctor said, holding up Funshine Bear. "I got Sunny Tummy Bear."

"That's Funshine Bear, Dear."

"Well, I was close," the Doctor said while they laughed.

Madison helped Dorothy unwrap a large gift. She frowned when she noticed a picture of a grey legless chair on the box.

"Jack, what's this?" she asked him.

"That's a hover chair. You strap a child into it and there's a joystick on the arm that allows them to hover and go around the room and there's buttons that let them go up and down, up for a few feet, they can't hold the button down and sail off into space and I think there's a dial that allows them to go upside down and go around and around."

"Cool, I wanna try it when Dot gets done," Tara said.

"Me too," Amelia said.

"Oh my God, this Indian angel is gorgeous," Rain said to the Doctor. "Thank you, I love it."

He kissed her lips and smiled while she put it aside. Tara opened a gift and saw a miniaturized arcade game on the box. She held it up and showed Rose.

"We found those. They're little mini versions of old arcade games and you can play them like the original. We got you Ms. Pacman and we found a few others while you were out with Alan and Rain.

"Cool!" Tara said.

Alan gasped when he opened one and saw a miniature version of Donkey Kong.

"Course I had to buy one for you," she said.

"Thank you, Starlight," he said, giving her a kiss.

"I got Donkey Kong too," Amelia said.

"I got Frogger," Opal added, showing everyone.

"I got male Pacman," Awinita said.

"I got male Pacman as well," Mickey said.

"So did I," Jake added. "I guess male Pacman was a popular choice."

"Aw, I like the little cooking Smurf," Jackie said. "Thank you, Doctor."

"You're welcome."

Alan unwrapped a gift and grinned.

"Aw, Scooby Doo. I got a Scooby Doo ornament, thanks Amelia."

"You're welcome, Alan. Thank you for the clock radio!" she said, when she unwrapped a pink one.

"You're welcome," he said.

Donna gasped when she pulled out a silver necklace that had a small diamond pendant.

"I love it," she said to Lee who leaned in to give her a kiss.

"Aw, I love the panda beeeeeear, thanks, Doctor!" Mingxia said.

"I thought you might."

She opened the next one and gasped when she saw a shimmering Chinese dragon figurine.

"Oh my God, Jack this is awesome. I love it!"

"I'm glad. I thought it looked like your tattoo."

"It does, thank you."

Jenny gasped when she saw her sisters forever ornament. She walked over and embraced Tara.

"Thank you, I love it," she said.

"I'm glad, Sis."

She gave her a kiss on the cheek and sat back down beside Grace.

"Oh, a collection of World War Two films," Wilf said, showing off a DVD box set. "Thanks, Donna."

"You're welcome, Granddad. I figured you might like that."

He looked at Tim who was sitting beside him. He had received a thick book about World War One.

"Thanks, Jack," Tim said.

"No problem, thought you might enjoy that," Jack said.

Anita smiled when she received a similar book on the cultures of Earth.

"Thanks, Jack," she said. "I'll enjoy reading this."

"Well, you lot were curious about Earth so I got you some books about it."

River looked at her remaining gifts and found a book shaped one. She opened it up and grinned when she saw a book about Earth archaeology.

"Thanks, Jack," she said.

"I got one too on Earth in general," Jennifer said.

"Well, we'll have to take turns reading them then," River said.

Tish opened a present and snorted when she pulled out a stuffed baby mammoth.

"Oh, ha ha, Martha!" she said while they laughed.

"Well, I figured you might want a memento from your time in the ace age," she said while they laughed.

Tish bopped her with it and set it aside.

John's eyes widened when he opened a gift and pulled out a leather shield that had a painting of a black bear on it.

"That's authentic," Jack said when he noticed him staring at it in disbelief. "Went back to the 1800's to the Sioux tribe and asked this elderly artisan to make one for you. One among many stops we made."

"Thank you, I love it," John said. "I'll treasure it always."

"Oh, new pots and pans, thank you, Hon," Francine said to Tish.

"You're welcome, Mum. Figured you might need some for the new house."

"I got some as well from Tish," Gwen said. "And a beautiful gold bracelet from Rhys."

"I got a gold bracelet from Mickey," Martha said while Mickey blushed.

"Yeah and she got me a silver chain in return," Mickey replied, gesturing to Martha.

Patience smiled when she received a similar set of pots and pans and thanked Tish who nodded in return.

"Leg warmers!" Amelia squealed when she pulled out a pair of purple ones.

"Hey, now you have some like mine," Julie said.

"Yes! Thank you, Mamaw," Amelia said.

Rain glanced at her husband who winked and grinned.

"You're welcome, Amelia, glad you like them."

She leaned in close to the Doctor.

"And thank you for finding those for me," she whispered.

"Well, I know how much she loved Julie's pair so I got her some of her own," he said.

They continued to unwrap and thank each other until everyone was finished. They laughed when the TARDIS made all the wrapping and rubbish vanish instantly.

"Wow, that's handy," Patty said. "I need this for my home. And thank you for my gifts. I love the ornaments and books and t-shirts and jeans. You didn't have to get anything for me."

"Sure we did, you're a friend and you're a part of this," the Doctor said. "Try on the clothes before you leave though. If they're the wrong size, my ship can resize them for you."

They laughed at the stunned look on her face.

"Yeah, I definitely need a ship like this," she said.

"So, now are we ready to eat?" Jack said.

"Not just yet. I have a few things left for Tara, Amelia and Opal," the Doctor said.

There was a flash at his feet and the TARDIS made three more presents appear. He handed them to Tara and Amelia and Opal when they came over to his side.

"These are from me and Rain and Rose and Alan," he said to them.

They opened them up and saw little gray boxes. They opened them up and gasped when they pulled out sonic screwdrivers and psychic paper.

"You three have earned those," the Doctor said.

"Thank you!" they squealed while everyone laughed.

"I'll have to teach you how to use them properly but carry them with you and use them responsibly. I don't want the three of you put in jail because you thought it might be fun to use them to break into a toy factory or something. And Tara…we have two extra gifts for you from Mommy and me," he said to her.

Another package appeared in her lap. She opened it and gasped when she saw the Precious Moments ornament Alan had found for her.

"I love it," she said to the Doctor and Rain.

Another package appeared. She set the ornament box aside and opened it. It was a large gray box and when she opened it; her eyes bulged when she saw a sari and veil identical to the one that was on the ornament.

"What is it?" Jack said, trying to look at it.

The Doctor helped hold it up and everyone gasped and ooed and awed it.

"Put it on!" Amelia said.

"Yeah, we wanna see you in your pretty sari," Julie said.

"And I wanna get my camera," Rose said, getting up while Rain led her into another room to help her change into it.

"So do I," Jack said, going for his coat.

They returned a moment later and everyone gasped when they saw her wearing it.

"Whoa, you look pretty, Tara," Amelia said.

"I'll say," Ianto said.

Tara stepped carefully over to the Doctor and hugged him.

"Thank you, Daddy."

"You're welcome. Someday I'll take you to India so you can wear it. Mommy has one too so you can both be beautiful while you explore."

He kissed her lips and sent love into her mind. Rain had Tara step back while everyone took pictures of her. After they were done, they took turns taking group photos before they finally decided it was time to eat.


	233. Chapter 233

Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty Three

Before eating the Doctor made Tara change back into her street clothes so she wouldn't get food on her new sari. While she was doing that and the other women left to bring the food in, the Doctor pulled Julie aside before she got out the door and gave her a screwdriver and psychic paper.

"I wanted to wait to give you this so the kids would be surprised when they saw their screwdrivers and psychic paper," he said. "But this is yours, Te'lesu, welcome to the family."

"Thank you, Doctor," she said, hugging him.

He smiled and returned the hug.

"Merry Christmas."

"You too, you big old space alien."

"Oi, you're a space alien too, don't forget," he said while she laughed.

She patted him on the cheek and moved away. The Doctor walked over to Dex who was talking with Patience. Dex kissed his wife and walked over to him.

"Did you enjoy your Christmas, Son?"

"I did, Father. It's a little new to me since we never had this on Gallifrey but it's nice, kinda like Founder's Day."

He nodded.

"I'm sorry we really didn't have anything for you. You were a last minute addition," he said. "But I do want to take you out to eat before you have to go back to Crystal Waters, just a father and son thing."

"I'd love that and don't worry about the gifts. I'm afraid if you got me something it'd be lost or stolen while I was there. Just being with all of you is enough of a gift for me, especially being with Patience and my children. I'm so glad you gave them the screwdrivers and psychic paper."

"I'll give you that as well when you get out. I'm sure they won't allow them inside the facility. Especially the screwdriver since it can unlock doors, think they might frown on that little gadget."

"That's okay; I can live without those things for now. Those are mainly your doodahs, Father. All I ask is that you keep Amelia and Opal safe if they travel with you, but I know you'll do that."

He smiled and patted him on the back. Dex looked past him with a grin on his face. He turned and noticed Dot was sitting in the hover chair at eye level, giggling at him while Jack stood behind her with a remote control for it.

"Say hello to your daddy, Dot," Jack said.

"Daddeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Dorothy squealed while she reached for him.

"Dotteeeeeeeeeee!" the Doctor said while Dex laughed. "Ah, you enjoying your Christmas present?"

"Yes!"

Jack moved the chair back slightly and then giggled when he turned it upside down until Dot was completely turned over. He raised the chair so she was eye level with him again.

"Hi, Daddy," Dorothy said while they laughed.

"Hi, are you upside down now?" the Doctor said.

"Yes."

"I wanna get in it next!" Opal said, walking up between her father and grandfather.

The Doctor continued to stare at his upside down daughter while she giggled.

"Blood rushing to your head yet?" he asked her. "Getting dizzy? Wanna vomit on my shoes?"

"You silly."

"I know, I can't help it," he said, getting in close to her.

He gave her a kiss and Jack snickered while he made her turn and head towards Mickey.

"Bye bye, Daddy!" Dorothy called out while they laughed.

"Bye, Ladybird, have fun going around the room upside down!" the Doctor called back.

"So that's my little sister, eh?" Dex said while they watched Mickey pretend to run away from Dorothy while Jack made her follow him.

"Yup, that's her," he said while they listened to Dorothy giggle while Jack made her chase Mickey around the room.

Dex put his hand on the Doctor's shoulder.

"I have to tell you, Father, it warms my hearts to see you finally connecting with others and making a family for yourself. Especially since you used to be such a loner when I was growing up."

He sighed.

"I was young, Dex. I never had much love from anyone on Gallifrey and I thought it was just easier to go off on my own and be by myself, no one to taunt me or tell me I was a freak and a weirdo. But I think deep down inside I yearned for family which is why I started taking companions along with me. I told myself that I was doing it for them, to show them the wonders of the universe and help them grow and become better people but in reality it was more for me, to stave off the loneliness I felt inside. All the companions I ever had either left me or died and I just began to lose the joy of having people near me but some people in this world and the world beyond apparently got tired of me being unhappy and pushing people away so they orchestrated events to bring me back to Alan and Rose and from there I finally realized that there were people out there who wouldn't reject or leave or taunt me and I began to open up and accept others and now I love it. I can't imagine being without these people and that includes you, my son. But when it comes to the children, I'm not making the same mistakes I made with you. I will travel but I'm going to stay in their lives and they will grow up with me, that's a dead cert."

He noticed the chair coming up to him out of the corner of his eye and turned his head. Dorothy was now right side up and was sitting quietly in the chair while she stared at him.

"Hullo, back again?"

"Yes. This is fun, Daddy."

"It is, I'm glad you like it. I'm sure you'll be going up and down the stairs and all through the house now."

They looked over when the women came back in carrying the plates and bowls filled with food.

"Well, Dot, I'm afraid you'll have to come out of your fun chair so you can eat now," the Doctor said to her.

He unhooked the restraints and lifted her out while Jack flew the chair over to the corner, set it down and put the remote down on a table before he sat down and ate with everyone.

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After eating, they chatted for awhile, letting the food digest while they relaxed. Then the TARDIS let them to the screening room she had constructed. She led Awinita up to the projection room and she loaded the DVDs into the player there. All of them sat, watched the Christmas films while they laughed and joked. When Awinita played Twas the Night before Christmas, the Doctor pointed out the joke he made in his poem.

"You're right, Daddy, Santa's being mean to the town cause of what that mouse did," she said to him.

"Santa's had a hard life, he's old and grumpy," he replied while she giggled. "He's tired of people not believing in him so he's gonna make everyone pay for their disbelief."

When that ended, Awinita headed back up to the projection room.

"Hey!" Jack said as she walked past him.

"Yeah, Bro?" she said.

"Do not, I repeat, do not show us the depressing one about the long eared donkey," he said while they laughed.

"Why? Don't you wanna watch the donkey's mom freeze to death?"

"No, that's quite all right, we can do without watching dead donkeys, thanks," Jack said. "Just making sure you knew not to show that to us."

Awinita shrugged while they laughed and headed up to the room.

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After viewing several of the DVDs the older adults, except for Dex, decided to go back home to rest, everyone hugged them and thanked them for coming. Once they were gone, they went back to viewing the movies. Dex moved down next to his father and sat with him while Opal and Amelia sat on his other side and the Doctor's three daughters and Rain sat beside him.

"This is fascinating, Father," Dex whispered to him. "We certainly never had films like this on Gallifrey."

"I know, that's why I love it. I love the creativity and imagination humans have. These Christmas films are brilliant and they're hysterical."

"I agree. Talking animals who talk to humans. I don't think anyone on our world would have come up with that. I know I wouldn't have."

"Which is why I think this is helping you as much as it's helping me. Being around humans, even former humans, is just what a pair of logical people like us need. We need to think outside the box, so to speak, and learn about the wonders of imagination."

They were currently watching Santa Claus is Comin' to Town. Tara giggled when the Burgomaster started playing with the yoyo. She leaned over to Rain.

"He's so stupid, Mommy," she giggled.

"I know, he's just a big, dumb dork, isn't he?" she said.

"Why? Because he plays with yoyos? I play with yoyos," the Doctor said.

"Yes, but you're not decreeing that toys be outlawed before you play with one, Dear," Rain said.

"True, but I would never do that anyway, toys are brilliant," the Doctor said.

Tara felt someone tapping her shoulder and looked behind her.

"Hiya!" Alan said. "Listen, I'm going to go get some poppycorn, want some?"

"Yes, do they have Coke too?"

"Cocaine, you're a bit young for that, aren't ya?"

"No!" Tara said while the Doctor laughed. "Coca-cola, Dippy!"

"Dippy! Well, I won't get you anything if you're gonna call me that!" he said.

"No, I'm sorry, I love you, Alan."

He grinned and kissed her.

"Then I will fetch you poppycorn and Coke," he said.

He leaned into the Doctor's ear.

"Brother, where's the nearest drug dealer? She wants cocaine!" he said in a loud whisper.

"I do not!" Tara said while both brothers giggled.

Alan ruffled her hair and winked. He went to get the snacks while Tara turned back around in her seat. Rain leaned into her ear.

"Speaking of dorks…" she said while Tara giggled.

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They watched the Christmas movies and when they were done, they watched Wizard of Oz, Lion King and Aladdin before they decided to stop. While they were watching the movies, the TARDIS had bagged up their gifts and they were all waiting by the door with their names written on the paper bags in black ink.

"Like I said, your ship is amazing," Patty said to the Doctor while she picked up her sack.

"Yes, she is and if you want to travel with us, feel free to come over. Here, I'll jot down my mobile number so you can ring me if you feel like being adventurous. Please, don't be a stranger and stay over there on the other side."

"Don't worry, I won't," she said.

While he fished in his pocket for his pad and paper, she bent over and let Tara hug her.

"Merry Christmas, Honey. I'm glad you had a great time," she said.

"Thanks, I'm glad you did too and I'm glad you came," Tara said.

She hugged Patty tightly while she gave her a kiss on the cheek. The Doctor put the slip of paper with his number in it down inside her bag and he smiled when she gave him a quick peck on the cheek and left the TARDIS.

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After everyone left except for Dex, the Doctor helped the children put their toys in their rooms while Rose, Rain and Madison put their gifts in theirs. Dex sat on the sofa and watched holo-television waiting for everyone to finish. The Doctor came down the stairs and sat down beside him.

"That's done," he said. "The children had the most presents so it took time to get everything arranged up there so you could actually walk through the room without tripping but we accomplished it. So, are you spending the night then?"

"No, I'm going back to my house in a few minutes; I just wanted to spend a bit of time with you."

The Doctor smiled.

"Well, how 'bout this? Come over bright and early tomorrow and we'll go to breakfast somewhere by ourselves."

"Sounds great."

The Doctor sighed and patted his belly.

"That was a delicious meal. One thing we can say about the women of our family, they know how to cook."

"Yes, they do. Although they didn't have to go through the trouble, all they had to do was ask the TARDIS to make the food."

"Yeah, but I think they like to do it themselves sometimes so they can chat and laugh and bond with one another."

Dex nodded.

"Well, I'm glad they know how. I'm rubbish at cooking."

The Doctor snorted.

"So am I. I've spent centuries asking the TARDIS to make my food; I can barely boil macaroni, let alone cook a Christmas turkey."

"Good job you have a wife now."

He smiled.

"Yup. Actually, since I've known her I've been introduced to a few foods I'd never had before. Cultural foods of the Navajo that she grew up with. You have to try Navajo tacos…ooo…Alan would probably crawl across barbed wire and glass to get a plate of it and I'm not far behind. I've also tried a few new Chinese foods, courtesy of Mingxia. That's why I want Tara to know her heritage. Her mother was Indian and one of the reasons I had the TARDIS make her that sari is because I want her to know where she came from and be proud of it. I will take her to India eventually so she can see her mother's country. But that's another thing that's happened since I've joined this family. I only had two Americans as companions and I never traveled with Native Americans or Chinese or Indians or even Japanese when Imiko was with us so I've learned new cultural things, little details that you would overlook if you didn't know someone of that culture."

They looked over when Dorothy came down the stairs with her Smurfette doll in her hands.

"Not to mention I've never really been around Earth children for any length of time so there's another thing I'm learning about while I'm bringing up two daughters," he said to Dex.

"Not to mention dogs?" Dex said while Dorothy toddled over to them.

"Oh yeah, I had a cat before but never dogs and actually I'm glad I have Rory and Blizzard because they helped defend the TARDIS when some guards on Faust tried to infiltrate it…hello, are you sleepy now?"

"No," Dorothy said, climbing up on the sofa beside him.

"No? You've had a long, full day, you should be knackered by now," the Doctor said while Dex chuckled.

"I think you changed her a bit too soon, Father. Now you have to deal with her all night long," Dex said.

"Nah, she's a good girl. Give her a toy or pop in a video and she's good to go. I've never had a bit of trouble with my kids or yours. They're all very well behaved."

"Well, I tried to bring my kids up to behave and be respectful of others."

"And you did a brilliant job, Son. Especially considering it was your first go at being a dad."

"Well, to be honest, I tried to do the opposite of what you did," he said sheepishly.

The Doctor shrugged.

"You were right to do that, Son. I told you I was rubbish at being a parent when I was younger. I would have been upset if you had done what I did and left them behind while you traveled."

He smiled when Dorothy set her Smurfette in his lap. He took it and made it dance on his leg while Dorothy giggled. She laughed harder when he made it dance on her head and she grabbed for it and held it close to her. She played with it while the Doctor laid his hand on the back of her head. Dex noticed the soft smile on his father's face while he watched her and smiled at that.

_I'm glad you did get another chance to be a good parent, Father,_ he thought to himself. _These children are lucky to have you and I'm lucky to be your son._

He touched the Doctor's leg.

"I better get home, Father. I'll see you in the morning then."

"I'll look forward to it. I'll let you know telepathically before I come over."

Dex nodded and he hugged him and kissed Dorothy's cheek before he rose and walked out the front door.


	234. Chapter 234

Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty Four

When it neared seven in the morning, the Doctor hopped into the shower so he could get ready to go eat breakfast with Dex. Meanwhile, Rain prepared breakfast for Tara and Dorothy. She was at the stove, cooking, while her children stood beside her.

"I wanna go with Daddy!" Dorothy whined.

"No, Dot, Daddy's gonna go eat with Dex. They wanna be alone," Tara said. "Daddy doesn't get to see him that often and he's gotta go back to that place. We get to be with Daddy all the time."

"I tell ya what, we'll go to the park or do something fun after we eat breakfast, how's that sound?" Rain said to Dorothy.

Dorothy smiled and nodded and Rain gave her a kiss on the cheek before she turned her attention back to the food.

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After he finished getting ready, he checked with Dex and when he was ready, the two of them caught the bus into the city. They found a small diner that was open for breakfast and went inside. The smell of eggs and bacon wafted from the kitchen area in the back along with the sound of the sizzling meat. There were a few older diners inside the clean and cheerful looking restaurant, a few elderly folks who were sitting at tables near the front window, chatting and enjoying the sunshine. The waitress came over and the Doctor ordered coffee while Dex ordered tea. Both of them ordered eggs, bacon and toast and waited until she left before they began to talk.

"So this is where I'm gonna live when I finally leave Crystal Waters," Dex said.

"It's up to you. You don't have to live here," the Doctor replied.

"Are you kidding? Amelia and Opal would beat me if I went somewhere else. I haven't been around you that much but even I can see that. I can see how much they love you. They would be devastated if I took them far away from you."

"I'm just glad you were human long enough to have them," he said to him.

Dex chuckled.

"Being sterile hasn't stopped you from having children," he said.

"True, but Amelia and Opal are fantastic, I love them both and I'm glad you and Patience had them. I just hate that I have to leave them behind, them and Dot and Tara."

"Why do you have to leave them behind?" Dex said.

"They have to go to school, Dex. They're children."

"And the TARDIS can't provide their education?" Dex said.

The Doctor thought about that.

"I s'pose but…"

"Father, if you want my opinion, I would rather the TARDIS taught the children than the schools here. I'm sure the schools are fine but being Time Lords we need special knowledge that they can't provide. If you are bringing them up to be Time Ladies then they need to be immersed in our world and our way of thinking and who better to provide that than your ship. You obviously have no problem with taking them with you and if you're giving them screwdrivers and psychic paper this early you must want them to travel with you, right?"

"Yes, I'm not sure about Dot but from what I've seen, Tara is more than capable of taking care of herself and so are Amelia and Opal."

"Then let them come with you. Let Dot come too. They can live on the TARDIS and she can teach them as well as shelter and protect them. Now I'm not sure about the other one…um…Tony, right? That's Jackie's child and I'm sure Jackie might have something to say about you taking him along with you in the TARDIS full time."

"Oh believe me, she would," the Doctor said, rolling his eyes.

"I figured as much. But as for me, I have no problem with it. Now I'm not sure about Patience but if you wanted to do this, I could talk to her before I went back. I just want them to be full-fledged Time Ladies. Why waste time learning from a normal school when they could learn all that from the TARDIS in addition to everything they'll need to travel though time and space. Seriously, Father, you don't wanna leave them behind, do you?"

"No, I don't. I love them all dearly and I would miss them not being with me. But…I think for the moment I should let Dot stay behind at least since Rain isn't her mother and I know Maddie probably won't wanna travel with me full time. I still think she's a bit young. I know the TARDIS can protect her but when we were on Faust, this man had stolen technology that allowed them to enter her unopposed. Dot wouldn't know what to do at her young age and I'm terrified she'd speak up or wander out of hiding and get snatched. I will take Tara and your kids because I know they're old enough to understand the danger they might be in but not her, I will wait a few years. There's still plenty of time for the TARDIS to teach her but she's still just a baby."

Dex nodded. They paused a moment when the waitress set their food down in front of them and then resumed their chat when she went away.

"Would Rain mind you taking Tara out of school to go with you?" Dex asked while they ate.

"Oh yeah, Rain travels with me anyway so I think she'd agree to it. I know she'd miss them all as well. She loves them just as deeply as I do."

He chuckled.

"Amazing she's adjusted so well since she not only fell in love with you but she became a Time Lady, grandmother and mother in a few short months."

"I know. Same with Rose, she married a clone me, became a Time Lady, an aunt and great aunt in the same space of time. But that's the great thing about humans; they're great at adapting to rapidly changing circumstances."

"These eggs taste odd to me, nothing like groktor eggs back home," Dex said.

"Mmm, yeah, it's an acquired taste, trust me. But the bacon is delicious."

"I'll say, very much so. The turkey was delicious too. Still, sometimes I wish we could get some tafleshrew meat somewhere. I know the TARDIS could synthesize it…"

"But it's not the same."

"Exactly," Dex said, nodding.

The Doctor sighed.

"Yup, I've wished the same. I didn't like a lot of the people but I do wish I could see the old planet and step foot on it again one more time. Not just for me, but for the others, our new family have never seen Gallifrey except through mine and Alan's memories when we've shown it to them and it's not the same as being there."

"Couldn't you go back in the past and take them?"

He thought about it.

"I don't know if I can. I can't during the events of the Time War because it's time locked but I was under the impression that all of Gallifrey was time locked to prevent someone like me going back and changing the outcome of the war."

"Have you ever tried it?" Dex asked.

He shook his head.

"Why don't we try it now? Just you and me, see if we can do it."

"What if we fail? Dalek Caan managed to penetrate the time lock but he ended up deranged. I don't think the family would like it if we came back basket cases and ended up the rest of our lives at Crystal Waters."

"When did he go back?"

"During the war. The first year of the war to rescue Davros before he was eaten by the Nightmare Child."

Dex made a face.

"Grisly end there," he said.

"Yes, I tried to save him because I wouldn't have wished that on anyone. But I failed and he succeeded."

"Yes, but unlike him, you had the TARDIS protecting you and I'm sure she wouldn't go back if there was a danger of you becoming insane. Ask her if she can locate a point in time when you could go back and if it's safe, take the others and let them see the beauty of Gallifrey."

The Doctor stared at him while he thought about that.

"You wouldn't go back there to change anything," Dex added. "You know better than that."

"Yes but…the temptation would be there…" he murmured. "Not to save the planet but to save people like Romana and Leela…"

"But you wouldn't, right? That's fixed, yes."

"Yes…but…just being there and knowing what I know now. It would be a struggle not to tell everyone what I know…but then again, once they found out it was me, they would probably dismiss it because I'm the oddball renegade."

"Exactly. But…if you just went back, showed them the mountains, the trees, let the wind blow on their faces. It would be safe for them to go with us, they're fellow Time Lords."

"All except Rhys. But I don't think Rhys would fancy going to Gallifrey anyway," the Doctor said.

"Just ask the TARDIS, just to see if it would be safe to go back or not," Dex said. "At least then you would know for sure if all of Gallifrey's history was time locked or not."

The Doctor nodded.

"Alright, I'll ask her when I get home and consult her on whether we should go or not because I want to be sure it is safe for us to be there, regardless of whether or not there is a time lock."

Dex nodded. The two of them then switched to small talk while they ate the rest of their meal.

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Once they got back to the housing development, Dex went to his home for awhile while the Doctor went to his. As he neared the porch, he saw Alan and Rose on the swing rocking slowly while they enjoyed the day.

"There he is now. How did your meal and chat go?" Alan said to him.

"It went well. However, there were a few things we talked about that I wanna share with you and Maddie and Rain," he said, climbing the steps to the porch.

"Okay, let's go back inside for a chat then," Alan said while he and Rose stood up.

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The adults sat in the living room. Tara was beside the Doctor while Dot played with her dolls on the floor. The Doctor started off by telling them about letting the TARDIS teach Tara, Amelia and Opal. Tara was delighted by that.

"I don't have to go to school, Daddy? I can come with you?" she said.

"Yes but you'll still have to attend some kind of classes onboard. Kinda like the tutor idea I had before, only this time the TARDIS is the tutor. I'll have to talk to her about it but if she's bonded deeply with you and Amelia and Opal then I'm sure she'll have no qualms about teaching you."

"Yes!" Tara said, pumping her fist while they laughed.

"I told Dex that Dot should still attend school here though just because I don't think she's old enough. Those guards on Faust got inside the TARDIS and I'm worried that she won't know what to do or how to defend or hide herself if that happened. And I'm assuming you'll want to spend some time here and I don't wanna keep Maddie from you while I'm off flying through time and space."

"Well, I don't care if she travels with you but I agree with you, she a bit young to be going full time right now. When she reaches eight or nine then that's a different story but for the moment, it would be safer for her to be here with us."

The Doctor nodded. With a sigh, he then told them about going back to Gallifrey. All of them listened in a stunned silence.

"Are you sure that's wise, Brother?" Alan finally said. "I mean, I would love to see Gallifrey again too but shouldn't we leave the past in the past and move forward? Wouldn't that just cause more pain than pleasure?"

"I think so but there's the fact that none of you have ever seen it before," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, but we don't have to see it to be a Time Lord or Lady," Rose said.

"Yeah, we've seen it from your memories," Rain said. "Dex might want to go back but I agree with Alan. Why go there and possibly dredge up old memories and hurt like that. Even if it's not time locked, you should time lock it in your mind and just concentrate on the here and now."

"You're right but just to be sure; I'm going to ask the TARDIS when I ask her about teaching the children."

"I'm betting it is time locked, Brother, all of it. I'm sure someone would have thought of you or someone else going back and altering events and I think even if it isn't, it's too much of a temptation to try to fix something and change things. I know I would be tempted so I'm sure you would be too. Just leave that Pandora's box closed and do what your wife suggests."

He nodded.

"I will. But…even if I do ask and it isn't time locked, I'm gonna tell Dex it is because I think it would be even more of a temptation for him than it would for me especially considering the sort of childhood he had. I can see him trying to go back to when I was married to Sharina and trying to prevent us from getting a divorce or me from leaving the planet."

He got up.

"But come with me, I want you to be present when I ask," he said to them.

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"Of course, I will teach the children beloved," the TARDIS said.

They were standing with her corporeal form inside the console room. The TARDIS smiled and laid her hand on Tara's head.

"I agree with your son, if they're going to be Time Ladies, they need extra training and I can give them that."

"Thank you, TARDIS. There's one other question I have for you though."

He asked about traveling back to Gallifrey's past. The TARDIS shook her head sadly.

"No, my Beloved, all of it has been time locked along with Skaro's history. There is no point in time I could return to that wouldn't be safe for us."

"That's what I figured, but I had to be sure especially since my son wanted to go back and visit."

"And I can understand his longing since he was more connected to Gallifrey than you were but I believe that was why the worlds were time locked, to prevent someone going back and altering what has occurred."

The Doctor nodded.

"I'll tell him. Hopefully he won't be too upset. I don't think he meant to go back and change things, just take a quick peek at the scenery and let the rest of the family step foot on the planet."

"And I understand that but some things are better left in the past. Besides, if you wish me to simulate the scenery, I can make a room for you. I know it's not the same as actually being there but it's close enough."

"Can you, cause I wanna see it. I don't even know what it looks like," Tara said.

The TARDIS smiled at her.

"I will do that, just for you," she said with a wink. "Is there anything further, Beloved?"

"No, that's it. I just wanted to ask you about those two things."

"Very well, I will go back to my usual form now."

She hugged both Tara and Dorothy and they watched while her body vanished.

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"That's too bad," Dex said when he came over to visit a couple of hours later. "But perhaps it is for the best. And if the TARDIS can simulate it, at least the children will have that."

"Well, I agree with Alan and Rain. I think it's time to just leave what happened in the past and move on with our lives."

He nodded.

"Yes, home is wherever you make it and I think I could definitely make a home here. This is quite pleasant out here on this swing thing. You can see up and down the street from here."

"I know, everyone comes out sooner or later. They also have barbecue parties and swim in each other's swimming pools. It's a nice, peaceful environment."

"Listen to you, the man who thrives on chaos."

"Chaos is good too," he said while Dex chuckled. "But it is nice to have a home base where I can get away from that for a day or two and just be.

"I agree," Dex said.

He smiled at him.

"Well, I better go home for a bit and inform my soon to be excited daughters that they don't have to go to an actual school anymore."

The Doctor chuckled. He hugged his son and they sent love into each other's minds before Dex stepped off the porch and went back towards his home.


	235. Chapter 235

A/N: At this point I'm gonna start skipping around and going into the future because I want to show how the other family members in the video joined them and also explain the stories behind some of the photos like Eleven and Alan with their feet on the buffalo. I will come back to the past at times when the kids were still young but I also want to show them as adults. So in this chapter, it is now a hundred years in the future from the Christmas party…

Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty Five

"Good morning, Love," Rain said to the Doctor when he came into the TARDIS kitchen. "You know what today is, right?"

"Sunday? Better not be Sunday though because I loathe Sundays," the Doctor said.

Rain sat at the kitchen table and gave him an enigmatic smile.

"No? Not Sunday? Okay…our birthdays then?"

"Nope."

"Not our birthdays…Tara's birthday?"

Rain smirked.

"Dot's birthday? Jenny's? Amelia's? Opal's? Angel's? Elizabeth's?"

"It's no one's birthday, Dear."

"Oh, no one's birthday… Okay…the day Alan was created…wait, that would be his birthday and you said no birthdays…Hmmm…"

Rain waved her left hand around in front of her face. The Doctor stared at her and then imitated the gesture. Rain pointed repeatedly to the wedding ring.

"Our…wedding…anniversary?" the Doctor said hesitantly.

"Ding, ding, ding, ding! Good thing I actually keep track of it. And…it's not just any wedding anniversary; we've been married one hundred years today, my Thete."

"Really? Already? Seems like only yesterday I was cross-dressing in your hotel room and scarin' the livin' daylights outta ya. Blimey, how time flies and it does fly because we're in the TARDIS. Get it?"

"Yuk, yuk, yuk," Rain said, rolling her eyes.

The Doctor smiled and kissed her lips before setting down beside her.

"So, what do we do to celebrate our century of wedded bliss?" he said to her. "I know, how 'bout we go back to Kyoto and see the old Shinto shrine again?"

"Sounds lovely," she said to him.

"Yup, go to Kyoto and have a bit of fun, perhaps hop on the train to Osaka and go on that kuidore again and see if we can get the kids to eat fugu with us. Speaking of kids, where's the rest of our gang?"

"Off somewhere inside the ship, I guess," Rain said to him.

"Nah, nah, nah, this will never do. I need my morning hugs and kisses from my children, grandchildren and nieces. I want them in here now!"

He telepathically called to them. A moment later, Jenny came into the kitchen.

"You summoned me?"

The Doctor thrust his arms out and puckered up his lips until he resembled a fish. Rain laughed at the odd look on Jenny's face.

"I take it you want a kiss and hug then?" she said.

"Yes, I do," he said through his puckered lips.

Jenny hugged and kissed him. While she was doing that, Tara, Amelia and Opal came in the room. All three of them were tall and thin. Both Amelia and Opal had plump heart-shaped faces. Amelia's hair was straight and hung down to the middle of her back while Opal's was shoulder length. Tara's face was thinner and more angular with brown skin and piercing dark eyes. Her hair was long, almost to her waist and hung down her back in a braid. All three women wished the Doctor and Rain good morning and gave them kisses. Then Alan and Rose came into the room followed by Angel and Elizabeth. Both girls were medium sized and slender with round faces and bright eyes. Both of them wore their hair straight and at shoulder length. And both girls resembled Alan in personality and temperament.

"Yes, why are we being called into your presence?" Alan asked.

"Well, firstly, I wanted hugs and kisses from my family and secondly, my wife has informed me that today is our one hundredth wedding anniversary and we are going to go to Kyoto to celebrate."

"Well, congrats, Brother," Alan said, walking over and patting him on the back. "Course the misses and I already celebrated ours so it's nice that you finally caught up with us."

"So, what are we going to do while we're in Kyoto, Dad?" Tara asked him.

"I thought we might go back to the temple we were married at, see the sights, eat the food, perhaps go to Osaka and go on a kuidore so we can eat octopus and blowfish."

"Go back to your hotel afters, have lots of sex," Angel said.

"Angel!" Rose said while everyone laughed.

"What? That's what you do on anniversaries, right?" Angel said. "You go back to the old hotel room and shag each other's brains out?"

"Yeah, but I'm sure the Doctor was trying to avoid saying it like that," Rose said.

"Well, we're all adults, Mum. I think we can handle the truth," Elizabeth said to her.

"Actually…you're not," the Doctor said. "Not by Gallifreyan standards, you're not. On Gallifrey, one did not become an adult until they were two hundred. You, my dear Elizabeth, are one hundred and three, that makes you…an adolescent and adolescents shouldn't think of sex."

"Whatever, Uncle," she said while Angel giggled. "I'll risk thinking dirty thoughts and warping my pure, innocent, virgin mind."

The Doctor clucked his tongue.

"Barely out of childhood and already they know what sex is," he said. "They're growing up too fast, Brother."

"Yeah, but…what can you do? It's all that sex on the telly. They see those pornographic images and they just stare and stare until their brains turn to mushy goo. It's useless to fight the inevitable."

"Well, I'll allow the porn on the telly, but no strip clubs until you're one hundred and eighty!" the Doctor said while Rain and Rose giggled.

"Yes, Uncle, we'll be good girls and stay away from the strippers until then," Angel said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The TARDIS landed and powered down.

"Right, time to go outside and have some fun!" the Doctor said.

"You mean, it's time for us to go outside, watch the two of you fall to the ground and snog your brains out," Elizabeth said, gesturing to him and Rain.

"No, we'll restrain ourselves until we get to the hotel room," he said while the women giggled. "We don't wanna warp your fragile minds further."

"I don't think you have to worry about that, Doctor. I think my husband warped their minds years ago," Rose said while they walked to the door.

Elizabeth and Angel laughed while Alan shot her a look. They walked out the door and noticed they were at the edge of a forest just inside the trees. Beyond that was a field.

"I don't see Kyoto, do you?" Dorothy asked them.

"Nope, see a lot of trees and grass though," Tara replied. "Good job, Dad, you didn't land us in the middle of a Samurai battle, ten points to you for that."

"Oi, belt up, I'm an excellent pilot, I know what I'm doin'," the Doctor said to her. "I'm sure Kyoto is nearby…we just have to find it."

"Goody, we get to play hide and seek on Uncle's wedding anniversary, fun, fun, fun!" Elizabeth said.

"Now, Lizzy, behave. I'm sure your uncle has a perfectly good reason for landing us here…in the forest," Alan said.

"Yeah, I'm sure he had a very good reason for landing the TARDIS in East Bumblefuck, Japan," Angel muttered in her ear.

Elizabeth giggled and nudged her while they all stepped out from behind the trees. They walked a few feet out from them and noticed a large hill off to their right. They looked the other way and noticed the field stretched on for miles.

"My guess is it's this way," the Doctor said, pointing to the hill.

They headed towards it. While they did, Elizabeth and Angel glanced around.

"Dad, we're not in any danger of a Samurai arrow thwacking us in the head, are we?" Angel said.

"Um…no, not in modern Japan, Angel."

"Are you sure we're_ in_ modern Japan?" Angel asked.

"No, but we'll find out soon enough," Alan said, smiling at her.

They went up the hill and stopped at the top. There was a large town on the other side nestled at the foot of some mountains but there were no modern buildings to be seen.

"Um, Dad, call me crazy, but doesn't modern Kyoto have tall buildings and doesn't look like a feudal village?" Jenny said to him.

"Yes, I s'pose we did land a few years earlier than we planned," the Doctor said.

"Told ya," Angel whispered to Alan.

"Yeah, but it still could be fun exploring here," Alan replied.

The Doctor hesitated a moment and then took Rain's hand.

"Come on, Love, I'm sure the temple still exists," he said to her. "Let's go and get a blessing from the Shinto priest for luck."

"Yeah, we're gonna need all the luck we can get when the Samurai come," Amelia said, looking around her while they followed them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Okay, I now feel incredibly self-conscious here and I'm beginning to think we're in Japan before jeans were invented," Dorothy said to Tara when she noticed the villagers were stepping outside their homes to stare at them.

"Just keep calm everyone and relax," Rose said to them.

"Everything'll be fine, trust me," the Doctor said.

Suddenly a man on a horse rode around the corner of a building. He withdrew a katana from his scabbard while he headed their way.

"Back behind me, everyone," the Doctor said.

"Likewise, "Alan added, coming forward to stand with him.

The man rode up.

"Who are you? We don't want any trouble from gaijin!" he said.

"We're not here to make trouble," the Doctor said. "We're no threat to anyone. We wish to see a certain shrine here in Kyoto."

"Kyoto, you're not in Kyoto," the man sneered. "You're in Ueno, you crazy foreigners!"

"Ueno," Alan muttered. "Iga Ueno? We're in Iga Ueno?"

"Yes," the man said slowly as if he were talking to a child. "You're in Iga province. You see those mountains there? Those are the Iga Mountains. I…ga…moun…tains which means you're in I…ga…prov…ence!"

"Okay, there's no need to be rude and condescending," the Doctor said angrily. "We're foreigners, not imbeciles."

"What's the difference?" the man asked.

He held up his hand when he saw their anger.

"I'm sorry. Look, we're a hospitable people, even towards gaijin. You can stay here tonight and be on your way tomorrow. We can even direct you to Kyoto if you like and lend you some horses."

"Thank you, but horses won't be necessary. We have our own means of transportation."

The man shrugged.

"Suit yourself. I am Toshi."

"I'm the Doctor. This is my wife, Rain, my children, Jenny, Tara and Dorothy, my grandchildren, Amelia and Opal, my brother Alan, his wife Rose and their daughters Elizabeth and Angel."

Toshi bowed.

"Nice to meet all of you. Come and spend the night with me. I'm an old Samurai so my lodgings aren't extravagant and I don't have a lot of food but what I do have, I will share with you."

"Thank you, we would be honored," the Doctor said while they bowed.

Toshi nodded. He turned his horse around.

"Follow me then," he said.

He yelled for the onlookers to go about their business and then led them back around the corner of the house towards his home.


	236. Chapter 236

Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty Six

"Oh yeah, this is fun," Opal muttered to Amelia while they followed Toshi to his house. "Not only did we land a couple of centuries early in the wrong place now we get to be stared at by shocked Japanese."

"Maybe they think we're just a bunch of weird, crazy, harmless foreigners," Amelia said.

"Yeah but didn't they kill weird, crazy, harmless foreigners in very slow and painful ways? I mean I don't know about you, but I think we should have just turned back towards the TARDIS the moment we found out we were in the wrong place."

"And when have you ever known Papaw to do that, Sis?"

"Um…never, but hey, first time for everything, ya know," Opal said.

They turned right onto another dirt road and Toshi pointed to an enormous house that dwarfed the others around him.

"My house," he said to the Doctor.

"House? More like ruddy castle," Angel muttered to Tara. "Thought the man said he lived a simple existence."

"Maybe this is simple for a Samurai," Tara said, shrugging.

Toshi stopped at the front gate of his house.

"KEIKO!" he yelled into the open door.

Everyone waited behind him. They suddenly backed up when Toshi's horse defecated.

"Nice," Elizabeth said. "Happy anniversary, Uncle. Now you'll always remember the time you and Aunt Rain went to ancient Japan and a Samurai's horse almost crapped on your shoes."

"KEIKOOOOOOOOOOO!" Toshi bellowed.

All of them shifted nervously when Toshi's neighbors came outside to see what was going on and caught sight of them.

"Don't mind us, we're just nutty foreigners," Dorothy muttered.

Finally, a short, thin Japanese girl ran outside to the horse. She had a round face, almond eyes and black hair that hung loose down to the middle of her back.

"Sorry, Master, I was in the back and did not hear you," she said, grabbing the reins of his horse.

"Keiko, I'm getting tired of having to scream for you each time I come to the door. You are supposed to be listening for me while you attend to your other duties. That is what a servant does, got that?"

"Hai, Master," Keiko said, bowing.

Toshi got down from his horse.

"Once this is done, I want you to prepare two of the guest rooms for our guests here and get them some food," he said.

The Doctor frowned when he noticed Keiko suddenly seemed more upset and he noticed a hint of fear in her eyes.

"Um…thousand apologies, Master, but shouldn't these travelers find lodgings at an inn? There are many along the roads and…"

"Are you actually questioning my orders to you?"

"Iie, Master, I was only suggesting that perhaps they might be more comfortable elsewhere."

_Why? Because she doesn't wanna wait on us?_ Alan thought.

_Would you wanna wait on us if you were her?_ Rain thought back_. I'm sure she has enough to do without having us around. I get the feeling Toshi runs her ragged on a good day, let alone when company calls. _

_Well, I'm not comfortable with her having to refer to him as Master. Especially since she's around our kid's age,_ the Doctor thought. _Makes me wonder how long she's been in his employ. _

They watched while Keiko led the horse around back to the stables. They walked up to the front door and everyone took off their shoes. Toshi pointed to some slippers for guests that were just inside the sliding door. They slipped them on and followed him further inside. The house was large, made of wood with tatami mats on the floor. Sliding doors with paper windows separated the rooms from one another. The walls were bare save for a few long scrolls that had Japanese sayings on them written in elegantly painted characters. He led them to one of the side rooms and opened it up to reveal a large tatami covered room.

"This is one of my guest rooms, the men can stay in the one next door," he said.

"Um…this is my wife," Alan said, gesturing to Rose.

"And this is mine," the Doctor said, gesturing to Rain.

"They may sleep with you but your children and grandchildren have to sleep in here," he said to them.

_Gee, is that a good idea considering how wild they get?_ The Doctor thought.

_Jenny can keep them in line. She's the oldest,_ Alan thought back.

The girls giggled when the Doctor gave him an odd look.

_Okay, we can ask her to try to keep them in line and then hope for the best,_ Alan thought.

Keiko ran back into the house, panting slightly while she ran into the open room and began to pull futon mats out of a sliding closet. Toshi sighed, shook his head and muttered about her incompetence while he led the others away towards the back of the house.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After a light supper, everyone retired for the night. Once Toshi was out of sight, the men hugged and kissed their daughters and granddaughters.

"Behave tonight, no wild hen parties in there," the Doctor said to them.

"It's a little hard to have a hen party when the only thing in the room is a mat and a blanket," Elizabeth said to him.

"Yes, but knowing you lot, you'll improvise," he replied.

They wished them goodnight and went into the room. The Doctor and Alan took their wives and went into the other room. Both couples grabbed their futons and pulled them to separate corners so they could have some privacy. They pushed the futons together and lay down on them.

"Oh, I can feel the mat through the other mat," the Doctor said as he lay with Rain. "This body isn't as young as it used to be."

"I keep telling you you're ready for the nursing home, Love," she said.

"Not me, never!" he said while she chuckled.

"Ahem, try to keep the wild sex nice and quiet because Rose and I don't wanna hear it," Alan said, raising his head to look at him.

"Gee, you sound just like your daughter," the Doctor replied.

"I wonder why," Rose said. "Poor kids grew up around em and now they are him!"

"Can I help it if our girls looked up to me?" Alan said. "Besides you love them as is."

"Oh yeah, I used to have only one version of you, now I got three," Rose replied.

They all heard high-pitched laughter coming through the wall. Alan raised his eyebrow.

"I see the hen party is officially under way," he said to Rose. "I just hope the laughter doesn't turn into screams halfway through the night."

"What makes you say that, Brother?"

"Well, remember when Toshi was treating me like an imbecile when I told him we were in Iga Ueno? Well, we've been here before. When you and Rain were on your first honeymoon, we came here. This is the place where the ninjas came from. Iga Mountain is where they lived. So at this very moment, we are right in the middle of ninja central. Hence my comment about hoping the laughter doesn't turn to screams."

The Doctor fell silent while he thought about that. After twenty minutes, he sat up.

"I'm just gonna take a quick recce outside and make sure there are no ninjas around," he said to them. "Not to mention I'm bored lying here with nothing to do."

"Do you want me to come with you, Brother?"

"Nah, stay here and keep an eye on things. I won't be a minute," he said. "I just wanna get a feel for the layout of the land in case we really do have to run for our lives at some point."

He kissed Rain and then got up. They watched while he slid open the door, looked out into the darkness, then slipped out and closed the door behind him. The rooms were semi-dark. The windows were large holes with frames made of wood and moonlight streamed into the room giving him some light. He cautiously moved along, looking all around him for any signs of life or intruders, his senses heightened and aware of the tiniest movement. He headed through the kitchen and went out another sliding door to a narrow porch that overlooked a pond and rock garden. Beyond the rockery was a forest and the Doctor scanned the trees, searching for any sign of ninjas. Finding none, he relaxed slightly and stared at the pond watching while koi fish darted to the surface, their scales flashing in the moonlight while they fed on bugs. The Doctor relaxed further, losing himself in contemplation while he stared at the pond. He was so transfixed on it that he was startled when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around and saw Keiko standing behind him.

"You shouldn't sneak up on someone like that, especially someone like me," he said to her.

"I'm sorry but I wanted to speak to you privately, Master."

"Firstly, you don't have to refer to me like that. I'm the Doctor. Secondly, what do you want to tell me?"

"You must get away from here, you and your family. You need to leave!"

"Why? Why are you so insistent we leave?" the Doctor said.

"You're in great danger."

"Danger? From who?"

"Just leave, go!" Keiko said.

"Ninjas, is that what we're in danger from?"

He narrowed his eyes when he saw the shock on her face.

"Who are you? Are you a ninja?" he asked her.

Keiko glanced around and leaned in.

"Yes. But not by choice, I was adopted by my clan when I lost my parents. Samurai killed them and he left me to die in the woods. A woman found me and brought me to her village on Iga Mountain and they trained me to be a kunoichi."

She looked around nervously.

"I can protect you if you'll let me," the Doctor whispered. "If you want to leave your clan, I have a way to take you away from here."

"I don't think that's wise, Doctor. You see, I'm here as a spy. I've been telling others what Toshi has been doing."

"Why?"

"Because they wish to assassinate him. He has led many Samurai raids into the mountains and killed many ninja and they want their revenge. For years, he stayed mainly at Edo, coming here only to lead raids but he's old now and retired here, thinking no one would suspect who he was. But as you can see, he still wishes to boast about who he is and keep his large home, once a Samurai, always a Samurai."

"So you came here as a servant and you spy on him and report back to your friends?"

"Hai and now they are planning to attack and it could come at any time which is why I want you to leave with your family. I'm not like some of the others, I don't like needless bloodshed and you and your family is innocent."

"Yeah? Well, I don't like bloodshed of any kind and I don't believe Toshi should die either."

"But he has killed ninja."

"Yes and that's reprehensible, but revenge is not the solution, it'll only bring more Samurai here who'll want to destroy you and then your clan will need to exact more revenge which'll bring more Samurai which leads to more revenge killings and you'll never have peace for as long as you live. I'm not condoning his actions, but killing him in return won't get you anywhere."

"But what can we do? The Samurai won't leave us alone. They hire some of us out occasionally to act as spies and assassins when it's convenient for them but then they turn right around and kill us when we're trying to go about our lives and raise our families. There will never be any peace because they don't want it."

The Doctor sighed.

"You're probably right, Keiko, and I'm sorry that neither side can put down their weapons long enough to see reason and stop the bloodshed but just because they won't put down their weapons doesn't mean you can't. You obviously don't agree with this. You were basically forced into it and you seem to care about the safety of others which tells me you aren't some bloodthirsty savage that only cares about killing. Let us take you somewhere where you can be safe. I have a way to take you far away where none of your clan can find you and punish you for desertion. You've obviously trusted me enough to tell me all this now I'm asking you to trust us in return and let us take you away from this, please."

She thought it over.

"You promise you can take me far away so they can't come after me and kill me?"

"You have my word, Keiko," he said.

Keiko hesitated a moment.

"That's not my real name, Doctor-san," she said.

"It's not? But then again…being a spy and all…"

"Hai, I use a false identity down here. I was trained to act like a servant. The kunoichi are trained to use weapons but most of them are small daggers like wakizashi. Mainly, I was trained in the art of disguise and impersonation and how to seduce a man in order to obtain information."

"How old are you?"

"I am seventeen."

The Doctor shook his head sadly.

"But that is my role here, to pretend to be a servant and keep watch over Toshi and make sure he's not planning to attack our villages while we wait for the right moment to kill him."

"Yeah, but apparently you're rubbish as a servant if Toshi has to keep screaming for you to do something," the Doctor said, amused.

She smiled.

"No, that is part of my disguise. I pretend to be incompetent so he doesn't suspect I'm a kunoichi."

"Aha, very clever. No one would ever suspect the bumbling servant is a trained assassin, brilliant strategy. You and my eldest daughter Jenny need to compare notes. She was trained in military strategy. But anyway, back on track here, you were going to tell me your real name?"

"Hai, it's Emi, Doctor-san."

The smile dropped off his face and he blinked in shock. Emi frowned.

"Did I say something wrong, Doctor-san?"

"No, no, it's just that…"

Emi suddenly gasped, cutting him off mid-sentence. The Doctor noticed she was looking past him in terror and turned to see a blue clad ninja running out of the trees while he drew his ninjato from its scabbard and readied it for a killing strike.


	237. Chapter 237

Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty Seven

The Doctor got in front of Emi, readying his body for a fight. Suddenly, he felt a dagger at his throat.

"Stop," Emi said in a loud whisper while she held the dagger. "I'll take care of this one."

The ninja paused, confused. The Doctor stood perfectly still waiting for something to happen. Suddenly an arrow whizzed out of the open door, hitting the ninja directly in the forehead. He fell to the ground dead and Emi quickly put her dagger back in her kimono before Toshi came out on the porch and looked at him with disdain.

"You didn't have to kill him!" the Doctor said angrily.

"On the contrary, these ninjas deserve to die. Dishonorable, cowardly dogs. And you, Keiko, you are one of them?"

"No, Master, I swear I'm not," Emi said.

"Then why did you put a wakizashi to his throat?" Toshi said, pointing at the Doctor.

"I told her to do it in order to shock and confuse the ninja. It's mine," the Doctor said. "I was planning to defend myself before you killed him."

Toshi snorted.

"You? You couldn't defend yourself against that!" he said, pointing to the dead body. "You know nothing of bushido."

"No, but I know something about other martial arts and I guarantee you that I would have been able to defend…"

They gasped when an arrow shot out of the trees and hit the side of the house.

"And now you've brought his mates here to get their revenge," the Doctor said to Toshi. "Everybody inside!"

They ran inside and closed the door at the same time the doors to the guest rooms slid open and everyone poured out of them.

"What's going on?" Angel said.

"Ninjas!" the Doctor said. "Out the front, all of you, before they surround the house!"

They all headed out the front door with Emi while Toshi ran into another room to get weapons. While they were running, Emi saw a ninja running towards them. She took a hollowed out egg that had been painted black and lobbed it at his face. It shattered and the ninja howled when powdered glass got in his eyes. The Doctor looked back and saw Toshi was wearing his scabbard and a quiver of arrows on his back while he carried a large bow. He spied two ninjas coming around the corner of the house and he shot one arrow after the other hitting them both in the heart. The noise was enough to bring the others out of their houses and they gasped when they saw the ninjas swarming around Toshi's house. The Doctor glanced back and gritted his teeth when he noticed a few of the ninjas were attacking the innocent bystanders killing them while others pursued them. They heard a bell being rung and men began to run out of their houses, some armed with katanas, others with farming implements. The Doctor noticed one ninja was in a tree aiming an arrow at Rain's head. He telepathically told her to duck and Rain jerked her body down moments before the arrow whizzed over her head. Emi lobbed another black egg into his eyes and the ninja howled in pain and fell out of the tree while he tried to get the powered glass out of his eyes. By now, the men had caught up to them and they began to attack the ninjas, battling them with Toshi while the Doctor and the others tried to get to safety. Another ninja leapt out from behind a house and Jenny led the women while they used Venusian Aikido to render him unconscious. They quickly took his ninjato and searched through his dogi finding some shuriken and black eggs in his inner pockets. Emi noticed a ninja coming up behind them. She threw one of the shuriken at the handle of his ninjato knocking it out of his hand. She quickly threw a second and third one into both legs and they resumed running while the ninja rolled on the ground howling in pain.

"Give me the ninjato!" Emi said to Dorothy.

Dorothy threw it to her and she used the cord attached to it to sling it on her back while they ran. Another ninja jumped down from a roof, narrowly missing Elizabeth when Alan jerked her out of the way.

"You, you are a traitor!" the ninja said to Emi. "You will die with these gaijin! I will cut you all down with my ninjato."

He howled when Rose threw a black egg into his eyes.

"Try cutting us down without your eyes, mate," she said to him.

Emi ran up, kicked him in the head and rendered him unconscious. She looked around but most of the ninja had been killed or wounded and the others were retreating back into the woods.

"I think it's over…for now," she said to them. "But they'll be back. This won't stop them. This wasn't my whole village, just a small group who was gonna carry out the assassination. They'll be back with more though."

"Precisely why you need to come with us," the Doctor said. "They know now that you betrayed them. They'll kill you if you go back."

"Why did you help us anyway?" Tara asked.

The Doctor explained it to them. He finished up by telling them her real name and raised his eyebrow when they saw the shock on their faces.

_Emi?_ Alan thought_. The Emi who's going to be your fourth daughter? _

_I don't know, but she was an Asian girl and thinking back on the video, she looked exactly like her. _

_Aha, so finally the mystery is solved, _Jenny thought._ I wondered when we were gonna run into her. _

_Well, wait awhile before you call her your sister, I wanna make sure this is the correct Emi, _the Doctor thought.

"There you are!"

They turned to see Toshi walking towards them. He was covered with blood and his wrinkled skin was scratched and bruised. He was pointing his katana directly at Emi.

"You're a liar! You're one of them and now, you little whelp, you're gonna die!"

The Doctor and Alan both got in front of her and crossed their arms over their chests. Toshi stopped a few feet from them and glared at them.

"Get out of the way, she's a ninja!" he said to them.

"And she just helped us by turning on the others. There's been enough bloodshed tonight, put the sword away," the Doctor said sternly.

"She tried to have me assassinated!" Toshi said to him.

"Maybe but at the time she was under orders from others who wanted you dead because you felt the need to assassinate their families. As I was telling Emi here, if you kill ninjas that only leads to more killing on both sides. This solved nothing because as Emi pointed out now her friends will be back to kill again."

"Let them come. I'm not afraid. I'm a Samurai and I face my death with courage and honor unlike her who runs and hides like a whipped dog."

The Doctor grabbed Emi when she tried to punch him.

"No, calm down, just let me handle this," the Doctor said.

Emi nodded and glared at him while she stepped back with the women.

"Now, I and my family are taking Emi and leaving here. We thank you for your hospitality and…"

"Leave? You can leave but she's staying right here and facing execution for what she's done!" Toshi said, pointing to Emi.

"No, she's leaving with us," the Doctor said. "She wasn't the one that attacked you."

"No but she's in league with them. She helped them try to murder me and for that she must die, now step out of the way!"

The Doctor smirked when his whole family got in front of Emi.

"Wanna try to get through all of us? I dare ya to try," the Doctor said.

Toshi raised his katana to strike him down. The Doctor and Alan quickly lunged at him. The Doctor grabbed his wrists and held them while he kneed him in the gut. When he fell, Alan jerked the sword from his hand and held it at his back.

"Go ahead, kill me," Toshi said to him.

"I told you, there's been enough killing tonight," the Doctor said. "Go back home and rest; everyone else has stopped except for you."

"Because I need to kill her! She must die for this insult! You are a gaijin, you have no concept of bushido. You don't know our ways!"

"Oh, I know your ways all too well. I once watched a thief gets slowly sawed to bits with a bamboo saw because he stole food for his starving family. I'm well aware of how Samurai dispense justice and that's why I'm not letting you anywhere near this girl. You have no idea who she is or what's she been through!"

"And you do?" Toshi sneered. "She's a ninja; she can lie just as easily as breathing. You honestly think whatever that whelp told you was the truth? You're a bigger fool than I thought!"

"I judge people by their actions as well as their words. Emi had several opportunities to kill us or let her friends kill us but she not only defended us, she stopped the others from hurting us as well. That to me indicates that she's telling me the truth and in return for protecting us, I'm giving her my protection which means, for the last time, go home or face the consequences!"

Toshi locked eyes with the Doctor whose eyes held menace in them.

"If I were you, I'd do what he says," Rain said to him. "Because believe me, you don't wanna make him angrier."

"My wife is correct so listen to her and go home!" the Doctor snarled.

Toshi glared at him for another minute before he finally rose and snatched his katana from Alan's hands. Alan stepped back in case he was thinking of using it on him but he merely walked away while they watched. While he walked home, he passed by one of the ninjas who had gotten glass in his eyes. He was stumbling around blindly trying to get his vision restored. Toshi stared at him for a moment in disdain and then before anyone could stop him, raised his katana and lobbed his head off. He looked back at the Doctor, daring him to do something, before he stomped back to his house. The Doctor sighed angrily and turned to his family.

"Come on, before he changes his mind, sends his mates after us and we end up being executed."

They crowded around Emi and kept her safe while all of them headed back out of town towards the TARDIS.


	238. Chapter 238

Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty Eight

(A year later…)

Tara was lying on the bed in her bedroom on the TARDIS. They had just gotten back from a detour to San Helios after trying to take a London double-decker bus to see the revival of Guys and Dolls. The bus drove through a wormhole and she, her mother and father, Emi, Amelia and Opal along with a few other people spent the rest of the day trying to stop an invasion of earth by metal eating manta rays. By the time they were finished, all of them were too tired to see the musical, so the Doctor took them back into the vortex and they rested a bit before using the randomizer to go somewhere else.

Tara reached up to her bedside table and grabbed a metal picture frame. She put it on her chest and stared at the photo inside. It was a picture of her and her boyfriend, Phillip, the Unic she had met over a hundred years ago. They had been together for over eighty years now and he had traveled with them a few times but mostly he preferred to stay in their home on New Gallifrey. They had never married, Unics rarely did but Phillip was devoted to her and understanding of her need to go exploring with her family. Still, there were times when she missed him and wished he was with her. She was so busy staring at him that she didn't realize the Doctor was standing over her until he laid a hand on her head.

"Hi, thinking about Phillip?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm just missing him. I wish he would travel with us more."

The Doctor chuckled and sat down on the bed beside her.

"Well, Unics are more homebodies than anything. I think the couple of times that he tried it was more than enough for him. Do you wanna go back home so you can see him."

"No, I wanna be with you. I was just thinking how hard it is having a lover who doesn't wanna time travel."

"Well, you're not the only one. Donna has that problem with Lee. He never really adjusted to it either. I think some people are a little less adventurous than we are, my Star."

"Ya think?"

"You gotta give him credit though. Phillip was willing to come and live with us on New Gallifrey and leave his people behind. That oughta tell ya how much he loves ya especially since Unics are herd based like horses are."

"The other thing I hate is he never became a Time Lord so eventually I'm gonna lose him," Tara said.

The Doctor rubbed her arm.

"I know, Tara, but he wants to be a Unic and you have to respect that. They live for two hundred and fifty years so you'll get to be with him for another one hundred and fifty years and maybe more if I can use the rejuvenator to help keep his body in tip-top shape. I know it'll be hard for you when he dies but be thankful he'll live past a human's lifespan and you haven't lost him yet."

Tara nodded. The Doctor took the picture frame and gently set it back on the bedside table.

"Tell ya what, let's go somewhere now. I think a spot of adventure will cheer you up, eh?"

She smiled and nodded and he kissed her forehead before he helped her sit up.

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"Right," the Doctor said while he stood with his wife, grandchildren and Tara and Emi around the console. "Here we go again, another excursion into the unknown!"

"Just as long as we don't have to fight more metal monsters," Amelia said.

"Yes, I took about forty showers just to get the sand out of the holes on my body," Opal added.

"Now, Te'telos, don't exaggerate. I know for a fact you only took fifteen showers," the Doctor said.

They giggled when he winked and punched a computer key letting the randomizer do its work.

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When they stepped out the door, they were in the middle of a field of pink grass that stretched on for miles. The long grass swayed in the light breeze while twin suns in the pinkish sky shown down on it.

"Very pretty," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, how much you wanna bet there are poisonous things hidden in the pretty grass," Amelia said.

"You're always so pessimistic, Amo'ya. I think you get that from Awinita," he said, closing the door. "Anyway, onward brave explorers."

They headed through the pink grass. The Doctor and Rain were ahead of the others strolling along and talking while they enjoyed the breeze. The other four were behind, looking around them warily. Tara noticed Emi pull her wakizashi out of the blue kimono she usually wore.

"Expecting trouble?" Tara asked her.

"I'm sorry. Maybe Father can walk through a strange field with no worries but growing up around ninjas, I've learned never to fully relax in an unfamiliar environment. We nearly got devoured by those flying things. I'm not taking my chances here."

"Well, so far, so good, no flying metal eating things yet," Opal said.

Emi froze when she heard a squeaking sound near her. The other women froze with her. They glanced over and saw the Doctor and Rain were walking along; unaware of what was happening behind them. They heard the squeaking again and the other women pulled out their sonic screwdrivers and readied them while Emi held her wakizashi at her side. They tensed their bodies when the squeaking got louder. Suddenly, a cute little purple puffball with big eyes hopped through the grass and looked up at them.

"Aw, what a cutie," Amelia said while they relaxed.

"Oi, what's wrong back there?"

They looked up and saw the Doctor and Rain had stopped about thirty feet from them.

"Is something wrong?" Rain asked.

"Um…I don't think so, Mom, we found something," Tara said.

The Doctor and Rain glanced at each other and headed back towards them.

"Really?" the Doctor said. "What does the something look like?"

Emi glanced at the other women. Hesitantly, she put her hand down and flinched when the creature hopped into it. She froze a moment and when nothing happened, brought her hand back up to show the Doctor and Rain.

"This is what we found, Father," she said. "It's odd looking but…"

"Oh bugger," the Doctor said.

"What's wrong, Dad?" Tara asked.

"Kids, put that thing down now and come with us," Rain said.

They frowned and stared at the cuddly little creature.

"Why? It's not doing anything, just sitting here," Amelia said.

"Yes and that's how it started the last time," the Doctor said.

"Last time?" Opal said.

"Just put it down and listen to Rain. We need to get back to the TARDIS before…"

Suddenly they heard more squeaking and the Doctor turned pale.

"Kids, drop it and come with us before it's too late!" he said, running to them. "Do what I say right now!"

Emi dropped the creature and they spun around and followed the Doctor and Rain who were running as fast as they could back to the TARDIS. Suddenly, both of them stopped short and the kids slammed into them. They looked down and noticed that about twenty puffballs had massed at their feet.

"Pull us out; help us before they get waist high and…"

The Doctor trailed off when a deluge of them came from every side surrounding them. The children tried to step back but Tara wasn't fast enough and was pressed against her mother and father while the puffballs surrounding them, squeaking and bouncing.

"I hate these things!" the Doctor said.

Amelia whipped out her sonic screwdriver and aimed it at the creatures.

"No, that doesn't work, trust me," the Doctor said.

"Get off them!" Opal yelled while she tried to throw them aside.

"Opal, get back before you get caught too," Rain said when the creatures bounced back and started to surround her.

Opal quickly jerked away. She, Emi and Amelia backed up several feet watching while the puffballs continued to come from every direction and the mountain of fur continued to rise around the Doctor, Rain and Tara.

"What do we do?" Opal said. "They're gonna bury them alive and…Ugh!"

She quickly jerked her leg up when one settled on her shoe and it sailed through the air. Emi thought for a moment and ran around to the front of the Doctor.

"Hey! Over here! Cling to me!" she yelled while she waved her arms around.

She dropped her arms when none of them moved away from them. Cursing in Japanese, she ran to her father, wrenched his arm out and tried to pull him out.

"That's it, Emi," the Doctor said, grunting, "pull harder."

Opal and Amelia got behind her. Opal took hold of her from around the middle and Amelia did the same with her sister. They finally managed to pull him free and they stepped back when the puffballs tried to follow him. The puffballs looked at Rain and Tara who were now back to back and the others gasped when they made a higher mountain around them, completely burying them in a mound of colorful fur.

"Oh no you don't, you're not doing this to my wife and daughter, you demented multi-colored dust bunnies!" the Doctor growled.

The four of them lunged forward and put their arms into it but the puffballs were determined to keep them and they squeaked for more to come. They began to surround them and the Doctor made them step back while the puffballs squeaked mockingly at them. The Doctor ran his fingers through his hair in frustration, mentally telling his wife and daughter to hold on while they thought of something. Then suddenly, he thought of something.

"Amelia, Opal, Emi, inside the TARDIS. This planet's about to get an unexpected rainstorm," he said to them.

They hurried to the TARDIS, kicking and stepping over puffballs who were trying to surround them. They reached the TARDIS and after looking around, the Doctor quickly opened the door and let them go in before he reached inside and activated a button. A white beam of light shot up into the atmosphere and the Doctor quickly closed the door as clouds began to form and thunder rumbled overhead.

"I remember you buggers didn't like the rain," the Doctor said. "Let's see if you're the same as your cousins."

Suddenly a deluge poured down from the heavens. The puffballs squeaked in surprise and began to hop away, taking cover from the lightning storm. To the Doctor's relief, the furry mound rapidly vanished, leaving his wife and daughter behind it. Once their legs were free, the Doctor beckoned to them and they ran to him. He gave them both a quick hug before he ushered them inside. Vowing to take the coordinates out of his database, he went inside, shut the door and quickly flew the TARDIS back into the vortex.


	239. Chapter 239

A/N: In this story, the Doctor has regenerated and is now the eleventh Doctor.

Chapter Two Hundred and Thirty Nine

(Four hundred and twenty years later…)

"Okay," the Doctor said as the TARDIS landed. "Let's see where the ship has taken us this time."

He, Rain, Alan, Rose, Donna, Tara and Jenny stepped outside and looked around. They were in the middle of a vast prairie.

"Looks like Earth," the Doctor said, shutting the door behind them. "Other than that, not a clue. But that's the fun, eh? So how about we go up over the hill way over there and see if we can find out where we're at."

The Doctor puts his hands in the pockets of his black trousers and he and Alan walked side by side while the women walked behind them, chatting with each other. The hill was about a mile from the TARDIS and fairly large. Once they reached it, they headed up it. Reaching the top, they paused and gasped at the sight in front of them. Stretched out for about a mile was a herd of buffalo that was grazing quietly. The field they were grazing in was about two miles long and in the distance they saw another larger hill rising up. All of them sat down on top of the hill, watching and listening while the bison ate, completely unaware of their presence.

"I guess we're in the American west then," Alan said.

"Looks like it," the Doctor replied. "And luckily, we're downwind. I'd hate to be caught in a stampede, especially since the herd is enormous."

"It's beautiful though, I'm gonna take a picture of it," Rose said.

She got up and reached into her trouser pocket for her camera."

"You do have the flash off on that thing, right? We don't wanna die and regenerate because the whole herd saw the pretty light on your camera and came to investigate," Alan said to her.

"I know better than to use the flash, Alan. I'm not that dim," Rose replied.

"Just making sure before you make this a Kodak moment," Alan said.

Rose aimed the camera and took a picture of a couple of babies who were grazing beside their mothers. She aimed the camera off to the left and tried to take a picture of the back end of the herd.

"Rose, Love, aim the camera back at that big old tall hill over there, if you'd be a dear," Alan said to her.

Rose frowned. She did what he said, aimed the camera at the other hill and gasped when she saw there were now several Indians on horseback watching them from afar. She lowered the camera and put it back in her pocket.

"Do ya think they're friendly?" Rose asked.

"Um, they seem to have bows and arrows and rifles so I'm going to assume they're not," the Doctor said, standing with the others. "I believe we should try to head back to the TARDIS before they fill us full of lead and turn us into pincushions."

They turned and quickly headed down the hill. They ran faster when they heard high-pitched war whoops in the distance along with the sound of thudding hooves and panicked buffalo.

"Oh lovely, just what I wanted to do this mornin'" Donna said. "Run away from a bunch of Indians on the warpath!"

They ran as quickly as they could, trying to reach the TARDIS before the Indians caught up with them. But the Indians were on horseback and they closed the distance quickly. They were about halfway to the TARDIS when the Indians suddenly came up over the hill. The Doctor gasped when arrows began to whiz by their head. He looked around for cover but there was nothing save the TARDIS in front of them.

"Run!" he yelled to the others. "I'll distract them!"

They yelled at him when he spun around and ran back towards them.

"Damn it, Brother, ya crazy git!" Alan said, looking back at him while they ran.

They sprinted towards the TARDIS while the Indians slowed down and surrounded the Doctor who was waving his arms around, yelling at them to wait. They reached the TARDIS just as the Indians surrounded the Doctor. They paused at the door and watched him, half afraid that any moment they would shoot arrows into him from all sides. Rain noticed that one half naked brave was looking at her and gesturing to her with his rifle while he said something to the Doctor. Getting an idea, she turned to Alan.

"Stay here, I think I can save the Doctor," she said to him. "Just look after everyone."

"Rain!" Alan said while she sprinted off.

"Wait!" she yelled while she ran towards them. "Don't kill him, he's my husband!"

All of the Indians focused their attention on her. One older brave turned his horse and rode towards her while the others filled in the gap and guarded the Doctor. The man rode up to Rain and stopped. He was bare-chested, wearing only a buckskin loincloth and an eagle feather in his long black hair. He listened quietly, holding his rifle in his left hand, while Rain repeated that the Doctor was her husband.

"We mean you no harm honestly," she said to the man. "These are good people. They're my family. Please don't hurt them."

"Your family?" the brave said in disbelief. "You married a wasichu?"

"Yes, I did and he's a good man. He loves me and he wouldn't hurt any of you. We're just passing through," Rain said to him.

"What tribe are you from?"

"I'm Navajo. What tribe are you from?"

"We are Lakotas. I am Dancing Bear."

"I'm Rain; it's nice to meet you. Now could you please let my husband go?"

"Let him go!" Dancing Bear said to the others.

The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief when they backed their horses up.

_Thanks, my love_, he thought to her.

_Anytime. Just remember you owe me one now,_ she thought with a smile.

She turned her attention back to Dancing Bear while the others walked towards her.

"Just out of curiosity, were we the reason you were up on the hill like that?" she asked him.

"No, we're getting ready for our annual buffalo hunt," Dancing Bear said while everyone came up beside her. "Our camp is about five miles from the far hill. We were sent to determine the location and size of the herd and we saw you on this hill. We thought you were wasichu hunters that do nothing but slaughter the buffalo and take only their hide and their tongues so we came to stop you. The white man has been through here for several years now, riding in his iron horse while they shoot the buffalo and kill them by the thousands. We've tried to rip up the iron road the horse rides on but it doesn't stop it for long. These buffalo are our food and we'll do whatever we have to in order to protect it."

"I understand that. The white man did the same with our peach orchards but we respect native tribes and their right to exist. We honestly were just sightseeing, nothing more," Rain said to him.

"I do not mind if that is all you're here to do but we need to let our chief, Ten Arrows, know of your presence here unless you are going to move on now."

"Actually, if I may speak, I would like to meet your chief and say hello," the Doctor said. "Nothing sinister, mind. Just a friendly greeting and possibly a little chat and I was also wondering if perhaps we might be allowed to witness the hunt. We would sit on the hill and not interfere, I promise."

"I will speak to him and ask if he is willing to do meet you and let you witness the hunt. Are you going to stay here?"

"Yes, we'll stay here in front of our…makeshift shelter," the Doctor said, gesturing to the TARDIS.

"Very well, I will return as soon as I can, with Ten Arrows or without. Either way, I will let you know what he says."

"Thank you," the Doctor said.

Dancing Bear turned his horse around. He signaled to the others and all of them rode together off into the distance while the Doctor opened the TARDIS and they went inside to wait for him to return.

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An hour later, the Doctor was leaning up against the side of the TARDIS while everyone else rested inside. He was watching a butterfly flitting around the prairie grass at his feet when his sensitive hearing heard hoof beats in the distance.

_Here they come,_ he thought to his family.

A few minutes later, Dancing Bear came up over the hill with another older man that the Doctor assumed was Ten Arrows. The rest of the family came outside. Alan shut the door and all of them walked forward while the two riders rode towards them. They stopped about twenty feet from the TARDIS and waited for the two of them to catch up. When they were several feet away, Dancing Bear stopped his horse and let Ten Arrows ride up. He was elderly with long gray hair that moved in the breeze. He had on a buckskin shirt, breeches and moccasins and several eagle feathers were tied into the back of his hair. He stopped his palomino and got down off it, landing lightly on his feet.

"Good day, my friends," Ten Arrows said.

They greeted him and introduced themselves. Ten Arrows nodded.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. I'm glad that you are not like some of your white brethren who only come to steal from our lands and kill our people."

"We wouldn't do that," Alan said, "We're very respectful of all people and cultures."

"It gladdens my heart to hear that, my brother," he said to him. "Dancing Bear has told me of your request and I see no problem with you witnessing our hunt in the morning. Perhaps though, you would like to come and be our guests for the evening. I have brought a few braves with me. They're on the other side of the hill with some horses. If you would like to ride back to our camp and eat with us tonight, we would be honored."

They smiled.

"That sounds lovely, Ten Arrows, thank you."

Ten Arrows turned to Dancing Bear.

"Go and tell the others to bring the horses here," he said to him.

Dancing Bear nodded. He turned his pony around and rode back towards the hill while Ten Arrows turned his attention back to the Doctor's family. A moment later, a couple of the other braves that had been with Dancing Bear earlier rode back leading several ponies behind them. The Doctor and the others got onto them and when everyone was ready, the warriors rode around their guests while Ten Arrows rode in front and led all of them back to the Indian camp.


	240. Chapter 240

Chapter Two Hundred and Forty

The camp was fairly large, nearly fifty teepees housing three hundred men, women and children. Most of the teepees had the top of the skins pulled back letting in air and letting out the smoke from the fires inside. Dogs barked and ran around the camp while children laughed and played. Most of the children halted in their tracks and stared at them while they rode the horses through the camp. They all relaxed when they saw Rain and Tara and waved at them. Both of them waved back and the children went back to playing their games. Ten Arrows led them to some teepees near the back and stopped. They got off their ponies and the braves tied their bridals to wooden stakes planted beside the teepees. Once they were off the horses and the men went off to greet their families, the Doctor put his arm around his wife's waist and smiled at the young children who came forward to investigate them. Most of the boys had miniature bows and arrows and the girls were holding rawhide dolls.

"Hi, kids," Alan said while he walked up and stood beside his brother. "I'm Alan. Nice to meet you all."

The kids were stunned and the Doctor chuckled.

"I think they're amazed you can speak the Sioux language so well, Brother," he said to him.

"It's too bad we're not identical anymore, then they would have been even more amazed," Alan said.

"Yeah, I know. I miss people calling us twins. It's no fun being different from you."

"Not to mention we can't pull pranks on the misses anymore," Alan muttered to him.

"Yes, I miss that as well," he muttered back.

They giggled when the children stood by Jenny, Rose and Donna and marveled at their yellow and red hair.

"I think we've made their afternoon more interesting," Alan said to the Doctor.

A five year old girl came up to Donna and tugged on her pink t-shirt. She bent over and smiled when the girl touched her cheek and ran her fingers though her hair.

"Yup, I think we definitely made their afternoon more interesting," Alan said.

"You don't have any color in your skin," the girl said to Donna.

"Nope, I don't. I'm as white as a ghost," Donna said, smiling.

"You have pretty hair. What's your name?"

"Donna, what's yours?"

"Turtle," she said.

"Turtle, that's a pretty name."

"How'd you learn how to speak Lakota so well?" Turtle asked.

Donna thought while the Doctor and Alan snickered.

"I have a few Lakota friends and they taught me," she finally said.

"Will you come and play with us?" Turtle asked.

"Um…sure, I'll play with ya."

The Doctor and Alan laughed when the children seized Donna, Jenny and Rose's hands and led them away.

"I notice they didn't ask Jen or the misses if they wanted to play," Alan said to the Doctor.

"I imagine they think Donna speaks for them all," the Doctor said with a grin.

"Donna Noble, our fearless leader. There goes the universe," Alan said while he and Rain and Tara giggled.

Rain felt someone tugging on her hand and looked down to see a four year old boy staring up at her. He was completely naked and his black hair went down to his shoulders.

"Hello," the boy said.

"Hi, what's your name?" Rain said as she and Emi and Tara bent down.

"Sleepy," he said.

"Sleepy?" Rain said, amused. "Do you like to sleep?"

The boy nodded while his friends giggled. He walked up to Emi and looked at her. He touched the sleeve of her kimono and looked down at her sandals. Then he looked at Rain's jeans and lavender t-shirt.

"You dress funny," he said to them.

"I know, we're a bit odd," Rain said to him.

She glanced over at Alan.

"Course some of us are odder than others, but…"

Alan stuck her tongue out at her while the children laughed. Sleepy walked over to the Doctor and examined his black leather coat. He frowned as he looked up at him.

"Isn't this hot?" he asked.

"Not really," he said, crouching down. "I'm used to wearing it."

Sleepy touched his thin, angular face and played with the hair that was hanging over the left side of his face.

"You're very brave, you know that?" the Doctor said. "Your friends aren't over here examining us like you are."

"I'm gonna be a great warrior someday just like my dad," he said proudly.

The Doctor smiled.

"I bet you will be with courage like that. Course I'm not the one you should worry about. My brother is much, much odder than I am," he said, gesturing to Alan.

Alan knelt down next to him.

"Hi, I'm odd," he said while the Doctor giggled. "Come and test your bravery against me now. Rowr!"

Sleepy giggled. He and the other children came close to him. The Doctor laughed when Sleepy started playing with his tuft of hair, running his fingers through it.

"See, everyone loves the Papaw Pouf," Rain said.

"Papaw Pouf? Blimey, it's been ages since I heard that. Course I don't have a pouf any more, now it's more like a severe slump."

"It is, but I've grown accustomed to it, Love. Besides I had advanced warning a few centuries before it happened."

Tara looked down when a ten year old girl tugged on her arm.

"What tribe are you from? Are you Lakota?" she said.

"Um, no, Honey. I'm an Indian but I'm an Indian that lives across the ocean. I'm Tara, what's your name?"

"I'm Rainbow."

"Ooo, I love that, it's a pretty name."

Rainbow smiled and nodded. She looked at Emi.

"Where are you from?" she asked. "I've seen people like you before. You help build the road for the iron horse."

"I come from Japan, also across the ocean. I'm Japanese. The people you're thinking of are Chinese and they also live across the ocean."

"I've never seen this ocean. I've lived with my people all my life."

Tara nodded.

"I've seen India before but I wasn't born there. I was born in this country like you were."

"You look like me."

"I know, that's why white people call your people Indians because long ago some white people landed here and thought native peoples were my people."

"They were dumb then," Rainbow said.

She smiled.

"That and a bit confused," she said to her.

The Doctor tapped her on the back.

"Ten Arrows is coming back, my Star," he said to her.

She smiled at Rainbow and stood upright with Emi. Ten Arrows chuckled while he walked up to them.

"You're still in this same spot?" he said to them.

"Yeah, we became an object of curiosity for the children," the Doctor said.

"I see that," Ten Arrows said while the children clustered around them giggled. "But weren't there more of you?"

"The other three got dragged away by more children so they could play with them," Rain said.

Ten Arrows sighed.

"Sleepy, Little Feather, Turtle, go find the other children and ask them to bring the other three back to my lodge. I wanted to talk to all of them personally. There are more than enough children here to play with."

The three children nodded and ran off in search of Rose, Donna and Jenny.

"Follow me, the children know where my lodge is at," Ten Arrows said to them.

They followed him through the camp. By now everyone was used to them and only the children stopped what they were doing to watch while they walked behind Ten Arrows. He led them to a large teepee near the center of the encampment. His smoke flap was hanging wide open and his horse was tied to a stake nearby, munching contentedly on the grass at his feet. They went inside with him and noticed an elderly lady sitting on some buffalo skins at the back. Behind her was a woven grass back support that resembled the back of a chair. She was resting against that while a small brown dog slept beside her. The dog perked up and walked over to the newcomers when they came in and began to make a circle around the fire in the center. They petted him while they sat down. Ten Arrows walked around towards the woman and sat down in front of another back rest. He leaned against it while he gestured to her.

"This is my wife, Morningstar," he said to them.

They greeted her and made introductions. Just then, the front flap opened and Rose, Donna and Jenny came back in.

"There you are, enjoy your playtime with the kids?" Alan asked Rose while she sat down beside him.

"Yup, they took us to a small stream near here and we skipped stones while we talked to them," Rose said.

"Well, the others had a dekko at us while you were gone and we had a little Q and A with them," Alan replied.

Ten Arrows repeated the introduction of his wife and then in turn introduced themselves.

"The women are preparing a feast for tonight. You are all honored guests here," Ten Arrows said.

"Thank you, it's an honor to be here," the Doctor said.

Ten Arrows regarded him silently.

_What? Do I have a bogey on the end of my nose_? He thought to his family.

_Maybe it's his turn to have a dekko at you, Brother,_ Alan thought back.

"I wanted you to talk with me privately because I wanted to tell you about an omen I saw last night," Ten Arrows finally said. "We set up our camp yesterday and when night fell, I took a walk around the perimeter and while I did that, I saw a falling star. I immediately went to the shaman and he told me that we were about to receive a great and important visitor. A man from beyond the stars."

The Doctor and his family stared at him silently. Ten Arrows smiled.

"You are not like other men, Doctor. You and your family are different but you are especially unique. You are ancient, my friend. Far more ancient than me or any man who has lived on this land. You wear stardust around you like a cloak and your eyes betray you and tell me that you are far older than you appear.

_Now see, I'm not the only one who notices it,_ Rain thought to the Doctor. _The whole family thinks I'm nuts because I can smell time on you and see it in your eyes and here's confirmation at last!_

_Well, actually, Snotbag, you are nuts but it's a fun kind of nuts, _Alan thought.

He snickered when Rain shot him a look.

"Actually, her father says the same thing. He calls me Star Child," the Doctor said aloud.

"Then her father is wise. For that is what you are. I can sense it. That's why I'm glad my warriors didn't kill you. I would have been upset if they'd slaughtered the object of the omen."

"Yeah, I would have been upset if they slaughtered me too," the Doctor said with a lopsided grin.

Ten Arrows chuckled.

"I have also decided that if you wish to join us tomorrow and actually participate in the hunt, you may," he said to him.

The Doctor and Alan grinned from ear to ear.

"Really? You'd let us hunt with your men?" the Doctor said.

"Yes, if you are able to ride a horse and handle a gun."

"I can do both but if you don't mind, I'd rather use a bow and arrow, never liked guns that much," the Doctor said.

"Nor me, but they have become a necessity against the white man and his guns. The pale ones have brought many wonders with them but also much destruction and I fear that our way of life will not last much longer. The whites kill the buffalo just because they are there and we suspect because they are trying to make us move onto their reservations. Some of the Lakota feel that we will triumph over them and wipe them completely from our lands but I do not share that view. They are too many and too powerful and soon these hunts will be no more. I can feel it in my bones. We are old and will die soon so it doesn't matter but the children you played with, they will be the ones to suffer and for that, I am sad."

They stared at him sadly while he got a wistful look on his face and they figured he was remembering a time when there were no whites around. He snapped out of his reverie after thirty seconds and smiled at them.

"But we must not dwell on the future. It hasn't come yet. We must keep our eyes on the here and now and feast and laugh and celebrate while we have breath in our bodies. And so tonight, my friends, we will do that and hopefully the spirits of the buffalo will be pleased with us and willingly give up their bodies tomorrow so that we might live another season."


	241. Chapter 241

Chapter Two Hundred and Forty One

After their chat, Ten Arrows led them to a nearby teepee that the braves had constructed for them for the night. They thanked him and asked him to thank the braves who made it before going inside. They sat down around the fire and relaxed.

"This is nice, quite peaceful actually," the Doctor said. "You get a nice cooling breeze going through here too."

They looked over when Rainbow stepped through the entrance. She was holding a small metal pot filled with water.

"This is for you," she said, sitting it down by the door.

"Thank you," Alan said. "That was kind of you. Although, were you told to do this by someone?"

Rainbow hesitated and then nodded.

"Let me guess, Ten Arrows pulled you away from playing with your friends and told you to go fetch water for the white people," Alan teased her.

They laughed when she nodded. She sat down beside him.

"Are you really gonna hunt buffalo tomorrow?" she asked him.

"Yeah, I'd like to," Alan said. "My Brother and I were thinking of doing it. Why? Are you gonna hunt with us?"

She giggled.

"No, I'm not allowed to do it."

"Why not?"

She gave him an odd look.

"Because I'm not a warrior," she said. "I'm a girl."

"Well, you see all these girls here, they're warriors. They've helped us fight bad guys and monsters."

Rainbow's eyes widened and she stared at them.

"Really?" she said.

"Really, we've fought a lot of evil people before," Donna said.

"And we almost always won," Jenny added.

"Would you fight the Pawnee?" Rainbow asked.

The Doctor thought.

"We would if they were threatening someone. Why? Are they your enemies?" he said.

She nodded.

"Yeah, they like to steal from us and kill people and they kidnap little girls."

"They do? Why?" Alan said.

"They kill them for their god. They worship the morning star so they take girls and kill them. They come here sometimes and make war and take little girls so they can do that."

Alan's stomach turned at that.

"If the Pawnee tried to take me, would you fight them?" Rainbow asked.

"Yes, because human sacrifice is wrong," Tara said. "And I've had first hand experience with that kind of thing so I know what I'm talking about."

"Some of the men say the Pawnee might come up here and make war because the white man are killing the buffalo and now everyone has to ride many days to find some and they're afraid the Pawnee might come up here and try to kill us so they can have the buffalo herd to themselves," Rainbow said.

"Well, if they do that then we'll help out because I don't want to see you or your people get abducted, hurt or killed," the Doctor said. "But maybe you won't have to worry about it. Maybe there are herds closer to their territory that they can hunt."

"Maybe. But the Pawnee come up here anyway just because they hate us," Rainbow said.

"Well, if that happens, you round up your friends and hide in here so they won't find you," Alan said.

They looked over when a brown and white colored dog peeked into their tent flap. They whistled at him and he bounded inside so they could pet him.

"He's cute. Do you know his name?" Rain said to Rainbow.

"Name? They don't have names," Rainbow said.

"You don't name your dogs?" Donna said.

She shook her head.

"We do. We used to have three dogs, Rory, Blizzard and Barney. They were good dogs. In fact, Barney kinda looked like this mutt, only smaller."

"You had dogs?" Rainbow asked.

"Yup, we did. They were wonderful dogs. We hated it when they died," Alan said.

Rainbow was quiet for a moment.

"I heard some of the men say that you're from the stars, is that true?" she said.

"Yup, it's true," Alan said.

Rainbow frowned.

"You look like people," she said to him.

"We are people, just a different kind of people," Rose said.

Alan giggled when the dog licked his face.

"Blimey, this one's a bit frisky," he said, rubbing his sides.

"How long have you been alive?" Rainbow asked Alan.

"Me. I've been alive a little over five hundred and twenty years now."

They laughed when Rainbow's eyes bulged.

"Most of us in here around between the ages of five hundred and twenty and five hundred and fifty. Emi's about four hundred and thirty seven years old and the Doctor there…well, he's about seventeen hundred and twenty six years old."

"Give or take," the Doctor said, shrugging.

"Wow!" Rainbow said. "You don't look that old."

"Well, when our body wears out or is in danger of dying, we change and get a whole new body. I'm still on my first body and so is everyone else except the Doctor, he's on his eleventh body now."

Rainbow stared at the Doctor's youthful face.

"You had eleven different bodies?" she said in disbelief.

"I had ten different bodies. This is my eleventh," he corrected. "See my brother there. That's what I looked like in the body before this one. He and I used to look exactly alike."

Rainbow stared at Alan.

"So when you change bodies. Will you look like him then?" she said, pointing to the Doctor.

"Um…I'm not s'posed to but I won't know until I change. I hope not because I don't wanna have the same bodies he has."

"Although, that would be kinda funny since the two of you would keep dying and constantly catching up to one another in bodies," Rose said.

"Yup, Alan dies and looks like him for awhile, then the Doctor dies and changes and then Alan dies and looks like him again, then the Doctor dies and they look different," Donna said while they laughed. "Could be interestin' watching that."

"Yes, it's the Time Lord Battle of the Bodies," Rain said while the Doctor giggled.

"Yes, except I'd lose eventually since I'm on number eleven and he's on number one. I would drop dead before he did."

"Then once he hit your thirteenth body, he'd go back to the way you looked in your first life after that," Jenny said.

"Oh God no, I don't wanna look that old again. If that happens, I'll make myself change till I get around to his fifth life," Alan said.

He looked at Rainbow who was staring at them in confusion.

"It's a bit complicated, Rainbow. You'd have to be a Time Lady to understand fully," he said apologetically.

She shrugged and petted the dog when he finally came and lay down beside her.

"Do you have a…star…wagon?" she asked Alan.

"Yes, we do. Would you like to see it before we leave?" he said.

Rainbow nodded.

"Okay, we'll take you back out there when we get done with the hunt and let you have a look at her. She's called the TARDIS."

"TARDIS," Rainbow murmured, listening to the strange word while it left her mouth.

They heard some yelling outside.

"Wait here, I'll go see what's happening," Rainbow said, going outside.

She returned a few minutes later.

"It happened. Some of the men who guard the village saw some Pawnees riding near here. A bunch of men rode out to stop them," she said.

"Well, get your friends in here then just in case," the Doctor said.

"They're on their way out of the village and that's what they wanted me to tell you. They want you to leave the village too in case they come in here," Rainbow said.

"Right, then I s'pose we can show you the TARDIS a bit ahead of schedule then, Rainbow," the Doctor said as they got up. "Because that's the safest spot I can think of at the moment. Just follow us and we'll ride back out there."


	242. Chapter 242

Chapter Two Hundred and Forty Two

By the time they got out of the teepee, everyone was rushing around trying to leave the camp while the braves went off to defend it. Dancing Bear ran up to them with another brave and handed the men bows and arrows.

"Use this for defense," he said to them.

"Wait, do you need us to come and help you fight?" the Doctor said.

"No, this is not your fight. You're guests here. Just go with the woman, children and old ones and get away from here before they come," Dancing Bear said. "Rainbow, go with them."

She nodded. The Doctor and Alan slung their quivers of arrows on their backs and everyone got onto their horses while Dancing Bear and the brave quickly untied them from the stakes and gave the reins to them. Dancing Bear helped Rainbow get up on the Doctor's horse and she sat in front of him, holding on to the man while the Doctor wrapped his hand around the rein and wrapped that arm around her, holding her against him. They waited till Dancing Bear and the brave ran off before all of them urged their horses out of the village back towards the TARDIS. While they rode they noticed most of the braves were gone and now only the elderly, women and children were left. They stopped briefly to urge more children to get on with them and when they had one child each on their horses, they rode off again.

They cleared the village and headed off across the open prairie back towards the large hill. Behind them in the distance they heard war whoops, gunfire and screams as the battle began. They urged the horses to go faster, noticing that they were catching up to some women and children who had ridden off ahead of them. The women glanced back to see who was following them and yelled at them to follow as they turned back. The Doctor tightened his legs, holding them against the horse's side to prevent him from sliding off the animal's bare back. They reached the hill after twenty minutes and sped up it while some other riders jutted off towards the right towards some larger hills in the distance. They rode over the hill and down into the field where some of the buffalo were still grazing. The Doctor gritted his teeth when the bison began to panic and stampede in all directions.

"Move out of the way, you bloody buffalo!" he growled under his breath.

Just then he heard Rainbow scream and he jerked his head over and cursed when he saw several Pawnees coming out from behind the far side of the hill. He and the others calmed the frightened children while the Pawnees let out whoops and sped towards them. The Doctor gave the reins to Rainbow and withdrew an arrow from his quiver while Alan did the same. He notched it in the bowstring and held it ready while the Pawnees homed in on them. He noticed Emi coming up beside him and pulled a shuriken and black egg out of her kimono.

_Wound them, Emi, no killing_, the Doctor thought to her.

_Yes, Father. _

One of the Pawnees came close to Emi and she lobbed the black egg in his eyes. It exploded and the man screamed when the ground glass entered his eyes. The Doctor noticed one who had a large Mohawk nearing Rose with a war club. He raised the bow, pulled the string taut and let the arrow fly into the arm that wielded it. The man howled with pain and Rose guided her horse over to his side, reached over and shoved him off his horse before quickly swerving away. Donna noticed one had a rifle. She took out her sonic screwdriver, aimed it at the gun and froze the firing mechanism. Another Pawnee rode up beside the Doctor and tried to snatch Rainbow.

"Oh no you don't!" he snarled.

He smacked him in the face with the butt of his bow. The man snarled at him, withdrew a dagger and tried to stab him. The Doctor grabbed it and held his arms while the Pawnee tried to stab his face. The warrior ignored Rainbow who was hitting him and shoving him. The man was so intent on trying to kill the Doctor that he didn't realize that Alan had ridden up on his other side until he felt a tap on his shoulder. He jerked his head back around and grunted when Alan smacked the end of his bow right into his teeth. Both men grabbed the brave and pushed him backwards off his horse.

"Hey, we got a horsie now!" Alan said happily. "We'll name him Arthur then."

They blinked in shock when Jenny grabbed one by the back of his buckskin shirt and nearly threw him through the air when she jerked him off.

"See that," the Doctor said to Alan. "That's my pride and joy!"

They looked over at Emi who deflected the disabled rifle of the Pawnee with her wakizashi and knocked him out with the butt of it.

"And that's my other pride and joy," he said.

"I have pride and joys too. They just decided to stay home for awhile," Alan said.

They saw Rose backhand a Pawnee who had ridden up beside her before quickly pushing him off the back of his horse.

"That…is my pride and joy!" he said.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Everyone jerked their heads around when Donna bellowed at a Pawnee warrior while she pretended to beat on her chest. The Doctor and Alan chuckled at the shocked look on his face. He was still looking back at her when Jenny rode up beside him and karate chop him in the head, knocking him out. They noticed another warrior was trying to get beside Rain while she rode up the hill on the far side. Suddenly without warning, Rain jerked up her shirt and bra and flashed him her breasts. The man stared at them with interest and started to follow her while she did a U-turn and headed back down towards the others. He imitated her and got behind her.

_Love, Bro, clothesline the horndog!_ She thought to them.

The Doctor and Alan grinned. They let her go between them and then grabbed the ends of the Doctor's bow at the last moment while the warrior was trying to follow her. The warrior had enough time to widen his eyes before the bent end of the bow smacked his face and sent him toppling off his horse to the ground. Emi jumped off beside him with her fist in the air and hit him directly in the face, knocking him unconscious. She then ran to her horse and vaulted up onto him from behind, startling the little boy who'd been riding with her. She smiled at the boy who was staring at her in awe. They went up and over the hill and sped the last mile to the TARDIS but none of the Indians followed them. The Doctor snapped his fingers when they neared the TARDIS and the doors flew open. They slowed the horses down and everyone jumped off them.

"Everyone alright?" the Doctor asked them.

They nodded and led the horses inside so they could close the door. The children looked around in awe while the Doctor directed the TARDIS to bring the park room to the back door so they could put the horses inside for awhile. They led them into the park room.

"Don't let them go too far, TARDIS, we'll need them when we ride back," the Doctor said to her.

The TARDIS grunted and set up a force shield about fifty feet from the door. They patted the horses' backs, thanking them for getting them to the TARDIS safely before they went back out. The children were still looking around the console room in awe and the Doctor told them what it was and pointed out some of the controls on the console while some of the women rested on the jump seat.

"Hope everyone's alright," Alan said while he stood with him at the console.

"Yeah, me too. But at least we got in here safely," the Doctor replied.

The little boy that'd been riding with Emi walked over to her while she leaned against the railing beside the jump seat.

"You fight like a man," he said to her.

"Thanks. I've been trained to fight like one," she said to him while he stared at her in awe.

"Yes, you all were fantastic especially you, Miss Flash Your Breasts," the Doctor said while they laughed.

"Not to mention the screamer back behind us," Alan said.

"Yeah, well, I figured the man may be a warrior, but he's still a man and I'm sure his addled brain would have fixated on sex the moment I showed him the goods," Rain said.

"And I figured screaming would startle them."

"Too right it did, it startled me," the Doctor said. "I swear to God, Donna, I think you were born with a loud hailer in your throat because you're the loudest woman I've ever known."

"Now what do we do?" Rainbow asked.

"Now, we wait. How long do these battles usually last?"

The children looked at each other and shrugged.

"Depends on how many men there are and how fast people get killed," Rainbow said.

The Doctor caught Alan's eye and sighed at that.

"Well, are you kids hungry?" Alan said.

They nodded.

"Would you like some food? We can fix you some star child food that we eat," he said.

"You mean pizza and burgers," Rose said.

"Sure, some star child pizza and burgers for our friends," Alan said. "Would you like to try some?"

They nodded.

"Okey-dokey, just follow us and we'll lead the way," Alan said while they walked to the back door.

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After a few hours, they decided to head back and see if the coast was clear. They brought the horses back out and smiled when they noticed they were relaxed and rested. They put the children back on them and got on behind them. They headed off at a slow trot while they looked all around for any signs of Pawnee warriors. They reached the top of the hill and noticed that the buffalo had moved a few miles away and were grazing peacefully. Other than that there was no sign of any Pawnee so they headed back to the camp. Reaching the camp, they noticed that everyone had come back including the warriors and they took this as a sign that the battle was ended. A few of the braves saw them and they could hear them telling others to go tell Ten Arrows they were there. They rode through the camp back to their teepee and once they were there, they let the children off first before they got off and tied the reins to the stakes. The children scattered and ran off while they went back in their teepee and slumped down on the skins.

"Well, this has been an exciting day so far," the Doctor said while he slumped against the back rest and closed his eyes.

All of them did the same and rested against the back rests while they rested their eyes. While they were doing that, they were suddenly aware that the camp had grown very quiet.

"Okay, what's going on?" Rose said. "The camp was filled with the noise of people talkin' now it's silent."

She was closest to the door so she got on her knees and looked out. She noticed a large group of people down by Ten Arrows teepee. They were all clustered around it. She shrugged and went back to her back rest.

"I think they're having a meetin' over at Ten Arrows teepee," she said.

"Probably tryin' to account for everyone," Alan replied. "A heap of people saw us entering the camp so they know we're here."

They opened their eyes when Rainbow ran over to the entrance and looked in.

"Ten Arrows wants to see all of you right now," she said.

"Then again, maybe no one told them we were here," Alan said while they all got up.

They followed Rainbow towards Ten Arrows's teepee. The closer the got, the bigger the crowd looked to them until they realized it must have been everyone in the camp standing around the teepee. The Sioux parted and made a path for them and whooped and cheered when they walked through it. Ten Arrows stood outside the entrance to his teepee with Morningstar.

"The children have informed us of your bravery and your fighting skills when you protected them against the Pawnee," he said to them.

"It's nothing really. We would have done that for anybody," the Doctor said.

"But not every wasichu would have. You didn't have to do that. You didn't have to take the children with you and yet, you did. And for that we are all grateful."

They smiled when the people let out whoops.

"Unfortunately, we lost a few people today, a handful of men and some women died."

The smiles fell off their faces and their hearts ached hearing that.

"But no children were taken and you helped make that happen, my brothers and sisters. We are honored that you chose to fight with us and that is why we wish to adopt you into the tribe and make you all Oglala Lakota."

They blushed when everyone let out whoops at that.

"Wow, so now I'm a Gallifeyan, British, Navajo, Lakota," Alan muttered to Rose who giggled.

"Well, I'm a Gallifreyan, Navajo, Lakota so I'm not far behind, Brother," the Doctor murmured back.

"Because of this we have even more reason to celebrate tonight. So go and prepare the fire and let's get this feast started!" Ten Arrows said while everyone whooped and cheered.


	243. Chapter 243

Chapter Two Hundred and Forty Three

Later that night, the braves built a large bonfire just outside the camp and the Doctor and his family sat around it with everyone else while they ate venison and watched while everyone danced and celebrated. Eventually the dancing ceased and everyone began to talk about the battle and boast of their exploits to the enraptured crowd.

"I get the feeling we'll be doing this soon, Brother," Alan said while they listened to one young brave boast about fighting a Pawnee bare handed.

"Funnily enough, I have the same feeling you have," the Doctor muttered back.

Sure enough, it was soon their turn to get up and tell what happened when they fought the braves. They made all of them get up one by one and tell their version of the fight. Each time they finished they were rewards with war whoops and trilling from the crowd and they sat back down with red cheeks while the people around them patted their backs and congratulated them. After that, they were called up to where Ten Arrows was sitting and he made a short speech, welcoming them into the Oglala Lakota tribe while everyone cheered and whooped. They thanked him graciously and sat back down at his side watching intently while a dozen braves performed a buffalo dance. While they were dancing a couple of braves suddenly rode up to Ten Arrows.

"Wasichus!" one brave said to Ten Arrows. "Over the hill back towards their star wagon."

"Ought-oh," Alan muttered.

"We must drive them off before they scare off the buffalo!" one of the braves said.

"Whoa, whoa, wait. Let us go. We'll speak to them. We wanna check on our star wagon anyway before someone loads it onto an Earth wagon and drives off with it."

"Be careful, my brothers and sisters," Ten Arrows said to them.

"We will. Just relax and continue to celebrate. We'll handle this," he said to them.

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They got their horses and rode off into the night back towards the TARDIS. The moon was out which made it easy for them to see their way back. About a half hour later, they reached the first hill and stopped when they noticed two canvas tents pitched twenty feet away from the TARDIS. They noticed one man with short dark hair and a full beard was pulling on the door handle of the TARDIS trying to get inside it.

"Good job they had scouts on watch," the Doctor said. "Otherwise we might have come back in the morning with no TARDIS in sight."

They rode towards him.

"Oi! Get away from that! It's ours!"

They were shocked when the little dog ran past them in the dark and growled at the man.

"I had no idea he followed us," Alan said to the others.

"Look," the man said, "I had no idea this was your outhouse. I just wanted to use the toilet, that's all."

The Doctor smirked.

"Outhouse?" he said, amused.

"Yeah, is that what this is?" the man asked. "That's why we camped here and…for God's sake, could ya call off your dog?"

"He's not ours," the Doctor said. "So who are ya then?"

"My name is Roger Sykes, my partner over there is James Johnson."

They looked over and saw a young man with ginger hair and a full beard coming out of the tent. Holding a lantern, he walked over to them.

"If this is your outhouse, where's your house?" James asked.

The Doctor thought fast.

"Tornado. It blew away our house, we're gonna rebuild," he said. "Listen, we're friends with the Sioux here and…"

"You know the Sioux?" Roger said with interest.

"Yes and if you know what's good for you, you'll leave here now. If you try to shoot the buffalo, they'll shoot you." the Doctor said.

"We don't want to shoot the buffalo, not in the way you're thinking. We're ethnographers. We're going across the country with our camera documenting the life of the wild savage before their cultures disappear completely. We heard there was a Sioux camp near here and we figured with the buffalo in the area that they were going to hunt them. We were going to watch the hunt and take a few pictures, nothing more."

He noticed Rain.

"You! You're a Sioux?" he asked her.

"Um…well, I am now. I just got adopted along with everyone else here into the tribe but I'm originally a Navajo."

"Navajo? We just got done documenting your people and interviewing several of them. Chaming people."

"Yeah," Rain muttered under her breath. "Instead of talking to the tribes about their disappearing cultures, why don't you help them so they don't disappear?"

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Roger said.

"Nothing," she said. "Look, I really think you should leave. They won't take kindly to you standing there taking pictures of them. They're already upset about whites encroaching on their lands."

"But if you could talk to them, get permission for us. We mean them no harm. We only want to take photographs of the hunt."

Rain sighed.

_They're not gonna give up, are they?_ She thought.

_Come on, Latara,_ the Doctor thought back. _Well go back and tell Ten Arrows. Let him decide what to do. The rest of you keep an eye on them so they don't break into the TARDIS and shite in it._

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After informing Roger and James what they were going to do, the two of them headed back to the camp.

"Good job I keep the TARDIS door locked, otherwise we might have come back and found feces all over the floor," the Doctor said to Rain with a gleam in his eyes.

He looked down at the dog following them.

"You know, this little fella fancies us. We haven't had a dog in so long; perhaps they'll let us take this one when we leave. He seems to be very protective of us."

Rain slowed down and stopped her horse. The Doctor and the dog stopped with her.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Thete, do you remember the day Rose showed us Clive's website?"

He chuckled.

"Yes. Blimey, that was ages ago. Hard to believe that we recently had that reception we saw on the video and we finally knew who everyone was. But, why do you ask, Love?"

"Do you remember the photo section, the photo of you and Alan holding bows and arrows with your feet on the dead buffalo?"

The Doctor's eyes bulged and he jerked his head back towards the direction of the TARDIS.

"So they're the ones who take the photo of us then," he said.

"Yeah, we finally get to find out if you really did kill that buffalo or if you two just ran up to one and put your feet on it."

"We do kill it, Latara," he said while she giggled. "We are capable of killing a buffalo."

They resumed their pace and the dog followed them. The Doctor smiled at him.

"Yup, I definitely think we should take you with us, little mate," he said to him.

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After a half hour, they reached the camp and went to Ten Arrows. They quickly explained to him what was going on.

"Let me go with you," he said when they were finished. "I want to speak to them myself."

They nodded. He let Morningstar know where he was headed before he readied his horse.

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By the time they reached the camp, the rest of the family was chatting amicably with Roger and James.

"Brother, I don't think they're a threat," Alan said to the Doctor as he dismounted. "I believe their story."

The Doctor nodded.

"I do as well because…"

He told Alan what Rain said.

"Blimey, I forgot about that photo. So they take the photo and somehow Clive gets ahold of it in the past…or the future."

"Rain doesn't think we killed it. She thinks we just put our feet on a dead one."

"Well, we'll just have to prove Rainy wrong, won't we? But if that happens, that must mean Ten Arrows lets them stay."

Alan smiled when the dog came up to him.

"And I'm gonna ask Ten Arrows if we can have this little bloke. He seems to like us," the Doctor added.

"Oh yeah, we need another dog running through the TARDIS again," Alan said, scratching the dog's head and ears.

Tara came up to them.

"He's gonna let them take the photos, Dad," she said to the Doctor.

"I figured he would," the Doctor replied.

"What makes you say that?" Tara asked.

"Remember when you first joined us and Rose showed us Clive's website?" he said.

"Yes, God that was so long ago. I was just a scrawny little kid then."

"Remember the photo of Alan and me with our feet on the dead buffalo?"

Tara paused. Her mouth dropped open.

"Oh my God, we've reached that point in time?" she said.

"I believe so, my Star. And I think one of them will take the photo tomorrow."

"So…we club them afterwards and take the camera," Tara said.

"No, I don't think so," the Doctor said while Alan laughed.

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Once they got back to the camp, the Doctor and his family spent the rest of the night in their teepee talking while the dog, who they finally named Dakota, lay by the door sleeping peacefully.

"So who's going to join the hunt tomorrow besides Brother and I?" the Doctor asked them.

"I will," Emi said. "I can ride and shoot a bow and arrow so I don't think I'll have any problem with the hunt."

"Well, I'm rubbish with riding and shooting a bow and arrow so you can count me out," Donna said.

"Aw, come on, Donna. Try! Who knows, you might get lucky," Alan said.

"No thanks, I'll be content just watching you do it," she replied.

"I'll do it but I wanna use a rifle. I know how to use it a lot better than a bow and arrow," Jenny said.

"Tara, Rain, how 'bout you?"

"I don't think so, Dear," Rain said.

"Oh, come on. It's not that hard. There's a heap of buffalo out there and they're big. I'm sure you can hit one with a bow and arrow," the Doctor said.

"Yes, I'm sure I can. The problem is if you don't hit it and kill it, it can turn into a big angry wounded buffalo and come after you. That's my main concern."

"P'shaw, you can hit it in the heart. I've watched you fight aliens and monsters, you can handle one ruddy buffalo."

He leaned in to her.

"Besides, you are coming with me because I want an eye witness when I do kill one. I don't want you telling me that I just ran over to one and put my foot on it," he said.

"Same with you, Rose," Alan said.

"Me? I don't wanna do it, I'll get killed!" Rose said.

Alan looked at her and raised his eyebrow.

"I don't wanna do it, Alan."

He stared at her.

"You're not getting me out in the middle of those buffalo so you might as well stop starin' at me."

"We shall see," Alan said.

"What about you, Tara? Up for an adventure with your father?"

"Well, I don't know if I can," she said, hesitantly.

"Come on, Tara. Come and experience the thrill of a buffalo hunt. It's not fun sitting on the sidelines. Come ooooooooooooooooooooooooon!"

"I don't think you're gonna get out of it, Honey," Rain said to her. "I know I won't be able to and I'm pretty sure Rose won't get out of it either."

"What about Donna? Why isn't anyone makin' her do it?" Rose asked.

"Because everyone knows I'll punch their lights out," Donna said.

"Okay, I'll punch everyone's lights out if they try to make me do it," Rose said.

Alan laughed through his nose while he hugged her from the side.

"My Starlight, she's so cute when she makes empty threats," he cooed while he nuzzled her cheek.

They laughed when he ducked while she tried to smack his head.


	244. Chapter 244

Chapter Two Hundred and Forty Four

The Doctor and the others waited until they heard everyone stirring outside before they got up and started the day with them. They used the water Rainbow had given them to wash their faces and freshen up. Rainbow came by to see if they needed anything.

"Nope, I believe we're good," the Doctor said.

"Are you really gonna hunt with the men today?" Rainbow asked.

"Most of us are. Donna is gonna watch," the Doctor said.

Rose looked at Alan who gave her an evil grin.

"I won't win, will I?"

"Nope, you are coming with us. You're gonna get in there and get us some buffalo meat. We're running low, ya know."

Rose snorted and he kissed her cheek.

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"I can't believe you talked me into this," Rose muttered as she sat on her horse beside Alan.

They and the others were at the back of a large group of warriors who were armed with bows and arrows and rifles. All of them were grouped just outside the camp, readying themselves for the day.

"Come on, Rose, you are more than capable of doing this. Besides, I want an eye witness too. I don't want anyone sayin' Brother and I ran up to a dead buffalo and put our feet on it. You will watch my buffalo hunting skills."

"Then how am I s'posed to kill one of my own if I'm gonna be watchin' you the whole time?" Rose asked.

"You'll figure something out. You're brilliant," he said.

Rose muttered under her breath while he patted her on the head.

"Look, I'll make it easy for you, I'll yell out when I kill one."

"Oh yeah and I'll hear you straight away through the stampede and frightened buffalo and excited Sioux. I'll pick your voice out of the melee with no problem whatsoever," she said dryly.

"Then I'll sing loudly. I'm sure you'll know it's me when I start bellowing out Get Ur Freak On, won't ya?" he said.

"Mmm," Rose said while he giggled.

Alan felt a tap on his leg and looked down at Donna.

"Ya know, from this point on, we have no idea who's gonna regenerate next so you be careful out there. Don't get overeager to get this buffalo of yours and get trampled. I really don't wanna watch that."

"How sweet of you to be concerned. But you forget, the picture was of me as I am now and I appeared to be fine."

"Yeah, well, it only showed you and the Doctor so don't get her killed," Donna said, pointing to Rose.

"Donna, if she was dying, I wouldn't be standing around with my foot on a buffalo grinning at a camera," he said.

"Only sayin'," Donna said, walking away.

"Yeah, well, I'd think after knowing me for over five hundred years, you'd know me a bit better than that," Alan muttered to himself while Rose reached over and patted his shoulder.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After everyone was ready, they rode out slowly to the hill while everyone else walked behind them. Once they reached the top of the hill, they looked over and noticed the buffalo were about a half mile off to the right, grazing quietly. On the far side, Roger and James were on the other hill setting up their camera on a wooden tripod. They noticed the Doctor and waved to him. The Doctor waved back.

"I hope the buffalo don't decide to run up that hill and trample them and their camera equipment into dust," the Doctor muttered to Rain who was on his left side.

"Forget them, I hope I don't get trampled into dust," she said, checking her rifle.

The Doctor frowned at that.

"That's not very sporting."

"Love, I've never done this before. I'm scared I'm gonna wound one and have it come after me. If I shoot one, I wanna make sure it doesn't survive long enough to come gunning for me. I know you hate guns but I think you'd hate it even more if I regenerated."

"Same with me," Rose said, checking her gun. "I got dragged into this. I'm gonna make sure that buffalo goes down on the first shot."

"And me," Tara added, cradling her gun.

The Doctor looked at Emi who was notching her arrow into her bowstring.

"Like I said, I've had experience shooting bow and arrows from the back of a horse so I'm not worried about wounding one and having it come after me," she said to the Doctor.

"Well, just be sure to get a big buffalo, Em, you know we're running short of provisions in the TARDIS," Alan said to her.

He and the Doctor sniggered while the women glanced at each other and rolled their eyes.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When everyone was ready, they slowly moved their horses off towards the herd trying to keep downwind of them so they could get in close. The Doctor glanced back and saw Roger and James taking a photo of them. He felt a tap on his shoulder and saw Alan grinning at him.

"Give ya five hundred quid if you stand up in the saddle, drop your drawers and moon the camera for posterity," he said to him.

"Only if you do it with me, Brother."

"Don't you dare!" Rose said while they chortled. "Don't you dare show your arses to them or I'll fire my rifle right into your bums."

The Doctor glanced back and saw they were just about ready to take the picture. He stood up in the saddle while Alan laughed.

"Doctor, don't you dare pull your pants down," Rain said to him.

"I won't pull my trousers down but…oh look, a penny!"

He bent over and put his hands on the horse's shoulders. Alan howled with laughter while he held that pose. Alan kept glancing back until he noticed them pulling a plate out of the camera.

"They're finished taking it."

He laughed when the Doctor sat back down in his saddle.

"There! Let Clive get a hold of that one for his website!" he said with a mischievous grin.

As they neared the herd they noticed a few of the ones on the perimeter had spotted them and were getting skittish. They got within thirty feet of them and then suddenly the ones in the front let out whoops and screams and spurred their horses towards the confused frightened buffalo.

"And away we goooooooooooooo!" Alan said while all of them urged their horses into a gallop.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Bugger, this is harder than it looks!" Alan muttered while he tried to chase a buffalo down.

Every time he thought he had one in his sights, it veered off and he had to change course or latch onto another fleeing beast. He noticed that Jenny and Emi had both made kills while Rose and Rain struggled to keep astride their horses and hold the rifle steady. He made sure to keep his wife in his sights as much as he could, keeping watch over here and making sure she was safe since he was the one who suggested she participate in the hunt. The Doctor was off on the other side of the herd, also trying to corner one down. He also was keeping tabs on his wife and daughters, making sure they were okay and speaking with them telepathically. He was also trying to help them out, trying to point out possible targets while he kept his eyes on his own buffalo.

Alan was becoming more frustrated with each passing moment. Finally, he had a thought.

_Brother, I had a sudden realization,_ he thought to the Doctor.

_And that realization is?_ He thought back.

_We both had our feet on one buffalo. Maybe we teamed up and killed one together._

_I bet you're right,_ he thought. _Okay, let's find one and kill it together._

On my way, Alan thought, veering his horse to the right while the Doctor went to the left. The Doctor pointed to a large bull several feet in front of him and Alan nodded while he and his brother rode up on either side of it. By this time, all of them were back down near the hills and everyone cheered them on while they and the other hunters chased down individual buffalo and made kills. The Doctor and Alan got on either side of the bull, leaving enough room on either side of it in case it tripped and fell or tried to attack them. Both of them fitted an arrow into their bowstrings.

_As soon as we do this, stop the horses in case he slides when he falls,_ the Doctor thought to Alan.

Alan nodded and both of them aimed for the heart and fired arrows into either side. The bull bellowed in pain and both of them stopped their horses while the stricken beast stumbled and fell to the ground dead. They grinned at each other and raised their bows while they let out yells of triumph.

_And I just saw you do that so you can stop worrying that no one will believe you_, Rain thought to them while she rode past.

_So did I,_ Rose thought while she rode past Alan. _We believe you killed it._

The Doctor looked at Alan.

_Come on then, let's use the same strategy and help the wives and Tara bag a bull of their own,_ the Doctor thought to him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After the hunt was finished, forty buffalo lay dead in the field. The Doctor and Alan helped Rain, Rose and Tara kill one and they posed with them while Roger and James took their pictures. Then the moment came. The Doctor and Alan led them back to the bull they had killed together. They waited until the photographers were ready and then with a couple of knowing grins, place their feet on the bull's carcass and posed for the camera.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Are you sure, my brothers?" Ten Arrows said after everyone had helped cut up the buffalo meat and dragged it back into camp to be smoked and preserved. "You don't want the ones you killed?"

"Nah, you need them more than we do. Our star wagon has plenty of food. It was an honor to hunt with you," the Doctor said. "However…"

He pointed down to Dakota who was sitting at his feet.

"We would like to take this fella with us since he seems to like us. Unless he belongs to someone, of course."

"I don't think he does. We have many dogs that live with the tribe but most of them don't live with one person so if you wish to take him, he's yours."

"Thank you, we'll take very good care of him," the Doctor said, scratching his ears.

"So are you now going to go back up among the stars?" Ten Arrows asked them.

"Oh yeah, up among the stars and back down to Earth somewhere else. We love to travel," the Doctor said.

"Then I wish you luck and many blessings in your travels and I hope one day you might come back and see us again."

"We'll try, we can't promise anything. But we'll try to come back and see all of you again," the Doctor said. "Good luck to you and your tribe."

"Thank you, my brother," he said.

They gave him and Morningstar hugs before they started to walk away.

"Wait!" Rainbow said.

She and the other children gathered around them and gave them hugs.

"You lot take care of yourselves," Alan said to Rainbow.

"You too and please come back and see us someday. I wanna eat a burger again."

Alan chuckled.

"Well, all you gotta do is roll that buffalo meat into a ball and pat it down until it's kinda flat and then cook it and perhaps put it between two slices of bread and there's your burger," he said.

"I'll miss you," Rainbow said.

"I'll miss ya too. You grow up to be a brave, strong woman and a leader for your people," he said with a wink.

They finished hugging them and started to walk away.

"Wait, aren't you gonna take your horses?" Rainbow said.

They stared at her.

"They're ours? I thought they were loaners until we got through with the hunt," the Doctor said.

"They're yours if you wish to take them," Ten Arrows said.

The Doctor and Alan grinned at each other.

"Horsies!" they said while the women groaned.

"Brilliant!" Alan said, running to his. "Mine shall be called Arthur."

"No, mine shall be called Arthur!" the Doctor said, running to his.

"No fair, I called dibs on Arthur first," Alan said while he untied the reins from the stake.

"I'm older and I thought up the name first so I get to call mine Arthur," the Doctor said while he untied his reins.

"Well technically I was with you at the time you thought up Arthur so I have just as much right to the name as you do," Alan said.

"How 'bout you don't call them anything and we leave it at that?" Rose said.

"Gotta call em something, gotta have a proper name," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, just call them horse? That's bonkers!" Alan said. "We called Dakota, Dakota so we gotta name the horses!"

"Then don't name them Arthur!" Donna said.

"But Arthur's a brilliant name for a horse," the Doctor said while they got on their horses. "Arthur is a noble name for a noble steed and since I first thought up the noble name, I get to name mine Arthur."

"No, because I thought of naming the horse Arthur back when we shoved that Pawnee off his," Alan said. "Since I was the first one in a long time to think of the name, I have the right to name my steed Arthur."

"Oh for heaven's sake, goodbye!" Donna said, urging her horse into a trot.

"Yup, I'm with Donna, you two can argue this out without us. I'm leavin'," Rose said.

The two men watched while the women quickly galloped away from them. Alan feigned innocence as he looked at his brother.

"Was it something we said?" he said to him.

"Nah, I think it's them. They're a bit tetchy this mornin' for some odd reason," the Doctor replied.

"Eh, women, who can figure them out?" Alan said.

They both giggled and nudged each other. The Doctor looked down at Dakota.

"Come along, Dakota, we're off to your new home," he said as he and Alan urged their horses into a gallop.


	245. Chapter 245

A/N: This particular adventure takes place about ten years after they meet Emi and the Doctor's in his tenth incarnation. At this point, Madison, Dorothy, Angel and Elizabeth are all sharing a house down the street from the Doctor's house. So the Doctor's house consists of him, Rain, Rose, Alan and Tara and Emi.

Chapter Two Hundred and Forty Five

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" the Doctor asked Emi and Tara while they stood in his room while he finished packing a suitcase.

"Yes, Dad, we'll be alright," Tara said. "We do know how to keep the house clean and we promise we won't destroy it before you and Mom get back from your trip."

"Just making sure. I don't want Em teaching you some fancy kunoichi moves and come back to find the house demolished."

"We'll behave. It's Uncle Alan you'll have to worry about. I'm sure those poor people on the shuttle cruise won't know what hit them when he gets on board."

"Yeah, that's probably true," he said. "Oh, and if you borrow one of the other TARDISes, no joyriding across time and space."

"Yes, Dad," Tara said, rolling her eyes. "Will you get going? I think Mom is waiting for you in the TARDIS."

He sighed.

"Oh, alright, since no one wants me, I'll skidoo outta here. I'll see you when we get back."

He gave her a kiss and a hug. He looked around for Emi.

"Em? I'm leaving! Where are you?" he called out.

"I'm watching Uncle Alan's dance routine," she called out from downstairs.

"Dance routine?" the Doctor muttered.

"I'm telling ya, Dad. Those poor people on the shuttle are about to get the shock of their lives," Tara said, grabbing his suitcase while he followed him out of his room.

As they went down the stairs, they saw Rose coming out of the hallway while Emi laughed hysterically.

"Alan's in there with his Ipod making an arse of himself, but that's pretty much par for the course with em," she said to the Doctor.

Suddenly, Emi stepped aside while Alan boogied out the bedroom door singing Wang Chung's Let's Go at the top of his lungs while he listened to the song on his Ipod. Since he had his ear buds in, they only heard his loud and off-key singing while he bopped his body over to Rose. Reaching her, he jabbed his finger repeatedly at the garage door while he bellowed…

Let's go, baby, let's go, baby, come on.  
'Cause baby, I want your love.  
Let's go, baby, let's go, baby, come on.  
'Cause baby, I'm saying,  
Take your cue from me now.  
I'm saying baby, let's go.  
Will you listen to me,  
I'm saying, baby, come on now.  
Let's go 'cause we can't hold back no more.  
There's no way!

"I think he's signaling that it's time for us to leave," Rose said dryly while Alan grabbed her shoulders from behind and swayed back and forth to the beat.

Meet me on the dance floor and we'll dance to the rhythm.  
Get your feet in motion and we'll dance to the rhythm.  
Dance to the rhythm.  
Dance to the rhythm of love!

Oh, baby!  
Let's go, baby, let's go, baby, come on!  
'Cause baby, I want your love!

"What the hell is that noise?" Rain said, opening the garage door and peeking in. "Sounds like a dying cow and…oh, it's Snotbag's crappy singing. No wonder."

They laughed when she slammed the door when Alan started to go after her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After getting into separate TARDISes, Alan and Rose flew to Astro Eleven so they could catch the space shuttle, Quasar, for a shuttle flight to the tropical planet of Torros. Alan still had his Ipod with him and was listening to his songs while they walked through the shiny metal terminal towards their gate.

Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl.  
With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there.  
She would meringue and do the cha-cha.  
And while she tried to be a star,  
Tony always tended bar.  
Across the crowded floor, they worked from 8 till 4.  
They were young and they had each other.  
Who could ask for more?

"Alan, why do you have that in your playlist?" Rose asked.

Alan took an ear bud out.

"Why wouldn't I have it in my playlist? Copacabana is a classic," he said.

"Well can you just hum it? I'm sure the other people in the shuttleport don't wanna hear you sing it."

Alan shrugged, put his ear bud back in and hummed to himself while they walked towards their gate. He paused a moment to take his Ipod out of his trouser pocket, select another song and put it back in his pocket while they walked. He began to quietly warble Peter Schilling's Major Tom to Rose while she listened. Halfway through the song, she looked at him.

"Um, this song seems to be about a spaceship malfunctioning in space," she said.

"Yes, it's based on David Bowie's Major Tom," Alan said. "Basically a retelling of the song by a German bloke."

"You're about to board a shuttle and you're listening to a song about a spaceship disaster?" Rose said incredulously.

Alan shrugged.

"Singing about a spaceship disaster doesn't make it so," he said to her. "I'm not superstitious like that. I welcome the threat of danger. I laugh at the threat of danger; I put the threat of danger between two buttered slices of bread and have a threat of danger butty. Let any god out there hear my song and try to crash our shuttle. I will laugh at him, call him a wanker and kick his divine arse. I am supreme!"

"If you say so, Alan," Rose said.

She squealed when Alan tickled her sides.

"Now, now, we're not to have any sour, caustic behavior today or I'll tickle your ribs like a xylophone," he said to her. "We are going to have a nice holiday away from the kids and the family and we're gonna enjoy every single solitary iota of it, is that clear, misses?"

"Crystal!" she said.

He grinned and gave her a kiss.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor and Rain stood together in a large concrete room. They were among a large crowd, all waiting to board a cruise ship that was going to sail the mercury ocean of Watusa Rota and eventually land at a luxury resort nestled deep within a mountain range on the airless moon.

"So let me get this straight," Rain said while the Doctor took out his glasses, checked their boarding passes and perused a small brochure that was included with it. "This ship will have some kind of force field around it that will keep the air in so we can actually breathe?"

"Only around the deck areas and the top of the ship. The windows along the sides are airtight so there's no need to protect them."

"Are you sure? I mean I would rather they went a bit overboard with the safety measures than have a window shatter and we all asphyxiate," Rain said.

"As far as I know, they're shatterproof," the Doctor said. "I don't think that's the biggest threat anyway. Space pirates are a bigger threat."

Rain raised her eyebrow.

"You're kiddin' me," she said. "We might be attacked by pirates?"

"Well, they have precautions for that as well. They have ion cannons and the force shield requires a password to deactivate. If you think about it, it's no different from your time. Back in 2008, they had Somali pirates hijacking ships, didn't they?"

"I think so."

The Doctor shrugged.

"Well, I think you'll find that most eras have pirates if there are ships for them to attack. Trust me, Latara, we'll be alright. Like I said, they know the danger and have precautions against them. Just relax and enjoy our first class cabin…that apparently has a seafood bar filled with fresh seafood, hmm."

"And how much extra will that cost us?"

"Dunno, just had the same thought. Best check into that before we get something from it. Because I have a feeling there might be pirates among the staff as well waiting to charge us five hundred credits if we so much as sneeze on a prawn."

"And of course you with the unlimited credit stick and magic money wallet has reason to worry about five hundred credit prawns," she said.

"I know I have unlimited cash and credit but I still don't wanna pay that much for a single measly piece of seafood," he said. "It's the principle of the thing, daylight robbery and all that. I have to draw the line somewhere."

Rain took the boarding passes from him and looked at the amenities listed in the brochure.

"Did you see this listing about the opera tonight?" she said to him.

"Yeah, Gruntelli's Bologio. I've seen it before, not bad. Kinda slow at the beginning but it picks up after the evisceration of the chieftain's virgin daughter."

Rain stared at him and he stared back at her.

"What?" he finally said.

"I can never tell if you're bullshitting me or not, Thete. That's one of your talents."

"I'm not bullshitting ya. That's in the opera. If you don't believe me, we'll go to it tonight and I'll show ya."

"Good because I brought along a little something in my suitcase. I asked the TARDIS to design an outfit for you."

The Doctor gave her an odd look.

"Design an outfit for me, why?" he said.

"Because, Thete, you're always wearing brown and blue suits. For a hundred and ten years I've really only seen you wear brown and blue so I decided I wanted to see you in something else just to see what it looks like."

"And that something else would be…"

"A secret. But don't worry, it's a suit. Just a color combination you're not used to wearing but I have a feeling it will make you look meeeeega sexy and since this is a cruise, I thought I'd add to the whole pleasurable atmosphere of our trip and sex you up a bit."

She giggled when the Doctor raised his eyebrow at that.

"Okay, now I'm scared," he said while she giggled. "I'm beginning to wonder just what this suit looks like and indeed how much of the suit will be covering my body because I suddenly have a vision of me wearing a jacket, Y-fronts and nothing else."

"No, it's a bit more discrete than that."

"A bit?" he said while she snickered. "How much is a bit? I'm wearing socks with the underwear and jacket, is that it?"

"You'll see, Thete."

She grinned.

"Although," she purred in his ear. "I like the idea of ditching the jacket and you just being in your undies and socks. Now that would be something to see."

She laughed when the Doctor made a show of clamping his hands over his groin. He winked and gave her a kiss. He paused when they heard a woman's voice on the tannoy system announcing the boarding of the ship and they picked up their suitcases and followed the crowd.


	246. Chapter 246

Chapter Two Hundred and Forty Six

After finding their seats and stowing their tote bags in an overhead compartment. Alan and Rose sat down in their cushioned seats in the first class section of the space shuttle. The seats were roomy and each one had a tray table in the back along with a small pouch for magazines. Rose opened the pouch and looked at the selection while Alan fiddled with his Ipod. While he was scrolling through his songs, he noticed Rose pause out of the corner of his eye and pull out a magazine.

"Find something to read, Starlight?" he said.

"Um…not exactly, no."

He turned his attention to her and she held up the magazine.

"I don't think I wanna read Space Whores," she said, pointing to the half naked green alien woman on the cover.

The woman had four breasts, all exposed. She was lounging on a clear plastic deck chair. Her hand was cupping the top right breast while her long snake-like tongue was licking the top left one. Further down she had a black towel draped discretely around her genital area but that was it for any covering. Rose looked around and noticed several children, human and alien, was in the first class section with them.

"They have this where children can see it?" she said in disbelief.

"Well, I assume the children will be supervised," Alan said. "Besides, most planets aren't quite as prudish as Earth. Breasts aren't that big a deal on other planets. Her genital area is covered, see, and…hullo…this looks promising…"

Rose's eyes boggled when he took the magazine from her and began to thumb through it.

"Alan!" she hissed while she stared at the photos of naked and aroused alien women while he flipped through the magazine.

"What?" he said, finally coming to an article near the back.

Rose glanced at the article and noticed the title of it was…

STRIFE AMONGST THE SANDS. THE SAD AFFAIR OF THE BYRINGIA SPICE WAR.

"I remember hearing about this before. The Byringians are trying to defend their planet from spice raiders and…"

He paused and narrowed his eyes.

"Wait a tic, you thought I was gonna look at the nudes, weren't ya?" he said.

Rose blushed and coughed when Alan laid the magazine across his lap and folded his hands on it while he waited for her response.

"Well, ya know, most people who say they read these magazines for the articles are usually lyin'," she finally said.

"Well, I'm not one of those people," he sniffed. "This particular article title caught my eye while you were busy being scandalized by Green Girl on the front. I have eyes for you and only you, for shame, Rose Timelord."

"Sorry," Rose muttered.

Alan gave her a wicked grin and flipped to a photo of a nude tiger lady.

"Although this woman is a looker," he said, showing her the photo. "Check out the gazungas on that feline frame. I'd love to play Mowgli to her Shere Kahn all night long!"

He giggled when Rose swatted his arm and gave her a kiss on the cheek while he turned back to the article. Rose tried to find something to read in the pouch and gave up when nothing interested her.

"Here, my love," Alan said, handing her his Ipod. "At least you won't be completely bored."

She took it from him and scrolled through the songs reading the titles with amusement when she noticed that he had everything from 1960's bubblegum to classical music and even a few theme songs to television shows.

"You have an eclectic taste in music, that's for sure," Rose said to him.

"Why only taste one type of music when you can have the whole universal buffet?" he said to her. "I am a connoisseur of good songs. I think you'll find Brother is the same way, my poppet."

Finally everyone was inside the shuttle. They closed the doors and a woman came to the front of the seats. She had pale pink skin with long blonde hair that was tied up in a tight bun and pale blue eyes. She was wearing the shuttle crew uniform, a tight blue Lycra jumpsuit that had a small patch on her right side that indicated she was a flight attendant. The woman was young, barely out of her teens, and had a severe case of the giggles. Rose sat the Ipod on her lap while she and Alan gave her their full attention.

"Okay," she said." Welcome to the Quasar, I'm your flight attendant, Moomu."

_Moomu? _Rose thought to Alan while he held back his laughter.

"Okay, I'm gonna run through a few safety procedures for all ya fine people in here," she said in an airhead tone of voice. "Now, like I said, I'm a flight attendant which is what my little old patch says right here! Isn't it cute?"

Rose glanced at Alan and rolled her eyes while he snickered softly.

"Now there are several other flight attendants inside this shuttle, but ya'll know I'm the best, right?"

Alan put his hand over his mouth when it got so quiet he swore he could hear crickets chirp. Moomu wasn't fazed by that. She laughed at her own remark and went right on with her spiel. She opened a compartment beside her and pulled out an unattached oxygen mask.

"Now! This is your oxygen mask. You put it on when there's no oxygen in the cabin!"

Rose slammed her hand over her mouth when she suddenly heard Alan telepathically saying…

_Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-ah!_

Rose fought to keep her composure while Moomu put the oxygen mask back and pulled a bodysuit made of plastic out of it.

"Now, this is your survival suit. If there's a danger of being sucked out into space, you put this on and you can survive for up to six hours in space while a homing beacon that's sewn into the plastic is sent to the rescue crews and they come pick you up. Now it's very easy to put the suit on and I'll demonstrate it now!"

People began to giggle when she tried to find the zipper on the back of it.

_Oh yeah, we'll have plenty of time to put this on before we're sucked out through the large hole in the shuttle to our deaths,_ Alan thought to Rose while she bit her lip.

Moomu finally found the zipper and unzipped it. Then they watched while she slowly struggled to get her body into the tight bodysuit and get it zipped up.

_Blast, I don't have a stopwatch handy, I wanna time this,_ Alan thought to Rose while they watched her try to zip up the back.

She finally got it zipped up and put the plastic hood over her head and zipped it closed around the neck.

"There!" she said when she finally got it on.

"Yeah and all that after ten minutes of mucking with it," a man near the back said. "How long you think we're gonna have before we get sucked out the hole because I'm thinking not long."

"Well, this is actually an old suit. I've put it on and taken it off so many times that it's old and worn and the zipper's slightly stuck," she said sheepishly. "But all of you will have new suits and you'll get them on with no problem, okay? Okay, let's move on! Now, the exits are to the front and rear of the shuttle unless we do blow a hole in the cabin and then you'll have another exit, right?"

No one laughed with her.

"Just kidding, ya'll," she said. "If you have any questions, feel free to ask me or any of the others. We're all so glad you just decided to come on board today and we're all gonna have so much fun, right? It's just gonna be a big ole party in here, ya'll, so live it up!"

The Doctor bit his lip when he glanced around and saw the rolling eyes and heard the snorts of his fellow passengers. He looked at Moomu who didn't seem to notice it while she took the suit off and stowed it back in the compartment.

"Okay, ya'll fasten your safety belts and prepare for liftoff and seriously, ya'll are just the nicest group of people I've ever given a safety lecture to. I just wanna tell ya that."

_I now realize that humankind aren't the only ones who have dumb blondes_, Rose thought to Alan.

_Now, now, Starlight, she's just tryin' to be friendly. She failed miserably at it but she tried,_ Alan thought to her_. I'm sure she's had to do this same lecture thousands of times and she's just trying to make it fun for everyone._

_Thank God her little safety lecture is over, that's all I'm gonna say,_ Rose thought while she picked the Ipod back up.

Alan picked up her magazine and began to read the article while everyone else fastened their restraints and prepared for shuttle liftoff.


	247. Chapter 247

Chapter Two Hundred and Forty Seven

After boarding through an opening in the side of the hull, it was closed and the ship set sail across the mercury ocean. The Doctor and Rain found their cabin, went inside and began to unpack. Rain tried to hide the contents of her suitcase from her husband but she finally gave up when he wouldn't stop trying to peek over her shoulder.

"Very well, if you're so eager to see your new suit, then you can try it on for me then," she said, pointing to the bathroom on the right side of the room.

The Doctor watched with interest while she pulled out a wrapped package and handed it to him.

"Good thing these suitcases are bigger on the inside," she said. "Now this contains all the pieces of your special outfit, be a sport and put them on for me."

She kissed his cheek and turned back to her suitcase while the Doctor carried the package into the bathroom and closed the door.

"Okay, what kinky outfit did my wife dream up?" he muttered while he tore open the package.

He picked up a pair of jet black dress shoes, made a face and set them aside. The next thing he picked up was a jet black suit jacket. He held it up by the shoulders appraising it.

"Not bad," he muttered.

He pulled out a pair of matching jet black trousers and then a dark maroon shirt. Finally he picked up a jet black solid tie.

"Fetish for black, my love?" he muttered to himself. "What's this? No twenty caliber pistol to go with my mafia outfit? Hmm, then again, could have been worse. I just wish she wouldn't have thought of the uncomfortable shoes but I love her and I'll humor her tonight."

He began to strip.

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After he finished putting everything on, he stared at himself in the mirror over the sink while he straightened his tie. He stepped back and put his hands in his trouser pockets while he turned slightly to the left and right.

"Not bad, not bad, apart from the shoes, it's not a bad look," he muttered. "Don't know if I'll keep it permanently but if it makes my Latara happy, I'll wear it for her."

He opened the door and stopped dead in his tracks. Rain was now dressed in a jet black evening gown with matching gloves that went up past her elbow and black panty hose and pumps.

"Ooo, I definitely approve," Rain said, eyeing him with lust.

"As do I," the Doctor said, eyeing her the same way.

"Well, I heard your bellyaching in there about having to wear an unfamiliar suit so I thought I would give you a treat," she said.

The Doctor came to her. He pulled her long hair back exposing the right side of her neck. Rain held his sides while he began to gently kiss from her neck up to her cheek. Once he was at the cheek, he lingered for a moment, smelling the scent of jasmine perfume that she had added to her ensemble. He ran his hand down her other cheek while he leaned into her ear.

"You have the power to make me weak at the knees and hold my hearts in your thrall. Not many people have accomplished that, you know."

"Is Rose one of those people?"

"Mm, once upon a time, yes, but she belongs to another now while you, my love, belong only to me."

Rain sighed while he leaned into her neck and began to kiss and suck her soft flesh. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and the Doctor bit back a curse. Rain kissed his cheek and briefly stroked it, soothing his anger before answering the door. She opened it and noticed a woman wearing a maid's uniform handed her a neatly folded bundle of linen.

"There you go, will you need anything else?" she said.

"No, we're fine," she said to her.

"Very good, Miss. There's an intercom on the wall beside the bed. Push the button if you need assistance."

"Thank you."

The maid bowed and walked to the left. A moment later, Rain saw her pushing a linen cart to the next room and she shut the door. Rain turned to the Doctor with the linen.

"We have towels," she said to him.

"Good job you were here or the maid would have had a black eye in exchange for the towels," he said to her.

She raised her eyebrow and threw the linen at him which he promptly caught.

"Cool your jets, Loverboy. We'll have plenty of time tonight for play," she purred. "For now, let's go eat and watch an evisceration."

"Yes, Ma'am," the Doctor said, saluting while he walked to the bathroom.

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They ate in a luxury dining hall on the top deck of the ship. Both of them turned heads the moment they entered the double doors.

"Now see, you make quite an impression when you aren't a total slob," she said.

"Oi, look who's talking, Miss Jeans and T-Shirts," he said.

Rain gave her husband another appraising look and moaned softly in her throat.

"Cool your jets, Lovergirl. We'll have plenty of time tonight for play!" the Doctor teased while they walked over to an empty table.

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After they ate, they headed down below to a large theater. The Doctor paid for a private box and they climbed the stairs to it. It was situated on the left side of the theater right over the stage. As Rain sat down, the Doctor closed the door and quietly took his sonic screwdriver out of his jacket pocket, locking the door. He put it back inside before he made his way down to the seats in front and took Rain's hand.

"No, back here, closer to the door," he said to her. "Trust me, the opera isn't that great. I have something much more interesting in store for you."

Rain's eyes widened in understanding and the Doctor kissed the back of her hand while she stood up and followed him to the second row of seats. She sat down beside him and he glanced around, making sure they weren't being seen by the other people in the boxes beside and across from them. Once he was satisfied they were hidden by the darkness, he moved Rain's hair back again and resumed his tender kisses on her neck while she moaned low in her throat.

"Oh Thete," she moaned.

He chuckled in her ear.

"You're the only one who ever made that name sound wonderful to me," he murmured in her ear. "You say it so gently, so lovingly. It's why I entrusted it to you and no one else."

Rain smiled. She turned her head, nuzzled his cheek with her nose and leaned into his ear. A smile spread across the Doctor's face when she whispered his true name in his ear and he kissed her cheek before he leaned into her ear.

"And that name as well," he whispered. "Your voice is like a song, a melody that floats on the wind and impairs all my senses the moment I hear it."

"Oh Thete, that's so beautiful," Rain moaned.

"Thanks, I nicked it from Jack."

He giggled when she pushed his chest playfully. He held his head immobile while she kissed his neck and face. Suddenly, they heard someone talking outside the door and Rain gasped while she jerked her head towards it.

"No, shhhh, I locked the door with my screwdriver. No one can come in, just continue," he whispered.

He grinned when she let out a sigh of relief.

"What? You didn't think I'd be daft enough to leave that unlocked, did ya?" he said. "I did realize what we would be doing in here tonight and it wasn't watching the boring, stuffy old opera."

He lowered his head to the area above her strapless dress and began to kiss it while Rain rubbed the back of his head. While he was doing that, he reached around, unzipped her dress slightly and pulled her left breast out of the dress so he could kiss and fondle it. At that very moment, the opera started and the audience applauded while the conductor stepped up to his podium.

"Why, thank you for the applause, I am quite adept at breast fondling," the Doctor said while Rain giggled.

He continued his fondling, trying to keep a straight face while Rain kept giggling at the high-pitched opera singers below them.

"You know," the Doctor whispered in her ear. "I know this opera pretty well and if we shag one another, I can time the climax to one of the long, high notes."

"Oh yeah, right."

"I can. I'm brilliant. I've known you for over a hundred and twenty years. You don't think I know how to time your orgasms by now? I could do it and no one would be the wiser when you screamed along with the singer."

Rain grinned.

"You know, I love it when you talk dirty, you horny little space alien, you."

He waggled his eyebrows and nipped at her earlobe. He began to suck on her earlobe while she moaned and rubbed his back. While they continued to make out, the opera went on below them.

"Here he cooooomes, the chieftain!" a male singer sang in a falsetto voice.

"Yes, I am here! And I have brought my daaaaaaughteeeeeeeeer!" the chieftain sang.

Rain giggled and leaned into his ear.

"Is this the scene where the virgin daughter gets eviscerated?" she muttered to the Doctor.

The Doctor came up for air long enough to look at the stage.

"Just about," he said before he resumed working on his love bite.

"Your daaaaaaaaaaaaaughteeeeeeeeeeer must die!" the male sang.

"No, father, spare my life!" a woman sang.

"No, you must sacrifice your life for the goooooood of the kingdoooooooooooom!" the chieftain sang.

"No!" the woman sang.

"Yes!" the chieftain sang back.

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!"

The Doctor looked at Rain when she snorted out laughter.

"Oi, pay attention to me, Missy! I'm tryin' to pleasure ya here!" he said, amused.

"I can't help it. It's a little hard to concentrate when they're singing right below us."

"You mean to tell me that I'm right here being romantic and givin' ya a good time and you can't tune that rubbish out?" the Doctor said, pointing to the stage.

"Maybe I could tune it out if they weren't singing several octaves above the glass shattering range, Thete."

The Doctor sighed and shook his head.

"I can't believe you aren't able to pay attention to me. I'm much more brilliant than any opera singer."

"Father, I beg you, don't kill me and spill my innards upon the groooooooooound!"

Both of them sniggered.

"Then again, this is a pretty odd thing to snog to," he said to her.

Rain leaned up slightly and noticed that the woman playing the daughter was now on a stone altar while her father stood over her, thrusting a dagger into the air while he sang about sacrificing her.

"What exactly is this opera about, Thete?" she said.

"Um…the father here kills the daughter and she comes back as a ghost to seek her revenge or something like that," he said dismissively. "It's complete rubbish. The man who wrote it was mad as a hatter. Took enough drugs every day to kill a horse and wrote what he saw in his hallucinations. Unfortunately, he was a Poule and Poules aren't known for having discerning eyes when it comes to opera or art in general and they thought this thing was a masterpiece when it was first shown. Apparently, the staff here thinks the same. That's why I was trying to distract you from it but I guess an evisceration is more interesting than I am."

"Well, I'm sorry, Mister Jealousy, if I can't concentrate while this is going on," Rain teased. "Next time get a box that's not directly over the stage."

"Oh, I will. In fact, I'll break into the captain's quarters and shag ya there so we can boast about it," he said.

They watched while the chieftain pretended to kill the woman and then sang about how it was a suitable sacrifice to the gods while he pretended to carve her up.

"There, the evisceration scene is finished. Can we go back to our snogging now?" the Doctor asked.

"Oh, if we must," Rain said, letting out a mock sigh.

She settled back in the seat while the Doctor smiled and cupped her face with his hands.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" the chieftain bellowed causing Rain to giggle again.

The Doctor sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I give up, I'm not gonna get anywhere with that git screaming below us," he said to her.

He had an idea and reached into his jacket pocket. He brought out a banana, peeled it and broke off a piece. He fed the piece to Rain and broke off a piece for himself. He fed her and himself while the opera continued.

"There, a little snack and now I'll throw the skin on the chieftain's head for twenty points," the Doctor said when they were finished.

"You do and I'll grab your screwdriver and run out the door."

"Ho ho, try to take it from me, if you can," he said, getting in close to her.

"With pleasure," Rain purred, getting in close to him.

"Tell the servant to watch my horse, I need to go and peeeeeeeeeeee!" the chieftain said below them.

"What?" Rain said while the Doctor sniggered.

"I told ya this thing was pants," the Doctor said. "The man was nuts. Now we get to see the chieftain on the bog while he sings about urinating."

"Are you serious?" Rain said.

"Yes, I'm serious!" he said. "I keep tellin' ya this opera is rubbish."

"Then why did you wanna watch it?"

"I didn't. I was trying to have a go at ya but you keep getting distracted so I gave up. You were the one who was curious about the whole evisceration thing; I was just seeing an advantage to being here."

They paused a moment and snickered when the chieftain started singing about his bowel movement. Rain held up her finger. She put her dress up over her breast and stood up. She looked at the crowd below them.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me," she muttered when she noticed everyone was watching the opera intently.

The Doctor giggled when she sat back down.

"Apparently, they're all easily amused, unlike me," he said to her.

The scene ended and Rain laughed when everyone except them applauded enthusiastically.

"Yeah, I think you're right. I think everyone down there is hard up for entertainment."

The Doctor grinned and leaned in her ear.

"Funny you should mention "hard up"," he whispered.

"You have a foul mouth and a dirty mind, you know that?" she said while he giggled. "I thought you were supposed to be this logical alien that didn't think of things like that."

"Love, I'm logical but I'm not dead," he said. "I am capable of lusting after another person and you…are the object of my lust. You're gorgeous, you're soft and curvy and you're aaaall mine. If I wanna be a dirty old man towards my wife, I will be and you'll love every single second of it."

"Mmm, you're right, I will. Too bad Alan and Rose are stuck on a shuttle with a bunch of people."

"Yes, my thoughts exactly. We were smart. We chose a cruise ship where we can have room to move around and do things like this. I'm sure by now they're being driven insane by screaming babies and cramped legs," he said. "They won't get to be intimate till they get to the beach while we…we can be intimate right here, right now!"

"There! I have finished with my bowel moooooooovement and now I gooooooooooo to waaaaaaaaaar!"

"Or not," the Doctor said while Rain laughed hysterically.


	248. Chapter 248

Chapter Two Hundred and Forty Eight

Tara lay on her bed in her room while she read a book. She paused a moment and listened.

"Man, it's quiet in here now," she muttered. "You can certainly tell when Uncle Alan's left the house."

Bored, she put her bookmark back in her book and laid it on her bedside table. She walked out of her bedroom, checked Emi's room and noticed it was empty. She went downstairs and saw her swimming in the pool. She opened the sliding door.

"Em, I'm bored," she said, stepping outside. "I'm thinking about rounding up a few people and going somewhere in the TARDIS, wanna come?"

"Yeah, let me get dried off. I'm bored too," Emi said, swimming over to the pool ladder. "Do you know who's here and who's on New Gallifrey?"

"Not sure. I know Donna goes with Lee while he helps build the houses and they're there now, other than that, I haven't the foggiest who's around."

Emi climbed out of the pool and walked over to her towel lying on one of the deck chairs.

"Do you think Aunt Donna would be up for an adventure?" Emi asked her. "She usually wants to travel whenever we go somewhere."

"Not sure, but I guess we can call her and ask," Tara said. "I was gonna see if Awinita and Nelak wanted to come with us. They usually wanna go whenever Dad leaves somewhere."

"Contact everyone here and ask who wants to go and I'll call Donna after I get done changing," Emi said to her.

"Gotcha."

Emi went past her into the house while Tara telepathically asked if anyone was interested in going on an adventure with them.

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"Wondered how long it'd take before you guys got bored," Awinita said while Emi and Tara stood in their house.

She and Nelak were sitting on the couch while they, Angel, Elizabeth and Jenny were standing beside them.

"This is it?" Tara said.

"Except for Donna. Donna's on New Gallifrey with Lee so we have to go get her," Emi said. "But she wants to go. Everyone else is there helping out except for the grandparents, of course. Donna's gonna ask the others and round up who wants to go before we get there."

"What about Lee?" Nelak said.

"Lee can't. He's helping out with construction," Emi said.

"Lee usually doesn't wanna go anyway. He's more interested in staying home and bedding his wife."

"So am I," Nelak said, tousling his wife's hair. "But traveling with the Doctor all these years gave me a taste for adventure and most of the time I'm up for a little trip."

"Just as long as we don't go joyriding around time and space, Dad's words," Tara said.

"Oh p'shaw, we never do that," Awinita said. "We're responsible time travelers."

"You might be. I'm not so sure about them," Nelak said, pointing to Angel and Elizabeth.

"What's that s'posed to mean?" Angel asked.

"Means you act like your father a bit more than is healthy," Nelak said with a wink.

"Well, ya shouldn't have let him bring us up then," Elizabeth said.

"Well, I s'pose I could go back in time and take you away from him before his manic behavior corrupts you beyond saving but that would be too much of a hassle. Not to mention I don't feel like fighting him since he knows that aikido rubbish," Nelak said.

"I keep tellin' you to badger him to teach it to you," Awinita said.

"Yeah, well that's also a hassle. It takes me away from you," he said.

She grinned and kissed him on the lips.

"Um…we're right here, remember?" Elizabeth said. "We're not interested in watching you snog since snogging usually leads to the mattress mambo and Angel and I just ate lunch."

"Shut up, Lizzy, before I tie you to the frame of our bed and make you watch us," Nelak said.

He sighed and got up.

"Okay, let me run a comb through my hair and then we'll be off to New Gallifrey," he said to them.

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After Nelak ran a comb through his purple hair, they climbed in the TARDIS the Doctor had grown for him and headed to New Gallifrey. Several years after Nelak's friends had been found, everyone had decided to find a planet that wasn't inhabited by any civilizations and create a New Gallifrey. They located a large planet in the Serpentine galaxy that suited their purposes. Most of the planet was covered with lush, green forests and there were oceans, lakes and rivers scattered across the planet. The temperature was similar to Earth's as was the seasons and weather. The planet's wildlife was diverse and numerous but none of them were large enough or vicious enough to pose a threat to them. They scouted the planet and landed on a large continent they christened Kasterborous and started a city they called Gallifrey City. Over the years, they slowly built up their city while the Doctor and Nelak searched for technology that was similar to the looms so their people could reproduce and grow. They finally found it on a planet called Starside Nine whose people were also sterile and reproduced through machines. They hired several scientists to construct their machines on New Gallifrey and instruct them on how to use them. After that, a few of Nelak's friends grew some children and after they were grown, they, along with a few others that had been transformed by the Doctor's crystals, wed and began producing children of their own, allowing Gallifrey City to thrive and become a viable colony. The Doctor's family still lived in their houses but they were building houses of their own in the city so they would have a place to stay and hopefully live someday.

By the time Tara and her family came to fetch Donna, the city numbered about 53 men, women and children. They still knew them all by name but day by day it was getting harder to keep track of everyone and occasionally they would see an unfamiliar child while they walked through the city. Day by day, their minds were becoming filled with the minds of these other Gallifreyans and it wasn't as easy to keep tabs on their family anymore without pulling their minds forward from the mass of buzzing thoughts and feelings. But they didn't mind. They were happy that their people were coming back from the brink of extinction and they finally understood how wonderful it was having so many different minds inside their own.

They parked the TARDIS near the house Donna and Lee were building for themselves and walked inside the half finished structure.

"Donna? Are you here?" Tara called.

They didn't hear anything and Tara pulled her mind forward from the mass.

_Donna? We're here,_ Tara said. _We're inside your house right now._

_I'll be there in a moment, Sweetie, I'm kissing Lee goodbye. I'm just up the street,_ she thought back.

_Is anyone else coming with us?_ Jenny thought to her.

_No, everyone else is busy workin' but Jack told me to tell you to behave yourselves, _Donna thought.

"Heh, speak for yourself, Jack," Awinita muttered.

They milled around the house waiting for Donna to appear. Jenny looked at the crystal chandelier in what would become their dining room.

"That's nice, I wonder where she found this?" she said, pointing to it.

"Don't know but I'm gonna nick it when she's not looking," Elizabeth said with a grin.

"I wouldn't if I were you. Nicking things from Donna isn't good for your health," Jenny said to her.

"Eh, she can get Lee to get her another one," Elizabeth said, shrugging.

"No, I won't," Donna said, stepping into the house. "I had to beg Lee to get that one. He's not into crystal chandeliers. Thinks they're a bit too posh for his liking. But I told him if this is our house, then I want a say in how we decorate it. So don't you dare nick it, Lizzy, or I'll be hangin' you in its place."

She looked around.

"Where's the Doctor and Alan and their wives? Aren't they usually first in the queue when there's an adventure?" she asked.

"That's why we did this. Alan and Rose went on a shuttle trip to the beaches of Torros and Mom and Dad went to Watusa Rota and they're on a cruise ship that'll take them to this mountain resort," Tara said.

"Sounds nice, both trips. I need to get Lee to stop working here long enough to take me somewhere romantic. But he wants to wait until he gets our house finished before he takes a holiday anywhere. I'm useless when it comes to construction so I think I'll be more useful off planet. So…where are we headed then?"

"Um, not sure yet. We just wanted to go somewhere," Tara said.

Donna snorted.

"I know that feelin'. So, I s'pose we put our heads together and think of something?"

"Or we could use the randomizer," Angel said.

Donna held up her hand.

"No! I hate that ruddy thing. I'm not like the Doctor. I like knowin' where we're headin' to. We're not usin' that thing if I'm goin' with ya."

Emi began to giggle.

"What?" Awinita said.

"You know, we could ask the TARDIS to locate Father and land on his cruise ship and just go to the resort with them."

"Oh ho, be stowaways," Nelak said. "What happens if we get caught?"

"We run?" Angel said, shrugging.

"Isn't getting away from us the whole point of Mom and Dad going on the cruise?" Jenny said.

"We can stay away from them. I'm sure it's a big ship, right? We'll land our TARDIS in a cupboard and stay in it. Surely they don't have a way of keeping tracking of everyone on board," Elizabeth said.

"What if they have sensors that go off the minute the TARDIS lands?" Nelak said.

"We go get Dad and let him talk to the police?" Tara said.

"I've got a better idea," Donna said. "Why don't we land at this resort they're gonna be at, book a couple of rooms and wait for them there rather than risk capture on board the ship?"

"Sounds good to me," Awinita said. "I could stay a few days at a resort with my husband."

"I could too but unfortunately for me, that ain't happenin'," Donna said. "I'll just have to enjoy the room by myself."

Tara pulled her mobile out of her pocket.

"Listen guys, before we go any further with this, let's call Dad and ask him because he might wanna be alone with Mom and might not like us being at the resort," she said.

They nodded and sat down on the wooden chairs that Lee had set up in the living room. Tara dialed the Doctor's number. It rang a few times and then she heard him answer it.

"Beeeeeeeeeep!" he said in a high-pitched voice while Rain laughed in the background. "Hello, you have reached the Doctor's mobile. The Doctor is unfortunately unavailable at this time because he's on holiday on the high seas. If you have a monster problem then sort it out yourselves because you are old enough to handle things on your own. If you wanna say hi and make me feel loved then leave your name, number and warm greeting at the sound of the high-pitched annoying beep, BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP! If you want this message repeated to you in Spanish, please press two now, if you want it repeated to you in Tangalang, hang up and find someone who speaks Tangalang and let them tell you what I said."

"Dad!" Tara said while the Doctor and Rain laughed.

"Hello, my Star, sorry about that. Just giving ya fair warning that I'm off the clock so if you are being chased by a monster, you are on your own!"

"No, we're not being chased by a monster," she said.

"Ah, it's warm, loving greetings then. Let's hear em," he said.

"Well, I love you and I miss you."

"Ah, how very nice. I feel the same way on both counts."

"There's something else though..."

"No monsters, I'm off the clock," he said quickly while Rain laughed harder.

"No, we're bored…"

"And you wanna know where the Parcheesi game is. Well, go to the cupboard and it should be under a pile of stuff marked Stuff and…"

"No, Dad, we're on New Gallifrey. Me and Emi and Awinita and Nelak and Jenny and Angel and Elizabeth and Donna…"

"Blimey, that's a lot for Parcheesi. You're gonna have to take turns."

"No, you dweeb, I'm not interested in Parcheesi!" Tara said.

"Dweeb? How dare you call your dear old dad a dweeb and to think I answered this phone hoping to hear warm greetings, not be called a dweeb!"

He chuckled warmly.

"Go ahead, Tara, I'm havin' ya on because I'm in a good mood," he said fondly.

"I'm glad because we were thinking of coming to the resort you're going to but we don't wanna do that if you're gonna be angry."

"Why on Earth would I be angry?" the Doctor said.

"Because you and Mom planned this to get away from us and we didn't want you to be upset when you found us at the resort."

"We wouldn't be upset…"

"What's going on?" she heard Rain say.

The Doctor explained it to her.

"Honey," Rain said, getting on the phone, "if you guys wanna come to the resort, you can. We don't mind."

"Yeah, but you two wanted to be alone," Tara said.

"And we still can be alone but we can also do things together. Neither of us would be upset about that. If you guys wanna come to the resort then come. We're gonna be on the ship a few days anyway and that gives us plenty of time to be alone. Besides it's a big resort from what I understand with lots to do so we can spend some time together and other times split up. I'm sure Awinita and Nelak will want to be alone at some point, right?"

"Damn straight we do!" Awinita said loudly while Nelak chuckled.

Rain laughed.

"I figured as much. Anyway, go ahead and go to the resort and we'll meet you there in a few days time."

"You sure you don't want us to land the TARDIS on the ship?" Elizabeth yelled.

"Let me speak to that kid!" the Doctor said to Rain while Tara giggled.

"Your father wants to speak to that kid," Rain said.

"Hey, That Kid, my dad wants to speak to you," Tara said to Elizabeth while they laughed.

She handed the phone to her.

"Yeeeeeeeeeees?" she said to him.

"Firstly, this ship has a force dome around the top of it. It not only keeps the air in but it also protects against pirates which means they have sophisticated sensors that will pick up any unauthorized craft that tries to penetrate it or lands on board. Which means if you try to land on board, you will most likely get shot by guards thinking you are pirates and your TARDIS will be seized. And if your TARDIS is seized by a non-Time Lord, then I will come to your prison cell, seize your head to make up for the seized TARDIS and mount it in my TARDIS, savvy?"

"Yes, Uncle," she said.

"So, just in case you crazy kids are thinking it might be fun to sneak on board a big ocean liner, don't. I realize sneaking into places is what your father and me love to do but this ship is heavily guarded and it's not worth the risk. I don't know if you were joking about that and if you are, then I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions but I just wanna make it clear that playing stowaway with the space liner is forbidden because then I really will be angry, is that understood?"

"Understood perfectly," she said.

"Good. I'm glad you lot are coming and we'll see you when we reach the resort. I love you all and we'll contact you when we get there and meet in the lobby so we can get a room next to yours, alright?"

"Yup."

"Take care and be careful."

"We will. Have fun, Uncle."

"We will, you too. We gonna go now unless you need something else."

"No, that's the only thing we needed. We just wanted to make sure you wouldn't be upset if we went to the same place you were going to."

"Nope, not upset. I'll be happy to see ya so quit worrying. See ya there!"

"Bye, Uncle."

Elizabeth hung up the phone and repeated what he told her to the others.

"So, is everyone ready then?" Awinita asked when she was finished.

They nodded, got up and left the house to go back to the TARDIS.


	249. Chapter 249

Chapter Two Hundred and Forty Nine

Alan and Rose sat on the shuttle while they ate their peanuts and sipped some hot tea. The restraints sign had been turned off and several people were moving freely about the cabin, mingling with everyone. Alan and Rose had chatted to a few of them but for the most part they just wanted to be left alone while they spoke telepathically to one another.

_I'm so glad you thought of this,_ Rose thought. _I can't wait to get to Torros and lay around on the beaches under the hot sun._

_Well, I was hoping we could do a bit more than lay there, _he thought back._ I was hoping we could have a bit of an anniversary while we were there._

_We just had our anniversary._

_We'll have another one then_, he thought with a wink.

Rose grinned and kissed him.

"Well, if you want to make this another anniversary, who am I to argue?" she purred in his ear.

"I'd watch doin' that, Starlight. The little man gets mighty enthusiastic when he hears your voice and I don't think I can give him some air in first class."

"Oh just throw caution to the wind and gave little man a bit of air," Rose said.

She giggled when he raised his eyebrows.

"Bit frisky, Wifey-poo?" he said to her.

"Well, we're by ourselves, we're on a holiday and you've got a cute face so yes, I am," she said softly.

Alan glanced around at the full cabin.

"I think you need Brother's glasses, we're not alone from my perspective," he said, looking back at her.

"We are because you and I are in our own little world. Sod the rest of the shuttle."

"Well, all righty then!" Alan said while she giggled. "One shuttle sodding coming right up!"

Rose chuckled and kissed his lips. Alan put his lips against her nose and gave her a feather light kiss on the tip.

"You are perfection, my Rose," he whispered to her. "Absolute and utter perfection. A statue of a Greek goddess come to life. I feel like Pygmalion gazing at his ultimate creation…"

"Go on, I'm listenin'," Rose said.

"Your boobies are like two cow's udders and I want to milk them all night long!"

"What?" Rose said while Alan sniggered.

"Moo, my love?" he said while Rose swatted his head. "Shall I quote thee more witty barnyard chat up lines?"

"You know, the Doctor did say this hand had a weak dorsal tubercle," Rose said, pointing to his right hand. "I think when you grew, that translated into a mental defect in your bleedin' noddle because you are bonkers beyond belief."

"Ooo, alliteration, that makes me moist with manly musky…mung! There! I saw your alliteration and raised ya one."

"No ya didn't. Mung isn't a word."

"Yes, it is."

"Oh yeah, what does it mean?"

"Among other things, it's a bean that the Chinese use in their cooking."

"It is not."

"Is so. Mung beans. Ask Mingxia when we get back."

"So…I make you moist with manly, musky, beans that are used in Chinese cooking."

"Yes, you do," he said while she giggled. "You're my magnificent, mesmerizing mung bean."

Rose snickered while he kissed her forehead.

"You're barmy," she said to him.

"Barmy beyond belief?"

"Yes, definitely."

He kissed her lips again. While he did that, he felt someone pulling on his black t-shirt. He broke off the kiss and looked around at a little four year old girl who was standing and staring at him.

"Yeeeeeeeees?" he said.

"You quit being gross!" she said.

"No, I enjoy being gross. You quit being nosy," he said while Rose laughed.

"Nichole, get over here now!" her mother yelled from the back.

"Oops, you've been found out. Better get back there," Alan said to her.

"Nicole, I'm not gonna tell you again!" her mother said.

They watched while Nicole turned and walked towards her mother. Alan jerked his head around.

"Good, I can be gross again!" he said while Rose giggled.

Suddenly, there was an enormous boom that shook the whole cabin. Everyone screamed as the shuttle began to lose control and tip downwards. The restraint light came back on and both Alan and Rose had just enough time to buckle themselves in before another boom shook the cabin and it began to spin around and around. Alan gasped when several unrestrained passengers began to fall around the cabin like balls during a lotto. His horror increased when he noticed one of them was a small baby who after a few rotations was now hurtling through the air lifeless. The oxygen masks fell from the ceiling and both Alan and Rose managed to get them on when the cabin finally righted. Alan looked back and noticed the unrestrained passengers were for the most part lying in the aisle along with vomit from sick passengers.

"Oh God, Alan, what happened?" Rose said.

"I don't know, but whatever it was, I hope we live through it," he replied.

He noticed no one was moving to help the fallen passengers for fear of the cabin moving again and he finally took the initiative, undid his restraint and threw off his oxygen mask. His action spurred others to act and Rose and several more people came out of their seats checking them for signs of life. Alan checked the infant and swallowed hard when he couldn't find any signs of life in the broken body. He looked around at the other passengers.

"Whose baby is this?" he said to them.

"I…think it was hers," a woman said, pointing to a woman lying in the aisle near him.

He crawled to her but he could tell from her lifeless eyes and the odd angle of her neck that she was also dead.

"Are any of these people alive?" he asked the others.

"This man is," a woman said to him.

"And she is," another woman said, cradling a woman's head in her lap while she groaned.

"I think everyone else is dead," Rose said to him.

Alan counted. Two injured and ten dead with three flight attendants among them. He looked around but couldn't see any other flight attendants or staff.

"What's going on? Why hasn't anyone told us what's going on here?" Alan muttered.

He got up and went to the cockpit door. He banged on it.

"Open up! I demand to see someone!" he yelled.

There was no answer so he whipped out his screwdriver and used it on the lock. He heard it unlock and he threw open the door. The pilot jerked his head around when he entered.

"What are you doing in here? How did you get in here, the door was locked!" he said to him.

Alan looked down. The rest of the flight attendants and the co-pilot were lying on the floor, injured, but alive. He noticed Moomu was near the door, her leg twisted at an odd angle while she groaned in pain. Alan closed the door and walked over to the pilot.

"Never mind that, what happened? What's going on? I can help!" he said to him.

"There were two explosions in the cargo hold. Bombs we think," the pilot said to him. "We're gonna have to make an emergency landing on the nearest planet but the landing gears been crippled so I'm gonna have to find a soft place to crash."

"Do you have any medical supplies? I can help the injured but you have to know that there are ten dead out there. They weren't restrained and fell around the cabin when you went into the spin.

The pilot closed his eyes in anguish and Alan put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

"Just let me help. I can help," he said to him.

"There are first aid kits in the back of the shuttle. In a little compartment next to the lavatory. Here's the key for it," he said, pulling a key ring with several keys on it out of his pocket.

He quickly found the correct key and gave it to him.

"What's your name?" Alan asked him.

"Morris."

"Morris, I'm Alan. Just keep calm and look for a place to land and I'll tend to the wounded," he said to him.

He nodded and Alan patted his shoulder before he hurried outside the cockpit.

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When he came back with the first aid kit, Rose came with him. She helped mend the wounded while Alan and a few others brought the man and the woman inside the cockpit so they could be helped at the same time.

"The dead, where can we put them?" Alan asked Morris.

"For the moment, you might have to lay them in the lavatory," he said. "If the bomb went off in the cargo hold, we can't put them there. I hate to put them in the lavatory but we need the aisle clear especially if we're gonna crash land."

"I agree. And I'm sure they'll forgive the indignity of being stored in the loo," Alan said to him.

He went back out and with the help of several others put the bodies in the lavatory and shut the door when they were done. He walked up to the front with another man named Garth who was a medical doctor. He, Alan and Rose tended to the injured while Morris kept radioing for help, letting the rescue teams know their position. They got around to Moomu and tried to set her leg as best they could while she groaned in pain. Moomu looked at them.

"Ya'll really should have the survival suits on, everyone needs to put them on if there are bombs goin' off," she groaned.

"She's right, the next one could blow a hole in the hull," Alan said.

Morris got on the intercom and instructed everyone to put on the survival suits while Alan went to get some for him and the others in the cockpit. When he came back, Rose tugged on his hand.

"I think we should ring the Doctor and tell him," Rose said to him. "Just in case. If we crash somewhere, he can come and get us."

"Good idea, keep working here. I'll ring him," he said.

Rose nodded and squeezed his hand while he gave her a kiss on the cheek. He pulled his mobile out while the others struggled into their survival suits and helped the injured into theirs.

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Rain stood at the railing by herself waiting while her husband used the lavatory below deck. She was looking out at the shimmering mercury while the ship slowly sailed through it. A moon was high above and just like Earth; the light from it illuminated the rocky, dusty terrain and the ocean, giving the scenery an eerie, unearthly beauty. She hesitated a moment and then put her hand out. She leaned over the railing looking for the force field. She finally found it about a foot away from the railing and knocked on it.

"It's there."

She looked back to see the Doctor standing behind her.

"If it wasn't there, we'd be dead," he said, coming up beside her.

He leaned over the railing with her and looked at the mercury below.

"Beautiful, eh? They say the first emperor of China was buried in an underground mausoleum that was a scale model of his kingdom with diamonds for the stars in the night sky they painted on the ceiling and mercury to represent the lake below it because mercury is viscous and shimmers like this. I think it would be beautiful to see the inside of his tomb."

"Beautiful and deadly with the mercury inside it," Rain said.

"Yup, that too," he said to her.

He glanced at her and noticed she was lost in thought while she stared out at the scenery.

"Penny for your thoughts?" he finally said.

"I was just thinking. Why did they come here?"

"Who?"

"The people who run this place. I mean, it's nice and the ocean is beautiful but…you can't get close to it or touch it without dying. And you can't go out and actually touch the terrain without protection of some kind. Back before I met you, Bro told us the story of Midnight and what happened there."

She laid a hand on his back when he involuntarily shuddered at that. She drew nearer to him and rubbed his back.

"I didn't mean to stir up bad memories of that day, Thete. But my point is Midnight is the same as this planet. You couldn't go outside because you'd be vaporized in seconds but yet, they built that leisure palace thing there and gave tours to the waterfalls from inside a steel tank. And I remember listening to Bro talk about that and thinking why would you build somewhere where you couldn't go outside and enjoy the scenery? Same with this place. Every other resort we've been to we could go outside and walk around and touch the plants and interact with everything. This place…apart from the ocean, there's nothing here. I don't know, seems a very strange place to have a business."

"I agree. You're right. It was the same thing on Midnight. No one had ever laid hands on the planet and everything had to be seen through protective glass. We couldn't even see out the windows of the crusader vehicle because even that glimpse was deemed too dangerous. I had to convince the driver and mechanic to open the shields for just a quick peek at the landscape. And it is a bit boring being on the ship and I'm sure the resort will be enclosed like this as well. I know they have tours inside the mountain it's nestled in but like you said; we will be in spacesuits while we do that. I think people put resorts and tours in places like this because they can. Because they have the technology to do it, same as Midnight. You were looking at everything through fifteen feet of glass but hey, we're the first humans to set foot here, hurray for us! It's that same spirit of adventure that led those researchers to Krop Tor and compelled them to dig down to what they thought was a power source. Because it was there and because we can because we have the technology to do so mentality they possessed."

"But looking back on that and Midnight, I can't help thinking that maybe there's something here too? I mean, they thought Krop Tor was deserted and you found that demon and they thought Midnight was deserted and that…whatever it was came in the vehicle and possessed Sky. What if there's something out there hiding in the rocks or the mercury and it has yet to show itself?"

The Doctor sighed.

"Then I s'pose if that's the case, the staff will find out eventually," he said to her. "It's dangerous to go onto an uninhabited planet or moon and set up a business or venture while you just assume nothing can live there because there's no air or heat or there's a killer star that's providing light for the planet. But some humans just charge headlong into something without thinking that it might be prudent to check it out first and then they find out to their cost that it wasn't a good idea to go there in the first place. It's not just those two places we've mentioned, Latara, I've seen it happen numerous times in my lifetimes and I'm sure I'll see it again and again until I finally die. All we can hope for right now is that we can get to the resort and get back home again without something like that happening to us."

The mobile rang.

"I'm sure that's Tara telling us they've arrived at the resort," he said to her.

He reached into his pocket, pulled out the mobile and answered it.

"Hello, you lot, you at the resort now?" the Doctor said.

"No, we're on the shuttle, Brother."

"Oh! Sorry, Alan, Tara rang me earlier. A bunch of the young-uns were bored and they're gonna take Nelak's TARDIS to the resort we're goin' to. I figured that was her calling back to say they've arrived. Are you enjoying your holiday?"

"Sadly, no, not anymore."

The Doctor suddenly turned serious.

"What's wrong?" he said.

Alan explained the situation.

"Oh God," the Doctor said when he finished. "I'm glad there wasn't more loss of life than that and you and Rose and the rest of the passengers and crew are alright. The pilot is still able to fly then?"

"Yes, he's looking for a place to land now but it's gonna be a rough landing without the landing gear. Listen; can you come get us wherever he decides to land?"

"I can't my TARDIS is back on the other shore and I accidentally left the manipulator at home in one of my other trousers. I can ring Tara and ask her to come and get you," he said.

"Can you? Morris is radioing a rescue crew to come get us but I'd rather have a TARDIS pick us up especially if we end up injured after the landing."

The Doctor swallowed hard. Rain, who could hear what he was saying, put her arm around his back. There was a pause.

"I can guess what you're thinking, Brother, and I want you to quit worrying. We'll get through this in one piece. Neither of us are dying on you now, alright? I wasn't trying to upset your holiday; I just wanted you to be aware of what was going on."

"Well, thank you for doing that. Please, please, please call me the moment you land somewhere or the moment you find out what planet's he landing at so I can send help for you and the others."

"I will, I promise. Just enjoy your holiday, alright? I know what to do and I swear Rose and I will come out of this in one piece. I will ring ya as soon as I know anything more about our situation."

"Okay, just be careful, please."

"Will do. You be careful as well. Don't get so bored you start badgering the captain to let you steer the ship."

The Doctor chuckled.

"I might just do that, I'm a bit of a loose cannon, ya know."

"Yup, exactly why I said that. Listen, I need to go. I need to get this idiotic survival suit on just in case I take an unscheduled spacewalk. But after we land and I give the people in charge of the shuttle a stern lecture about proper cargo screening procedures, I'll call ya back."

The Doctor smiled at that.

"I love you, Brother and tell Rose I love her as well."

"Aw, I love you too, always have, and I will definitely tell Rose that. Tell Snotbag burn in Hell and I love her, in that order."

"Oh hardy har har!" Rain said.

"She just heard ya, Brother."

"Let me speak to her then."

The Doctor handed the mobile to Rain.

"Burn in Hell and I love you too," Rain said to him while the Doctor chuckled.

Alan giggled.

"I was havin' ya on about the burning in Hell part, obviously. I love ya, Sis. And you don't worry about us either. And you make sure Brother doesn't worry because I know he will. The last thing you need is a nervous Time Lord making you frazzled along with him. Just…keep calm; this isn't the first time things have gone awry. I promise I will call when I have more information and let you know where we're gonna land. At the moment there's nothing around us but I can see planets or moons in the distance and we're heading towards that. Trust me; I'll be back, making your life a living hell a lot sooner than you think. I love ya, Sis."

"I love you too, Bro."

"Well, I better get off the phone or I'll never get off it. I love you both. Goodbye."

"Bye, Bro."

He hung up and Rain folded the phone up and handed it back to the Doctor. She embraced him after he put it back in his pocket.

"They'll be okay, Love. I know they will," she said, rubbing his back while the Doctor sighed softly.


	250. Chapter 250

Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty

Nelak piloted his TARDIS while the others stood around the console. He had asked his TARDIS to locate the resort on Torros and it was currently flying towards it.

"So this moon has no atmosphere, I gather?" Donna said. "Which means if we go outside, we'll have to wear those bulky spacesuits."

"If they'll even let us go outside," Awinita said. "It might be too dangerous. I'm sure they'd have to insure the guests just in case something happened to them or their spacesuits."

"Reminds me of the leisure palace on Midnight. No one could go outside there and the glass was fifteen feet thick to shield us from the x-tonic rays. It was nice but at the same time, it was a bit like living in a fishbowl. Still, I was glad I stayed there instead of going with the Doctor and possibly ending up like Sky did. Hopefully there'll be more to do at this resort."

"Dad'll make it fun," Tara said. "He makes everything fun."

Donna grinned.

"That's true, exactly why I love to travel with him."

The TARDIS landed and powered down.

"Here we are, Torros," Nelak said, glancing at his monitor.

"Are we inside the resort?" Angel said. "We're not gonna open the door and be out in the middle of nowhere, I hope!"

"If that happens, the TARDIS will protect us," Nelak said. "So we'll just open the doors and take a peek outside."

They walked to the doors, opened them up and looked out. They were shocked when they saw trees all around them.

"This is Torros?" Jenny said.

"Um…according to my monitor, it is," Nelak said.

"It's a very pretty moon then," Angel said. "Nothing like what I'd thought it'd be."

"Which is barren, dusty and dead," Elizabeth said.

"Then again, Star Wars…Endor was a forest moon," Awinita said, shrugging. "Maybe there really is such a thing."

They noticed a rabbit-like creature hopping between the trees.

"Well, either the bunny can exist on zero oxygen or there is oxygen out there," Elizabeth said.

"I'm willing to go on faith and step outside the door," Emi said.

"Same here, I have a feeling there's air out there," Donna said.

"Yeah but this makes no sense," Tara said. "If this moon has mercury oceans, wouldn't that mean it would rain mercury? And wouldn't that mean everything would be dead? Are you sure your data is accurate, Nelak?"

"Not entirely. I'm telling you what it told me. It said Watusa Rota. It could have been confused and thought Watusa Rota was another planet. I suggest we take a quick trip outside and search for signs of civilization. Maybe they can tell us where we really are and then once we know that, I can program it into the database so my TARDIS doesn't make the same mistake again."

"I better call Dad then and tell him what's happened," Tara said, reaching for her mobile while they stepped outside.

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The Doctor and Rain sat in the dining room. They had ordered some tea but the Doctor barely touched his while he sat and worried about Alan and Rose. Rain held his hand using her thumb to rub the back of the hand while she gazed at him sadly.

"They'll be alright, Thete," she said gently.

"I hate this, Latara. I hate sitting here, away from my TARDIS, with no way to help him," he said.

"I know, but you'll get nowhere just sitting here and worrying about it. Call Tara."

He shook his head.

"Not yet. Not till I have more information and know where they landed at. If they're in space then there's no way of knowing where they are, not even Alan knows at this point and if I'm worrying about it, they will too once they hear what's happened. Bollocks! What's wrong with me? I never used to get this worried about anything."

"It's because you have a family you love and you can't help but worry about them, Thete. It's different having a companion that will leave eventually, you know. As long as that happened, you didn't form as close a bond with them as you would with a family member. Now that you have family, you're bound to them and you can't just walk away like you used to, not to mention you love them more deeply than you did when they were just friends so now you worry about them like this."

The Doctor nodded.

"Yeah, I s'pose it's both a blessing and a curse having a family like this. I have love and support from them but you're right, I just can't run away and pretend they don't matter that much to me because they do. And it wouldn't be so bad if I had my TARDIS nearby where we could jump into it the moment we knew something. The fact that it's back there, several miles away, is what's really driving me crazy. It's not in another universe like it was when I first met you. All I'd have to do is convince the captain to turn the ship around so we could go get it. But even then, even then, it might be too late. And now with all the new people on New Gallifrey and their minds in ours, now we have to consciously bring our family's minds forward to check on them. Isn't like it used to be back when there were only eight of us and we knew in a heartsbeat what everyone was feeling and if they were in trouble or not. In addition to worrying, I'm constantly checking both their minds because I'm terrified they'll be rendered unconscious or die and I won't know it because there's too much activity going on from everyone else. Blast and botheration at this feeling of helplessness! I know Alan told you to keep me calm but apparently it's not working, is it?"

Rain smiled sadly.

"I understand. I'd rather have you be a worried basket case than sit there and pretend it's not fazing you. That behavior would have worried me more," she said.

The mobile rang and the Doctor swallowed.

"Please let them be safe," he muttered while he pulled it out of his pocket. "Hello?"

"Dad?"

"Oh, Tara, hi," the Doctor said while Rain squeezed his hand.

"Hi, Dad, got a quick question for ya."

"Yes?"

"Does Torros have trees?"

The Doctor frowned.

"No, it's completely barren, just dust and rock and mercury."

"Oh crap!"

"Why? What's wrong?" the Doctor said, his hearts in his throat.

"Um…we're…somewhere. The TARDIS monitor said we were on Watusa Rota but we're in a forest and we have air and there are bunnies and I thought it was kind of strange since I figured mercury oceans meant it rained mercury there so nothing would be alive. But…we came outside to try to figure out where the hell we are and I called to make sure that we weren't on Watusa Rota and were mistaken about it being a barren moon."

"No, you're correct. It's completely lifeless here. Listen, if you do find out where you lot are, call me back. I need to keep in contact with you because I need you to go fetch Alan and Rose at some point."

"Why?"

He explained the situation to her.

"What? Oh my God! Um, do you know where they are?"

"Not yet. Alan promised to ring me when he found out where they were gonna crash land at and the moment that happens, I will call and tell you lot so don't stray too far from your TARDIS. I would get them but we're in the middle of this ocean and I don't think they'll turn the ship around for me. We'll ask about getting transport back or riding the ship back to the TARDIS on the return trip if we can but you're their best hope right now."

"We'll stay close to the TARDIS and I'll keep my mobile close to me and answer it the moment it rings."

"Thank you, my Star. I hate to interrupt your holiday but it'll take time for us to get our TARDIS and every moment counts. I would use my manipulator but I forgot to transfer it into my trousers. I won't make that mistake again, that's for damn sure. But just keep calm, alright? Believe me; I'm worrying enough as it is without you lot joining me. Just tell everyone what I said."

"I will and don't worry, Dad. Uncle Alan and Aunt Rose are tough. They'll survive anything the universe throws at them."

He smiled.

"I don't doubt that, not for a moment," he said. "And I'm sure fretting about this is all for naught but it's all I can do right now. But believe me, the moment I know, I will ring you."

"I'll be waiting, Dad, and we'll try to figure out where we are and get back to the resort."

"Be careful. Keep your eyes and ears open in case there's something more ferocious in that forest than bunnies."

"We will. I love you, Dad."

"Love ya too, Star. See you at the resort."

"Yup, we'll be there. Bye."

"Bye," he said.

He hung up and sighed deeply.

"And that phone call was part two of the bleedin' universe mucks with our nice holiday crisis. Wonder what part three will be now?" the Doctor said to Rain while he put his mobile back in his pocket.


	251. Chapter 251

Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty One

After getting everyone stabilized, Rose, Alan and a few male passengers helped carrying them back to the staff room at the back of the shuttle. They carefully strapped them in and made sure they were secure before heading back up to the cockpit. Most of the men who helped them sat back down, strapped themselves in and tried to soothe the fears of their loved ones and the people around them. But one alien followed them into the cockpit. He was tall and thin with tan skin, a thin face with large black eyes and a snout that tapered down at the front and dropped slightly. He was wearing a silver suit with a red shirt and black shoes. Alan and Rose glanced at him briefly before turning their attention to Morris. He noticed a green and blue planet in the distance.

"Is that where you're gonna land?" he asked Morris.

"Yes, it's the closest planet."

"Which planet is it? Where are we?"

"I'm not sure, the explosion and the spin threw us off course. The flight computers were damaged so I have no idea at the moment where we are. All I care about is landing and getting help for us so you better get strapped in because we'll be entering the planet's atmosphere in about ten minutes."

They turned and noticed the alien was still behind him.

"Before we do that, I wanted to say something," he said, holding up his hand. "I think it's my fault the bombs went off."

"Your fault?" Alan said.

He nodded.

"My name is Thoruk; I am the ambassador for Zeruk on my way to a diplomatic mission of peace with Hadras. We're trying to stop the war between our worlds."

Alan nodded in understanding.

"Unfortunately, there are many on Hadras who profit from the war and there have been death threats against me, threats that I would be killed if I tried to attend the peace talks. That's why I think the bombs went off. I think they're trying to kill me and because of that, innocent people have died. I wanted to let you know that and apologize for it."

"No time for that now," Alan said. "What's done is done and for the moment we need to concentrate on landing safely and making sure no one else dies."

Thoruk nodded. He turned and the three of them went out into the cabin. Alan shut the door behind him and he and Rose squeezed hands while they returned to their seats.

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"This is your captain speaking, we're about to land now," Morris said over the intercom. "Everyone brace yourselves. I'll get us down as safely as I can but I want you to know that I've been radioing the shuttleport and letting them know our position and I'll do that when we land again if the radio isn't damaged. Even if that happens, a homing beacon will activate upon impact. Just hold on and have faith, we'll make it through together."

The intercom shut off. Alan looked at Rose and gave her a brave smile.

"I suddenly regret purchasing seats right by the cockpit door," he said with a wink.

"Then again, if the seats are jarred loose and we fly into the wall, we'll have enough time to say goodbye thanks to the ample legroom," Rose said.

He rubbed his plastic covered cheek against hers.

"We won't die. And even if we do, we'll regenerate," he said to her.

"Yeah but they won't," Rose said, gesturing back to the other passengers.

Alan sighed and nodded.

"Yeah but we have to put our faith in Morris's piloting skills. He has enough time to look for a suitable space to land and…"

Suddenly, without warning, another bomb exploded, shearing the back half of the shuttle off completely. The force of the explosion sent them into a nosedive towards the planet. Alan and Rose gritted their teeth and clasped each other's hands while people screamed in terror behind them. They fell for about a minute before they heard a bang echoing from the cockpit. Then they smacked the ground at full speed and slid across the ground. They slid for several feet before there was another loud bang and the sudden stop threw their heads back hard against their seats. Alan grunted and fell into unconsciousness, still holding his unconscious wife's hand while the shuttle slowed down and came to a stop in a dense forest.

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The Doctor and Rain were taking a walk around the deck of the ship, holding hands while they tried to keep themselves from worrying too much about their family. They had tried without success to talk to the captain and get him to turn the ship around. But he refused, telling them he had a schedule to keep.

"I can radio ahead and get one of the staff to take a speedboat back across the ocean so you can get to your ship. It's the best I can do," he said to them.

After that, they tried the stroll around the ship. But with each passing moment, the Doctor was getting more and more worried about both groups. He kept checking their minds, trying to reassure himself they were alright and there was nothing to worry about. But when he checked again, he noticed both Alan and Rose were terrified and he swallowed hard.

"Latara, it's happening right now, I think," he said to her. "The crash. I can sense their fear and…"

He gasped when both their minds winked out. Rain grabbed onto him and led him to a deck chair when she saw the stricken look on his face. Trying to be strong, she kept reassuring them they were alright while she pulled out her mobile and tried Alan's number.

"Maybe someone will hear his phone and answer," she said. "Let us know if they're alright."

He squeezed her hand while she dialed the number.

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They moved stealthily through the trees of their home world, coming closer to the strange wreckage that had crashed moments before. They leapt nimbly from treetop to treetop, taking care to make sure they weren't being seen, changing the colors of their bodies to match the tree trunks and foliage. They paused a moment above the white hull of the destroyed shuttle. The back end was missing and the front end was smashed in against a large boulder and crushed like an accordion. A few of them leapt down on the top of the curved ship and walked back to the opening the bomb had left. They hesitated a moment, clicking and trilling to each other in their native language before one brave child leapt down and went inside. She paused at the back and noticed no one was moving. She hunched down and crab-walked up the aisle, looking left and right while she did so. Some people were clearly dead but others seemed to be unconscious. A few were moaning softly while they struggled to wake up. The girl slowly went up towards the front, her senses alert to everything going on. She reached the front and glanced up at a man and woman strapped into the front seats. They were both unconscious and there was a thin trickle of blood coming down the man's forehead onto his left cheek. She stared at them for a moment in their strange plastic coverings and was starting to turn around to go back when suddenly the man's mobile rang. The girl hissed in surprise and hurled herself against the wall beside the cockpit door, turning completely white in an attempt to camouflage herself. When the man didn't move, she came forward slowly, crouched down at his side and reached into his trouser pocket. She pulled out the strange device and flipped it open. She noticed the buttons and pressed some of them out of curiosity. She pressed one and suddenly she heard a woman's voice on the other end.

"Hello?" the woman said. "Hello, is anyone there? Listen, if someone is there, could they please check on the owner of this phone and his wife and see if they're alright?"

The woman held the phone up in front of her and began to click and trill, trying to communicate with the woman who was using an unfamiliar language. There was a pause and she was shocked when the woman began to click and trill back to her. Intrigued, she put the phone closer to her face and spoke again. She paused and the woman did the same.

_Whoever you are,_ the woman clicked and trilled to the girl. _Please check the owner of this device and tell me if he's dead._

The woman put her hand on the man's armrest and stood up to peer at him. She noticed his chest slowly rising and falling. She looked at the phone.

_He's alive, _she clicked to her.

"Thank God," the woman said in her own language. "Thete, whoever this is, she says Alan's alive."

"Let me speak to her, Latara," she heard a male voice say.

_Hello,_ the man clicked to the girl.

The girl was shocked at that.

_How do you know our language?_ She clicked and trilled.

_I know every language and so does my wife,_ he clicked and trilled back. _Listen; is there a woman beside the man?_

_Yes._

_Is she alive?_

The woman stood up, leaned over the man and checked. She saw her chest rise and fall and crouched back down.

_Yes, she is._

"Rose is alive too," she heard the man say in his own language. _Now listen,_ he said in the woman's language. _My name is the Doctor. What's your name?_

_Tia,_ she clicked.

_Tia, nice to meet ya. I need you to do me a favor. Are there more of your people around? _

_Yes, there are several of my kind outside this structure_, she clicked and trilled.

_The man and woman are my brother and sister. The man's name is Alan; the woman's name is Rose. I want to send some people to rescue them and whoever else is alive in the structure. Can your people take them somewhere and take care of them until my family can get there? _

_I'll have to ask another. I'm only a child._

_Then could you please do that? I want everyone who's alive to be safe while we rescue them._

_Wait a moment._

Tia took the mobile and went back outside with it. The others were back up in the trees, staring down at her. She called to them, asking them to come down.

_This man, _she clicked and trilled_. He speaks our language. He wants us to help these people._

An older man dropped down from the trees beside her. He took the mobile from her.

_I am Vak, _he clicked and trilled into it.

_Are you an adult? _The Doctor clicked and trilled back.

_Yes._

_I was telling Tia that there are injured people inside the structure and two of them are my brother and sister. I want you and your people to care for them until some of my family members can come and rescue them and the others who are still alive. You are an Ulu, yes?_

_Yes, I am, _Vak clicked.

_I know you usually don't deal with strangers but I'm asking you to please help them. I'm not sure about all the survivors but my brother and sister won't hurt you in any way. I'm begging you, please help them, please. I don't want them or any of the survivors to die._

_I'm sorry, we can't do that, _Vak clicked and trilled_. It's against our laws to bring strangers to our tree homes._

_I understand that but I'm begging you to make an exception, please!_

_No exceptions, you want them, come and get them yourself._

_I can't and…_

Vak threw the phone down and snorted at it. Tia stared at him in shock while he leapt back into the trees.

_But they need our help! _She clicked at him.

_They are outsiders, they can fend for themselves. Now continued your foraging and remember your duties to the tribe,_ Vak clicked and trilled back to her.

She watched while he and the others leapt from limb to limb, camouflaged their bodies and disappeared into the dense forest. She picked up the communicator and noticed the Doctor had fallen silent.

_Doctor, they are gone now. I'm the only one left,_ she clicked to him_._

_I heard what he said to you. I know it would go against his wishes but will you stay with them at least and guard them for me? I don't want to trouble you or your people but I care for my brother and sister deeply and I have no way to get to them which is why I'm sending some of my family to do it. All I ask is you just watch them and make sure they're not injured further, alright? I promise my family will compensate you for this. They'll give you food you can take back to your people._

_Alright, I will do it._

_Thank you, _the Doctor trilled and clicked after breathing a sigh of relief._ Thank you so much, Tia, you don't know how much this means to me. I'm going to go now, I need to contact my family but if Rose and Alan don't wake up when I call back, please answer the communicator again so I can speak to you._

_How do I do that?_

_The top button on the left side under the tiny screen. Push it and that turns the communicator on._

_Okay, I see it. _

_Good and thank you so much, Tia. I promise you'll be rewarded for this. _

_Thank you, _Tia clicked.

_No, thank you. I need to go now. Just wait and watch and my family will be there as quickly as they can._

_Alright, I will wait and watch for them._

_Thank you. Goodbye._

_Goodbye, Doctor. _

The phone went dead and Tia stared at it for a moment before putting it in a leather pouch tied around her waist and going back inside the wrecked shuttle.


	252. Chapter 252

Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty Two

Tia crouched down by Alan and Rose watching them and waiting for them to wake up. She had never seen anything like them. Unlike her blue skin and white hair they had pale skin and dark and yellow hair. She noticed that most of the people's skin was like theirs, although there were a few with brown skin, yellow skin and pink and green skin. But apart from checking on the few survivors every few minutes, she kept her eyes on Alan and Rose hoping any moment they would wake up so she could try to communicate with them. Finally, after about a half hour, Alan groaned and turned his head while he slowly woke up. Tia stood up and leaned over him while he slowly opened his eyes.

"Rose?" he murmured through half closed lids. "Starlight, are you there?"

_Rose is alive,_ Tia clicked and trilled to him.

Alan turned his face towards hers while his eyes tried to focus.

_Is anyone else alive?_ He clicked and trilled.

Tia was delighted that he could also speak her language.

_Yes, a few others, not many,_ she clicked back.

Alan squeezed his eyes shut in anguish.

"God, those poor people," he murmured in English.

He tried to see Tia.

_My eyes won't focus,_ he clicked and trilled to her. _I can't see you that clearly. I think I might have a concussion. I hit my head hard, that's the last thing I remember before blacking out. _

_I have your communicator. Your…brother and sister contacted you and I answered it…the Doctor?_

_Yes, what did he say?_

_He's sending other members of your family here. He wanted my people to take you and Rose and the other survivors to our homes in the trees but the adults wouldn't allow it. So the Doctor asked me to watch over you until your family comes._

_Thank you. How old are you then?_

_I'm twelve full season cycles._

_What's your name?_

_Tia._

_Nice to meet ya, Tia. I wish I could see you more clearly but I see blue and white in a blur. You're an Ulu?_

_Yes. _

_Is anyone else awake besides me?_

Tia did another check down the aisle and came back to him.

_No, all the living are unconscious._

_My communicator, where is it? _

Tia reached into her pouch and handed it to him.

_Thank you, Tia._

She watched while he slowly unzipped the zipper around his neck and pulled the top part of the survival suit off.

_It comes off? _She clicked at him.

_Yes, it comes all the way off. This was for surviving in space without oxygen and since you're breathing I assumed there was oxygen here_, he clicked and trilled back.

He pulled the hood all the way down and fumbled for Rose's zipper. He slowly worked the hood off her head and when it was finally off; he felt her cheek and kissed it. Tia watched with interest while he silently laid his nose against it for a few minutes before kissing it again.

"Hold on, my love," he whispered to her in English. "We'll make it out of here together."

He groaned while he leaned his head back against his seat.

"Bugger, I need painkillers badly," he muttered to himself while he dialed the Doctor's number.

The Doctor picked up on the first ring.

_Tia?_ He clicked.

"Not exactly," Alan murmured.

"Brother! Oh my God, It feels so good to hear your voice! Rose, is Rose alright?" the Doctor said.

"Yes, she's here with me. She's still unconscious but as far as I can tell, she's okay. We both hit our heads hard when the shuttle smacked into something. I don't know how many are alive but no one else is awake, I'm the first to regain consciousness. I think…there was a man, an ambassador for Zeruk. Three bombs went off and he thought it was meant for him; to stop him from going to Hadras. People from there wanted to stop him from negotiating peace and ending the war with Zeruk. That's the only possible explanation we have for the bombs going off. The back end is completely gone, blown off. The front end…wait a tic…"

_Tia,_ Alan clicked to her. _Try the door there and see if it opens, there's a pilot in there and I want to see if he's alive._

_I don't think he is, _she clicked back_. The structure hit a large rock and the front is folded up._

"Oh God, did you hear that?" Alan said to the Doctor.

"Yeah, I did."

"We're lucky the folding stopped at the cockpit since Rose and I are right by the door," Alan said to him. "I don't think we would have regenerated after being mashed into our seats."

"Brother, I need to tell you something. There's a problem. I can't reach Tara. She's not answering her mobile. None of them are. I phoned Jack and he's gonna gather together some of the others and try to locate you. You wouldn't happen to know where on Ulu you landed?"

"Not a flippin' clue. I can barely see Rose and Tia let alone my surroundings. Any idea why they won't answer their mobiles?"

"No and we're both worried. They're not at the resort. Nelak's TARDIS landed somewhere, somewhere with a forest, but the TARDIS told them it was Watusa Rota even though there's not a scrap of wood on this moon. I told Tara to stay by the TARDIS so I could contact her and they could leave immediately when I learned where you were but when I rang her, she didn't answer."

"Shit," Alan muttered under his breath. "Just what we need, more bad news. You and I are havin' one hell of a day, that's for sure."

"You're tellin' me? But anyway, there's supposedly a rescue shuttle coming, right?"

"According to Morris, there is."

"Morris?"

"The pilot," Alan said. "He said a homing beacon would be activated the moment we crashed. I'm hoping it's in here somewhere and not crushed to smithereens in the front or beeping in the back part while it lies in the middle of God knows where."

"Listen, I hate to do this but I need to hang up for the moment to call Jack. But I'll call right back, I promise."

"Take your time, I'm not going anywhere," he said.

"I'm just glad you and Rose are alright. We'll do everything in our power to get you back to us safely."

"You better. I need to give Snotbag a wedgie so I can feel better."

He chuckled.

"Wedgie for Snotbag, got it," he said to him.

Alan listened, figuring Rain would say something in the background but there was only silence.

"Is Rain there?" he finally said.

"Yeah, she's here but she's very worried and you'll have to forgive her if she's not in the mood for the usual witty retort to your threat," he said to her.

"Well, I can understand if Tara's missing," Alan said.

"There's more than her though. Jenny was with her and so was Emi."

"Oh God," Alan said.

"And Awinita and Nelak and Donna…and…Angel and Elizabeth."

Alan closed his eyes.

"Oh God, no," he murmured.

"I would send a rescue party to them but I have no idea where they're at. They never called back and said if they determined their location and if they won't answer their mobiles, I can't help them."

Alan sighed and lowered his head to his hand.

"Rose is gonna be upset when she wakes up," he muttered. "I'm not looking forward to telling her that our daughters are missing along with the rest of them. This whole day is getting worse by the second."

"We'll find them. They're pretty resourceful. I'm not giving up so don't give up either."

"Perish the thought; I won't give up until I see their dead bodies with my own eyes."

He jerked his head over when he heard Rose groan and turn her head.

"Rose! I think she's waking up now, Brother," he said, laying his hand against her cheek. "Rose? Starlight, it's me. I'm here, we're safe."

Rose groaned and opened her eyes a crack.

"Head…aching…" she murmured.

"Yeah, well, so's mine, Love," he said to her.

He kissed her cheek and held her hand.

"She's awake, barely. She's struggling to come to," he said to the Doctor.

"Who are you talkin' to?" Rose muttered.

"One very concerned man who about had a double heart attack when we crashed. Guess who it is," he said.

"Gee, I don't know, does he look exactly like ya?" Rose muttered.

"She's okay, her dry wit is still intact," Alan said to the Doctor.

"Is she lucid enough for me to tell her what's goin' on? If you want, I'll break the news to her about Angel and Elizabeth."

"Starlight, can you talk to the Doctor? He wants to speak with you?"

"I think so," she muttered.

Alan handed her the mobile.

"I'm alright, Doctor, I think. Raging headache but I'll live," she muttered to him.

"Te'lesu, there's been a complication," the Doctor said.

"You mean a bigger complication than this?" Rose muttered.

"Afraid so…"

He very slowly and clearly explained what was going on. He waited to break the news of Angel and Elizabeth's disappearance until the very last thing. Alan held her hand when Rose shuddered at that.

"I'm sorry, Te'lesu. We're doing everything we can think of to get you and them back safely," he said gently. "They're all alive, I just checked. I can feel them but they won't respond to me when I try to talk to them. They're calm but why they're ignoring me, I have no clue. I just hope the calm behavior isn't due to something sinister. But for the moment, they're all alive."

"Thank God," Rose muttered, squeezing Alan's hand.

"I was telling Alan I needed to go and tell Jack the situation so he can come to Ulu and rescue you."

"Ulu?" Rose muttered.

"Yes, you're on Ulu and there's an Ulu girl with you named Tia…or she should be there."

"She is, she just went back up the aisle to check on the other survivors," Alan said into the mobile.

"Good, I'm glad she's stayin' with ya. Especially since her friends were firmly against rescuing you. But just rest and either Jack or the rescue shuttle will be along to get you. I'll call you back after I call Jack to let you know if he's coming and with who."

"We'll be here, Brother."

They heard the Doctor hang up and Alan rested his nose against Rose's cheek while she became more lucid. She noticed Tia for a moment when she came back up beside them and then closed her eyes when her headache became too intense. Tia crouched nearby, keeping watch over them while they both rested and rejoiced at being alive.


	253. Chapter 253

Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty Three

(Meanwhile…a short time before the crash…)

Nelak's group walked through the forest, looking around for any signs of civilization.

"Remember, guys, Dad wants us to stay right by the TARDIS so we'll be ready when he finds out where they landed," Tara said.

"We will, just doing a bit of reconnaissance," Nelak said. "If we don't find anything close by, we'll go back. I just wanna see if we can determine our position. Unfortunately, many planets have forests and two suns and blue skies so that's no help to us."

Jenny's ears perked up when she suddenly heard a rustling beside her. She jerked her head towards the noise but saw only a thick clump of trees.

_Wait,_ she thought to them. _Heard something over here. Sounds like someone moved._

They all turned and looked where she was pointing.

"Is someone there?" Nelak called. "Listen, we need help. We're friendly, we're just lost. Can you help us?"

No one responded.

"Are you sure you heard something, Jen?" Nelak said.

"Pretty sure, I heard rustling in there, leaves crunchin'," she said.

"Could be just another rabbit thing," Nelak said, taking out his screwdriver. "However, better safe than sorry, especially since we don't have a clue where we are."

They all followed his example, except for Emi who took a black egg out of her kimono. Once they were ready they stepped through the trees with Nelak leading the way. He got through the trees and stopped short when he saw an enormous hole in a small clearing beyond it.

"Whoa, wait!" Nelak said to the others when they came through. "Hole, big one, so be careful where you step."

"Blimey, what made that?" Donna said while they stared at the hole that was about two feet in diameter.

"I don't think I wanna know," Angel said.

"Yeah, I'm thinking the TARDIS sounds warm and cozy and incredibly safe right about now," Elizabeth added.

"Yeah, I'm thinking much the same thing, alright everyone, back to the TARDIS," Nelak said.

They turned and hurried back through the trees. Nelak led them quickly back to the TARDIS. When they reached it, Nelak started to put his key in the door.

"Um, Sweetie, we lost a couple of people," Awinita said, tapping him on the shoulder.

He turned with the others and noticed Angel and Elizabeth weren't with them.

"The hell?" Nelak muttered. "I thought they were the ones who were so eager to get back here."

They looked around but couldn't see any sign of them. Nelak searched his mind and breathed a sigh of relief when he felt them.

_Angel, Liz, where the hell did you go?_ He thought after bringing their minds forward.

There was no answer from either of them. Nelak looked at the others.

"Okay, something's wrong, really wrong," he said. "They wouldn't refuse to answer and they wouldn't play games at a time like this."

They walked away back towards the hole, calling their names while they looked all around. They reached the trees and walked back through them. They saw the hole but nothing else.

"Okay, where are they?" Nelak said.

_Angel, Liz, what's happening?_ He thought to them.

"Tara, Emi?"

They spun around when they heard Jenny calling her sisters' names and noticed they were now missing.

"Tara, Emi!" Nelak said as they hurried back through the trees. "What the hell is going on?"

He checked their minds and they were still there. He called to them telepathically but they didn't respond either. Fear gripped his hearts and he got in back of the remaining women to keep an eye on them in case something else happened. Donna led the way and they hurried back to the TARDIS.

"No!"

Halfway there, they heard Awinita cry out and they turned to see Nelak had vanished.

"Nelak!" Awinita cried out.

Donna checked and as before, Nelak's mind still registered but he didn't respond when she tried to contact him. She and Jenny and Awinita were now frightened.

"Call the Doctor," Awinita said. "I know he can't come after us but he needs to know about this. Maybe he can call Jack and if we take off our bio-dampers, Jack can track…"

Just then, a trap door that had been concealed in the underbrush popped up in front of them. Before they could react, three creatures used a blowgun to shoot three darts at their jugular veins. Their eyes bulged and all three fell to the ground, completely paralyzed, but alive and aware. Donna watched helplessly while the creatures came out of the hole, grabbed her and the others by their legs and dragged them back down into the hole.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, the other members of the family were also lying paralyzed in an underground room that had been carved out of the dirt. Tara's eyes moved but that was the only part of her body that still obeyed her. Her mind felt like it was frozen and she couldn't open her lips to speak. Several of the weird, brown, hairless creatures brought them into the room and searched them, pulling out their screwdrivers, psychic paper and mobile phones from their pockets and laying them on the ground in the corner by the hole that served as the door before leaving them alone. Tara's eyes swept around the room, looking for a way to escape. Suddenly, she heard her mobile ringing in the corner and her eyes widened, knowing exactly who it was. She willed her body to move towards the phone so she could speak to her father and tell him what was going on. But apart from her eyes, nothing worked. She tried to contact him telepathically but couldn't muster the strength to do it. She tried to bring his mind forward through the mass of minds inside her brain but couldn't do that either. She felt a vague sensation of worry in her mind and knew it must be him but apart from that, she couldn't reach him. Then she felt him searching her mind, trying to sense her, and once more she tried to reach out to him, to tell him what was happening but she couldn't. She felt him pause in his search, sensed his confusion, and she knew it was because her mind was calm, even though her hearts were racing like mad. She listened helplessly while he called to her in her mind, begging her to answer, and she tried with all her strength to answer back, but it was no use. A tear trickled down her cheek when she felt her beloved father's comforting presence recede back into the mixture of Time Lord and Lady minds.

Her eyes darted over to the hole when she noticed three more creatures dragging the last of their group inside. While they searched them and removed their screwdrivers, mobiles and psychic paper, she once again felt her father bringing her mind toward his, sensed his frantic demeanor while he called to her and asked her to tell him what was going on. She strained so much to answer back that she felt like she was going to have a stroke, but still it was no use. She couldn't respond and more tears of frustration fell while her father continued to try to reach her.

_My Star,_ he heard her thinking to her. _I don't know what's going on or why you won't respond but I hope whatever the reason is, you and the others are safe. Please, when you get the opportunity, think to me or phone me so I'll know you're truly alright, my daughter. I love you._

Tara strained and strained to think to him until she felt like she was gonna pop an eyeball out of her socket. But as before, she couldn't summon the strength to call to him and once again, the Doctor's mind receded and became a part of the hive of minds buzzing inside her consciousness. By now, the creatures had gone, leaving them all alone. Tara looked at them and they looked at her but she couldn't open her mouth to speak nor could she make sounds through her nose. She felt like she was inside a statue and more tears of frustration fell down her face while she hoped and prayed that her father or someone else would be clever enough to figure out where they were and help rescue them.


	254. Chapter 254

Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty Four

"Very nice," Jack said while he toured their finished Hub on New Gallifrey.

His husband, Ianto, was walking along beside him. They held hands while they looked everything over.

"Yup, I think this will do nicely," Jack said. "It's even better than the one in Nova. It's amazing what you can do when you build from the ground up."

"I'm just glad it's finished so you can quit obsessing over it," Ianto said.

"Can I help it if I want it done right? I trust Lee but not the Rigans the council hired to come and help with the construction. Lee helped us renovate the last building so he knows what we need, they don't."

"So instead of trusting that the Rigans could follow schematics and follow directions, you badgered poor Lee to make sure they did everything right and ran him ragged," Ianto said.

"Okay, maybe I was a bit…pushy, but we need everything done right so we can have a safe and functional facility," Jack said.

He grinned and kissed his cheek.

"And now that it and our house is finished, we can concentrate on other things," he whispered in his ear.

"'Bout bloody time too," Ianto said while Jack chuckled and kissed his cheek again.

He began to kiss his face while Ianto moaned deep in his throat. Suddenly, his mobile rang.

"How come every time I try to have some alone time with you, that thing goes off?" Jack said. "I think there are invisible flying cameras that follow us everywhere we go and the moment I start snogging you, someone phones me so it gets interrupted."

He took his mobile out of his pocket.

"Harkness," he said when he answered it. "Oh! Hey, Doc, how's the trip goin'? Donna said that you and Rain went on a cruise. Must be nice…huh?"

Ianto watched Jack's face while he talked to the Doctor. He frowned when he saw the shock on his husband's face.

"What is it?" Ianto asked him.

Jack held up a finger.

"You're sure there's no way to reach them?" Jack said to the Doctor. "I see…well, I'd be happy to go and get them. I'll round up some people and get my TARDIS. I'll call you back in a few minutes and let you know who's going with me. Okay, I'll get right on it then. Bye, Doc."

He hung up the phone.

"What was that about?" Ianto said.

"Well, things are in kind of a mess. Alan and Rose went on a shuttle flight to Torros and a bomb went off on the shuttle and they crashed landed on Ulu."

"Are they alright?"

Jack nodded.

"Yeah, but the Doctor and Rain are stuck on the cruise ship and they won't turn around and let him go get the TARDIS. Tara, Jen, Liz, Ang, Em, Nelak, Awinita and Donna took off to join them at the resort they're going to but Nelak's TARDIS took them off course to some planet and they had no idea where they were. They were gonna check it out and stay near the TARDIS because the Doctor was gonna find out where the shuttle crashed and phone them when he found out so they could use their TARDIS to go rescue them. But he says he's been trying to phone all of them and contact them telepathically and none of them will respond. He says they're awake and they're all calm but for some reason they won't answer him."

"Maybe they're hiding around other telepaths and can't answer him for fear of being discovered," Ianto said.

"Could be. But whatever the reason, Doc wants me to try to get them and get Alan and Rose. Some Ulu child is watching Alan and Rose and the survivors so I think they're alright for the moment but if Tara and the others are in trouble, we should try to find out where they are first."

"How? If they're not responding…"

Jack thought and clicked his fingers.

"Bio-dampers. Even if they can't think to us, surely they can take them off so we can trace them that way," Jack said. "I'll see if I can reach Tara."

He concentrated and pulled Tara's mind forward. He paused for a moment, sensing it, but it seemed calm to him.

_Tara, Honey, this is Jack,_ he thought to her. _Listen, I don't know what's going on with you and the others but I'm gonna gather some people together and try to rescue you and Alan and Rose. I need all of you to remove your bio-dampers so we can track you. If you can do that for me, that'll be great. Just hold tight and we'll be there as soon as we can._

He finished communicating with her.

"I'm going with you," Ianto said.

"Good, I'll see if the rest of the team that's here will go with us and perhaps Grace as well if there are injured people on the shuttle. Julie and Dorothy and Maddie might come with us too. I'll think to all of them and tell them the situation and see how many want to join us. In the meantime, phone the Doctor and…"

He trailed off.

"What is it?" Ianto asked.

"Never mind, I'll phone him. You call to the others and tell them what's happening. I have an idea," Jack said.

Ianto nodded and began to reach out to the members of the family he knew were currently on New Gallifrey and tell them what was going on while Jack called the Doctor.

"Hello," the Doctor said.

"Doc, had a sudden brainstorm. If you and Rain want to join us, I could use the manipulator to come down to the ship and take you back to your TARDIS. Is there anything that might prevent me from doing that?"

"There's a force field over the top of the boat and they might have some alarms, but sod that, by the time they come running, we'll be gone. I don't care if it upsets them. I want you to come and get us. I don't wanna stay one more moment on this ship, not when all hell is breaking loose around us."

"Okay, take off your bio-dampers then and I'll pinpoint your location with that. I telepathically told Tara and the others to do the same and hopefully we can track their location that way."

"Brilliant, I'll tell Brother to do the same so we can find the shuttle."

Great! We're trying to assemble a team here. Ianto's going and he's calling to the others that are on New Gallifrey and asking who wants to go with us. While he's doing that, I'll come down and get you and Rain."

"We'll be waiting."

"I'll see you in a few minutes then, Doc. Bye."

He hung up.

"Keep talking to the others and tell the ones who are interested to meet here at the Hub. I'll be back after I get the Doctor and Rain and their TARDIS," he said to Ianto.

Ianto nodded and Jack ran to the control room in the center of the building. He ran a scan on one of the computers for traces of artron energy. He found two of the matches on Watusa Rota and pinpointed the Doctor and Rain's location as well as the location of the far side of the ocean where the TARDIS would be.

"Only two? I can understand Alan and Rose not showing up yet and I know who's on Volag Nok but where's Tara and the others? God, I hope everything is alright where they are," he muttered.

He strapped on his manipulator, entered the coordinates from the computer and stepped back. There was a flash and he disappeared. He reappeared a moment later on the deck of the ship. Twenty feet from him, the Doctor and Rain turned and ran towards him.

"Thanks, Jack, I owe ya one," the Doctor said.

"Owe me later. Let's get back to the TARDIS before someone finds us," Jack said.

He inputted the second set of coordinates and all three of them vanished.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

By the time the TARDIS appeared in the Hub, Ianto had assembled Martha, Mickey, Grace, Julie, Dorothy, Madison and Lee. When they stepped out the door, everyone gathered around them with questions.

"I'll explain everything, but we need to get going so we can rescue them," the Doctor said to them. "Is this everyone who's going?"

"Yeah, Gwen, Rhys and Jake are at the Nova Hub keeping an eye on things and everyone else in our family is also there," Ianto said.

"Okay, let's get going then," the Doctor said.

They all hurried into his TARDIS. The Doctor went to his monitor while Jack closed the door. He and Rain put their bio-dampers back on so they wouldn't register and ran a scan for artron energy. He frowned when the only match was at Volag Nok. He rolled his eyes.

"I have half a mind to go back there and dampen the Rani's TARDIS and the Rani," he muttered.

He blocked them from the scan and ran it again. His mouth dropped open when no matches registered.

"Jack, you told Tara to take her bio-damper off, right?" he said.

"Yup. I told her to tell everyone else to take theirs off too."

"Oh God, let them be alright," the Doctor muttered as he ran the scan again.

He stared at the results. No matches.

"Okay, Brother, why aren't you and Rose taking yours off?" he muttered. "Blast, this is frustrating beyond belief. I just rang him and told him to take the dampers off and he said he would, so why isn't he doin' it?"

He took out his mobile and dialed Alan's number. It rang and rang and rang but no one answered. Fear gripped his hearts when he checked their minds and couldn't find him or Rose.

"I think something happened to Alan and Rose now, I can't reach them either and I can't sense them," the Doctor said, hanging up the phone.

Everyone groaned while he sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"Everything's dampened including Nelak's TARDIS so we can't track that," he murmured while he thought. "If they won't or can't take off their bio-dampers, we can't track that."

"How about hacking into the shuttleport's computers and finding out the last location of the shuttle's distress signal?" Jack asked.

"Good idea. It's worth a try," the Doctor said.

He worked feverishly, both he and the TARDIS working together to try to locate the distress signal of the shuttle. He mentally asked the TARDIS to scan for any shuttlecraft distress signals. The TARDIS complied while the Doctor continued a manual search. Meanwhile, Jack kept trying both Tara and Alan's mobiles and trying to communicate with Tara telepathically. On the third try to Tara's mobile, someone answered.

"Tara?" Jack said while everyone jerked their heads up and stared at him.

Jack frowned when he heard heavy breathing on the other end.

"Tara? Is that you?" Jack said.

The breathing continued while the Doctor walked to his side.

"Someone's alive but they won't answer me. I just hear breathing," Jack said to him.

The Doctor took the mobile from him.

"Hello?" he said.

He heard the breathing.

"Whoever you are, identify yourself and tell us what you've done with the owner of this communication device," he said.

The breathing continued for thirty more seconds and then suddenly he heard a crunch and the phone went dead. The Doctor turned ashen and gave the mobile back to Jack while he hurried back around to his monitor.

"Come on, Girl, find Alan and Rose so we can find the others," he muttered to his ship.

Jack tried the mobiles of the other missing people but the only ones who rang were Alan and Rose's phones. The others didn't ring at all. Jack told the Doctor that.

"I think whoever answered Tara's mobile just destroyed all of them. I think that's what the crunch sound was before her phone went dead."

"I tried Alan and Rose and their phones work but they're not answering."

"And Tia isn't answering the mobile either which means something's happened to her as well. Her people were against helping the survivors. I have a feeling they came back, saw what was going on, and did something to them and to her. Oh! At last…"

"Did you find something?"

"Yes, the TARDIS is picking up a faint distress signal coming from Ulu. At last, we're getting somewhere. Okay, TARDIS, take us to it then!"

The TARDIS came to life and the rotor moved up and down while she flew into the vortex towards Ulu.


	255. Chapter 255

Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty Five

The TARDIS landed in the forest several feet away from the wrecked shuttle. They all stepped outside.

"Well, this is the front half," the Doctor said. "Good. Keep an eye out though. The Ulu live in the trees so they might be watching us from above."

They kept glancing skyward while they walked around to the back of the shuttle. They glanced through the hole and grimaced when they saw inside it.

"Jesus, Alan and Rose had one hell of a ride," Jack said while they all stepped inside.

Grace and Martha went from person to person checking for signs of life while the others went up the aisle to the front. They found Alan's phone on the floor beside his seat but Alan and Rose were gone. They glanced around and noticed a few other seats were also vacant.

"Call it a hunch, but I have a feeling Tia's Ulu buddies came back and took her and the survivors away," he said to them. "Have you two found any signs of life so far?"

Martha and Grace shook their heads.

"No, they're all dead so far," Martha said.

"I think you'll find there's nothing but dead bodies in here," the Doctor said. "I think I'm right. I think Tia's mates figured out what was going on and took them away, most likely into the trees to their homes."

"Great! Just great!" Jack said with a sigh.

Dorothy stared at the cockpit door. She took out her screwdriver and unlocked the door. She opened it and gasped when she noticed the blood and entrails all over the crushed cockpit.

"Yup, I think Morris is definitely dead," the Doctor said, coming up beside her. "Poor bugger."

He stared down at her sonic screwdriver and smiled when he had an idea. He took out his screwdriver and changed the setting on it.

"If Alan and Rose have their screwdrivers on them, we can track them that way," the Doctor said.

He pressed the button and grinned when he got a signal.

"Aha, the Ulu are clever but not clever enough for yours truly," he said to them.

He pocketed Alan's mobile and everyone followed him out of the shuttle into the forest.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Ten minutes later they were still tracking his screwdriver. Everyone else kept glancing up at the trees making sure they weren't gonna be ambushed by the Ulu. As they walked, they suddenly came upon a woman lying next to a fallen log. Grace and Martha ran over and checked her.

"She's dead," Martha said.

"Yeah, but her skin's still warm. She just died," Grace added.

"One of the survivors?" Julie said.

"I think so," Martha said. "From what I can tell, she had pretty severe injuries. I think when they moved her; it killed her, most likely from internal bleeding."

"Great, now we're gonna start finding dead bodies along the way," Jack said.

"Do you think Uncle Alan and Rose will be alright?" Dorothy asked the Doctor.

"I think so. Alan thought he had a concussion and Rose hit her head but that seemed to be the extent of their injuries," the Doctor said. "But let's hurry up and find them and everyone else before the Ulu decide they're all better off dead."

They hurried on. Five minutes later, Madison stopped them.

"Over there, I think it's another ship," she said, pointing through the trees.

They walked through it and saw a small white metal ship.

"It's the rescue craft," the Doctor said, looking around. "Well, they managed to land here so where are they?"

"Dead," Lee said.

They looked at him. He was looking around the back of the shuttle and pointing to something. They came around the corner and paused when they saw two men and one woman lying dead on the ground, their hearts pierced with arrows.

"Oh goody, they're not above killing people then," Jack said.

"Yes, but look…" the Doctor said, kneeling down next to one of the men.

In his hand was a laser blaster.

"I think they fired first," the Doctor said. "The Ulu aren't that aggressive but I know they will defend themselves if provoked. So I have a feeling this lot saw the Ulu and fired on them and the Ulu killed them in self defense. If the Ulu are this aggressive, why carry away Alan and Rose and the survivors and not kill them outright? I think these people got jittery when the Ulu came to see what was going on, fired on them, and paid for their rashness with their lives."

"Doctor…" Madison said.

He glanced at her. She was pointing up towards the trees. They looked where she was pointing and saw a lone Ulu male staring at them while he rested on a limb far above them. He was naked except for a small white linen loincloth. He had blue skin and shoulder length hair and piercing black eyes.

"We mean you no harm," the Doctor said to him. "We're looking for the survivors of the shuttle crash."

The man hesitated a moment and then leapt down onto the top of the rescue craft.

"Nimble little bugger," Jack said.

The man came closer to the edge of the roof and stared down at the Doctor.

"Are you Vak?" the Doctor asked him.

The man was taken aback at that.

"How do you know Vak?" he said.

"I spoke with him earlier on the communicator. I know Tia as well. Where is she and where are the survivors of the crash?"

"Aren't you the one in the structure? The one they took to the tree homes?"

"No, that was my brother, Alan. Where is he? What did your people do with him and the other survivors?"

He noticed the man glanced down at the dead bodies.

"I'm guessing they attacked you, right?" the Doctor said. "We won't do that. We come in peace. All we want is our family members and the other survivors of the crash returned to us, alive and unharmed. Then we'll leave."

The man stared at him silently.

"I'm warning you, we have ways of finding them. If you won't tell us or show us where they are, we'll find them ourselves and take them back with us, even if we have to fight you and your people to get at them. Now we can do this the easy or the hard way, your choice."

"I am not the one in charge," the man finally said.

"Then who is? Take us to the one in charge or bring him here. I want to speak to him," the Doctor said.

The man stared at him for a moment and then leapt back into the trees and hurried away.

"So…what did that mean?" Jack said. "Is he gonna help us or what?"

"I don't know but I'm not gonna play games with these people. However, just in case he is going to get the one in charge, I want to stay here while you lot use your screwdrivers and continue to track Alan and Rose. If we divide up, maybe when they return, they won't realize there's some missing from our group."

They split up. Rain, Madison, Grace and Dorothy stayed with the Doctor and the others followed Jack into the forest while he used his screwdriver to trace Alan's screwdriver. While they were doing that, the Doctor opened the side door in the rescue craft and went inside. He went to the front and sat down in the pilot's seat while he turned on everything and activated the communicator. While he spoke into it, Rain came inside and searched in the back part of the ship. She opened up a hatch in the floor and found some food, bottled water and some medical supplies. She called Grace and Dorothy inside with her and they took some of the bottled water, food and first aid kits and put them inside the pockets of their bigger on the inside clothes. While they did that, the Doctor tried to speak to someone back at the shuttleport. When he finally reached someone, he explained the situation to them.

"We need someone to come and get the dead bodies and rescue the remaining survivors," the Doctor said. "We can show you where the shuttle is and there's one other woman in the forest that died when the Ulu moved her. But if you come here, do not open fire on the Ulu. I think that's what this rescue crew did and the Ulu killed them in self-defense."

"Who are you? Are you a passenger on the shuttle?" the man said to him.

"No, I'm the brother of two of the passengers. We came here to rescue them and the other survivors but the Ulu took them. We found an Ulu male and asked him to go get the head of their tribe but he took off into the trees and so far he hasn't returned. We're waiting by the rescue craft but we just wanted to let you know the rescue team is dead now."

"Doctor, the Ulu are back," Madison said as she stuck her head inside the door.

"I gotta go, the Ulu have returned," the Doctor said to them. "Just concentrate on getting the dead outta here for the moment; we'll handle the return of the living."

"Wait, who are you?" the man said.

The Doctor ignored him and hurried out the door. Grace, Dorothy and Rain finished putting supplies in their pockets and went out behind him. The Ulu had returned and with him was an Ulu similar in appearance to him but with longer hair that went down his back.

"Thank you for returning," the Doctor said to them. "I think we can work out a peaceful solution to all this. All we want is the survivors returned to us and then we'll leave."

"You won't hurt us?" the leader asked him.

"No, we won't hurt you. We just want the survivors, nothing more."

"Why did they attack then?" the leader said, pointing to the corpses.

"They're not with us. They were a separate rescue group and my guess is they were frightened when you showed up and foolishly opened fire on you. We aren't like that, I swear."

"Your brother, he fought us. He and the yellow haired female."

"And what were you doing at the time they were fighting you?" the Doctor said.

The leader gave him a haughty look.

"We hid ourselves and came to the structure to see what was going on. We saw your brother on his communicator. We guessed he was bringing others like him here and then we saw Tia who stayed with them when she was ordered to leave them alone. We came inside and confronted your brother. We told him that they needed to come with us so the others he summoned would not find them and we tried to punish Tia, but he stopped us so we hit him and the yellow haired female when they tried to fight us and made them unconscious. Then we took them, Tia, and the rest of the prisoners to our tree homes."

"And just how were you "punishing" Tia?" the Doctor said, narrowing his eyes.

"We beat her."

"Well, that's why my brother intervened then," the Doctor said. "He's not about to stand by and watch you beat a child and neither is my sister."

"They had no right to interfere!"

"Neither did you!" the Doctor said angrily. "You had no right to take them prisoner!"

"He was bringing others to kill us!"

"No, he was bringing me to take him and the other survivors away from here. Instead of talking to him and finding out the reason, you panicked and figured if you hid them in the treetops, we would give up the search and go away. But now you've done the exact opposite. He wasn't summoning others like this lot; I was calling him to tell him to take a ring off his finger that would allow his body to glow so I could track him. I have no interest in your people; I have an interest in my family and the safety of the people who survived the crash. I noticed one woman died on the way back to your homes. You moved her when she shouldn't have been moved and caused massive bleeding that killed her when she might have lived if you'd just left her and everyone else alone. And now because of what you did, I just communicated with the people who own this ship and now they really are sending more people to search for them."

"You brought more here on purpose?" the leader said, alarmed.

"Yes, because this is a rescue mission, nothing more! No one is coming here to colonize. The reason the shuttle crashed here is a bomb blew it off course and the pilot needed to land somewhere. Ulu wasn't even on his flight path. See, this is what happens when everyone panics! Things escalate and the situation gets out of control. I want you to take us to them. I wanna see my brother and sister and I want to see Tia."

"Why?" the leader said, narrowing his eyes.

"Because I wanna make sure you lot didn't hurt her. If you wanna blame someone and hurt them then hurt me because I'm the one that asked her to stay and keep watch over them. I promised to give her food for your people in exchange for staying with the shuttle and making sure everyone was alright. And trust me; I'm just as angry as my brother was about the beating you tried to give her. So I hope you've haven't done anything further to her because trust me, you don't wanna see me really angry."

"Why do you care about her?" the leader said.

"Because she's a child, an innocent child that apparently has more compassion than you lot do. I asked her to do this for me so I take the blame for pulling her away from her foraging duties. Now will you take us to see them?"

"You will come with us as our prisoners," the leader said.

"Why? Why are we your prisoners? I told you, we're not going to harm you."

"Because I don't trust you," the leader said. "Not yet. You claim to be here to rescue your brother and sister and yet you just brought more of your kind here to our planet."

"Because they need to collect the dead and take them away. I didn't think you lot would be interested in burying them, especially since you left the woman who died lying in the forest for the animals to eat her."

"And are you the ultimate authority over these newcomers?" the leader challenged.

The Doctor sighed.

"No, I'm not," he conceded.

"So, you cannot guarantee that they will not act the way these people did," the leader said, pointing at the corpses.

The Doctor cursed under his breath and shook his head.

"Then you have foolishly brought a potential threat into our midst and that is why you are not to be trusted. All of you will join the others until we figure out what we need to do with you. You are now the prisoners of the Ulu."

Suddenly, they noticed more movement in the trees and several more Ulu, camouflaged to look like the green leaves of the trees, scrambled down to the ground and surrounded them. The Doctor sighed and glanced at Rain.

"What the hell is this? The Universe Hates Us day or something?" he said to her while all of them raised their hands in the air.


	256. Chapter 256

Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty Six

Jack led the others through the forest.

"So far, so good," he said to the others. "I don't see any sign of Ulu."

"That doesn't mean they aren't around us," Martha said.

"Yeah, they can disguise themselves, right?" Mickey said. "So they could be following us right now and we wouldn't know it."

"Well, they better not get too close then," Jack said.

"Or what?" Ianto replied. "You shoot them and you'll end up with an arrow in your heart."

"I've had worse," Jack said, shrugging.

He noticed the others glaring at him.

"I'm not gonna shoot them. I'm not gonna invite an attack on us just because I'm immortal and all of you can regenerate. Calm down," he said. "However, I won't be above knocking them out if they try to fight us and carry us off to their village."

They froze when they suddenly heard distant rustling above them.

"I s'pose this is them coming down to take you up on that," Mickey said softly.

They looked up and were shocked to see several Ulu jumping from tree limb to limb. Tied on their backs were the Doctor and the other members of their group.

"Okay, is it a good sign that the Doctor and the rest of our family are all riding them like mules?" Jack said while they went past them and hurried further into the forest.

"It didn't look like riding to me, it looked like the Doctor had his hands tied behind his back," Julie said.

"Yeah, I think they've captured them now," Lee added.

"Wonderful. So that means we're the last members of the family on two planets that aren't prisoners of someone," Jack said. "At least we know we're going in the right direction now if they're heading back towards their village. Well, come on, guys. We better pick up the pace before we end up captured and they end up dead."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alan groaned slowly and opened his eyes.

"Right hook, gotta watch that," he muttered. "Especially since my head hurts twice as much now."

"Alan?"

He opened his eyes further and saw Tia crouched over him.

"Hi, good to be back. Where am I, because judging from the leaf roof and wood sides, I'm not in the shuttle anymore."

"You're in our village. You and Rose and the other survivors are prisoners."

"Rose? Where is she?" Alan said, turning his head.

He saw her nearby, still unconscious, and he stroked her cheek.

"God, Starlight, you've look like death warmed up. I believe I will take you out to dinner to make up for this crappy day you've been having," he muttered to her.

He looked around and noticed there were three men and four women lying around him, all unconscious.

"Are these all of the survivors?" he asked Tara.

"Yes."

He noticed Thoruk wasn't among them.

"Damn, I guess the assassination was a success then," he muttered.

He looked at Tia.

"Why are you here? Are you taking care of us?" he asked her.

"No, I'm a prisoner too."

"What? Why?"

"Because I defied the elders and helped outsiders when I was ordered not to," she said. And I didn't stop you when you attacked my people."

"So what happens to you now?"

"I die."

"You what?" Alan said, not sure if he heard her right. "You die? For that?"

"I committed treason. I defied my people and helped you by looking after you and not assisting the others when you fought them and they were in trouble."

"No, wait, this is insane. You did nothing. My brother asked you to stay and look after us and I was the one who attacked them. You didn't do anything. They can't do this to you. You're only a child."

"Doesn't matter, I'm old enough to be responsible for myself and my actions so I must be punished."

"No! I won't let that happen. Not to you, not after the kindness you showed to me and Rose. You're coming with us when we leave here."

"You'd take me with you?" Tia said.

Alan grinned.

"Actually, I think it was already planned that you'd come with me anyway if you're who I think you are," he said.

"What do you mean?" Tia said.

"I mean, that sometimes things are meant to happen and certain people are drawn together for a purpose and I think you and I were destined to meet," Alan said.

"Okay…" Tia said, confused.

"I'll explain it after we get out of here. But I think you and me and Rose are gonna be around each other for a long time to come. So…Angel, Elizabeth, possibly you and now we just have to find that Middle Eastern bloke and we got everyone that was in the video…" he muttered to himself.

Tia was confused but said nothing, watching while Alan thought to himself. Suddenly, he frowned.

"Wait a tic, my groggy brain's catchin' up with me now," he muttered.

He looked at Tia.

"Am I speaking your language now?" he said to her.

Tia was taken aback.

"Yes," she said.

He grinned.

"No, I'm not. I'm speaking my language but you're hearing it translated into Ulu which means there's a TARDIS nearby which means…"

A heavy wooden door was moved aside and the Doctor was shoved inside the hut.

"Which means Brother's here," Alan said. "Except we can't celebrate since apparently he's been captured with some of my family members."

"Brother, are you alright?" the Doctor said, kneeling down to him.

"Um…head is throbbing severely but other than that, I'm okey-dokey. I see you brought a medic along. Hiya Grace!"

"Hi, Alan," Grace said, kneeling down between him and Rose.

The Doctor smiled at Tia who was staring at him in silent shock.

"Are you Tia?" he asked her.

She nodded.

"Nice to finally meet ya face to face. I'm the Doctor."

"You're…you look the same as Alan," she said in shock.

"Yup, been told that before," he said to her.

"Brother, they're gonna kill her," Alan said while the others tended to Rose and the injured.

"What? Why?"

Tia told him.

"Over my dead and regenerating body they will!" the Doctor said angrily. "I think the Ulu are freaking out over everyone being here and it's turned them completely bonkers and paranoid."

_Brother,_ Alan thought to him._ I had an Ulu daughter in the video, remember._

The Doctor glanced at Tia.

_Oh yeah,_ he thought back. _At least something good will come out of this then. I'm assuming you're taking her with us then?_

_Well, yes, if they're gonna kill her, I am. It wasn't even her fault._

_I know that and you know that, but her people apparently don't care,_ he thought. _I have a feeling they've never dealt with outsiders before, at least not on a large scale like this, so they're overreacting to everything, including killing her for treason. They brought us here because I found the rescue craft that was sent to find you. The rescue team was stupid enough to fire at the Ulu and now they're all dead. I radioed for more help and when the leader found out, I was accused of bringing more people to destroy them so now we're here while they figure out what to do with us._

Alan sighed and shook his head.

_We do have another variable in this equation,_ the Doctor thought_. Jack is here with Ianto, Mickey, Martha, Julie and Lee. We split up so they could follow the signal from your screwdriver while we waited for the leader to come back to us. I haven't seen them yet so hopefully that means they're still out there._

_What about Tara? Anyone heard from her group yet?_

The Doctor shook his head.

_Still trying, they're still awake but they won't respond. Someone answered her mobile when Jack tried to ring her. Didn't say anything, we just heard heavy breathing before the mobile was crushed. The other mobiles won't work now so there's no way to communicate with them. _

_Damn it._

_We found your mobile in the shuttle. Rose's mobile is missing, don't know if it's still on her or not but neither one of you answered them and Tia didn't answer either so we came here fearing the worst._

_How did you locate us?_

_The TARDIS found the signal from the homing beacon and we followed that. _

_Good for her. I was going to take off my bio-damper but I was just getting off the phone when they found me and we didn't have time before they started yelling at Tia and laying into her._

_Figured as much._

Rain came to Alan's side with one of the bottled waters and some ibuprofen.

"Here Bro, figured you'd want this," she said, showing it to him

"Ooooh, indeed I do, blessed pain relievers," he said while the Doctor helped hold his head up.

She put the tablets in his mouth and helped him swallow it.

"Ah, thank you, thank you so much," he said, sighing with relief.

Grace came over and knelt beside Rain after she was finished checking the others.

"You thought you might have a concussion?" she said to him.

"Maybe, I smacked my head into the back of the seat and it took me awhile to focus my eyes when I first woke up. Is Rose alright?"

"Yeah," Grace said, checking his head. "She's got a huge knot on the back of her head…and you do too from the looks of it. You've also had some bleeding. There's dried blood running from your head down across your cheek. Rose didn't have that so I'm betting you did have a concussion. Can you see now?"

"Yeah, I can see fine, my head just hurts. Even more so now that an Ulu decked me."

"Did you just wake up?" Grace asked.

"Yeah."

"They moved all of you. We saw a dead body in the forest. I think they tried to move a woman and she had internal bleeding and died on the way here."

"Damn it," Alan cursed.

"They seem to be stable, just unconscious. Although…I'm beginning to wonder if they were drugged because I can't wake them up."

"They were," Tia said to her. "They have a special potion that can make people unconscious. They put some under their noses and let them breathe it. They did that with Rose too."

"But not me since I was already unconscious, I gather," Alan said.

Tia nodded.

"Wonderful," Alan said, struggling to sit up, "the day from Hell continues, wonder what's next on the agenda?"

He sat up and drew his knees up towards him while he wrapped his arms around them.

"This potion, how strong is it? Are they gonna be out for hours?" Alan asked Tia.

"Not hours and hours, maybe an hour or two," she said.

"How long have we been here then?"

"Um…maybe close to two hours," she said.

"So, Rose should be waking up any time now," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, but we won't be much use to you in a fight. I can barely sit up."

"No need for that. We have us and we have Jack's group. That's more than enough," the Doctor said.

"There's more coming?" Tia said.

The Doctor put his finger to his lips and nodded.

"More of our family," he said very softly. "They're following one of the devices Alan has in his pocket and they're planning to rescue us."

"But…" Tia whispered. "My people will capture and kill them."

"Well, if they kill a certain member of our family, they'll be in for a big shock five minutes afterward," the Doctor said, grinning. "I wouldn't count them out yet though. We're all expert fighters and we're more than capable of holding our own in a fight, even against your people."

They heard a groan and noticed Rose started waking up along with a few others. Grace crawled to her side and watched while she opened her eyes. Rose blinked while her eyes focused. She saw Grace and stared at her with wide eyes.

"Okay, am I hallucinating Grace?" she said while the rest of the family laughed.

"No, I'm here, Rose. Jack assembled a group and we came to rescue you."

"So…are we rescued then?"

"No, but we're working on it," Grace replied.

Rose looked around and the Doctor waved at her when she saw him.

"Hi, Te'lesu, enjoying the holiday?" he said.

"Oh yeah, it's just bloody brilliant, I never want it to end," she said while they laughed.

She saw Rain.

"Okay, how did you two get off the ship? I thought that was the main problem," she said to them.

"Well, the problem got solved when Jack used his manipulator and took us back to our TARDIS," Rain said.

"And now you're stuck here with us," Rose said. "Yup, lovely holiday, that's for sure."

She had a thought.

"Tara, the others, are they…"

The Doctor updated her on everything while Grace, Madison and Dorothy helped the other survivors wake up. Rose groaned and cursed under her breath when he finished telling her everything.

"Great and if we don't find a way outta here and get back to them, they'll probably end up dead," Rose muttered.

She looked at Tia.

"And if they try to lay their hands on ya to kill ya, I'll make their lives a livin' Hell!" she said angrily.

_You know who this is, dontcha?_ Alan thought to her.

Rose frowned.

_Tia,_ she thought back.

_Yes, but…remember Rose, that video on Clive's website? When Jack panned over to us, there was Angel, Elizabeth, that Middle Eastern boy and…_

Rose's eyes bulged and Alan nodded.

_Tia? Tia's gonna be our daughter?_ She thought to him.

Alan shrugged.

_I was planning on taking her with us rather than watch her be executed. I'm thinking that's the reason why she comes into our lives. _

Rose thought that over. She glanced at Tia and smiled at her. Tia smiled back.

_I could live with her bein' our daughter, _Rose thought back.

_Yup, so could I, _Alan thought.

Suddenly, the door was moved back and the leader stood in front with several Ulu behind them. All of them held spears at the ready.

"Good, you're all awake. You will all come with us now," the leader said.


	257. Chapter 257

Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty Seven

The Doctor stared at him in disbelief.

"Are you all insane? You can't make these people move. Most of them are injured!" he said angrily.

"Then find a way to carry them," the leader said. "Scouts have found more of your kind coming this way, probably the ones you told to come here and we need to move you."

The Doctor came forward.

"Will you calm down and see reason for a moment," he said to him. "If you would just listen, you'd see we aren't a threat. If you let us go, I promise we'll go away and leave you alone."

"What about the ones down below?"

"I'm thinking they're searching for us. If you let us talk to them, we can get them to leave too," the Doctor said. "I understand you're afraid of all these strange people. But you need to stop and think and hear us. We're not going to hurt you! You've already killed one woman when you moved these people. They are not fit to walk, they just woke up and they're groggy and sore. Let them be! I'll go and talk to the people down below. Just let everyone else rest here, alright?"

The leader thought it over and then nodded.

"Very well, you can go and speak to them and get them to leave."

"And we go with them, unharmed."

"Yes, you can go with them. Now as for you…" the leader said, glaring at Tia.

"She is not to be harmed," the Doctor said to him.

The Ulu stared at him in shock.

"I don't believe she's your concern."

"We made her our concern the moment we learned you wanted to kill her for petty things that technically she didn't even do," the Doctor said. "There has been enough killing and death and horror already without you adding to it. If you must do something, banish her along with us. Let her go with us and that solves your what to do about her treason problem."

The leader looked at Tia. Alan was beside her, glaring at him while he had a protective arm around her. He looked at the Doctor.

"Why do you care if she lives or dies?" he said to the Doctor.

"Because she's innocent and I care about all innocent creatures. I've made it my mission to protect them from injustice and that's what this is, you're killing her for something she didn't do. I told ya it was my fault she stayed behind because I asked her to and Alan was the one that threw the punch. Granted she didn't intercede and stop him from attacking your people but she was probably in shock and frightened. And by that I mean that here was this man who had been kind to her and treated her with respect and suddenly everyone's attacking him and knocking him out. I know your kind. You lot aren't normally violent like this. You keep to yourselves but all these strangers have thrown you into a panic and now you're acting irrationally. Now, if Tia has broken some law, spare her life and condemn her to exile, and she can go with us. If I can talk to these people below you and convince them to go, will you do that and show her some mercy?"

The leader thought it over and nodded.

"Very well, she is banished forever from her village and will die if she ever returns," he said.

"Thank you, that's all I wanna hear. Now will you let me go and talk to the group down below?"

"Yes, convince them to leave us alone."

"With pleasure. But…on one condition."

The leader sighed.

"What is it?"

"They be allowed to come up here and bring down the injured."

"We will bring them down. We don't want them up here," the leader said.

"Will you bring them down gently then?"

"Yes."

"Okay…then let me go speak to them."

"Follow us," the leader said.

The Doctor waved at the others and walked out the door. Tia watched while the moved the heavy door back into place and looked at Alan.

"If I'm banished, where will I go?" she said to him.

"With me and Rose, we'll look after ya," he said. "It's the least we can do for you looking after us."

Tia looked at Rose. She smiled warmly at Tia and Tia smiled back.

"Okay," Tia said to Alan. "I'll go with you."

Rose giggled when Alan thought a long, high-pitched "Yippee!" to her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jack and his group paused underneath the village and looked up. High above them nestled in some large limbs were wooden huts with leaf roofs. Around the huts were wooden walkways and a few wooden suspension bridges were strung across the trees.

"Okay…bit Ewoky," Jack said, looking up at it. "How the hell do we get up to it?"

"And then, how do we find the others without getting caught?" Julie said. "We don't even know what hut they're in."

They looked over when they noticed the Doctor coming around a walkway next to a large hut while several Ulu followed him with spears.

"Well, we found one member of our group at least," Jack said.

They ducked out of sight.

_That won't work, Jack,_ the Doctor thought to him. _They've known about you for awhile. Especially since you're standing right under their very noses looking up at them. So come back out. I'm going to tell you to leave with me and the other survivors so the Ulu can stop worrying and return to their normal, peaceful behavior._

Jack and the others came back out of the trees and stood there watching while the Doctor hopped on an Ulu's back and held on while he jumped down with the others.

"Now, I'm here to tell you lot that you need to leave," the Doctor said, sternly. "There's several of us up there and some of them are injured. The Ulu are allowing us to take them but you must promise not to come back here once we've left."

Jack glanced at the others.

"I think that can be arranged," Jack said.

The Doctor turned to the Ulu.

"However, there is still the matter of collecting the dead and for that; they will need to stay a bit longer to retrieve them. So here's my offer, you can watch them but stay completely out of sight so no one gets panicked and starts shooting at you. Watch them and if they leave with the bodies, fine. If, however, they begin trying to kill and enslave you, then you have my blessing to attack. Do we have a deal?"

"They will be the ones who will retrieve the bodies?" the leader said, pointing to them.

Jack tried to think up something to say to that. While he did, Martha stepped up beside him.

"We might not be back," she said. "We need to get these people to hospital since that's our first priority but we will send someone to retrieve the bodies. If that happens, then don't interfere with them unless they invade you, okay?"

"Very well, we accept," the leader said.

_Smooth, Martha,_ Jack thought to her.

_Yeah, well you lot aren't the only ones who can think on your feet,_ she thought back.

"And now that everything's been sorted out, can we leave? We have pressing business elsewhere," the Doctor said to the leader.

"Very well, we will bring down the others and let you have them," the leader said.

"Thank you. Thank you for finally calming down and listening to reason," the Doctor said.

They watched while the Ulu leaped back up into the trees.

"Like I said, nimble," Jack said.

"Yes, that agility and camouflage ability will come in quite handy in future," the Doctor said.

"What do you mean?" Jack said.

"I mean, Jack, that Alan and Rose found their third daughter and you're about to meet her."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once everyone was brought down to the ground, everyone carried the injured with them back to the TARDIS. Alan and Rose walked with them and Tia walked between them, holding onto their hands.

"Finally," the Doctor said, while he carried one of the women," now we can go find the others."

He smiled at the woman. She was elderly with white curly hair and a wizened face.

"What's your name?" he asked her.

"Beatrice."

"I'm the Doctor. We're taking you to my ship. I have a med bay on board and Martha and Grace here will look after you. We can't take you home just yet because we have more family members in peril but as soon as we find them we'll take you back to the shuttleport so you can be with your families again."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they got them back on board the TARDIS and in the med bay, they asked their names while they put drips in their arms and made them comfortable. Once they were finished and the men and women were resting comfortably. They headed up to the console room.

"Okay, now what? We still don't know how to reach them and without a way to track them, we don't know where to start looking," Jack said while they walked.

"Thinking, Jack, thinking," the Doctor said.

He stopped when he suddenly had an idea and everyone stopped with him.

"What is it?" Julie said.

The Doctor let out a gleeful giggle.

"What? What's so funny?" Mickey said.

"My TARDIS is the answer to our solution," the Doctor said. "Oh! It's so simple, it's brilliant!"

"What is? What's the answer?" Grace said.

"Years ago when Tara first joined our family, the TARDIS bonded deeply with her because she was my daughter. The same bonding she did with Dorothy, Jenny, Donna, Amelia and Opal. The bond is deep enough that she can search for Tara, Jenny and Donna across great distances and perhaps she's powerful enough that she can get through to them better than we can and perhaps even snap them out of whatever trance they're in. Think you can do it, Old Girl?"

The TARDIS grunted an affirmative.

"Then do it, find them so we can bring them home," the Doctor said.


	258. Chapter 258

Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty Eight

Tara lay with the others inside the dirt room. The creatures came back every once in awhile and poked them with another dart that kept them paralyzed. Other than that, she had no idea who they were or what they wanted. At one point, her mobile had rung and one of them picked it up after poking Donna and turned it on. Tara felt her heart sink when she heard first Jack then her Dad trying to get in contact with her and demanding the creature speak and identify itself. It had stared at the device for a moment in visible confusion before it threw the mobile on the ground and stomped on it, breaking it to pieces. They muttered under their breath to each other and Tara watched in horror while they took all the other mobiles and stepped on them. Then they tried to do the same with the sonic screwdrivers and psychic paper but weren't successful at ruining them. They then left the room, taking the screwdrivers and paper with them, and that was the last time Tara had seen them. They gave them the darts at regular intervals and she guessed it was every half hour or so before they had to be pricked again. She estimated that perhaps they had about fifteen minutes left before they appeared again. Inwardly she sighed and looked at the rest of her family. They also looked at her but apart from a wink from Donna; no one could speak, vocally or mentally. Still their presence gave her some comfort and the fact that the creatures hadn't killed them yet filled her with hope that her father and the others would come to their rescue.

While she lay there, she suddenly felt someone trying to search her mind. She sighed softly figuring it was her father trying once again to reach her and her hearts ached for him and her mother. But she suddenly realized that it wasn't her father and this mind was far more powerful than his was. It seemed to fill her entire mind, pushing away all the other chattering minds until they seemed like they were silent. She paused a moment knowing that she had felt this mind before and then it hit her. Tears came to her eyes when she felt her father's TARDIS reaching out to her.

_Beloved, I'm here with you now_, the TARDIS thought to her.

Tara struggled to think back to her and suddenly she felt the constraints on her mind loosening and for the first time in awhile she could muster up enough energy to think back.

_Oh TARDIS, I'm so glad it's you,_ she thought to her. _You have to help me; you have to tell Dad I'm safe. I couldn't think to him because these creatures have been paralyzing us. I can't move anything except my eyes._

_Why don't you tell him yourself, my Tara?_

_Because I can't. I couldn't think to anyone until now. I've tried so hard to contact him but I couldn't…_

_But I am here now, Beloved, your mind is linked deeply with mine and so is your father's. I can act as a link between you and allow you to speak with him. You, Emi, Jenny and Donna will be able to speak to him because you are all deeply bonded with me._

Tears were flowing down Tara's face now.

_Please, please, I wanna talk to Daddy_, she thought to her.

There was a pause and suddenly, Tara felt the Doctor reaching out to her. But this time his mind was just as strong as the TARDIS and she could feel his overwhelming love for her flowing through her mind, warming her body and soul by the very presence of it. The tears flowed unabated while the Doctor caressed her mind and gave her mental kisses.

_Daddy?_ Tara thought.

_Yes, my beloved Star, I'm here. At last, I can feel you fully and speak with you,_ he thought to her.

She felt another presence and cried harder when she realized it was her mother. She too was just as strong as the Doctor and she felt safe and loved while they caressed and kissed her mind and filled it with love. She glanced over and noticed that Jenny, Emi and Donna also had tears running down their faces and she guessed that they were also feeling what she was feeling. The others weren't reacting as they were and they were giving them odd looks but she didn't care. Finally, her mother and father were with her again.

_Daddy, I can't move. These creatures are paralyzing us and I couldn't even think to you. I heard you calling to me but I couldn't call back. I wanted to think to you. I know you were worried about me but I couldn't say anything._

_But that's over now. Thanks to the TARDIS, we can communicate now and we're speaking with you and Em and Jenny and Donna,_ he thought back. _The TARDIS can feel your minds and she's bringing us to you right now. Soon we'll be together again. Nothing will keep you from me now. I'll move Heaven and Hell to get you back, my daughter. Whatever these things are that are holding you captive, I will fight them with every ounce of my being to take you away from them. I'll make them sorry they messed with the Oncoming Storm's daughter. I am one pissed off papa at the moment._

Tara laughed inside her head at that.

_And your mum is one mad mama. They picked the wrong family to kidnap. We're like two birds defending our chicks and we'll peck their eyes out for this. So we need to pause for a moment and get under the chameleon arch so we can grow some beaks. It's hard to peck eyes out without one._

Tara laughed again and the Doctor caressed her mind.

_Feels so good to hear your laughter again, my Star. Feels so good to hear you._

_I can't hear Donna or Emi or Jenny or anyone else though._

_Well, the others aren't bonded with this TARDIS so the TARDIS can't make a strong enough connection with them, only with you, Emi, Jenny and Donna. Alan and Rose could talk to their daughters if they had their TARDIS since their TARDIS is bonded with them but for the moment they'll have to be content with coming to get you. As for you not hearing your sisters and aunt, my guess is whatever they're using on you is encasing your mind and it's not strong enough to make a connection with the others. But rest assured, we are speaking with them as well as you._

_I can tell, they're crying just like me._

_You're crying? Well, imagine that, we're crying as well. And here I was getting embarrassed for being such a blubber butt._

Tara laughed at that.

_So, is everyone okay?_

_Yes, we're all paralyzed but they haven't hurt us yet._

_Good, let's keep it that way. Can you describe these creatures to me?_

_Um…well, they don't have any hair, brown, kinda short and squat. Their eyes are pure white and they have clawed hands._

_I think I know what they are and I have an idea about why they kidnapped you. _

_Who are they?_

_Molums. Underground creatures, kinda like big moles. They're blind aboveground like Earth moles. But I do know that they like to kidnap people and enslave them, make them dig tunnels for them so they can grow their network of tunnels as quickly as possible. I didn't know they were able to paralyze people like that and I'm not sure why they would. Perhaps they need to prepare you. They have some unique abilities and one of them is mind control. I'm guessing they're about to brainwash and enslave you but not anymore because I know what planet they live on and we're making a beeline straight for ya. The TARDIS will land near you since she has a lock on you and your sisters and aunt's minds and believe me, we're readying ourselves for battle. Well, most of us, Alan and Rose are resting behind me but the rest of us are going to come get ya._

_They're safe?_

There was a pause.

_Hi, Tara, it's me, Alan._

_I'm so glad to hear your voice, Uncle Alan._

_What'd ya mean? You've been hearing my voice for the past ten minutes._

_N'yuk, n'yuk, _Tara thought while he giggled in her head_._

_I know what you mean, Sweetheart, I'm glad to hear ya too. We missed ya, _he thought._ Rose and I have had one hell of a time and we'll fill you in on it after you're back safe and sound in the TARDIS. And…you need to meet our future daughter. She's right here with us. Her name is Tia and she's that blue skinned Ulu daughter we had in the video. Least we think she is, too late to trade her for someone else if she isn't. Anyway, we're glad the TARDIS finally got through to you when nothing else worked and we're coming to you. Just hold on and your mum and dad will be ripping apart the Molums tunnels in a few minutes. _

Tara's eyes snapped over to the hole when she saw a Molum enter with the darts.

_Daddy, they're coming back to drug us again, _she thought to the Doctor.

_We're comin', Tara. The TARDIS just landed and nothing's gonna get in my way now, I swear it._

_Hurry, Daddy, hurry!_

_On my way, my Star! We'll be there in a trice, don't be afraid! I won't let them hurt you or anyone else. _

There was another pause.

_Hooo-eeee, _Alan thought to her._ Your dad and mum ran out of here so fast, I can't believe they didn't have trails of fire behind them. I would hate to be the Molums right now because they're gonna get it. Yup, can't believe Back to the Future fire trails didn't follow them out the door because I swear they were going eighty eight miles per hour just then. Sucks to be the Molums, I s'pose. _

Tara's eyes shifted towards the door and the Molum who was injecting Nelak with a dart jerked his head up and stared at the hole in confusion. Tara's body overflowed with emotion when she heard her father's angry yells and demands to see them.

_They're coming, I can hear Dad,_ Tara thought to Alan.

_Are the tunnels red with blood yet?_ Alan thought back.

Tara watched while the Molum ran out the door without finishing the injections.

_Not yet and the Molum didn't finish pricking us. He only pricked Angel and Nelak. _

_So there's a chance that stuff could wear off?_ Alan thought.

_I hope so, Uncle Alan. I wanna move so bad, it's not funny,_ she thought back.

_Tunnels red with blood now?_

She laughed in her head.

_Not yet. _

_No? As quickly as they ran out of here, I'd think Molum heads would be rolling down the tunnels now in a cartoon-like fashion. Ah well, give him time. He'll soon paint the walls with blood and innards._

"WHERE ARE THEY? TAKE ME TO THEM NOW!" Tara heard the Doctor screaming.

Tara suddenly felt the effects of the dart beginning to wear off. She tried moving her fingers and rejoiced inwardly when it moved slightly.

_Uncle Alan, it's wearing off! The stuff is wearing off!_ She thought to him.

_Yes! Now you can climb up the walls to avoid the blood and guts!_

Tara giggled in her head.

_That still hasn't happened yet!_ She thought back.

_Blast! Get a move on, Brother. I wanna hear about some Molum carnage!_ Alan thought back.

Suddenly, Tara felt her mouth begin to loosen along with the rest of her body.

"Da…" she tried to say. "Da…Dad…dy….Dad…dy….Daddy…DADDY!"

She could finally scream it out loud. She cried out to him and Rain, loving the sound of her voice in her ears.

"That way!" the Doctor yelled.

Tara continued to yell while she slowly moved her body. Meanwhile, everyone except Nelak and Angel were loosening up and joining with her in calling to them. Then, she saw them. The Doctor and Rain appeared at the hole.

"Daddy! Mommy!" Tara said while the others called to them.

The Doctor ran to her while Rain ran to Jenny and Emi who were lying near the hole. Rain held them close and kissed them while the Doctor scooped Tara up into his arms and enveloped her.

"Daddy!" Tara said.

The Doctor pressed his lips to her forehead.

"I'm here now. Everything'll be alright," he said to her.

"Uncle Alan wants to know if the tunnels are red with blood and guts now," Tara said.

He chuckled.

"Nah, didn't have time for that. I just punched their lights out as fast as I could in order to get to ya," he said to her. "Jack and the others went on further with one of them, trying to see if there are captives that need to be freed. But your mum and I knew we had to come and find ya first."

He gave her another firm kiss on the forehead and then passed her over to Rain while he went to see Jenny and Emi. By now, everyone except Angel and Nelak could move again and Donna, Awinita and Elizabeth hugged the Doctor tightly before he held his daughters and comforted them.

"About the whole blood and guts thing, Honey," Rain said to Tara, "I'm surprised that didn't happen because your father came in here like a fireball. It only took a couple of punches before the Molum realized that attacking him head-on wasn't the best strategy. Can you move, Love?"

"Yeah, now I can," Tara said, getting up on her knees.

"I'm sorry we didn't get here quick enough to prevent them drugging Nelak and Angel again," she said, helping her to her feet. "But at least the stuff'll wear off soon."

She walked over to Angel and bent down beside her, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Your dad is in our TARDIS. He and Rose are alright. They didn't come in here because they're still a bit weak from their ordeal but they're waiting for you."

She stroked her hair while Angel stared up at her silently.

"I know you can't move or say anything but I know inside you're happy about that," Rain said to her. "We're gonna get you out of here before we help Jack and the others find any other captives the Molum have. So just hold on, and you too, Nelak, and we'll take you back to the TARDIS where you'll be safe."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Oh God, Lizzy, Angel, my babies," Rose said when they entered the TARDIS.

She and Alan ran to them. Elizabeth embraced them and Angel stared at them while she lay in the Doctor's arms. Alan came up and kissed her.

"Don't worry, you'll be right as rain in no time, Ang," he said to her.

He stared down at her expressionless face and looked at his Brother.

"You didn't pulverize the bastards into goo?" he said to him.

"I thought it'd be a bit messy going through the goo on the way back," the Doctor said.

He saw him slide his arms under Angel.

"Are you strong enough for this?"

"Yup, I'm strong enough to carry my daughter."

The Doctor transferred her to his arms and Alan kissed her forehead. The Doctor turned and took Nelak from Donna and Jenny's arms. While he followed Alan back to the med bay, Rose embraced everyone else.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After Jack and the others brought ten tired captives on board the TARDIS and gave the stolen screwdrivers and psychic paper back to their family, they took the captives to the med bay while the Doctor flew the TARDIS back into the vortex. Most of the family helped Martha and Grace get them stabilized while Alan stood up front with the Doctor.

"Hell of a holiday," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, we never did reach our destinations, did we?" Alan said to him.

"No one did. We have a lousy track record when it comes to that," the Doctor said.

"On the other hand, we found our next child," Alan said to him.

"Yes, congratulations. I'm glad it was Tia who ended up being the lucky winner. She's sweet."

"That she is. I look forward to bringing her up."

"Gonna corrupt her like you did the first two?" the Doctor said, grinning.

"Never and I did not corrupt anyone. Can I help it if my daughters think of me as a role model for them? I only influenced them with my exuberant personality, nothing more."

"Well, don't teach Tia to call my wife, Snotbag, or something like that."

"Never! I reserve that pet name for my own personal use."

The Doctor chuckled and Alan patted him on the shoulder while he flew the TARDIS to their next destination.


	259. Chapter 259

A/N: This takes place two years after they find Tia.

Chapter Two Hundred and Fifty Nine

"Ah! Beautiful day for a family trip," Alan said while he, Rose, Angel, Elizabeth and Tia stood in their TARDIS as it flew through the vortex.

Tia, who was now fourteen, was a Time Lady but didn't posses the Time Lady mind yet like the rest of the Time Lords and Ladies who had changed before the age of twenty. When she lived on Ulu, she was naked like the females of her kind but Alan insisted on clothes, figuring most people would be shocked at a blue woman running around in her birthday suit. So she started wearing a white t-shirt with tan shorts and white trainers on her feet. The TARDIS they were traveling in was all theirs, rapidly grown from the coral that he and Rose had started with so long ago. The inside of the TARDIS had plaster walls to give it a more homely feel and the roundels were small and plain. The console was white metal and the switches and buttons were arranged neatly while the column went up to the ceiling, attached to a small white metal holder that came down from it. There were no railings around their console but there was a white leather jump seat by the monitor that was attached to a white metal pole fixed into the white grated floor. The TARDIS had a functioning chameleon circuit and for the final personal touch, Alan decided one day during a playful mood to give his TARDIS a female name. Jokingly, he decided to call her Daisy after one of his favorite flowers and to his surprise, the TARDIS accepted it. Thereafter, he referred to his ship as Daisy much to the amusement of the rest of the family.

"Hey? Humans give cars female names, don't they?" he finally said after too much lighthearted teasing. "Well, I'm following their example and naming my "car". Maybe Brother will do likewise and name his TARDIS, Beryl."

"Somehow, I doubt that, Alan," Rose said while they laughed.

Alan flew their TARDIS to a planet called Sedaris, renowned for its beauty and tranquility, so they could relax a bit. They stepped outside and marveled at the view. The grass around them was a vibrant green and twenty feet away was a large lake with a few tall trees scattered around it. In the distance were several majestic snow covered mountains. Off to their right a dirt path snaked up over a large hill and away into the distance.

"Molto bene," Alan said. "Fantastisimo, Outta sight!"

Rose giggled.

"Always gotta throw your quirky language into any sentence, yeah?"

"Naturally, because I just gotta be me!"

He walked away towards the lake singing…

"I gotta be meeeeeeeeee! I gotta be freeeeeeeeeee!"

Rose looked at her daughters while they came outside the TARDIS. They were giggling at the silly jig Alan was doing down by the lake.

"At least Dad's in a good mood," Angel said.

"When is your dad not in a good mood?" Rose teased.

She shut the TARDIS door and they walked over to Alan who was now sitting on the bank of the river whistling contentedly to himself. There was a tree directly beside him and Tia removed her shoes, put them at the base of the tree, and leapt up to the first strong limb directly above Alan's head. She sat down on it and dangled her legs down, letting them swing back and forth lazily while she watched some birds flying over the lake. Rose sat down beside him while Angel and Elizabeth sat on his other side. Alan sighed and put his arms around them. He glanced at his daughters.

"Where'd the teeny one go?"

"Daddy!"

He jerked his head up.

"Oh, there you are, teeny tiny daughter."

"I'm not teeny tiny, Daddy."

"You're not? You're only about four foot tall, I reckon," Alan said. "But then again, your people were short, probably why you're so good at hoppin' around in trees. But I love ya all teeny tiny, makes you cuter. Too bad you aren't smaller so I could put you in my pocket."

"Geez, Dad," Elizabeth said while they giggled.

"What? I would like a pocket sized daughter. Perhaps I'll search for one. A pint sized pygmy daughter that will ride in my pocket with her head sticking out of it. And people will walk up to me and say, "Oi! What that in your pocket, mate? And I'll say that's my pint-sized, pea-sized, pretty, precious, princess daughter of mine.""

"Don't mind your father, girls. He's off on another wild tangent again," Rose said while the girls giggled.

"Yup, my mental trolley has taken a diversion off into Odd Thoughts Land. It'll get back on track in a minute or two once I'm done dreaming of teeny tiny pocket daughters," he said.

He sighed and stood up. He glanced up at Tia's bare feet and with a wicked grin pretended to yawn while he stretched his arms up.

"Gitchee goo!" he said, ticking the sole of her left foot.

He giggled when Tia shrieked and jerked her foot up onto the limb.

"Ha! I just tickled your tootsies. Consider yourself gitchee gooed now," he said, walking off to the right.

He took a leisurely stroll around the lake, sighing while he felt the warm air on his face and watched the grass blowing lazily in the wind. He paused a moment and stared out at the lake, perfectly content. His hearing pricked up at the sound of a limb creaking above him and he grinned.

"I know you're up there. I gitchee gooed you before and God willing, I'll do it again!"

He didn't hear a reply and glanced upward. He didn't see Tia on any of the limbs but when he took a good look, he noticed she was nestled up in the leaves, camouflaged to look like them.

"Ha! I found you, daughter of mine. You can't hide from me for long, I'm an expert when it comes to those Where's Wally books and if I can find that bespectacled geek in the midst of fifty people then I can find you! Yup, hawk eye, me."

Tia jumped down beside him. Alan patted her on the shoulder.

"Nice try. Green isn't your color though. I prefer your regular blue and white colors," he said.

Tia thought and then suddenly she changed colors again. Her skin color matched Alan's and her hair was dark brown. Alan looked at her.

"Aha, now you've switched to your human disguise, eh? Very clever."

He looked over and noticed a man coming up over the hill. He was walking along the path pushing a large metal wagon in front of him.

"And what do we have here?" Alan said while Rose, Angel and Elizabeth got up and walked towards him. "Tia, stay in your human disguise for the moment, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy."

The other women caught up to them and Alan took Tia's hand while they all walked towards the man. He was short and stout with short brown hair sticking out from under a straw hat. He had a handlebar mustache and deep brown eyes. He was wearing a white shirt with a bright red waistcoat and tan trousers with black shoes. He stopped when he saw Alan and his family walking towards him.

"Oh, I didn't know anyone was over here. I was just heading back home for a rest," he said to them. "Would you like some chocolate haberdashers?"

"What's that?" Alan said.

"It's a little creation of mine. I take a large biscuit, pour thick chocolate syrup on it, put another biscuit on top, spread some fudge across the top of that and finish off with sprinkles. Would you like one?"

"Boy, would he ever," Rose said while the children giggled.

"My wife is correct; I would love some haberdashers, for me and my family. How much?"

"They're five credits each."

"Okey-doke, give us ten then, we'll have two each," Alan said, reaching into his pocket for his credit stick. "Incidentally, where were you coming from just now?"

"There's a small funfair over the hill."

"Is there now? Well, we had no idea. We'll have to mosey over and have a look see."

The man ran his credit stick through a scanner and put the haberdashers on small white napkins. Alan passed them out to his family until he got to the last two which he kept for himself. The man thanked them and they went past him towards the funfair while the man headed for home. Alan took a bite of one of the haberdashers and his eyes bulged when the rich chocolate hit his taste buds.

"I think I shall employ that man to come and work as a chef for us so we can have these all the time. These are utterly delectable. I'm so glad we ran into him. Now that my choco-meter is rising towards the full side, we can have fun at the funfair!"

Alan quickly finished his haberdashers and licked the chocolate syrup off his fingers before he put his arm around Rose's shoulders. Rose and the children were still eating theirs while they started to walk up the hill. By the time they reached the top, everyone was done eating their haberdashers and they stood and looked at the funfair. It was very small with only a big wheel and swings and several game and food booths. In the middle of it was an empty wooden stage with a white backdrop behind it. All of them walked towards it. On the outskirts they noticed a metal box mounted on a long metal pole. There was a large speaker in the middle of the box and a numerical keypad underneath it. Above the speaker was a small sign…

CALL ANYWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE WITH OUR NEW LASEROPTIC CABLES. TRY OUR CRYSTAL CLEAR RECEPTION. ONLY 50 CREDITS TO CALL ANYWHERE IN THE UNIVERSE.

"Really?" Alan said.

Grinning, he scanned his credit stick and dialed the number to the Doctor's mobile phone. They listened while it rang several times and then they heard someone answering.

"Heeeellooooo?" the Doctor said groggily.

"Brother?" Alan said.

"Yeah?" the Doctor said in a groggy voice.

"What's wrong?" Alan said.

"I was asleep, a very deep sleep. Rain and I both were."

"Oh," Alan said sheepishly.

"What is it, what's wrong?" the Doctor murmured.

"Um," Alan said, rubbing the back of his neck, "nothing's wrong. We…um…are on Sedaris and there's this tiny funfair and on the way in they had this phone of sorts that advertises crystal clear reception all over the universe for fifty credits. I…uh…was trying it out to see if it worked…and I s'pose it does. Sorry."

"No, it's alright, you didn't know," the Doctor said after waking up a bit more. "After you left, the kids left to do something with Amelia and Opal and we decided to catch up on our sleep since the house was quiet. Like I said, it was a very deep sleep which is why I sounded drunk when I woke up. Good for you for finding a funfair, sounds nice and relaxing."

"Actually, it's not that big. There's a big wheel and the swings ride and the rest is just games and food and a stage…and this thing, of course."

"Well, smash it when you get done talking to me. No one's allowed to call across the universe except us."

They laughed at that.

"Well, their claims of crystal clear reception were right. I can hear ya loud and clear."

"Even more reason to smash it."

"One phone smashing coming right up. But for now, I'll leave you two alone and let you get back to sleep," Alan said to him. "I really do apologize for waking you up."

"Quit apologizing, you didn't know, how could you know? And having said that, they better not have some doodah that'll allow you to look across space and see us," he said. "But I'm glad you're all well and having fun and say hello to the rest of your family!"

"Hi, Doctor!" the women said.

"Hello there! Have heaps of fun and try not to be too much of a public nuisance because I don't want to rouse my sleepy self to come and get you out of prison. Be on your best behavior!"

"Look who's talkin'," Elizabeth said.

"Brother, do me an enormous favor. Find a sturdy branch and spank your child for that flippant remark," he said while they laughed.

"Consider it done."

"Good, that'll teach her to run her gob. Anyway, do you need anything?"

"No, just trying out this device."

"Glad it works, now smash it so we can get back to sleep."

Alan chuckled.

"Pleasant dreams, Brother."

"Thanks, have fun at the fun, fun funfair."

"We will. Goodbye."

"Bye," he and Rain said together.

Alan pushed an end button underneath the keypad.

"Awkwaaaaaaaaaard!" Angel said.

"Well, you know, we usually don't sleep, so…" Alan said. "Now I feel terrible."

"Alan, you heard him, he's not angry at ya. He's right, how could ya have known he was asleep. Don't feel guilty. I have a feelin' he'll probably get up anyway. He's not the type to sleep all day. Just don't think about it and come have fun."

He took her outstretched hand and they walked over to the big wheel. They didn't see anyone waiting in the queue so Alan and Rose walked up and sat down in the car that was level with the ground. They waited for a worker to come and lock the restraint. They waited and waited.

"Um, Dad, I don't think anyone's here," Angel said.

"Oh, perhaps the big wheel worker went home for a rest," Alan said.

"I think they all did, there's no one here, full stop," Angel replied.

Alan and Rose looked around and noticed for the first time that it was deserted.

"Bugger! Why didn't Tubby tell us everyone went home?" Alan said while he and Rose got out of the car.

They started down the metal ramp towards the children when Alan noticed a red lever near the base of the big wheel. He stopped to look at it and Rose turned to look where he was looking.

"No, Alan," she said, guessing his thoughts.

"What? I can operate it. Turn it on with the lever, turn it off with the lever, how hard is that?"

"And what if someone comes back while you're runnin' it?" Rose said.

"I'll flash them my psychic paper and tell them I'm a substitute worker?" he said, shrugging.

"Alan, no!"

"Rose, come on, live a little. I won't run it long. We came all the way over here; we should be able to do more than ring my sleepy brother. Now come on, get in and I'll run the ride."

Rose sighed.

"If I see someone comin', I'll yell down to you and you better get us off of here."

"I will obey your commands to the letter, my Starlight. Now hop aboard, all of you."

Rose walked up with Angel and Tia and sat back down in the car. Alan walked over, moved the metal bar across the car and locked it securely. He tried it and when he was satisfied it was secure, he walked back to the lever.

"Hold on tight!" he said to them.

"Yeah, famous last words," Angel muttered while Rose nodded in agreement.

Alan pulled the lever and the car rose up into the air. He pushed it back when the next car was level with the ground and the ride stopped. Pleased with himself, he walked up onto the platform and locked the bar when Elizabeth got in. Whistling, he walked back to the lever and pulled it. He stood and watched while the ride went around and around.

"See! I can figure this thing out. It's not that hard," he yelled to them.

He let them ride for ten minutes and then he pushed the lever back slightly, slowing the motion of the ride. He slowly inched the car down with Rose, Angel and Tia in it until it was level and then he pushed it all the way, stopping it. Whistling, he strolled over to them, unlocked the bar, and let them out.

"Brilliant," he sang while he walked back to the lever, "oh yes, I'm brilliant. So brilliant, brilliant. Heaps brilliant, meeeeee!"

He pulled the lever slightly, watching while Elizabeth's car inched down and then stopped it when it was level with the ground.

"Brilliant," he sang while he hopped up onto the platform. "Oh yes, I'm brilliant. I'm so damn brilliant, I scare little old meeeeeeeee! I hoped I eased your fears when I operated the gears because I'm the most brilliant thing you'll ever seeeeeeeeee!"

"Okay, Alan, we get the picture," Rose said while the girls laughed.

"Well, you didn't think I would be capable of operating this machine. But by gum, I did it. And I'm pleasantly pleased as punch at the momento. Now, how 'bout those swing rides over there?"

"How 'bout we not push our luck and go back to the TARDIS," Rose said to him.

"Daisy, Rose."

She rolled her eyes.

"Fine, let's get out of here before we get arrested and go back to Daisy," she said to him.

"Hullo, what's this?" Alan said, taking her hand and leading her over to the booths.

"Now what?" Rose said.

"Lookie, Wifey-poo, the vendors have not bothered to lock their booths and snack kiosks. I say we have a sample of their wares."

"Alan, have you ever stopped to think that perhaps they have security cameras set up around here and someone might be watching us right now?" Rose said.

Alan pulled out his sonic screwdriver, adjusted the settings, and held it up while he turned it on. There was a humming and the blue light remained constant.

"Nope, no security devices around us," he said, putting it back in his pocket. "So now what's your argument for not nicking a few goodies and prizes?"

"It's wrong?" Rose said to him.

He pointed to a nearby game booth.

"They need to lock up their stuff then?" he said, imitating Rose.

"They probably thought everyone went home and they didn't feel a need to. Doesn't mean we can just go in and take what we want."

"But…I'm above the petty laws of society. I'm a Time Lord."

"Alonzo…" Rose said while the girls giggled.

"Okay, once my name gets the O attached to the end of it, I know I'm headed into deep waters so I will refrain from nicking the prizes and treats."

"Thank you," Rose said.

"Tia," Alan said in a loud whisper. "Use your amazing ability to change colors and disguise yourself as a teddy bear so you can hop over the counter and…"

"Alonzo!"

"Then again, scratch that idea before I feel a fist coming down on my head," he said while Tia giggled.

He sighed.

"Very well, we'll go back to Daisy and head somewhere else more exciting, okay?"

"Sounds good to me," Rose said.

Alan raised his eyebrow when Elizabeth mimed cracking a whip while she make the whip cracking sound. She ducked behind her mother when Alan gave her a pointed look.

"I take it that means Rose has me whipped. On the contrary, I am anything but whipped. I am merely giving in to her request in order to keep the peace around here."

He raised his eyebrow when Angel snorted and ran around behind Elizabeth.

"Now see, this is what comes of bringing up children when you're a child yourself," Rose said.

"Yada, yada, yada," Alan said, opening and closing his hand while they giggled.

He smiled and put his arm around Rose's shoulder.

"Come along, my family, let us find something else to do that won't get us into trouble or put us to sleep," he said as they walked off.


	260. Chapter 260

Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty

The Doctor lay outside sunning himself in one of the deck chairs around his pool. After Alan called him, he and Rain chose not to go back to sleep. The Doctor decided to take a swim in the pool while Rain went to the store to get some ingredients for Navajo tacos. The Doctor grinning and salivated, imagining the delicious tacos entering his mouth, and his tummy growled involuntarily.

"Easy, mate, she hasn't fixed them yet," he said aloud.

He sighed and relaxed, closing his eyes while the sun beat down on his chest. He felt himself drifting off again and dozed for awhile.

"Well, well, my sleepy headed Thete has gone to sleep again," he heard Rain saying somewhere above him. "If I pounce on his sexy half naked body and ravish him, will he wake up?"

"Do Slitheens fart inside human skins?" the Doctor said, keeping his eyes closed.

He smiled when he felt Rain's fingers caressing his face. He opened his eyes and saw her leaning over the deck chair smiling down at him.

"Oh, don't wake up, you looked so relaxed," she said.

"You know what I need, my Latara?"

"What?"

The Doctor stared at her wide-eyed.

"What, Thete? What do you need?" she said, concerned.

"I need the doogie-ma-flopper thing that tans ya."

"The what?"

"The whosee-whatsit that you hold up to your face. I've seen it in films. People sit there and tan themselves by holding an aluminium poogy-wodgy next to their face."

"Um…I think those are called face tanners, Thete."

"Oh, well I never used one before so I didn't know what the piddily-dooder was."

She giggled and stroked his cheek.

"I can see where Bro got his love of strange words from," she said to him.

"Can I help it if I didn't know the bingle-bangle was called a face tanner," he teased. "I can't be expected to know every Earth dodgy-poddle-dingy-doodle, can I?"

He laughed when Rain rolled her eyes and leaned over to kiss his forehead.

"So, are the ingredients for the Navajo tacos all assembled?" he asked her. "My tummy is rumbling with the very thought of them."

"Yes, the ingredients are assembled so you can tell your tummy to stop rumbling now. I will fix them shortly."

"Brilliant. I will be here then, sunning myself and wishing I had a wang-doodle-wanker-wodger for my face."

He smiled when she laughed at that and bent over to kiss his lips.

"I'm so glad I became a Time Lady so I get to enjoy you for centuries to come," she said.

"Ditto, my lives mate," he replied.

Rain's mobile rang in her pocket. She pulled it out and glanced at it.

"Jack," she said, opening it up.

"Wait, why is that randy lush ringing you? Is there something going on between you two that I don't know about?" the Doctor said while Rain giggled.

"Mmm, maybe…" she said, pushing the talk button.

Grinning an evil grin, the Doctor grabbed the phone.

"Quit chatting up my wife, Harkness, she's not your love toy!" he said into it.

He quickly handed the phone back to Rain who was laughing hysterically.

"Bang goes that love affair then," the Doctor said, folding his hands on his tummy. "No one chats up my wife and lives to tell about it!"

"Love, Jack wants to talk to you."

The Doctor sighed.

"I was joking. What? Is he upset now?" the Doctor said to her.

"No, he's been trying to reach you all along, but seeing as how you're in your swim trunks…"

"Well, I s'pose I could have brought the mobile out here but then I was half afraid someone would ring me for somethin' and now my fears have been confirmed," he said, taking the phone from Rain.

"Yes, Jack?" he said to him.

"The reason I called Rain was because I've been trying to call you and you never answered," he said.

"That's because the mobile is in my trousers upstairs in our bedroom. I'm in my swimming trunks sunning myself by our pool. I didn't think it necessary to bring my mobile out here with me but I see now I was wrong. But here I am, what do you need?"

"Well, we kinda need you to come up here and talk to the Judoon," Jack said.

"Judoon? There are Judoon in Gallifrey City?"

"Yup, 'fraid so."

"Why? Are we in trouble for not getting the proper building permits before we started construction on our uninhabited planet?"

"I don't know, Doc, they won't tell me. This weird albino woman's with them and she's demanding to see you and badgering me to find you which is why I've been trying to call."

"Oh bugger, now what?" the Doctor muttered to himself. "Alright, let me get dressed and I'll be up there as soon as I can. Just tell the Architect that."

"Who?"

"Weird Albino Woman."

"Oh, okay, I'll tell her then."

The Doctor finished speaking with him and looked up at Rain.

"I s'pose the Navajo tacos will have to wait now."

"I wanna come with you, Thete. I wanna know what's going on, especially since the last time they wanted you, they were after Jenny," she said.

"Yeah, I can only imagine what she wants now. So let's hurry, get ready and go," he said while they went back inside.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They landed their TARDIS next to their unfinished house on New Gallifrey and stepped outside. The Doctor looked around but didn't see any Judoon or the Shadow Architect.

_Jack, we're here. We're beside our house_, he thought to him.

_Okay, I'll tell them,_ Jack thought.

"This better be important," the Doctor muttered to Rain while he leaned up against his TARDIS.

A moment later, they saw several Judoon round the corner two houses down from them and advance towards them. The Doctor noticed they had their blasters drawn.

"Now wait just one bloody minute. Am I under arrest here?" he said angrily.

"You will surrender any weapons you have in your possession," the lead Judoon said when they stopped in front of them.

"I don't carry weapons, Hornhead, neither of us do and I'm not about to attack you and give you a reason to shoot me. I like my body as it is, thanks, now where's the Architect?"

"I'm here," she said, stepping around the squad.

By now several people stopped what they were doing to watch them. The Doctor sighed angrily and motioned for them to move on. Once they did that, he turned his attention to the Architect.

"Okay, I'm here, what do you want?" he said to her.

"We did not request her presence here," the Architect said, pointing to Rain.

"Yeah, well she's my wife and she assists me in almost everything I do. You wanna talk to me, then she stays and listens or we get in my ship and go back home. Now what do you want?"

"We need you to carry out a mission for us," the Architect said.

"Wrong! I'm not under your employ and I'm not about to be your dogsbody. You want something done, you do it yourself!"

"But this is of vital importance! The universe is at stake."

"And I'm the only one who can save it, is that it?"

"Yes."

The Doctor let out a long sigh through his nose.

"What is it that needs doin'?" he muttered.

The lead Judoon handed him a slip of paper with writing on it.

"What's this, your name and telephone number so I can ring ya for a date?" the Doctor said to him.

"You need to find the man listed on that piece of paper and speak with him," the Architect said.

"And why can't Grey Goon here do it?" the Doctor said, gesturing to the lead Judoon.

"Watch it!" the Judoon barked at him.

"Sorry, where are my manners? Meant to say why can't the nice Judoon who's pointing a blaster in my face do it?" the Doctor said. "And will you tell him to please get the blaster out of my face before I change my mind about helpin' ya?"

"Put away your weapons, they are not needed," the Architect said to them.

The Doctor smirked when all of them obeyed.

_Look at that, Latara, big, bad rhino boys gotta obey their little pale mistress, bet that burns them up inside,_ he thought to Rain.

_Why are they asking you to do this? Why can't they do this themselves?_ She thought back.

_Dunno, but I have a feeling it won't be a fun walk in the park once we go on this errand of theirs,_ he thought.

"So," he said aloud, "I go see the owner of the name on this paper and then what?"

"You need to bring him back to us."

"And you can't do this because…"

"Your TARDIS is smaller and can vanish more quickly than the Judoon ships. It's also less noticeable," she said. "This man is offering to betray his master and give us vital information that will allow my men to go in and arrest him. He's doing this for us while risking his life and we need to get him away from that address on the paper as quickly as possible before he's seen."

"And that's it then? I just have to find…Alfred Molinger and bring him back here to you."

"No, come to The Shadow Proclamation, we'll be waiting for you there."

"And that's all? Nothing else?" the Doctor said.

"That's all we require of you."

"So I am a dogsbody for ya. I'm now being employed by you lot to ferry people off into the witness protection program, is that it?"

"We need you to do this for us; the entire universe is at stake!"

"Why? Why is it at stake?" the Doctor said.

"The man he works for is insane…"

"I gathered that since apparently the entire universe is at stake," the Doctor said.

"He's building a computer, a supercomputer that will allow him to find ways to subjugate time and space and bring the universe under his rule."

"Wow, man's really aiming high in the goal department," the Doctor said. "So while he dreams of being supreme ruler of everything, he builds computers as a hobby?"

"Not just any computer. He wants to kidnap the greatest minds in the universe and wire them into it so it will have sentient minds that will calculate the best methods to conquer time and space."

The Doctor thought about that.

"Wow, that is mighty ambitious, I have to admit," he said.

He noticed Rain walking around him and saw the angry look on her face while she folded her arms over her chest and stood in front of him.

"I know you don't want me listening to this. I know I probably don't matter in this whole grand plan of yours but I must protest. I don't want my husband doing this!"

"And why not?" the Architect said.

"I know this is stroking my husband's already enormous ego but if this maniac is trying to kidnap the greatest minds in the universe then I think my husband is a target and I don't want him put in a position where he might get taken and wired into this computer this guy's building. You might not care about him but I do."

"Precisely why this man needs to be stopped. He's not the only one that's at risk, all of you are. Everyone on this planet is a potential target."

"Then find someone who isn't a Time Lord or Lady to bring him back to you," Rain said.

"His TARDIS is the fastest ship in the universe. He can be in and out of there before they know what's happened. That's why we want him to do this."

"Then I'll go. I can fly the TARDIS just as well as him."

"No, Rain, I won't let you go alone," the Doctor said.

"Doctor, you're in danger."

"And so are you. I don't want you taken either," he said.

"If it makes you feel better, I'll allow two of my men to accompany you," the Architect said.

The Doctor raised his eyebrow and stared at the Judoon.

"Not sure I want a couple of trigger happy rhinos around my ship or my wife," he said to her.

"I will give you full command of them," the Architect said.

That gave the Doctor pause. A gleeful smile spread across his face.

"I get to control the Judoon?" he said.

"Yes, if you will do this for us."

"Hmmmm…the offer has just become very tempting. And they'll do anything I say?"

"Within reason, Doctor. I don't want you wasting time making them dance or stand on their heads," the Architect said.

"Blimey, you have been doin' your homework on me, haven't ya? And you swear that this is all you want me to do?"

"That's it, Doctor. Deliver him to us and you'll be rewarded."

"Really? Rewarded with what? Because I don't need money nor do I want excessive fawning or accolades."

"I will allow you to pick your reward, within reason."

"Hmmm…alright, I'll do it if that's all I'm required to do. But, I won't do anything else for you lot. I don't like taking orders, I like givin' them."

"Yes, we are well aware of that," the Architect said, rolling her eyes. "And I promise you this is the only thing you need to do for us."

The Doctor glanced down at the slip of paper and looked at Rain.

"Latara? Is this okay? Because I don't want you to be upset I did this."

"As long as you're safe while you're doing it, I don't care. I'm just worried that this maniac, whoever he is, might try to take you if he's that desperate for brilliant minds. But whatever happens I'm coming with him so you'd better be okay with that," she said to the Architect.

"As long as the job gets done, I don't care who he brings or how he does it. Just bring Alfred Molinger back to The Shadow Proclamation and you'll be rewarded."

"Fine, I'll do it then," the Doctor said.

"Very well, I'll leave two of my men here to accompany you as bodyguards. I will see you back at The Shadow Proclamation. Good day, Doctor, and good luck."

They watched while she turned, pointed to two of the guards, gave them the order to stay with them and walked away with the rest of the Judoon. The Doctor stared at the two that were left behind, looked at Rain and sighed.

"Right, let's get this over with so we can get back to those Navajo tacos," he said to her.


	261. Chapter 261

Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty One

The Doctor stared at the two Judoon guards beside him. Both of them looked identical at first glance. However, upon closer inspection, he noticed one of them had a large scar running across his cheek.

"That looks nasty, where'd ya get that?" the Doctor asked, pointing to it.

The Judoon glared at him. The Doctor sighed.

"Look, I'm in charge of ya, yeah? So I'm ordering you both to be sociable and friendly and talk. I don't want two hulking beasts walking around, breathing down my neck. I really don't like you lot to begin with. So let's start with names, okay? I'm the Doctor, this is my wife, Rain, and you are…"

"I am Zoko," the one with the scar said.

"Brilliant, and you?"

"Koto."

"Zoko and Koto, nice to meet you both. Now, shall we get going…"

"Doc!"

The Doctor looked past them and saw Jack running towards him. He slowed down when he saw the Judoon.

"Are you alright? What are they doing here? I thought they all left with the albino woman," he said.

The Doctor walked around them and explained what was going on.

"Well, I'm comin' with ya then. I think I'm more trustworthy than these two are," Jack muttered.

"Maybe, I hope they don't cause trouble but I haven't the best luck with em," the Doctor muttered back. "Hopefully we'll be in and out and we can go back home. So follow me and we'll get this show on the road."

They walked around them.

"Zoko, Koto, come with us," the Doctor said.

Jack quickly got in back of Rain when the two guards got behind them. He unlocked the doors and stepped inside. The Doctor glanced down at the paper while Jack closed the door and followed him up the ramp with Rain.

"Right, according to this, we need to go to the Salt Desert planet and…"

He turned to his monitor while he was talking and noticed Zoko and Koto were now standing on either side of the railing.

"What are you doing?" the Doctor asked as they stared at them.

"Guarding the door in case of intruders," Zoko said.

"Um…this TARDIS is very hard to break into and you don't have to guard it here. I'm actually quite popular and loved on New Gallifrey, so there won't be an attempt on my life, trust me. Now come and stand here with us, be friendly. You don't have to guard anything until we get to the planet."

They walked over and stood behind the Doctor.

"That's better," the Doctor said, entering the coordinates in the computer. "Now, Zoko, how did you get that scar?"

He hesitated a moment. The Doctor, Jack and Rain started up the TARDIS while he looked back at him.

"Come on, tell me. We can be friends, you know," he said to them. "I do prefer to be friends with the people I'm working with, makes things easier. So how did you get that scar?"

"I was trying to bring in a fugitive and when I tried to grab him, he pulled out a dagger and sliced my cheek open," Zoko said.

"Ouch, sounds painful. Must have been a sharp dagger since I figured you lot have tough skin like Earth rhinos do."

"Yeah," Zoko muttered.

The Doctor flew the TARDIS into the vortex.

"You lot don't like conversation, do ya?" the Doctor asked them.

"We're encouraged not to engage in conversation," Koto said.

"Why not?" Rain asked.

"It distracts us from our duties," Zoko said.

"Who told ya that?" the Doctor said while he worked the controls.

"Our commander," Koto said. "We are trained not to speak unless we have something important to say."

"And I gather the story of the scar isn't important," the Doctor said, glancing at Zoko.

"No, it's not," Zoko said.

"Well, I think it is because it tells me something about you and allows us to differentiate you from the mass of Judoon. I mean, you lot look exactly alike and if you didn't have the scar, I don't think I could tell you two apart. And like I said, I like to keep things friendly and sociable with the people I work with because to be honest, I haven't had a good working relationship with your kind and I'm not too sure I want you being my bodyguards. If we can become friends, I'll feel better about it. So I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable with my questions, but I meant no harm by it."

"Can I ask a question?" Rain asked them.

Zoko and Koto glanced at each other.

"Yes," Zoko said.

"Um…are there any female Judoon? Or are some of you female? I mean, I'm assuming all of you are males."

"All females live on our home world. None are soldiers," Koto said.

"Do you ever see them? Do you have wives, sisters, children?" Rain said to him.

"We do, but we do not see them often. Our duties take us away from them for years at a time," Koto said.

"That's terrible. You oughta be able to go home more often. I bet you miss them," Rain said.

Both rhinos hesitated and the Doctor and Jack glanced at them. They finally saw both nodding slightly.

"You're not permitted to talk about them?" Rain said.

"We are not permitted to show longing for them. It is a weakness to show longing for members of our family," Zoko said.

"What happens if you show weakness around other Judoon?" Rain asked.

"We are beaten and corrected for our transgressions," Koto said.

The Doctor glanced at Jack and shook his head sadly.

_No wonder they act like thugs, they've been trained to be that way,_ he thought to him and Rain.

They landed and the TARDIS powered down. The Doctor turned to Zoko and Koto.

"Now, no firing on anyone and no hurting anyone unless it's in self-defense. Understand?"

They both nodded. The Doctor beckoned to everyone and they followed him down the ramp. He opened the door and they all coughed when salt blew right into their faces. The Doctor closed the door again.

"Wait a tic, we need some protection, I'll be right back," he said, heading towards the back door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After passing out some respirators for his wife and brother to wear along with some goggles. He strapped the black bulky device over his mouth and nose and slid the goggles down over his eyes while Zoko and Koto put their helmets back on. Once that was done and the goggles were on and respirators were in place and working, the Doctor opened the door and everybody stepped out onto the salty surface. They were on the outskirts of a desert town. The buildings were all made out of salt breezeblocks and were large and rectangular with a weak force shield over the doors and windows to keep the salt from blowing inside.

"Why would Alfred be here?" the Doctor said. "Then again, mainly thieves and smugglers come here so maybe he figured it was a perfect hiding place."

Jack chuckled.

"What?" the Doctor said, glancing at him.

"Mos Eisley Spaceport, you will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy," he quoted.

The Doctor nodded.

"Yup, that particular quote fits this place well. If there really was a Mos Eisley, this place would be it. Just stay together and keep your eyes open for any hint of danger."

"That's easier said than done with the salt blowing in our faces," Jack said. "We need little wiper blades just to keep the goggles clear."

"Precisely why we need to find Alfred and get him away from here. Follow me," he said to them.

He glanced at the numbers painted by the doors and found the address he was looking for. They stepped inside the darkened building and noticed it was a combination restaurant and pub. The counters were made of huge salt blocks and so were the tables and chairs. Everything was a large salt block and there were several men scattered around the room, all of them rough looking and wearing dirty and torn clothes. They looked at them when they entered. The Doctor quickly stepped in front of Rain when he noticed the interested looks on their faces. Then they looked at Jack and finally at the two hulking armored creatures behind them and they turned back to their meals and drinks. The Doctor took Rain's hand and kept her beside him while he walked back to the Judoon.

"Okay, how do we do this?" the Doctor asked them. "We can't scream out his name and draw attention to him and us. So…any ideas?"

"I don't think we have to worry. I have a feeling this is him now," Jack said, tapping him on the shoulder.

The Doctor and Rain turned and saw a short, greasy looking man coming up to him.

"You're with The Shadow Proclamation, yes?" the man said.

"We are, are you Alfred Molinger?" the Doctor said in a low voice.

"Yes. Thank you for coming to get me, whoever you are."

"I'm the Doctor; this is Rain, and this is Jack. These Judoon are Zoko and Koto. Follow us and we'll get you to safety."

He nodded and Zoko and Koto let them pass before they brought up the rear and guarded them. Once they were outside, Alfred took some goggles out of a pouch tied around his waist and took a strip of cloth and tied it around his mouth and nostrils.

"The Doctor…" he said when he was finished. "I've heard of you before. You're a Time Lord, yes?"

"I am."

"Last of your kind, right?"

The Doctor hesitated a moment.

"Yes, I am," he said.

Jack glanced at him with a questioning look on his face.

_For you and Rain's safety,_ he thought. _I'm not completely comfortable revealing your true nature to him. I don't trust him completely._

Alfred came up beside Rain and noticed the wedding rings on both their hands.

"You're married to him?" Alfred said, pointing to her ring.

Rain hesitated a moment then decided it was alright to tell him they were married.

"Yes, I am," she said

"But you're not a Time Lady if he's the last, human then?" he asked her.

"Yes, I am," Rain replied.

"Isn't it a bit odd being married to a man who'll live long after you die?"

"I love him with all my heart," she said. "Having a limited lifespan just means I'll treasure each day with him that much more."

_That's lovely, Latara,_ the Doctor thought to her.

_Thanks, I nicked it from Jack,_ she thought back.

_What?_ Jack thought while both of them laughed inside their heads.

_Little joke I made when we were on that cruise ship on Watusa Rota,_ he thought to him_. I said something romantic and when she told me how wonderful it was I told her I nicked it from you._

_Gee, nice to know I'm the butt of all your jokes, _Jack thought.

They reached the TARDIS and the Doctor unlocked the door. Rain waited behind him, she felt Alfred's eyes on her and gave him a questioning look.

"You're very beautiful," he said. "I've never seen skin color like yours. It's lovely."

"Um…thanks," Rain said.

The Doctor opened the door and Rain hurried in behind him, wanting to get away from the creepy, greasy guy who was eyeing her with interest. She hoped staying by her husband would deter him but he followed them over and stood beside her while he watched the Doctor work the controls.

"How long have you been married to him?" Alfred asked Rain.

"Um…about five years," Rain replied.

"Where did you meet him?" Alfred asked.

"Beijing, China on Earth," Rain said, inching closer to her husband who was powering up the TARDIS.

Alfred felt someone behind him and turned to see Jack.

"What's your relation to him?" Alfred asked.

"I'm a friend," Jack said.

"Ah, I see, you're one of the companions he's famous for having?"

"Yes, I am."

"And them?" Alfred said, pointing to Zoko and Koto.

"They're here guarding the Doctor," Jack said.

"Really? Why? Shouldn't I be the one in need of their protection?"

"Yes but if this master of yours is building a computer and looking for the most brilliant minds in the universe then the Doctor's a target," Jack said.

"Oh, yes I suppose that's true. The Time Lords were legend for having above average intelligence," he said.

He glanced at Rain.

"I suppose that's one of many things that attracted you to him. I'm assuming he's quite well endowed too judging from the bulge in his trousers."

Rain and Jack stared at him in shock while the Doctor gave him a look of warning. Ignoring the dirty look the Doctor was giving him, he shrugged.

"I'm only curious about your husband. I've never met a Time Lord before and he supposedly is the greatest of them all!"

The Doctor rolled his eyes at that but said nothing.

"I figured a legend such as he would be quite massive, especially if he won the heart of a human like yourself."

Rain was shocked speechless.

"Listen, mate, keep the personal questions to yourself, eh?" the Doctor said.

"It's just harmless curiosity," Alfred said, shrugging.

"Yeah, well that may be but it's also rude and I don't appreciate you embarrassing my wife like that. It's none of your business how massive I am or if that's why she fell in love with me, which it isn't, if you must know. Now could you skip the personal questions?"

"Of course," Alfred said. "My apologies to you, Rain. I didn't mean to embarrass you."

"It's alright," she replied.

_Stay by me, Latara, I don't like him,_ the Doctor thought to her. _It's not just the rude questions, I just don't trust him._

_Neither do I, he's weird, _Rain thought to him. _He gives me the creeps._

_Me too which is why I don't want you leaving my side, Love. _

_  
Trust me, that won't be a problem, _she thought while he put his arm around her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Okay, here we are, The Shadow Proclamation," the Doctor said when the TARDIS landed. "And they better not make me go through another security check since they know who I am by now."

He made his way around the console. As he did, Rain felt Alfred at her back and put her hand on her husband's shoulder. The Doctor glanced at her, saw Alfred, and gave him a warning look while they followed Jack, Zoko and Koto to the door. On the way there, Rain suddenly felt Alfred seize her wrist. She sighed and turned her head to tell him off when she noticed he was pricking her arm with a small needle attached to a tiny syringe.

"Doc..."

She got out the first part of her husband's name before she collapsed to the floor of the TARDIS unconscious.

"Rain! What have you done to her?" the Doctor said, spinning around.

He gasped when Alfred held another needle to his jugular vein.

"Don't anybody move or the Doctor joins his wife," he said to the others.

"What have you done to her?" the Doctor said.

"Don't worry, Time Lord. She lives…unless you try something stupid and then I will kill her…and by kill, I mean kill her permanently. I have exceptional hearing, Time Lord; I hear both hers and Jack's double heartbeats. I know they're like you. Which either means the legends were wrong or you found a way to make new Time Lords and Ladies. Either way, you will take us away from here. I have need of you."

"I shoulda known this was a trap," the Doctor snarled.

"Indeed, apparently despite being a super genius, you still have your moments of stupidity. Ah, ah, ah!" he said when Jack started to lunge at him. "If you want to stay conscious, you will obey and do exactly as I say. Now, your two friends there can go back out the door seeing as how we're at their HQ but you two and your wife will stay with me. I have a purpose for all of you and…"

Suddenly, without warning, Zoko lunged forward and shoved him away from them. The Doctor and Rain got in front of Rain and headed towards him while Zoko took out his blaster to execute him but Alfred managed to wrestle Zoko's blaster out of his hand and shoot him, disintegrating him on sight. He quickly shot Koto before he could react while the Doctor yelled at him to stop. Then, with a grin, he shot Jack.

"Jack!" the Doctor screamed as his molecules scattered into the air.

Alfred pointed the blaster at Rain.

"No, please, spare her," the Doctor said, holding up his hands.

Alfred glanced at the front door when he heard the other Judoon banging on it.

"Doctor? What's going on in there?" they heard the Architect yell.

Alfred turned his attention back to the Doctor.

"Get us away from here before I destroy your beloved and turn her into atoms like your friend. And if you try anything stupid, she dies in a heartbeat. Now move!"

Fighting the urge to run to Rain and gather her in his arms, the Doctor instead forced his legs to move back towards the console and start the TARDIS up. He ignored the pounding and screams at him to open up the doors while he moved around the TARDIS, flipping switches and pushing buttons. While he did, he telepathically talked to his ship.

_TARDIS,_ he thought. _Put an invisible force field around Rain so he can't harm her or move her outside._

_I will, my Beloved. I've already collected all of Jack's atoms and moved them into another room while he reforms so Alfred won't be aware he's come back to life._

_Thank you for that, keep him hidden until we can figure a way out of this,_ he thought to her.

He finished powering up and got the TARDIS into the vortex.

"Now where?" the Doctor said, coming back to the monitor.

"Planet Darkness," he said to him.

The Doctor snorted.

"Taking us back to your master, I s'pose?" he said, inputting the coordinates.

He glanced at Alfred when he laughed at that.

"No, my dear boy, I'm the one in charge. There was no betraying servant. That was part of my plan. I contacted The Shadow Proclamation because I was hoping to catch you and lo and behold, I not only caught you but your wife as well. And now, Time Lord, both of you will become components of my computer and your minds will serve me in my quest for universal domination!"


	262. Chapter 262

Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty Two

Jack let out a gasp and his eyes snapped open as soon as his atoms reformed back into his body. He snapped his head around and noticed he was in the park room.

"Doctor, Rain!" he said, getting to his feet.

_It's alright, Jack, they're safe for now, _the TARDIS thought to him.

Jack breathed a sigh of relief.

"What's happened? What is that bastard doing?" Jack said out loud.

_He's going back to his home world. He's not who he claims to be. He tricked The Shadow Proclamation into contacting the Doctor so he could trap him and now he'll use both him and Rain in his computer._

"Damn it! Damn The Shadow Proclamation! They should have left him alone in the first place," Jack muttered.

I've put a force field around Rain without his knowledge so she's protected from disintegration, the TARDIS thought to him.

"Good. And the Doctor? Did you do the same for him?"

_Not yet. The Doctor told me not to trap him either since he wants to find out if he's holding more captives back on Darkness. I don't believe he will kill him since he wants him to power his computer. _

"Yeah, well, I'll have something to say about that," Jack muttered. "I suppose he'll torture him too trying to find out if there are more of us he can use. I have to do something to help stop this before he finds out where New Gallifrey is and goes there and to Nova to get the rest of us."

Jack paced back and forth, thinking. Then he paused when he had a thought.

"He didn't know about us, Rain and I. He seemed to think the Doctor really was the last," he said to the TARDIS. "Perhaps, I can trick him then."

_How, Beloved?_

Jack grinned.

"A little switcheroo and I think the other person involved in it will be more than happy to cooperate," he said, pulling out his mobile.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile on the planet, Symphonis, Alan and his family were sitting on a hill while they listened to an alien orchestra perform a symphony. They had a blanket under them and had brought a picnic lunch in a large wicker basket. They ate while they sat together and listened to the music. While they ate, Alan's mobile rang.

"Always somethin', eh, Starlight?" Alan said, reaching into his pocket.

Rose leaned her head against his right shoulder and he put his arm around her while he put the mobile to his left ear.

"Hi, this is the more cuddly, interesting and sexier version of the Doctor, state your name and business," he said while Rose and the children giggled.

"Normally, I would laugh at that except this is no laughing matter," Jack said.

Alan sobered up.

"What's wrong?" he said while Rose glanced at him.

Jack explained the situation to him while Rose listened in silent horror.

"I need your help, buddy," Jack said when he finished explaining it.

"Just tell me what to do and I'll do it. You know I'll do anything to save them," Alan said.

"Well, first off, I need to tell the Doctor to lower the shields and then the TARDIS is gonna direct me because I'm gonna come down and get you and bring you back onboard. After that happens, then…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor continued to work the controls while Alfred moved with him, his blaster trained on his back. He kept glancing over at his wife but so far she was still unconscious. He knew she was being protected by the TARDIS and that brought him some comfort but he hated that he couldn't feel her in his head so he could comfort her telepathically and be comforted in return. He kept on walking around the console, pretending to work the controls, trying to buy time so they could stay within the TARDIS.

_Doc?_

His head jerked up slightly and he smiled when he heard Jack calling to him telepathically.

_I'm so glad you decided to keep your immortality when you changed,_ he thought back to him.

_So am I. But listen, I have a plan. I contacted Alan and he's agreed to help us._

_Jack, you shouldn't have done that. What if he gets caught and becomes another component for Alfred's computer?_

_He will get caught, but it's not in the way you're thinking._

_I'm listening,_ the Doctor thought.

_Okay, well first I need you to lower the TARDIS's defenses and then…_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once the Doctor did as Jack requested, he went back to his pretend flying. While he did that, he suddenly felt Rain's mind in his own and walked back around towards the jump seat so he could see her while he kept up his charade. His hearts leapt when he saw her looking at him with worry in her eyes.

_Oh my love,_ she thought to him. _Are you alright?_

_I'm fine, Latara. Everything's fine for the moment, _he thought back.

_Where's Jack? And Koto and Zoko?_

_Jack got shot but he reassembled in another room and he's now carrying out a plan he dreamed up to rescue us. Koto and Zoko weren't so lucky. The bastard shot them both and disintegrated them._

_Oh God, the poor things. _

_You're safe though. The TARDIS has an invisible force field around you. He can't shoot you or move you._

_But what about you?_

_I don't care about me. He can wire me into his computer if he wants; all I want is for you to be safe._

Rain saw him pause for a moment and then a slight smile spread over his lips.

_Don't worry, Latara, everything will be alright, I promise that, _the Doctor thought to her.

_Why? What's going on? _

_I'll explain later. Just trust me, my love. Everything is well in hand,_ he thought to her.

Rain didn't understand what that mean but she trusted her husband completely so she didn't ask any more questions. She watched the Doctor and smiled lovingly at him while he caressed his mind and telepathically whispered soothing things to her. When the TARDIS landed, her hearts raced knowing that Alfred was about to find out that the force field around her and possibly hurt the Doctor for it. But to her surprise, the lights in the console room suddenly went out, plunging the room into total darkness.

"Hey!" she heard Alfred yell, "you better turn the lights on again, by the gods, or I'll find Rain and shoot her."

The lights suddenly came back on and she saw the Doctor standing by Alfred.

"What the hell just happened?" Alfred snarled.

"Sorry, my TARDIS is old and sometimes it acts a bit wonky," he said to him.

"Well, be thankful that you and Rain didn't move because I would have shot you both dead. Now, go and get your wife so we can get on with this!"

Rain watched while the Doctor walked around the console. Her hearts beat furiously knowing the ruse was about to be revealed. But to her surprise, the Doctor walked directly to her and bent down to her and she realized that the TARDIS must have turned off the force field. Her husband put his arm around her and helped her to sit up and that's when she got a good look at him and realized it wasn't her husband, it was her brother dressed at him. Alan smirked, knowing that she had just figured out his secret and winked while he helped her to stand.

_Bro? Where did you come from?_ Rain thought to him while they stood up together.

_Jack rang me and brought me onboard with his manipulator. The TARDIS created the blackout so we could switch places. Brother's in the back with Jack right now. So don't blow my cover, Snotbag, or I'll pull your pants so far up your butt crack they'll have to be surgically removed. _

_What about Rose?_

_She's with the kids back on Symphonis watching an orchestra. I told her to stay put for the moment. Hopefully, this is all we need to stop this nutter but if not, she's got the TARDIS. Are you alright?_

_I'm fine. He knocked me out but as far as I know that's all he did to me._

They took each other's hands and walked towards the door with Alfred following behind them.

_Just keep calm and pretend I'm the Doctor. This is phase one of the plan, _Alan thought to her.

_What's phase two? _Rain thought back.

_Not sure yet. Jack said he'd reveal it in time. We're just s'posed to obey for the moment so we don't get disentigrated_, he thought while he opened the TARDIS door.

They stepped outside onto a barren landscape that reminded Rain a lot of Torros except there was an atmosphere. The sky above them was dark with a tiny moon providing the only source of light. They didn't see any structures of any kind, just dust and rock. Alan closed the door and looked at Alfred.

"So where are we s'posed to go then?" he asked him.

"Just walk, I'll let you know where to go," Alfred barked at him.

Alan shrugged and he and Rain walked off, hand in hand.

"_So I suppose when we get far enough away, the Doctor and Jack will come out and start following us?_ Rain thought to Alan.

_I'm assuming that's their intention. Like I said, Jack didn't fill me in on all the details, just told me the situation and told me to impersonate Brother._

_Are you sure Jack isn't just making this up as he goes along?_ Rain thought to him.

_Oh, I wouldn't put it past him; however, I would think he'd at least have some idea of what he's doing so we don't end up getting killed._ Alan thought. _I just hope they don't wait too long, they might lose us._

_Or we might get wired into this computer sooner than they think, _Rain thought.

_I don't get that,_ Alan thought. _How is kidnapping brilliant people and making them think for him going to solve anything? The only thing I could think of that might allow him to conquer space and time is the skasis paradigm but I don't know how to crack it, so even if I told him about it, I can't solve it for him so he's still stuck. I think the man is just a nutter who thinks he can program people to think for him when they really can't. _

"Wait!"

Alan and Rain stopped when Alfred called out. Alan frowned while he looked around. There still wasn't any buildings of any kind, just rock and dust. Alan looked back at him.

"So…is this your HQ or are you just wanting to go to the little gent's room?" he said to him.

"Stay right there! Don't even think of moving or you both die!" he said to them while he started to walk around them.

"Don't move, gotcha," Alan said.

They watched while he walked to a nearby rock and opened a secret panel in the side.

_Aha, secret entrance button thingy,_ Alan thought to Rain. _Very clev…_

He gasped when Alfred pushed a black button and the ground they were standing on began to lower.

_Oh! It's a lift kinda like Jack had in Cardiff,_ Alan thought while Alfred walked over and jumped down onto it. _Very clever…_

Rain looked behind her and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the Doctor and Jack lift their heads up and wave at her while they crouched behind a rock several feet away.

_I see ya, Latara, just keep calm and we'll follow ya down in a few,_ the Doctor thought to her.

Rain nodded slightly just before her head went below the surface. She turned and noticed they were now going down an enclosed metal shaft. She grabbed Alan's hand and he gave it a squeeze while both of them prepared to face the unknown.


	263. Chapter 263

Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty Three

The lift stopped about fifty feet down and Alfred walked over to a door. Keeping his blaster trained on his captives, he turned a large metal wheel, unlocking it. He kept his eyes on them while he pushed the door outward.

"Walk!" he barked at them.

Alan and Rain stepped off the platform. While they did, Rain hazarded a glance up and noticed the Doctor and Jack were peeking through the rectangular hole at them. When they were off, Alfred pushed a button beside the door and the lift started to go back up. He motioned for Alan and Rain to move and they stepped out into a metal corridor that stretched about thirty feet in both directions. There were no visible doors down either side. Alfred closed the door and locked it with the wheel before he reached into his pocket and produced two long strips of black cloth. He blindfolded Alan and Rain with them and turned them so they were facing towards the right.

"Walk straight ahead," he said to them.

_Jack, Brother, he's got us blindfolded. You might have to track my screwdriver once you get down here. We're heading to the right so head that way,_ Alan thought.

_Got it,_ the Doctor thought back_. Just keep calm, we're about to follow you down. Jack's let me in on the second part of his plan and I guarantee by the time we get done, he won't know what to think. Just try to keep your screwdriver on you if you can, push it down far in your trousers._

_Got it, _Alan thought.

Casually, Alan put his hands in his pockets. He grabbed his screwdriver and psychic paper off a little ledge near the top of the pocket and let them drop deeper into his trousers.

"So, how exactly is this whole wiring us into the computer s'posed to work?" Alan said aloud.

"You don't need to know, just keep walking," Alfred said.

"I'm only saying that a brilliant mind is only as useful as the knowledge within it. Now if you're thinking I would know how to help you conquer time and space, I'm afraid I don't so I don't see how making me into a computer is gonna help you."

"Because you're gonna be able to communicate with the other geniuses and help each other reach a solution," Alfred said.

"Oh, I see. Kinda like a computerized Mensa group. A bevy of binary brainiacs, eh? But once again, I repeat, if none of us know a solution to your problem, how will talking about it help you?"

"Just be quiet and let me handle the details. Your job is to be a component and nothing more!"

"What about Rain?" Alan said.

"Rain will join you once I make space for her."

"I see. So you had a set number in mind?" Alan said.

"I've researched and read science magazines and put together a short list of people I want."

"Including me?"

"Oh, you were number one on my list, Doctor. I've heard all sorts of stories about your brilliance and how you were able to think your way out of situations that looked inescapable. I need a mind like yours."

"And you were hoping The Shadow Proclamation would find me?" Alan said.

"I influenced the Architect's thinking a bit. I told her I needed someone intelligent with a fast ship to spirit me away from danger. I was counting on her thinking of you and what do you know, she thought of you."

_We've turned left, Brother,_ he thought to the Doctor.

_Got it, we're tracking you now,_ he thought back.

"So how does this work then?" Alan said aloud. "Are you gonna cut off our heads and take out our brains?"

"No, you're gonna sit in a chair and I'm gonna wire your body into the computer. I need you alive, Doctor, fully conscious so you can think."

"But that's barbaric," Rain said. "You can't do that to him. How will he survive if he can't eat? How's he gonna go to the bathroom?"

"That's going to be taken care of. You're also here to be a component so you need to shut your little mouth before I shut it for you."

_Ooo, Brother, you're not gonna like what Dumbbell just said to your wife_, Alan thought.

_Why? What'd he say?_

_Well, he just told her to…we just turned right…but anyway, she was wondering how we'd eat and go to the bathroom and she just told her to shut her little mouth or he'd shut it for her._

_Really? Well, I'll have to have a stern talk with him about that. No one says that to my wife except me!_

_Excuse me?_ Rain thought while Alan held back his laughter.

_Better watch it, mate, or she'll be coming after you when she gets done punching Alfie's lights out,_ Alan thought. _Oh wait, he just stopped us. Hope you're not too far behind us._

_I don't think we are but we're going into hiding for the moment. We're about to use our looks to confuse the hell out of Alfie boy._

_Oh! The old I'm in several places at once ploy? _Alan thought.

_Yup, _Jack thought_. We're gonna have a bit of fun with the nutbag! That's why we wanted you to keep your screwdriver on you._

_Oho, this will be fun! _Alan thought gleefully.

They blinked when Alfred pulled their blindfolds off and they noticed they were in front of a metal cell with a Perspex front. In the cells on either side, they noticed two older looking men.

_Blast, he has other captives,_ Alan thought.

_We'll get them out eventually. For now just cooperate with them,_ the Doctor thought.

Alfred opened a door that was carved into the Perspex.

"Inside, both of you. Unfortunately, I only have enough cells for all the people I need to capture so I'll allow you the luxury of being with your beloved.

_No, don't put me in a cell with Rainy, I'll get cooties,_ Alan thought.

_Shut up, Bro,_ Rain thought while he, the Doctor and Jack giggled inside her head.

"Inside!" Alfred barked at him.

_Wait a tic, I gotta have some fun with this,_ Alan thought.

He turned to Alfred and clasped his hands together.

"Please, I'm begging you. Let my snookie wookums pookie bear go! Take me!" Alan yelled.

_Bro, I swear if you get us killed…_Rain thought.

She could see the shocked expression on Alfred's face and groaned inwardly while she hoped that Alan's antics wouldn't get them shot.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist using my pet name for my lives mate," Alan said. "But I really am begging ya to let her go. You don't know my wife like I do. She's dimmer than a nearly burnt out light bulb! I'm the real genius here, not her!"

_Excuse me, Asshole?_ Rain thought to him.

_What? You wanna stay and be part of his computer?_ Alan thought back. _I'm only trying to negotiate your release._

_Yeah? Well, I am this close to putting you in the computer myself,_ she thought.

"Get inside before you both die!" Alfred snarled at them.

Alan let out a melodramatic sigh.

"Very well, if we must. Come along, Snookie Ookums, into the cell we go!" he said, loudly.

_Doctor, where are you? I suddenly want you to switch places with the little maniac,_ Rain thought to the Doctor.

As Alfred was closing the cell door, Alan suddenly grabbed Rain around the waist and planted his lips on her mouth.

_Gah, get off me!_ Rain thought.

_Trying to make our love look convincing, Snookie,_ Alan thought.

_No, I think you're doing this for a laugh, Bro,_ she thought back.

_Yes, that too._

Alfred stared at them and with a snort, walked away. Alan jerked his head away from Rain and waved his fist at him.

"You'll never get away with this, you blaggard! I will never submit to your machinations! I am the Doctor and I'm not only the greatest mind in the universe, I'm also a total stud monster and I look great in my undies!"

"Alan, will you shut your mouth!" Rain muttered.

"What? You don't agree with your husband being a total stud monster who looks great in his undies?"

He chuckled at the exasperated look on her face.

"Calm down, Te'lesu, we're valuable to Grim and Greasy, he won't kill us. I'm just having a bit of fun here. Honestly, you and Rose need to lighten up a bit."

"Well, I'm sorry for being the wet blanket who's putting a severe crimp in your style. I do want to get out of this alive."

"As do I, but like I said, me, you equals valuable. I'm s'posed to be my brother who's supposedly the greatest mind in the universe. He's not about to vaporize that and he won't vaporize a fellow Time Lady; otherwise he would have done it by now. Relax and have fun with the greasy little basket case, Rainy."

Putting his hands behind his head, he leaned up against the right side of the cell and whistled while he stared up at the ceiling.

"Okey-dokey, Jacky boy, we're caught, now what?" he said aloud.

"Now, you get out of the cell," Jack said, coming around the corner with the Doctor.

"Hullo, Snookie!" the Doctor said to Rain.

Rain rolled her eyes while Alan sniggered.

"You do realize that one day he's gonna get us all killed, right?" Rain said while the Doctor used his screwdriver to open the door.

"No, I'm a professional, I know exactly what I'm doing," Alan said. "By the by, I snogged your wife and I have to say that she tastes good but I prefer the strawberry lips of my luscious wife, so you can have her."

"Thank God for that," Rain muttered.

She frowned when Jack walked into the cell and urged Alan to go out.

Am I missing something?" Rain said to the Doctor. "Are you trying to confuse him by making him think you changed appearances or something?"

"Nope," the Doctor said.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the holographic imager. He gave it to Jack. He turned it on and transformed into another Doctor.

"More fun with three of us running around," the Doctor said.

"You gonna voluntarily leave me in a cell with Jack Harkness?" Rain said to her husband.

"I'll be on my best behavior," Jack replied. "I realize I will get a beating from the Doc if I touch the goods."

"I'll believe that when I see it," Rain said.

Jack gave her a hurt look while the Doctor and Alan giggled. The Doctor gave his wife a quick kiss on the lips before shutting the cell door.

"Got your screwdriver, right?" the Doctor said to Jack.

"Yup and my manipulator."

"Excellent," the Doctor said, "come along, Brother, time to put the next phase of Operation Befuddle the Barmy Bastard into motion."


	264. Chapter 264

Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty Four

Once the Doctor and Alan were out of sight, Rain looked at Jack.

"So…what's the plan then? You're just gonna confuse the hell out of the poor guy?" she asked him.

"Yup."

"For what purpose?"

"For the sheer hell of it," Jack said, shrugging. "And because he's one of those that seems to think the Doctor's the greatest being in the universe, so let's see what he thinks after he keeps seeing the Doc in multiple places. That's only half the plan though. I also have a part for Rose to play in this grand scheme, but for the moment she's on Symphonis. Don't worry, Rain, we have this all worked out and by the time we get done, Alfie's gonna be so confused he won't put up a fight when we capture him."

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Alfred was making some final adjustments to his computer. The computer was massive about thirty feet high, fifty feet long and twenty feet wide. At the very end was a door that allowed him to go inside and work. The inside also contained several leather chairs with metal restraints that would hold the captives when it came time for them to become part of the computer. He was planning on opening up their heads and attaching circuitry directly to their brains. He would also put a tube down their throats that would feed a liquid diet to them at regular intervals. A catheter would be attached to another tube allowing the urine to come out and down through the floor to a waste disposal tank along with a tube that would be surgically implanted into the colon like a colostomy bag. That would allow them to live without him constantly tending to their needs. He had captured three out of the eight geniuses he needed plus the Doctor's wife. He hadn't realized there were more like the Doctor and he now planned on doing a mind probe on him to find out exactly how many Time Lords and Ladies there were before putting him inside the computer permanently.

While he worked on soldering a circuit into place, he suddenly heard someone clearing his throat behind him. He turned and was taken aback when he saw the Doctor standing inside the computer with him while he looked around.

"So this is it, eh? This is where I'm going to be spending the rest of my days?" the Doctor said to him.

"How did you escape?" Alfred said.

The Doctor ignored him and touched one of the leather chairs.

"Nice to know we'll be comfortable, although the metal restraints look rather nasty," he said.

"I demand to know how you escaped!" Alfred said.

The Doctor shrugged.

"I used my special abilities," he said.

"What special abilities?"

A smile spread over the Doctor's face.

"Oh come now, surely you know that I'm more than a mere human and I can do fantastical things that are beyond your understanding?" he said to him. "You did find a notation or two about that when you researched me, yeah?"

"I don't know how you escaped but you're going back in your cell and staying there!"

Alfred lunged at him with the soldering gun but the Doctor quickly ran out the door. Alfred pursued him. He leapt out the door and noticed the Doctor running out of the room.

"If you cause trouble, your beloved will suffer dearly for it!" he yelled. "You may not be expendable but she is!"

"Yeah! That's it! Go show me who's boss!"

Alfred stopped short on his way to the door. He spun around and his mouth dropped open when he saw the "Doctor" on a catwalk far above him on the other side of the room. He was waving to the befuddled scientist.

"That's right! Go get him! Show him no mercy!" he yelled at him.

Alfred's mouth dropped open.

"How did you get up there? I just saw you run out the door!"

"I'm tricky! Didn't I just tell ya that?"

Alfred ran towards a flight of metal steps that led up to the catwalk while the "Doctor" ran away into the darkness. He reached the catwalk and was about to run across it in pursuit of his adversary.

"Yooooooooooooooo-hoooooooooooooooo!"

Alfred spun around and saw the Doctor standing by the door.

"What're you doin' up there, ya git? I'm down here!" the Doctor yelled up to him.

Alfred stared at him in shock.

"How…" Alfred muttered.

Sighing, he quickly went back down the steps while the Doctor ran out the door. He ran to the door and hazarded a glance back. His eyes bulged when he saw the "Doctor" was up on the catwalk again watching him intently.

"What are you waitin' for? I'm gettin' away!" he yelled to Alfred.

"That's it! Your wife will suffer for this! Try to stop me from torturing her if you think you're so clever!"

Alan smirked while he watched Alfred run out of the room.

"I am clever, ya git, haven't you figured that out yet?" he muttered to himself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alfred ran hell for leather back to the cell block, carrying the soldering gun with him so he could use it on Rain. He reached the cell block and paused when he noticed the "Doctor" was sitting inside the cell with Rain.

Jack looked up at Alfred and tried not to laugh at the confused look on his face.

"Yes?" he said, mimicking the Doctor's voice. "What d'ya want?"

"How did you get back here so fast? How did you get out of your cell?"

"What are you talkin' 'bout? I've been here the whole time!" Jack said.

"No, you haven't. You've been running around outside, I just saw you!"

"I have not. Latara, have I been out of this cell?"

"Nope, he's been here all along," Rain said.

"I don't know what's going on but after I make your wife scream, then perhaps that'll teach you not to play stupid pranks!"

He started to unlock the door.

"YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Alfred jerked his head around when he heard the Doctor calling to him in the distance. He jerked his head back around and saw the "Doctor" sitting calmly in the cell with Rain.

"What was that?" Alfred said.

"What was what?" Jack said.

"That! Your voice! Where did your voice come from?"

Jack feigned confusion.

"My voice? I didn't say a word," he said to him.

"Don't give me that, Time Lord, I just heard you scream at me."

Jack looked at Rain.

"I think this one's a bit slow," he said to her.

"HEY, GIT! I'M OUT HERE! COME AND GET ME!"

Alfred jerked his head back around.

"WELL? WHAT ARE YA WAITIN' FOR? COME AND GET ME BEFORE I DESTORY YOUR COMPUTER!"

Alfred looked at the "Doctor" who was still feigning confusion.

"Look, I'm right here, alright? I haven't moved a muscle. Rain and I are behaving."

"HERE I GO, I'M GONNA SMASH YOUR COMPUTER, RIGHT NOW!" the Doctor yelled from somewhere in the building.

Alfred sighed.

"This better not be a trick or you'll both suffer," he snarled at them.

Jack giggled when he ran out of the room and looked at Rain.

"I believe our friend is a tad confused now," Jack said.

"Yeah, just slightly," Rain said.

"Excuse me…"

Jack and Rain looked to their left when they heard the scientist in the next cell.

"Yes?" Jack said in his own voice.

"I'm sorry, but what is the purpose of this except to make him angry enough to torture us?" the man said.

"What's your name?" Jack said.

"I'm Bartholomew. Bartholomew Addison."

"Well, Bartholomew Addison, the purpose of all this is to confuse the man so much that when we do make our move he won't know whether he's coming or going. Plus, it gives us a bit of a laugh watching the knucklehead running himself ragged trying to figure out what's going on. And having said that, I need both you and…you over here, what's your name?"

"Frank Marble," the other man said.

"Okay, Frank and Bartholomew, we need to confuse the man even more and to do that, we're all gonna move down one cell each. So I'm gonna unlock our cell and yours but instead of escaping, we're just gonna move down…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor and Alan stood together in the darkened area of the catwalk, watching while Alfred walked in and around his computer, checking for damage. Alan was stripping off his clothes while the Doctor guarded him.

"WHEREVER YOU ARE, DOCTOR, SHOW YOURSELF!" Alfred yelled after he finally got done checking his computer.

Alan handed the Doctor his suit and quickly put his trainers back on. He was now in his shoes, socks and underwear. The Doctor laid the suit on the floor behind a pipe.

"So after this little bit, I go and relieve Jack, right?" the Doctor whispered to Alan.

"Yeah and then Jack will go get Rose so we can have even more fun with the bozo down there."

"Gotcha, good luck, Brother."

"You too," Alan said.

They waited until Alfred stepped outside the room and then the Doctor quickly sprinted across the catwalk to the stairs. On the way down the stairs, he noticed a spanner lying on one step. With a grin, he grabbed it, ran over to the front of the computer and raised the spanner in the air. He froze in that position and waited for Alfred to come back in. When he did, two minutes later, the Doctor jerked his body towards him and feigned surprise.

"Blast, why did you have to come back in before I was through with my sabotage!" he said.

He sped off towards the catwalk steps while Alfred gave chase. He let Alfred catch up to him, then suddenly he stopped and swung his arm around, nearly hitting him in the head with the spanner. Alfred jerked back to avoid it and the Doctor shoved his off-balance body violently, sending him to the floor.

"Tag! You're it!" he yelled as he ran past him towards the door.

Alfred yelled out in frustration and got to his feet while the Doctor sprinted out the door. Alfred started to follow him out.

"AH, MUCH BETTER! THAT SUIT WAS SO RESTRICTIVE!"

Alfred spun around and his mouth dropped open when he saw the Doctor up on the catwalk, prancing around in his underwear.

"All this running around is making me soooooooooo overheated," Alan said to him. "So I thought I'd peel off the suit and just get craaaaaaaaaazaaaaaaaaay!"

Alan paused a moment.

"Actually, this is awfully indecent, strutting around in my smalls. Especially since I'm a dignified, noble Time Lord. Sorry about that, I'll get my kit on now."

Alan went back into the shadows seconds before the Doctor came back in the door.

"There, now I won't get arrested for public indecency!" the Doctor said.

Alfred spun around and stared at him in shock.

"Then again, who's gonna arrest me in here? After all, it's just you and you're not the police!" the Doctor said.

The Doctor went back out the door seconds before Alan stepped back out of the shadows.

"There! Much better and cooler!"

Alfred spun around and Alan waved.

"That's impossible! You can't be in two places at once!" he yelled at him.

"Oh, can't I?" Alan said. "Observe!"

He stepped back in the shadows seconds before the Doctor, now down to his shoes, socks and underwear, stepped back in the door.

"See, I'm a talented cheeky little bloke!" he said, spreading his arms out.

He waved at Alfred, sprinted out the door, grabbed his clothes and sprinted down the corridor. Alfred started to give chase.

"Hurry before the bugger gets away!"

He spun around and saw Alan up on the catwalk. Alan waved at him.

"Come and get me, Barmy Boy!" he said to him.

Alfred let out an enraged yell and sprinted towards the stairs. Alan stepped back in the shadows, grabbed his clothes and pulled the manipulator out of his trouser pocket. He set the coordinates and grinned when he saw Alfred coming up the stairs.

"Buh-bye!" he said to him seconds before he vanished in a flash of light.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Rain and Jack were sitting on the floor of their cell when suddenly the Doctor sprinted up to them in his underwear.

"Damn it, I knew I was missing out on the fun," Jack said to him.

The Doctor unlocked the door.

"I'm s'posed to relieve ya now?" he said, opening it.

"That you are. Been nice chatting with your wife but now it's time for me to go back to work. Enjoy your nearly naked husband, Rain, I know I would."

The Doctor rolled his eyes while he sprinted out. The Doctor locked the door and quickly took off his trainers so he could put his clothes back on.

"Aw, do you have to?" Rain said when she saw what he was doing.

He chuckled and kissed her lips.

"I'll recreate this for you later on in the comfort of our bedroom, Latara," he said.

Rain got up from the floor and helped him get into his clothes. Once they were finished, the Doctor sat back down beside her to wait.


	265. Chapter 265

Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty Five

The Doctor and Rain giggled to themselves while they heard Alfred frantically trying to catch the "Doctor" while he taunted him.

"WHAT'S WRONG, GREASY? ALL THAT BACON FAT ON YA MAKING IT HARD TO RUN WITHOUT SLIDING?" one of them yelled. "COME AND GET ME! I'M JUST A THIN LITTLE BLOKE! IT ISN'T LIKE I'M IN THREE PLACES AT ONCE!"

Rain snorted out laughter.

"I wonder who that is, Bro or Jack?" she said to the Doctor.

"Not sure, I know Alan had the manipulator and was planning to use it at some point to go get Rose. My guess is it's Jack."

Just then there was a flash outside their cell and Alan and Rose appeared.

"Yup, musta been Jack," the Doctor said.

They stared at Rose. She was dressed in a white robe and cowl. He face was painted to resemble a skull and she was holding a white candle in a gold candleholder.

"Okay, mind explaining this part of the plan?" the Doctor said, pointing to Rose.

"I'm a ghost. I'm haunting this place," Rose said to him.

The Doctor and Rain glanced at each other.

"Jack's mind scares me sometimes," Rain said to him.

"I agree wholeheartedly with that," he replied.

He looked at Alan.

"So, while you lot are running around pretending to be me, she's gonna be running around pretending to be a ghost?"

"Yes, but there's more to it than that," Alan said.

With a grin, he bent down and quickly whispered the plan to the Doctor and Rain.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alfred was on the verge of losing it completely. He had been trying to catch the Doctor but so far, he had managed to elude him.

"That's it, no more games," he snarled. "If he won't surrender, then I'll get his wife and make him surrender!"

He ran back to the cell block. When he reached it, he stopped short when he noticed that Bartholomew was sitting in the Doctor and Rain's cell.

"What?" he said in confusion.

He walked past him and saw the Doctor sitting in the cell with Rain.

"What's the meaning of this?" he said to the Doctor.

"What's the meaning of what?" the Doctor said.

"Switching cells."

The Doctor feigned confusion.

"What?" he said. "We haven't switched cells!"

"Yes, you have, you got out of your cell and went to another cell."

"I'm sorry, but do you know how daft that sounds? If I had the means to get out of my cell don't you think we would have escaped from here instead of switching to another cell and sitting back down?"

Alfred paused, thinking that over.

"But…I coulda sworn…"

The Doctor tensed when Alfred moved over to Bartholomew in the next cell.

"Hey! Did you get out of your cell and move to this cell?"

"No, of course not, don't be ridiculous."

The Doctor let out a sigh of relief, thankful that the others were playing along. Alfred moved back to his cell and stared in at him.

"For the last time, I haven't left this cell and we haven't moved from our original one!" the Doctor said angrily.

"But…I know I put you in the cell next to this one…"

The Doctor glanced at Rain and smirked when Alfred looked at the other cell and scratched his head.

_I'm beginning to see why he needs super geniuses for his computer because the man's a complete idiot, _the Doctor thought to Rain.

"AT LAST, I'M ALL ALONE AND I CAN FINALLY DESTORY THIS COMPUTER!"

Alfred spun around when he heard the "Doctor's" voice. He looked at the Doctor in the cell.

"Yes, I'm still here, I've always been here," the Doctor said in a condescending voice.

"Something's going on here and I'm gonna find out what it is!" Alfred said to him before he ran back towards his computer.

"Yeah, well when you finally do figure it out, I'll probably be in my thirteenth body and near death, so hurry up and get a clue before that happens," the Doctor said while Rain giggled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alfred sprinted into the room housing his computer and ran into the open door on the side of it. He didn't see anyone inside and made a quick check of it before he ran back out. He went around the front, checking for any damage when he stopped short. Up on the catwalk was a woman in white holding a lit candle in her right hand while she gazed at him. Alfred stared at her in shock while Rose slowly lifted her left hand and pointed at him.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah!" she said in a deep voice.

She lowered her hand and stared at him quietly.

"Who are you?" Alfred said.

"I am…Death," Rose said in a deep voice.

"No, you're gonna be dead in a moment is what you're gonna be," Alfred said, running towards the stairs.

"HURRAY! I GET TO SMASH THE COMPUTER!"

Alfred spun back around and saw Alan with the spanner.

"Oh blimey, I shouldn't have said that out loud!" he said.

He ran towards the door. Alfred started to follow him and stopped short. He looked back and couldn't see Rose any longer. He started to head towards the steps and then paused and looked back at the door. He looked from the door to the steps and back again, torn between where to go. Sighing, he decided to chase the Doctor and ran out the door. Rose emerged from the shadows and quickly ran across the catwalk to the steps.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

While Alan and Jack led Alfred away from the cell block, Rose ran back to it. She ran up to the Doctor and Rain's cell. The Doctor used his screwdriver, unlocked the door for her and got inside while he locked it back. She took the lighter she had been holding in her hand and relit the candle. She quickly thought to Alan and Jack and told them she was ready so they would lead Alfred back to the cell block. The Doctor gazed at Rose's ghost costume.

"You know, Rose, that's a nice look for ya, you need to keep it," the Doctor said.

"Hardy har har," Rose said while they giggled.

Alan appeared at the door.

"NEENER, NEENER, NEEEEEEEEEEEENER, YOU'RE A SODDING WIENER!" he yelled out the door.

He sprinted further down the corridor, used his screwdriver to open the door of an empty cell and went inside to hide in it. He managed to get the door shut back and get out of sight just before Alfred came inside the room. By this time, they could see he was winded and exhausted from all the running. Panting, he walked up to the Doctor and Rain's cell and froze when he saw Rose standing beside them while they were sitting on the floor. Rose raised her left hand and pointed at him.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" she said in the deep voice.

"Who are you?" Alfred said.

"I'm the Doctor."

"Not you!" Alfred said to him. "Who is that?"

The Doctor pointed to Rain.

"This is my wife, Rain."

"Not her! Who is that?" Alfred said, pointing to Rose.

The Doctor and Rain looked her way and pretended not to see her.

"Who? I don't see anyone," the Doctor said.

"Don't play games with me!"

"I'm not. There's no one in here except me and Rain. I don't know what sort of illegal substances you're taking but you're apparently seeing and hearing things!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Alfred jerked his head around when Jack yelled in the distance. Alfred sighed and looked at the Doctor.

"That's it, I've had it. Get up; you three are coming with me now!"

"Three? There's only two of us!" the Doctor said.

"Damn it, I've had it with this bullshit!" Alfred said, looking down while he fumbled for his keys in his pocket.

"Can I help you look for them?"

Alfred spun around and saw Alan behind him.

"How-do!" Alan said happily. "Lovely day, eh?"

"What the?"

Alfred looked at the Doctor sitting in the cell and Alan standing behind him.

"This can't be, you're exactly alike!" he said to Alan.

"Well, I don't like to brag but you know what I said earlier about possessing powers beyond your imagination? I have the ability to split myself up and be in different places at once. It's a little Time Lord trick I know."

Alan quickly thought to Jack so he could create the next diversion.

"Yes," Alan said aloud to Alfred, "and at this very moment, I'm not only out here, I'm also in the room with the computer fouling up your schemes."

Suddenly, there was a loud clang in the distance.

"See, there I go, messing up your handiwork," Alan said to him.

Alfred found the keys and grabbed Alan's arm.

"Then you go in here where you won't cause trouble."

Alan put his hand in his trouser pocket and grabbed the manipulator.

"Nah, that's too boring, I'd rather cause trouble."

Alfred gasped when Alan suddenly jerked his arm away from him and vanished in a flash of light. He looked in at the Doctor who had a smug grin on his face while he sat on the floor with Rain. He looked at Rose.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah!" Rose said in a deep voice while she pointed at him.

"Who the hell are you?" Alfred yelled.

"I'm the Doctor!" the Doctor yelled back.

"NOT YOU! HER!"

"SHE'S RAIN!"

"NOT HER! THAT WOMAN!"

"THERE IS NO OTHER WOMAN, YA BERK! I KEEP TRYING TO TELL YA THAT!"

Alfred heard another loud clang in the distance. Throwing up his hands, he sprinted back towards the computer room while the Doctor, Rain and Rose giggled.


	266. Chapter 266

Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty Six

Jack hid in the shadows of the catwalk watching while Alfred stumbled in, exhausted and panting. He didn't touch the computer, he had been hitting the railing of the catwalk with the spanner but he knew that pretty soon they would have to bring this charade to an end and capture him. He could see how tired he was and as long as they kept him running around, he would wear out and not put up a fight. Jack kept to the shadows watching while Alfred once again checked his precious computer for any damage. He was inside when he heard the Doctor or Alan let out another shriek.

"HEY! LOOK AT ME! I'M RESCUING THE PRISONERS!"

Jack snickered when Alfred stumbled out of the computer, let out a groan and paused a moment to catch his breath.

"Now see, this is why you should never work alone, buddy," Jack muttered to himself.

Alfred sighed and half ran, half walked out of the room back towards the cell blocks.

"Right, I think the time has come to put this computer permanently out of commission," Jack said while he walked across the catwalk.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, Rain and Alan were hiding in the empty cell while Rose sat beside the Doctor on the floor. The Doctor glanced at her while she held the burning candle in her hand.

"Gotta ask, Te'lesu, what's the significance of the candle?" the Doctor said to her. "I get the skull makeup and the white robe but why are you holding that?"

"Um…I s'pose…to make me look more mysterious?" Rose said, shrugging. "Wasn't my idea, this was Jack's suggestion."

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"He thinks ghosts walk around with lit candles?" he said.

Rose shrugged.

"I didn't ask, I'm only followin' his instructions," Rose replied.

He smirked when he heard Alfred panting while he came near them.

"I believe our friend is on the verge of collapse now," the Doctor muttered to her.

"Good because I wanna get out of this thing. It's hot and itchy," Rose said.

They shut up when Alfred stumbled back in. He looked at Bartholomew who was sitting calmly in his cell and then he moved over to the Doctor's cell and stopped short when he saw Rose sitting in Rain's place.

"Now what have you done?" Alfred said.

"I haven't done anything. I'm just sittin' here!" the Doctor protested.

Alfred glared at Rose.

"For the last time, who are you?" he said to her.

"I'm Rain," Rose said, mimicking her voice.

"You are not!"

"I am too," Rose said. "Look, buddy, why don't you get your friggin' eyes checked? I'm his wife. We haven't moved. No one's moved a muscle. We're just sitting here waiting for you to do whatever you're gonna do. Instead you keep accusing us of moving and being other people and acting like a complete dork!"

Alfred stared at her. The woman was speaking with Rain's voice but it wasn't her…was it?

"Can you possess people?" Alfred said to her.

"Can I do what now?" Rose said, mimicking Rain.

"Possess people! Are you possessing her?"

"Who?" Rose said while the Doctor feigned exasperation. "Love, I think this guy is completely nuts!"

"Just ignore him, Rain," the Doctor said to her. "I'm guessing it's some kind of mind game he's playing with us."

"I demand you tell me what's going on!"

The Doctor and Rose stared straight ahead, ignoring him. Alfred sighed and unlocked their cell.

"Alright, get up! Both of you!" he snarled at them.

"Hey! Get off me!" Rose said, when he seized her arm.

She shoved the lit candle onto his arm and kicked him backwards when he howled in pain. Alfred stumbled out the door and landed on his back while the Doctor and Rose got up. The Doctor quickly grabbed him, lifted him up and slammed him against the back wall.

"I knew it; I knew this was a trick!" Alfred said.

"Bang on, it is. And you were apparently stupid enough to fall for it and keep on falling for it while you ran yourself to exhaustion."

Alfred glanced over when Alan and Rain emerged from the cell.

"Hiya, I'm his twin brother you didn't know he had," Alan said, waving.

Alfred studied him and then looked at the Doctor who had a smug smile on his face.

"So you can't split yourself into multiple people?" Alfred said.

Alan, Rose and Rain giggled while the Doctor gave him a long, hard stare.

"As I was telling my wife, it's no wonder you need geniuses to power your computer because judging from what I've seen, you seem to have only one brain cell floating around in your skull," he said. "Even if you did manage to conquer time and space, I'm betting you'd lose it all in ten seconds just through sheer stupidity. Instead of shooting us, you chose to just run back and forth and back and forth, trying to chase us down. You believed us when we told you we didn't switch cells, you brought our whole being in three places at once ruse, for awhile you seemed to think she was a real ghost. You are a complete and utter halfwit, Alfred. I'm surprised you managed to convince The Shadow Proclamation to contact me and carry out the kidnapping. I'm surprised you managed to kidnap Bartholomew and Frank. I'm surprise you're able to walk upright without slamming into walls every ten seconds because I believe you are that dim. Now it's true I can't split myself into three, but I can speak to the others members of my family through telepathy and using that ability we were able to keep in touch and coordinate this whole plan."

"Then how did you disappear into thin air?" Alfred said.

Alan pulled out the manipulator.

"This handy dandy device. It allows me to travel in time and acts as a teleport to get me from place to place. It let me go get my wife here and once that was done, my brother, Jack, and I used it to teleport around this place. And we've been switching places with one another in this cell and you were none the wiser, though if you had bothered to stop and look, you'd notice that Jack wasn't the same height as us. But like Brother said, you're a dimwit ding-a-ling and that's why you lost. But then again, we did actually do what you intended us to do, a bunch of geniuses communicated with each other and found a solution to a problem, but sadly it wasn't your problem we found the solution to. Still, gotta be proud that your scheme works in theory, eh?"

"And now that we've revealed all, guess what? It's your turn to get inside the cell while we dismantle the computer you built. And then once we drop Bartholomew and Frank off at their houses, you are gonna go for a nice little trip to a prison planet of my choosing where you'll get to spend a very, very long time coming up with daft schemes and you can plan to rule time and space to your heart's content. Now, get in there and behave yourself while we wreck your handiwork!" the Doctor said, shoving him inside the cell.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After freeing Bartholomew and Frank, Jack used his manipulator to take them back home. The Doctor, Alan and their wives went into the computer room and examined it. They noticed Jack had already begun to dismantle some of it but the Doctor walked inside and examined the interior with the others. Despite the sinister overtones, he couldn't help but be intrigued by it.

"Hard to believe the idiot could have built this after what we seen today," the Doctor said to Alan.

"Maybe that's the limits of his intelligence. He's good with computers but dumb in every other area," Alan replied.

When he got down to the end of the computer, Alan noticed a journal lying on the floor beside the last chair. He picked it up and quickly skimmed the notes inside.

"So…according to this, we woulda had tubes out the wazoo, not only in our head but in our mouths and genitals and colon," he said to them. "That would have fed us and allowed us to excrete which answers that question of how we would have been cared for during our enslavement."

He sat down in the leather chair and continued to read.

"And…" he said to them. "We would have been disposed of the moment we thought up this grand and glorious solution for world domination."

"Gee, are you sure that's wise?" Rain said dryly. "Sure he wouldn't have needed you to tell him how to tie his shoes or something?"

They snickered.

"But on a serious note, I'm glad he didn't get to carry this out. This is horrible," Rain said.

"Reminds me of that woman on the Gamestation. The one that they had wired in to the system," Alan said, shaking his head. "Just think, if Alfie boy had a scrap of intelligence in his head, we would have been in the same predicament."

"Well, I say we use our screwdrivers to disable most of the circuits and afterwards, I'm gonna go back to The Shadow Proclamation and have a little chat with the Architect," the Doctor said.

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The Judoon went running towards the TARDIS when they heard it wheezing. They got in formation and drew their blasters, aiming it at the door. The door opened and the Doctor and Rain stepped out.

"Go away and leave me alone before I take those blasters and shove them up your nostrils!" he snarled at them while he closed the door.

He stomped past the rhinos with Rain towards the Architect who was walking up to them.

"Doctor, what happened? Where did you go?" she said.

"Where did I go? I went off to Darkness because I walked right into a trap!" he said angrily. "And the reason I walked into the trap was because I listened to you!"

"I didn't know…" the Architect said.

"Yeah, you just assumed he was on the up and up and did exactly what he suggested. You came and bothered me and got me involved in this and I ended up being imprisoned with my wife. I would add that we nearly got turned into a living computer except the man was a complete idiot and I'm sure we would have outwitted him long before it got to that point. But because you felt the need to bother me, not only were we imprisoned but Zoko and Koto are dead. So I'm going to make this perfectly clear to you. Don't EVER bother me again. I don't care if the entire universe is on the verge of collapse. If that happens, I'll handle it myself because I trust myself and I trust my family, I don't trust you or your Judoon goons! This is the very last time I do you a favor. I am not your lackey, I'm not your servant and I'm not in your employ! I'm going to tell my family to turn you or your Judoon guards away if you show up on New Gallifrey or any other place you think I'm staying at. I will tell them not to contact me and they will do as I ask, trust me, because I will be furious with them if they do! And this goes for other members of my family, wife, sisters, brothers, my kids, if you try to get them to do your dirty work, I will raze this place to the ground and make sure you lot are put out of commission permanently. Now…I've said what I came here to say and Rain and I are leaving and if you know what's good for you, you'll remember my words and leave me the hell alone in future. Now, goodbye!"

He turned and put his arm around Rain while both of them walked back to the TARDIS.

"Now, that that's out of the way, Navajo tacos?" he said hopefully while they went back inside.

She giggled.

"I think you've earned them," Rain said while he closed the door.

The Architect heard the Doctor let out a high-pitched "Yippee!" from inside the TARDIS before it dematerialized and disappeared from view.


	267. Chapter 267

A/N: This story takes place a year after they find Tara.

Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty Seven

It was a bright sunny day and Tara was sitting by herself on the sofa in her house in Nova. She was watching something on the TV while she drank a glass of milk. She glanced over when the door opened and Alan came in, whistling cheerfully. He shut the door and continued to whistle while he went past and headed for his bedroom. He pretended not to notice Tara who was watching him and then stopped when he got a few feet down the hallway and backed up to the sofa. Tara giggled when he leaned over and got into her face while he continued to whistle.

_What are you doing in here on such a fine day?_ He thought to her while he kept on whistling.

"Watching Happytown Tales," Tara replied.

_I repeat, what are you doing in here on such a fine day?_ Alan thought while he whistled.

"I'm watching Happytown Tales, Uncle Alan," Tara said.

She giggled while Alan stared at her with wide eyes while he kept on whistling.

_We're gonna go for a walk, me and Rose and your mum and dad, interested? Or is Happytown Tales more interesting?_ He thought to her.

"Can we go after this is done? It's about over," Tara said.

He stopped whistling and glanced at it. He looked back at her.

"Why would you wanna pass up a golden opportunity to go explore?" he asked her.

"It's just that…look, you remember when we found that ride that had the Happytown Train thing in it?"

"Yeeeeeeees."

"The Happytown Train is part of this cartoon. They have Moe on here and that Hippo lady is named Florence."

"Do they have the weird loner squirrel on it?"

"No," Tara said, giggling.

"How about skeleton central?"

"Mm-hmm, that's Skull Mountain."

She giggled while Alan stared at her. He put his nose against hers.

"So you'd rather sit in here and watch this drivel instead of going out and maybe finding an adventure somewhere," he said to her.

"Is Dot coming with us?"

"No, Dot's over at Jackie's playing with Tony and Elizabeth. She's gonna mind Angel for a bit while we take a walk. I was coming back inside to use the loo when I found you…say, that rhymes…I'm a poet and didn't know it."

She giggled.

"So, your choice, Crappytown Tales or explore and get into heaps of mischief."

"It's not Crappytown Tales."

"Sure it is, it's pointless, mindless drivel that's designed to hypnotize you and rot your brain away. Besides, we're much more fun than Florence the Purple Tutu Hippo. So up and at em, use the loo before I do and we'll skidoo and find a treasure or two. Scoot, scoot, scoot…"

"Okay, Uncle Alan, I'm going," Tara said, laughing while she got up.

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After they went to the bathroom, Alan put two bottled waters into his trouser pockets, turned off the TV with a snort while he said, "Crappytown Tales, indeed!" and he put his arm around his niece's shoulder while they headed outside. Across the way, the Doctor was leaning against the side of the porch while he, Rain and Rose chatted with Jackie who was bottle-feeding Angel. Next to her chair, Dot, Tony and Elizabeth were lying on the concrete, coloring and talking to each other. The Doctor glanced at them and his face lit up when he saw Tara.

"Aha, you found her!" he said as Alan and Tara went down the steps towards the street.

"Yes, I found her and saved her from mindless, pointless TV shows that she has no business watching," Alan said. "You won't believe this but there's an entire cartoon based off that Happytown Train simulation in the park."

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"Really? Is the fat hippo a part of it?" he asked while they climbed up the steps to Jackie's porch.

"Yes, her name is Florence apparently. I caught a few seconds of the episode she was watching and it looked naff to me so be thankful I got her away from it and into the sunshine where she belongs."

"Shame on you for watching such things," the Doctor said, wagging her finger at her. "You know better than to sit there for hours on end rotting your brain with such drivel."

"It's not drivel; it's Happytown Tales, Daddy."

"Crappytown Tales, she means," Alan said.

"It is not!" Tara said while they laughed.

"Sorry, my Star, Time Ladies-in-training have more important things to do than watch zombifying nursery school rubbish. You are going to learn how to explore and be adventurous and you can't do that with your bum on the sofa! So, take my hand and Mommy's hand and let's be off on our exploration."

"Look after yourselves," Jackie said as they started down the steps.

"We will, Mum," Rose said to her. "I have everything Angel needs in her changing bag."

"Don't worry, Love, I know how to look after a baby, I've done it twice. Just go and have fun and be careful," Jackie said.

They waved at her and headed into the street. They walked past the houses of their family and turned left heading for the other houses around them. Most of the houses were completed and most of them resembled theirs with a few slight changes in detail. They passed by one that was half finished and the Doctor and Alan walked up the driveway while the others followed. They examined the house and looked through the windows at the bare interior.

"Lee needs to contact the construction company and see if he can find work with them. Seems like they're constantly busy building homes around here," the Doctor said while they walked away.

"Yup, more homes for our family members," Alan said. "Soon we will own Little Gallifrey."

"Except for Patty," Rain said.

He looked back at her.

"Patty will join us someday. It's like the motorway on New Earth, everyone ends up joining us sooner or later," Alan said while the Doctor snickered.

"Well, I can't comment on that since I wasn't there at the time," Rain said.

"Nope, wasn't there either. I was there the first time though," Rose said. "And thank God we didn't end up on that motorway. Ugh! I know I would have been panickin'."

"What d'ya mean, you would have been panicking?" the Doctor said.

"Because at the time, you'd just changed and I didn't know ya that well," Rose said.

"It was still me…for the most part. I admit I acted a bit odd beforehand but that's because my regeneration went a bit wrong. I managed to get Cassandra outta ya without damaging you, didn't I? So what makes you think I wouldn't have been able to pull you off a jammed motorway?"

Rose didn't say anything while she walked with Rain. The Doctor looked back at her.

"Rose?"

She grinned and didn't say anything while she shrugged.

"What's that shrug s'posed to mean?" the Doctor said.

"It means I find it amusing that you get so annoyed whenever someone starts questionin' your ability to handle a situation. You just get so bent out of shape over nothin' so I'm just enjoying how flustered you are."

"Leave it alone, mate. The misses is just baitin' ya for a giggle," Alan said to him. "She does it to me as well."

"I just love how oversensitive you can be sometimes, is all," Rose replied while Rain giggled.

Rain shut up when the Doctor eyed her. She grinned and shrugged while the Doctor rolled his eyes and nudged Rose when he looked the other way.

They went around the corner and headed left again. They stopped when they noticed Patty was sitting out on her porch four houses down from them. She smiled and waved to them and they waved back while they walked towards her.

"Out for a walk?" Patty said.

"Yup, just doin' a bit of explorin'," the Doctor said.

"Oh! I'm taking it easy. I have a day off work today so I'm just sitting outdoors enjoying the day," she said. "Have you walked around here much?"

"No, actually, we haven't really explored this area at all. We're usually busy," Alan said while they headed up to her porch.

"Really? You mean you don't know about our neighbor?" Patty said, pointing off to the right.

They stopped halfway up to her porch and looked at the house next to hers.

"What? This person, you mean?" the Doctor said.

"Oh no, no, the person who lives on the other side of the road next to the development. The very, very wealthy person who lives in the mansion deep in the woods."

They glanced at each other.

"Really? Who is it?" the Doctor said, intrigued.

"Dunno. I walk around here on occasion and one day I decided to see who else lived around here and I found a little path going into the woods and if you follow it for about a quarter of a mile you see this huge mansion in a clearing. I've never gone up to the door but the guy has a four car garage, pool, tennis court, everything."

"Why haven't you gone up to the door?" Alan said.

"I just didn't think it was right. I mean, the path could be the guy's driveway and I didn't wanna get shot for trespassing."

The Doctor looked at his family.

"Well now, I believe we should risk getting shot and take a look see at who lives there, eh?"

"Really? You guys are gonna risk it?" Patty said.

"Why not? Might be a nice person there who might end up being our friend. We've risked being shot before so I'm not worried about that. I say we go and meet our posh neighbor. Wanna come with us?"

Patty grinned.

"Okay, you talked me into it. Just let me use the bathroom before we go."

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"It's this way," Patty said while they walked down a paved pathway through the dense forest beside the housing development.

The Doctor held his daughter's hand while the ventured deeper into the forest. The trees were dense, shading the path and giving it an aura of peace and tranquility. Birdsong echoed through the trees and occasionally they saw a few rodents scampering up them. Halfway up the path they noticed a large black wrought iron fence that cut through the trees on either side. The gates had ivy leaves carved into them. They were hanging open. They walked up to them and looked around.

"I don't see no trespassing signs," the Doctor said, shrugging. "If this person didn't want visitors, I imagine the gates would be closed, yeah?"

"Odd that he doesn't have any intercoms nearby," Alan said. "If he lives this far into the woods, you'd think he'd put one here so people could announce their presence."

"I don't see any hidden cameras either. Unless he's got them hidden up in the trees somewhere," Rose said, looking around.

The Doctor ran a scan with his screwdriver.

"Not picking up any traces of technology. Apparently this person doesn't care if you go right up to the door," the Doctor said.

"You went right up to the door, Patty?" Rain said. "I mean, you didn't see any pit bulls or booby traps or alarms?"

"I didn't go to the door but I got within several feet of it and I didn't hear any alarms or see any kennels and there were no booby traps."

The Doctor shrugged.

"I say we go on then and meet this person."

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They walked on for about ten more minutes before they stared to see a glimpse of the mansion through the trees. The outside was made of white brick and they could see black shutters framing the windows.

"Wow, very beautiful," Rose said.

"Yeah, it is. If the trees weren't so tall, we'd probably be able to see it from our houses," Patty said.

"Daddy!"

The Doctor looked down at Tara.

"Look, tree house!" she said, pointing up.

They looked up and noticed a large white wooden house nestled between three trees about forty feet above them. The house had similar windows with black shutters and a small black shingled roof. The sides were trimmed with gold and the door was painted gold.

"Blimey, that's an impressive hideout," Alan said. "Whoever lives here has kids then?"

"Maybe," the Doctor said, walking around the trees. "But anyone see a way up to it? I don't see any ropes or boards nailed to the trees. How do you get up to it?"

"Maybe they have a rope ladder that comes down so people like us can't go up there and nose around, Love," Rain teased.

"I wasn't gonna nose around, I'm just wondering how you get up there."

Rain raised her eyebrow.

"I wasn't gonna nose around," he said while his family giggled.

He grinned.

"Okay, maybe nose around a little and then come back down."

"That's better," Rain said.

He tousled her hair and took Tara's hand while they headed towards the mansion.

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Finally, they were able to see the entire mansion. It looked like a bigger version of the tree house except there was no gold trim on the sides and the door was made of oak and carved with the same ivy design on the gate. Behind it was an Olympic size swimming pool and to the right side was a large tennis court. They looked around but couldn't see any cars and there was no sign of people. The whole place was quiet; the only sound was the wind rustling through the trees and the birdsong. They looked around.

"I don't see any no trespassing signs, no dogs, no snipers, not a sausage," the Doctor said, shrugging. "I'm assuming whoever lives here is friendly then."

"Either that or he has a sadistic sense of humor and waits till people come up to the door before calling the cops and having them arrested," Patty said.

"Well, then we can argue that the gate was wide open, there was no signs warning us away, no dogs and no security measures of any kind so he has no right to have us arrested," the Doctor said to her. "Just keep behind me and if he does try something, we'll tackle him."

They went up to the door. The Doctor pressed the doorbell and heard "Ding-da-ding-dong!" coming faintly through the door. For a moment, nothing happened.

"Maybe they're gone," Patty said, "I don't see any cars unless he has them in the garage."

The door opened and they saw a young man. He was tall and thin with short caramel colored hair, green eyes and a baby face. He was wearing black trousers, a white shirt and black dress shoes. The Doctor smiled warmly when he eyed them suspiciously.

"Hi, I'm the Doctor. This is my wife, Rain, my brother, Alan, his wife, Rose, my daughter, Tara, and our friend, Patty. We all live in the houses across the road and Patty told us that you lived down here so we thought we might come and say hello. This is a beautiful house you have."

"I don't own it," the man said, "I work for the woman who does."

"Oh," the Doctor said, "can we say hello to your employer?"

"She's asleep right now. She sleeps during the day," the man said.

"Oh, night job?"

The man nodded.

"I'm sorry to trouble you then. We just moved in a little over a year ago and we're busy as well so we haven't had much time to meet the neighbors around us. We'll be on our way then," the Doctor said.

"If you want to come back tonight, I'm sure she'll be awake then," the man said.

"Okay, what time should we come back then?"

"Around 8 p.m."

"I see and what's her name…and yours?"

"I'm Tobey. My mistress's name is Serena Manchester."

"Nice to meet you, Tobey. We'll be back later on tonight then. Have a great day."

Tobey watched them turn and walk back up the path. He stood at the door, keeping an eye on them and when they were out of the sight, he closed the door and went back to his duties.


	268. Chapter 268

Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty Eight

By the time they got back home, Madison was back from the grocery store and putting groceries away in the cabinets. She smiled when the Doctor came into the kitchen.

"Hey, I went to pick up Dot and Jackie said you went for a walk. Did you enjoy it?" Madison said to him.

"Yes, we did. We found a new neighbor. A very rich neighbor who lives in a mansion deep in the woods. Her manservant answered the door when we went to investigate and he told us to come back later to meet her. Interested?"

"Sure. I'd love to meet this woman," Madison said.

The Doctor felt a tug on his trousers and looked down to see Dorothy reaching for him.

"Hullo, my Ladybird, did you have fun playing with your friends?" he asked, picking her up.

"Yes. I want my Dinobites, Daddy!" she said.

"You want what?" the Doctor said.

"Dinobites. They're little frosted cookies in the shapes of dinosaurs. I promised her earlier I'd get her some at the store."

She reached into a brown paper sack and brought out the box. On the front of the box was a dancing t-rex, brachiosaurus, stegosaurus and triceratops underneath the name Dinobites. She opened it up, fished out a t-rex shaped cookie and handed it to Dorothy. While she ate it, the Doctor carried her over to the box. He looked inside and grabbed a triceratops shaped cookie that was covered with white icing. He bit the head off and ate it.

"Mmm, not bad," he said to Madison. "I'll have to ask you to get them for me as well."

"Great, now I have to buy them in bulk for the both of ya," Madison teased.

Alan entered the kitchen.

"Brother, Tara just asked me if…what is that you're eating?"

The Doctor put the remainder of the cookie in his mouth and picked up the box. He held it out to Alan and he pulled out a t-rex cookie. He examined it briefly while the Doctor set it back on the counter and then bit into it. His eyes widened.

"Mmmm, I can see why you fancy these. Nummy!" he said. "Anyway, as I was saying before I got distracted by the num-a-licious biscuit you offered me, Tara wants to know if Jenny, Amelia and Opal can come with us tonight when we go see Serena."

"I don't see why not. I just asked Maddie to come along," the Doctor said.

"So does that mean Doodlebug is accompanying us as well?" Alan asked.

The Doctor looked at his four year old daughter.

"Um…not sure. I don't know how Serena would feel about a four year old running through her mansion," he said. "Perhaps, we better leave her at Jackie's till we get back and let her play with Tony and Elizabeth again."

"I don't think she'll object to much to that, will ya, Dot?" Madison said, tousling her hair.

Alan finished eating his cookie and licked his lips.

"Must have one more of these for the road," he said, reaching for the box.

"Like I said, I'll need to buy these in bulk now," Madison said while the Doctor chuckled.

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Later that night, everyone gathered at Jackie's house.

"Did this woman say she was expectin' ya?" Jackie said as Dorothy climbed up on her lap.

"No, but Tobey told us to come by. I would think if she didn't want visitors, she would have instructed him to say so," the Doctor replied. "If she doesn't want to speak with us, we'll just leave and come back."

"Be careful going through those woods then," Jackie said. "Especially since the sun's going down."

"We will. We have torches handy," the Doctor said.

"We'll be back as soon as we can, Mum."

"I'll be here," Jackie replied.

She kissed Rose's cheek and then led the children inside while everyone else headed towards Patty's house.

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After stopping briefly to show the tree house to Amelia, Opal, Jenny and Madison, all of them walked up to the house. After dark, they could see a couple of lights in the windows and a light had been turned on just over the front door.

"I can see they're expecting us," the Doctor said.

They went up to the front door and knocked. Tobey answered it.

"Come inside, Mistress is expecting you," he said to them.

They stepped inside and stood in a small hallway. The Doctor felt hands on his back and saw Tobey behind him.

"May I take your coat?" he said, pointing to the trench coat.

"No, I'd like to keep it with me if you don't mind," he said.

Tobey shrugged and got in front of them.

"This way," he said to them.

They followed him as he turned right, went down a short hallway and went down four steps into a large living room. The walls were white with several large paintings of nature scenes in large gold leaf frames. There was a grandfather clock by the stairs and several suede chairs and couches scattered around the room. A large oak coffee table was in front of the couch with an ivy pattern carved around the top of it. In front of that was a large holo-television and on either side were several bookcases filled with books. Tobey directed them to sit down and he went back up the steps. They looked around while they waited.

"Good job we didn't tell Jackie it was a mansion," Alan said. "I bet she'd be in here trying to push Tobey and Serena out."

"Oh, she would not," Rose said. "Mum's happy where she is. She's not as money obsessed as you think she is."

"Brother, your thoughts?" Alan said to the Doctor.

"Not touching that one with a barge pole, thanks," the Doctor said while he sniggered.

They looked over when a woman came down the steps. She was tall and slender with pale skin, pale blue eyes and long, flowing black hair that came down to her buttocks. She was wearing a white diaphanous evening gown and white stiletto heels. She smiled at them while she walked over to them and extended her hand. On her wrist was a diamond and gold bracelet.

_Blimey, talk about an entrance,_ Alan thought to them.

They all stood up.

"Hello, I'm Serena," she said, smiling.

The Doctor made introductions and she greeted them warmly before urging them to sit down again.

"I apologize. I sleep during the day," she said to them.

"Well, we wouldn't have disturbed you or Tobey is you'd placed an intercom by the gate or even at the beginning of the path," Alan said.

"No, that's not necessary. I like visitors," Serena said. "I am aware of the houses across the road but I've never met anyone from them. I normally keep to myself, I don't entertain much. I've lived here for years and not many people know I'm back here. Before these houses went up, I was basically by myself."

"But surely you have friends that come over," Madison said.

"I don't have any real friends. I don't trust very many people. I have a lot of wealth and most of the people I knew in the past loved me for that and not for who I was."

"Well, we're not like that, I can assure you," the Doctor said.

"You said you were a doctor though, you have your own income then," Serena said.

"I'm not a doctor, not really. My name is the Doctor," he replied.

"Funny sort of name," Serena said.

"Well, he's a funny sort of person," Amelia said.

"You be quiet, you!" the Doctor said while they giggled. "Sorry, my granddaughter is like me. She's a bit cheeky at times."

"Granddaughter, you a bit young to be a grandfather, aren't you?" Serena said to him.

"It's a long story but let's just say, I'm much older than I look," he said.

"I see…" Serena said.

She went on to make small talk with them but Rain kept noticing Serena's gaze kept coming back to the Doctor and she would give him a penetrating look before she'd turn her attention back to the others. She did it several times and Rain glanced at the Doctor to see if he noticed, but if he did, he didn't let on. She wasn't jealous of this woman or worried about the Doctor being unfaithful, she knew her husband wanted only her, but the look she was giving him made her uneasy and she began to wonder what her true intentions were. She made a mental note to talk to him later and see if he noticed it too.

After an hour, the Doctor finally announced that they had to go back home. Serena rose with them and thanked them all for coming and urged them to visit her again before she started to leave the room.

"Um…sorry, but do you have a loo I could use before we leave?" The Doctor called to her.

"Of course, follow me," Serena said.

"Wait for me outside, I'll be out in a mo," the Doctor said to them.

He followed her up the stairs. Rain waited until everyone else headed towards the front door before he grabbed Alan's arm.

"Hey, get your cootie laden hands off me," he teased her.

He frowned when he saw she was deadly serious.

"What is it?" he said.

"There's something odd about Serena," she said softly.

"Odd? In what way, Te'lesu?" he asked while they followed everyone to the door.

Rain glanced around to make sure Serena was nowhere in sight before continuing.

"Ever since the Doctor told her he was younger than he looked, she's been looking at him with this weird look in her eyes, like she wants him," Rain said.

"Rain, he's faithful to you…"

"I know he is, but she doesn't know that," Rain hissed.

"And? He'll rebuff her if she tries anything. How do you know that's the reason why she was staring at him? Maybe she was trying to figure out what he meant when he said he was younger than he looked."

"Maybe…but she just rubs me the wrong way…and I'm not being jealous," she said, quickly when she saw the amused look on his face.

Alan put his arm around her.

"Rain, I think you're making a bigger deal out of this than it is. She's not the first head he's turned, you know that."

"I know but there's something different about her and I can't put my finger on it," Rain said as they headed out the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor was led to a bathroom on the first floor near some bedrooms. He sighed while he relieved himself. While he did that, his mind was thinking of other things they could do and other places to go. He knew that Rose and Alan were planning to take their new daughters somewhere and he wanted to do the same with his family. While his mind continued to run through possibilities, he finished up, flushed the toilet and put the seat down before he zipped up his pants and washed his hands. He opened the door and was startled when he saw Tobey standing right outside the door.

"Oh, you startled me, mate. You wanna use the loo next?" the Doctor said, hooking his thumb back at the toilet.

"Mistress wants to see you in private before you leave," Tobey said to him.

"Can it wait? My family's waiting outside," he said.

"It won't take long. She just wants to ask you something in private," Tobey replied.

"Um…okay," the Doctor said hesitantly. "But it better be brief. We need to head back to our homes."

"She won't take up much of your time," he said over his shoulder while he led him further down the hall.

He stopped in front of the master bedroom.

"Inside here."

"Wait, this is her bedroom," the Doctor said.

"Correct," Tobey said, opening the door.

"Look, maybe it'd be better if we spoke in the living room…"

"Come in, Doctor," Serena said from inside the room.

The Doctor stared at Tobey.

"Inside, the Mistress is waiting," Tobey said.

The Doctor sighed and walked inside the bedroom. He noticed that the windows had blinds nailed over them and there were black curtains over them. There was a huge wooden canopy bed on the right side with a black canopy and heavy black curtains along all four sides. Except for a small oak bedside table and a small chest of drawers, the room had nothing else in it and no decoration on the walls. Tobey shut the door while Serena slid out of her bed and walked towards him.

"What do you want?" the Doctor said coldly while he folded his arms over his chest.

"Is that any way to talk to your friend?" Serena said.

"Yes, you are a friend and one does not usually ask their friends to come into their bedroom alone, especially when the friend happens to be happily married. So I ask you again, what do you want? Because if this is heading where I think it's heading, I'm not interested."

"What you said, before. About being younger than you look, what did you mean by that?" Serena said.

"It's a long and complicated story."

"Then tell it."

"I don't have time. I have my wife and family and friend waiting for me outside and trust me, if I don't come out soon, they'll be coming in and they'll be none too pleased if they find me in here, especially my wife."

"But you're like me, aren't you?" Serena said.

"What do you mean by that?" the Doctor said.

"Pale skin, youthful appearance, you're like me," Serena said.

"I don't follow you," the Doctor said.

His eyes widened when she opened her mouth and her canines elongated. Suddenly, it all made sense to him. He tried to run for the door but Serena sped in front of it with superhuman speed.

"I'm warning you, I've dealt with your kind before!" he snarled.

"My kind, you're not a vampire?"

"No, I'm not. I'm just an incredibly pale person, an incredibly pale, dangerous person who will not hesitate to stake you through the heart if you don't let me go. And I'm warning you, don't you dare harm any of my family or friends or I'll shove you in a coffin, nail it shut and let you spend eternity in it."

"I mean you no harm, Doctor. I just thought…you said you were younger than you appear and you have grandchildren."

"Yes, but that's because I come from a race of people called Time Lords and we can regenerate our bodies when they wear out or die. I'm on my tenth body now and I'm over twelve hundred years old so there's the reason why. So may I please leave now?"

"Don't tell the others about me," Serena said.

"Why? So you can sneak up on them unawares and suck their blood?"

"I don't do that to people. I have my own blood supply. Artificial blood. I don't like being this way. I don't wanna hurt people!"

"What about Tobey? Is he a vampire as well?"

"No, he's human. He's the son of my former servant who was killed by the vampire that made me. He was just a baby then and I helped bring him up."

"To do what, be your slave?" the Doctor said angrily.

"No, he helps me. He loves me and he takes care of me and helps protect me. I moved here with my fortune to get away from humans. And I was successful for awhile but now, they're building houses right beside mine. I tried to stay away but you and your family came…"

"Then I'm truly sorry, Serena. We only wanted to meet you and say hello, nothing more. We never meant to intrude on your life and we won't anymore."

"But…you're different. I can sense that about you. Can't you help me? Try to help me find a cure for this?"

The Doctor thought about that.

_Um, Brother, better get down here now, your wife is a bit worried about you,_ Alan thought to him. _She's under the impression your bones are about to be jumped._

"I won't…jump your bones…" she said, frowning.

She smiled when the Doctor raised his eyebrows.

"I also have telepathic abilities, Doctor. I heard your brother just now. If your wife is worried that I'm going to seduce you, please ease her fears. I only wanted to speak to you in private."

"I will try to help you, Serena, but I can't guarantee anything. Changing someone back to a human after they've been a vampire for a long time is difficult and risky and I'm not sure if I'll succeed."

"All I ask is you try, Doctor. And please…you and your family are welcome here anytime you want. Just…come in the evening after sunset. Now I'll let you go and I bid you goodnight."

"Goodnight, Serena," the Doctor said.

She opened the door for him and thanked him for listening to her. The Doctor nodded, walked out the door and followed Tobey as he led him back to the front door.


	269. Chapter 269

Chapter Two Hundred and Sixty Nine

The Doctor's brain was whirling while he went towards the front door. He was unsure whether or not to believe Serena. All the vampires he had dealt with in the past were evil and untrustworthy. Automatically, he began to assume that Serena told him she needed help to put him at ease and lure him back to her so she could convert him. But there was another part of him that thought she might be telling the truth and genuinely needed his help. But above all, his greatest fear was for the safety of his family and friends and his need to protect him came above all that.

_Then again,_ he thought to himself, _we've lived here over a year and she's lived next door to all of us. Wouldn't she have done something to us by now? _

He opened the front door and smiled when his family and Patty ran over to him.

"Brother, tell Rain that you weren't in there doing the mattress mambo with Serena," Alan said to him while she ran up to him.

"I wasn't doing the mattress mambo with her," he said to her. "However, I need to tell you lot something. I just found out something about our neighbor."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Oh God, I knew it," Rain said when he finished explaining everything.

They were almost to the end of the path. All of them stayed together and kept alert in case Serena was following them.

"So are you gonna help her, Dad?" Jenny said.

"I don't know. I don't trust her completely. Vampires aren't known for being truthful," the Doctor replied.

"You've fought vampires before?" Patty said.

"On a couple of occasions, yes. I even became one briefly in my fifth life along with my companion, Nyssa."

"So there is a cure," Rose said.

"Um…sorta…You see, it takes a month before the change takes complete hold of a person and in that time, if you kill the vampire that made you, you return to normal, which is what happened to me and Nyssa. After a month, it doesn't matter if you kill the vampire or not, you're one forever more which is why I'm not sure I can reverse what's been done to her. I'm torn between wanting to help her and wanting myself and everyone around me to be safe."

"Perhaps, Jack can help then," Alan said. "Didn't they mention one time they had a run-in with vampires? I recall him saying Martha was bit by one when they were out on assignment."

"Yes, I remember Jack telling me that. Okay, as soon as we drop everyone off at their homes, we'll go see Jack and see what he has to say about it."

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After everyone went to their homes and they picked up Dorothy, Elizabeth and Angel from Jackie's house, the Doctor, Rain, Alan and Rose walked down to the Torchwood house. They knocked on the door and listened to loud music coming from inside the house while they waited for someone to open it. After a minute, Jack opened the door.

"Hey! It's the people from the house down the street!" Jack yelled back over his shoulder.

"What's going on?" the Doctor said.

"Aaaaah! We had a very stressful day. We were sent to catch a banshee that was roaming around Brixton. We finally caught her and she's now contained in our Hub in Cardiff while we decide what to do with her. After that fun little romp around London, we decided to order a few pizzas, crank up the music and kick back and relax with some food, booze and DVDs. Care to join us? We've got plenty of pizza left!"

"Actually, we need to talk to you about something that happened earlier this evening," the Doctor said.

Jack nodded.

"Gwenie, go ahead and fix the margaritas! The Doc needs to tell me something so I'll be back inside in a moment!" he yelled back over his shoulder.

He closed the door.

"We have plenty of margaritas too if you want one after you're done talking," he said.

They all shook their heads.

"Well, what's goin' on then?" Jack said.

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"Mickey, come and get your margarita!" Gwen said from the kitchen.

She leaned out the door and held one out to him while he walked up to get it.

"Much obliged, Gwen," Mickey said.

"Anytime, Mickey," she replied.

She started to go back inside when the door opened up and Jack came in followed by the others.

"Hey, Doctor," Martha said, waving while she sat on the sofa. "Come to join the pizza party?"

"Gang, we have a situation," Jack said while the Doctor shook his head and closed the door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After explaining everything to his team, Jack used his manipulator to bring the Doctor, Alan, Rain, Rose and Ianto down to the Cardiff Hub.

"Okay, Yan, where'd you put the bite guards at?" Jack said when they materialized.

Ianto led them back to the laboratory and rifled through several drawers before he found a large strip of clear rubber and two smaller strips of rubber to match it.

"After Martha was attacked by the vampires, we developed these in case that happened again and also to protect us when we hunted weevils," Jack said. "These are made of a thick but flexible plastic that fits around your neck and wrists and believe me, it definitely protects against bites. Ianto was wearing a set of these when a weevil bit his arm. Didn't feel a thing."

"Yup, it definitely held up. The teeth didn't even penetrate through to the skin," Ianto said.

"We tried to make it as undetectable as we could so a vampire wouldn't see it and try to bite somewhere else. I figure the neck and wrists are the most popular place for them to bite which is why we designed the guards for those areas. So let's put them on and see how well they fit ya."

Everyone watched while Ianto wrapped the larger piece of plastic around his neck. Once that was secure, the Doctor rolled up his sleeves to his elbow and let him put the wrists guards on him. When he was done, the Doctor examined them. They were somewhat visible to him but when he asked Alan to step back and take a look, he shook his head.

"I really can't tell from here that you're wearing them," Alan said.

"Good, I wanna wear these as a precaution but I don't want Serena to be put off because I'm wearing them and she thinks I don't trust her," he said.

"Personally, I wouldn't care what she thought if it meant I had protection," Jack said. "Better you stay safe than risk hurting her feelings. She's a vampire, I'm sure she'd understand why you're wearing them. And if you don't mind, I'd like to come with you and protect you. I've dealt with vampires before so I think I can help you if she is lying and trying to ambush you. What about your family though?"

"I'm going to have everyone stay in the TARDIS for awhile, just as a precaution. At least, everyone in my house. I'm not sure if she'd attack anyone else; she only seemed interested in me. Though why me and not Alan…"

"Because Alan isn't as old as you are," Rain said. "She's doing what I've been doing and sensing how old you really are. Alan may look like you but he's only two years old and none of us in the room was past twenty five. You're the oldest and therefore, the most likely to be a vampire in her eyes."

"Well, gee in that case, I better take precautions too," Jack said.

"Bring along several of these things," the Doctor said. "I want to be prepared for anything that happens and make sure that others have the same protection I do, especially the children."

"And if she does turn us, we have a month to kill her and change back," Alan said.

"Yes, except I'm not gonna let it get that far. If she even breathes on you lot the wrong way, I'm gonna rip her fangs out by the roots," the Doctor replied.

The Doctor took off the guards and put it and five more pairs of them into a tote bag. Once that was done, everyone got around Jack and he carried them back up to his house.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next night, the Doctor, Alan and Jack prepared themselves to go back to Serena's mansion. All of them donned the wrist and neck guards and Jack was carrying Martha's medical bag filled with blood drawing implements and test tubes and other things they might need. Despite Rose and Rain's protests and pleas to go with them, they urged them to stay and protect the children.

"If something happens, one of us will telepathically call to you and tell you to alert the others and hide everyone in the TARDISes. Hopefully, that won't happen but you never know," the Doctor said.

Rain hugged him.

"Be careful, Thete," she whispered in his ear. "Don't let your need to help others blind you to any traps she might have for you."

"I won't, I promise. Trust me; my senses are on full alert. This little visit is to determine if she really wants our help or if she is trying to set a trap. I'll be alright. Just look after the children and get them to safety if she decides to attack us."

"What about Patty?" Rain asked.

"We'll stop at her house on the way over and ask her to come over here until we return."

Rain nodded. She kissed him and they touched foreheads briefly before he joined Jack at the door. Rose kissed Alan.

"Be careful, Love," she whispered.

"I will, I promise," he said. "But before I go, I want you to do something for me."

"Yeah?"

He grinned.

"Keep Tara away from Crappytown Tales so her brain doesn't turn to gooey mush. I don't wanna come back and see my niece become a nursery school zombie."

Rose giggled and nodded. Alan kissed her deeply on the lips and stroked her cheek briefly before he turned and joined the others at the door. All of them waved to Rain, Rose, Madison and the children before they headed outside into the night.


	270. Chapter 270

Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy

Once they were done saying their goodbyes, the three men went outside and headed back towards Serena's house. As they walked down the street, they noticed Amelia and Opal coming out of their house with Patience and Dex.

"Papaw, are you going back to the vampire lady's house?" Amelia said, coming down the steps.

"Yes, we are," the Doctor said, stopping at the bottom of the steps.

"Can we come?" Opal said while Patience and Dex followed them down the steps.

"No, not this time. I want to find out if she's telling us the truth or not and I don't want you to get hurt if this is a trap," the Doctor said, tousling her hair. "You just stay inside your house and relax. We'll be alright."

"Father, do you mind if I come with you?" Dex said. "I'd also like to see this Serena for myself and find out if she's a threat or not."

"That's fine. I just don't want the women or children coming with us, at least not yet," the Doctor said.

"Wait a moment then," Jack said. "I'll run back to our house and get you some bite guards."

Dex watched while he sprinted back to his house.

"Bite guards?" Dex said.

The Doctor let him feel the plastic guards around his neck and wrists.

"So you don't trust this woman?" Dex said.

"Not yet. This is just a precaution," the Doctor said. "All of us are wearing them and I want you to wear some as well, just until we know for sure she isn't a threat."

"Father, I'm not so sure about this. I mean…the Great Vampires. Our kind battled them for centuries, you know."

"I know and that's why I'm taking precautions. Every vampire I've met has been nothing but trouble. On the other hand, she's had plenty of opportunities to attack us and she's never bothered us, so perhaps she's telling the truth. That's why I wanna talk to her."

Jack came running back with the bite guards and put them around Dex's neck and wrists.

"Dex, be careful," Patience said when Jack was finished.

"I will, Love. Maybe you and the children better go over to Father's house until we get back, just in case something happens."

She nodded and Dex kissed and hugged her and the children before the four men started off again towards Patty's house.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You sure you don't want me to come with you?" Patty asked after they explained the situation to her.

"No," the Doctor said. "The four of us are gonna go over there tonight and make sure it's safe to be around her. We were just warning you in case you wanna go back over to my house."

She nodded.

"I'll head over there now," she said. "Just…be careful, all of you."

"We will," the Doctor said.

She hugged them all and watched them walk away for a few minutes before she went back into her house to get ready to go over to the Doctor's house.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The four of them headed down the path, their torches illuminating the way in the darkness. There was no moon out tonight so they were extra vigilant in case Serena was nearby. They neared the tree house and stopped under it for a moment, shining their flashlights up at it.

"Cute," Jack said.

"Yeah, but we can't find any way up to it. Vampires can fly though so maybe that's why she doesn't have any steps or ropes or anything."

"Are you sure she isn't holding people captive up there?" Dex asked.

The Doctor thought about that.

"It's a possibility. It's too far for anyone to jump down and there are no limbs near the bottom so they couldn't climb down. Although I wouldn't see why she'd need to hide people all the way out here when not many people know her house is back here. As big as that mansion is, surely there are places she could put people. I s'pose that's one of the things we need to ask her when we get up there."

They headed on to the house. As they neared the mansion, the Doctor felt like he was being watched but he wasn't sure whether he was or if it was just his imagination running rampant. He kept his body tense, ready for anything while they walked into the clearing and headed to the front door of the house. When they got up to it, the Doctor raised his fist to knock on it but before he could, Tobey opened the door and stared at him in silence. The Doctor lowered his hand and smiled at him.

"Hi, we're here to see Serena," he said to him.

"Come inside and sit in the living room while I let her know you're here," he said.

They walked inside and went to the living room while Tobey went to summon Serena. They sat down on the sofa and chairs.

"Swank," Jack said, looking around. "Apparently being undead pays pretty well."

"Father, I don't like this. What if she is a threat to us?" Dex asked the Doctor.

"Well, either we move or she does but I'm not letting her live next door to us and let her suck our blood whenever she feels like it," the Doctor said.

They stood up when Serena came into the room. Her hair was up in a bun and she was wearing a long, flowing dress. Jack let out a low whistle.

_Nice, very nice,_ he thought to them.

Serena smiled.

"Thank you. I told the Doctor last night that I was a telepath so I'm afraid you won't be able to have any private conversations around me," she said.

"How are you able to do that? Vampires usually don't possess telepathic abilities," Alan said.

"I was trained in it on Solar Five when I was a young girl. I have a talent for it as well as some psychic abilities so I was sent to a special school to help develop them," she said. "So you're right, this isn't a normal vampire ability, although being a vampire helped enhance it along with my other senses. I'm so glad you came back, Doctor, although who are these two?"

"This is my brother, Jack, and my son, Dex," the Doctor said.

Serena stared at all of them and finally her eyes settled on Alan. She frowned and walked over to him.

"This is your twin brother, yes?" she said to the Doctor.

"Yes, he is."

Serena looked at him.

"You're younger than he is. Far younger. If you're his twin, how is that possible?" she said.

The Doctor briefly explained about Alan being his clone. Serena nodded.

"Amazing. I'm glad you explained that because I can sense how old you three are, but not him, and it was confusing me. But…"

Alan stiffened when she came in close to his neck. She gazed at it for a moment and then leaned back.

"You're wearing protection over your neck," she said.

Alan nodded and she sighed.

"I promise I won't hurt any of you. I was telling you the truth last night, Doctor," she said.

"Serena, have you ever heard of the Great Vampires?" the Doctor said.

"No, I don't believe so."

"The Great Vampires used to roam the universe back when it was in its infancy. Back during what my people called The Dark Times. The vampires created havoc wherever they went, devastating whole planets and feeding and converting people at will. Our people battled them for centuries before they became nearly extinct. The survivors fanned out across the universe and some of them made their way to Earth and became the ancestors of vampires here. I've also battled vampires in a place called E-Space and a few other times besides that. In my lives, I've never met a friendly vampire so you have to forgive me for not trusting you completely and taking precautions. I feel it's better to be safe than sorry so I hope you understand."

Serena nodded.

"I understand your concerns, Doctor. I ran from vampires like the ones you described but I can assure you I'm not a threat to you. If you like, I'll show you where I keep my artificial blood supply so you can see that I was being truthful about not needing to feed on people. Follow me…"

The four of them followed her. She led them into the kitchen and down into the basement. The basement was empty except for a washer and dryer along the back wall. Next to it was a wooden door. Serena opened it and turned on a light. They saw several large wooden crates stacked up against the wall. She walked over to one that had its lid off and pulled out a plastic sack containing blood. She brought it over to the Doctor so he could examine it.

"Where do you get these from?" the Doctor asked her.

"I have an associate who works for a medical supply company off-world. Every few months, he brings me a few crates and I pay for them. They manufacture quite a lot of these so I'm not depriving anyone of any blood. I've had actual blood before and I have to admit the real thing does taste better but I'm willing to drink this so I don't feed on others. But you're all welcome to look around the house and grounds, I don't keep anyone prisoner and you can ask Tobey about being a slave. I assure you he'll tell you he's not. I'm very serious about wanting to be helped and if I have to prove myself to you to gain your trust, then I'll do it."

"Just out of curiosity," Jack said. "That tree house. Is that yours or do you have kids?"

"Actually, that was here when I purchased the house. It's nice but I don't use it very often. I sometimes go there to get a bit of night air and listen to the owls and do a bit of thinking but that's it. From what I've heard, the man that lived here before was also wealthy and had a daughter he spoiled and he built that play house for her."

"How long have you lived here?" Alan said.

"Oh gee," Serena said, thinking. "Hard to say, I keep to myself and don't really keep track of time. It's been more than five years though. I try to keep myself hidden for the most part. I knew your houses were being built but I never went over to investigate or meet anyone. If you and your family hadn't ventured in here, I probably never would have met you."

"Are you hiding from everyone here?" Dex asked. "Are you afraid you'll be found out?"

"Not exactly. I'm hiding from the other vampires. The one who made me did this to me because he wanted a mate and when I refused he imprisoned me and Tobey. The vampires beat me and starved and raped me to get me to submit. I finally managed to escape one night with Tobey and flew him and myself as fast as I could until I found a shuttle that was going off world. I was wealthy before I became a vampire, my family owned several oil wells, so I managed to find my credit sticks and cards and I bought a ticket and we came here. We hid in these woods for awhile and occasionally went into town for supplies and when I saw the man and his daughter move out, I found out who was selling the house and brought it for us. Tobey not only keeps the house and grounds in order, but he keeps an eye out for these vampires just in case they do find us. There's actually a secret passageway down here. Follow me."

The Doctor put the blood back in the crate and they followed her out of the room. She shut the door and walked over to the left side of the room. She pulled on a pipe hanging overhead and a door swung open in the wall revealing a hidden passageway.

"This is about a half mile long. It comes out in the woods near the edge of it. I have no idea why the man has it but I'm glad he does."

She pulled on the pipe again and the door swung back. She beckoned to them and they followed her back upstairs. She took them on a tour of the mansion and the four men were impressed with the beauty and elegance of the place. The Doctor noticed she had several paintings by renaissance masters hanging in the hallways.

"Are these yours or did they come with the house?" the Doctor said.

"They came with the house but I actually like artwork like this."

"Wait, the man moved out and just left these here?" Jack said.

"He left almost everything. The furniture and artwork is mostly his. I've purchased a few things but for the most part, I've left it alone."

"Why did he leave everything?" the Doctor said.

"Not sure, Doctor. I do know he left permanently because I brought the house from a real estate agent and it was on the market and he's never been back to claim any of his things so I don't know why he left it all. I'm glad he did though since it would have taken me awhile to furnish this place. As you can see, it's a large mansion. Incidentally, you and your family are welcome to stay here if you wish. I have several guest bedrooms in here. I realize I said that I didn't make friends and stayed away from people but you're different. You're a fellow immortal like I am and you seem nice enough."

"Actually, I'm not immortal. I will die eventually. Now Jack, on the other hand, is immortal."

"Vampire?" Serena asked him.

"Uh, no. Alan's wife, Rose…well, it's a long story but she became a goddess briefly and brought me back to life after I was killed and when she brought me back she couldn't control it and if someone kills me, I come back to life."

"So…you can die, you just can't stay dead."

"That's right," Jack said, nodding.

"And you're a clone. Wow, quite an unusual family you have, Doctor."

They laughed.

"Yeah, that's very true."

"So…everyone I met last night. You're all Time Lords?"

"Yes, except Patty. Patty's a human but she's a very good friend of ours," the Doctor said. "But with the exception of three android members of the family, everyone else is a Time Lord or Lady."

"So they can change their bodies like you can," Serena said.

"Yes, with the exception of Jack. Jack is a Time Lord but he's immortal so he keeps his own body. And the three android members will live indefinitely as long as they're serviced regularly. Other than that, everyone else will change their bodies at some point."

"This is fascinating. I knew there was something different about you and I could sense that perhaps you might be able to help me but truthfully, I've never heard of Time Lords. But then again, I was born into a wealthy family and grew up insulated from society for the most part so there's probably a lot of alien species out there I've never heard of."

"So how did these vampires manage to find you?" Jack asked while she continued the tour.

"The one that changed me was named Darren. This is what he told me, mind, but he supposedly belonged to a wealthy family that owned several diamond mines and he had a taste for debutantes. He told me he usually sought out other wealthy families and saw me at a party one night and chose me because he thought I was beautiful. He could be telling the truth, the man has an air of sophistication and he certainly knows how to act like an upper class gentlemen. According to him, he was over two hundred years old and used to live on Earth in South Africa. A…um…Afrikaner, I believe is what he told me. Anyway, he had several concubines and mates in the past and was very abusive to them as well as to me. I gather he was the same way in his mortal life but he was very possessive and paranoid and kept an eye on me constantly. The night I escaped, he left me in the house because he was out trying to find another victim to convert and wanted the victim to think he was single. That's when I finally found an opportunity to escape."

"And you're afraid Darren will find you again?" Alan said.

"I don't know. As possessive as he was, I figure he wouldn't let me go that easily which is why I was hiding. To be honest, Doctor, your comment about being older than you looked alarmed me because I thought you were a spy sent by him to find me. That's why I spoke to you alone because I wanted to be sure. I'm sorry if your wife took it the wrong way, I'm not interested in you except perhaps as a friend. At this moment, having a lover would only complicate things and I don't want to endanger anyone. I really hate bringing you into it except I wanted to find out if you could cure me."

"Well, I will try; Serena, but I can't guarantee anything. If you're bitten, you have a month before the change is permanent and if you can kill the vampire that changed you in that time you will become mortal again but it might be too late for you now. I've brought a few things so we could take a sample of your blood. I can analyze it and experiment and perhaps find a solution but I don't want you to get your hopes up."

She smiled.

"I understand. I'm just grateful you will try to help. Wish I'd known about this one month rule, I would have killed the bastard then but naturally that's something vampires never tell their victims. I do hope I've convinced all of you that I was telling the truth though. I don't want you to be afraid and have to hide from me and hide your family and friends from me. I would like to be friends with you if that's okay."

The Doctor smiled and they nodded.

"Thank you," Serena said. "And I can pay you for your time."

The Doctor held up his hand.

"That's not necessary. I'm happy to do this if it means finding a cure for you."

"You sure? I mean, I really would like to compensate you for taking the time to analyze everything."

"No, I don't accept money. We make it our lives' mission to help others in need and your friendship is payment enough for me."

She smiled.

"I was right about you. You do have good hearts and now I'm glad I did take a chance and trust you. Like I said, this house is open to you and your family, come over anytime you wish. I obviously won't be available during the day but you're welcome to come and use the pool and the tennis courts. I don't use them and I hate to see them go unused."

"Thank you," the Doctor said. "We will certainly be back to visit."

He thought.

"Actually, are you doing anything at this moment? Do you have any plans?" he said.

"Not at the moment, why?"

"Come with us. I can do more detailed tests in my TARDIS and I trust you enough to show you our house. Tobey's welcome to come with us as well if he wants. I figure if we're gonna be friends, we might as well start trusting one another."

"I'd like that. Wait here and I'll see if Tobey wants to come with us," she said before she hurried off to find him.


	271. Chapter 271

Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy One

The Doctor led Serena and the others back to the house but Tobey declined to come with them.

"He's a bit uneasy around people, even more than I am," Serena explained to them. "After his parents were killed, he became withdrawn. He's a nice boy, just quiet and sort of a loner."

"That's understandable," Jack said while they walked along the path.

"I've brought him up so he trusts me. But maybe in time he'll learn to trust all of you. I also think he's still nervous about the other vampires finding us. He's mortal so he's not able to defend himself like I can."

They passed under the tree house.

"Also, Doctor, since you have children and I don't, they're more than welcome to use that for a playhouse. I'll have to find a ladder or some way for them to climb up to it but they can come over during the day and play in it."

"Thank you, I'm sure they'll want to use it," the Doctor said to her.

Fifteen minutes later, they reached the end of the path. Serena looked at the houses on the other side of the road. Most of the houses were dark. She sighed.

"Shame they're building out here," she said to them while they crossed the road. "I'm glad you're living here but at the same time, this used to be a picturesque field with the trees in the background. This is a bit unsightly. Before this was here I sometimes went to the lake and sat under the trees while I watched the moon's reflection in the water."

"Lake?" Alan said.

Serena was shocked.

"There's a lake in the woods behind your houses. You didn't know that?"

The others glanced at each other.

"Um…well, to be honest, we haven't really done much exploring," the Doctor said sheepishly. "This place is more like a rest between flights in my ship and we usually only stay one or two days. I never really thought of exploring the area until we took a walk last night and Patty just happened to mention your house to us. She's the one who found it first. If she hadn't said anything, we never would have gone back there. Alan and I usually are out somewhere in my ship and when we're home, we spend most of that time chatting with our family and relaxing with them."

"And I work most days on Earth and by the time I come back home, it's nighttime and I'm exhausted," Jack said.

"And I haven't lived here long," Dex said.

"Oh, well, if you ever get the chance, go back there. There's a little dirt path back to his lake in the middle of the woods and it has a wooden dock so if you have any boats, you can use that for them."

The Doctor chuckled.

"Actually, we do have boats but they're inside our ship. I also have a lake," he said to her.

"You have a lake inside your ship?" she said in disbelief.

"Yeah, I have a very large ship. You'll see what I mean in a few minutes."

They rounded the corner and headed down the street their houses were on. In the distance, they could see Jenny sitting on their porch swing chatting with Patty. Patty pointed to them and Jenny turned her head. Both women stared at them for a moment and then they turned to each other and said something. Jenny got up, opened the front door and said something to the people inside. A moment later, Rain, Rose, Patience, Madison and the children came outside and stood on the porch with Jenny and Patty. When they came closer, Rain and Rose came down the steps towards them. The Doctor and Alan put their arms around them and headed back up the steps. The Doctor noticed Rain glance back at Serena before she gave him a questioning look. He winked at her.

"I think she's trustworthy," he mouthed to her.

Once they got up onto the porch, the Doctor introduced Patience and Dorothy to Serena. She greeted them all warmly and followed them inside. When he went inside, he noticed the house was empty.

"What? No big outpouring of concern this time?" he teased them. "Usually the whole family comes over if something is happening to me."

"I can't speak for everyone else, but I'm sure my team is eating pizza and drinking margaritas," Jack said. "And if you don't need me, I'd like to go get my share."

"Oh, if you must," the Doctor said, feigning exasperation. "Nah, we'll be okay, go and enjoy your party."

"Contact me if you need me for anything," Jack said. "Serena, nice to meet you."

"And you."

Jack waved to them and headed out the front door.

"Pizza and margaritas?" Rain said when he was gone.

"Yeah, apparently they had a stressful day chasing a banshee and they were getting ready to relax when we went over there," the Doctor said. "Now if you'll follow me, Serena, I'll show you my ship."

They watched while the Doctor led Serena into the garage. When the Doctor closed the door, Rain turned to Alan.

"Is this wise, Bro? I thought all of you were concerned about our safety," she said to him.

"For the moment, she seems to be telling the truth," Alan said. "And if she is, she's more a victim than a predator which is why she wants to be cured."

"But what if she isn't?" Rain said, lowering her voice. "I mean, I've seen a lot of vampire movies. I was under the impression they couldn't come into your house unless you invited them in."

Alan rubbed his ear while he thought that one over.

"Um…I'm not aware of that being an actual deterrent to vampires. I don't think there's a magical barrier around doorways that they can't cross unless you invite them in. If that were true, the Great Vampires would never have been able to destroy whole planets. Don't worry, the TARDIS will keep watch over them while they're in there and stop her if she's lying to us."

"Can I help Daddy?" Tara asked Rain.

"Um…well, I'd ask your father first and let him decide," Rain said.

"Okay," Tara said.

_Daddy? Can I come and help you?_ She thought to him.

_Um…sure, come on in. I need someone to help me draw blood,_ the Doctor thought to her.

_Can we help too, Papaw?_ Amelia though.

_Yes, but you have to do what I say, alright?"_

_Yes,_ they all thought in unison.

_Okay, come in then. We're in the lab._

"I'll go in with them," Alan said to them. "Just relax. If she is a threat, the TARDIS will contain her."

Rain nodded. She and Rose watched while he and the children went into the garage. When the door closed, Rain glanced at Rose.

"I hope they know what they're doing, Sis," she said to her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Okay, just relax and I'll draw some blood," the Doctor said to Serena while she sat on his lab table.

"What will drawing blood accomplish?" Serena said to him.

"I need some samples for testing. I'm gonna try to find an antidote and I need some blood to try my concoctions out on," he replied.

He glanced over when Alan and the children came in the room. Tara, Amelia and Opal walked over to the Doctor and he held out a tourniquet to them.

"Hold that," he said to Tara. "I'll teach you lot how to tie a tourniquet."

He handed three test tubes to Amelia and put some latex gloves on his hands. He grabbed the syringe and ushered them over to Serena. Alan stood by and watched while the Doctor instructed the children on how to tie the tourniquet.

"Sorry about this. My child and grandchildren want to travel with me full time someday so I'm helping to train them so they'll be ready. I figure they might need to do this at some point," he said to her.

They finished tying the tourniquet around her arm and the Doctor located a vein near the crook in her arm.

"Stand back, kids, just in case. One drop of this blood gets in your mouth or in an open area and you'll become vampires."

They stood back with Alan and watched in fascination while he prepared to insert the needle in Serena's vein. He paused when he heard Serena let out an "Eeee!" and scrunch up her face while she squeezed her eyes shut.

"What's wrong?" the Doctor said.

"I hate needles. Just go ahead and I won't look," she said to him.

"Well, I'll be brief then," the Doctor said.

"Actually… I have a confession," Serena said.

The Doctor paused.

"Yeah?" he said.

"Um…this sounds idiotic but…I can't stand the sight of blood either."

The Doctor and Alan stared at her.

"What?" the Doctor said, amused. "You're a vampire and you can't stand the sight of blood?"

"I've been this way ever since I was a little girl. It's just that…blood makes me squeamish."

"Then how do you drink it?" Alan said.

"Um…with the lights out?"

The Doctor and Alan started to giggle.

"It's not funny," she said to them.

"Yes, it is. You're a vampire that hates blood. No wonder you wanna be cured," the Doctor said with a wink.

"Yes, actually that's a big reason why I wanna be cured," Serena said while they giggled.

"Okay, well, I'll be brief and we'll get it out of your sight when I'm done," the Doctor said.

Serena turned her head and looked at the wall while he located the vein again.

"I suppose I'm not a very good vampire if I get ill at the sight of blood," she said while she looked at the wall.

"Well, actually, I find it a bit amusing," the Doctor said. "Never met a vampire that didn't like blood."

She winced and he apologized when he inserted the needle.

"So…" Serena said while he drew the blood, "you mentioned fighting vampires before. Are you talking about these Great Vampires then?"

"Well, actually that was long before I was born. By the time I was born, the wars were over," the Doctor said to her. "I've fought the descendents of them, the ones that managed to escape. Actually I was shocked the first time I met one because the history books I studied at our academy claimed there were no vampires at all, that my people completely wiped them out and for the longest time I believed that."

"So your people lied then," Serena said.

"Well, you know what they say, history books are written by the winners and I'm sure they didn't want to admit they weren't successful in completely eradicating them. Wasn't the only bit of misinformation I learned at the academy. There we go and now I'll run these over and throw a cloth over them so you don't faint."

"I don't faint," Serena said while they laughed. "I just get nauseous, alright?"

Alan and the children giggled when he made a big show of hiding the vials from her.

"There, your view is shielded," he said, walking back over to her while Alan took the tourniquet off her arm.

"Papaw likes to make fun of people," Amelia said while the Doctor grinned at her.

"I see that. I'm sorry I told him that bit of information," she said.

She looked at her and Opal and Tara.

"I can tell this is your child," she said, pointing to Tara. "She looks like her mother."

"I'm adopted," Tara said. "Mommy found me in Florida and she and Daddy adopted me."

"Oh, well you certainly look like your mother then," Serena said.

"Actually, our people are sterile so my kids and Alan's kids are all adopted. Now these two are Dex's actual kids but that's because he was human for awhile and was able to have them. Dorothy is my youngest daughter and she adopted me after a deceased friend urged her to do it and my oldest, Jenny, was cloned from my hand like Alan was. And Dex is my biological son but my first wife and I made him in a machine called a loom. We donated some of our genetic material and it was combined and he grew out of that because that was the only way for our people to reproduce. And everyone else in my family was changed into a Time Lord or Lady through the use of these crystals that a friend gave me."

"I see," Serena said. "Like I said, I don't know much about other alien species. I led a very sheltered life."

"What's that mean?" Opal asked her.

"It means I rarely went outside my house and I didn't go to parties except to ones where I knew everyone. I never really had many friends outside of the family."

"How'd ya become a vampire then?" Tara said.

"This man found me and kidnapped me after he made me into a vampire."

"Is he gone now?" Amelia asked.

"Um…for the moment, but he might be looking for me," she said.

"But you're gonna change back, right?" Amelia asked.

"Um…that's what your grandfather is trying to do now," Serena replied.

The children walked over to the Doctor.

"Can you make her human again, Daddy?"

"Dunno, I'm gonna try my best though," the Doctor said.

Tara walked back over to Serena.

"My Daddy can help. He's helped lots of people," she said to her. "He likes doing that."

The Doctor smiled at that.

"I also like to dance the tango in my undies," he muttered under his breath.

"What?" Tara said while everyone laughed. "You like to do what in your undies, Daddy?"

"Nothing, just thinking out loud," he said to her while he picked up one of the vials.

He giggled when Tara stared at him. She walked back over to Serena.

"He thinks he's funny but he's not," she said to her.

The Doctor's mouth dropped open while Alan laughed.

"Oi, no comments from you, Pint-sized Princess," he said to her. "You have to forgive my children and grandchildren, they're cheeky and they like to run their gobs without putting their brains in gear first."

He used an eyedropper, put a bit of blood onto a slide, and examined it under a microscope. The children walked over and watched him while Alan went to get some tea for himself and Serena.

"What's it look like?" Opal asked him.

"Well…" the Doctor said while Serena walked over and stood with them, "it looks like normal blood…but if it gets near a mortal person's blood it acts like a virus and takes it over and kills it so it can replace it. That's why a person can't become a vampire unless the vampire's blood enters the body. Just biting someone isn't enough to turn them; the person has to get the blood into their system to become a vampire. That's why I want you lot to be careful around this blood, I don't want you to change."

Tara looked at Serena.

"You know, I've seen unicorn people and we've seen mermaids and now we've met a vampire," she said. "I wonder if werewolves are real then?"

"Yes, they are," the Doctor said while he studied the blood. "Saw one. And Jack and his team have seen fairies."

"I've seen a lot of interesting things since I met Daddy," Tara said to Serena. "I've gone to a bunch of places with him and had fun."

"Yeah, he can go all over time and space and go anywhere he wants," Amelia added.

"So time travel is real?" Serena said.

"Very real," the Doctor said, glancing at her.

"Can you go back in time and prevent me from becoming a vampire?"

"I don't think so. I really can't go back along an individual's time line and change something like that. Trust me, I thought about doing that when you first mentioned you wanted help. I travel time and space but a lot of times I just happen to land in the middle of a situation and then I fix things."

"Must be interesting though, time travel," Serena said.

"Very interesting and very fun, ask them, they're addicted to it," the Doctor said.

"Yup, I love traveling with Papaw," Amelia said. "It's scary sometimes but most of the time it's fun."

Alan came back into the room with Rose, Rain and the dogs. By now, all three dogs were full grown. Barney was still fairly small but Rory and Blizzard were around forty pounds and about two feet tall. Serena smiled and walked over to them. She petted their heads and all three of them wagged their tails.

"I love your dogs," she said.

"Thanks, the one that's missing the leg is Blizzard, the one with the blind eye is Rory and the other is Barney," Alan said. "They're our companions and guard dogs in here."

She thanked him when he handed her a cup of tea. Tara walked over to her.

"You can eat things other than blood?"

"I can drink some liquids. I can't eat solid foods," Serena told her.

Rain and Rose walked over to the Doctor who was now deep in thought.

"How's it going?" Rain asked him.

"I'm deciding what to do," he told her. "I have limited resources here. I'm thinking I need to take a trip and get some chemicals I need so I can try to develop an antidote. I'm going over what I have here in the lab in my head and I need more. I need to make a list and get what I need because what I have isn't sufficient. Mind you, I'm speculating because I'm not even sure if my ideas will work but at least it's a start. Wait a tic…"

He walked over to a counter, grabbed a pad of paper and a pen and began to jot down chemicals he needed. Alan walked over and glanced at his notations.

"You won't be able to get all of these at the shops," Alan said to him.

"I know, we'll have to make a couple of special trips once we're done purchasing the bulk of the chemicals," the Doctor said. "I'm just jotting these down off the top of my head, anything I think might help. Any ideas?"

"Not so far. Most of the things you've written down are things I would have thought of," Alan replied.

The children came over and read the entries on the slip of paper.

"Ooo, we're gonna go somewhere and get these?" Tara said to him.

Alan chuckled while he stared at them.

"You're just aching for an adventure, aren't ya?" he said to them.

They nodded their heads rapidly and the Doctor looked at Alan.

"Brother, your thoughts regarding how safe it'd be to bring them along?" he said, pointing to the kids.

Alan stared at the paper.

"Most of these are in shops and I don't think there'd be any danger going there. Getting Sulfrax might be a tad dangerous since that's found on Eros and that has active volcanoes on it. Everything else you listed is in places that aren't that dangerous."

"Can we, Daddy?" Tara asked.

The Doctor looked at Rain. She smiled and shrugged.

"Your call, Love," she said to him. "But you know they're gonna pester ya until ya give in."

They laughed when the three of them nodded their heads rapidly.

"Oooh, alright, you three can come," he said.

They cheered and Tara turned to Serena.

"You can come too and have fun with us," Tara said.

Tara looked at the Doctor and he smiled.

"Would you like to come? I can have the TARDIS land at night so there's no danger of you disintegrating from sunlight."

"Where are these places? You mentioned the one with the volcanoes. I don't know if I wanna go to that place if they're active," she said.

"Well, we won't land right on top of them. We'll be near them but the shops are safe to go to. I just need some Sulfrax and that shouldn't take too long," he said to her. "Most of the items I need are in apothecaries and chemist shops in large cities. And the rest are in benign places. It's up to you. Don't feel pressured to come because my daughter said something."

"But if you come with us, you can see how fun traveling in the TARDIS really is," Amelia said.

"Yup, it's the best ship in the universe," Opal said.

"Um…can we go to the cities first so I can see if I like doing this? I mean, it's a new thing for me."

"Sure, I wanted to do that anyway since the majority of the chemicals are there."

He looked at Rain and Rose.

"Would you like to come? If you don't fancy going to a chemist shop, I can come back afterwards and get you then."

"I don't mind coming. I don't have anything else to do," Rain said.

"Nope, me neither. Although we better tell everyone in the living room where we're goin'."

The Doctor nodded.

"We'll do that and then we'll head out to the shops for the chemicals we need," the Doctor said.


	272. Chapter 272

Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy Two

While the Doctor waited for Rain and Rose to tell the others what was going on, he and Alan conferred quietly while he sketched something out on a blank piece of paper. Meanwhile, the children led Serena around and gave her a tour while the dogs followed behind them.

"This is wonderful," Serena said to them. "I can see why you like to travel."

"It's awesome," Tara said. "I'm so glad I met the Doctor and he became my daddy. I love him so much."

"How did you meet him?" Serena asked.

"Um…I was running away from these crazy people. They were Satanists and they killed my mommy when I was born and beat me and abused me and I finally escaped and I was running across Florida when I found Daddy. He and Mommy were camping with Alan and Rose and other members of my family and they took care of me and Amelia and Opal convinced me to ask him to adopt me and he did."

"God, that's horrible. You and I have something in common then. The people who did this to me also beat and abused me and I escaped from them and came to this planet."

"You oughta ask Daddy if you can be a part of our family then," Tara said. "We have a big family and we look after each other and protect each other. We wouldn't let anybody hurt you or Tobey. Daddy would beat up anyone who tried to hurt you."

"Yeah, Papaw is wonderful but you don't wanna get on his bad side because he'll make you sorry you messed with him or his family," Amelia said. "And he likes you, if he didn't, he wouldn't help you and go off to find these chemicals he needs."

Serena thought about that while they walked and showed her the rest of the TARDIS. They entered the park room and Serena stopped short while the dogs ran past them and played in the grass.

"So this is what he meant by having a lake in here," Serena murmured.

"Oh yeah, this is the park room. We come in here sometimes to swim and row boats on it," Opal said. "The doggies go to the bathroom in here too and the TARDIS cleans up the poop when they're done. They like to play in here too. The TARDIS has a lot of neat rooms like this."

_Okay, kids, where did you go?_ The Doctor thought to them.

_We're in the park room, Daddy,_ Tara thought.

_Well, come back to the console room. We're about to leave,_ the Doctor thought.

"Follow us, we gotta go back up front," Amelia said to Serena.

They turned and walked out. The Dogs stayed behind while they walked to the console room. When they finally reached it, they noticed that Donna was standing around the console with Rain, Rose, Alan and the Doctor.

"Hi, Aunt Donna," Tara said. "Are you coming with us?"

"Yes, I am. I heard about Serena and came over to see what was going on and decided to come with ya," she said.

"Serena, this is my sister, Donna," the Doctor said to her.

Donna smiled and walked over to her.

"Nice to meet ya. I'm actually one of many sisters he has. Man adopts people left and right," she said.

"Really?" Serena said.

"Oh yeah, this whole ruddy street is his relatives," Donna said. "Patty's the only one who's not living on it. But then again, she's just a friend…so far."

They laughed when she gave him a pointed look.

"But we're all crammed into the houses," she said. "They're three and four bedrooms but some houses have more than that since there are couples among us."

"Which reminds me, shouldn't you be off snogging Lee?" Alan said while they laughed.

"No, because tonight is Frenzy Fight night," Donna said. "And he never misses that."

"Frenzy Fight night?" the Doctor said, frowning.

Donna rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, Frenzy Fighting is some kind of weird martial arts tournament thing that airs every Thursday. People kicking and punching each other and injuring themselves for some poncy gold belt. It's boring as hell. But as far as I can tell, anything goes which is why it's called Frenzy Fighting. Anyway, I'm not interested in it," Donna said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Anyway, there are several of us that travel regularly with him, some that travel when they can find the time and others that never travel like mine and Rose's mum. But trust me, if everyone did travel with him at the same time, this room would be crowded beyond belief."

The Doctor snorted.

"Got that right," he said while they giggled.

He flew the TARDIS into the vortex while Serena watched the rotor move up and down.

"But despite the fact that we now have a small country in the heart of Nova, I'm happy that I have such a big family," the Doctor said to Serena. "Beats bein' alone."

Serena thought for a moment.

"So would you be interested in having more family members in the future?" she asked.

They laughed when Rose violently coughed out Patty's name and feigned innocence afterwards.

"What? You know it's gonna happen someday," Rose said to him. "Someday you're gonna be handing that woman a crystal, ya just watch."

The Doctor rolled his eyes and grinned.

"Patty is a very dear friend but that's as far as it goes for the moment," he said to Serena. "Now, before we land, Alan and I were discussing…"

He trailed off when Tara tugged at his suit sleeve.

"Hmm?"

"Can I talk to you for a moment in private?" she said to him.

"Um…I s'pose so."

Tara took his hand.

"Come here a minute," she said, leading him away.

"Hold that thought," the Doctor said to them while they laughed. "I'm being led off against my will so my daughter can tell me something."

They walked through the back door and down the corridor.

"Let me guess, you're not a full Time Lady which means you can menstruate and you just started, so I have to fetch feminine products for ya on top of buying the chemicals," he teased.

"No, Daddy," Tara said, giggling.

"Well, what is it, daughter of mine? I have a ship to fly, ya know," he said.

They walked to the living room and stopped beside the TV.

"Okay, um…" Tara said, "Serena asked me how I met you and I told her about running away from the abusive people and she said she's done the same thing with the vampires."

The Doctor nodded.

"And I told her to ask about becoming a part of our family because we can help protect her like everyone protects me."

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"And…what did she say to that?"

"Nothing much. I think she thought about it though. But she just asked you if you were gonna adopt anyone else and I think that's why she asked. I just wanted to tell you that so you'd know."

"You and Amelia and Opal are just busy runnin' around and recruitin' people into our family aren't ya?" he said while she giggled.

"I like her, Daddy. I don't think she's evil. She's a nice person and you must like her or ya wouldn't be doing this for her."

"Well, I agree with you. I don't think she's evil either. She had a chance to attack us when we were in the lab and actually, she had a chance to attack when she walked with us through the woods. But as for being a family member…"

"I mean, if she really, really wants to, would ya? I mean her and Tobey don't have anyone."

The Doctor put his nose against hers.

"There are heaps of people in the universe who don't have anyone," he said. "Are we gonna adopt all of them as well?"

"Yes. You go all over time and space and everywhere you land, you just go outside and ask people if they don't have anyone and you give crystals to people who don't."

"And where will we put all these people?"

"The park room?"

She giggled when he ticked her armpits and he tousled her hair.

"Look, let's concentrate on one thing at a time here. Let's try to get the poor woman cured before we shove a crystal in her face or adopt her or whatever else you and Amelia and Opal are thinking of."

"Okay, just wanted to let you know what I said to her," Tara said.

"Well thank you for bringing to my attention the fact that you badgered the poor woman into becoming a member of this wacky family. I appreciate you letting me know what you lot are doing when my back is turned."

He kissed her head when she hugged him.

"Now, is that all you needed to tell me?" he asked, putting his arm around her.

"Yup."

"Okay, let's get back to the console room so I can tell Serena about the brilliant idea Alan and I dreamed up for her," he said.

They walked back to the console room.

"Sorry 'bout that. Tara needed to talk to me," the Doctor said.

"Well, I hope you had fun listening to her prattle on 'bout her enormous crush on Johnny Depp," Alan said.

"I did not say that to Daddy, ya dweeb!"

Alan raised his eyebrow at that and Tara giggled while she quickly looked the other way.

"Anyway, before we land I wanted to tell you about the idea Alan and I had," the Doctor said while Tara stood beside him. "See, we might have a solution to…"

He trailed off when he heard Alan making a loud, long snort and Tara yelped while she ran in front of him. He looked behind him at Alan who put his hands behind his back.

"Sorry, I was trying to spit an enormous wad of saliva on your daughter's head before you began so I could get back at her for calling me a dweeb," he said. "Carry on with what you were sayin'."

"Anyway," the Doctor said trying not to laugh, "Alan and I were discussing a method for shielding you from the ultraviolet rays of the sun since that's what kills you. We can make something that will give you some protection and we were thinking of making it into a kind of locket that you can wear at all times."

"You mean, I could go out in the daytime?" Serena said.

"Correct. We'd have to get some electronics to make it but that's easily accomplished. We can get the components along with the chemicals. But with a bit of jiggery-pokery, we can make a sort of force field that will act like an ozone layer around you, only much stronger so you don't have to worry about UV rays burning you up."

"Wow, I don't know what to say, thank you," Serena said.

"Well, if I can't change ya back, at least I can do something for ya that will be helpful," the Doctor said, shrugging. "And unlike the antidote, I know I can construct a locket that'll give ya protection out in the sun. That way, if in future you do want to travel with us, we won't have to worry about going places only during the nighttime hours."

"You…want me to come with you on a regular basis?" Serena said.

"Might as well, the rest of the universe does."

They laughed when Rain said that and ducked down under the console while the Doctor eyed her.

"Ignore my wife," the Doctor said. "Yes, if you are interested in travelin' with us, you're more than welcome to do so. I figure it'd be a lot more interesting than staying in your mansion day in and day out."

Serena was shocked at that. She glanced at Tara who grinned. Just then, the TARDIS landed and powered down.

"Right, first stop, the shops on Ruffaruffalo," the Doctor said.


	273. Chapter 273

Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy Three

"Okay, wait a tic, let me check…" the Doctor said when he walked up to the front door.

He peeked outside and looked around.

"Yup, it's nighttime, you're safe," he said, opening the door wider. "Just wanted to make sure so you didn't walk outside and get barbecued. And…from here it looks like Ruffaruffalo which is nice since the TARDIS does tend to go her own way at times. Anyway, we're here so…allons-y!"

They stepped outside and looked around. They were next to a large building that was made of black granite. The buildings around them were made of the same material and each building was topped with a large glass dome that was lit up. Neon signs advertising various products were affixed to the sides of some of the building and were also mounted on long metal poles along the edges of the pavements. The children stayed near the Doctor and Rain while the others clustered behind them. Serena was amazed while she gazed at the buildings around her. She found it hard to believe that she was now on a different planet and how everyone was nonchalant about it, even the children. She wondered how many times the Doctor had done something like this since he walked down the pavement with a confident stride and a complete unconcern of his new surroundings. Everyone else, except the children, was just as unconcerned and was making small talk as if they were still in Nova and not in a weird and wonderful city. The children were looking around and pointing out things to one another while they walked. Occasionally, Alan would pretend to spit on Tara's head and giggle when she ran up past the Doctor to get away from him. She felt envious while she observed this close-knit family and her thoughts drifted back to what Tara said about asking to be brought into it. She had never been this close to her family even when she was a mortal and the fact that they were so inclusive and accepting of others even though they were all different warmed her heart. The fact that they were walking with her and including her in the conversations weren't lost on her and she felt herself becoming fonder of them with each passing moment.

The Doctor stopped them in front of a large granite building. There were fifteen floors and it was also capped off with the lighted dome.

"I believe this is it," the Doctor said.

He poked Tara a few times on the top of the head.

"You behave," he said to her while she giggled.

He poked Opal a few times on the top of the head.

"Likewise," he said to her.

He did the same thing to Amelia.

"Ditto," he said while they giggled.

They laughed harder when he did it to Donna.

"Etcetera," he said to her while he poked her head.

"Speak for yourself, Alien Boy!" Donna said, poking him.

"Ow! Blimey, trim your nails," the Doctor said, ducking.

Donna grinned at Rose and Rain and wiggled her fingers while they snickered.

"Right, let's venture in and…"

"Wait, you gotta do the poke to Uncle Alan," Opal said.

"Yeah, if anyone needs to be told to behave, it's him," Rose said.

The Doctor looked at him.

"Behave!" he said to him.

"Good as gold, me," Alan said.

"You need to poke him on the top of the head, Daddy."

"No, he's me and I don't wanna poke myself, I don't know where I've been," he said while they laughed. "Right! Let us venture in and find some components and chemicals!"

"XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they were inside, they grabbed a metal shopping trolley and walked along looking for the chemicals. They found them locked away in glass cases and the Doctor and Alan perused them while the others milled around. When they found what they needed, the Doctor walked to the end of the aisle. Beside the cases was a large red button on a box mounted on a metal pole. Above it was a sign that told people to push it for assistance. They waited for the Doctor to push it and he suddenly giggled to himself. He walked over and took Rose's hand and led her over to it.

"See this?" he said.

"Yeah…"

"It's a red button, a great, big threatening button that must never ever be pressed under any circumstances, am I right?"

Rose and Alan laughed.

"What?" Donna said, confused.

"He's referring to the day the Sycorax invaded," Rose said to them. "The Sycorax had a huge red button that was supposed to control all the A-positive people. That's what he said to everyone when he first saw the button."

"I don't see any blood though," the Doctor said, pretending to look around it. "The bastards hid it good this time."

He straightened up and grinned at Rose.

"Very well, I shall free the slaves and go back to shopping!" he announced.

He pushed the button and a red light flashed at the top of the pole.

"See that, it's the slave freeing flashy light," he said, pointing to it while Rose sniggered. "That tells me that my slave freeing mission is accomplished."

"May I help you, Sir?"

The Doctor turned his head and was startled when he saw the man who had come to help him. He was seventeen with greasy red hair, pock marks on his pudgy face, freckles covering every inch of skin and a large brown mole right underneath his left nostril. The Doctor's eyes were drawn to the huge mole and he stared at the single hair growing in the middle of it. Rain tapped him on the shoulder and he pulled his eyes away from the hair to look at her.

"Dear, he's wanting you to answer him," Rain said.

_Sorry, I was distracted by the monster mole on his face_, the Doctor thought.

Everyone fought to keep from laughing while he regained his composure.

"Yes, I need some of these chemicals," he said to him.

"Are you over eighteen?" the teen asked.

The Doctor gave him a surely you can't be serious look.

"Um…yes, yes I am," he said to him.

"We're required to check. No one under eighteen can purchase these chemicals," the teen said.

"Well, let me assure you that not only am I eighteen, I am waaaaaaaaaay beyond eighteen so please help me with the chemicals."

"Very well, sir," the teen said, reaching into his red waistcoat pocket for his keys.

While he was doing that, the Doctor's eyes were drawn back to the hair on the mole. Rain noticed what he was looking at and nudged his arm. He looked at her.

_You do realize that's impolite, right?_ She thought to him.

_You do realize that's a bloody great mole and I'm about to go find some tweezers and pluck the hair out of it because it's driving me to distraction, right?_ He thought back.

_Kinda reminds me of the mole guy in Austin Powers_, Rose thought.

They stepped aside and let the teen unlock the cases. The Doctor stepped beside him and read off what he needed from his list while the teen got out the little plastic bottles and put them in their trolley. The Doctor thanked him when he was finished.

"Can I get you anything else?" the teen said.

_Yeah_, the Doctor thought, _tweezers so I can pluck the hair and free my tormented mind from the distraction it causes._

"No, that'll be all," the Doctor said aloud while the others tried not to laugh.

The teen closed, then locked the cases.

"Have a good evening," he said to them while he walked away.

"We will," Alan muttered under his breath. "You have a good evening too, Mister Pocky, Moley, Greasy, Freckly Fat Man!"

Everyone except Serena giggled at that.

"Don't mind us, we're an odd bunch," the Doctor said to her. "Anyway, we have the chemicals; let's get the components for the locket."

They headed out of the aisle, searching for the electronics section. On the way there, they passed the toy aisle and the children's eyes nearly bulged out of their heads when they saw a stuffed elephant that was as big as an actual elephant and lifelike in every detail.

"No, you can't have it!" the Doctor said quickly when they passed by it.

"Look at it, Daddy. It's huge!" Tara said.

"Yes and we're not getting it because in the first place, we would all have to carry the thing and secondly, we couldn't fit it through the TARDIS door unless we chopped it up into pieces which defeats the purpose of buying it. So move along and divert your eyes to something else."

The teen came out of the aisle in front of them.

"Speaking of diverting your eyes," Rain said while they giggled.

"I will divert my eyes and try not to think about the hair in the middle of that huge brown mole on his pocky, freckly face," the Doctor said.

"Brother, we have something that could fix it, yeah? Let's knock him out, bring him on board the TARDIS and fix his skin up so the poor bastard can finally get a date and a social life."

"No thanks, I'm on a mission to find components. He'll just have to see a dermatologist or live with his skin as is," the Doctor said. "I'm not a miracle worker."

Tara heard a soft whirring behind her and turned her head. She saw a robot following them. It was tall and thin with a square head and body and long spindly legs with pods for feet. In his hands was a clipboard and pen.

"Excuse me," the robot said in a robotic voice.

The Doctor and the others stopped and gave him inquisitive looks. The robot stopped with them.

"Hi, I'm Survey-bot; I'm conducting a survey to find out how your shopping experience is going."

"We're not interested, thanks," the Doctor said.

"But if you answer three short questions, you'll get a coupon."

"I'll do it," Tara said to him.

"Very well. Why are you here tonight?"

"Um…my daddy is getting chemicals and electronics stuff," Tara said.

The robot jotted that down on a sheet of paper on the clipboard. When he was finished, he looked at Tara.

"What do you like about our shop?" he asked her.

"Um…it's clean," Tara said.

He wrote that down.

"Anything else?" the robot asked.

They laughed when Tara gave the Doctor a puzzled look for a moment before she turned her attention back to the robot.

"Um…it's very big and there's lots of stuff and it's pretty and that's it," she finally said.

The robot jotted that down.

"And for the last question, would you come back here in future?"

"Yes."

The robot jotted that down. He opened a small door in his chest, pulled out a small white coupon and gave it to her.

"Thank you," Tara said.

"Thank you, enjoy your shopping experience."

He turned to his right and headed down the aisle beside him while Tara read the coupon.

"Well, what did you win?" Alan said.

"It says I can get a hundred credits off roof shingles," she said, turning to them.

"Really?" Rose said. "What a deal! We can finally put a proper roof on the TARDIS."

They laughed while the Doctor took the coupon from her and examined it.

"Bad luck, my Star. I was hoping you'd get something useful. I s'pose that's what comes of answering survey questions."

He handed it back to her and she laid it on a nearby shelf before she walked on with the others. While they were walking, she looked up at Serena beside her.

"Are you havin' fun?" she asked her.

"Yes, I am."

"Good, me too. Except I didn't win anything with that coupon."

"That's not true, you won shingles," Alan said, looking back at her. "Shingles are useful things."

"Then you're gonna buy them for me?"

"Nope, but they're useful nonetheless," he said to her.

They found the electronics aisle and the Doctor and Alan went down it, conferring and grabbing the components they needed. While they did that, the others stood nearby and chatted. While Tara was talking with Amelia and Opal, they noticed a lady coming towards them. She was an elderly blue alien who had her white hair in a tight bun. She was dressed in a pink dress with a frilly white apron. In her hand she carried a silver tray that had little sandwich bits and tiny plastic cups filled with a purple colored liquid. She stopped when she reached the kids.

"Hello, would you like to try a free sample of Bucky's Veggie Bites and Splash, the refreshing bazzleberry juice?"

The children glanced at one another, shrugged and took the samples. She offered them to the others who declined and she moved on. They stared at the tiny sandwich bit that had a green vegetable in the middle of two slices of white bread and the purple juice. Tara went first. She bit into the sandwich while everyone watched and made a face.

"Ugh!" she said, looking around for somewhere to spit it out.

She couldn't find anywhere so she was forced to swallow it.

"Don't eat it, it's gross, it's really sour and mushy," she said to Amelia and Opal.

She tried the juice and licked her lips.

"This is good though," she said.

They all drank their juice and stared down at the sandwiches.

"Where do we put these?" Amelia said, looking around.

Opal giggled. She put her finger to her lips. She walked over to Alan who was pulling a couple of circuits from a tray on the shelf. She tapped him on the back and he looked at her.

"Free sample," she said, offering him the sandwich.

"Ooo, that's the best kind of sample," Alan said.

He popped it in his mouth and Tara and Amelia watched with disgust while he ate it with gusto and smacked his lips after swallowing.

"Very good," he said, patting her on the head. "Thanks muchly for the snack."

He frowned when Opal turned to Tara and pointed up to him.

"You said it was gross!" Opal said to Tara.

"It was, it was disgusting."

"Hang about; were you giving that to me as a practical joke?" Alan said.

Opal stared at him and quickly ran back to her friends while the others laughed.

"I see the joke was on you then!" Alan said to her. "Because that was delicious."

"Then you have the rest of them then," Amelia said as she and Tara walked up to him.

He took Amelia's sandwich and popped it in his mouth.

"Mmm-MM!" he said.

He took Tara's sandwich and was about to eat it when he noticed something.

"Wait a tic…" he said, taking off the top of the bread. "You bit into this, yeah?"

Tara nodded.

"Love, this is spoiled," he said, pointing to large black spot near the edge of the vegetable. "That's why it tasted disgusting. I see now why you didn't want it. Where did you get this?"

"Some lady came up with a tray and offered it to us," Tara said.

"Well, they need to examine their samples more closely then. What was in the little cups?"

"Purple juice," Tara said. "Think she called it bazzleberry."

"Oh, I like bazzleberry juice. And I see you had no trouble drinking that down."

He stared down at the spoiled vegetable and made a face. While he was doing that, the Doctor wheeled the trolley up beside him and peered over his shoulder at it.

"Where'd that come from?" he said to Alan.

"Free samples they were passing out earlier. The children took some."

"That's rotten," the Doctor said, pointing to it.

"I know, Tara took a bite and it tasted disgusting so they didn't bother to eat the others because they figured they all tasted bad. Then they decided to be cute and feed them to me thinking I would vomit or something and instead I got a nice little treat. But now I don't know what to do with this since I don't see a rubbish bin anywhere."

The Doctor shrugged.

"Set it down and leave it. Their fault if they don't put the rubbish bins out where everyone can see them."

Alan shrugged and set it on the top shelf. He picked up the circuits and the other components he had laid aside and put them in the trolley.

"That it?" the Doctor said.

"Think so," Alan said.

"Good, let's get out of here so we can go find the rest of the chemicals," the Doctor said.

They walked up to the others and the women followed them while they walked up to the front of the store.


	274. Chapter 274

Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy Four

After they were done shopping, they headed back to the TARDIS. Once they were inside, the Doctor took them back into the vortex, then they decided to wait a bit until he and Alan could make the locket for Serena. While they assembled it in the lab, the others got a snack and went into the living room to talk to Serena and get to know her better. A few hours later, they came into the room with a gold locket on a heavy gold necklace chain and a little silver device that was in the shape of a thick pen.

"This is the force field," the Doctor said to Serena while he slipped the locket around her neck and fastened it. "Now it's turned on so you don't have to worry about it. We tried to get the thickest chain we could so it won't fall off easily. Now this emits UV rays so I'm gonna shine it on your hand and see if it'll work. Alan has a tissue rejuvenator in his pocket so we can heal the burn if it's not successful."

Serena nodded and held out her hand. Everyone gathered around while the Doctor aimed the tip of the pen at her hand and turned it on. Violet light shone down on her hand in a small circle. The Doctor glanced at her.

"Feel any pain?" he asked her.

"Nope, nothing at all."

He turned it off.

"It's a success then," he said happily.

Everyone cheered while Serena hugged the Doctor.

"Thank you so much. I can't even begin to thank you enough," she said to him.

"Aw, s'alright, I'm glad I could help you out. Now let's go down to Nanifax Minor and get the Belusian flowers that grow there."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They landed on Nanifax Minor and the Doctor opened the door slightly. They were in the middle of a field that had tall green grasses and yellow flowers that swayed in the gently blowing breeze. Thirty feet away from them was a large rocky mountain and all around that were trees with bright yellow leaves. Far above them a large sun shone down and across from it on the other side of the sky was a blue planet with Saturn-like rings around it. The Doctor made Serena come out last and then he stood beside her with the rejuvenator while she tentatively stepped outside. They held their breath but Serena looked down at her body and smiled when nothing happened. The Doctor relaxed, put the rejuvenator in his pocket and closed the door. Serena put her hand to her heart when she looked up.

"Oh my God, I haven't seen the sun in years," she said.

The Doctor smiled at that and patted her on the shoulder before all of them headed off towards the mountain.

"Now, the flower we're looking for is tiny and has bright blue petals," the Doctor said to them. "I only need the flower part of it. I can grind it up then. People do that and use it as a medicinal herb but it's a very versatile flower and it can be combined with other things. I really need to get some extra while we're here and make some medicine as well. I have several containers we can use to gather the flowers."

"If it's so useful, why didn't they have a bottle of it back at the shop?" Donna said, looking back at him.

"Well, this is a very remote planet and the flower is only found here, not to mention it has a very short growing season, only a month or two and that's it so it's very hard to collect. It also deteriorates rapidly so you have to make the medicine quickly before it wilts and loses its potency."

"Are there people here, Daddy?"

"Um, was once, I'm not sure if there are now. At some point they died out and I think the TARDIS landed after that point, but I can't be sure."

When they were several feet from the edge of the mountain, the Doctor stopped and looked around.

"I asked the TARDIS to find a place where the Belusians were growing. So far, I don't see any and…"

He gasped when Serena rose up into the air.

"I think I might be of assistance then," she yelled down to them while she went up into the air.

"Damn, we need to learn how to do that," Alan said while they laughed.

Serena rose about forty feet up in the air. She looked around and pointed to a plateau that was sticking out away from the mountain about thirty feet from the bottom.

"I see them. They're growing here," she called down to them.

They walked over to the foot of the mountain. Grasses and bushes managed to grow in between the cracks in the rock face but other than that, there were no hand or footholds for them. Serena came back down beside them.

"There's no way for you to climb up, is there?" she asked them.

"I don't see anything. It's relatively smooth until you reach that plateau," the Doctor said.

"Here, I'll take you up then. Put your arms around my neck."

"Can I go too, Daddy?" Tara asked.

"You can when she comes back down. I don't think she can handle more than one at a time," the Doctor said to her.

"Yeah, I have to test to see if I can carry him because the only person I've carried is Tobey and that's when he was around your age," Serena said. "So just bear with me, I'm gonna lift off a few feet and see if I can support your weight."

The Doctor tightened his hold around her neck while she held him around his waist. Gently, she rose up a few feet from the ground and levitated there while she determined if she could hold him.

"I think I'm okay," she said to the Doctor. "I just didn't wanna drop you halfway up."

"No, that wouldn't be good," the Doctor said.

He held on while she went up to the plateau. She landed gently on the ground and pointed at a large patch of blue flowers.

"Those?"

"Yup, that's it, thanks," the Doctor said.

She let go and went back down to get Tara while the Doctor knelt down in the patch, removed a small plastic container from his trousers and went to work pulling the tops off the flowers. A moment later, he felt a hand on his shoulder and smiled at Tara while she knelt beside him. He pulled another container out of his pocket and gave it to her.

"Flowers only, that's all I need," he said to her.

"Okay, Daddy."

They worked together pulling the flowers off the stalks. The Doctor paused after a few minutes and looked behind him. He noticed no one else was there.

"Alan? Are you lot okay?" he yelled.

"Yeah! We're going to go into the trees around the mountain and look there," he yelled back.

"Okay, just checking," the Doctor yelled.

He went back to his task while Tara walked near the back of the patch and worked there. Both of them worked in silence for a few minutes filling up the containers with blue flowers.

"Hey!"

The Doctor looked up when Tara cried out and noticed she was holding a small stone statue in her hand.

"Daddy, I just found this on the ground," she said.

He stood up and walked over to her. He took a few steps and felt something under his shoe. He bent down and felt through the flowers. He picked up a similar statue.

"Wow, you found one too," Tara said to him.

The Doctor knelt down beside her and examined them. Both of them were carved in the shape of a pregnant faceless and hairless woman with large breasts and a large protruding belly.

"Judging from the belly and breasts I think these are meant to be fertility statues," he said to her.

"What do they do with them?" Tara asked.

"Well…a lot of cultures used them as offerings in the hopes that the pregnant belly would magically make them pregnant and give them a child," he said to her. "Most cultures use the same sort of symbolism and large breasts and bellies symbolize being pregnant."

"What are they doing here?" Tara asked.

The Doctor looked around.

"Dunno, Sweetie, maybe the mountain held some kind of mystical significance and they left them as offerings here to some mountain god or something. I know the people that used to be here worshiped nature gods so that's my guess."

"Do you think they'd be mad if I took one?" Tara said.

"Who? The people that were here? Nah, I don't think so," he said, tousling her hair.

He laid his statue back down in the grass, walked back over to his container and focused on his task while Tara stood her statue up beside her container and went back to work. She grabbed for some flowers off to her right and noticed another statue lying on the ground. She picked it up and looked at it.

"This one's different, Daddy."

The Doctor looked up and Tara showed him the statue.

"Another one? I think this mountain is a sacred site then, Star. I think that's why we're finding all these statues," he said.

"This one's got a spear, I think," Tara said to him.

The Doctor walked back over and knelt down.

"Yup, it does," he said, pointing to the carved spear in the statue's left hand. "Perhaps an offering for a successful hunt or a battle?"

"I like the girl better," Tara said, lying it down in the grass.

The Doctor patted her on the back and went back to his container. He knelt down and paused when he got a good look at the rock face twenty feet behind them. The rock was overgrown with bushes that jutted out of cracks and ivy that snaked down from the next plateau about twenty feet above them. Under the ivy, the Doctor noticed what looked like a step carved into the mountain.

"Star, I think I found steps behind you," he said to her as he stood up.

Tara paused and stood when he walked over to the rock wall. She followed him and watched while he parted a clump of ivy back like a curtain, revealing steps carved out of the rock that led up to the next plateau.

"More and more I'm beginning to think this is a sort of sacred place," the Doctor said to her. "But if this is here, then surely there are steps leading up from the bottom but I didn't see any, did you?"

Tara shook her head.

"Maybe they had a rope or a rope ladder that came up to the first level," the Doctor said. "That way they could prevent people from getting up here whenever they wanted. Or…perhaps this was a place to go in case of attack."

Tara put her foot on the bottom step and started to climb up.

"Be careful, Sweetheart, I don't want you falling and breaking a leg," he said.

"I'll be careful, Daddy."

Tara noticed the Doctor using his screwdriver to burn through some of the vines so the steps would be clear. She reached into her pocket for hers and did the same while she slowly went up. The Doctor waited until she was halfway up before he slowly followed her. Tara paused when she could see onto the next plateau.

"Whoa! Daddy, there's a big statue and a cave up here," she said to him.

Intrigued, the Doctor followed her while Tara went up the rest of the way and crawled onto the plateau. He saw her walk away from the edge.

"Tara, wait for me. Don't go in the cave without me," he called to her.

"Okay, Daddy."

He finally saw above the plateau and he saw Tara standing by the statue, staring at it with interest. It was nearly six foot tall and resembled a man with a bird's head. He was holding a spear in his right hand and wore a loincloth with a carved feather hanging down the front. Around his neck was a necklace with a skull hanging off it. The bird's head had a fierce expression on it. The Doctor crawled up onto the plateau and stood up. He dusted the dirt off his trousers and walked over to his daughter.

"What you think this one is?" Tara asked.

"Hmmm, perhaps a protector or guardian?" he said. "Maybe he guards the cave here."

Tara walked over to the entrance and peered into the darkness. The Doctor took his flashlight out of his pocket and turned it on. He shone it into the cave while they both slowly entered. While he was doing that, the Doctor mentally told the others what was going on.

_Wondered what you were up to,_ Alan thought back. _It was awfully quiet up there. _

_We're just exploring, _the Doctor thought_. And…I think we just found a stone altar inside this cave._

They walked over to a large, long stone slab positioned near the entrance.

"A seat?" Tara said, sitting down.

The Doctor's stomach turned when he noticed rust colored spots splattered on top of the altar.

"No, Star, I think they laid people or animals here and sacrificed them."

He put a comforting hand on his daughter's shoulder when she quickly hopped off and stood beside him. He stepped back and shined the light down further. He noticed some writing carved into the side of the altar. It resembled Chinese characters. He knelt down with Tara and translated them for her.

"Praise be to Alzaroth, provider and protector," he said aloud. "Accept this offering of flesh and blood in your sacred name and bless us always. Yup, it's a sacrificial altar."

"Is Alzaroth the bird guy then?"

"Dunno, but I'm willing to bet it is," the Doctor said while they stood up.

They heard a noise behind them and the Doctor spun around. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Alan standing in the entrance with Serena behind him.

"We found several patches of flowers and gathered several containers full of them. So I decided to see what you lot were up to while we waited for you to finish," he said.

"They killed things on here," Tara said, walking over to him.

Alan and Serena walked over. The Doctor pointed to the inscription and Alan translated it aloud.

"I'm assuming Alzaroth is bird boy then," Alan said, standing back up.

"That's what we thought as well," the Doctor said.

"Hey, there's more of that writing over here," Tara said.

The Doctor shined the flashlight on the left side of the wall where Tara was standing. She was a few feet further into the cave and pointing up to more writing carved into the wall.

"When the eyes of Alzaroth align in the heavens, then the guardian will be released to devour the unrighteous," the Doctor read.

"What's that mean?" Serena asked.

"I haven't the foggiest," the Doctor said, shrugging. "Mystical mumbo jumbo as far as I'm concerned. Just some warning put here to scare people. I'm sure it ties in to the sacrifices they performed."

He shined the light further down and noticed a painting. They walked over to it. It was a large drawing of the birdman's head. Below it was a depiction of Nanifax Minor and under it was a scorpion-like creature holding a couple of crude stick figures in its claws.

"Very creative," the Doctor said.

He noticed Alan coming up beside him. He looked from the drawing of the birdman back to the inscription.

"Eyes of Alzaroth…" Alan muttered.

"What is it?" the Doctor said.

"When the eyes of Alzaroth align in the heavens. Brother, do you think they're refering to the star and planet in their sky? See, if this is s'posed to be Nanifax Minor here, then perhaps the bird head is here to represent the eyes looking down on it. And when the eyes align…"

His finger went down to the scorpion with the stick figures in its claws.

"Guardian devouring the unrighteous?" he said to them.

"Ah, brilliant deduction, Brother," the Doctor said.

The Doctor thought for a moment and walked back to the entrance of the cave. He stood outside and gazed up into the sky.

"Everyone, come here a moment," he called back.

When they came outside, he pointed up to the planet and the star above them.

"Call me crazy, but would you say they're aligned now?" the Doctor said to them.

They looked up and noticed the planet and star were directly across from each other in the sky. Alan glanced at him.

"Okay, if that's the case, where's this guardian then?" he said.

"What the hell?"

They jerked their heads down when they heard Rain yell out below them.

"Rain? What is it?" the Doctor called out.

"Um, did you guys do something up there to open a door in the mountain?" she called back. "Because a huge slab of stone is opening up in front of us and…OH MY GOD! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?"

The Doctor's blood turned to ice when he heard the women and children screaming below them.

"I think the guardian just woke up," Alan said, grimly.

"Okay, what I said about that inscription being mystical mumbo jumbo, I take it all back," the Doctor said while Serena grabbed him and prepared to take him back down below.


	275. Chapter 275

Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy Five

By the time they could see what was going on below them, the scorpion creature had managed to block their way to the TARDIS and everyone was scrambling to get into the trees while it started to follow them.

"Put me down behind it, Serena, maybe I can lure it away from them," the Doctor said to her.

Serena nodded. She flew to a spot about twenty feet behind the creature and let him go.

"Can you find the others and get them to safety?" the Doctor said, pointing back up to the plateau.

She nodded and flew high over the scorpion. The Doctor picked up a large rock and lobbed it at the creature. It bounced off his back but the creature didn't seem to notice it while it headed for the trees. The Doctor tried his screwdriver but it seemed to have no effect. He saw Serena flying up out of the trees with Amelia and Opal in her arms and breathed a sigh of relief that the children were safe. Putting his fingers in his mouth, he let out a shrill whistle. The creature stopped and turned on its thin spindly legs to face him.

"That's right, I'm back here," the Doctor said to him. "Why waste your time goin' after them when there's fresh meat right here?"

He tried his screwdriver and grinned when the creature shook his head and chittered in frustration and rage.

"Aha, once I get past the hard exoskeleton on your back, the sonic can affect ya, eh?" he said.

Just then a boulder dropped on its head. He looked up and saw Serena high above. She had paused momentarily to drop it before heading back into the woods. He noticed how agitated the creature was and tried his screwdriver again. The chittering increased and the Doctor saw him raise its tail in the air, preparing to strike him with its stinger while it came towards him. Just then Serena rose up into the air with Rain.

"Run!" she yelled down to the Doctor.

"I am now, I was trying to get it to follow me before," the Doctor said, turning around.

Serena quickly dropped Rain off and found another large boulder. While Rose and Donna watched from the edge of the trees, Serena rose up again, aimed the boulder at its head and dropped it. The impact sent the creature wobbling off balance and its legs on its right side went under its body. The chittering was loud and angry while it slowly got back up. Serena went over to get Donna but as soon as she landed the creature detected her and spun back around. The Doctor cursed while Serena grabbed Donna and urged Rose to get behind her and hold on from the back.

"I hope I can do this," Serena said.

Rose and Donna held on for dear life while Serena took them up in the air. The Doctor gasped when the creature rose up briefly on its back legs and snapped its front claws, narrowing missing them. Serena carried them up to the plateau, let go, and quickly flew out so she could retrieve the Doctor. The creature was keeping its eyes on her, its legs were up against the side of the mountain while it snapped at her, trying to bring her down. Then to the Doctor's horror, the creature started to climb up the mountain. Alan, who was watching from the edge of the plateau, let out a curse and urged the others to go back in the cave. He took out his sonic and tried it on the creature. The scorpion chittered angrily and shook its head before it went up onto the first plateau. Serena came down beside the Doctor who was shouting at it, trying to get its attention. He let out a growl of frustration when it didn't work.

"Brother, get inside the cave, see if you can lead the others into a safe hiding place. Hopefully, you'll find a small enough area that he won't be able to get into," the Doctor yelled at him.

Alan nodded and ran back to the cave.

"Damn it, we need to get that thing away from them," the Doctor said to Serena.

"Leave it to me, it wants me anyway," Serena said, flying up.

"Serena, be careful! Don't do anything stupid!" the Doctor called to her.

"I won't, just find a place to hide," she yelled to him.

She flew up in front of his face and waved her arms.

"Here I am!" she said to him.

She flew off to the right and smiled when the scorpion turned and began to pursue her. She darted in and out of its range like lightning, avoiding the claws and the stinger while the Doctor watched from below. She stared down at the opening the scorpion had emerged from and the stone slab that was hanging open. She flew down beside it and tested the door while the Doctor ran over to her. She grunted and pushed with the Doctor but they only managed to move it a little. She and the Doctor looked up and noticed the scorpion turning and coming back towards them.

"I thought if we got him back inside this hole, we could close the door," Serena said. "But this door is heavy and I don't think we could close it that fast."

"I think we better concentrate on getting the others back to the TARDIS now," the Doctor said. "If you fly them back over, I'll try to create a diversion and keep em busy for ya."

Serena nodded. The Doctor waved his arms and yelled at the scorpion while it came towards him. Serena flew back up to the plateau. The Doctor heard her calling to the rest of his family, urging them to come back out and explaining what she was doing. While she was doing that, the Doctor used his screwdriver to bring down a large limb from a nearby tree. He threw it at the scorpion's head, enraging it and ensuring that it would only come after him. He brought down another large limb with the sonic and threw that while he slowly backed up and led the creature away from the mountain. He glanced up when he saw Serena fly off with Amelia and Opal in her arms. He noticed the scorpion was turning to look at them and he brought down another large limb and threw it at him. The scorpion turned his attention back to him and the Doctor weaved in and out of the trees while it tried to snatch him with its claws. He heard Tara calling out to him and he jumped back out of the trees and saw everyone staring at him from the safety of the plateau. They cried out when the scorpion's tail shot out and the stinger rammed a tree, missing him by inches while he ducked back behind it. He quickly hurried deeper into the forest while the scorpion tried to follow him. He noticed the creature was going under a large limb. He waited till it was directly underneath and then used his screwdriver to bring it down on its head. The creature fell hard on its belly and shook its head, trying to recover from the blow. The foliage was thick over the Doctor's head and he had no idea what was happening with his family. He heard them calling his name but he ignored them, concentrating solely on the scorpion who was now back up on its legs and coming after him. He was relieved that for the most part, the scorpion had no room to strike him with its tail and he only had to worry about the claws in front. Suddenly, he had an idea while he watched the claws snapping at him. Thinking fast, he pressed his body up against a large tree.

"Come here, ya git, and get me! Take your best shot!" he yelled at it.

He kept calm, waiting and watching while the creature opened its right claw, intending to grab him. He tensed his muscles and said a quick prayer to the heavens that he would be able to time it right. Then he saw the claw shoot out towards the tree and he jerked away from it and hit the ground. The claw seized the tree, snapped it in two and the Doctor watched with a triumphant grin while the tree fell right on it and the creature was pinned to the ground, unconscious. The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief, calming his rapidly beating hearts. He felt someone behind him and saw Serena land a foot away from his back.

"Doctor, are you alright?" she asked.

He nodded and she helped him to his feet.

"Yeah, I don't think that killed him but it'll knock him out long enough for us to get back to the TARDIS and get outta here."

"I got everyone back to the TARDIS and I got the two containers you and Tara were using and took those back so you won't have to worry about gathering any more of the flowers," she said.

"Thank you," the Doctor said.

He put a hand on her shoulder.

"You know, at first I was wary being around you and having my family and friends around you and I didn't know if you were lying to us or tricking us in order to do something to us, but I think this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that you're on our side and there's nothing to fear from you. I finally found a vampire who isn't evil."

Serena smiled and nodded. She put her arms around the Doctor and he put his arms around her neck while she flew him out of the woods and back to the TARDIS.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Okay, we got that done and now we head to the next planet," the Doctor said when they flew back into the vortex.

"I hope it doesn't have flippin' scorpions on it," Donna said to him.

"Nope, just lava and volcanoes," the Doctor said.

He and Alan snickered when they all groaned.

"But…we'll take precautions. I just need to take a few samples of the volcanic soil, nothing more than that."

"So in other words, you see a statue or cave of any kind…" Rose said.

"I will stay firmly away from it," the Doctor said to her. "We will not be taking any diversions in order to satisfy our curiosity. We'll get what we came for and go and once that's finished, we can go home."


	276. Chapter 276

Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy Six.

"Right, on to Plextor then and then we can go back home," the Doctor said.

"Are you sure it'll be safe for us to go to a world of volcanoes?" Donna asked. "I'd rather not die when a volcano erupts near us. I already went through that once in Pompeii."

"We won't get that close, not around any active volcanoes anyway," the Doctor said to her.

The TARDIS landed and powered down.

"Right, let me go first so I can take a look around and make sure we really are far enough away from any active volcanoes," the Doctor said.

He ran over to the front door and opened it. He stuck his head outside for a moment and then went outside.

"I guess that means it's safe?" Rain said.

They waited a moment and then stepped outside with him. He was standing a few feet in front of the TARDIS with a confused look on his face. All around them there was nothing except a field that stretched on for as far as the eye could see. They looked around with him.

"Okay, where are the volcanoes at?" Rose asked.

"Maybe they're just really, really small," Donna replied.

"Well, I guess you're weren't kidding when you said you weren't gonna land anywhere near them," Rain said, walking up beside him.

"This isn't Plextor," he said, shaking his head.

"So where are we then?" Serena asked.

"I haven't the foggiest, Serena. Apparently I've landed somewhere where there's only fields and one house."

"House?" Rose said.

He pointed off to his left and they turned to see a house about a half mile away from the TARDIS. It was a large Victorian house, reminiscent of a stereotypical haunted house except it was in good condition. It was white with black shingles and a large wooden verandah on the front. Beside it was a little shed, also white with black shingles. Around both buildings was a white picket fence. Other than that, there was nothing else in sight, just fields for miles around.

"Okay, why would this person choose to live in the middle of nowhere?" Donna said.

"He knows something we don't know?" Alan said.

"And that something would be…" Rose said.

"Um, he has a gold mine in his shed?" Alan said.

"Can we go see, Daddy?" Tara asked.

"See what?"

"Why this guy is living here," Tara said. "Maybe he does have a gold mine."

"And what would we do if he had one?" the Doctor said.

"Take it?" Tara said, shrugging.

The Doctor raised his eyebrow while they laughed.

"Come on, Papaw, you know you wanna go look and see what's up," Opal said.

"I'm betting she's right," Rose said. "I'm bettin' you wanna go up to that house and knock on the door and talk to whoever's inside."

The Doctor smiled.

"Yeah, you're right, I do. Alright, we'll go over there and have a chat with the occupant of the house and see where we are. Follow me."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Twenty minutes later, the little group reached the house. The Doctor opened the gate in the picket fence and they went up a small paved pathway to two steps that led up to the verandah. They walked up to the front door and the Doctor pushed the doorbell. He frowned when instead of the usual ding dong sound; they heard a loud trumpet fanfare.

"Hmmm, first time I've heard a doorbell do that," the Doctor muttered.

The door was opened by a midget wearing a tuxedo. He had brown hair that was plastered down to his skull, a pudgy face and green eyes. He was carrying a little trumpet and before the Doctor could say something, he raised it and blew another fanfare. The Doctor jerked back when spit flew out of the opening into his face. Then they saw a door opening on the other side of the room and a midget identical to the first rolled a narrow red carpet from the other room to the front door. Once he was done, he stood on one side of it while his brother stood on the other side. The midget with the trumpet cleared his throat.

"Announcing his Excellency, King Otto the Magnificent, ruler of Ottoworld!"

"ALL HAIL KING OTTO!" they both yelled.

The midget blew another fanfare and they watched while a portly, pasty-faced, bald man emerged from the other room and walked on the carpet towards them. He had on a blue military uniform with gold trim and epaulets. He wore a red sash across his chest with OTTO on it in gold letters. Around his waist was a large leather belt that matched his leather boots. There was a scabbard attached to the left side of the belt that had a saber in it. The midgets bowed to him and stepped back while the visitors stared at him in shock.

"Greetings, I am Otto, ruler of Ottoworld," he said to him.

"Mmm," the Doctor said. "Forgive me, but I don't know where Ottoworld is, could you clue me in on the location?"

"Certainly, Ottoworld is in the Otto System in the Otto Galaxy in the Ottoverse."

The children giggled while the adults stared at him.

"Sooo…" the Doctor finally said, "what you're sayin' is you basically own everything."

"Correct. I am the master of all I survey!"

"The fields?" Alan said. "Because that's the only thing I see when I survey the surroundings."

"I am the supreme ruler of everything. All must bow before me. I'm assuming that's why you're here? To pay reverence to me and give me tribute?"

"No, we landed here by accident and we were wondering who would live out in the middle of nowhere," the Doctor said. "We had no idea you were in charge of everything."

"I am. Which means you must give me reverence and tribute. So where is your reverence and tribute?"

"We don't have any, sorry," the Doctor said.

"Then I will take your women and children."

"P'eh, I don't think so, Nutty-boy," Alan replied.

"You must leave me some form of tribute! All must pay reverence to me!"

The Doctor turned to the others.

"In future, if I get the urge to check something out, stop me from doin' it," he said to them. "Come on, everyone, back to the TARDIS so we can go on to Plextor."

They walked away and headed back towards the TARDIS. They walked for a few minutes before Tara hurried up to her father's side.

"Daddy, the insane person's following us," she said, pointing back behind her.

They all stopped and turned to see Otto huffing and puffing while he tried to keep up with them.

"Stop! I demand you surrender your women and children to me!" he gasped out.

The Doctor and Alan walked up and stood in front of the women.

"Look, why don't you go back in your house, fix a nice meal and watch your telly," Alan said to him. "Better yet, why don't you find the nearest mental institution and check yourself in for a thorough evaluation."

"You, Sir, have no right to speak to me in that manner. I am the ruler of all and you are trespassing. You must give me your women and children or I will be forced to declare war on you."

"Oh really? Well, if I were you, I'd think long and hard before you declared war on us," the Doctor said.

They gasped when Otto pulled out his saber and pointed it at his throat. The Doctor stared at it quietly for a moment. Then he grabbed the end of the rubber blade, pulled it back and let go, letting it snap back into place. He sighed.

"Goodbye, Otto, enjoy your so-called rule over everything," he said to him.

They turned to leave when suddenly Tara let out a yell. The Doctor spun around with fire in his eyes while Otto pressed Tara's squirming body against him.

"I'll take this one then. She's beautiful and she'll make a fine wife!"

"I'm don't wanna marry ya, you fat, ugly dweeb!" Tara said.

She stomped on his left foot and ran to the Doctor when Otto let out a pained yell and let go. Rain put her arms around her while the Doctor lunged at him, his eyes dark and deadly.

"Don't you dare put your hands on my daughter or anyone else here, you got that?" he growled. "If you touch them again, I'll take you off this planet to the nearest mental institution and leave you there! Now go away and leave us alone!"

He grunted when Otto slapped him hard in the face. Alan gritted his teeth in anger, ran forward and smacked him back.

"Listen, Podgy, "Alan snarled, "fun and games are over. I'm givin' ya till the count of ten to get the hell away from us or I'll take your fake sword and put it somewhere unpleasant. 1…"

"How dare you strike me, peasant! I will have your head for that!"

"2.."

"You will surrender and come with me back to my house this instant so you can stand trial for your assault."

"3…mate, I'm not jokin' here," Alan said.

"Very well, I will execute you first!" Otto said, ignoring him.

Serena sighed and came up beside Alan.

"Let me," she said to him.

Otto jumped back when Serena hissed at him, showing her fangs while her eyes turned yellow and her face became hard and demonic.

"I believe you were told to go away," she said to him in an unnaturally deep voice.

Alan looked at the Doctor.

"Blimey, Serena is creepy when she's angry," he said to him.

"What manner of creature are you?" Otto said.

"I'm a vampire," she said in the deep voice, "and if you don't leave us alone, I'm gonna make you my next meal. Now leave!"

The Doctor and Alan smirked when Otto backed away from her. He backed up five feet and then gave them a haughty look.

"Very well, but I banish you from this place. You are never to come back to Ottoworld."

"Suits me fine," Alan said, turning. "Let's go everyone, so we can begin our exile from Ottoworld."

Serena hissed at Otto again and he quickly turned and ran while her face went back to normal and her fangs retracted.

"What an idiot," she said to the Doctor while they followed the others.

"You will pay for this!"

They looked back. Otto was twenty feet away, shaking his fist at them while he yelled.

"I will get my revenge on you for this disrespect! And you, Skinny Odd One, I will have your head for striking me!"

Rose snickered while Alan looked back and flipped him off.

"I'd rather be skinny and odd than fat and insane," he yelled at him.

"How dare you! I'll see you stretched on the rack! You have insulted royalty, you will suffer for that!"

"Blimey, never mind, I'm leavin' it alone now," Alan muttered while the others snickered. "I'm not about to have a battle of wits with an empty headed git like him. Stupid sod needs to be put where Dex was, although I'm sure the staff would have their hands full if we did."

"THERE IS NOWHERE YOU CAN HIDE!" Otto screamed at them. "I OWN THE OTTOVERSE AND EVERYTHING IN IT! IT'S MINE!"

"No, it's not, it's Daddy's!" Tara yelled back at him while they walked.

"How'd ya figure that, Star?" the Doctor asked her.

"You have a time machine and you go anywhere you want and do anything you want, anytime you want, so you're the one who owns the universe."

"Kid's got a point," Alan said.

"Yeah, she does. I OWN THE UNIVERSE, MATE, NOT YOU!" the Doctor yelled back at him while they laughed.

They reached the TARDIS. The Doctor paused and looked at Otto who was now heading back to his house. Shaking his head, he took out his key, opened the door and let everyone go inside.


	277. Chapter 277

Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy Seven

"Right, hopefully we'll go to Plextor now," the Doctor said to them while they stood around the console.

"I don't understand," Serena said. "Weren't you going there before? How did you end up on…Ottoworld?"

They giggled when the Doctor rubbed the back of his neck.

"Um…my ship here is alive and sometimes she has a mind of her own," he said to her. "She does take me where I want to go but sometimes she flies somewhere else for some reason or another. But I'm sure she'll cooperate this time, right?"

They laughed harder when he glared at the ceiling.

"Right?" he said.

The TARDIS rumbled a yes and nudged his mind while he smiled.

"Right, let's get this show on the road then," he said to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor opened the door and looked out. He noticed several mountains around him, each one black with snow capping the top of it. He smelled sulfur in the air and smiled. He closed the door.

"This…is Plextor. Now, we need to get some respirators on because the air quality is poor and it'll make you ill if you stay outside for very long. We also need to get protective suits on just in case there is an eruption. So follow me and we'll get suited up."

They all donned black one piece jumpsuits made of a durable alien material and everyone on put a respirator that covered their mouth and nose. Once they were ready, they went back outside. The sky was darkened by a thin layer of ash. Occasionally it thinned out enough and they could see the sun briefly while they walked but it was quickly covered back up. They carried several of the containers with them along with miniature silver pickaxes and spades and the Doctor led them up the side of one of the volcanoes. They looked up at it and noticed that it was smoking.

"Doctor, are you sure it's safe here?" Donna said to him

"It's safe enough but we have to hurry because I'm not sure when this thing is gonna erupt," the Doctor said to them.

He beckoned to them and led them while he looked for a suitable place to gather the soil. He found it about ten feet up the side. He knelt down and began to chip away at some of the rock while the others watched. Once he got a large chunk off, he scooped it into the container with the spade. The others knelt down and did what he did, gathering up the hardened soil with him. While they were doing that, the volcano suddenly shook with a slight tremor. He reached out his hand to the children who were working nearby and patted their hands comfortingly.

_We'll be out of here in a moment, kids,_ he thought to them. _Just relax. I'm keepin' an eye on things._

There was another tremor. Tara gasped and crawled closer to her father. The Doctor smiled and sent love into her mind. They all worked for several more minutes before they decided to head back to the TARDIS.

"This is it, I have everything I need so we can go back home now," he said to them. "Now I can work on finding a cure if there is one."

"I can't thank you enough for this, Doctor," Serena said.

He held up his hand.

"No thanks are necessary. I should be thanking you for protecting my family."

He set the coordinates for Nova.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After landing in Nova, everyone went back to their houses. The Doctor retired to his lab, starting the difficult task of finding a cure while the rest of the family relaxed and watched television. For the next couple of hours, he thought over possible combinations of the chemicals while he put the soil and flowers into a machine designed to pulverize and turn them into a chemical compound. Several hours later, he was tired and his head hurt from trying to come up with possibilities.

"Have a rest, Brother, before you have a stroke."

The Doctor turned on his stool and saw Alan leaning against the lab doorway, his arms folded over his chest.

"I know that look. You're tired and I can tell you haven't made any progress," he said to him.

The Doctor sighed.

"I just want to find a cure for her, Alan. She helped us."

"I understand that and I wanna find a cure for her as well. But you won't be much use to anyone if you burst a blood vessel in your brain and end up a vegetable. You've been in here for five hours now, leave it for tonight, Brother. Come back into the house and rest. She's been a vampire for awhile, I'm sure she'll be able to wait a bit longer."

"Do you think it's possible to cure her?" the Doctor asked him.

"I don't know, Brother. I really don't. You know as well as I that vampirism is permanent after the first month. She might have to face the fact that she'll be one for the rest of her life. You warned her that you might not be able to find a cure and she seemed to understand that so don't work yourself into an early regeneration trying to find one. Pace yourself so you'll be able to tackle this when you're alert and able to think properly."

"Yeah, you're right, it is gettin' harder to concentrate," the Doctor said, getting up and stretching. "I'll leave it for tonight and spend a few hours working on it tomorrow."

"Good because Tara and Dorothy are wonderin' where ya got to. I think they think you took off in the TARDIS and left them behind. And you know how devastated Tara would be if you did that."

The Doctor chuckled while he put the chemicals away.

"Yup, she's becoming quite a fearless little explorer. She's not my blood child and yet she acts exactly like me."

He shook his head.

"Hard to imagine that two years ago I didn't have these children lookin' up to me and wanting me to take them places and show them things and teach them."

"You're tellin' me? I didn't think I'd be a father when you first left us on the beach. Being a father was the last thing on my mind."

"Really? What was the first thing on your mind?"

"Gettin' the hell off planet Earth and what'd ya know? I did! But in all seriousness, I'm glad you're gettin' a second chance to be a father. I'm glad the kids look up to ya. I only hope Lizzy and Angel will do the same with me."

The Doctor finished locking away the chemicals.

"Are you kidding me? You're a natural with kids. Those two will be following you around wherever ya go," he said to him. "You're even more of a kid than I am so you've got nothin' to worry about."

"Aw, well, why grow up when you can have fun being a two year old," Alan said to him.

The Doctor shut off the light, patted him on the shoulder and they walked to the front door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor lay in his house bed staring up at the ceiling. Beside him Rain was asleep, snoring softly with her head on his bare chest while he held her close to him. Even though he had told Alan he would stop thinking about Serena's cure for the rest of the evening, he hadn't been able to do it and his mind continued to think through possible combinations of chemicals that might help.

His eyes shifted to his wife when he heard her grunt and raise her head up. She let out a yawn and blinked her eyes, opening them slowly. She paused when she saw the Doctor was staring at her in the semi-darkness.

"Did I wake you, Thete?" she whispered.

"No, I haven't slept yet. Did I wake you?"

"No, I need to go to the bathroom. What's wrong, Love?"

He sighed.

"I think I'm in a quandary, Latara."

"Over what, Thete?"

"I don't know if I can help, Serena. I want to help her but…I don't know if I can."

"Hold that thought, Love. I need to pee and I'll be right back."

He chuckled and kissed her lips before she got out of bed and went to the bathroom across the hall. The Doctor stared at the ceiling, thinking and waiting for her. He heard the toilet flush a few minutes later and the sound of the water in the sink running. Then the door opened up and she came back inside the room.

"There, now I can think without this pressure on my bladder," she said, getting back into bed with him.

She sighed while he wrapped his arm around her and kissed her forehead.

"Thete, you do realize that thinking constantly about this probably won't get you anywhere, right?" she said to him. "Especially since there's a very slim chance you'll find a cure?"

"I just want to help her. She helped us and it's the least I can do for her."

"I know that, Dear, but it's alright for you to have a little me time and not think about her problem 24/7. I like her too, I do, and I hope you can cure her but I think she'd understand if you stopped thinking about a cure long enough to get some sleep. You spent the whole entire day focused on her and you're gonna burn yourself out before you even come up with an idea. Just relax and have some fun. I'm betting if there is a solution, it'll come to you if you stop thinking about it so much."

The Doctor thought for a moment while Rain stroked his chest. He glanced at her.

"I'm becoming a neurotic basket case in my old age, aren't I?" he said.

"Um…maybe a tad, but I'm used to it now," she said with a wink. "I think the problem is you tend to be a bit too eager to help sometimes and you let it consume you, especially if it's a problem with no easy answer. I don't think Serena will be offended if you can't cure her. You warned her that might be the case and she didn't get upset by it. I think sometimes you require more of yourself than others do. And I love that you wanna help her but sometimes you can't help and you just have to let things be. She seems to have adjusted to being a vampire so I think she'll be alright if you don't find a cure for her."

"Tara wants her to become a part of our family. That's why she pulled me away earlier today. She was telling me that she spoke to Serena about adopting her into the family so she can have protection like she does."

Rain smiled.

"Hey, why not? Everyone else joins us eventually, don't they?"

She giggled when the Doctor gave her a playful slap on the back.

"Having a vampire sister might be useful, Thete," she said. "Then we can go back and get one of those Unics and perhaps Ariatne and then we go find a werewolf and a dragon and a fairy and…"

She giggled when the Doctor gave her another playful slap and she kissed him on the lips. The Doctor put his hands behind his head while Rain went back to rubbing his chest.

"I told Alan earlier that it's hard to believe I have children now. Two years ago I was by myself and now I have Tara and Dot and Jen and Dex. I'm a father of four."

"And a wonderful father, I might add," Rain said. "All of them love you and look up to you."

"Especially Tara. Tara barely knew me when she decided she wanted to be a Time Lady and she's just thrown herself wholeheartedly into training to be one. Everywhere I go, she begs to go with me. I was telling Alan that she isn't even related to me and yet, she acts just like me."

"Which is why I think she was meant to find us that night. She was meant to be with you, Thete."

"And I'm glad she's here. Now if she'd just stop recruiting people behind my back and telling them to come join us. Mark my words, Latara. Someday we'll have to find a planet of our own in order to contain all these people."

"Yup, but will Patty go?" Rain murmured.

She giggled when the Doctor tickled her.

"I'm sure she will once you lot get done," he said. "That's another one who'll probably be a member of our clan before long."

They looked over when they saw Tara creeping past their bedroom. They heard the bathroom door close and both of them listened in silence while they heard the toilet flush and the water running in the sink. Then they heard the door open and they watched while she walked in front of their door. To their surprise, she went inside the room and walked over to the bed.

"What's wrong, Star?" the Doctor said when she came up to their bed and froze.

"Oh, you're awake; I was gonna sneak in here and give you kisses before I went back to bed."

"You were gonna give us kisses and we weren't gonna know about it?" the Doctor said. "I don't like being kissed without me knowin', especially when lipstick lips appear on my cheek and I have no idea where they came from!"

Tara giggled.

"I don't have lipstick on, Daddy."

"You don't? Well, good, because your mum would have beaten me senseless if she thought another woman was kissin' me."

He smiled when she laughed at that and reached up. He put his hand on her back and pulled her down to his lips. He gave her a firm kiss and nuzzled her nose. Then she kissed Rain's lips and cheek.

"Goodnight, Daddy. Goodnight, Mommy."

"Goodnight, Sweetheart," Rain said.

"Goodnight, Sneaky Kisser who thinks she can just come in and kiss me whenever she feels like it," the Doctor said. "I'm glad I was awake then. I want to be aware of any hugs and kisses given to me."

She wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Take me somewhere fun tomorrow, Daddy," she said.

"Such as?" the Doctor said.

"Somewhere with lots of danger so I can practice fighting monsters."

The Doctor stared at her with wide eyes while Rain giggled.

"You know, I was just tellin' your mum you act like me and now you've just given me concrete proof of that. I see now that I'll just have to keep topping myself each time I go somewhere with you and giving you more and more dangerous thrills so you won't get bored."

"Yup."

She laughed harder when he gave her a long, hard stare.

"I think I know how I'm gonna regenerate now. I don't think it'll be Jasper's men that force it on me, it'll be you and your need for extreme thrills that'll do me in."

"Nah, I won't do that to you, Daddy. I like the way you look now," Tara said.

"Well, that's a relief. I was wondering if I was gonna have to bundle up in Styrofoam and pillows whenever I went somewhere with ya."

He smiled and hugged Tara tightly while he sent love into her mind.

"Go and get some sleep and I'll see if I can think of something fun to do in the morning, okay?"

"Mm-hmm."

They both gave her one more hug and kiss and watched while Tara went out the door and went back to her bedroom.


	278. Chapter 278

Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy Eight

The Doctor and Rain both slept for a couple more hours and then shut the door and locked it when they finally woke. Both of them spent the rest of the night cuddling and quietly making love to each other. After they were finished having sex, they unlocked the door, left it open and just lay together, enjoying one another while they stared up at the darkened ceiling.

Eventually, the sky became lighter outside and dawn came. They continued to lie in bed, keeping each other company. Eventually, they heard Tara and Dorothy speaking softly and saw them passing by their door along with Elizabeth who had been sleeping in Dorothy's bed since she lived with them. They continued to lie together for a few more hours. Then they glanced at the door when Tara and Dorothy came in around seven a.m. Tara was holding a metal tray in her hands and walking slowly towards them, trying to balance the two cereal bowls, glasses of orange juice and plates of buttered toast.

"What's this?" the Doctor said.

"Breakfast in bed," Tara said, stopped and standing by the side of the bed.

"We make it, Daddy!" Dorothy said, pointing to it.

The Doctor grinned at that and he and Rain sat up and scooted back until they backs were against the headboard.

"Ah, now this is what I call service," he said while he helped Tara put the tray on his legs. "I knew you kids were good for somethin'. Where's Maddie though?"

"She's downstairs fixing her own breakfast. She's been up for awhile," Tara said.

"Oh, musta went past when we had the door closed earlier," the Doctor said to Rain.

"Why'd ya have the door closed?" Tara asked.

"We were doing adult things," the Doctor said.

"Oh, you were having sex!"

The Doctor stared at her while she and Dorothy giggled.

"Well, I was trying to avoid saying that but yes, we were," he said to her. "Anyway, thank you for doin' this."

"You're welcome. Now we gotta go back downstairs so we can help Lizzy take hers to Alan and Rose. Have a good breakfast!"

The Doctor and Rain watched while the children left the room.

"Yup," the Doctor said to her, "this is one of the advantages of havin' children."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they ate, they took the tray and dishes back downstairs. They washed everything and set it in the strainer before heading out into the living room. They said good morning to everyone. Rose and Alan were sitting on the sofa. Alan was holding Angel on her lap and Rose was beside him. Maddie was sitting in the recliner next to them, reading a magazine and the children were on the floor playing while the dogs rested in the squares of light that streamed in from the glass patio doors.

"A very good morning to you," Alan said after they wished them good morning. "Did you receive your complementary continental breakfast?"

"Yes, we did and it was delicious, especially that frosted sugary cereal they served us. I'm now wired for the day," the Doctor said while he and Rain sat down on the other sofa.

"Guess what this is," Alan said, gesturing to the holo-television.

The Doctor glanced at it and saw a bunch of animals dancing and singing. Then he saw a purple hippo in a tutu twirling around while she sang in a high-pitched voice.

"Hmm, Happytown Tales?" he said to Alan.

"Yes, a certain teen came down and switched on this zombifying thing because she and the other kids thought it was better than the morning news," Alan said while Tara giggled. "So I made a deal with her. I'll let her watch this pabulum if she lets me watch Scientific Journal afterwards. She agreed so we're waiting for Florence to get off the screen so we can watch something more mature. And then she'll have to suffer through scientists talking about particle accelerators."

"Nuh-uh, Daddy's taking me somewhere," Tara said, glancing up at him.

Alan and Rose gave him a pointed look.

"Really? Where are you headed then?" he asked.

"I haven't the foggiest. I never actually agreed to take her anywhere; she just thinks I'm going to. I might just go outside and sun myself by the pool for several hours."

"You can sun yourself on another planet, Daddy. Take me somewhere!"

The adults laughed when the Doctor stared at her quietly. Tara glanced up at him, giggled, and quickly looked away.

"You know, there's a whooooooooooole neighborhood filled with your relatives, why don't you go ask one of them to ferry you around time and space?" the Doctor said.

"You'd let them take your TARDIS, Daddy?"

"Uh…no, there are other TARDISes they could take. No one is touching my machine," he said. "Why don't you go find Donna and ask her?"

"Donna's probably kissing Lee and Awinita's probably kissing Nelak. Grace is working; Amber and Julie are in college, the Torchwood people are down on Earth working. The Papaws and Mamaws don't wanna fly the TARDISes and the rest of them won't go anywhere without you. So that leaves you, Daddy."

"What about Serena, you could go over to the woods and play in her tree house."

"How do I get up to it?"

They laughed when the Doctor got a blank look on his face.

"Um…that's another way you could occupy your time today. Figuring out how to get up there," he said.

He sighed through his nose.

"I see now this is gonna be a losing battle," he said to them. "Okay, where do you wanna go then?"

"Wherever you wanna go, Daddy. I just wanna go someplace with ya," Tara said, shrugging.

He caught Rose's eye when she smiled at that. He thought for a moment and a mischievous grin spread over his face.

"Fine, follow me then, little adventurer," he said to her.

Tara stood up and took her father's hand. Everyone watched while he led her into the kitchen. A moment later, they came back out with two glasses of water.

"There ya go, we went somewhere and what an adventure it was!" the Doctor said, slumping back down on the sofa.

"No, Daddy!" Tara said, giggling, while the adults laughed.

"What? You said I could choose the destination! I was a bit parched so we braved the wilds of our house to go get a drink of water. And we succeeded, so there ya go!"

"You're mean sometimes, Daddy."

"What? You said I could choose where to go and I did! How is that being mean to you?" he said while they laughed. "Oooooh, okay, we'll find something interesting to do. Do you lot wanna go with us?"

"Nah, me, Rose and Maddie were gonna take Angel, Lizzy and Dot shopping and maybe go to the cinema," Alan said.

"The Doctor looked at Rain with a questioning look.

"Why don't you go by yourselves this time? Have a father/daughter outing. I'll go with them and endure Bro's taunts for an afternoon so you can have some alone time with Tara," Rain said.

"Oh barf, Rainy's tagging along now. There goes the day!" Alan muttered to Rose.

"On second thought, maybe I should go with you," Rain said to the Doctor while Alan sniggered.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"You be careful, Honey," Rain said to Tara when they were ready to go. "You do what your father says, alright?"

"I will, Mommy."

Alan bent over to her.

"You be good and be sure to wear your thermals."

"Huh? What's that?" Tara said.

"Thermals, they keep you warm in cold weather," he said. "You wear them so you won't catch a cold and die and regenerate on us."

"Oookay…" he said while Alan chuckled.

He tousled his niece's hair.

"Look after your father and help him keep his mind off of finding a cure for Serena. He needs to stop thinking about that for awhile and just have fun with you."

"Okay, I will."

"Good girl."

He hugged and kissed her on the cheek.

"Have fun," he said to the Doctor as he walked past him to the garage.

"Always," he replied, looking back. "Come on, Tara, let's go find some adventure!"

"Yay!" Tara said, running after him while the rest of the adults chuckled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Right, my little adrenaline freak," the Doctor said as he closed the TARDIS door behind him and Tara, "where are we going?"

"Um…I don't know, Daddy, where do you wanna go?"

"I can go anywhere you wanna go. Is there something you wanna see?"

Tara thought for a moment.

"Can we just go someplace random?" she said.

"You mean, use the randomizer?" the Doctor said.

"Yeah."

"If I do that, then you have to stay by my side because that means we could be heading into anything, even a dangerous planet. You're thirteen now and I think you can handle the danger but I want you to be alert and do what I say, is that clear?"

"Yes, Daddy."

"Alright, then we'll use the randomizer. Now, do you remember how to start up the TARDIS?"

Tara walked to the console. The Doctor followed her, watching while she slowly powered up the ship. He smiled when she didn't make any mistakes.

"Good. Perfect. I'm proud of ya," he said, laying a hand on her shoulder.

His hearts warmed when he saw the proud smile on her face. He knew she was trying to make him proud of her and it made him happy that she was trying so hard to be a Time Lady. Even though he tried not to play favorites among his children, he did find himself gravitating toward Tara and giving her extra attention. He figured it was because of the horrors that she had gone through, all the pain and suffering and the need to protect her and guide her so she could become the young, confident, strong woman he knew she was inside. He wanted so much to be the father figure she was hoping for and be there for her in every way. The fact that she was so eager to help and become a Time Lady endeared her to him even more and he actually loved when they were alone together so he could give her a little extra attention and watch with happiness while she shook off the demons of her past and became a young lady. He figured he would also do that with Dorothy but for the moment she was still too young to come with him full time and both Jenny and Dex were grown and able to handle themselves in any situation. His daughter was like Rose, Donna, Rain and other women like them, a woman who needed to be shown her potential and be allowed to grow into her true self. It was part of the reason why he indulged her like this but he had to admit the unconditional love and adoration she gave him was another bonus. She was an extraordinary young woman and he felt blessed that she had found him and enriched his life. As with everyone else in his family, he couldn't imagine being without her now.

When they were in the vortex, the Doctor turned on the randomizer and looked at Tara.

"Ready?"

"Ready, Daddy."

"Right, let's hit the button and see where we land up then," he said, hitting a button on his keyboard.


	279. Chapter 279

Chapter Two Hundred and Seventy Nine

"The man is barking mad," Jackie said while Alan and the others stood inside her home. "I can't believe he takes Tara out on dangerous trips when she's still just a child."

"Mum, she'll be alright. Trust me; she can take care of herself. She grew up with the threat of abuse and death hanging over her head. If anything, she looks after the Doctor more than he looks after her," Rose said to her.

"Well, least the man has enough sense not to take the four year olds into danger," Jackie muttered.

"Jackie, my brother is a lot more responsible than you think he is," Alan said. "He loves the children with all his hearts and he wouldn't be so reckless that he'd put their lives in danger. I…"

He paused a moment and then looked at the others.

"Am I missing something here or did Brother and Tara just disappear from my mind?" he said to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor gritted his teeth when the TARDIS began to vibrate violently.

"Daddy? What's going on?" Tara said, holding onto the railing next to the jump seat.

"I don't know but I think we're crossing voids and I didn't turn the void crosser on," the Doctor said.

"He felt everyone wink out of his mind except for Tara and nodded.

"Yup, we've crossed the void," he said to her.

He knelt down to check the void crosser and noticed it was on.

"Now how'd that happen? I didn't touch it. Unless I hit it with my leg?" he muttered.

The vibrating ceased and the Doctor checked the monitor.

"We've crossed a void, not sure which one though since I didn't program our destination," he said to Tara while she came up beside him. "You wanted an adventure, my Star, I think you're gonna get one."

A few minutes later, the TARDIS landed and powered down. The Doctor checked the monitor.

"Sepheroth. I know Sepheroth in our universe and it was a pretty benign planet. I'm not sure about this universe though, so stay by me."

She nodded and took his hand while he followed him to the front door. He made her stand behind him, opened the door and looked out. The first thing he noticed was the bare ground that was littered with rocks and debris and in the distance stood the ruins of an old stone house. There was a gaping hole in the side of it that the Doctor figured was from a bomb or missile. He glanced around but there was no sign of a battle. Keeping a hold of his daughter's hand, he stepped outside with her and shut the door behind them.

"Daddy, does Sepheroth look like this in the other universe?" Tara said, looking around.

"No, Star, it's a lush, green, peaceful planet. They haven't had a war in eons. That house looks like it's been blown apart which isn't a good sign."

"So someone invaded here?"

"Maybe. Let's hope if that's the case, they're long gone now. Just keep your eyes open and be ready for anything."

"Okay, Daddy."

They walked across the barren land towards the house, both of them looking around for any signs of danger. They made it over to the house and the Doctor went inside the hole. He didn't see anything and he took Tara's hand and helped her inside. The interior had a smooth stone floor. There was a wooden table and chairs, all smashed and splintered with the pieces scattered across the room. Other than that, there was nothing in the room. The Doctor and Tara quietly moved across the room to a wooden door. They stopped halfway across the room when they smelled a rotten odor coming from it. The Doctor reached into his pocket, took out two handkerchiefs and gave one to Tara. He put his handkerchief over his mouth and nose and Tara did the same before they walked to the door. The Doctor put his hand on the doorknob, slowly opened it and looked inside. There was another gaping hole in the wall on the other side of the room and light flooded in from outside. The Doctor opened the door further and stared down with disgust at a putrid, decaying body of a woman and child. Flies buzzed around what was left of them and whatever color the flesh had been before, it was now black and purple. The Doctor waved Tara back and shut the door.

"Why would someone leave them in there, Daddy?" Tara asked through the handkerchief.

"Dunno, Star, but I don't like it. I have a bad feeling about this. I think we should go back to the TARDIS and go somewhere else. I don't feel comfortable havin' you here."

They went back out the hole and removed the handkerchiefs.

"Come on, let's find somewhere else to go," he said while he put his back in his pocket.

"Daddy?"

The Doctor looked up and noticed that Tara was standing just around the corner looking at something. She looked at him.

"Have you ever been to this Sepheroth before?" she asked.

"Not to my knowledge, why?"

"Cause your picture is on this wall," Tara said, pointing to the wall in front of her.

The Doctor walked over to her. He turned and was taken aback when he saw a large poster plastered on the back of the stone wall. It was a photo of his head and shoulders. He could tell he was dressed in a black outfit. His eyes burned black while he glared at the camera.

"What are you mad about?" Tara said.

"Dunno, I've never had this photo of me taken before."

He noticed a bulge underneath the bottom of the poster. He grabbed the bottom of it and gently lifted it up and out away from the wall. A large manila envelope slipped out and landed on the ground. He picked it up. Tara watched while he opened it up and pulled out a large stack of papers, stapled together and folded in two. He pulled out his glasses, put them on, and read the top sheet.

"What is it, Daddy?"

"Arrest notice. For a Thomas Silva for treason and insurrection."

"What's insurrection mean?"

"Means he was fighting against someone."

"Who was he fighting?"

"Someone called Procuratore Istruito Della Corte. That's Italian. It means Learned Court Prosecutor."

He froze.

"Learned Court Prosecutor," he murmured to himself.

His eyes drifted over to the poster. He took in the black outfit and the hard, cold expression of his double and the bile rose in his throat as the arrest notice and envelope slipped out of his hands and fell to the ground.

"Tara, come, we have to get out of here now!" he said, taking her hand.

"Daddy, what's going on?"

"I'll explain when we get back in the TARDIS and get back in the vortex. We're in grave danger and I don't wanna waste time explaining it here. Just run with me!"

They sprinted back towards the TARDIS. While they ran, Tara looked up and was shocked when she saw the terrified look on her father's face. Ever since she knew him, she had never seen him scared of anything. In every situation, he was always cool and calm and completely in control. The fact that he was frightened made her frightened too. The Doctor sensed his daughter's fear in his mind and instantly felt guilty and fought to get his emotions back under control.

_Shhh, it's alright, my hearts, don't be afraid. I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to frighten you like that,_ he thought to her.

_Daddy, what's going on? Why are you so scared?_ She thought back.

_I'll explain when we get inside…_

He cut his thought off when he noticed two men coming around behind the TARDIS. They were both dressed from head to toe in black leather with black leather gloves and boots. In the distance a long gray hovercar convertible was parked on the ground and another man sat in the driver's side staring at them quietly. Tara backed up slightly when the men beside the TARDIS came close to them.

"My Lord? What are you doing out here?" the man on the right said. "I thought you were off leading the battle on Oculora."

The Doctor swallowed hard. He could sense Tara staring up at him in confusion but he dared not make eye contact with her. Thinking fast, he stiffened his body and gave them a haughty look.

"I decided to come back, is something wrong with that?" he barked at them.

"Sorry, my Lord, we were just wondering," the man said. "We detected your TARDIS on the radar scanners and rushed out here to see what was wrong. You said it would be awhile before you returned here. And who is the child?"

The Doctor swallowed hard.

_Tara, trust me. You do trust me, don't you?_ He thought to her.

_Yes, Daddy, I trust you. _

_I'd never hurt you, never in a million years, I would die before I did that, please remember that. I must pretend to be cruel for the moment but it's only pretend, remember that, my Star._

_Okay,_ Tara thought, confused.

She gasped when the Doctor jerked on her arm at the same time he sent love into her mind.

"This is my slave," the Doctor said to the men. "I killed her mother and took her captive. She belongs to me now!"

He loathed himself for saying that, knowing that was exactly what happened to Tara in real life. But he knew that the only way they could get away safely is if he pretended to be Him. He could feel his daughter's complete confusion but he didn't want to tell her what was going on. Didn't want to admit that what happened here could have happened in his universe if he hadn't let her and the rest of his family into his hearts.

"I see, my Lord, do you need a ride back to your palace or will you take your TARDIS back instead?"

"I'll take my TARDIS back. Go on without me," he said.

"What about the slave girl? Shall we take her with us?"

"No, I have need of her now. She'll accompany me back."

"As you wish, my Lord."

The men bowed and turned. Tara watched quietly while they walked back and got into the car. They watched while it lifted into the air, did a U-turn and zoomed away. Once the car was out of sight, the Doctor embraced his daughter. He held her tightly while he poured love into her mind.

"I love you, Star. I love you completely," he said to her.

"I love you too, Daddy," Tara replied.

She frowned when the Doctor held her close to his body and gently rubbed her back.

"I'm sorry for saying I killed your mother and took you captive, please forgive me for saying that," he said to her.

"Daddy, what's going on? Why did you have to say those things? Why did they call you their Lord? Who are those people?" Tara asked.

The Doctor sighed deeply.

"Come into the TARDIS and I'll explain," he said dully.

He got back up and the Doctor took her hand. He took out his key, unlocked the door, and kissed the top of her head before he let her go inside. He quickly shut the door and they walked towards the console.

"There are many alternate worlds, my Star, millions and possibly billions," he said to her. "And some of them have alternate versions of us, yeah?"

She nodded. He sank down onto the jump seat and Tara sat down beside him.

"Before I met you, before I met your mother and fell in love with her, I ended up alone after I pushed Rose and Alan away and had to wipe Donna's memories of me in order to save her. Even before that, people would leave me, either through death or their own choice and sometimes I would make them leave. Anyway, after I lost Rose and Donna, I was at the end of my tether and I didn't feel like I could go on and things just kept getting worse and worse for me and I wished I could die permanently."

He put his arm around Tara when he saw the tears in her eyes.

"Shh, my hearts, that's not the way I feel now. Now I have you and everyone else. I have so much to live for…but back then I didn't and on top of constantly losing people I kept dealing with stress and heartache and it felt like the whole entire universe was against me. There's this darkness inside me that sometimes…bubbles to the surface, rage and anger and despair that is hard for me to control and with every new heartache, that darkness and rage took hold of me more and more. Luckily, that was stopped the moment I found Alan and Rose and became a part of their family. Then I fell in love with your mother and married her and she healed me and took the darkness from my mind and soul and gave me peace. And now I have all of you, all of our family, and they've helped healed me."

"Me too?"

He smiled tenderly.

"Yes, you too, Tara. Having you and the other children around have done wonders for me. Where I once saw only darkness and despair, I now see only happiness and hope and it's because of the love that surrounds me."

Tara smiled and hugged him. The Doctor held her tightly and rubbed her back while he continued to talk.

"But even though I'm healed now, that doesn't mean other versions of myself are and from what I can deduce, this universe has another me in it, a me that didn't get healed, whose hearts became corrupted and he turned evil and started calling himself the Valeyard."

"That can't be true, Daddy. You're not evil," Tara said, looking at him.

He smiled and rubbed her nose with his finger.

"I'm not evil, no. but those men didn't recognize you which means you aren't a part of my life here and I'm guessing if you're not, then no one else in our family is either. I know it's hard for you to fathom this, Tara, because you met me after I was healed and I would never hurt you in any way, but this version of me, the one the men mistook me for, is hard hearted and filled with rage and hatred of everything and everyone and he would hurt you. There was a Valeyard in our universe as well. A shadow version of myself made up of the darkness of all of my lives. We defeated him permanently in our universe but as I'm finding out, the Time Lords were wrong about us existing only in one dimension and that means that the Valeyard could exist elsewhere, except here he's not a dark thought sprung to life, he's me."

"So, is that how you knew what to say to them, Daddy?"

"I guessed at that, but yes, I can imagine how the me here acts and I guess I was bang on because they believed it."

"Are you gonna fix things here?" Tara said.

"I want to, but…oh my hearts, I don't want you here. This is far too dangerous. I never should have used the randomizer. I shouldn't have gambled with fate like that. If the real Valeyard comes back and finds you, he'll show you no mercy. He isn't like me, he won't love you. He doesn't love anyone except himself and he won't care if you get hurt or die."

"But the man said he was gonna be gone a long time. Maybe we can go to his palace and find a way to stop him before he gets back," Tara said.

"You realize that you'd be stopping me, right?"

"No, because you're my Daddy," Tara said emphatically. "You're the good, sweet version of my daddy and the other person is evil and wrong, so he's not you."

The Doctor smiled at that. He held her closer and sent love into her mind.

"Now see, this is why as long as all of you are in my life, I will never turn into the Valeyard," he murmured.

He chuckled when she let out a cheer at that. Tara looked at her father.

"So…do you wanna go and stop the Valeyard then?"

"Tara, love, are you sure? This is dangerous, far more dangerous than anything you've ever faced. The Valeyard will not hesitate to hurt or kill you and…"

He swallowed hard.

"If they think I'm him, I must pretend to be him and act like him and that may mean getting a bit rough with you and being mean and insulting."

"But it's an act and I won't mind because I know you're my Daddy and you love me. I can pretend with you."

"Yes, but this isn't a game, Tara. So if I let you do this, you can't treat it as a game, do you understand me?"

She nodded.

"Now, thankfully, I told those two that you were my new slave girl, which means I can keep you near and they won't think anything of it. But if you have to leave my side to do something, do not mouth off to anyone or cause trouble. The last thing I want is for you to end up in a torture chamber or a prison cell. You are s'posed to be a slave girl, so you pretend to be one, alright?"

Tara nodded. The Doctor shook his head slowly.

"I must be mad letting you do this. If anything happens to you…"

"I'll be careful, Daddy, I won't get hurt. I want to help you and be a good Time Lady."

The Doctor smiled at that and kissed her forehead. He had a thought, stood up and took his manipulator out of his trouser pocket. He entered coordinates into it and then lifted up her left sleeve and put it around her upper arm.

"If you get in trouble, if someone is threatening you, I want you to push the big button on this manipulator so you can teleport back here to the TARDIS," he said, lowering her sleeve back down. "Don't worry about me if that happens, just get yourself away from the danger, got that?"

Tara nodded. The Doctor cupped her face with his hands.

"Remember, always remember, that I love you more than anything and anything I say or do that contradicts that is playacting on my part and I don't mean it."

"I know, Daddy."

The Doctor pressed a firm kiss to his daughter's forehead. He made her sit down while he talked to the TARDIS, asked her to find the palace and take them there. There was a moment's pause and then the rotor came to life and the TARDIS vanished, taking them both directly to the Valeyard's palace.


	280. Chapter 280

Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty

When the TARDIS took off, the Doctor instructed her to stay in the vortex for a moment while he went to change. He left Tara in the console room, not quite sure what she should wear yet. Dully, he climbed to the wardrobe room, dreading what was about to happen. He didn't mind facing the Valeyard on his own but his daughter was now with him and that gave him cause for concern. He reached the first level of the wardrobe room and looked up at the ceiling.

"Girl, I need a copy of his clothes," he said to her.

There was a flash and the Valeyard's black robes, gloves, boots and skullcap appeared at his feet. He stared at them with disgust while memories of the last time he was forced to wear the black robe came flooding back into his mind. He wanted to run away, wanted to get back over the void as fast as he could, but he knew if he tried, the TARDIS would shut down and refuse to leave until he defeated him. He suspected she had a hand in bringing him here. He wondered if this meant he would spend his time hunting down all the Valeyards in all the universes.

"If I'm going to do this, then I want you to do something for me, Old Girl. I can't let him come back, find you and take you. So I need you to go back out of the palace to a safe location and wait there. I'll take my Stattenheim remote control just in case and Tara has my manipulator and it's programmed to take her directly to you in case something happens. If he does come back and she has to come in here, hide her somewhere and seal the door so he can't find her. Protect her at all costs, TARDIS."

The TARDIS grunted an affirmative and sent love into his mind. Sighing, he grabbed his tie and began to disrobe.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tara sat in the console room thinking over everything her father had said to her. She couldn't believe her father had an evil double in another universe. She had seen him get angry before but she would never have thought he was an evil maniac. She had been unnerved by how terrified he had been and how quickly he wanted to leave and she wondered what happened the other times he had faced the Valeyard. She looked up at the ceiling.

"TARDIS, is my daddy really evil?" she said to her.

_No, Beloved, he spoke the truth. He's no longer in any danger of turning into that monster,_ the TARDIS thought back.

"But, why did you come here? My Daddy doesn't wanna be here and he doesn't want me to be here," she said.

_You can help him. The Valeyard isn't the only problem that needs to be taken care of. There are others who need to be freed from enslavement._

"Who?" Tara said.

_The alternate versions of your mother, Alan, Jack, Rose and Donna._

Tara was dumbfounded.

"My mommy's a slave here?" she said.

_Yes. But in this reality, your mother never met your father and fell in love with him. She was captured in battle and just happens to be enslaved here. Alan, Jack, Rose and Donna, however, were taken and imprisoned when this universe's Doctor became the Valeyard._

"What about everyone else? What about Jenny and Awinita and Grace and the rest of my family?" Tara said.

_Jenny was never found and he never met any of the others. I have no idea what's become of them. I only know that the Valeyard is holding your mother, uncles and aunts in his palace. Jack is imprisoned in the dungeon. Your mother, Rose and Donna are his concubines and Alan…Alan's mind is enslaved by some chip on the back of his neck and he works for the Valeyard as his servant. _

"So, if I use my screwdriver on the chip, that'll turn it off?" Tara said.

_Yes, if you can get close enough to him, you can free him with your screwdriver and he can help you free the others. That's how you can help your father, my Beloved. Help free the ones you and he love in the other universe._

"Okay, I'll do it!"

"You'll do what?"

Tara turned her head around and froze when she saw her father. He was wearing the Valeyard's outfit. The Doctor sighed when he saw her shock and walked over to her.

"I hate this outfit so much," he said, cupping her face.

"You look like a dweeb, Daddy."

He chuckled.

"I feel like a dweeb, Tara. Now about my question…What will you do?"

"The TARDIS talked to me and told me some things I need to do while we're in the palace."

"Oh? And those things are…"

She hesitated.

"I'm not sure I should tell you," she said softly.

"He has her, doesn't he? Your mother is his prisoner, is that what you're afraid to tell me?"

She nodded.

"And Aunt Donna and Aunt Rose and Uncle Jack and Uncle Alan. The TARDIS said you never found Jenny or the other people in our family so they're the only ones. She wants me to help you free them. Mommy and Rose and Donna are…concubines and Uncle Jack's in the dungeon and Uncle Alan's got some kind of chip on his neck that makes him a slave so if I can use my screwdriver and turn it off, I can free him."

The Doctor's stomach turned and he said a silent curse along with a silent prayer that they were all safe.

"TARDIS said you never really met Mommy, you captured her in battle and she just happens to be your slave."

The Doctor let out a ruthful laugh.

"That figures. Like I said, your mummy was one of the main reasons why I healed so if she's never in the picture then she's not around to help me get rid of all the darkness. Ironic that I apparently end up meeting her anyway under different circumstances. Listen, if you try to free Alan, make sure you can get to the chip without him getting a hold of you. Because I'm sure if he's under the Valeyard's influence, he's no longer the silly, sweet guy you and I know and he probably will stop at nothing to stop you from freeing him or the others. So be careful. Same with Jack. I'm sure the dungeon has guards and they won't let you waltz in and out of there with your screwdriver. I might be able to free Rain, Rose and Donna if they're my concubines and I'll try to help you with Alan and Jack but…be careful. Be mindful of your surroundings every minute. Like I said, this is not a game. Alright?"

She nodded and the Doctor hugged her tightly, whispered I love you in her ear and gave her a kiss before he asked the TARDIS to fly them to the palace.

"I'm asking the TARDIS to leave us and go to a safe location after she lands," the Doctor said to her while they stood by the monitor. "I have a remote control that can call her back to me in case of emergency and your manipulator is programmed to bring you here but I can't let the Valeyard get a hold of my ship and use it along with his own."

"Daddy, is it because you knew Rose and Donna and Jack and Alan before you met Mommy, is that why they're the Valeyard's prisoners?"

"More than likely. All of them were extremely close to me except for Alan. Alan, I became close to after I started traveling with them in China but I'm guessing he either wanted him as a servant or he tried to fight him when he tried to take Rose and he got caught along with her. But yes, I'm guessing that's why everyone except Rain is his prisoner. I wouldn't have met Awinita or Maddie or Julie or anyone that came after I traveled with Alan and I didn't know the rest of Torchwood that well until after I got back to the other universe. Grace would have stayed in San Francisco, Sarah and the kids would have stayed in Ealing, Wilf would have stayed in Chiswick, I would never have found River or Jennifer or Anita or Lee and Alan and I would never have met you or any of the other kids so that narrows it down to Rose, Donna, Jack and Alan as the people I'd most likely go after."

"Isn't this thing hot, Daddy?" Tara asked, fingering the robe.

He chuckled.

"Very. And itchy. The first thing I'll do when we get back in here is peel it off and jump in the shower. Believe it or not, this was formal wear on Gallifrey."

"Ugh!"

"Yes, my thoughts exactly."

"I wish we could tell everyone in the other universe what's happening," Tara said.

"I do too, but at the same time, I don't want your mum and Alan and Rose and everyone else coming here and complicating and confusing things. It'll be difficult enough rescuing this universe's version of our family members without the originals running around."

The TARDIS landed and powered down. The Doctor sighed and put his gloved hand on his daughter's shoulder.

"Stay near me for awhile. Act like you did when you were captives of the nutters because I'm pretty sure the Valeyard would treat you the same way."

"Okay, Daddy."

He gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"I love, love, love you," he said.

"I know, know, know it."

He chuckled and gave her another kiss on the cheek.

"Alright, my Star, it's showtime," he said to her.

He reached down and grabbed her arm. Tara lowered her head and her eyes and shuffled along while he walked with her to the front door.

"Here goes nothing," the Doctor said.

"I'm ready, Daddy," Tara said, glancing up at him.

The Doctor gave her a proud smile and sent love into her mind before he opened the door. He was startled when he saw his clone standing in front of the door. Instead of his usual trousers and t-shirt he was dressed like the men in the hovercar. The Doctor swallowed hard when he saw the blank look on his face.

"Brother. Oh, my Brother, what has he done to you?" he whispered under his breath.

"Welcome back, Master," the clone said. "I wasn't expecting you home so soon."

_Daddy, get him with your screwdriver,_ Tara thought.

_I don't have it on me. I don't have any pockets in this sodding thing,_ the Doctor thought back.

_I'll do it then,"_ she thought while she took her screwdriver out of her pocket.

"Kneel!" the Doctor said to the clone.

His hearts ached when the clone fell to his knees without hesitation. He pictured Alan in the same position and quickly shook that thought away. They both saw a small metal disc affixed to the back of his neck. Tara put the tip of her screwdriver against it and turned it on. The Doctor winced when the clone's mouth opened in a silent yell of pain and then his head drooped forward.

"Alan? Brother, are you alright?" the Doctor said.

Suddenly, the clone let out an enraged yell and lunged at him, seizing him around the throat.

"You bastard! I'll kill you for hurting Rose!" he yelled at him.

"No, wait! You don't understand!" the Doctor grunted out while he tried to fight him off.

"No, get off him, he's good, he's not the real Valeyard!" Tara said, grabbing his arm. "We're from a different universe. He's my good Daddy, don't hurt him."

The clone paused. He glanced at Tara and then let up. The Doctor gasped while the clone stared at Tara in confusion.

"What do you mean, you're from another universe?" he said to her.

"I mean, we crossed the void, Alan, and we ended up here," Tara said.

"Alan? My name's not Alan, it's John," he said.

"It is?"

John nodded.

"Let me guess, John Smith," the Doctor said.

"Yup, that's me. Now where are Rose and Donna and Jack?"

"I don't know. We just arrived here," the Doctor said. "We were pulled here from our universe. My daughter and I were trying to go somewhere in that reality and I guess the TARDIS had other ideas."

"Daughter?" John said, frowning.

"Yup, I'm Tara, I'm his daughter. And in the other universe, your name is Alan and you're my uncle."

"Uncle?" John said.

He looked at the Doctor.

"In my universe, my clone and I reconciled and we adopted one another as brothers," the Doctor said. "I don't know if your Doctor would have done the same had he not turned, but rest assured, John, I do want you rescued and away from this place."

"Well, wait…if we're brothers in your universe, what about Rose?"

"Rose is married to my clone. I married someone else. Who, funnily enough, is here, although that was just by chance. Her name is Rain. Native American woman with long black hair? At least that's what she looks like in my universe."

John thought for a moment.

"I think I know who you're referring to. She's one of the concubines along with Rose and Donna."

The Doctor nodded.

"The TARDIS told Tara that," he said to him.

John looked at her.

"Your daughter, eh?" he said.

"Yes, I have three daughters along with Dex."

John jerked his head back and stared at him with wide eyes.

"Dex? You mean Gallifrey didn't burn in your universe?"

"No, it did but he ended up on Earth. He used the chameleon arch and made himself human."

"Really? Where on Earth?"

"Georgia in the US in 1863. Why? Are you going to search for him now?"

"Maybe, once we get away from this place."

"You got a TARDIS too?" Tara asked.

"I will have once I get the Valeyard's TARDIS away from him."

"But that's…the Doctor," she said, catching herself before she called him Daddy.

John shook his head.

"Not as far as I'm concerned, Tara. The Doctor's dead, he died the moment he accepted the darkness. I have to be the Doctor now, for the sake of the universe."

"Will you take companions with you?" Tara asked.

"Maybe, why?"

"Um…can you take Rain with you? I mean, I know you love Rose but she's my Mommy's clone and I want her to travel with you too."

John glanced at the Doctor who smiled and shrugged.

"If she's anything like my Rain, she'll be a great asset to ya."

"Yeah, but don't call her Snotbag or she'll punch ya," Tara said.

John frowned.

"Snotbag? Why would I call her that?" he said.

"That's what Uncle Alan's always calling Mommy. I mean, he teases her and stuff but she knows it's just teasing so it's cool."

John looked at the Doctor.

"Your clone goes around calling people Snotbag?" he said in disbelief.

The Doctor grinned and looked at Tara.

"Tara, I don't think John here is as silly as Alan is," he said to her.

"Silly?" John said.

"My brother decided to be different from me and also to let go of the darkness that led your Doctor to become the Valeyard. So he's basically a very happy-go-lucky man who likes to sing and dance and act silly."

John raised his eyebrow.

"I see. Well, I s'pose I didn't develop the same way my counterpart did," he said to him. "I haven't had much time to be jolly. I was trying to settle down with Rose when my Doctor comes barging back in and kidnaps us both. I fought him so she could get away but he knocked me out and the next think I know I was laying on a table in the Valeyard's laboratory and I get this thing put on my neck. But anyway, nice to know things are working out somewhere and you do have a daughter and a wife and you aren't at your clone's throat. And thank you for turning this thing off and releasing me from it. Now we can go rescue the others and get the hell outta here before the real Valeyard comes back."

"Daddy?"

"Yes, Tara."

"I keep waiting for John to say something silly or make up words like Alan does and it feels weird that he doesn't. Do you feel the same way?"

The Doctor snickered.

"Yeah, just a tad weird, Tara."

"Is my counterpart a constant comedian or something?"

"Mm-hmm," the Doctor and Tara said, nodding.

"Well, I'm sorry if I'm not exactly like…Alan," he said to Tara.

"It's okay, I'll get used to ya soon," Tara said. "But shouldn't we go ahead and go find everyone else?"

"Yup, I think so. And on that note, I'll be sending my TARDIS to a safe place," the Doctor said.

"What happens if you need it?" John said.

"I have my Stattenheim remote control and she has a vortex manipulator like Jack has."

"Oh, okay, just as long as you two have some kind of plan in motion," he said to them.

_Daddy, this is weird,_ Tara thought. _I keep waiting for him to say something silly like Uncle Alan._

_I know, my Star, but that just proves our Alan is unique,_ he thought back.

The Doctor thought for a moment.

"Would you mind terribly accompanying my daughter while we're here? I'll go find where they're keeping the women if you two wanna concentrate on freeing Jack."

"I can do that," John said. "But what do I say if someone stops us?"

"Just tell them I commanded you two to do some sort of errand for me."

John made the okay sign with his fingers. They watched while the Doctor patted the front of the TARDIS.

"Okay, Girl, go and hide now," he said.

They stepped back and watched while it dematerialized. Once it was done, the Doctor turned to Tara and John.

"Right, now that that's taken care of, let's save the rest of the people and get this situation sorted once and for all."


	281. Chapter 281

Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty One

After splitting up, Tara followed John while he led her down to the dungeons. He glanced down at her while they walked.

"So, how long have you been his daughter?" he asked her.

"About a year. I'm not the only one. He's got another daughter named Dorothy; she's four, and then his daughter, Jenny."

John stopped her.

"Jenny's alive?" he said.

"Yeah, I guess she came back to life after Daddy left her on…um…"

"Messaline?"

"Yeah, Messaline. She came back to life and took off in a shuttle."

"God, I wonder if our Jenny's alive then," he murmured.

"Maybe she is," Tara said while they resumed walking. "She lives in the house next door to us. I love her, she's a wonderful sister."

"House? Your Doctor lives in a house?"

"Um…kinda. We live on New Hope and we brought houses next to each other and live together. But my daddy uses the house to kinda rest in between flights in the TARDIS. We call it Little Gallifrey though. You need to do something like that. The reason why Alan got better was because he made a little family for himself. He and Rose and this girl named Awinita went around the US and then they met my mommy and took her along and then they met this other girl named Mingxia and finally the Doctor found them again and they all became a family."

"What about you? When did you enter the picture?"

"Um…a few months after daddy found them. I grew up with these nutty Satanists and was abused and I finally escaped and I found everyone in Florida when I hid in their campsite. I asked the Doctor to be my daddy and he adopted me after he changed me."

"Changed you?"

"Yeah, there was this magical fox spirit named Imiko. She changed everyone into Time Lords and Ladies and gave Daddy some magic crystals that change people into Time Lords and Ladies and they never run out so he can change whoever he wants and…"

John stopped her.

"Let me get this straight. You're a Time Lady then?" he said to her.

"Yeah. Well, I'm half a Time Lady right now because I won't get my Time Lady mind until I'm twenty. But I've got two hearts and I can stop my breathing and I can regenerate if something happens. Almost everyone in our family is a Time Lord or Lady."

"And does that include…Alan?"

"Yup. But he changed because he used the chameleon arch."

John stared at her.

"Bloody hell, why didn't I think of that? That tears it; I will get the TARDIS back from the Valeyard then so I can change myself."

"You're still half human?" Tara said while they resumed walking.

"Yes, I am and I hate it. I hate being some kind of mixed up oddity. I wanna be a full blooded Time Lord."

"If we rescue everyone and get them to safety, ask the Doctor if he'll let you have some crystals. Then you can change Rose and Donna and Jack and Rain into Time Lords and Ladies."

"Why? Are all of them changed in your universe?"

"Yes. Jack's kinda different though because he's a Time Lord but he's still immortal. So he won't ever regenerate."

"This is making my head spin, Tara. I not only find out there's a duplicate Doctor but he's making Time Lords and Ladies with magic crystals."

"Yup and I'm glad he is, because I love being a Time Lady, it's fun."

John smiled at her.

"I'm glad you enjoy being one. I haven't known you long but I think you'd make an excellent Time Lady."

He patted her on the shoulder when Tara grinned from ear to ear. They walked for another few feet and then John stopped her in front of a door.

"This leads down to the dungeons, Tara, so best to keep quiet now just in case guards are down there."

Tara nodded. She took out her screwdriver and opened the door for them. John took her hand and they headed down the stone steps.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor made his way down the corridors, searching for the concubine's room. So far, he hadn't had much success. He couldn't open any doors without his screwdriver and he was getting frustrated. He hated that he couldn't talk to Rain, Rose or Donna telepathically and ask them where they were. He was so used to telepathic conversation with them that it felt weird not being able to do it.

He turned down another corridor and saw a couple of leather clad men walking along. Thinking fast, he assumed a haughty demeanor.

"You there!" he said to them.

They stopped and bowed.

"Yes, my Lord?" they said.

"Take me to my concubines. I wish to choose one for my bed," he said.

"At once, my Lord," the man on the right said.

They turned and he followed them back down the corridor.

_At last, now we're getting somewhere,_ the Doctor thought to himself.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After turning right and then left, they finally stopped halfway down a corridor next to a heavy oak door.

"Here we are, my Lord," the man on the left said.

"Excellent. Unlock the door for me."

The man on the right reached into his pocket and pulled out a large silver ring that had twenty tiny keys on it. He flipped through them, found the right one, and unlocked the door.

"Very good, leave us," the Doctor said, waving his hand.

The men bowed and walked past him. The Doctor waited till they turned the corner and were out of sight before he entered the room. The room was large with a gold tiled floor. There were several large pillows scattered around the room. The Doctor looked to his left and saw Rose lying on a large purple pillow glaring at him silently. She was nearly naked, dressed only in a red two piece bikini. Her long blonde hair was messy. He looked to his right and saw Donna dressed in charcoal trousers and a grey sweater. She was lying across two red pillows, asleep. Beside her an unfamiliar blonde woman sat and stared up at him with a mixture of revulsion and fear. She had hazel eyes, a thin face and wore a blue bikini. He glanced around the room and finally he saw what he was looking for. She was lying in a heap of multicolored pillows; her black hair sprawled out over one of them. She had her back to him and was emaciated with several bruises on her back, legs and arms. She had on a pink bikini that the Doctor had to admit was very unflattering on her. He closed the door and bent down to Rose.

"Where's John?" she growled at him.

"He's safe, Rose," the Doctor said. "Now please listen to me. I know this is gonna sound bizarre but I'm not the Valeyard. I'm the Doctor from another universe. My daughter, Tara, and I were pulled over here by my TARDIS so we could help you lot out. John is with Tara right now and they're going to free Jack. Is Donna alright?"

"Dunno, she's been like that ever since the Doc…Valeyard took her. Said something about needing to keep her sedated so she wouldn't find out the truth and burn up…whatever that means."

"Damn it, that complicates things then," the Doctor muttered. "We have to be careful when we rescue her. She can't wake up and see any of this and in particular, me."

"Why?" Rose said.

The Doctor quickly explained it. Rose stared at Donna in horror.

"Oh God, poor Donna. She gained all that intelligence and it was killin' her?"

"Yes, my other self must have emptied her memories like I did for my Donna. The only difference is we found a solution and my Donna is a Time Lady now. But we can't discuss that now. We have to get all of you back to my TARDIS. But first…"

He stood up and looked at the other blonde haired lady.

"What's your name?"

"Teresa. Teresa Middletown," she said in a soft voice.

"Teresa, I'm the Doctor, nice to meet ya. We're gonna get you out of here, I promise."

"The other woman," Rose said, pointing to Rain, "her name is…"

"Rain," the Doctor said.

Rose was shocked.

"Yeah, how'd ya know that?"

"I know her very intimately in my universe," the Doctor said, walking over to her.

He neared the pillows Rain was lying on and knelt down beside her. His hearts nearly broke when she turned her head and he saw the dejected look on her face. He longed to gather her in his arm, kiss and comfort her but he resisted the urge and instead helped her to sit up.

"Hi, Rain, I'm the Doctor."

"How do you know my name?" she said in a barely audible voice.

He put his right hand on her head.

"I know you in my universe. You're my wife there," he said gently while he showed her his ring.

Rain stared at the ring and looked at his face. The Doctor smiled warmly at her.

"I'm gonna get you out of here, Rain. I promise," he said to her. "You're safe now. All of you are safe."

She stared at him blankly while he gave her a reassuring smile. He stood up and sensed someone behind him. He turned and noticed Rose was standing behind him, hurt etched on her face.

"This is your wife?" she said, gesturing to Rain.

"In my universe, yes, she is," he said.

"But…where am I?"

"You're married to my clone, my brother, Alan," he said to her. "I met Rain when she was traveling with you and another woman named Awinita. By the time, I was reunited with you; you were already married to Alan so I respected your marriage to him. Then Rain and I became close and I fell in love with her."

"You mean…you could let go of me just like that?" Rose said.

"Rose, you have a special place in my hearts and always will, but your double and I think of one another as brother and sister now and that's the kind of affection I have for you. I love you but it's a platonic love. Trust me, Rose, your double and Alan are quite happy together. You aren't missing being with me."

The Doctor sighed when Rose lowered her eyes to the floor and started to walk away. He grabbed her arm and she looked at him.

"Do you love him, Rose? Do you love John?" he said to her.

"I'm tryin' to love him, Doctor. But he's not you and he never will be," Rose said.

"No, he's not but if he's anything like my clone, he's not trying to be and frankly that's one of the reasons why you fell in love with him because he developed a personality of his own, a fun-loving personality that you adore. Now granted, John isn't quite as wild or manic as my Alan. I kinda doubt he'll be bursting into song and dance like mine does. He doesn't seem the type."

He grinned when he saw an amused smile creep onto her face.

"Oh yeah, my clone is quite entertaining, Rose. But, unfortunately, he's married to my Rose and I'm married to my Rain. Very happily married with no plans to divorce her, I might add. So, if I were you, I would concentrate on loving John and forgetting about me. Because even though I haven't become the Valeyard, I have no intention of staying here. I have a life, family and friends and I won't separate myself from them for anything. I'm here to rescue all of you and get you away from my demented counterpart but that's as far as it goes. So please don't make this hard on us, Rose, because I don't need you pining after me in the middle of a rescue attempt. Alright?"

Rose nodded. The Doctor pulled her into an embrace.

"I can't speak for the Valeyard but you'll always have a special spot in my hearts, Rose, just like Donna does. In my world, you and Donna and Rain are sisters and all of you are thick as fleas."

They glanced down at Rain who was staring up at him in bewilderment.

"I'm sisters with her?" Rain said, pointing to Rose.

"In my universe you are. And if you must know, Rose, all of us share a house. You, me, Alan and Rain along with another woman named Maddie and my daughters Tara and Dorothy."

"Daughters?" Rose said.

"Yeah, It's a long story and I'll tell it to you when we're out of harm's way."

"Wait, you have a house?" Rose said, amused.

"Yes, but only for short stops in between my journeys."

"Blimey, you are different from my Doctor," Rose said.

"Well, your Doctor has a lot of baggage and rage and despair churning around inside him which is why he finally let it consume him. I learned to let go of all that and be happy for a change. Now, Rain, can you stand up?"

She nodded and he grabbed her arm. He smiled when Rose got on her other side and helped her to stand.

"Thank you," he said to her. "Now, Rain, walk with us, yeah?"

"What about Donna?"

"I need to contact my daughter and ask her to come back with Jack and John. They can help carry her," the Doctor said.

"Contact, how?" Rose said.

He grinned.

"Through my handy dandy telepathic link."

They helped Rain walked towards the door while the Doctor thought to Tara and spoke with her. By the time they reached the door, the Doctor had finished speaking and told Rose what she said.

"They're coming back, I told Tara to ask John to lead them back here."

"They have Jack then?" Rose said.

"Yup, he's safe and sound," the Doctor said.

"And you just thought to each other?" Rose said.

"Yup, because she and most of my family are Time Lords and Ladies. And that includes Alan, you and Donna."

"I'm a Time Lady?" Rose said.

"Yup, you are and Alan is a full Time Lord. And you just recently adopted two daughters, Angel and Elizabeth, and they're also Time Ladies so all of you are one happy family."

He smiled when he saw how happy she was.

"See, Rose, it's conceivable you can have a happy life after me," he said to her. "I don't know John, but the moment I freed him from the mind control, he pounced on me and tried to strangle me because he thought I hurt you so there must be some spark of love there."

"Daddy? Are you here?"

The Doctor let go of Rain briefly and stuck his head out the door. He came back inside and Tara, John and Jack followed him in.

"Rose! Oh God, are you alright?" John said, running to her.

"Yes, I'm alright, John."

The Doctor smiled when John kissed her cheek. He took a hold of Rain so John could hold Rose. He held her protectively and kissed the top of her head while Rose laid her head against his chest. She watched Tara as she came up beside the Doctor and took hold of Rain's arm.

"Hi, I'm Tara," she said to her.

"Hi, Tara," she said softly.

Tara glanced at the Doctor.

_I wish I could hug her like Mommy but I better not, right?_ She thought to him.

_Better not for the moment. I can already tell she's freaked out about me being married to her double,_ he thought back.

Tara nodded. She looked at Rose.

"So this is your daughter, yeah?" she said to the Doctor.

"Yup, my pride and joy," he said, tousling her hair.

"She's also quite talkative," Jack said. "She's been filling us in on what's happened in your universe. I can't believe I'm actually an immortal Time Lord over there."

"Yup, you are. All of you except for Teresa are Time Lords and Ladies in my universe. And…you're all brothers and sisters. Just one big happy family. And now if someone will get Donna, we can be on our way now."

Suddenly, the door slammed shut beside them. They ran to it and tried to get it open but it wouldn't budge. Then, before any of them could react, a yellow gas shot out of the walls on either side of the doorframes. The last thing the Doctor heard before blacking out was hysterical laughter on the other side of the door.


	282. Chapter 282

Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty Two

Alan sighed. He was sitting with the others in the movie theater trying to watch a movie with them. But he couldn't concentrate on the screen. He had been trying over and over to reach his brother and niece, searching for a glimpse of their minds but so far nothing had turned up. With each passing second, he was getting more and more frightened, wondering what had become of them. Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore and he tapped Rose's shoulder. Rose, who was sitting beside him, turned to look at him with a puzzled look on her face.

"I gotta go, Starlight," he whispered to her. "I gotta try to suss out what happened to the Doctor and Tara."

"Alan…"

Rose watched while Alan got up from his seat and went back up the aisle to the door. Sighing, she told Maddie to look after Elizabeth before she got up and followed him out.

"Alan, wait!" she said when she burst through the theater door and ran to him. He turned to her and took hold of her arms when she reached him.

"Starlight, I've gotta try to find them. Something's wrong. Their minds haven't come back. I can't sit and watch a film while they're in trouble."

"I understand that, Alan. But we don't know where they've gone. He didn't tell us and unless they take off their bio-dampers, we won't be able to track them."

Rose put her hand against his cheek when he let out a frustrated sigh.

"It'll be alright, they're alright, I'm sure of it," Rose said. "Maybe they crossed the void and went somewhere in another universe."

"Then why didn't he tell us so we'd know what happened when their minds disappeared. It's not like him to do that, Rose. He'd tell us if he had that in mind so we wouldn't worry. Damn it, where have they gone?"

Rose sighed and laid her head against his chest. He embraced her and lowered his face to the top of her head while he said a silent prayer that his brother and niece were alright.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tara groaned and slowly opened her eyes. Her vision was blurred and for a moment she was confused about her surroundings. As her vision came back into focus, she looked up and saw Rose kneeling over her.

"Aunt Rose?" she murmured.

"I'm not your aunt, Sweetheart."

With a jolt, she remembered where she was and raised her head.

"I'm sorry, I got confused for a moment," she said, while Rose helped her sit up.

"S'alright, I understand," she said to her.

Tara looked around and saw Rain and Teresa kneeling on the other side of her. She looked past them and saw they had been put into a cramped dirty room with dirty white walls, no furniture and a single light bulb burning overhead. She didn't see any of the men or Donna.

"Where's Daddy and John and Jack and Donna?" she asked Rose.

"I dunno. I woke up and we were the only ones in here. I hope they're alright."

She watched while Tara froze for a moment and then she shook her head.

"I can't feel Daddy's mind. He's still knocked out, I hope."

Rose shook her head.

"That's incredible that you and the Doctor…I wish I could do that," she said.

"I'll ask Daddy to give you crystals when we get back to the TARDIS so you can become a Time Lady and…"

She trailed off.

"What is it?" Rain asked.

Tara checked her arm and let out a sigh of relief when she felt the manipulator under her shirt sleeve. She pulled it up and showed them the manipulator.

"Daddy put this on me. He told me if I was in trouble to hit the button and it'd take me back to the TARDIS. So you guys hold on to me and I'll take you all back and then maybe I can get the TARDIS to go back to my universe so we can go get some of my family."

Everyone held on to her and she hit the button on the manipulator. There was a flash of light and they vanished. The reappeared a few seconds later in the console room. Rain and Teresa looked around in shock and Rose explained where they were while Tara got up and ran to the console.

"TARDIS, we need to go back to our universe. I gotta go get Uncle Alan so he can help us, alright?"

The TARDIS grunted an affirmative. Rose was stunned. She came up beside Tara and watched in disbelief while she turned on the console and powered it up.

"You know how to fly the TARDIS?" Rose said.

"Not really. I know how to start it up. Daddy taught me."

"Must be nice, my Doctor didn't want me breathin' on the console wrong, never mind starting it up."

"TARDIS, can you take us back to Nova so I can get Uncle Alan?" Tara said to the ceiling.

The TARDIS grunted again and they flew into the vortex. Rain and Teresa came up beside Rose and stared at the rotor while Tara sat on the jump seat.

"Better sit or grab hold of something, when we go over the void, it gets bumpy," Tara said to them.

Rose let Rain and Teresa sit beside her while she grabbed a hold of the railing. A few minutes later, the console started to vibrate violently. Rose fought to keep her footing while the other three held on to the seat. A minute later, the vibrating stopped and Tara smiled.

"We're here, I feel the rest of my family and…"

She trailed off.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked, letting go of the railing.

"I'm talking to Uncle Alan. He was worried about us," Tara said to her. "The TARDIS took us over the void and when we go over the void, our minds got cut off so everyone over here couldn't feel us and they were scared that we were knocked out or dead. So I'm just telling him what happened and the TARDIS is gonna land at our house and he and my Aunt Rose are gonna come back home."

"I'll see my double?" Rose said.

"Yup and you'll get to meet Uncle Alan too."

The TARDIS landed and powered down.

"Come on, I'll show you our house," she said, hopping off the seat.

They followed her outside. Rose looked around when she stepped outside the door and noticed they were in a garage. They followed her through the garage door into the living room. The moment they opened the door, the dogs came running.

"This is Rory and Blizzard and Barney, our dogs," Tara said.

The three women knelt down and petted them.

"Oi, my Doctor never had dogs, I'm very jealous," Rose said, petting Blizzard.

She stood up with the other women and Tara gave them a quick tour of the house.

"Wow, this is beautiful, I need to talk to John about gettin' somethin' like this," Rose said while she followed Tara through the house.

While they were looking at Alan and Rose's bedroom, they heard the front door open.

"Tara?" Alan called out.

"We're in here, Uncle Alan!" Tara said, coming out of the bedroom.

Rose hesitated and looked at the other women who were just as unsure as she was. A moment later, Tara came back into the room with Alan behind her. Alan put his hands behind his back and looked at her, then at the other two women. His eyes settled on Rain and he looked out the door.

"Blimey, Rainy, your double's seen better days," he yelled.

"My…double is out there?" Rain said to Alan.

"Yup, we were at the cinema and everyone decided to come home after I told them what Tara told me."

Alan looked behind him when Dorothy and Elizabeth came into the room.

"The blonde one is the Doctor's other daughter, Dorothy, and this little darling is my daughter, Elizabeth."

Rose felt a lump in her throat as she stared at the beautiful brown haired four year old. Elizabeth walked over to her.

"Mummy, can I have a biscuit?" she asked her.

"Um…Lizzy, that's not mummy," Alan said, walking over to her. "Your mummy's out in the living room. Go ask her for a biscuit."

Elizabeth stared at him in confusion. She pointed up to Rose.

"Mummy's right here."

"No, that's a different version of mummy. Trust me; your mummy is sitting on the sofa."

"Okay, Daddy," she said hesitantly.

She walked out the door with Dorothy.

"Sorry 'bout that. My wife and Rain are keeping their distance for the moment. They figured you'd be a bit overwhelmed seeing them. Me? I'm used to seeing double so it doesn't faze me in the least. Anyway, I'm going to go back with my Rose and Rain and rescue my brother and your husband, Jack and Donna and try to stop the Valeyard or at least turn him back into your normal Doctor. You can stay here if you like. Madison is here and she'll look after all of you. I'm sure after word of this gets out around the neighborhood, the others will be in here as well. They tend to do that whenever the Doctor or I get in trouble."

Dorothy walked back into the room with a chocolate chip cookie. Alan patted her on the head.

"I see the children have been allowed sweets," he said. "They're eating machines but I am too so I have no room to talk. Anyway, Tara, stay here and look after…"

"No, I wanna come, Uncle Alan," Tara said.

"Tara, it's dangerous, very dangerous."

"I'm not afraid," she said. "I can help, please let me help. Sarah Jane lets Rani and Luke and Clyde help her fight bad guys."

"She's training to be a Time Lady," Alan said to the women.

"Please, Uncle Alan?"

He sighed.

"Alright, but you…"

"I'll do what you say and I'll stay by your side, I got it," she said, annoyed.

"We say that to her frequently if you hadn't guessed. She's getting tired of hearing it," Alan said to the women.

He looked at Madison when she entered the room.

"Hi, I'm Madison, you can call me Maddie."

They said hello to her. She smiled briefly and then looked at Alan.

"Should I tell the others?"

"Might as well, I'm sure some of them will want to go with us," Alan said. "Go ahead and let everyone know what's goin' on, Te'lesu. I gotta get ready in the meantime."

She nodded.

"I'm fixing supper for all of you," she said to the women.

"If you don't mind, I wanna come back with you," Rose said to Alan. "My John is with them and I wanna help free him."

"Okay…but if you're gonna do that, I believe my wife needs to change her top, wait a tic," he said. "Tara, go and get ready. Dot, come with me. You can help your mum in the kitchen, yeah?"

Dorothy nodded. The three women watched while everyone left the room. When they were gone, Rose looked around. She noticed several small framed pictures on the bedside table and she picked up the one in front. It was a family photo of Alan, Rose, Elizabeth and Angel. Rose smiled while she stared at Elizabeth and the tiny baby her double was holding in her arms.

"Oh John, is this in our future too?" she murmured to herself.

She sat that down and picked up another one. She grinned. It was a photo of the Doctor and Alan. They were in the swimming pool, side by side, holding onto the side while they smiled for the camera. Rose raised her eyebrow when she noticed the Stitch tattoo on Alan's arm. She sat that down and picked up another. She laughed when she saw her double in the photo sitting at a picnic table while Alan held a tiny zebra puppet up to her face. Her double had an amused grin on her face while Alan stared at her with wide eyes. She put it back and stepped back while she stared at the large photo over the bed. It was a photo of everyone in the Doctor's family. Rose put her hand on the headboard so she could lean in and get a closer look. She saw herself kneeling with Alan in the center of the front row. She was smiling while Alan had his arm around her shoulder. On Alan's other side was the Doctor and Rain. She stared at her and glanced back at the alternate version who was standing on the other side of the room with Teresa staring at some knickknacks on top of the chest of drawers. She looked back at the photo and the Doctor's words came flooding back into her mind when she noticed how happy he looked kneeling beside her while he had her arm around her shoulder. Tara and Dorothy were kneeling beside Rain and next to her was a young blonde woman with her hair in a ponytail. She recognized several people in the photo. She saw Jack and Sarah Jane, Martha and Mickey who had their arms around each other while they stood near the end of the second row. In the back row was Wilf along with her mother and father. Her father was holding Tony. Next to Jack in the second row she saw Gwen, Ianto and Jake.

"That's our family photo."

Rose looked at Alan who came up beside her. Teresa and Rain came up beside him and stared at it.

"It's slightly outdated now. Angel and Elizabeth aren't in it and the Doctor's son, Dex, isn't in it either. We need to take another photo now but everyone in the photo is a Time Lord or Lady except for these three in the back. River, Anita and Jennifer are androids but they're also a part of our family."

"My mum here is a Time Lady?" Rose said to him. "And Dad and Tony?"

"Yes."

Rose was taken aback.

"My mum voluntarily became a Time Lady."

He smiled.

"Yeah, because of you. You became a Time Lady first and she did it to be with you and Tony, same for Pete. Martha's mother and sister are here at the back and they also changed so they could be with her and Wilf did it so he could be with Donna."

"And Sarah Jane's a Time Lady as well?"

"Yup."

"You have such a large family," Rose murmured.

"Yup, a very large and loving family who happen to be over here now. Would you like to meet them?"

Rose nodded. He beckoned to her and the other women and they followed them out. Rose's eyes boggled when she noticed the living room now resembled the family photo. The room was filled with the same sea of faces she had seen in the photo, all of them staring at her in wonder while she and Rain and Teresa followed Alan down the hall into the living room. She saw her double standing at the back with Rain's double. Her double now had on a white tank top and her eyes widened when she saw a tattoo on her arm.

"Everyone, this is the other Rose, Rain and this is Teresa," Alan said when they stepped into the room.

Everyone murmured hello and waved to them. Rose noticed a few people were with them that hadn't been in the photo. There were several men and women standing near the back along with a woman with blonde hair and pink highlights and a pale woman with long dark hair. Alan made quick introductions of everyone. When he was finished, everyone murmured hello again. Rose looked over at Donna who waved and smiled at her.

"Okay, now that the introductions are out of the way, we need to assemble our rescue force. My Rose is going along with my double's Rose and Tara and my Rain, anyone else?"

"I am," Awinita said.

"Me too," Jenny said.

"And me," Mingxia said.

"I'd like to but I better stay put. I have a feeling it'll be complicated enough with Rose's double there with you," Donna said.

"I don't give a damn about my double, I'm gonna help the Doc out," Jack said.

"And me," Martha said.

The other members of Torchwood quickly volunteered along with Grace and Julie.

"Anyone else?" Alan said.

"I'll go, I figure Pretty Boy needs all the help he can get," River said.

"Count me in too," Anita said.

"And me," Jennifer said.

"I'll go with you," Dex said.

"I'll go too," Serena said.

"And me!" Amelia said.

"No, you and Opal aren't going this time. It's too dangerous," Patience said.

"But Tara gets to go," Opal said. "Why can't we go?"

"Because I said so," Patience said while they groaned.

Alan looked at Donna.

"Te'lesu, you might as well go with us. Tara told me your double is sedated so I don't think there's a chance we'll get you mixed up with her."

"Why is she sedated?"

"She's…had her memories erased by my Doctor," Alternate Rose said.

"Oh, lovely, so if she wakes up and sees us, we'll get to watch her die," Donna said.

"Well, if that happens, we'll cut off your hand, stick it in a jar and hope for the best," Alan said with a wink.

He glanced at Alternate Rose and saw the shocked look on her face.

"What?" he said.

Tara came up beside him.

"Her John isn't silly like you are," she said to him.

Alan gave Alternate Rose a shocked look.

"He's not? He's not a fun loving goof who makes every day a song and dance?"

Everyone laughed at the odd look on Alternate Rose's face.

"Um…no, my John is quite serious," she said.

"Well, that's no fun for you. Who do you have to amuse ya and make you laugh?"

"Um…we haven't had very much to laugh at lately," Alternate Rose said to him.

Rose walked up to her husband and put her arm around him.

"Come on, Alan; quit criticizing your clone because he isn't the court jester of the alternate universe. We need to herd everyone into the TARDIS so we can rescue everyone."

"Right. Everyone who's going with us, get inside the TARDIS and let's get this rescue mission underway!" Alan said.

Rose smiled at Alternate Rose while the majority of the family headed towards the garage.

"Don't worry, if anyone can rescue the boys and Donna, it's this lot," Rose said to her double.

Alternate Rose nodded and she followed all of them into the garage.


	283. Chapter 283

Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty Three

The Doctor struggled to break free of his restraints while he and John lay on metal tables in a laboratory. The restraints were made of leather and the Doctor had been trying to work one of his hands out of the ones around his wrists.

"Might as well give up, mate," John said after watching him struggle for about fifteen minutes. "All you're gonna do is give yourself chafed and bloodied wrists."

"Yeah, well, that's a price worth paying if it means I get back to my daughter and the others," he said to him

"I'm sure they're fine," John said. "If the Valeyard wanted them dead, he would have killed them by now."

"Well, I can't feel Tara in my head so I'm hoping he only knocked her out," the Doctor replied.

John stared at him quietly.

"You're so different from my Doctor," he finally said.

"Oh? In what way?"

"You've adopted children, made a family for yourself. I can't see my Doctor doing that…or me, for that matter."

"Why not you? What's wrong with having children and a family?"

"I'll lose them in the end," John said.

"I used to think like that but now I know better," the Doctor said.

"How'd ya mean? Aren't you frightened that one day the universe will take this family of yours away from you?"

"Nope. And even if it does, I wouldn't trade one minute of being with them for being alone."

John snorted.

"Why delay the inevitable?" he muttered.

The Doctor stared at him sadly.

"John, can I ask you something?" he finally said.

"What?" John said.

"I'm assuming that events here followed the events in my universe. You were grown from your Doctor's severed hand and you eventually destroyed the Daleks which led to your banishment with Rose?"

"Yeah," John said dully while he stared up at the ceiling.

"When your Doctor left you behind, what did you do?" the Doctor asked.

"I went back to London with Rose and Jackie and Pete. He got me a job at Torchwood and I've been their scientific advisor every since."

"And what about you and Rose? Are you married?"

"No, I don't know if she wants to get married to me. I think she still wants the Doctor," he said while he stared up at the ceiling.

"Do you spend much time with her?"

"Not a lot of time. I'm usually busy working at Torchwood and so is she."

"Then that day on the beach, that's where your paths diverged from Alan and Rose's path," the Doctor said.

"Why? What did he do after you left him alone?" John asked, finally looking at him.

"He went back to London long enough to pack a bag and then he and Rose flew to America and went across it, having fun and seeing the sights."

"Wasn't that a bit irresponsible of them?" John asked.

The Doctor studied him in silence for a moment.

"John, did Jackie and Pete tell you to be responsible?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I was to behave myself and act responsible if I was to live under their roof," John said, rolling his eyes. "I love Rose with all my heart so I did what they said in order to be with her. I thought perhaps if I settled down and became domestic, be what she wanted me to be, she'd love me and not him. I became Rose's domestic darling and tried to be as human as I possibly could in order to please her and her parents."

"And in the process you lost yourself," the Doctor murmured. "No wonder you don't have time for laughter and fun."

"You can talk. If you're anything like my Doctor, you're not exactly a laugh riot."

"No, but my brother taught me to loosen up and be more of a free spirit because that's what he chose to be. My brother didn't care what Jackie and Pete thought. He wasn't about to go to work at Torchwood and he managed to get Rose to take a holiday because he wisely deduced that she and him needed to be by themselves and have some fun so they could bond and work out any problems in their relationship. My brother consciously chose to let go of all the pain and anger and hurt because he was well aware that all that led to the Valeyard. He went one direction and became a fun loving, free spirit. You went in the other direction and ended up a bitter, miserable work-a-holic. And now you're starting to do what I did and push people away because you're convinced that it's only a matter of time before they leave you for good. And I'm betting that eventually you'll see your Rose walk out the door because I'm sure she won't tolerate your melancholy for very long."

He stared at John sadly while John thought that over.

"Another thing that helped was when Alan went on his holiday, he met others that helped him heal and he took a chance and adopted them as his sisters. He also married Rose while they were in Arizona and by the time I came along, he was in a position where he could forgive me and forget what happened between us. I did the same and we became brothers. And because he chose to embrace and enjoy life and clown around and laugh, he not only healed himself, he healed me as well and I love him dearly now. I'm so glad that I chose to let go of my anger towards him and accept him because not only do I have him, I also have all these other family members now."

"So what you're saying is I need to ask the Valeyard for forgiveness and ask him to become my brother."

"No, not in the state he's in. It may be too late for him, but my point is it's not too late for you. You need to change your circumstances and your outlook on life or you'll be the next one to turn into the Valeyard. Don't be afraid to let people into your heart. You've seen Tara. Don't you want someone like her in your life, John?"

"Yes," he murmured.

"Then open your heart and let love in and before long, you'll find someone like her. Maybe even an alternate version of her. My kids are a blessing to me and never once have I thought that I might lose them. I don't do that anymore; concentrate on future events that may never happen. I enjoy my life and the people in it and if one day, God forbid, they are taken from me, then at least I have all the good memories to fall back on."

John stared at him for a moment.

"I wish I had you instead of my Doctor. Alan's a very lucky man," he said to him.

"Well, I'm sorry that your Doctor wasn't quite as forgiving and wasn't able to fend off his demons. But like I said, just because he gave up doesn't mean you have to. You still have a chance at happiness, John. You still have Rose and a future with her, hold on to that."

John nodded and smiled. Their attention was turned to the door when the Valeyard entered. He smiled a twisted smile at John.

"Hello my servant," he said in a sickeningly sweet voice.

"I'd rather die than serve you," John growled.

"Oh, don't say that, then Rose wouldn't have her pet. Who would grow old with her and amuse her? She needs her little lapdog, you know."

His gaze shifted to the Doctor.

"Now, unless I was mistaken, only one clone was created from my hand. So where did you come from?" he said, walking over to him.

"I'm from another universe," the Doctor said.

The Valeyard's eyes swept over his robe and he grinned.

"So, you've taken over another universe then?"

"No, I put this atrocious thing on in order to impersonate you. I have no intention of embracing the darkness and I'm ashamed you did."

"Oh, what a pity. The darkness is much more fun," the Valeyard said. "Still being a goody goody then? Haven't you figured out by now that it's useless to fight?"

"No, because I found a solution to all that and I don't have to fight the darkness anymore."

"Really? How intriguing. Do tell. How did you find a way to fight the darkness that's as much as part of you as your hearts and soul?"

"I surrounded myself with love, that's how!"

The Valeyard rolled his eyes.

"I'm assuming you and I are identical so I'm going to go out on a limb and say that you've tried that before. You've spent centuries trying to love the apes you brought onto your TARDIS but they've always left in the end. Everyone leaves you in the end and I'm sure this new batch will be no different."

"On the contrary, they're very, very different."

The Doctor gritted his teeth when the Valeyard suddenly spun around and grabbed John by the face. John grunted when he jerked his head to the side, forcing him to look at the Doctor.

"See this? This was created from my hand and left on a distant beach with Rose because I hoped Rose would provide him with this love you're talking about. But instead, the reject did exactly what I did; he immersed himself in work and started pushing people away. Even a clone can't help but do what I did so what makes you think you'll succeed?"

"Actually, as I was telling John earlier, my clone did succeed in breaking away from me and doing the opposite of me and he's completely free of anger and hate and darkness. So my theory can work if someone makes the right choices."

John grunted when the Valeyard let go of his face and moved back over to the Doctor's side.

"The child that came with you, is she a part of this healing you're talking about?" he said.

"She's inconsequential."

"She is? I thought you were filled with peace, love and understanding. Now you're telling me she doesn't matter?"

"No, she matters to me but she's inconsequential to you. Leave her alone."

"Is she your latest companion? Because if she is, Sarah Jane was right about you choosing younger and younger assistants. What's next, a toddler?"

The Doctor kept silent. The Valeyard raised his eyebrow and smirked.

"Very well, if you're going to be difficult…"

His hands shot out and his fingers mashed against his temples. John struggled to get free and help him while the Doctor gritted his teeth and concentrated, trying to block the Valeyard while he probed his memories.

"Come on, Doctor, show me your memories. I want to see what's different about your life. I wanna know who the child is."

"Leave him alone!" John yelled.

The Valeyard looked back at him and watched while he struggled.

"This isn't even your Doctor," he said to him. "You're my clone, not his. He has a clone of his own so I'm sure he gives less than a fig about you. Nobody cares about you, Freaky, not even Rose. Rose wanted me and I'm sure the moment you're gone, she'll find solace in my arms."

"Leave her alone! Leave them all alone!"

The Valeyard snorted and focused his attention back on the Doctor. The Doctor tried to throw up mental blocks but the Valeyard got around them with ease. He fought to hide his memories of his family but the Valeyard pulled them back to the surface of his consciousness with a gleeful laugh. He found the memories of Tara, Rain and his family and poured over them.

"So, you're married to that little skinny whore in my harem, eh?" the Valeyard said while he watched his wedding in Kyoto. "I have to admit I fancied that little tart when I saw her but I couldn't figure out why. Now I know. A wife and children and brothers and sisters and even grandchildren. Ahhhhhh, isn't that cute? You went domestic, settled down and became tame. You lost your balls when you found your wife and kids. Well, we'll have to fix that, won't we? Starting with your beloved Tara. How would you like to watch her go through all thirteen of her lives in the space of ten minutes?"

"No, leave her alone!" the Doctor yelled.

"Face it, Doctor. You would have lost her sooner or later; everyone leaves you in the end. Tara would have left you the moment she figured out just how evil you truly are. Or…maybe she would have found someone else, another man, and ran off with him to a distant world, leaving you all alone."

"Leave him alone, you goddamned bastard!" John yelled.

He grunted when the Valeyard backhanded him across the face.

"Don't you dare address me, you animated piece of meat! You have no right to breathe the same air as me, let alone speak to me in that tone of voice! I should have burned that hand the moment I got it away from the Master. Why I left it under my console like some sort of trophy is beyond me. You're the reason Donna has no memories of me anymore!"

"What are you going to do to Donna?" the Doctor asked.

The Valeyard turned back to him.

"I'm going to siphon off her Time Lord mind into this waste of space and then she'll be able to know me again."

"And what good will that do ya?" the Doctor said.

"I want her to be an acolyte, just like Rose and Jack. My faithful companions restored to me, worshiping me the way they did when they traveled with me."

"Yes, I'm sure all three will just be dropping to their knees in reverence of you, especially Donna," the Doctor said dryly. "If you think all three of them are gonna do that, you're nuttier than I thought."

"And…if you and Cloney Boy back here do the same and become my servants…then perhaps I'll be merciful and not only let you have Tara but I'll give that skinny bitch to you as well so you can keep on being married in this universe. Course the first time any of you get out of line…well; I can't guarantee their safety then. My benevolence has its limits, you know."

The Doctor glared at him.

"In fact, why don't the three of us take a trip back to Nova and bring the rest of your clan here? Would that ensure your obedience if you had access to your loved ones?"

"No."

"Really? Well, I can't leave them alive then. As long as they're alive, you still have a reason to escape so I s'pose we'll have to go and get them anyway, just so you can watch them all die."

"Leave him alone!" John yelled.

The Valeyard sighed.

"You know, I believe I said shut your gob to him not more than five minutes ago. I think Donna took the ability to keep quiet out of his head when she took his brains. That's why the git is such a simpleton, no brains in that cloned skull of his."

"He has a lot more brains than you do," the Doctor said.

The Valeyard smirked.

"Oh, you're on his side then? Is it because of your beloved baby brother, Alan? Do you look at this little loser and see your clone instead? No wonder he's defending you. I'm sure the moment someone gives him a tiny bit of praise and understanding; he's on his knees with his lips on their arse begging for more. That's why he told Rose he loved her; it was his little ploy to get attention so he wouldn't be left out all alone on that cold, windy beach. And Rose, the dimwit, fell for it, hook, line and sinker. But once she comes to her senses and those three little words stop echoing in her ears, she'll be on her knees begging me to love her again. Course when I say love, I mean that very loosely. She'll receive attention and rewards for her adoration and obedience but nothing like you give to your slut spouse. That sugary sweet gushiness is beneath someone of my stature. I would never dirty my hands and lips touching that mousy little thing."

He chuckled when the Doctor jerked on his restraints.

"Oh, that hit a nerve, didn't it? Tell ya what, I'll go get your daughter and faux wife and we can have some fun with them. How's that sound?"

"No, leave them alone!" the Doctor said.

The Valeyard ignored him. With a chuckle, he opened the lab door and left the room while both of them struggled to get free.


	284. Chapter 284

Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty Four

Alternate Rose couldn't believe her eyes as she looked around the interior of the TARDIS. The last time she had been inside the TARDIS, she had been with several others, helping them to defeat Davros and restore the Earth to its rightful place. But that was nothing compared to the number of people around her now. She stood beside the jump seat watching while the Doctor's family prepared themselves for a fight. Meanwhile, Alan was standing near the console, his wife at his side. Rose's gaze settled on them and her heart ached when she noticed his arm around her double and how relaxed and happy they looked together. She wanted more than anything to trade places with the other Rose, to have the happiness she had with Alan and her children.

Alternate Rose looked around when Jack and his team walked through the back door. Jack was checking his gun.

"Jack, you're not thinking of using that on the Doctor, are ya?" Alan said to him.

"Alan, I know how you and the Doc feel about guns, but I remember the stories you told me about the Valeyard and I've seen some of your memories of him. Not to mention he's the Doctor and I'm sorry, but I don't feel comfortable going into battle against any version of the Doctor with just a screwdriver. I won't kill him intentionally but I will defend myself if I have to," Jack said, putting the gun in his holster.

Mingxia came up behind them. She was holding a long wooden staff.

"Same here, except I don't feel comfortable with a gun anymore but I will knock him out. I already dealt with one Valeyard and I'm not gonna take chances with this one."

"Yes, but all of you are forgetting, this time we have a small army and I'm sure working together, we can defeat Valley Girl," Alan said.

"And what are we gonna do with him once we defeat him?" Grace asked.

"Yeah, he's still the Doctor, right?" Anita said. "I mean, we're not gonna kill him, are we?"

"I don't wanna kill him, but Jack's right, we do need to defend ourselves," Alan said. "Just because it's the Doctor doesn't mean we let him torture and enslave and kill us. I'm hoping we can make him see sense but if not, we should at the very least take him to a prison planet so he isn't a threat to anyone."

"So, we try to reason with him," River said. "And if that doesn't work, we knock him out?"

"Yes, but only reason with him if you're not in immediate danger," Alan said. "Don't try to talk to him if he's coming at you with a dagger, but then again, that should be common sense. Just keep in mind that he may look like the Doctor, but he's mentally unhinged right now and he won't hesitate to kill you so don't assume he'll have a change of hearts the moment he sees you. You need to think about your safety and forget that he's another version of the Doctor. So, is everyone ready? Everyone gone to the loo and armed themselves? Because once we cross, he'll be able to sense all of us and I'm sure he has defenses in place now that he's aware of our presence."

"Are we landing inside this palace of his?" Julie said.

"No, I'm not gonna risk the TARDIS like that. He'll know how to open it and I'm not gonna make it easy for him to waltz in here and take off with it. So we'll have to land outside and fight our way in. Hopefully, we can draw enough of his goons outside that by the time we get to him, he won't have much protection."

Alternate Rose listened quietly to all this. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned her head. Awinita smiled at her.

"Hey, just had to ask. Is there a version of me in your world?" she asked her.

"Um, if there is, I haven't met ya yet," Alternate Rose replied.

"You didn't meet me when you and John went through the US?"

"We never went through the US. We both went back to London and went to work for Torchwood."

"Oh. That sucks," Awinita said. "I wonder what happened to me if I'm over there. Maybe I'm in North Carolina now? I hope I'm somewhere other than lying dead in a ditch. So that means you never met Rain or Mingxia or Imiko then."

"Who's Imiko? Which one is she?"

"Oh, she's not with us anymore. She was a kitsune, this fox spirit that was sent to protect us from our Valeyard. She left us after we defeated him but she's the one that turned us into Time Ladies. I wish you'd done the same thing instead of staying behind in London."

"Yeah, me too," Alternate Rose said. "I look at your Rose and Alan and I feel so envious. John and I aren't as close as they are."

"I hope that changes because my Rose and Alan are inseparable. Have been ever since I first met them. Just give John a chance. I know he isn't the Doctor but if he's anything like Alan, you'll love him even more than him."

"But that's just it, he's not like Alan. I mean, Alan's some kind of free spirit and John is anything but. Even the Doctor wasn't as serious as he is."

"Just…give him time, Rose. Alan helped my Rose lighten up. She was the same way after everything that happened and she's a lot happier now. You can do the same for John. Just don't give up on him; we don't need another Valeyard on our hands."

Alternate Rose nodded.

"Alright, everyone, hold on, we're going across the void," Alan said.

Alternate Rose grabbed a hold of the railing. A moment later, the vibrations began again.

"I hate this part of it," Alternate Rose said to Awinita.

"So do I. Wish the void crosser had something to steady the trip," she replied. "But then again, we don't cross over into other universes that often."

The vibration stopped and Alternate Rose saw a smile spread over Awinita's face.

"What is it?" she asked Awinita.

"I feel him, the Doctor, he's alive," she said to her. "And…he's a little miffed that we're over here now. He's telling us to go back where we came from. I feel the Valeyard too and I'm blocking that bastard along with everyone else so he can't tell where we are. I just hope he doesn't do something to our Doctor now that he knows we're here."

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The Doctor groaned while he lay strapped to the table. John frowned.

"What's wrong?" he said.

"They're here; a large portion of my family just crossed the void in order to rescue me and Alan's among them."

John raised his eyebrow.

"You mean I might meet this wacky double of mine?" he said.

"Yes, but I rather they turned back and stayed where it's safe. The last thing I want is for all of them to be captured with us. He felt them too, the Valeyard, he knows they're here and now he'll stop at nothing to capture them."

He fell silent while John watched him.

"I'm sure they'll be alright," John said.

"There's more," the Doctor said. "I'm talking with Alan right now and Tara took this universe's Rain and Teresa back to our house in Nova. Your Rose was with them too but she chose to come back and rescue you rather than stay in the other universe."

John stared at him.

"My Rose came back here for me?" he said.

The Doctor smiled.

"See, she does care for you," he said.

Suddenly, the door burst open and the Valeyard came in, his face contorted with rage. The Doctor gasped when he seized him by the throat.

"How did my concubines escape?" he snarled at him. "And who are these other Time Lord and Ladies I just felt? Are they your family coming in a pitiful attempt to rescue you and the freak here?"

"You made a mistake kidnapping me because I guarantee ya my family will make you regret doing that."

The Valeyard snorted.

"I'm not afraid of your ragtag wannabe Time Lords," he said to him. "They won't attack me if you're in danger."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," the Doctor said. "I think you'll make them angrier if you do something to me."

The Valeyard looked at John and smirked.

"Then again, it might be more effective to use the clone. After all, he's not a full Time Lord like you are and his single heart is so frail, not to mention he has only one life. I'm sure your family would think twice about attacking me if he was in danger of dying, eh?"

"Listen to yourself," the Doctor said to him. "Do you even know what you sound like? Why are you doing this? It's not too late to turn away from the darkness. If you're anything like me, you don't wanna do this; deep down inside you know it's wrong. Turn back now before it's too late, Doctor."

"That's not my name anymore!" he growled at him. "I gave up that name the moment I decided not to be a universal doormat any longer. I don't wanna change because the darkness is where the true power lies. You and your silly little family will suffer and once they're out of the way, I'll take your TARDIS and its void crosser and I'll spread my rule out beyond this universe. And if there are other poncy, weak-hearted Doctors out there, I'll kill them as well. Now, if you'll excuse me, I and my clone have a date with your family members."

The Doctor struggled against the restraints while the Valeyard moved over to John and began to untie him. The moment his wrist was freed, John tried to punch him and grunted when the Valeyard grabbed his wrist. He smirked at John's anguish when he began to squeeze it almost to the breaking point.

"How 'bout I squeeze this hand off your body?" he said to him. "After all, it is my property."

"Leave him alone!" the Doctor said.

The Valeyard ignored him. Keeping one hand around his free wrist, he untied the other and jerked him into a sitting position.

"You know this little disc on the back of your neck? I can repair it very easily and then you'll be under my control again. So if you don't want that to happen, you'll do as I say and not cause trouble."

The Doctor stared at John sadly while the Valeyard released him and worked on untying his ankle restraints. His hearts went out to the clone when he saw the world weary expression on his face and he knew that he was giving up. He closed his eyes and searched for any sign of his mind. He sensed a faint sliver of consciousness, a remnant of Time Lord mind that didn't go into Donna. He pulled it forward and concentrated on it.

_John, can you hear me?_ He thought to him while he opened his eyes.

He could see the shock on the clone's face and the Doctor put up a privacy block while the Valeyard finished with the restraints and forced him to stand up.

_You don't have to say anything,_ the Doctor thought to him. _I just want you to know something. Something that I hope will give you the strength to go on. I know you think life is worthless and it might be better off if you were dead but I don't want that for you. You deserve to live just as much as he does. In fact, you're essential to the safety of this universe, especially if the Valeyard can't be turned back into the Doctor. I know he's rejected you and that's why I want to offer my friendship and love in his place. I want you to be my brother now, John. I care about you and I care if you live or die so don't give up, my Brother. I will help you and so will my family, have faith in us now._

John looked at him and the Doctor smiled tenderly when he saw his eyes misting over.

"Get a move on, Freak!" the Valeyard snarled at John.

John kept looking back at the Doctor while the Valeyard forced him to walk to the door.

"My Brother," John mouthed to him. "Yes, I accept you now and forever as my true Brother."

The Doctor smiled and nodded. He sighed when John turned his head around and walked with the Valeyard out of the room.


	285. Chapter 285

Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty Five

The TARDIS landed and Alan looked at his family and friends.

"Okay, everyone, let's go free the captives!" he said to them.

They all walked to the front door. Jack walked up beside Alan while he slowly opened the door. Both men peeked out and noticed they were behind several large boulders. They could see the palace about a half mile away but other than that, the land was barren.

"You mean the Boneyard didn't set up his operations in the Bahamas?" Alan said. "For shame, I figured the man had better taste in locations than this. Why live with dirt and dust when you can have sun and sand. But then again, the man is a nutter and not thinkin' straight."

"I think we should split up, take two teams. Perhaps one team can concentrate on leading away any guards that he sends out here," Jack said.

"Good idea. Okay, everyone split up into two groups."

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Alan led his team towards the palace. His team consisted of him, Rose, Alternate Rose, Rain, Tara, Julie, Mingxia, Awinita, Grace, Serena and Donna. The other team, led by Jack, was going far off to the left so they could check out the grounds and see if there was another way inside.

As they neared the palace, they suddenly saw the huge wooden doors opening up and they ran and hid behind some huge boulders while several people stepped outside. All were clad in leather like the men in the hovercar but they also had on featureless black masks that made them all look like black leather robots. Each man had a large black blaster in his hands and they held them at the ready while they fanned out. Alan looked across the barren land and didn't see Jack's team. He breathed a sigh of relief figuring they had also found cover. While they were watching the men, they saw the wooden doors open again and their breath caught in their throats when the Valeyard came outside, pushing John in front of him. He put his hands on his shoulders and shoved him to his knees. From their vantage point they could tell that he had been punched a few times and there were bruises on his cheeks.

"John, oh God," Alternate Rose whispered.

"Don't worry, we'll get him back safe and sound," Alan whispered to her.

"I know you're out here," the Valeyard said loudly. "I sensed you crossing over the void before you blocked your minds from me. You might as well surrender because I'll find you all and when I do, you'll regret trying to defy me!"

John grunted when he seized the back of his neck.

"If you're anything like that soppy Doctor of yours then I'm sure you care about this freakish little reject. Unlike your clone, he's still half human and can be killed, oh so easily. I don't care for him and he's certainly not my brother so I have no qualms about killing him. But if you surrender yourselves to me, I'll show him and your Doctor mercy. You have five minutes and then the offer is void and I turn my men loose to hunt for you."

Silence fell while the Valeyard waited for a response. A minute passed and the Valeyard let out a frustrated sigh.

"Stand up, Reject," he growled at John.

John stood up and winced when he grabbed his hair with his free hand.

"I'm not kidding here. I will break his neck if you don't show yourselves!" he yelled. "Do you want him to die?"

"I surrender!"

They looked over and saw Jack standing several feet away.

"Oh lookie, I get another immortal to add to my collection," the Valeyard said. "Very wise of you to surrender. Now where's the rest of your family?"

"Leave them alone. You can do what you want to me," Jack said.

The Valeyard snorted.

"Sure, capture the one person who can't be killed. That's very noble, but I want all of you so bring the rest of them out of hiding or John dies."

The Valeyard stared at Jack. Suddenly, he saw Jack's eyes dart up and a smirk spread over his face.

"You know, Valeyard, you don't know us too well," Jack said.

"Oh and what's that s'posed to mean?"

"It means that we just recently made friends with a vampire and at the moment she's flying right over your head."

"What?" the Valeyard muttered.

He turned his head to look up and grunted when Serena flew straight down. Her fist smacked into the top of his head and he fell to the ground unconscious. The men spun around, pointed their blasters at her and froze in shock when they saw her demonic face while she got in front of John.

"Come on, little humans, take your best shot at me!" she said in a deep voice.

She bared her fangs and hissed at them. The men stared at her, unsure of what to do. While their attention was drawn to her, the others came out of hiding and sprinted up to them. The guards turned just as they caught up to them and grunted when they fell on them, punching them and knocking them out. Alternate Rose pushed through the fray and embraced John.

"Oh God, John, I'm so glad you're safe," she murmured to him.

"You too, I don't know what I would have done if you'd been killed," John said.

"Me too," Alternate Rose replied.

John smiled at that and held her close. He felt a tap on his arm and saw Tara smiling at him.

"Are you alright, John?" she said.

He smiled and nodded.

"Do you know where Daddy's at?"

"Yes."

Rain came up to him.

"Can you take us to him?" she asked.

"Yes, I can."

"I'm coming too," Alternate Rose said to him.

"And so am I," Alan added, walking up to them. "I think the rest of the family can handle things from here."

"I'm coming with you, just in case there are more guards," Serena said.

Alan nodded. After letting everyone else know what they were doing, they headed inside the palace. The moment they came through the doors, they saw more guards running towards them. The guards froze when Serena bared her fangs and hissed at them. Then with superhuman speed, she lunged at two of the four guards and rammed them into the wall, knocking them out. Alan and Rain snickered when the other two guards stared at her in horror.

"Leave us alone!" Serena said in a deep voice.

The guards nodded dumbly, slowly edged past her and ran off.

"Alright, Serena, way to go!" Alan said.

"She's…a vampire?" Alternate Rose said.

"Yup, we just met her recently and made friends with her and she's been quite helpful," Alan said to them. "Now, John, lead the way back to the Doctor."

"With pleasure," he said.

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The Doctor grunted while he tried to slip his wrists out of the restraints. His wrists were chafed and raw but he ignored that, so determined was he to get free and help his new brother before he ended up dead. He jerked his head up when he heard yelling and the sound of something hitting the wall beside the door. Then the door opened and Alan strode in.

"How many times have I told you about going off on your own without phoning, young man?" Alan said, walking up to his side. "Your mother and I were up half the night worrying."

The Doctor grinned at that.

"Sorry, Dad, I won't do it again," he said.

"See that you don't," Alan said, wagging his finger at him.

Alan smiled and began to undo his restraints while Rain and Tara ran to his side.

"Love, are you alright?" Rain said, putting her hand on his head.

"I am now that you're here," he replied while she kissed his forehead.

He smiled warmly at Tara.

"Thank you, Star, for doing what I said and going back to the TARDIS. Granted, I didn't say for you to go get everyone else but I'm glad you did."

Rain loosened the wrist restraint on her side and the Doctor sat up. He hugged his wife and daughter tightly, sending love into their minds while Alan and Serena loosened the ankle restraints.

"Didn't expect to see you here," the Doctor said to Serena.

"Well, I figured you might need my assistance, Doctor."

"And she means it. She's the reason we were able to get past the Valeyard. She knocked him out."

"Then I owe you my life again," the Doctor said.

"Eh, it's nothing. I like you and I don't wanna see you get hurt or killed," she said to him.

The Doctor stood up and looked at John.

"Are you alright, Brother?"

John smiled at that.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Brother?" Alternate Rose said, frowning.

"Are you our Rose or his Rose?" the Doctor said.

"His."

"Our Rose is wearing a white vest top so her tattoo is exposed for easy identification," Alan said.

"Why aren't you doing that then? You know we need to tell you and John apart. Why aren't you wearing a vest top and showing off your nifty tattoo?" the Doctor said with a grin.

Rain and Tara giggled when Alternate Rose, John and Serena stared at him in shock and he turned crimson.

"Tattoo? You have a tattoo?" John said in disbelief.

"It was my Rose's idea!"

"Oh, here we go again, the wife made me do it defense," the Doctor muttered.

"Oh, I saw the tattoo in that picture of you and the Doctor in the swimming pool. Wondered which one of you had that."

"I would rather die before getting one so it isn't me," the Doctor said. "Now, getting back to your puzzled question, I decided to adopt John as a brother like I did Alan since the Valeyard won't do it. I want him to know he's loved and wanted like Alan here."

"Splendid, in that case, I also wish to be your brother. He's right; you need some love and support."

Alternate Rose smiled at the gobsmacked expression on his face.

"Thank you," he said to them. "You don't know what this means to me."

Tara tugged on the Doctor's sleeve.

"Daddy, you have to give them some crystals now so Uncle John and Aunt Rose can be Time Lords and Ladies," she said to him

"Indeed I will and…the crystals can also change your Donna so she can be with you."

John beamed at that.

"Speaking of which, we need to find out where she and John are. I don't s'pose you know that," the Doctor said.

"Not offhand, no."

"The thud I heard before you came in; I assume that was a guard being knocked out?"

"Yup," Alan said.

"Very well, let's wake him up and get him to tell us where they are. Alan, talk to our Jack and see what's going on outside and if they need our help. We need to figure out what to do with the Valeyard and find out where his TARDIS is. If he refuses our help, I have no choice but to take him to a prison planet and that means that John is the rightful owner of his TARDIS."

He started towards the door and turned to John.

"I'm giving you the means to live a life of travelin' and adventure, the life you two were meant to have, which means I want you lot quittin' Torchwood for good. You don't belong there."

"You don't have to tell me twice," John said. "Good riddance to them all. I wanna see the stars again."

The Doctor smiled and patted him on the shoulder before he went out the door, knelt down to the guard, and slapped him repeatedly across the cheeks in order to wake him up.

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After the guard woke up, the Doctor, Alan and John got him to tell where they were holding Alternate Jack and Donna. Alternate Jack had been put back in his prison cell in the dungeon and Donna was lying on a bed in one of the guest rooms, still sedated. John breathed a sigh of relief when they found her.

"Thank God he didn't hurt her," he said.

He gathered her into his arms and all of them walked back outside, keeping the guard in front of them in case he tried anything. When they reached the front door, Alternate Jack's eyes boggled when he saw everyone assembled outside.

"Damn, Doc, how many people are in your family?" Alternate Jack said.

His eyes drifted over to the other Jack who was standing at the back of the group with the rest of his team.

"Howdy!" Jack said to Alternate Jack.

"Okay, this is incredibly bizarre," Alternate Jack said, shaking his head.

"Is this everyone then?" the Doctor said after everyone got done hugging him and they introduced themselves to Jack and John.

"Almost, Awinita's with us but she went to get the TARDIS and bring it closer so we can get them on board without them waking up and fightin' us," Rose said, gesturing to the unconscious guards and Valeyard at their feet.

They heard a wheezing sound and saw the TARDIS materialize beside them. A moment later, Awinita opened the door and grinned.

"Ah, yes! Nelak's tips on how to fly the TARDIS more accurately paid off," she said.

"She said a warm hello to John and Alternate Jack and introduced herself before everyone grabbed the unconscious guards and the Valeyard and took them and the conscious guard inside so they could put them in the holding cells.

While his family took care of that, the Doctor told John to pass Donna off to his Jack who followed the others back into the back. Tara stood beside him and Alternate Rose while the Doctor opened up the grate and went below to retrieve his casket. He called to Tara and passed it up to her.

"Do you want me to give them the crystals, Daddy?" she asked.

"You can if you want. I just wanted you to take that so I could push myself up," he said to her.

Tara held the casket close to her body and walked back over to them.

"Um…these are the magic crystals," she said while the Doctor pushed himself up and put the grate back. "You just break them open and you're a Time Lord."

John bent over and stared at the crystals in fascination when she opened the casket.

"You say a fox spirit gave these to you?" he asked the Doctor.

"Yeah, it's a long story but this kitsune was the one who started me on my healing and having people become Time Lords and Ladies were a big part of it. The crystals never run out so I can give you several of them and you can start your own family here. While Tara's doing this and before I forget, I wanna save the coordinates of this universe so we can come back over and see you."

John took one of the crystals and turned it over in his hand, staring at the brilliant white light inside it. He looked at Alternate Rose.

"My love, will you do this with me? Will you become a Time Lady and live with me through the ages? I know we got off on the wrong foot but I want to be with you and only you. I love you so much."

"And I love you, John. I want to do this. I want to be with you for the rest of my life."

He smiled.

"Well, actually, it'd be lives but I know what you mean."

The Doctor finished saving the coordinates. He mentally asked the TARDIS to replicate the void crosser while he kept his eyes on John. John hesitated a moment and then broke the crystal open while Alternate Rose stepped back. The Doctor grinned when the light enveloped him and he felt him fully in his mind. The light faded and John blinked in shock. He put his fingers against his jugular vein and grinned when he felt a double pulse. Tara put a crystal in Alternate Rose's hand, set the casket on the floor and embraced John while Alternate Rose opened it. John smiled when he felt Alternate Rose in his mind and he embraced her and kissed her deeply when the light faded. The Doctor took the replicated void crosser and gave it to John.

"This is a void crosser so you can come and visit us if you wish," the Doctor said. "I can give you the number of my mobile and you can call us when you come so we can arrange to meet somewhere."

"Doctor, this is…this is just incredible. It's more than I ever hoped for," John said. "I never dreamed that I would ever become a full Time Lord…and now I have a family and friends and Rose…Rose will be with me past her normal lifespan."

The Doctor hugged him tightly. John hugged him back, tears running down his face while he and his new brother felt one another's minds.

"I can give you the crystals," the Doctor said when they finished embracing. "But before you change Donna, I wanna check and make sure she's alright and then I think we should put her under the arch, turn her human first so she can choose to become a Time Lady."

John nodded.

"And will you ask the other Rain if she wants to be a Time Lady?" Tara asked him. "And maybe Teresa too. That way you won't be alone when we leave."

"I will. I'll ask them both," John said to her. "I think we should ask our Jack as well."

"I'd be careful about that though. Imiko personally changed him and she made it so he was both immortal and a Time Lord. So I don't know if your Jack will lose his immortality the moment he changes, but then again, he might want that. But let's go fix Donna up now and get her back to her old normal self."

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After Martha and Grace checked her out and told the Doctor she was fine, they carried her back into the console room and sat her on the jump seat. The Doctor lowered the arch while everyone stood around and watched.

"Is this gonna be unpleasant?" Jack asked.

"It won't be as bad as being fully awake," the Doctor said. "I hate to do this to her without her consent. But we can't risk her waking up, realizing the truth and dying and I don't wanna change her into a Time Lady unless she wants it. So this is the only solution."

Awinita steadied Donna and helped her sit up while the Doctor put the arch on her head and held it down. He looked at Rain.

"Okay, Love, flip the switch," he said to her.

She nodded and flipped a small silver switch. The Doctor grimaced when Donna shook and her face contorted into a pained expression.

"I'm sorry, Donna," the Doctor murmured to her.

A moment later, it was done. Rain flipped the switch and raised the arch when the Doctor let go of it. He looked at John.

"I'm gonna let you put her memories back because you might not have had the same experiences I did when I traveled with my Donna."

John nodded. They moved aside and John sat down beside her. He smoothed her hair back away from her temples.

"Come back to us, Donna," he murmured while he placed his fingers on the side of her head.

He closed his eyes and sent memories of her time with the Doctor back into her head. While they were doing that, Tara suddenly had a thought.

"Daddy, can I talk to you for a minute?" she said.

He nodded. He held up a finger and reached into his trouser pocket. He pulled out a vial of smelling salts and gave it to Alan.

"I'll be right back, if he finishes doing this before I'm back, give that to him and hopefully, that'll revive her."

"Gotcha," Alan said.

The Doctor took Tara's hand and they walked back to the living room.

"What'd ya wanna know?" the Doctor said when they entered it.

Tara turned and embraced him.

"I'm glad you're alright, Daddy."

The Doctor enfolded her in his arms.

"And I'm glad you're safe. I would have gone mad if he'd killed you," he whispered to her.

He kissed her head and held her near him for a few minutes.

"Is that what you wanted to do?" he asked her.

"No, I wanted to ask you something."

"Yes, Love?"

"Um…maybe this information will come when I get my Time Lady mind but…I was wondering, are all these universes the same? I mean, there's another you and another clone and another Rose and Donna and Jack and mommy. Is everyone we know here too?"

"Um…maybe. The universes are similar to each other but there are some that are more different than others. There may be more of our family members in this universe, yes, but there's no way to tell unless we find them."

"See, I was wondering if there was another me because if there is, then maybe I'm still with the cult and if Uncle John goes and finds me, Rose and him can adopt me as their daughter."

The Doctor stared at her.

"You know, you have a talent for thinking and seeing possibilities that I miss. I did ask John if he would like to have a daughter like you and he said yes."

"Then maybe if he goes back to Florida, he can find me and save me and then they can love my twin like you and Mommy love me."

The Doctor smiled.

"That's a brilliant idea. We'll have to tell them that when they get through."

"But also, maybe they can find the other copies of our other family members, you know. Find Jenny and Awinita and Grace..."

"And Dex. He did say he was thinking about going to search for him."

"Ooo, then he can find Patience and Amelia and Opal," Tara said.

"You're getting excited about this, aren't ya?" The Doctor said with a grin.

"I just want them to be happy and not turn bad like this Doctor did," Tara said.

"I want the same thing. After getting to know John, I'd hate to see him become evil, although with his Rose in the picture, I doubt that'll happen."

"Do you think the Valeyard will change back into the Doctor?"

"I dunno, Tara. He might be too far gone now. I might have to take him to a prison planet and let John take his place."

"Isn't that weird though that you might have to take yourself to prison?"

He chuckled and rubbed her back.

"Very, my Star, very weird," he said to her.

They glanced over when Donna entered the room.

"Hope I'm not interrupting your chat. The other Donna woke up and she was a bit disturbed when she saw me, I left the room so John can speak to her about becoming a Time Lady without her being distracted."

"So she's alright then?" the Doctor said.

"As far as I can tell. She hasn't burned up yet."

The Doctor told her what Tara had told him.

"I like that idea," Donna said when he finished. "Especially finding out if there is a Tara here that needs rescuing. Even if John and Rose don't adopt her, she'd be away from those nutjobs in this universe."

River, Anita and Jennifer stuck their heads around the corner of the doorway.

"Is it alright to come in?" River asked.

"Yeah, we're done chatting," the Doctor said.

"It's done," River said while they came inside. "Both Donna and Jack decided to change."

"Brilliant!" the Doctor said. "Now all that's left is the Valeyard. I want to speak to him before I take him to the prison planet and give him a chance to reform."

"I don't know if you should do that," Anita said. "He might lie to you."

"Yeah, how are you gonna be sure he's telling the truth?" Jennifer added.

"I can have the TARDIS monitor him while I speak to him and she'll tell me if he's lying to me or not. I doubt he'll change but I can't in good conscience put him in prison for the rest of his lives unless I know for sure there's no hope of turning him away from the darkness. If, by some miracle, we do get through to him and he goes back to being the Doctor then I will take a chunk of the TARDIS and grow it for John and Rose so they can have one of their own. But now that Tara's done telling me what she wanted to say, I'll go and speak to him. You lot make the others comfortable in the meantime and I'll let you know what he says when I'm finished."

They nodded and the Doctor squeezed Tara's shoulder before he left the room.


	286. Chapter 286

Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty Six

Tara and the others headed back towards the kitchen, figuring that they would probably take the duplicates there or take them into the living room so they could relax and talk to them. On the way there, they noticed Alan turning a corner and leading John back down the hall. They paused and he smiled at them.

"I'm taking John to the wardrobe room," he said to them. "So we can get this leather eyesore off his body. Then I need to take him to the med bay and get the disc off his neck."

"Do you need help?" Tara asked.

He smiled.

"How did I know you were gonna ask that?" he said while she giggled. "Yes, you can assist me if you want. Although…you might wanna wait until John gets dressed. I don't think he wants you up there ogling him. So let us do this first while you go to the med bay and wait, okay?"

"Okay, Uncle Alan," Tara said.

He tousled her hair and he and John passed by them. Tara turned around and went back to the med bay while the others went to the kitchen.

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The Doctor steeled himself while he walked towards the cells. He wasn't looking forward to this. He hated to be reminded of what he might have become and he knew if his life had been different, it could have been him imprisoned in the cell. On the way there, he made a quick stop into his bedroom, changed out of the robe and quickly changed back into his usual brown suit. He commanded the TARDIS to get rid of the hated Valeyard outfit and he breathed a sigh of relief when it vanished in a burst of bright light.

Once he reached the cell block, he paused at the corner that led into it and took a deep breath. He turned into the corridor and walked slowly down it. In the first cell, the guard that had been conscious when he entered the ship glared at him silently. The Doctor glared back at him and walked on. The guard in the next cell was also awake. The Doctor stopped and stared at him dispassionately when he leapt up and slammed against the force field, screaming curses at him. The Doctor let out a snort of contempt and moved on. The Valeyard was in the next cell, sitting on the floor while he stared calmly at him.

"I see you upset Brutus," the Valeyard said to him. "Why not be a good sport and set him free."

"I can't do that."

"Why not? Isn't that what the goody-two-shoes Doctor would do? Be merciful and set people free?"

"Nope, not if they've committed crimes," the Doctor said.

"Oh, go easy on Brutus, he didn't mean to turn that library book in past its due date," the Valeyard said.

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Well, how do you know he's committed a crime? You didn't know we existed until today," the Valeyard said.

"I will take you lot to Volag Nok, they'll run a scan and if he's truly innocent, then they'll let him go."

The Valeyard chuckled.

"You think the cells at Volag Nok will hold me, Doctor? I'm a master escape artist, just like you. Perhaps you better kill me because you know if I escape; I'll not only come after my worthless clone but you and your family as well."

"I won't kill you."

"Why? Because I'm you?"

"No, because I'm not like you. Besides, death isn't good enough for you. I want you to sit and think about your crimes."

"Oh yes, I will. I'll just sit there day in and day out thinking about what a bad boy I am. I'm so sorry, Headmaster, I'll do better in future."

The Doctor decided to cut to the chase before he lost his temper.

"I'm offering you a choice…"

"Let me guess, turn back to the so-called light and be the lovable Doctor again or go to prison for eternity."

"Yes, that's the choice."

"And my clone, what happens to him?"

"He takes your place and protects the universe you turned your back on."

"Me!" the Valeyard said, leaping to his feet. "The universe turned its back on me long before I turned my back on it. I don't know how it is in your universe but here there was nothing but tragedy and heartbreak and betrayal and nothing good ever happened to me. I spent centuries defending the universe from every conceivable evil and what did I get in return? Bugger all, that's what I got! I did everything I possibly could to keep the universe from imploding and letting evil get a foothold. I worked myself to the bone and all I got for my trouble was one heartsbreak after another. Now I don't know how it is in your dimension, if it's all sunshine and smiles…"

"It's not. I've had the same misery you've had. But I chose to fight my demons rather than give in to them and become one of the monsters I spent lifetimes fighting."

"And just when you gave up all hope, along comes your happy little family and they brought sunshine and rainbows and love into your life."

"In a non-sarcastic way, yes, they did. I took a huge risk and opened my hearts up to them which I believe took a lot more courage than just surrendering to the darkness within me. I was the same as you. After I lost Donna, I didn't want to travel with anyone but the universe saw things different and fate led me to people and situations that finally let me be healed and be at peace. I'm sorry that didn't happen to you…or maybe it did and you foolishly chose to ignore what could have been your salvation because that meant you might get your hearts broken again. I told you earlier to listen to yourself, to stop and think about what you're doing. If you were in your right mind, I think you'd be horrified at what you've become. You've managed to prove everyone right, Valeyard. All those people who said you were nothing but a monster, a destroyer of worlds, a butcher and a killer, they were right about you."

"They were right about me because that's what I am. You can pretend all you like, Doctor. You can walk around telling yourself that you're not a killer but you are. You've killed plenty of people over the centuries, innocent and guilty, and I'm pretty sure if you hadn't taken companions who were watching your every move, you would have killed heaps more. You say it takes courage to fight the darkness? I say it takes more courage to admit what you really are and embrace your true self. You're the one who's being disingenuous, Doctor. You're the one who's pretending and putting on a façade, not me. I finally came to my senses and realized I'd been living a lie this whole time. Once I did that, once I became my true self, then life became a whole lot easier and I was no longer a victim of fate. I started creating my own destiny and living without fear or limits. I did what I want, took what I wanted and eliminated anyone who got in my way without any nagging feelings of guilt and remorse. I answer to no one, Doctor, while you…you've tied yourself down with a wife and children and a family. All those people you now have to worry about and wait for and do for. Bah, that isn't happiness, it's servitude. You've gone domestic, Doctor, whether or not you wanna believe that."

"Then that's what I did. If I went domestic, I'm glad of it because that wife and those children give me unconditional love and make me happy. I'd rather be a whipped man and have happiness than be on my own without anyone to talk to, except for guards and servants I don't pay attention to except when I order them about. I think you're wrong, I still think it takes more courage to open your hearts up to love like I've done. But it doesn't matter because neither of us is gonna convince the other and now that I know you don't wanna change, I can take you and this lot to Volag Nok."

The Valeyard lunged at the force field.

"I'll escape, Doctor, and when I do, I'll not only find my clone and Rose, I'll find you and your family and I'll see all of you begging for mercy at my feet! You're weak, Doctor! You can't kill me and that'll be your undoing! I'll make you suffer, I'll take away the ones you love the most, your beloved wife and children, I'll put you in a cell like this and rape your wife and daughters while you watch helplessly, then I'll slowly torture them to death and when they regenerate, I'll rape and torture them again and on and on until they breathe their last. And by the time that happens, you'll be a demented, slobbering basket case. So if I were you, I'd kill me and get it over with because no prison cell will hold me, I promise you that!"

The Doctor calmly walked over, pushed a button by the first cell. He stood quietly staring at the wall and listening to the enraged yells of the Valeyard and his men while the sleeping gas seeped into their cells. He waited till the yells died down and stilled before he turned and walked back towards the console room. When he entered, the only other person in the room was Alternate Rose who was sitting on the jump seat staring off into space. She looked at him when he walked to her side and sat down.

"I couldn't get through to him, Rose. Your Doctor is lost, only the Valeyard remains so I have to take him to prison. He didn't say where his TARDIS is, but I can track her artron energy. But she's yours now, yours and John's."

"I can't believe it, Doctor. I can't believe our Doctor could turn evil, everything Davros said, about being a Time Lord who butchered millions, I didn't wanna believe it. But…it's true?"

The Doctor sighed.

"Rose, he had every opportunity to shun the darkness just as I did but I took a chance and seized an opportunity that was presented to me. I was forced to travel with Alan and his family for a time because Imiko wanted me to see what happens when you choose love over hate. I don't know if the same thing happened to him, I'm guessing it didn't and maybe that's what tipped the scales towards the darkness, because he had no one making him sit down and take a breather and think over his life. I tried, I did. But if he won't listen, if he's set in his ways, there's nothing I can do except put him somewhere. Now, he has vowed to punish all of us so I'm gonna make damn sure he's watched. Hopefully without his TARDIS, he'll stay put and you won't have to worry about him. Why are you out here by the way?"

"I just wanted to have a moment alone to think over what's happened. John got changed and Alan's taking that disc off his neck so I'm waiting for him to finish with that. He knows what he's doing, yeah?"

The Doctor smiled.

"Yes, Rose, my brother's very competent. The disc is only on the surface and that doesn't take much skill to get it off him. Actually, I was captured by the Valeyard in my universe and he implanted something similar to that on my forehead under my skin. Imiko took it out though. So I've been through the same sort of situation."

Alternate Rose touched his hand and he smiled at her.

"Once Alan gets done taking the disc off John's neck, I need to speak to you both because my daughter had a thought, a very brilliant thought and if what she's thinking is right, you and John might have her duplicate for a daughter."

Alternate Rose's eyes widened at that.

"Would you like to have a daughter like her, Rose?" the Doctor said.

"Yes, I mean, she's a sweet girl and I wouldn't mind being her mum if we did find her double."

"Well, if her circumstances are the same as they were in my universe, she'll need someone like you and John to give her all the love she can get."

"What d'ya mean?"

The Doctor told her the story of how they found her and where she came from. Alternate Rose listened in silent horror, her stomach churning with revulsion.

"That settles it," she said when he finished. "I don't know about John but I wanna find out if she is here in the universe and if she is and she's with these…maniacs, I want her taken away from them."

"I can help you with that. I remember where they lived before. I know the address. I don't know if it's the same here but it's a start."

"Oh Doctor…bless her heart, I'm so glad you found her then. The poor girl. I can see why you love her so."

"She's stellar, Rose. I love all my children but she tries so hard to live up to being a Time Lady. She always wants to help me, always wants to go where I'm goin', she works hard to make me proud of her and I am, I'm so proud of her I could pop. That's why I pity my double in there. He's rejected people like Tara and missed out on all the love and affection and fun that comes from being with her and being with everyone else. That's why I'm glad she thought of her double because if her double is anything like Tara, you'll both be happy you found her and loving every moment of love she'll give to you."

_Brother, are you there?_ Alan though to him.

_Yes, John's Rose and I are in the console room chatting,_ he thought back.

_Brilliant, just the woman I was looking for. Can you bring Rose in here? I gave John a local anesthetic and the chip has been removed, but he wants to see her now._

"That's weird, I can hear him in my head," Rose said.

"Yup, that's one of the perks of being a Time Lady," the Doctor replied. "I'll go ahead and take you back to the med bay and let you be alone with him. If you want to tell him what I said about Tara, go ahead. I'm gonna find the Valeyard's TARDIS, bring it on board and then fly to Volag Nok so we can get rid of some undesirables."


	287. Chapter 287

Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty Seven

After he got his double's TARDIS on board, he flew into the vortex. He stood by himself at the console while the others stayed with the duplicates and made them feel comfortable. He was going to take the captives to Volag Nok but he paused in thought. His eyes drifted to the ceiling and he held on to the rim of the console while he mulled things over. He was so lost in thought he didn't realize someone was behind him until he felt their lips on his cheek. He looked around and saw Rain and Tara standing behind him.

"Hi. Welcome back to reality," Rain said while Tara giggled.

He smiled and stepped back to put his arms around them.

"I was just thinking," he said to them.

"'Bout what?" Rain asked.

"'Bout taking my double to Volag Nok."

"You're not gonna do that?" Rain said.

"I wanna do it but…I think it would be better if we took him to Volag Nok in our universe. He's threatened to escape and come after John and after us. If he does get out, I'd rather he was in our universe and dealing with me than threatening John. I can keep them in the cells. Not even the Valeyard can escape from the cells and if he acts up, I can sedate him again. I…also want to take some of his memories out of his head. As added protection, I want to take out the memories of John and everything that happened after the Earth was stolen. I want him to forget about John and his family and us."

"Can you take out all his memories, Daddy?"

The Doctor was taken aback at that.

"You mean, make him into a mindless hunk of flesh, Star? Because that's what would happen."

"I was just thinking," Tara said. "I mean, I don't want you to kill him but can't you make him good again if you can take out his memories and stuff?"

"I don't know, Tara. I don't know if taking out his memories would be enough to turn him good. Not when it's ingrained in him. If it does turn him back into a good guy, then all the better, but I'm trying to keep him from remembering John and all of you so he won't make good on his threat to torture and kill you. John's trying to start over and he doesn't need the Valeyard breathing down his neck and I won't have him doing the same with you lot. So as soon as we finished here, I'll take them to the Volag Nok in our universe and leave him there. Now how are our doubles doing?"

"Well, actually, John is back in the living room talking to Dex and Jenny, the rest of them are in the kitchen. You oughta see it. Especially Jack and Jack, the two of them are comparing notes and both of them are making lewd comments about Ianto."

He chuckled.

"Bet Ianto loves that," he said with a grin. "So my new brother is getting reacquainted with my children again."

"Yes, I think he's definitely going to search for his versions of them," Rain said.

"Good. I just hope they find them."

"Daddy, are we gonna help them find me?" Tara asked.

The Doctor thought to himself, trying to decide whether or not to help them with the search.

"You knew where they were at, right?" Rain said. "You saw into her mind and saw them."

"Yes but that's no guarantee they'll be in the same place in this universe. Still…"

He trailed off and thought some more. He looked at Tara.

"Star, when we found you, how long had you been on the run?" he said to her.

"Ummm, 'bout two and a half days?" she said.

"Okay, so if we go by events in our universe then we have to set the TARDIS to land before you left the cultists so we don't have to spend our time searching Florida for you."

"So, we're going to help?" Tara asked.

The Doctor turned and leaned against the console.

"Latara, do you wanna do this?"

"Help find the other version of her? Yes. If she has a double here and there's a chance of rescuing her than I want her safe."

"Then perhaps we should talk to John and his Rose and friends and let them know what we want to do."

Rain nodded. The Doctor put his hands on Tara and Rain's backs as they headed back towards the living room. The Doctor smiled when they entered. John was sitting with Dex and Jenny on the sofa laughing and joking with them. John smiled when they walked up.

"I'm so glad you found them, Doctor. Both of them. I just hope I can find my Dex and Jenny," he said.

"I hope so too," the Doctor said.

He knelt down beside the sofa and explained about his plans for the Valeyard and rescuing Tara.

"Father, if you're going to do this, I want to go with you," Dex said when he finished speaking.

"Me too," Jenny said. "If those bastards are holding Tara captive, I'll make them sorry they were ever born."

"Are you sure she'll be in the same place though?" John asked.

"I'm not sure, Te'lesau. But it's a start."

"Then count me in," John said. "But are you sure you wanna take the Valeyard into your universe?"

"Yes, if something happens I want him to deal with me, not you."

John sighed.

"I s'pose I'll have to drop the John moniker and go back to being the Doctor now," he said.

"You don't have to do that. Alan didn't do that."

"Yeah but Alan still has you. I lost my Doctor."

"Yeah, but you can still be the Doctor without using the name," the Doctor said.

John nodded.

"I really should call myself something else though. I didn't really think things through when I chose John Smith. I needed a human name so I used that. Speaking of…how did your clone choose Alan?"

"It's short for Alonzo," Rain said. "His full name is Alonzo Arthur Timelord."

A smile spread over John's face and he chuckled.

"Genius, I wish I would have thought of that. "

"Well, that was another way for him to distance himself from me."

"He must have been really angry with you then."

"I don't think it was that. I think he just wanted to be his own person and get out from under my shadow. That's why he chose to be more of a free spirit than I am."

"Yes, I've heard some stories about him from Jenny and Dex. He's quite an interesting character," John said while they laughed.

He looked at Rain.

"And he calls you Snotbag?"

Rain rolled her eyes.

"Yes, he thinks he's cute when he does that. It's my fault actually. I encouraged it. Awinita and I taught him a lot of American slang words and that's another thing he took to heart. He loves me…it's just a kind of bonding thing we do, sort of a bratty brother, sister thing."

"Well, maybe I'll have to start doing that with this other Rain if she starts traveling with us."

"Oh Lord, the poor woman. In that case, I think we should take her into another universe and hide her from you," Rain said while the Doctor giggled.

"Speaking of, we have to go back and let off some of our family," the Doctor said. "If you want to talk to your Rain and Teresa then and ask them about becoming Time Ladies, we can wait. I'm guessing we'll have to go around and tell the other members of our family what's been going on. After that, they can come with us along with anyone who wants to come back over here. While we rescue Tara, they can stay in here and relax. The TARDIS can give them a couple of rooms to relax in."

"What about Tara? Is she coming with us?" John asked.

"I want to. I wanna help," Tara said to him.

"Yes, but…is that wise? Not only would it complicate things but I'm sure the other Tara would be shocked to see her," John said. "I'm thinking it'd be better if you sat this one out."

"But I wanna help."

"I think he's right though, Honey. If Tara is there, we need to leave you behind so we're not constantly keeping tabs on you both," Rain said.

"Aw, nuts," Tara said, sighing.

The Doctor tousled her hair. Rain thought for a moment and then put her hands on her daughter's shoulders.

"How 'bout this? How about you and I do something for the day. Go see a movie or do something fun while they go and rescue your double. Would you like to do that? Have a day out with your mommy?"

The Doctor smiled at that.

"Do that, Tara. You work so hard for me, you deserve a break. Go with your mummy and enjoy the day, don't worry about us. I can handle a bunch of crazed human cult members. They're right, I need to concentrate on rescuing your double and having you there will be confusing. So I command you to take a much needed holiday, my Star, you've earned it."

"Okay," Tara said, nodding.

"Good girl," the Doctor replied. "And if you're taking her, perhaps you can take Amelia and Opal because I'm sure they'll be begging to go as soon as they hear she's going to Florida."

"Yup, you know they're gonna wanna go with us," Rain replied.

"My grandchildren and her are best friends and they usually do everything together," the Doctor said to John.

"That's why I wanna try to find my Dex and see if he also has a Patience and children with him."

"Did you warn him about what happened when Amelia opened the watch in front of you?" the Doctor said to him.

"Yes, I did," Dex said. "As much as it pains me, I told him the whole story and what I did."

"I told him that the same thing happened to me. I also was married to Sharina and did the same thing you did so I'm sure my ex-wife did the same thing to my son and turned him against me."

"Then be careful if you do find him," the Doctor said. "But now you know what might happen if you open the watch so you have advanced warning."

"And trust me, I'll be taking precautions. Now as for Jenny here…she told me how you found her but I'm not sure if she'll be in the same place. We might have to find another way to find her. Perhaps we can send out a message across the stars and let her know we want to find her. I just hope she's alive. It was good seeing her again, even if it is your Jenny."

"If you don't find your Jenny, I'll take her place," Jenny said.

The Doctor smiled when John embraced her.

"Thank you," John said.

They looked over when Alternate Rose came in the room with Alternate Jack and Donna.

"Are we going to Volag Nok?" Alternate Rose asked them.

The Doctor filled them in on their plans.

"Let me come with you then," Alternate Rose said when he was finished. "I wanna help rescue Tara if she's there. I hate to think her double is still stuck with those nutters. And I'm all for finding Dex and Jenny. I don't care what we do as long as I'm with John in the TARDIS."

"Same here, I'm so glad you guys found a way to restore me," Donna said. "I'd rather be here than Chiswick."

"I got a question for ya," the Doctor said. "You see, my Rose's Jackie and Pete voluntarily became a Time Lord and Lady in order to be with their daughter. Her little brother Tony is one as well. Would your parents…"

"I'm not sure," Alternate Rose said. "Mum was never happy when I was off with my Doctor. I don't think she'd wanna become a Time Lady herself."

"What about accepting you then? Even if you are a Time Lady, will she still love you?"

"I think so," Alternate Rose said, shrugging. "I hope so. I'm still the same person, just a Time Lady."

"Well, my Donna's Sylvia didn't take her transformation well. She was upset that we restored her and she started traveling with us again so she disowned her own daughter. And when Wilf became a Time Lord, she became enraged and basically kicked him out."

"What?" Alternate Donna said. "Are you serious? Her mum disowned my double and her Wilf?"

"Yup, because she chose to be a Time Lady and be something more than a temp in Chiswick," the Doctor said.

"I don't believe it. Me mum wasn't thrilled when I went travelin' with my Doctor, but I couldn't imagine her disowning me and Granddad because we became Time Lords. But on the other hand, I can imagine that. At least your Donna has her Wilf."

"Well, actually, our Jackie also adopted her so Donna thinks of her as her mum now."

"Oh, that's so sweet," Alternate Rose said. "I'm glad she did that."

They glanced at the door when Awinita, Serena, Grace and Martha came inside the room.

"Are we going to drop off the Valeyard or are we still relaxing?" Awinita asked the Doctor.

The Doctor put a hand on her shoulder.

"I am but I need to gather everyone in here and let them know what we're doing so just relax while I call everyone else in here," he said.

Awinita nodded. She and the other women sat down in the recliners while the Doctor called the others to the living room.


	288. Chapter 288

Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty Eight

The TARDIS materialized in the garage of the Doctor's house. The door opened and everyone poured out of it.

"So this is it. Your house," John said to the Doctor.

"Yup, this is my domestic domicile," he said to him.

They walked into the living room and Madison walked up to them.

"Maddie, this is John. John, Maddie."

"Nice to meet you," Madison said.

"Likewise and…"

He grinned when Rory, Blizzard and Barney came running up.

"Awwww," John said, kneeling down to pet them. "I'm betting Rose will want me to get dogs like this. They're beautiful."

"Doctor," Madison said. "Teresa and Rain are asleep upstairs. I managed to find some of that milkshake mix you gave to Tara and gave it to the other Rain since she's so thin. But they're resting comfortably."

"Good. We're gonna stay here only briefly. We're gonna attempt a rescue mission," he said, while everyone went to their own individual homes and went to tell the others what was happening.

"Rescue who?" Madison asked.

The Doctor put his arm around her shoulder and filled her in on what was going on while they walked to the kitchen. While they did that, John and his group walked around the house, touring it while Rain and Tara rested on the sofa and Rose and Alan went to see their children. Rain looked up and smiled when she saw Dorothy coming down the steps.

"There she is," Rain said.

"Hi!" Dorothy said happily.

"Hi, Honey, are you having a good day?" Rain asked her.

"Uh-huh," Dorothy said, stepping off the last step and walking over to them. "You was sleeping?"

"Um, no, Honey. That's not me up there. That's a…well…"

Tara giggled when she tried to think how to explain it to her.

"Just…trust me, Dot, it's not me," Rain finally said.

While they looked around the house, Alternate Rose took John's hand and led him back to Rose and Alan's bedroom. They stepped inside and froze when they saw Alan and Rose sitting on the bed talking quietly.

"Hello there," Alan said, smiling.

"Sorry, I wanted to show John your room," Alternate Rose said sheepishly.

"Come on in, I'll be right back, just make yourself at home and take a look around," Alan said to them.

He went back out the door while Rose stood up.

"This is our bedroom," Rose said, spreading her arms out.

She stood by and watched while Alternate Rose and John walked around it. She showed John the photos and then Rose stepped aside so they could look at the family photo.

"Blimey, we have to find all these people?" John said while both Roses laughed. "We're gonna be busy."

"Yes, you do, starting with these two."

Alternate Rose and John turned and gasped when they saw Angel and Elizabeth standing beside Alan. Rose's eyes misted over while she and John walked over and bent down to them.

"Oh, they're beautiful," John murmured.

Alternate Rose smiled when Angel toddled over to her and put her arms around her. Alternate Rose enfolded her in her arms. John smiled while he watched Elizabeth walk over and hug her. He stood up beside Alan.

"Yup, we'll definitely have to find these two," John said to him.

They glanced at the door when Alternate Donna and Alternate Jack walked up to the doorway. They beckoned them inside and Alternate Donna cooed when she saw Angel and Elizabeth.

"Oh my God, they're adorable," she said, kneeling down beside Alternate Rose.

"These are their children," Alternate Rose said, pointing to Alan. "This is Angel and this is Elizabeth."

"Hi, I'm Donna," Alternate Donna said.

"I know that," Elizabeth said.

Alan and John chuckled.

"Yeah, she knows who her auntie is, she's not an idiot," Alan said teasingly.

"I had the same problem with Dot," Rain said, coming up behind them. "She was amazed that I was downstairs when I was upstairs asleep."

She brought Dorothy into the room.

"This is Madison's daughter, Dorothy, or Dot as we call her. She adopted the Doctor as her daddy so this is his fourth child," she said.

Alternate Rose and John knelt down beside her.

"They're all so adorable. I wish our Doctor had thought of adopting children. Maybe he wouldn't have ended up the way he did."

She sighed wistfully.

"I wish he could have been healed," Alternate Rose said. "I loved him and I hate that he has to go to prison for the rest of his life."

"Yes, but that was his decision, Rose," John said. "He had a choice and he chose to be evil. He's deluded now and even if we get help for him like their Doctor got for Dex, I doubt if it would work because he doesn't want help. At least he'll be contained and won't be a threat to anyone."

"So, you're gonna be the Doctor now?" Alternate Rose said to him.

"Yes, I have to be. Someone needs to defend the universe so I need to become the Doctor in deed, if not in name."

He smiled when Dorothy came over to him.

"And you…are cute," he said to her.

"Are you Daddy?" Dorothy said.

"Sadly, no, your daddy is somewhere…not sure where but I'm guessing he's around," John said.

He and Alternate Rose stood back up. Dorothy and Elizabeth took her hands while everyone left the bedroom.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they finished the tour, Alternate Rose and John went out to the pool so they could be by themselves. John let out a low whistle.

"This is a nice house, makes me want to rethink my whole anti-domestic motto," he said to her.

"Told ya you'd like it," Alternate Rose said.

John nodded and grinned. He took Rose's hand and led them to a table at the back of the pool. They sat down together and John took Rose's hand.

"Rose, do you love me?" John asked.

"Yes."

"Because you mentioned in there that you still loved the Doctor."

Rose sighed.

"John, I'll always love the Doctor but I know that he's lost to us and I can't spend the rest of my lives waiting for him to recover. I have you here with me and you're my future now. You're the reason I became a Time Lady."

"Really?"

"Yes, really, you asked me to do it and I agreed, did ya have wax in your ears at the time?" Alternate Rose teased.

John didn't laugh, instead he scooted his chair closer to Rose. He cupped his face with her hands.

"Rose, the reason I'm asking is because that day on the beach, I meant what I said when you asked me to repeat what the Doctor said to you. I should have done what Alan did and took you away from London, took you around the world and gave you the love and attention you deserved. But instead I let your parents boss me around and frighten me into working for Torchwood. I became miserable and bitter and I lost all hope. I didn't think I had any real future and that included with you."

"Oh, John," Alternate Rose murmured while she laid her hand on his cheek. "I'm sorry, I knew you were upset but I didn't realize it was this bad. You hid so much from me."

"I know I did and I'm sorry but I didn't know how to talk to you and in a way, I didn't feel I had the right to talk to you. The Doctor was a bit reserved when it came to showing his feelings and instead of doing the opposite, I just followed in his footsteps. By the time the Valeyard captured us, I was ready to give up and just die and I would have done it if the Doctor hadn't offered to become my brother and care for me like he does for Alan. He gave me hope and the strength to go on because I finally saw something good in my life. But you know what? I had something good all along and its sitting here right across from me."

He took both her hands.

"Oh Rose, my hearts' desire, I'm so sorry for all the mistakes I made that led us to this point. Please forgive me and say you'll give me and our relationship a second chance."

"I do and I will, John. I want you. I want to be with you for the rest of my lives."

John raised her right hand and pressed his lips to the back of it.

"Then, my love, say you'll be mine forever. Be my lives' mate for the rest of our lives. Marry me, my beloved, please say you will."

A lump formed in Alternate Rose's throat and her breath stopped. She nodded and then finally found her voice.

"Yes, my love, I'll marry you," she said.

Tears fell from John's eyes. Alternate Rose embraced him while he wrapped his arms around her.

"My darling, you won't regret this. I will give you the universe, all universes. I will make you feel like the most important woman that's ever lived," he murmured.

"And I'll do the same for you," Alternate Rose said.

They kissed each other's lips. John chuckled when they finished.

"I don't have a ring to give ya, this was kinda spur of the moment," he said.

Alternate Rose raised her eyebrow.

"You? You did something on the spur of the moment? Are ya sure the universe isn't gonna explode now that you've done something spontaneous?"

John laughed at that.

"Okay, yes, I admit I was duller than ditchwater but that will change. I will change. I have to since the Doctor is no longer around to defend our universe."

They shared a kiss and touched foreheads.

"Now that we've done this, the next step is building our family," John said to her. "First we gotta find our version of Tara and then perhaps our versions of Angel and Elizabeth and then perhaps a few more on top of that."

"Yes, a large family. I want that," Rose murmured.

"Then we'll have ninety nine boys and girls so we can be the humanoid version of One Hundred and One Dalmatians," John said.

"No, I don't think we'll go that far," Rose said while he laughed.

They kissed again and John stroked her cheek.

"Now that we've gotten this out of the way, let's go back inside, tell the others, and then get ready to go so we can find our Tara," he said to her.

Rose nodded. John pulled her into another hug. He lowered his face to the top of her head, murmured a few loving words, and then they stood up and hand in hand went back inside.


	289. Chapter 289

Chapter Two Hundred and Eighty Nine

After getting everyone that was going assembled in the Doctor's TARDIS, he shut the door and took it into the vortex. Both Rains and Roses were onboard along with Alan and John, Teresa, Alternate Donna, Alternate Jack, Madison, Dorothy, Tara, Amelia, Opal, Angel, Elizabeth, Dex and Jenny. John had announced their engagement to the others before they left and now that they were in the vortex, the Doctor asked John to come with him. They walked back to the lab and the Doctor opened a drawer and pulled out two screwdrivers, two psychic papers and two money wallets and handed them to him.

"I figure if you're gonna be the Doctor now, you and Rose will need these," he said to him.

"Thank you so much. Again, I'm just speechless."

"It's nothing. I just know that you'll have to be prepared, both of you, since now you have the safety of the universe in your hands."

He demonstrated how the wallet worked and John chuckled.

"That's handy. I don't recall ever seeing this in my universe. But it'll be nice to have it and not have to worry about money anymore. Thank you, my brother."

"You're very welcome. And now, before we head off to Florida in your universe, we have to stop off at Volag Nok in this universe so we can deliver the Valeyard to them."

"How are you going to do that? Are you going to just leave them out in the snow? Because the last time I went there, I ended up in prison for a number of offenses."

"As did I. But I was put into a cell with the governor and I ended up reprogramming him because he wanted to kill all the prisoners there. I also tweaked his programming so he wouldn't have me arrested if I had to take someone there."

"Clever."

"Yes, it was, wasn't it?"

John chuckled and the Doctor patted him on the back while they walked out of the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After landing on Volag Nok, they made sure the prisoners were sedated and the humans were bundled up warmly before they stepped out into the snow. They walked for a few feet and the Doctor stopped them. Suddenly blue force field prison bars surrounded them and they all sank down beneath the surface to the prison. They dropped halfway down and then stopped. The Doctor quickly got the robot guards attention when they came to scan their minds.

"I want to see Locke, tell him it's the Doctor," he said to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Doctor, it's nice to see you again," Locke said while they stood in his office.

The robot hovered just in front of the Doctor and his family. At their feet were the Valeyard and his guards, all of them unconscious. Locke backed up and stared at them with his one red eye.

"Are these prisoners?" he asked the Doctor.

"Yes, all of them are criminals," the Doctor said. "And I want you to keep a close eye on this one in particular. His name is the Valeyard. He's extremely dangerous and I'm sure he'll try to find a way to escape."

"I will put him in a maximum security cell and have my guards watch him closely, Doctor," Locke said.

"Thank you. I took out some of his memories so hopefully he won't give you too much trouble. The main reason he wants to break out is so he can get revenge on us and I tried to make sure he forgot who we were."

"Very well, Doctor. Is there anything else you need?" Locke asked.

"Nope, that's it. Just wanted to drop these people off here before moving on."

"I will summon guards to take them to cells immediately," Locke said.

"Thank you. We'll be going then. It was nice seeing you again."

"And you, Doctor. I will allow you to use my private lift back up to the surface," Locke said, gesturing to a pair of elevator doors on the left side of the room.

"Thank you," the Doctor said.

They said goodbye to him and went into the elevator while Locke got on the intercom to summon some guards to his office.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Right, next stop, the cultists," the Doctor said when they got back into the vortex. "Nooow, if memory serves me right, their hideout was near Orlando so if you lot wanna go to one of the theme parks while we do this, we can meet up later then."

"Disney, I wanna go to Disney," Amelia said.

Madison looked at Rain.

"And of course they wanna go to the most expensive park," she said while they laughed.

"Well, Maddie, I suppose we could rent a minivan for the day or you could land near Disney and drop us off there before you went on," Rain said to the Doctor.

"I can land near there, that's no problem. There's no need for you to hire a people carrier when you're not gonna be there that long. I have my people carrier to do that for you. Now…Teresa and the other Rain, are you going with them?"

Teresa and Alternate Rain glanced at each other.

"I don't mind going," Teresa said. "I don't have any money though."

"That's no problem," Madison said. "We can pay your way in."

"Um, I'll go but it'll be kind of odd with her there," Alternate Rain said, pointing to her double.

"Yeah, but just pretend you're twin sisters," the Doctor said. "I promise you my wife won't bite ya."

"No, she'll just talk your ear off about stupid inconsequential rubbish like Brad and Angelina," Alan muttered.

They laughed when Rain smacked him in the head. Alan looked at John.

"I don't know about your Rain but if she's anything like mine, beware," he said to him.

"Speaking of…Rain…Rain, Teresa, when we go back to your universe, do you want to stay with them?" the Doctor said, pointing to Alternate Rose and John.

Alternate Rain and Teresa stared at them while they thought. John walked over to them.

"If you want to stay and travel with us in our TARDIS, we'd love to have you," he said.

"You mean like this thing?" Teresa asked.

"Yup, exactly like this thing. We can go all over time and space and we fight monsters and evildoers. And…if you want, the Doctor there gave me the means to change you into our kind."

"What does that mean?" Alternate Rain asked.

"Well…"

John thought for a moment.

"Look, this is a bit complicated and it takes awhile to explain. Why don't you two go with the other Rain and Maddie and the children and have a fun day and I'll explain more in detail tonight."

Both of them nodded.

"Right then, if no one has anything further to say, let's get the rescue underway," the Doctor said, moving to his monitor.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Be careful, Love," Rain said to the Doctor.

They were standing in the Disneyworld parking lot near the back.

"I will. If they're holding Tara captive, I'm gonna do everything in my power to rescue her."

He put a hand on Tara's shoulder.

"It's kinda odd because the last time I didn't have to rescue you and I didn't have to confront these cultists since they were already in jail. I guess this time around I get my chance to beat them up. So they better just watch out for your old man."

"I…um…tried to tell you everything I know about where they lived and stuff. I think I told you everything," Tara said.

"You told me a lot plus I know more from scanning your memories. Trust me, if their hideout is the same as it is in our universe, I'll have no trouble navigating it. You, on the other hand, go have fun since you didn't get to go to Disney the last time and don't give your mum grief and talk her into buying you a zillion Mickey plushies and doodahs."

Tara giggled.

"I won't, Daddy."

He hugged and kissed all the children.

"Have fun," he said to them.

"You too, Papaw, go and kick the bad guy's…butt," Amelia said, catching herself before she said ass.

"I always do," the Doctor said, winking.

He gave his wife a kiss on the lips. They watched for a moment while all of them headed towards the front entrance and then they went back inside the TARDIS.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor landed the TARDIS about a quarter of a mile away from where the cultists were living. The area was rural with not many houses. There were several fields in between the houses and they all walked along the side of the road keeping their eyes open for any sign of the cultists' house. As they walked a couple of cars passed by and one of them slowed and stopped, asking if they had broken down somewhere and needed help. They told the woman driver no and thanked her for her concern and she drove off. They walked on and after fifteen minutes they found the address they were looking for. It was an old house that was in the middle of a large field. A wooden fence surrounded it, the wood unpainted and weather-beaten. The house was two stories with white paint that was peeling off in several places. A small porch was on the front and most of the windows were boarded up with large sheets of plywood. The only windows that weren't boarded up were the two that were on either side of the wooden front door.

"Charming," Alternate Jack said. "I guess being an insane devil worshiping cult member doesn't pay very well."

"Or they're too busy slicing people open to worry 'bout fixin' the place up," Rose said.

The Doctor leaned up against the fence, examining the house.

"This is it. This is the house I saw in Tara's memories," he said to the others.

"Yup and they're Satanists," Alan said. "Look."

They walked over to the fence post he was standing beside and looked where he was pointing. Carved into the wood was a pentagram. The Doctor snorted.

"I s'pose this is for the people who want to join up with them and need to make sure they're at the right house," he said. "Some people have mailboxes, some people have holiday flags, some people have pink flamingos, they have a pentagram."

"So what do we do?" Alternate Donna asked him.

They walked over to the other side of the road and hunkered down in the ditch.

"We need a way to get inside before they suspect anything," the Doctor said. "My suggestion is we get back in the TARDIS, go forward in time, and sneak up after dark since the house is so far back in the field. If we try to go up during the daylight hours, they'll probably shoot us on sight."

"I wish we knew for sure if Tara was in there," Alan said. "I hate to go barging in there without being sure."

"I know but I'm not sure how to do that without being seen. I think I know why they chose this particular place. It's out in the open and far back in the field which gives them time to see someone and react. Hopefully if we approach under cover of darkness they won't see us that easily."

"Might I make a suggestion then?" John said. "All of us wear black clothes and blacken any exposed skin to help us blend into the darkness."

"Good idea," the Doctor said. "Let's go back to the TARDIS and do that and then we'll move forward several hours and begin the rescue."


	290. Chapter 290

Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety

Once they got back to the TARDIS, all of them took off their clothes and dressed in black outfits the TARDIS provided. She provided them with black greasepaint and all of them blackened their faces and hands, making sure every inch of skin was covered. Then they all donned black form fitting hoods that covered their hair and necks, leaving a wide circle in the middle of it for their faces. After that, they went back out into the moonless night and headed back to the house.

When they got to the address, all of them climbed up and over the fence and crouched down by it, listening silently for a moment in case there were any dogs or security devices. They couldn't see any lights in the windows that were boarded up and there was no activity anywhere. All of them moved forward quietly keeping their eyes on the front doors and windows, looking for any sign of people inside. Resisting the urge to run to the house and barge in, they moved slowly, stopping every few minutes to make sure no one saw them. After a half hour, they finally reached the wooden porch and all of them crouched up against it while they pulled their screwdrivers out and readied themselves for whatever lay ahead.

_Okay everyone_, the Doctor thought to them. _We need a few people to stay outside to keep watch and fight anyone who comes up to the house or comes out of it._

_I'll stay,_ Alternate Rose thought.

_So will I,_ Rose thought.

_And me,_ Dex thought.

_Okay, just stay near here and try not to let yourselves be seen. The rest of us will go inside and try to find Tara. If we do find her and there's trouble on the way out, we'll tell ya telepathically so you can come inside and get her, _the Doctor thought.

They waited a moment more and then they slowly crept up onto the porch. The Doctor led them to the front door and they stood there, listening while the others squatted down next to the porch and watched the windows. The Doctor aimed his screwdriver at the lock and quietly unlocked the door. The others readied themselves while he slowly turned the knob and opened the door. All of them grimaced when the smell of stale cigarette smoke and dried blood wafted out the door. The Doctor opened the door enough to get his head inside. He peeked inside and looked around. The room was dark but there was a light from a distant room and he could tell that the room also needed repaired and painted. He glanced at the wall and rolled his eyes when he made out a huge pentagram painted on the wall. He looked around, listening and sensing his surroundings before he opened the door a bit wider and he and the others crept inside. In the distance they could hear heavy metal music being played. The Doctor closed the door and they crept across the wooden floor to a doorway on the other side of the room. The next room was bare except for pentagrams and satanic symbols painted on the walls and the back of the plywood covering the window to their left. They crept along, communicating with one another silently and using their respiratory bypass systems to hide their breathing. The next room was a dining room with a large wooden table and several chairs. More satanic symbols were on the walls and there were two candleholders on the table with the stumps of white candles in them. They noticed a doorway off to their right and they crept over to it. Peering inside, they saw stairs leading up to the second floor.

_Okay, let's split up. Half of us stay down here and the other half go up_, the Doctor thought to them.

He, Jenny and Alan decided to go up while Alternate Jack, Alternate Donna and John stayed on the first floor. The two brothers went up the wooden steps while the others went into the next room. They reached the top of the stairs and all of them pressed up against the wall, looking around. The heavy metal music was louder and they could tell it was coming from a closed door about five feet away. All the doors were closed except for one that was two doors down from the one the music was coming from. There was a light on inside and it streamed out into the hallway, giving them some light. Seeing no one around, the three of them went up to the second floor. They crept along, making sure to be extra silent when they passed the closed door. They went past and headed towards the open door. They paused beside it and listened. They couldn't hear any movement inside it. The Doctor slowly stuck his head around and looked inside and his stomach lurched when he saw Tara. She was asleep, lying on an old, dirty mattress that was lying on the floor in the corner of the dusty, dirty room. She had a flat, dirty pillow behind her head and a thin cotton blanket over her emaciated body. She had several bruises on her face and her hair was matted. The Doctor fought to keep his rage under control while he slowly went inside. Jenny and Alan followed him in and both of them swallowed hard when they saw her. The Doctor knelt by the mattress and glanced around. There was an old battered bedside table next to the mattress with an old lamp on top. The Doctor slowly pulled open the drawer in the bedside table and his hearts lurched when he noticed a couple of porno magazines, a pink dildo, handcuffs, lubricant and condoms.

"Bastards," Alan muttered when he and Jenny looked inside it.

The Doctor closed it back. While Alan telegraphed what was going on to the others, the Doctor inched his way onto the mattress and sat down beside his duplicate daughter. Fighting back the tears, he put his hand on her shoulder and gently shook her. Tara slowly opened her eyes and stared at him quietly. The Doctor smiled at her.

"Hi," he whispered to her.

Tara stared at him silently for a minute. Then she kicked off the covers. They noticed she was dressed in a dirty white t-shirt, navy blue shorts and had more bruises and burn marks on her arms and legs. They watched in silent horror while she took off her shorts and underwear, sat them to one side, sat up and opened the bedside table's drawer, handing the Doctor one of the condoms. Alan put a hand on his brother's shoulder and drew Jenny to him while the Doctor shook with silent rage. Fighting his emotions, he put a hand on her shoulder.

"No, I'm not here for that," he managed to get out. "I'm here to rescue you and take you away from this place."

Tara stared at him in silence and the Doctor could see several emotions pass across her face. He sensed she was trying to figure out if he was being serious or not so he decided to speak to her and gain her trust.

"Do you have a name?" he whispered to her.

"Bala," she whispered back.

_Oh, so they gave her a name in this dimension, how thoughtful_, Alan thought to them.

"Bala, I'm the Doctor, this is my brother, Alan, and my daughter, Jenny. There's more of us downstairs and we're here to take you away from this place."

"Are you gonna rescue my mommy too?"

The Doctor was taken aback.

"Your mummy's still alive?" he whispered.

Bala frowned in confusion.

"Yes," she said.

"Look, it's a long story but I'm not from this universe. We're from another universe and there's another you in it. She's named Tara and she escaped from a place like this and we found her. She was a captive like you but her mother was murdered right after she gave birth to her which is why I sounded surprised just then. Where's your mother at?"

"She's a couple of rooms away. One of the men's having sex with her."

The Doctor's stomach dropped to his knees.

"Let me guess," Alan whispered. "The room is the one with the loud music coming out of it."

"Bala, listen to me. I'm gonna go get your mummy so I need you to get your clothes back on and go with my daughter. She'll lead you out to the rest of my family, alright?"

"What about the men?" Bala whispered.

"Trust me, if they know what's good for them, they won't cause us any trouble," the Doctor whispered. "Now hurry up and get dressed so you can leave here."

Bala nodded and put her underwear and shorts back on. Alan put a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you and your mummy the only ones in here?" he whispered to her.

Bala nodded. She finished dressing and Jenny helped her to stand.

"Come with me and I'll take you outside," she whispered.

Tara nodded. She took her hand and the Doctor and Alan smiled when Jenny slowly led her out of the room. Both men followed behind them, keeping an eye on their surroundings, making sure they got to the stairs safely while Alan updated everyone down below on what was happening. Alternate Jack and John came back to the doorway and stood at the bottom of the steps while Jenny led Bala down them.

_We found a few of the bastards and knocked them out,_ Jack said. _Luckily they were drunk and stoned and didn't see us coming until it was too late for them._

_Good, hopefully, this bastard raping her mum is just as stoned and we won't get any trouble from him,_ the Doctor thought back.

Jenny and Bala reached the bottom of the steps and John smiled when he put a hand on her shoulder.

"You're safe now, trust us," he whispered to us.

"Go ahead and take her outside, John. I'll go up and help out the Doctor and Alan," Jack whispered.

He nodded and took her free hand. He and Jenny led her away while Alternate Jack slowly went up the stairs. The Doctor and Alan stepped back when he reached the top and Jack readied his gun while they slowly went towards the closed door.

_At least they're playing loud music so they can't hear us comin'_, Alan thought to them.

They stopped by the door and the Doctor slowly turned the knob. It was locked so he used the screwdriver on it. He tried it again and slowly opened the door while Alan and Jack readied themselves. He did the same as before and opened it up enough to stick his head in. To his relief, the man was fast asleep in the bed across the room. He was naked and the covers were down to his ankles. He was Caucasian, dark unruly hair that came down to his shoulders, a full beard and satanic tattoos all over his body. Beside him, also naked, was a young Indian woman who resembled a grown up Tara. She was awake and staring quietly up at the ceiling, lost in her thoughts while her left arm lay draped across her breasts. She looked over when the Doctor opened the door further. He put a finger to his lips as he and Jack and Alan came inside. Jack walked over to the man and aimed his gun at his forehead while he shoved him violently. Meanwhile, the Doctor and Alan came up to the other side and urged the woman to get up and go with them. Jack shoved the man again and he snorted loudly while his eyes opened. Jack gazed into them and noticed they were blurry and unfocused.

_Yup, I think this one is stoned too_, Jack thought to them.

The man opened his eyes fully and they bulged when he saw Jack aiming the gun at him.

"Buddy, you make one move and I fill that empty head of yours with lead," Jack said to him.

"Who are you? What are you doing?" he slurred.

"We are a bunch of pissed off people who're here to rescue this woman and her child, that clear things up for ya?" Jack said.

He put the muzzle of the gun directly against his forehead when he tried to get up.

"No, you stay right there. You and your buddies are going to prison for this and if you're lucky, the other inmates won't kill ya for being a child molester," Jack said to him.

"You have no right!"

"Oh! We have every right!" the Doctor snarled at him. "You and your lot are going to pay for this. And don't think that you'll be able to tell the judge that this is all part of your religion and you have every right to molest and rape these women because they won't buy it. If it were up to me, I'd castrate you and your mates here and now for this. Now, I have a bit of a problem because I don't want this woman and her child left here to go through a long, messy court case where they'll have to recall everything you did to them in detail and be traumatized all over again. And to be frank, I don't put much faith in Earth court systems and the last thing I want is for you and your friends to go free and do this to someone else. So I'm gonna take you somewhere where you'll be incarcerated for a long time. But in the meantime, I need you to take a nice long nap and sleep off whatever substance you're on."

His hand shot out and before the man could react, he pinched a nerve in his neck and rendered him unconscious.

"Let me guess, Volag Nok?" Alan said.

A grin spread over his face.

"Yup, I'm gonna make sure they pay for what they did and get put somewhere where they won't hurt anyone ever again."

He turned to the woman and smiled at her.

"I'm the Doctor and this is Alan and Jack. What's your name?"

"Karishma."

"Karishma, that's pretty. We found your daughter and got her to safety."

"Thank you, thank you so much," Karishma said.

"You're welcome. Now do you know where your clothes are?"

She nodded.

"Go ahead and get dressed and we'll take you away from here. I promise you all of these men will face justice for this and you and Bala won't be bothered by them anymore."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After making sure the men were unconscious and tied up, everyone came back inside and got them while the Roses stood guard outside and kept watch over Bala and Karishma. The men gathered the men up in their arms and all of them headed back towards the TARDIS. On the way there, the Doctor explained to Karishma and Bala who they were and how they knew they were there. Karishma was gobsmacked when the Doctor told them about Tara. They reached the fence and the Roses, Donna and Jenny snickered when the men held the cultists out across the fence and just let them drop to the other side.

"Oops, clumsy us," Alan said. "Hope that didn't damage their empty skulls.

They all climbed over and helped Bala and Karishma over. They picked the men back up and walked down the road while the Doctor continued to fill them in on everything.

"So, this other version of my daughter, she's in this TARDIS thing?" Karishma said when he finished.

"Not yet, she's at Disneyworld with my wife. We both adopted her and I actually named her because in the other universe, her mother had been killed and they just called her It."

"Oh God, that's horrible," Karishma said. "I know they threatened Bala numerous times and I gave myself to them to save her life and keep her safe."

The Doctor gave her a sad smile.

"I'm glad you were there protecting her then," he said. "But there's no need to do that anymore. John and Rose and Donna and Jack will take you in and protect you."

"Thank you," Karishma said.

They nodded and smiled at her. After twenty minutes, they reached the TARDIS and the Doctor unlocked it. He let the men go by so they could put the cultists in the holding cells. He and the women led them inside and stood with them letting them get over their shock at seeing the interior. Once they were over their initial shock, the Doctor closed the door and led them over to the console.

"We'll stop by Volag Nok first and give those bastards to Locke and then once that's done, we'll go get the rest of the family and let you meet them," the Doctor said to them.


	291. Chapter 291

Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety One

While the Doctor took the TARDIS back into the vortex, Alan and John led Bala and Karishma to the med bay so they could run some tests on them.

"I know this is an uncomfortable subject but I need to ask it, Bala. Have you had sex before?"

She nodded and Karishma put her arm around her.

"How old are you, Bala?" John asked.

"Eight."

"Hmm, you're younger than our Tara," Alan said.

"How old is she?"

"Thirteen."

"Wow, wish I was thirteen," Bala said.

"So the duplicate of my daughter is actually older than she is?" Karishma said.

"Yes and unlike your daughter, she was never raped. Her captors were waiting till she started menstruation so they could get her pregnant," Alan said.

Karishma shook her head.

"The man that was with me in the bedroom met me when I came to America with Bala. My husband died of cancer and he left us a little money. I came here to start over and he was very charming and offered to take care of us. I didn't know anyone but now I wish I'd just lived on the streets with Bala. It would have been better than what happened to us while they held us there."

"How long ago was this?" Alan said.

"About three years. Bala was five at the time."

"And is that how long you've been sexually active?" Alan asked Bala.

She nodded and both Alan and John fought to keep their emotions under control.

"They won't bother you ever again. The Doctor's taking them to a prison planet and even if they got out of their cells, there's no way they can get off the planet," Alan said to them.

"What happens to us?" Karishma asked.

"I would like you to come with us," John said. "I travel through time and space like the Doctor does and we'd love to have you. I promise I'm nothing like those bastards. I won't hurt you in any way and neither will my friends."

"Thank you. All of this is mind boggling but I would love to remain friends with you."

"Me too. Traveling through time and space sounds cool," Bala said.

They grinned. Alan tousled her hair while they walked to the med bay.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

While the Doctor dropped off the captives at Volag Nok, Alan and John performed a gynecological exam on Bala and Karishma. They used their screwdrivers and the scanners in the med bay and also performed pap smears on both, searching for evidence of venereal diseases. They got a sample of their vaginal linings and had the TARDIS run a scan while both women watched.

The scan came up and both men sighed when they saw the results.

"Is it bad?" Karishma asked when she saw the angry looks on their faces.

"You have herpes and Bala has gonorrhea," John said.

"Oh God," Karishma said, getting up to hug her daughter.

"But…" Alan was quick to add. "that's all you have, thank God. And we can cure both of those very easily."

He walked over to a metal cabinet, opened it up, and began to rummage through it while John walked over to them.

"We'll have you fixed up in no time. After we cure the herpes and gonorrhea, we can work on getting your weights back up to normal."

"And we have something that'll help that," Alan said, glancing over his shoulder. "My niece, Tara, was also emaciated when she found us and we got her weight back up to normal with some special milkshakes. If you drink one a day for awhile, it'll help you gain the weight back in a healthy way."

He turned and carried two small glass bottles over to the exam tables. One had a purple liquid in it; the other had a green liquid.

"I'm gonna have to open you back up for a moment because I need to use a cotton swab and rub the liquids onto the vaginal lining. They're more advanced that Earth cures and both diseases will be cleared up almost instantly."

He smiled when Bala groaned at that.

"I'm sorry, Bala, I realize it's uncomfortable having that speculum inside you but I promise I'll be brief and this'll be the last time I do this," John said.

The Doctor came into the room.

"Dropped them off at Volag Nok and we're now ready to go get the others. How're they doin'?"

"Go ahead and do what you have to do, John. I'll tell him," Alan said.

He took him out in the hall and quietly told him what they found. The Doctor sighed angrily when he told him about the venereal diseases.

"I knew it was a mistake taking them to Volag Nok and not wringing their necks with my bare hands," the Doctor said to him. "So you're curing them, yeah?"

Alan nodded.

"Yeah and John's gonna help them, therapy wise, try to get over what they've been through. Although…hopefully being with him and his people will help heal them like it did for Tara."

"Well, with Karishma here, Alan and Rose can't adopt her," the Doctor said.

"No, but they're still gonna look after them and who knows, maybe Bala will do what Dot did and adopt him as a surrogate father," Alan said. "I'm just glad it wasn't a complicated disease like AIDS where we would have had to taken them to New Earth hospital or something like that."

"I wonder how Tara's gonna react seeing this version of her mother alive," the Doctor said.

I think she'll take it well. She thinks of Rain as her mother."

"Yeah but I can't help but think of what Rose did when we first crashed into the other universe and she saw her father alive."

"Tara loves you and Rain. If you think she's gonna suddenly want to be with her mother, I doubt it. I think she'll understand that this isn't her mother, just a version of her, just like there's another version of her mother."

"Speaking of, I'm heading up to retrieve them from Disneyworld. Keep an eye on things back here and I'll break the news to them and prepare Tara for this."

Alan nodded. He patted his brother on the shoulder and went back into the med bay while the Doctor walked back up to the console room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"There you are," the Doctor said when everyone walked through the front gate.

He had parked the TARDIS back at the end of the parking lot and had mentally told them he was there while he headed up the entrance. Tara walked up to him holding a large stuffed Minnie Mouse in her arms.

"Did you have fun?" the Doctor asked.

"Yes, I loved everything," Tara said.

"Did you see the fireworks?" the Doctor asked while they walked back to the TARDIS.

"Yes. They were pretty. We rode a whole bunch of rides and Mommy was telling me about Uncle Alan hating the Tiki Room and the Haunted Mansion rides."

The Doctor chuckled. Amelia and Opal came up beside him. Amelia had a Jasmine doll and Opal had a stuffed Winnie the Pooh.

"I don't know why Alan whined about the Tiki Room. I thought it was neat." Opal said.

"Because Alan is a wimp, kids," Rain said.

The Doctor looked behind him when Dorothy tugged on his jacket. She had a stuffed Dopey in her arms.

"Mommy said this is you cause you had big ears," she said.

The women giggled when the Doctor looked at Madison and raised his eyebrow.

"I see I've been the subject of conversation today," the Doctor said.

"Well, we had to explain you to the other Rain and Teresa," Madison said.

The Doctor smiled at them.

"How 'bout you? Are you doing alright?"

"Yeah, I've never been to Disneyworld before. It was fun," Teresa said.

"Same here," Alternate Rain added.

"She and I have been talking," Rain said, "and actually there are quite a few differences between us."

"Oh?" the Doctor said.

"Yeah, I'm not Navajo. I'm Iroquois. Mohawk. I lived in New York around Niagara Falls before I left the reservation and moved to Montana. I lived in Billings for awhile being a secretary and then I moved to Phazia on Andromeda, that's where the Valeyard found me. I'm an only child and my mother never died in childbirth but they both died in a fire when I was sixteen."

The Doctor grimaced at that.

"But it's been fascinating talking to Rain here and comparing notes," Alternate Rain said. "It's nice to know that she's not exactly the same as me, that would have been a bit too much to take. I'm glad her experience with you was more positive than mine. I'm glad you guys are happily married and have kids."

"Thank you, I wish the same for you."

"Perhaps, someday. Rain did explain more about being a Time Lady and I do want to become one and travel with John. Believe me; she made it sound extremely exciting."

The Doctor chuckled and patted his wife on the shoulder.

"Yeah, same here. All of them made it sound exciting so I think I'll do it too," Teresa said.

"Brilliant. What about you? We haven't met your double if there is one," the Doctor said.

"That's what they said. Makes me wonder if there is another me in your universe. Um…as for me, I'm American but my father was in the army and stationed in Germany. My mom was with him at the time so I have duel citizenship. Um…I'm an only child too and a bit of a free spirit, kinda like your brother, Alan. I've never been much for the domestic life either."

"Ah, a woman after my own hearts," the Doctor said while they laughed.

"I was also living in Phazia. I moved there because by the time I was eighteen, we lived in Nebraska and it was boring as hell so I worked a few odd jobs and earned enough money for a shuttle flight there. My dad and mom were none too pleased because they always wanted me to settle down and do something boring like file things or something like that. When I told them I was going to Andromeda they basically washed their hands of me, wished me luck and pushed me out the door. That's why I'd like to become a Time Lady, traveling in time and space sounds a hell of a lot better than rural Nebraska."

"Oh now, Nebraska isn't all that bad. There's some beautiful scenery and charming people there," the Doctor said. "But I completely understand your need to venture out and see the stars."

They reached the TARDIS and the Doctor stopped everyone.

"Okay, before we go inside, I have to tell you what happened tonight and give you advanced warning because even though we found Tara's double, there are a few major differences you should know about."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When he finished administering the cures, John had the TARDIS make them some clothes they could wear.

"This is it?" Karishma asked while they were dressing.

"Yes, this is it other than the milkshakes," John said. "And I'm going to help you get some therapy, especially for Bala. I want both of you to try to move on from what's happened and concentrate on the future."

The Doctor poked his head into the room.

"Oh, they're still dressing?" he said.

"Yeah, but we're about done," Karishma said.

"Good. I went and got the others so they're on board and anxious to meet you, especially my daughter. So if you don't mind, I'll bring her in first."

They nodded. The Doctor looked at John.

"And…your Rain and Teresa want to be Time Ladies, so I'll give them the crystals as well."

"Thank you. Tell them they're both more than welcome to travel with me."

"Will do," the Doctor said.

He stuck his head back out.

"Crystals?" Karishma said.

"Yeah, it's kinda complicated but apparently his lot met a Japanese fox spirit and that's how his family was transformed into Time Lords. He has these crystals she gave him that do the same thing so he's giving some to me so I can use them if I want to."

"Is he coming with us?" Karishma asked.

"No, eventually he and Alan will go back to their only universe. I had a double of him but he turned evil and he's in the same prison your nutters are in. One of the Roses will be with us and Jack and Donna and one of the Rains and Teresa. That's our group; everyone else goes back with him."

The Doctor appeared in the doorway.

"Everyone ready?" he asked.

They all nodded and the Doctor looked behind him and called to Tara. He stepped aside and she entered the room.

"Whoa!" Bala said, walking over to her with Karishma.

Bala walked up to her and stood in front of her. The Doctor grinned when he noticed that Tara was a foot and a half taller than she was.

"Hello," Tara said.

"Hi. Wow, this is what I'll look like when I turn thirteen?"

"I can't believe you're eight. Is it cause you went to an earlier year, Daddy?" Tara said, looking back at him.

"No, I came to the same year you escaped. I told you even though it's a parallel universe, there are some differences. She just happens to be younger than you."

Tara looked at Karishma who came up beside her daughter.

"Hi," Tara said.

"Hello. You're very beautiful," Karishma said, smiling.

"You too. I guess you're what my real mommy would have looked like?"

"You don't know what she looked like, Sweetheart?"

"Um…" Tara said while the Doctor came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, "no. They never told me anything about her. I don't even know if she had the same name as you."

"Do you know where she lived when she was in India?"

Tara shook her head.

"Where are you from?" she asked.

"We're from Mumbai. Have you ever been there?" Karishma said.

"Not yet but Daddy's gonna take me sometime."

"If I can ever get around to it," the Doctor said. "But I would like her to know her heritage even though she is a Time Lady so I will definitely take her."

"Good, I'm glad. I'm glad she found you and she's safe. Does she have an adopted mother?"

"Oh yeah, my wife, Rain. Wait a tic, I'll bring her in."

He turned and walked back out the door. A few seconds after he left, Amelia stuck her head inside.

"Hi," she said.

"Hello, who are you?" Karishma said.

"I'm Amelia. I'm the Doctor's granddaughter. This is my sister, Opal," she said when Opal stuck her head inside the door. "We just got back with the others from Disneyworld and we just wanted to meet you."

"Blimey, you two are nosy."

Tara laughed when the Doctor and Rain came up behind them.

"I thought I said wait until Tara got done speaking with them. Don't believe I stuttered when I said that."

"We were just curious?" Amelia said.

"Well, can you please go back and wait with your father? You'll get to chat with them soon enough," the Doctor said.

"Okay, Papaw," Amelia said.

Rain snickered when the two of them ran back out and the Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Those two were my grandchildren. Half the time they have trouble listening and sitting still and waiting."

"Much like you, Dear."

Tara giggled when the Doctor shot Rain a look. She patted him on the shoulder and stepped around him.

"Hi, you wanted to meet me? I'm Rain, her mother."

While they made small talk, the Doctor pulled John and Alan aside.

"Don't know if you realized it yet but I gave the crystals to the other Rain and Teresa, so congratulations, you have the beginnings of your own little family now," the Doctor said to John.

"I'm glad. I'm glad we found them even if Rose and I can't adopt Bala."

"I did point out that Dot adopted you even though Maddie's her mother," Alan said.

"Yeah, you never know, Bala might go that route if you take her under your wing and mentor her. I don't know 'bout your Rose, but Rain has no problem with Dot thinking of me as her father and not thinking of her as her mother. She has three kids of her own anyway so she's too busy being a mother to them to be jealous in any way."

He looked around when he felt a tug on his jacket and saw Amelia, Opal and Dorothy.

"Not to mention she has to keep these three in line and that's a job and a half right there," he added while Alan chuckled.

"It is not, Papaw," Amelia said.

He smiled and patted her head.

"Speaking of the nosy buggers here, are you still going to try to find your Dex?" he asked John.

"I'd like to. Would you like to help me with that?" John said.

"Gee, do we dare risk another attempt at barbecuing our family?" Alan asked the Doctor.

"Yes, if we do that we'll have to be very careful and keep Amelia's double away from the fob watch so she doesn't open it and unleash hell," the Doctor said, eyeing his granddaughter.

"I didn't know Pa was in there," Amelia protested. "I just thought it was a really pretty light and I wanted to show it to him."

The Doctor gave her a stern look.

"Yes and you just have to be curious, dontcha? Curious Georgette, always into everything," he said with mock anger.

"I am not," Amelia said while they giggled.

The Doctor put his arm around her.

"You realize if we do this you can't come along because I don't think I wanna go up to your farmhouse with you and Opal in our group. It might look a bit strange and there'd be a lot of messy explanations, especially since people really didn't know about aliens back in 1863. Sooooo, I think you'll have to sit this one out or go do something with your father because I'm pretty sure he can't come either."

"What about you and Alan and John? Don't you think they'll think it's weird that there are three of you and you all look the same?"

"Gee, I don't know, you seemed to accept it when it was me and Alan," the Doctor said to him. "Us, I can explain as being triplets. You and Opal and Dex will be hard to explain to your doubles and Dex and Patience's doubles which is why you can't come."

"Fine, we'll go with Pa. He's just as fun to be with. You're not the only fun thing in the universe, you know," Amelia said.

John raised his eyebrow while Alan giggled hysterically.

"Gee, I don't know if I wanna find them. She's got quite a gob on her," John said, pointing to Amelia.

"Yeah, but once you get past the cheekiness, she's a little treasure…most of the time," the Doctor said.

"What about Jenny?" Opal said. "If you go with him to find Jenny, our Jenny'll have to stay behind, right?"

The Doctor considered that.

"Do you wanna find her or find Dex? I mean, we could help you lot try to find either one," the Doctor said.

"I think I'll start with Dex because I still think it'll be more difficult to find Jenny. Damn it, I wish my original self had stayed behind long enough for her to wake up," John said, running his hand through his hair.

"Yeah, but he probably did what I did. I assumed since she wasn't a full Time Lady that her regenerative ability was lost when they made her and she really was dead. Though how she managed to revive herself when all she really had was her two hearts is still a mystery to me. I don't know what happened on your Messaline but I had trouble believing she was my daughter because I couldn't feel her in my head."

"Same," John said, nodding. "Beltrop Eleven. Never heard of that one before, hope it exists, otherwise it'll be a long, long search and I don't have the first clue how to get in touch with her if she's not a full Time Lady. So yes, start with Dex first since he'll be Earthbound if he's human."

The Doctor nodded. He glanced over at Rain, Tara, Bala and Karishma.

"Are you lot ready to meet the others now?" he said.

They nodded and he looked at Amelia.

"There! Now you can talk to them," he said while Alan laughed.

"Geez, I'm sorry," Amelia said while the Doctor chuckled and mentally told the others to come and meet them.


	292. Chapter 292

Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety Two

Once everyone was done talking to Karishma and Bala, they went back up to the console room.

"Okay, if we're gonna go to the next phase of the search, I need to go back over into my universe and go home and let some people out. Particularly Amelia and Opal and Dex."

"Can we go do something then, Pa?" Amelia said to him.

"Yes, we'll go somewhere," Dex said.

"Well, that's sorted then," the Doctor said when they let out a cheer. "Now, we'll be back after this is over so if any of you wants to rest in our house, you can, and…"

"AH-CHOO!"

The Doctor jerked when he heard an enormous sneeze behind him. He spun around and everyone laughed when he saw Dorothy standing behind him.

"Blimey, was that you?" he said to Dorothy.

"I sneezed, Daddy."

"I s'pose so," the Doctor said while everyone laughed, "I'm surprised your hooter's still attached to your face. Sounds like a hurricane blasted out of there. I didn't realize my ship was that dusty."

"The dust probably came from Disney," Rain said to him.

"Yeah, that has to be it because my TARDIS is squeaky clean. Well, I guess that'll teach you to hang around manky, musty Mickey Mouse then."

He turned back around.

"Now as I was saying before my daughter blew her nose off her face," he said while everyone laughed, "We will come back to the other universe if and when we find John's Dex so anyone who wants to rest there can or go with Dex and his kids. I figured Bala and Karishma will want to rest a bit and recover from everything. I assure you there's nothing that will hurt you there. There's an entire street that's nothing but my family members and the first sign of trouble they come runnin'. Maddie, are you stayin' behind?"

"Yeah, I'll take Dot over to Jackie's place and let her play with Tony so she'll be out of their hair."

"And I can take Angel and Lizzy over there as well," Rose said.

"Are you coming with us?" the Doctor asked.

"I'd like to but if mum's busy, I'll stay behind and help mind the kids."

"I have a suggestion," Alan said.

"And that suggestion would be…" the Doctor said.

"We have a TARDIS. Why don't we split up, take two teams and my team can go check out Beltrop Eleven and see if Jenny is there while you search for Dex."

"Brilliant," the Doctor said.

"I figure if we do that, then you won't be walking up to Dex's front door with three of us, two Roses, two Jacks, two Donnas, etcetera, etcetera."

"Can we go help look for Jenny then, Pa?" Amelia asked.

"Is Beltrop Eleven dangerous?" Dex asked Alan.

"Can be," Alan said.

"No, your mother would skin me alive. We'll go somewhere else," Dex said.

"Can I go with you, Daddy?" Tara asked.

"I thought you were on holiday."

"I was, but I'm done and it's back to work!"

The Doctor stared at her while everyone laughed.

"You're more of a time traveler than I am," he said. "I think I'll have to install a time clock in here so you can punch in and out every day. Yes, you can go with me."

"If I do what you say and stay by your side," Tara said quickly.

The Doctor grinned.

"You're getting tired of me saying that, aren't ya?"

"Yes," she said while they laughed.

"Okay, I won't say it anymore then," he said to her. "I'll just assume you have the instruction ingrained in your mind now. And on that note, I believe it's time for us to go back over the void, so everyone hang on to something. Here comes the bumpy ride again."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"And here it is, home sweet home," the Doctor said to Bala and Karishma when they walked into the living room.

The dogs ran up to them and Bala squealed with delight while she rubbed their backs. The Doctor grimaced when the three of them threatened to topple her over.

"Sit!" he said.

The three dogs sat and stared up at him.

"Sorry, 'bout that. They get a bit overexcited at times," the Doctor said.

The front door opened and Jackie stuck her head in.

"I thought I felt you lot," she said. "Doctor…"

The Doctor gave her an inquisitive look. Jackie walked over and jerked his tie out of his jacket.

"I need to talk to ya," she said to him.

"Whatever it is, I didn't do it and if I did it, I didn't mean it," he said quickly while everyone laughed.

"No, I need you to come look at somethin'," Jackie said.

"Well, could you not drag me to the something by my tie? I'll come willingly, Jackie."

Rose glanced at Rain and they, Alan, Tara, Amelia and Opal followed the Doctor out the door while Jackie led the way.

"Pete was out back of our house with Tony," Jackie said to them while they headed down the steps to the road. "When suddenly this creature showed up. I think it burrowed into the yard, I found a hole under our fence. Anyway, it seems harmless enough and Tony wants it for a pet. We haven't a clue what it is so I want you to take a look at it and see if you know what it is and if it would make a good pet."

They walked across the road and up Jackie's driveway to her garage. The garage door was open and they could see Pete standing inside next to a metal cage. Alan glanced back and noticed everyone else had come out on the porch while they watched silently.

"You were over the void so we couldn't get in touch with you," Pete said when they came inside the garage. "We figured you were the creature expert. Tony's inside now and he wants this creature for a pet and wants it badly. I need to know if it can be a pet for a child."

The Doctor walked past their hover minivan and stopped in front of the cage. Inside was a dog-like creature that resembled a very furry dachshund. The fur was a coffee colored brown and he had large round black eyes and little cat-like ears.

"This is a Gurk," the Doctor said. "They're kept as pets. In fact, I seem to recall they were genetically engineered and bred specifically to be pets. I've never owned one but I understand that they make very good pets. They shed though, you have to brush their fur obviously, and I believe they need special injections to stay healthy but other than that, I don't think there's anything wrong with Tony having it."

"Unless it belongs to someone else," Rose said. "Are you going to put an advert in the paper first before you give it to Tony? It might belong to someone near here."

"I'll do that. But if no one comes to claim it, I wanted to be sure it was an actual pet and not some wild animal that'll hurt him," Pete said.

"No, these creatures have never been wild animals, they were bred specifically for the home and if you let him go into the wild, he'll die because he won't know how to take care of himself."

"Thank you, Doctor; I'm sorry if Jackie startled you. We've been waiting all afternoon for any sign you were home and the moment we felt you clearly, she rushed over there."

"No problem but in future, don't grab my tie. I'll come along with you, I promise," he said while the others laughed.

Tara walked up to the cage. The Doctor watched her intently while she stared at it, enraptured. He saw her open her mouth.

"No you can't!" he said quickly before she could say anything.

"Nuts!" Tara said while everyone laughed.

"What'd ya mean, nuts? You're barely home anyway. You're off with me working your self-appointed Time Lady job," he said. "You have three dogs now. You don't need a gurk on top of it."

"And I'm pretty sure Dex will say no to you two so don't even ask," Alan said to Amelia and Opal.

"We need a pet though. We don't have one," Amelia said.

"You lot aren't home that much either," the Doctor said. "You know, pets tend to need someone to look after them and giving them to your mum while you go gallivanting off through time and space is not being a responsible pet owner. It takes more than a few days a month to care for a living creature and I agree with Alan. I'm sure your father will say no."

"Ask anyway," Tara said to them in a loud whisper.

She giggled and ran behind Rain while the Doctor eyed her.

"You three…" he said, shaking his head. "I'm glad I found Tara since you two needed a partner in crime and ardent supporter of your shenanigans. Anyway, that's my opinion."

"Thank you, Doctor," Pete said. "Did you manage to find her double then?"

"Yeah and her mother as well. Come over and meet them. I need to ask some of the others if they wanna help us. We're gonna split up and go back over and search for John's Dex and Jenny."

"Blimey, you're a busy man, Doctor," Pete said.

"Yeah, tell me about it," the Doctor said while they walked back out of the garage.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After getting everyone together in the house, letting them meet Bala and Karishma and explaining the situation with looking for Dex and Jenny, the Doctor asked for volunteers.

"I'm also going somewhere if anyone wants to go with me," Dex added.

"Yeah, we can have just as much fun as Papaw can," Opal said.

"So if anyone wishes to go with Mouth One and Two, go over there!" the Doctor said, pointing to them while everyone laughed. "I'm assuming John's Jack and Donna are coming with us, right?"

Alternate Jack and Donna nodded.

"I'm going with Alan then," Jack said.

"Same here, I'm going with Alan as well," Donna added.

"I'm with Alan," Rose said.

She gasped when Alan ran up behind her and seized her body.

"Indeed you are, my spousal unit!"

He gave her a big kiss on the head and ran back to the sofa while the children giggled.

"I'm with my husband," Rain said.

She gasped when the Doctor imitated Alan.

"Indeed you are… oh, never mind…"

Rain slapped his back and Alan sniggered when he ran away from her.

"I'll go with the Doctor," Awinita said. "If this other Dex tries to burn us alive and kidnap Rain again I'm gonna punch his lights out."

"I'm with Daddy," Tara said.

"I'm sure no one is surprised at that," the Doctor said while they laughed.

"I'll go with you, Doctor. Just in case," Grace said.

"And I'll go with Alan…again just in case," Martha said.

Alan looked at the Doctor.

"Call me crazy, but it sounds like they're anticipating injuries," he said to him.

"I know, I can't think why they'd think that. We never get hurt," the Doctor said.

Grace and Martha glanced at each other and snorted in unison.

"I'll go with you, Dad," Jenny said.

"You know, I think I'll be different and go with Dex. I'd rather go to a mystery location," Julie said.

"Yeah, me too," River said. "Besides I think you lot will have enough help now."

"Yay, people are going with us!" Opal said, hopping up and down.

"Yan, you wanna come with me?" Jack asked Ianto. "Searching for Jenny will probably take awhile and we'll need coffee."

Ianto gave him a long, hard stare while everyone laughed.

"Will I be allowed to do other things besides make the coffee?" he asked him.

"Um, if you behave."

"In that case, I'll go with Dex or the Doctor."

"Yeah, come with us, we need coffee too!" Tara said.

They all howled with laughter when Ianto gave her a shocked look.

"You lot have corrupted that poor girl beyond all help," Ianto said to them.

Jack laid a hand on his head.

"Okay, Doctor, Alan, Dex we have a man here who makes delicious coffee. Bidding starts at fifty credits, any takers?"

"Piss off, Jack," Ianto said while Jack patted him on the head. "I s'pose I'll go with you because I'll never hear the end of it if I don't."

"Anyone else?" the Doctor said.

"I'll go with Dex. I don't wanna risk getting burned alive or kidnapped by Other Rani again," Mingxia said.

John frowned.

"Rani?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"Yes, shortly after we found Jenny we got kidnapped by the Rani."

"How'd the Rani survive?" John said in disbelief.

"Hid in another universe," the Doctor replied.

"Oh lovely," John said. "First the Valeyard reemerges and now she might show up."

"Yeah but if she does, we'll handle her same as last time," Jack said. "Our group is tough and resilient! We can take on anything. We're the best group here, all others are wimps!"

Ianto rolled his eyes when everyone stared at him silently. Jack shrugged.

"Well, we are," he said while the children giggled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they chose their teams, the Doctor led Karishma and Bala upstairs at the same time the others were getting into the TARDISes or leaving for their houses. The Doctor took them to his room first.

"You can lay down in here and Bala will be down the hall in my daughters' and nieces' room," he said to them.

"I can't thank you enough, Doctor. Thank you so much for rescuing us," Karishma said.

"It's nothing. I'm glad you both are safe," the Doctor replied. "Now, before I go…I wanted to tell you that there is a way for you to become Time Ladies like the female members of my family. You don't have to do it now and you don't have to do it at all. But I make this offer to the people we love and want in our family circle and I know John feels the same as I do. Maddie will be here and you can ask her about it but I just wanted to tell you both that, just in case and before I forget since I have a lot on my mind. I'm glad you're both here. Make yourselves at home. If you want a bath or a shower, there's two bathrooms and if you're hungry, eat. We want you both to feel comfortable here."

"Thank you, Doctor," Karishma said.

"Is…Tara…is she a Time Lady?" Bala asked.

"Yes, she is. She's a wonderful Time Lady and I'm very proud of her," the Doctor said.

"Does it hurt when you change?" Bala asked.

"Nope, completely painless."

"But, you look human. What changes?" Karishma said.

"Well, I have two hearts and a slightly bigger stomach. I have the ability to withstand temperature extremes and I can function without breathing for awhile. I have a more advanced brain than yours with the knowledge of time and space at my disposal and I have the ability to communicate telepathically with other Time Lords and Ladies and feel them in my mind. Now you won't get your full Time Lady mind until you're twenty but you'll get all the other abilities."

"Cool! I wanna do it!" Bala said.

"Honey, slow down. We barely know them," Karishma said.

"Yeah but Tara's like them maybe I should be like them too."

The Doctor put a hand on her shoulder.

"Why don't I let Maddie talk to you first? I'll give her the crystals but I'd rather you wanted to change rather than do it because your double did it," he said.

They nodded.

"But in the meantime, why don't you rest a bit and let the medicine John gave you take effect. I gotta go right now but I'll be back later on and we'll talk more then."

He hugged them both before he took Bala's hand and led her out of the room towards Tara's bedroom.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Right, here we go again," the Doctor said. "Used to be back and forth between Earth and New Hope, now it's back and forth between my universe and yours."

"You don't have to do this," John said.

"Nah, I don't mind. Bit of adventure's always welcome," the Doctor said.

He powered up the TARDIS.

"Okay, you lot, let's see if we can go find the other Dex," he said while he released the hand brake.


	293. Chapter 293

Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety Three

Alan took the TARDIS into the vortex.

"Right, next stop, Beltrop Eleven and hopefully we'll find the double of Jenny."

He paused while he stood at the monitor.

"And if we find her, we're gonna have to explain who we are and why I'm not her father," he added.

"And why I'm not her Donna," Donna added.

"And why I'm not her Martha."

"Yippee, I don't have to worry about explaining myself," Jack said.

"I think you defy description anyway, Jack," Alan said.

They laughed when Jack gave him a dirty look.

"Well, now that we're here, it's time to start up the void crosser and…"

"AH-CHOO!"

They laughed when Rose sneezed loudly behind him in imitation of Dorothy. She poked her tongue out between her teeth and ran over to Donna's side.

"Speaking of…" Alan said, "in future when Dot grows up and starts traveling with us full time, remind me to find a way to muffle her voice because I have these visions of us hiding from a huge flesh eating monster and suddenly Little Miss Wind Tunnel gives away our position and we die. I'd rather not die because Dot got a heap of dust up her nose and had to expel it all at once. Okay…everyone; hold on to your lunch, we're going back over the void again!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they landed, all of them stepped outside into the city of Xian and looked around.

"This it?" Ianto asked.

"Yup, this is Xian where the other Jenny was found. Now I'm assuming we're not gonna run into Jax who'll lead us to her so we'll have to try to figure out if we can find the building she was hiding in before."

They walked along the crowded pavement, keeping their eyes open for any sign of Jenny. A few men leered at the women in their group and made lewd comments and suggestions.

"Just ignore em," Alan said to Rose, Donna and Martha. "They're probably looking for a confrontation and we don't wanna oblige em. Keep goin'."

Jack glanced over and glared at a couple of rough looking men who were following them while they ogled the women. They noticed his angry look and smirked.

"What's wrong, don't like the way we're lookin' at your women?" one of the men said. "We're just eyein' the goods. They'd make lovely whores. You and your male friends would too. You're all lovely pretty boys."

"Jack, quit lookin' at em, don't encourage them," Alan muttered, glancing back at him.

Jack sighed angrily and focused his attention back on the pavement ahead. Suddenly, he grunted when the man barreled into him.

"Don't you turn your back on me, mate!" he barked out.

"Right, I was gonna leave you alone but since you insist on a fight…"

Jack spun around and clocked him in the chin. Everyone stopped to watch while the man fell to the pavement in a daze and his friends came running to help him. Thinking fast, Jack whipped out his gun and fired directly up into the air. Everyone froze.

"IF I WERE YOU, I'D LEAVE US ALONE, ALL OF YOU!" he bellowed at the crowd.

"Jack…" Alan said through gritted teeth.

Jack aimed his gun at a large, burly, dark haired man when he took a berretta out of a holster around his waist and pointed it at him.

"I wouldn't if I were you, Bud…"

They gasped when the man shot him in the chest and he fell to the ground dead.

"There we are, problem solved," the man sneered.

"Not for you, it's not!" Alan said, whipping out his screwdriver.

"Oh, how cute, is that your weapon?" the man cooed. "What are you gonna do, throw a light on me and cook my flesh?"

"Rose, screwdriver," Alan said, holding out his hand.

Rose frowned. She took out her screwdriver and gave it to him.

_Cover your ears now!_ Alan thought to them.

"Oh lookie, he's got two of them now. Now he can cook my flesh twice as fast and…"

Everyone screamed in pain when Alan put the tips of the screwdrivers together and turned them on. His family kept their hands mashed against their ears while everyone else in a fifty-foot radius yelled and scrambled to get away from it. Nearby windows shattered and green fruit on a nearby cart burst open. He held them like that for a minute and then stopped. By that time everyone had run as far away as they could and they were the only ones left.

"Thanks muchly, my beloved," Alan said, handing Rose back her screwdriver.

He looked down at Jack who was still dead.

"Come on, Harkness, make with the magical resurrection. We haven't got all day," he said.

Jack gasped and opened his eyes. He lay on the pavement while he looked up at everyone.

"That wasn't too bright, was it?" he said to them.

"My answer would have to be no, Jack," Alan said.

They helped him stand up and Jack dusted himself off. He looked around in confusion.

"What happened? Where did everyone go?" he said.

"I said boo and they ran away," Alan replied.

Donna sighed.

"He put the ends of two screwdrivers together and the sonic vibration drove everyone off," she said. "He borrowed that from the proper Doctor."

"Rightly so, if it works once, use it again. So keep the screwdriver handy, Starlight. We may need it again. Come on!"

They all walked away. As they walked, they noticed that everyone was giving them a wide berth and running away from them if they got too close.

"Now see, you can take care of rowdy locals with a screwdriver if you know how," Alan said to Jack. "Now hopefully this means no more trouble from them and we can continue our search in peace."

They kept on walking until suddenly Alan stopped them. He pointed to a dilapidated building up ahead.

"I think that might be it," he said to them. "Just be careful going inside because the last time she had the place booby-trapped."

"Wonderful. Well, let me get in front of all of you then. Just in case."

Jack walked to the front, took a deep breath and headed towards the building while Alan reached into his pocket and pulled out a couple of flashlights. He handed one to Jack and they turned them on while they walked up the steps to the door. Jack paused at the door and shined his flashlight around.

"What kind of booby-traps did she have in here?"

"Flying shards of glass and a hole in the floor that had more glass in it."

"Wonderful. Both of those sound like really lovely ways to die. Remind me not to play hide and seek with our Jen in the future. Okay, here goes then."

He stepped inside and very slowly went through the house while the others followed behind. Alan, Rose and Donna kept their eyes up, looking at the walls while the others searched for holes in the floors.

"Where was she hiding, Al?" Jack asked.

"Al?" Alan said.

"Yeah," Jack said, looking at him.

"Oh wonderful, you found a way to shorten my name like you did for the Doctor," Alan said. "Anyway, Ja…she was hiding in a cupboard under a blanket."

"I mean Al in a friendly, brotherly sort of way," Jack said while everyone else snickered.

"So did I, Ja. Now, lead on."

"Yeah, yeah," Jack muttered.

They went into the next room and Alan pointed to the closet Jenny had previously hid in. They crept up to it slowly. When they reached it, Jack let Alan open the door. He opened it a crack and looked in. Sighing, he opened it up all the way and they noticed it was empty.

"Bang goes that idea," Alan said. "Shoulda known she wouldn't be in the same place. That was way too much to hope for."

"So now what?" Donna asked.

"Well, I s'pose we could search the rest of the house but I doubt she's here. I'm betting we arrived at a time before or after she came here, if she came here at all. I don't know what else to do but we can't stay here, not with all the rough locals outside. So come along Ja, Ro, Do, Mo and To, we'll look somewhere else."

Jack shot Alan a look as he sniggered and walked past.

"Forgive me for ever wanting to be friendly and shorten your name, Alan," he muttered as Rose patted him on the shoulder.


	294. Chapter 294

Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety Four

The door opened and the Doctor stepped outside with his group. They had landed almost in the exact same spot they had landed before when they found the farmhouse.

"Phew, it's hotter 'n Hell out here," Grace said when she stepped out into the sweltering heat.

"Tell me about it," Alternate Rose said.

"Oh, I don't know, it's not that bad," Rain said as she came out behind Alternate Rose.

"Yeah but you used to live in Arizona, you're used to million degree temperatures," Grace said. "San Francisco never got that hot."

"I'm sorry but do my ears detect bickering?" the Doctor said. "Do I have to turn my TARDIS around and take you all back home?"

"No, we'll be good," Rain said.

"Good. Now that the complaining about the weather is over, I was about to say that this is the same spot because that's the same farmhouse as before."

John, Jenny, Alternate Jack, Alternate Rose and Tara clustered around him.

"Quaint," Alternate Jack said.

He pointed to the horses and cows.

"Looks like he's doing well for himself, especially since it's the Civil War," he added.

"Yes, well Sherman hasn't marched through here yet which is how I got our Dex to move his family to the future," the Doctor said. "And look, he has the same cows and horses. I s'pose we'll have to add them to the others."

"Others?" Grace said.

"Yeah, we still have my Dex's cows and horses in a room inside the TARDIS. We didn't know what to do with them and we didn't want to leave them to die so we rounded them up and herded them into a room along with his chickens. And they're still there because we haven't a clue what to do with them."

"Can I have a horsie, Daddy?"

"Yup, we have no idea what we're gonna do with any of them," the Doctor said, ignoring her.

Tara tugged on his trench coat sleeve.

"I want a horsie," she said.

"Nope, absolutely no clue," the Doctor said while everyone laughed.

"Aw, nuts," Tara said.

"What did I say earlier when you were eyeing the gurk?" the Doctor said to her.

"I had three dogs and that was enough."

"Very good. Nice to know your memory works. Now…"

"But Barney belongs to Dot and Rory and Blizzard belong to you," Tara said.

"Not anymore. They are all family communal dogs, which means everyone owns them and that includes you. Now…since everyone is here, let us sally forth and find John's son."

They started walking towards the farmhouse. As they got closer, they noticed someone was around the back working in a large garden. The man had his back to them and he was bent over while he worked.

"Dex?" John said.

"Could be. Perhaps we should approach him instead of knocking on the door like we did the last time."

"Where was the watch?" John asked.

"In the other universe, it was up in the attic somewhere. Amelia found it."

"So we have to find a way to convince them to let us go up in the attic?" Jenny said.

"Or sneak up there," Alternate Rose said.

They walked into the yard. The Doctor glanced at Rose and noticed she was looking at the barn and grimacing. She looked at him.

"This time we need to be more careful about going in the loft," she said to him.

"Well, hopefully since we know what's going on, we can find the watch and skip a lot of the trauma we went through the last…"

Rain frowned when he trailed off and stared ahead with an odd look on his face.

"What is it?"

He pointed to the man.

"Either Dex has been out in the sun too long and got a deep tan or…"

They were at the edge of the garden staring at the man. The man lifted a hand and they noticed the darkness of the skin color. The Doctor's stomach lurched when he realized what was going on. John looked at him and leaned in.

"Dex owned slaves?" he whispered.

"Not my Dex. The farm was too small to support any but apparently…damn, then again…if he programmed himself to be a southern man in the 1860's. Come on, let's ask him where he is."

They approached the man. When they were about three feet away, he spotted them and stood up. He slapped the dirt off his hands while he gave them a quizzical look. He was tall and thin with a thin face, square jaw and a short afro. He was barefoot and wore old and dirty clothes. Beside him was a wooden basket filled with vegetables he'd been picking.

"Yes?" the man said.

"Hi, is your…um…is the man of the house here?"

"The mastah's in the house," the man said, pointing to the farmhouse.

They heard a door slam and turned to see Dex walking towards them. He was younger than the Doctor's Dex, in his mid thirties, clean-shaven with short brown hair. He was dressed in clothes similar to the black man's except his were clean. He approached them warily and the Doctor and John walked up to the front of the women to greet him.

"What are y'all doin' here?" he said, glaring at them.

"Hi, I'm the Doctor and this is my brother, John. We're traveling with our family and we need a place to spend the night."

Dex paused.

"British?" he said.

"Yes, we are. Well, most of us are."

"Let me guess. The three injuns ain't," he said, gesturing to Rain, Awinita and Tara.

"Oh boy, here we go again," Awinita muttered to Rain.

He looked at the black man.

"Samuel, get back to your work. I'll handle this."

"Yes, Mastah Peter," Samuel said.

_Peter?_ The Doctor thought. _His name was Joseph in the other universe._

"I can offer you the barn," Peter said to them while they walked away from Samuel.

Rain and Awinita glanced at each and groaned softly.

"What's wrong, Mommy?" Tara asked.

"I'll explain later, Dear."

Peter showed them the barn.

"There's a hay loft y'all can use. It's got plenty of hay in it. You're welcome to eat with us, 'cept for you injun women. They can eat with Samuel in his quarters."

The Doctor burned at that and longed to say something to the contrary but he knew he had to keep his mouth shut in order to get on Dex's good side.

"Fine," he said.

He saw Tara's stunned expression and he mentally shushed her before she said something. They started to go towards the house with him and he stopped them.

"Injuns stay here, they're not welcome in my house," he said.

_Ugh, I miss our Dex now,_ Awinita thought.

_Sorry, just play along for now,_ the Doctor thought to them. _We'll be back out in a moment. Just explain to Tara what's going on since she's confused. _

They hung back by the hay loft's ladder while the others went with them.

"Mommy, what's going on? Why can't we go inside with them?" Tara asked Rain.

Rain glanced at Awinita, let out a sigh and started to explain what was going on. While she was doing that, the others followed Peter up onto the porch. The door opened and the Doctor groaned when he saw a female slave standing there. She was young and thin with a haunted look on her gaunt face. Her hair was long and tied back in a bun and she was wearing a long blue dress with an apron.

"Ruth, these people are our guests. So you need to cook for them and for three injun women."

"Yes, Mastah Peter," Ruth said.

She stepped aside and let them pass. They looked around while he was showing them the house. The décor was slightly different, less feminine. They passed by a photo and the Doctor saw Dex, Patience, Amelia, Opal and a third child that looked like she was six. He raised his eyebrow at that and began looking around for the three children. When they passed by a bedroom, he saw Amelia inside staring at them curiously. He smiled warmly at her, thinking how odd it was that she had no idea who he was just like Bala had no clue about this identity. The whole thing seemed surreal to him and he now understood how Rose must have felt when she found another version of her dad. As before with Tara's duplicate, he had to resist the urge to go and hug his granddaughter, especially now that she joined them and was following directly behind him. She looked older, almost Tara's age. She caught his eye and smiled.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Amelia."

"Nice to meet ya. I'm the Doctor."

"Really? What happened to Doctor Ryan then? Are you taking his place?" Amelia said.

"No, my name is the Doctor."

Amelia frowned.

"That's an idiotic name if you ask me."

The Doctor smiled.

_Yup, just like my Amelia,_ he thought to himself.

"I had a strange mother," the Doctor said to her.

"You can say that again," Amelia muttered which made the Doctor smile more.

"Amelia, behave!" Peter said to her.

"Yes, Pa."

They came to another bedroom and they saw the other child. She was around Opal's age with long brown hair and bright blue eyes. She was wearing a calico dress and was holding a rag doll in her hand.

"This is Caroline, my other daughter."

Jenny looked back at the Doctor.

"Another one?" she mouthed to him.

The Doctor shrugged.

They went back downstairs and into the kitchen. Ruth was at the stove cooking dinner for them.

"Well, that's my house," Peter said.

"Um…I couldn't help but notice a photo as we passed by of your family. You had a wife and another daughter," the Doctor said.

"They died," Amelia said.

The Doctor gave him a shocked look.

"They did?" he said.

"Yeah, my mom and sister got scarlet fever 'bout a year ago and died," Amelia said.

Jenny grabbed the Doctor's hand when she saw the stricken look on his face.

_Patience and Opal. Oh, my Opal,_ he thought.

"Yeah, it was horrible. My daughter, Opal, came down with the fever first and then when Eloise tended to her, she took sick and died soon after her," Peter said. "They're both in Heaven though, God rest their souls. Anyway, if you don't mind, I have some work that needs to be done. I'll come get y'all when the vittles are ready or Amelia will."

They nodded. Peter walked them to the door and walked out with them while Amelia closed it. Once they were outside, Peter went off into the field while everyone else went back into the barn to break the news to Awinita, Rain and Tara.


	295. Chapter 295

Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety Five

After they went up to the hayloft, all of them sat down in the hay and relaxed. Awinita opened the huge doors to let the breeze in. Tara sat down in front of the Doctor and leaned back against him. He kissed her head and rubbed her arm while Jenny and Rain sat down on either side of him. The others sat around him.

"It sure is hot in here," Tara said.

"Yup, it is," Grace said. "Air conditioning, one of greatest inventions ever, in my opinion."

"So what happened in there?" Awinita asked.

The Doctor explained everything. The three women blanched when he told them about Eloise and Opal's deaths. Tara looked up at him in horror.

"Opal's dead?" she said.

"Yup. So I'm glad she didn't come with us and hear that," the Doctor said.

"And he has another slave in the house," Rain said. "Makes me wonder if he'll be even more dangerous when we bring him back to his old self. I know it's part of the programming of the chameleon arch but at least our Dex didn't own slaves and let us in his house. Is this Dex gonna do something to us because he sees us as savages?"

"No, because I'm not gonna let him," the Doctor said.

"Neither am I," John added. "I'm appalled that Dex actually programmed that mentality into the chameleon arch. I realize he had to blend in when he came here but not everyone owned slaves. Why he programmed himself to think it was okay to keep others in bondage is beyond me."

"I have a question for you," the Doctor said to him. "When…"

He trailed off.

"Yes?" John said, frowning.

"Okay, I have another question before this question. You see, I need to know how to talk to you when discussing the memories you and your Doctor shared. Because you see, Alan differentiates between what he did and what I did and whenever he speaks of one of my memories he says, "The Doctor did…" rather than saying, "I did…" Are you the same way or do you just claim all the Doctor's memories as your own?"

"Um…I've always said "I" when I spoke of the Doctor's memories because in a technical sense I am him but that's fascinating that Alan does that."

"Well, It was another way he tried to separate himself from me and become his own person."

John glanced at Alternate Rose.

"Wow, I never even considered doing that. I just always figured they were my memories too since I was his clone. This Alan is a fascinating bloke. But…yeah, if you're speaking of the Doctor's memories I claim those, no need to differentiate like Alan does."

"Okay, just checking because Alan corrects people if they tell him that he did something I did."

John looked at Alternate Rose again.

"Like I said, fascinating," he said while she chuckled and nodded. "But what were you wanting to ask me?"

"When you and Sharina separated, was there any enmity between you?" the Doctor asked.

John snorted.

"Enmity is an understatement. I think Sharina wanted my head on a pike. I never should have married her," John said.

"When was this?" Alternate Rose said to him.

"Oh, 'bout…seven hundred years ago, give or take. It was on Gallifrey. I married this woman at a young age and it was really a marriage of convenience. We were badgered to get married because it was expected of us and apart from having Dex nothing good came of it."

"Same here. But did Sharina also poison Dex's mind and lie to him after the separation?"

"Yes, constantly," John said.

"Why?" Alternate Jack asked.

John sighed.

"Because my wife, to put it bluntly, was a bitch and was angry at me because I traveled to get away from her and Gallifrey and so I was irresponsible in her eyes. And I s'pose I was to a degree, but I did try to be there for Dex whenever I could. It was just bitterness and anger and she took it out on Dex and turned him against me to punish me."

"That's horrible," Alternate Donna said.

"Yeah, and unfortunately Dex was at an impressionable age where he believed it all and took everything to hearts. So I became the enemy and nothing I did was right in his eyes."

"So did you try to see him again afterwards like I did?" the Doctor asked.

"Once. I actually went to the academy and convinced him to come and meet me in a park for lunch so we could talk. He agreed to it but I think it was so he could yell and scream at me because that's what happened. Phew, worst meal I've ever had but it gave me a glimpse into the kinds of lies Sharina been feeding him. After that, he left and I never saw him again and I assumed he died until he shows up here."

"The reason I'm asking is because we need to take precautions because like Dex told you, he was half insane by the time we changed him back. And if he has programmed himself to think it's alright to own slaves, I'm thinking he might be even more unhinged. So we have to make sure his Amelia doesn't find the watch and open it in front of him. We need to get him back to my TARDIS, strap him down and then change him so if he is violent, he'll be restrained and won't hurt any of us or even himself. I…"

He trailed off when he noticed Awinita's wide eyes.

"What is it, Te'lesu?" he said.

"Bro, Dex's TARDIS. Remember, it was disguised as that big tree in the backyard. What if…"

The Doctor stared at her in silence for a moment and then he, Awinita, Rain and Jenny leapt up and ran to the loft doors. They all leaned out and looked towards the back of the property.

"Oh my God, there it is!" Awinita said, pointing.

"His TARDIS is here?" John asked, getting up and going to the door.

"Yes, if it's that tree. That's what it was disguised as in the other universe," the Doctor said.

Everyone came to the door and looked where he was pointing.

"Love, we can go over to it, get in and put it in our TARDIS. That way he can't use it to escape or kidnap me again," Rain said.

"Yes, when it gets dark, we'll go over there and put it in my TARDIS. I definitely don't want a repeat of what happened to you," he said to Rain.

"Why? What happened?" John said.

Their eyes boggled after he explained about Rain's kidnapping.

"Oh God, that's horrible," Alternate Donna said. "You're right, you better make sure he's restrained before he's changed back."

"Yeah, because I also don't wanna go through the hay loft fire again," Awinita said.

They paused a moment and stared sadly at Samuel who was working in the garden.

"I really wanna go and look him over," Grace said. "I can tell he doesn't get enough to eat but I'm wondering if he's abused, him and Ruth, if they've been whipped or beaten."

"I hope not, I really hope not," John said. "I would be so ashamed of my son if he allowed himself to become an abusive man."

"Well, it's a good thing Grace decided to come with and Martha went with Alan," Jenny said.

"Oh God," Rain said, "poor Martha, she'd be out there right now working alongside Samuel."

"No, she wouldn't because I would have had something to say to Dexy if he did that. I'm half tempted to say something to him about our three "Injun" women."

"Don't. We need to stay here long enough to find the watch and we don't wanna make him angry and have him kick us out the door. I don't like it either and frankly I'd rather eat in the slave quarters with Tara and Rain and Awinita but I'll grin and bear it for now."

"I don't get it, why do I have to eat somewhere else cause I have different skin?" Tara said.

"Because that's how a lot of people thought at this time, Honey," Rain said. "They thought people with white skin were superior and everybody else who looked different was inferior. That's why Samuel's out there working in the sun and why he has Ruth indoors cooking for him."

"Yeah, but it's just skin, why should that matter?" Tara said.

"It shouldn't matter, Honey, but to some people it does," Rain said.

"Daddy, can I kick this Dex's butt after he changes for thinking that way?" he asked.

He grinned while everyone laughed.

"If you let me kick his butt first, Star," he said, patting her head.

"Me first, he's my son," John added with a grin.

"Are we gonna take Samuel and Ruth with us when we go?" Tara asked the Doctor.

"I'm planning on it. I'm not gonna leave them here for someone else to find and capture," he said.

They all went and sat back down.

"Dad, are we gonna do what we did the last time and get blankets from the TARDIS so we don't have to lay in the straw?" Jenny asked.

"Oh God, could you? I hate this. I feel like the straw's going up me bum," Alternate Donna said.

"We can in a moment. We also brought some snacks and drinks and hid them in the blankets. Actually…we can bring some food and you three can eat up here in the loft…unless you wanna eat with Samuel," the Doctor said.

"We can do both I think," Rain said. "Bring some things for breakfast but I think we should go and talk to him. He probably doesn't have anyone to talk to and I'd like to find out more about him."

The Doctor nodded.

"Do that then. I'll see if we can get a moment alone with Ruth and see if we can get her to tell us about herself. Just find out where they came from. Maybe we can help them free other family members if they were sold from somewhere else. I would really like to reunite them with their families if they know where they are before we just spirit them away."

"Doctor, do something for me," Grace said.

"Yes?" the Doctor said.

"Tonight when you go in the house to eat, tell Dex I'm not feeling well. I wanna go with them to Samuel's quarters and examine him. If he's sickly, I can go back to the TARDIS and get some things to help heal him."

"Brilliant. I'll tell him that then," the Doctor said.

"And if it gets dark enough, we can sneak out to the tree and see if it is his TARDIS," Awinita said.

"Good. Then later on that night, I can go back to my TARDIS, let down the shields, and we'll put it inside mine where he can't get at it."

Rain looked down when the mobile rang in her pocket.

"Better put this sucker on vibrate from now on," she said, taking it out.

"Yeah, mine too," the Doctor replied.

He chuckled when everyone except John murmured in agreement.

"I don't carry one, I'm the primitive one of the bunch," he said with a grin.

"Hello?" Rain said. "Bro? Hey, how's it going? Did you find Jenny…sure, hang on…"

"It's Alan. He called me because he knows I have a speakerphone. He wanted to talk to all of us," she said.

She turned the speaker on while everyone drew near and sat down around her.

"Okay, Bro, you're on speaker," she said.

"Everyone, we've hit a wall here," Alan said.

"What do you mean, Brother?" the Doctor said.

"I mean, we found the house that Jenny was in and she wasn't there so we have no clue where to go now," Alan said.

Everyone groaned. The Doctor began to pace around while he thought.

"We can't track artron energy since she's never been in the TARDIS," the Doctor said. "Damn it, there's got to be some way we could find her."

Grace looked at him. Then she looked at Jenny and had a thought.

"Doctor, wait. If Alan is your clone and Jenny is your clone that means they share your DNA, right?" she said to him.

"Yes, that's right."

"And John probably shares your DNA too even though he's from this universe?"

"More than likely," the Doctor said. "Why? What are you thinking?"

"Can the TARDIS perhaps run a scan for you DNA and track that?" Grace said.

The Doctor grinned and grabbed her shoulders.

"Oh, no wonder they call you Amazing Grace!" he said to her.

"Well, yeah, I do have my moments," she said.

"Brother, did you hear that?" the Doctor said.

"Yes, that's absolutely brilliant. We'll try that then. We just have to block the Valeyard at Volag Nok and me here in the TARDIS and let her try to scan for a DNA pattern like mine. Oh, Grace, you're a lifesaver! So, how 'bout you lot? Made any progress?"

"Yes, we've found Dex but there's some differences like there was with Tara's double," the Doctor said.

"Such as?" Alan said.

The Doctor began to explain it to him. While he did that Rain handed the phone to him.

"Listen, while you're doing this, I can take some of the others and we can go get the blankets and food," Rain said.

"Okay, we'll be up here if you need us," the Doctor said.

"I'll go with ya," Alternate Rose said.

"Me too," Donna said.

They, Jenny, Tara and Grace all walked over to the ladder. Rain sat down and went down through the hole while they waited to follow her. While they did that, the Doctor continued to talk to Alan and tell them about Samuel and Ruth and the death of Patience and Opal's doubles.

"Doctor!"

He jerked his head around when he heard Rain call up to him.

"Yes?" he said.

"Go over to the edge of the loft and look down," Rain said.

The Doctor glanced at everyone. He walked over to the edge, looked down and froze when he saw Amelia and Caroline sitting just below them listening to everything they were saying.


	296. Chapter 296

Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety Six

Everyone stood around the console while Dex took his TARDIS into the vortex.

"Okay, so now we have to figure out where to go," Dex said to them.

"Turn on the randomizer, Pa!" Amelia said.

Dex snorted.

"Not a chance. I'm not as adventurous as your grandfather, I do like to know where we're headed to," he said to her. "And since my children are along with me, I'm not going to somewhere incredibly dangerous."

"How about a beach somewhere?" Julie asked.

Dex grinned.

"With my legs, not a good idea, I might scare you lot," he said to her. "However, there are a few pleasant places we can go to. I don't know as many as Father does but I have a few ideas. In fact, the one I'm thinking of might be fun. Most of the planet is devoted to parkland and has zoos and even a few circuses, sound good?"

"Yes!" Amelia and Opal said in unison.

"Sounds good to me," Julie said.

"Likewise," Mingxia added.

"Anywhere you wanna go is okay with me," River said.

"Okay, then we'll go to Verdant," he said to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dex opened the TARDIS door and all of them stepped out into a wooded area.

"Beautiful," River said, looking around.

"Yes, this should be one of the parks on Verdant," Dex said, closing the door. "They have many parks like this. With trails running through them so people can walk or jog or bike."

"It's over there, Pa," Opal said, pointing to a dirt path about ten feet from them.

Dex put a device on the outside of his TARDIS, a special homing beacon so they would be able to find it again no matter how far they went. After he did that, they walked over to the path and looked around. The dirt path stretched for miles in either direction. There was forest on either side and it was incredibly peaceful and serene. There was birdsong overhead and the occasional snap and rustle of branches and undergrowth as animals moved unseen through the forest.

"Any idea about which way we should go?" Julie asked.

"Looks the same in either direction," Dex said, shrugging. "Maybe we should just start walking and see if we can locate any markers or a map…"

"Or monsters," Amelia said.

Dex gave her an exasperated look while Julie, Mingxia and River giggled.

"You two are just like your grandfather now, I swear," he said.

He smiled and put his arm around Amelia's shoulders when she giggled.

"I vote we go right," Dex said.

"Sounds good to me," Mingxia said.

"Yup, let's go find some adventure," Opal said.

The women laughed again when Dex rolled his eyes. All of them turned to their right and walked along the path.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They walked for twenty minutes before they came to a bench. All of them sat down briefly. So far they hadn't found any maps or trail markers but the scenery was peaceful and there was a babbling brook in the woods behind the bench. It ran over to a bridge ten feet from them and Amelia and Opal walked over to that and looked over the edge at the water. After a minute they found some branches and small stones and threw them in while the others relaxed.

"Strange that they haven't had any trail markers or anything to let us know where we're at," Mingxia said to them.

"Yeah," River said, looking left and right, "seems like this trail just goes on forever."

"We'll walk for another mile or two and if we can't find any maps or any end to the trail, we'll turn around, go back to the TARDIS and take it somewhere else on the planet."

"Yeah, cause I wanna see the circus, Pa," Opal said, walking back to him.

"I thought you wanted adventure," Dex teased.

Opal sat on his lap.

"An elephant could get loose and chase us through the circus," she mused.

Dex glanced at the women who giggled.

"You just know she's wanting that to happen," he said.

"Yeah, we do, so we can see you in action, Pa," Amelia said, walking back over to him.

"You two seem to think me and my father are the same person," he said. "I'm not the type of person who goes looking for trouble. Not many people on Gallifrey did that. Your grandfather was unique, you know."

"You can learn to be like him," Opal said.

"At my age, I don't think so," he said to her.

She giggled when he tickled her armpits. Opal snuggled against her father while Amelia sat down beside them. They all sat for awhile, listening to the birdsong and feeling the cool breeze on their faces.

"Is it me or does anyone else think it's weird that no one else has shown up. It's just been us so far."

"Yeah, where is everyone?" Mingxia said. "Is this one of the least popular trails or something?"

"There are a lot of trails on Verdant. I'm not sure where we landed but it's possible that this is an out of the way spot that not many visit," Dex said.

"Or there's a monster around here," Amelia said.

Dex threw up his arms while everyone laughed.

"Monster, monster, monster, my father has got you hooked on danger, hasn't he?" he said to her. "Isn't enough for your own father to take you somewhere nice and peaceful, you just have to have a bit of danger mixed in with it."

"I love you, Pa. I'm glad I'm here," Amelia said, putting his arms around him.

"Me too," Opal said.

The other women smiled when Dex put his arms around them and smiled at them tenderly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After another fifteen minutes of rest, they got up and headed down the trail again. They slowed their pace, watching the birds flying overhead and the occasional animal that crossed their path. The animals were both alien and familiar to them. Dex explained that animals had been brought in from all over the galaxy, including Earth colonies and that's why they would see the occasional deer or rabbit mixed in with some unidentifiable rodent or goat-like creature. But so far they were still the only people around and now the silence was becoming a bit eerie. Traveling with the Doctor had caused them to be a bit wary of situations that didn't seem right to them and the women were beginning to think that something was wrong. Dex didn't seem too concerned. He was holding his daughter's hands and listening to them while they chattered on about different things and pointing out animals they saw.

Suddenly, they all heard a siren echoing in the distance and everyone stopped and looked behind them. The birdsong ceased and the woods were now completely quiet.

"What was that, Pa?" Amelia asked.

"I don't know, Amelia, but I don't like it. I think we better start back," Dex said.

All of them turned and hurried back along the trail, making their way towards the TARDIS. Suddenly, they saw a gigantic spaceship coming down out of the clouds above them. It was black and sleek and to Dex's horror had several laser blasters coming out of the underside.

"Into the woods now, all of you!" he yelled.

They stumbled off the path into the woods just as the ship opened fire and distant screams filled the air.


	297. Chapter 297

Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety Seven

Serena smiled when she rose from her bed. It was eight o'clock in the morning and it felt so good to be able to rise with the sun. She fingered the locket around her neck that made it possible and thanked God that the Doctor and his family and friends had come into her life. For the first time in a long time she looked forward to life and what it still had in store for her. She loved being with her new friends and even enjoyed traveling with them, even though it had been perilous at times. She opened her armoire, picked out a light cotton sundress and put it on before going into her bathroom to brush her hair and apply her makeup. Ever since she regained the ability to move around in the daylight, she made sure that she applied lots of makeup to make her appear less pale.

While she was doing that, there was a knock at the bathroom door and she smiled at Tobey. It had taken some time for Tobey to adjust to her being up in the daylight like this and she knew he was still worried about her safety.

"Mistress, your blood is ready and waiting for you," he said to her.

"Thank you, Tobey. And really, you don't have to call me that. You can call me Serena. In fact, I'd prefer it if you did."

"It doesn't feel right calling you that. I mean I'm your servant…"

"You're my son," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I've helped raise you into the lovely, intelligent man you are today. The only reason you're doing this whole butler bit is because you feel like you owe me when you owe me nothing."

"Are you going to go see them today?" Tobey asked.

"You mean my friends across the road? Yes," she said.

"Are you sure it's wise to make friends with these people?" Tobey asked. "I mean, you're supposed to be in hiding."

"Tobey, I can't live my life in fear of what might happen. The Doctor is kind. He's the one that gave me the ability to be out in the daylight and he's searching for a cure for me. Not everybody in the universe is out to get me."

"But what if Darren finds you?"

Serena sighed.

"Tobey, Sweetheart, there are a lot of planets out there. What are the odds he lands on this one? Besides, I have an advantage over him now. I can be out in the daytime where he can't attack me. So even if he is here, he can't do anything until the sun goes down. Why don't you come with me, Tobey? Come and meet them. They've accepted me so I know they'll accept you. Get out of the house for awhile. You're always here. Just this once, quit worrying about what might happen and make some friends."

Tobey nodded and Serena kissed his cheek.

"Good, I'm glad. Now hurry and get ready and I'll introduce you to everyone."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"This is the Doctor's house," Serena said when she and Tobey came up to the door.

She knocked on it and a moment later, Madison opened it.

"Serena, hi," she said, smiling.

"Hi, Maddie, I was just visiting and I finally got Tobey to come along with me. How is everyone?"

"They're fine. Everyone's gone. I'm here with Dot, Lizzy, Angel and Tony. But you're welcome to come inside. I'm fixing breakfast for everyone while they watch TV."

They came inside the house and saw the children sitting together on the sofa. Serena waved at them and all of them waved back. Dorothy hopped off the sofa and walked over to her.

"Hello," she said.

"Hi, Dot, what are you doing?"

"Watch TV," she said, pointing to it.

Lizzy wandered over to her.

"Daddy's gone," she said to her.

"Where'd he go?" Serena asked.

"Dunno, but I wanna go with him. It's not fair!"

Madison smiled.

"She's been like that all morning," she said to Serena. "She and Alan are very close and she doesn't like it when he leaves her behind to go traveling. Would you like something to drink…or would you like something to eat, Tobey?"

"No, I'm fine, thanks," Tobey said.

"I am too," Serena added.

"Just make yourselves at home then and I'll be done in a minute."

Serena and Tobey sat down on the other sofa. Dorothy followed them and sat down beside Serena.

"Mommy's makin' breakfast," she said to Serena.

"Really? What's she making you?"

"I don't know."

"I'm making them eggs and bacon and toast," Madison said from the kitchen.

"My daddy's gone," Dorothy said.

"Where'd he go?"

"I don't know."

Madison came out of the kitchen.

"Alan and the Doctor are helping their doubles find their Jenny and Dex and our Dex took Amelia, Opal, Julie, River and Mingxia and went somewhere so there's not too many people here at the moment. Most of the time Jackie or Francine will take the children for the day but all the older s went downtown to shop. Amber's in college right now, Torchwood is down in their Cardiff Hub, Lee's working on a construction project downtown. Nelak, Anita and Jennifer went out to eat and Bala and Karishma are upstairs sleeping. Everyone else left with the Doctor, Alan or Dex so really I'm the only one left. However, I was planning to take the children to the zoo after we eat, would you like to come with us?"

"I'd love that," Serena said while Tobey nodded in agreement.

"Great, more the merrier. Just let me finish breakfast and then we'll be on our way."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor stared down at Amelia and Caroline who had gotten to their feet. By now everyone else had come to the edge and were looking with him.

"Apparently we should have checked first before we put our mouths in gear," Awinita said.

Amelia and Caroline backed up when Rain stepped from the ladder onto the wooden floor of the second level.

"It's alright, I won't hurt you. We just want to talk to you," she said.

They turned to run but the Doctor jumped down in front of them.

"Not so fast," he said to them. "My wife asked you to stay and I'm insisting you do so. We need to talk to you."

They looked at the mobile in his right hand.

"What is that?" Amelia said.

"That is a communication device. I'm speaking to my brother."

"Hello!" Alan yelled.

Amelia and Caroline backed up in surprise. By now the others were coming down the ladder onto the second level. Amelia and Caroline spun around when Rain approached them.

"Get away from us, ya dirty injun!" Amelia said.

"Oi! That is my wife you're addressing and you will show her some respect!" the Doctor said angrily.

"You're married to an injun?" Caroline said.

"No, I'm married to Rain. She may be an Indian but that doesn't make her inferior. None of us are inferior, we're all the same, even Samuel and Ruth."

"No, they're not," Amelia said. "The coloreds are stupid, they can't think for themselves and the injuns are nothing but a bunch of dirty, scalping savages."

"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy," Awinita muttered while she came up behind Rain. "I suddenly miss our Amelia."

"So do I," Rain said. "But then again, Amelia and Opal thought like this when we first met them."

Tara smiled warmly and started walking towards Amelia. She and Caroline stepped back.

"Stay away from me!" she said.

"What? I'm not gonna hurt ya, you dork," Tara said angrily.

"Star, come here, stand by me," the Doctor said.

"Dorks," Tara muttered while she walked over to the Doctor's side.

Amelia and Caroline were in shock when he put his arm around her and held her close.

"She's…your child?" Amelia said.

"Yes, she is and I love her very much. And if you notice, she's not dirty, she's not running around whooping and yelling and she isn't scalping anyone. In fact, she's not even that kind of Indian. Her birth mother was from India."

The children looked at Tara and then their gaze shifted to Rain and Awinita who were standing with the others nearby. Both women smiled and waved at them.

"Brother, what's going on?"

Their gaze shifted back to the mobile when they heard Alan's voice coming out of it.

"Everyone, keep an eye on them for a moment. I need to finish up here," the Doctor said, pointing to the phone.

Amelia and Caroline watched while he walked away to the far side of the barn to talk in private. Their eyes shifted to John who was standing beside his fiancée. They walked over to him.

"That's your brother, right?" Amelia said.

"Yup, that's my brother."

"What's the thing he's got? Why is there a voice coming out of it?" Amelia said.

Everyone looked at each other.

_Gee, guys, cards on the table?_ Awinita thought.

_Might as well, I have a feeling they've heard everything,_ Rain said.

"How much did you hear?" John asked them.

"A lot. We followed you in here. We were gonna play in the barn like we always do but then we heard ya talkin' and we decided to listen. What do you mean when you say there's another me and Opal. My sister's dead."

They glanced at each other.

_Cards on the table, _John thought to them.

"Look, this might sound completely daft but…we're not from around here."

"Well, yeah, ya'll are from England."

"No, I'm not," John said. "I'm from much further away. We're…from outer space."

Amelia and Caroline gave them blank looks. Just then, the Doctor walked back to them. Amelia and Caroline looked at him and walked over to him.

"Your brother just said ya'll are from outer space," Amelia said.

"He's right. We are. Actually, we're from outer space thousands of years in future."

Again the blank looks. The Doctor sighed.

"Look, come with us. We can show you some proof while we get some blankets and food. Just follow us and we'll explain everything. If you promise to keep everything a secret, we'll let you help us. There's something we need and we need you to help us find it."


	298. Chapter 298

Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety Eight

Amelia and Caroline listened in stunned silence while the Doctor explained what was going on. They were nearing the TARDIS and the Doctor was explaining that it was their starship. He stopped briefly on the way, pulled a wallet out of his pocket and showed them a photo. Amelia was stunned when she saw her in the photo with her dead sister and behind them the Doctor and Rain. They were dressed in odd-looking clothes and all of them were smiling for the camera.

"Is this a trick?" Amelia asked him.

"No trick. I'm from another universe and in my universe, your sister is alive and you and she are our grandchildren."

"An injun's my grandmother?" Amelia said in disbelief.

"I told you to stop that!" the Doctor growled.

Amelia flinched at the sound of his voice.

"I'm sorry, it's just that…"

The Doctor sighed.

"I know, I know, it's the way you were taught to think but in my universe you realized that Rain was a wonderful person and you and Opal love her as dearly as you love me."

They walked on while Amelia thought about that. She looked at Rain who was smiling tenderly at her and she felt herself smiling back. Caroline hesitated a moment and then ran up to his side.

"What 'bout me? Where am I?" she asked.

The Doctor gave her a sad look.

"You don't exist in my universe. It was just Amelia and your sister," he said.

"But I'm alive," Caroline said.

"I know you are but there are a lot of different universes and most universes have slight differences. So you're alive in this universe, but not in mine."

"So you don't know me?" Caroline said.

"No, but I'd like to know you," he said. "And John would like to know you as well. He's the one that's originally from this universe."

They looked back at John who smiled and waved at them. They reached the TARDIS and the Doctor unlocked the door.

"All of this, you have to keep it secret for now, alright? You can't tell your father or Samuel or Ruth, alright?"

"Why would I tell Samuel or Ruth? I barely talk to them."

The Doctor sighed.

"Just promise me you'll keep quiet, both of you," he said.

Amelia and Caroline glanced at each other.

"We promise," they said.

The Doctor paused a moment, satisfied they were telling the truth he opened the door and ushered them inside. Both children were floored while they stared around the room in disbelief.

"Jiminy Crickets, what is this place?" Amelia said.

"This is my TARDIS," he said, closing the door after the others came inside. "This is my time ship. Now come with us and we'll get the things we need before we head back."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After getting the blankets and the food, they all walked back to the barn. Both sisters followed along behind them, now interested in these strangers and what else they might have to say. They watched Tara while she half walked/ half skipped alongside the Doctor, talking with him while she carried one of the blankets. They giggled when Alternate Jack came directly up to her back and began to breathe heavily on her head.

"Hey, you quit that!" Tara said.

"Can't help it. I wanna hear a pretty like you laugh. It makes me happy," Alternate Jack said, slowing his pace and letting her get ahead of him.

"You sound like Alan," the Doctor said to him.

"Yeah, you and Alan would get along great. He's funny," Tara said.

"I know, I've figured that out already," Alternate Jack said. "But…you know what? He has a big family and can spare a few so I'm thinking you need to come back with us and make us happy."

"Over my dead body," Jenny said, hurrying to her side.

She winked at Jack while everyone except Amelia and Caroline laughed. Jenny gave him a cheeky smile.

"So…are you just as randy as our Jack is?" she asked.

"Oh Lord, randy doesn't even begin to cover it," John said. "The man is a…male part…on legs."

"I am not," Alternate Jack said while they laughed.

"You're not, huh? Don't think for one second I didn't see you trying to chat up Sarah while we were together in the TARDIS," John said.

The Doctor looked at him with an amused grin.

"Chatting up Sarah Jane?" he said.

"She's a lovely woman," Alternate Jack said, shrugging.

The Doctor glanced at Alternate Donna.

"And you, you fancy him?" he said, hooking his thumb back at Alternate Jack.

Alternate Donna snorted.

"No thanks, I have higher standards than that."

"Hey," Jack said, incensed, while everyone laughed.

"That's a switch. My Donna wanted him for awhile until Alan and I told her to forget about him," the Doctor said.

"Your Donna fancied him?" Alternate Donna said. "Did bringing back her memories affect her flippin' sanity?"

"Donna, shut up!" Alternate Jack said.

The Doctor grinned at Alternate Jack.

"So…you're hoping to…be with Sarah?" he asked.

"No, I'm with Ianto," Alternate Jack said. "Sarah's a lovely lady, but she's not my type."

"That's a shocker. I thought everything with a pulse was your type, Harkness," John said.

"Is this abuse me day or something?" Alternate Jack said. "I'm sorry I ever opened my mouth. I'll just stand in the background and let the rest of you run the show from here on out."

"Ya'll are mighty strange," Amelia finally said.

"We are but you'll get used to us. Your double did, trust me," the Doctor said, looking back at her.

"So what are you gonna do with this watch you need?" Amelia asked.

"We're gonna help your father," the Doctor said.

"Pa? What's he need help for?" Amelia asked.

"Well, it's complicated. Just see if you can find the watch for us and then we'll fill you in on the rest of it."

"What's it look like?"

"It's a silver fob watch with markings on the front. A lot of little circles. But if you find it, bring it to us, alright? Don't open it."

"Why?" Amelia said.

"It's got a ghost inside it," John said.

"A haint. Pa's got a haint in a watch?" Caroline said in disbelief.

"Yes, it's trapped and we need to help it escape."

"Why?" Amelia said.

"Because it's a lost soul," Rain said.

Amelia considered that.

"How ya'll know 'bout it?" she finally said.

"We did the same thing in my universe," the Doctor said. "There was a spirit trapped in a fob watch and we set it free. So we need to do the same here and we need your help to find it. So can you please go up in the attic and find it for us?"

"S'pose I can," Amelia said.

"Thank you. We'd appreciate it and trust me; we're not a threat to you in any way. We're just trying to help."

Amelia nodded.

"And…I know you don't think much about Indians but will you show my wife and sister and daughter some respect? They're not bad people, trust me."

Amelia and Caroline nodded.

"Thank you, I appreciate that," the Doctor said, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Do you want me to talk to Pa and see if he'll let them eat with us tonight?"

"Could you do that for us? We'd love it if you would," the Doctor said happily.

"Yup, I can talk to him for ya," Amelia said.

"And remember, what you've seen and heard, this is just between you two and us, got it?"

"Got it," both kids said.

The Doctor smiled and patted them on the shoulder. Amelia and Caroline helped them get the blankets and supplies up into the loft and then they left them alone while they went to search for the fob watch.


	299. Chapter 299

Chapter Two Hundred and Ninety Nine

After arranging the blankets in a circle, they all lay down on them trying to keep cool in the hot, humid afternoon.

"Ah, much better," Donna moaned as she and Grace lay on one blanket near the loft doors. "At least now the straw isn't sticking directly in my back."

"Yeah, but I still feel sorry for poor Samuel," Grace said, glancing out the door. "It's gotta be ninety degrees now at least. Doctor, if Tara and Rain and Awinita are allowed to eat with the rest of you, I still wanna go to his quarters and check him out."

The Doctor made an OK sign with his fingers. Grace sat up and rummaged through a burlap bag for a bottled water.

"I wonder if there's a wooden bucket or something I could use to take this to him so he doesn't see the plastic," she mused.

"I'd be careful about that," Alternate Jack said. "Dex might get mad if he sees you out there with him."

"Frankly, I don't care. I'm mad at him for being stupid enough to make himself a slave-owner. I've dealt with belligerent men before so if he wants to confront me, let him. I'm more concerned about Samuel getting heat exhaustion or stroke."

John and Alternate Rose looked over and grinned when they saw Jenny and Tara running around the back of the loft trying to throw hay at each other while they laughed.

"Ugh, how can you two do that in the middle of this heat?" Alternate Donna groaned. "Just lookin' at ya makes me feel hotter."

"I'm used to this heat. I lived in Florida," Tara said to her.

"Yeah and part of my soldier training involved enduring heat and cold so it doesn't bother me," Jenny said. "Besides I'm bored and…"

She gasped when Tara lobbed a fistful of hay at her head and ran towards John while Jenny ran after her.

"Children, quit roughhousing in 1863," the Doctor said while Rain giggled.

Jenny grabbed her from behind and tickled her armpits while Tara tried to squirm out of her grasp. She finally succeeded, ran over to John and Alternate Rose and lay down in between them, panting while Jenny walked over to Alternate Donna and Grace and sat down with them. John grinned when he saw how hot and sweaty she was.

"Phew, it's hot up here," Tara said.

"I thought you said you were used to it," John said.

"Yeah, but it wasn't this dusty in Florida," Tara said.

"That's shocking, considering the other cultists' house was a complete pit," the Doctor muttered to Rain.

"Just be thankful she can run around up here without sneezing like Dot did," Rain said.

"Yeah, I'd hate to make her sleep on the ground outside because every time she gets a whiff of dust, her nose goes ka-boom," he said while Rain giggled.

John and Alternate Rose watched while Tara walked over, got a bottle of Coke out of the bag and walked back to them.

"Want some?" Tara asked John.

"Nah, I'm fine. Go ahead," he said.

She offered it to Alternate Rose who smiled and shook her head. She opened it and drank it while she looked around the barn.

"Hey," she said to John. "Bats live in barns, don't they?"

"Um…they do on occasion," he said.

"I wonder if there's any bats in here?" she mused while she looked up.

"Please God, no," Alternate Donna said while they laughed.

"More than likely, there are owls and mice in here rather than bats," John added.

Tara took a swig of Coke while she looked at the rafters, trying to find owls. John studied her while he and everyone else lay on their blankets relaxing. Tara finally looked at John.

"Can you train owls to do things?" she asked him.

John gave her an odd look.

"Maybe. You can train some birds to do various things. Why?"

"Wanna find a big owl and train it to attack Jenny."

They laughed when she hunched down the moment Jenny stood up and gave her a look of mock anger.

"You're a little pest sometimes, Tara," Jenny said, lying back down.

"Yeah, well you've got boogers on your face."

"You've got them on your body," Jenny shot back. "Along with cooties and scabies and rabies."

John leaned up on his elbows and grinned at that.

"Gotta say, this is refreshing considering the last time I saw my Jenny, she was all gung ho, kill the enemy."

"Yes, well we all helped her overcome that," the Doctor said. "We tried to make things as normal for her as possible and teach her to be something other than a soldier and she and Tara have a special relationship and that helped as well."

"Yup, she's my pesky little sister," Jenny said. "But I love her and I wouldn't trade her for anything which is why Jack can't have her."

"Damn," Alternate Jack said while they laughed.

Tara took another swig of Coke while she glanced down at John. She touched his brown pin striped suit.

"Gonna have to be careful telling ya apart cause Uncle Alan never wears what Daddy wears," she said to him.

"He doesn't?"

"No, he wears these kinds of pants but he wears t-shirts with it."

"Well, I'm usually with Rose if that helps," John said to her.

Tara nodded. She hesitated a moment.

"Um, is it okay if I joke around with you like I do with Uncle Alan?"

"Sure."

"Well, I mean…you're not as silly as Alan is."

"Love, no one is as silly as Alan is," Rain said to her.

"I do realize I'm a bit serious but I'm not above a little frivolity now and again," John said.

"Frivolity?" Tara said, making a face.

John grinned and winked. He gave her a knee a squeeze when she giggled. Tara went back to drinking her Coke and looking around while John put up a privacy block around the Doctor's mind.

_She's so cute_, he thought to the Doctor.

_She is. She's wonderful. I can't imagine my life now without her in it. I really don't wanna play favorites with my children but I think if something ever happened and I lost all my children, her loss would devastate me the most. After all she's been through, I just want to protect her and make sure she grows up to be a confident, beautiful woman. Out of all my children, she's had the most trauma and grief so I tend to give her a little extra attention. Plus, she's very loving and willing to help me which endears me to her even more. I hope that Bala latches onto you because if she's anything like Tara, you'll be extremely blessed._

John smiled and nodded.

Grace heard a creak beside her and looked down through the hole in the floor.

"Amelia and Op…I mean, Caroline are coming up," she said.

The Doctor felt a twinge when he heard Grace quickly correct herself. He also had to stop himself from calling Caroline, Opal a couple of times. He and the others sat up as Amelia came up through the hole followed by Caroline. The Doctor glanced at Tara and his hearts ached when he noticed she was deliberately ignoring Amelia while she continued to look around. It made him sad that her best friend in the other universe snubbed her here just because she had a different skin color. He had to admit he missed their camaraderie even though the two of them tended to get into trouble whenever they could. Amelia and Caroline walked over to the Doctor.

"We went up and searched for a bit for the watch, but we haven't found it yet. It's a big attic though," she said to him. "We asked Pa too about the in…Rain and Awinita and Tara eatin' with us and he said no."

The Doctor sighed.

"Thank you for asking," he said to them.

"Yup," Amelia said.

A silence descended over the group. Amelia, uneasy about being around the strangers after knowing what she knew, looked around and noticed Tara was watching a bird up in the rafters while she drank her Coke. Curious about the beverage in her hand, she walked over to her. Tara looked at her and gave her a neutral look which made the Doctor's hearts ache even more.

"Hi, Tara," Amelia said uneasily.

"Hello," Tara said calmly.

"What ya drinkin'?"

"Coke."

Amelia frowned at that.

"What's that?" she said.

"It's…a drink," Tara said.

_They didn't introduce Coke until 1886, Star. That's why she has no idea what it is_, the Doctor thought to her.

"Can I try it?" Amelia asked.

Tara looked at the Doctor.

"Daddy…" she said, pointing to the bottle.

"I s'pose it won't hurt for her to have a sip of it," the Doctor said after a moment's thought.

Tara handed the bottle to her. Amelia stared at it for a moment and then took a sip. Once she was finished, she licked her lips.

"Oo, that's pretty good," she said, handing it back to Tara.

"Let me try," Caroline said.

Tara handed the bottle to her and she tried it.

"Yum," Caroline said, handing it back to her.

Amelia hesitated a moment and then she and Caroline sat down beside Tara. Everyone smiled when the three of them talked quietly. Their conversation was stilted at first but soon all three relaxed and giggling and soon it was just like the old Tara and Amelia. The others talked quietly while Grace went down with a bottled water to try to find a container so she could give it to Samuel. Alternate Jack went with her to protect her just in case Peter came outside and gave her trouble. Eventually, the three children got up and began to run around and play which warmed the Doctor's hearts even more. They played and laughed and talked while Jack and Grace came back up into the loft.

"I finally said screw it, I just gave him the water out of the bottle," Grace said to them. "I didn't explain the plastic but he didn't ask anyway. He was just grateful for the water."

The Doctor glanced at Amelia and Caroline and noticed they had stopped to listen to her but neither of them said anything. He hoped however that what she did was making an impression on them the way it did on his Amelia and Opal. He was glad that they had made friends with Tara and hoped that meant that they could get through to them the way they had with his grandchildren.

After awhile, the sun began to sink in the sky and they heard Peter calling them into supper. The Doctor kissed Rain and nuzzled her nose.

"See you later, Love," he whispered.

"Have fun eating with the WASPs," she teased.

"I'm sure it'll be stiff and boring," he said.

He called Tara to him and kissed her. He stuck his tongue out when he tasted her cheek.

"Ugh, you have dust all over ya. I'll have to sneak you inside and give you a bath, young lady, or else, it's back to the TARDIS tonight after we investigate the tree."

"Be careful, Daddy."

"Whatever for?"

She giggled.

"Because you might be eating and Dex's head'll pop open and this monster will come out and chase after you."

Rain laughed at the bemused look on his face.

"I never thought of that, Dear, but thanks for the warning on the possible monster lurking inside my duplicate son's skull. I'll be sure to keep an eye on that while I eat my corn pone."

She giggled and he hugged her tightly while he sent love into her mind. She watched while he stood up, tousled her hair, and followed everyone else to the ladder. Once they were gone, the four people who were left walked to the ladder and went down it so they could eat with Samuel.


	300. Chapter 300

Chapter Three Hundred

"Okay, let's punch in the DNA scan and see what we get," Alan said while he and his group stood around their console.

"You really think this'll work?" Ianto asked.

"No, but I don't have any other ideas. DNA is the common link between all of us so since the TARDIS knows my DNA pattern it can search for it elsewhere in the universe. It this doesn't work then I'm completely at sea about what to do. It's a big universe and she's one woman. But, hopefully, it'll be somewhere other than Beltrop Eleven. I hate this place. We were lucky to get her off the other Beltrop Eleven alive and unharmed. People have no scruples here and they'll shoot you if they don't like you, right Jack?"

Jack coughed and the others snickered when Alan gave him a pointed look.

"How long will this take, d'ya think?" Rose asked.

"Dunno, long enough to have a snog?" Alan said to her.

"Brilliant, I'll go first, Yan?"

"Get away from me, Jack," Ianto said, backing around the console.

"Damn, Ianto, you're no fun," Jack said, pouting.

"I hope it didn't complicate things when the other Amelia and Caroline found out what our other family members were up to," Donna said.

Alan snorted.

"I don't think it matters, Te'lesu, things tend to get complicated wherever we go," he said. "I do miss the presence of the nipper kippers though. It's too quiet in here. Usually Amelia or Opal or Tara's cheeky gob is saying something. Odd that they're not here.

"What about your own kids?" Rose asked.

"My children are perfect little angels. They never run their gob," Alan said.

He glanced at Rose. She raised her eyebrow.

"They don't…"

She raised the other one.

"Okay, not as much as the Doctor's bunch," he said while she grinned.

He glanced down at the screen and grinned.

"Got a possible match and it's not here. Thank you, Grace, for thinking of this," he said.

He bent over and studied the screen.

"And…where is she?" Jack asked.

"That can't be right," Alan muttered.

"What can't be right?" Martha said.

"She's on Nord. Why the hell would she be there? It's an ice planet. The whole place is colder than the mood at a tea party between my brother and Sylvia."

He grinned at Donna who rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, bit of humor there."

"Yeah? Well, it fell flat," Donna replied.

"But in all seriousness, Nord? I realize she wanted to go off and help people but…Nord?"

"I take it from your disbelief that Nord doesn't have anything on it," Ianto said.

"It has ice and snow and glaciers, would you count that as something?" Alan said. "But if you're speaking of life, to my knowledge, no it hasn't any on it."

"Yeah, but this is a parallel universe, Love," Rose said.

"True, well spotted, my spousal unit, you get a chocolate. Now, let's fire up the engines and…"

He trailed off when he saw Rose stick her hand out under his nose.

"What?" he said to her.

"My chocolate, where is it?" Rose said while they others laughed.

"Oh! Oh yes, a nice cocoa beany reward for my helpful spouse. Um…wait a tic…"

He fished around in his pocket and pulled out a banana.

"There you are, better than a nice piece of chocky any day," he said, giving it to her and patting her on the head.

They laughed when Rose rolled her eyes and shook her head. They all stepped back while Alan hurried around her and started up the TARDIS.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dex flinched while he and his family crouched down in the trees. Above them, they could still hear the spaceship firing indiscriminately.

"Well, you both wanted danger," he said to Amelia and Opal, "is this dangerous enough?"

"Pa, what's going on?" Amelia asked while she held on to his side.

"I don't know. My guess is it's an invasion. Although, why this place is being invaded is beyond me. The only things here are parks and zoos, who'd wanna conquer that?"

The firing ceased and all of them tentatively stood up. They listened for a moment in silence.

"Do you think they left, Pa?" Opal asked.

"Don't know, Love."

"I'll check it out," River said. "If something happens to me, I can be rebuilt with the same body."

"Careful, River," Mingxia said.

She nodded and stepped through the trees while everyone else crouched down and waited. The air was deathly still, no more birdsong or any evidence of animals roaming around. Even though she was an android, her body was programmed to act like a human and she could feel her mechanical heart beating faster the closer she got to the edge of the woods. Once she reached the trail, she paused a moment and listened, relying on her enhanced senses. She couldn't hear any movement of any kind so she slowly stepped through the trees. She ventured a few feet onto the path and looked around. There was still dirt path stretching as far as the eye could see in either direction with a few benches spaced along the path. She couldn't see any fallen trees or debris, although she did see a few wisps of smoke rising up from the woods at different points. She looked up and noticed the spaceship was gone which confused her.

"Okay, why would you come down, shoot all over the place and leave?" she muttered to herself. "Dex is right, why would you come here at all? There's nothing valuable that I can see unless the invaders really fancy forests. Then again…trees…maybe they live on a desert planet…"

She shook her head and ceased talking to herself. She was about to head back to the others when she suddenly felt something being placed on the back of her neck. Before she could react, electricity coursed through her body and her systems shut down as she fell to the ground, rigid.

Meanwhile, the others were waiting for her. All of them were becoming unnerved by the silence and kept looking around, half expecting something to jump out at them.

"I hope River's alright," Opal said.

"I'm sure she is. River knows how to handle herself," Mingxia said.

"Yeah, but it's so quiet. All the birds have gone away," Amelia added.

"They'll be back, Sweetie. They just got scared away by the ship and…"

Suddenly, Julie's eyes bulged and she froze while electricity coursed up and down her body. Everyone yelled when she fell over, unconscious. Before they could do anything, the same thing happened to Mingxia and she also fell to the ground, unconscious. Dex leapt up with his children, looking around, but he couldn't see anything.

"Run! Run now and…"

Amelia and Opal screamed when his eyes bulged out and electricity coursed over his body. As he fell to the ground, they stayed long enough to see a little metal disc on the back of his neck before they turned and ran back towards the path. They tried to run as fast as they could, looking everywhere for a hiding place. Suddenly, Amelia felt her sister's body go rigid and she screamed when she looked around and saw her sister's body coursing with electricity. She let go of her hand and ran to the path. She gasped when she saw River lying there, unresponsive. Thinking fast, she dived into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone, intending to call her grandfather to come and help them. Just then, she felt someone place something on the back of her neck and there was a brief sensation of electricity flowing through her body before her world went black.


	301. Chapter 301

Chapter Three Hundred and One

The Doctor was thoroughly bored. The meal was pleasant enough, turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans and corn bread with some cold milk but the conversation was extremely stilted and formal as if everyone was afraid to tread on everyone else's toes. The Doctor found himself wanting to be with Awinita, Rain, Tara and Grace in Samuel's quarters. He wondered if they had managed to get him to open up and say anything to them since Ruth had been very quiet and hesitant to look them in the eye, let alone say anything. He thought back to the shocked look on her face the first time he thanked her for giving him his food. He gathered she was barely glanced at, let alone thanked, and it disheartened him even more. His Dex had been a bit racist as Joseph but nothing like this and he could sense that John was equally uncomfortable and upset at his behavior.

As the night wore on, the Doctor grew increasingly bored and found himself glancing out the window beside him at the barn wondering if it would be prudent to excuse himself and go back out to wait for the others. The conversation had now dwindled to a few pleasantries now and again and he felt that dinner was now at an end. On the other side of the table, Amelia and Caroline ate quietly. They caught his eye on occasion and smiled at him but didn't say much to him or to anyone else. The Doctor wondered if this Dex believed in the adage seen and not heard for his kids.

Finally, supper came to an end and the Doctor was about to get up and leave when Dex suggested they sing in the parlor before retiring for the night. The Doctor groaned remembering the last time he'd been subjected to this when he was with his Dex and his family. A grin spread over his face when he remembered his brother's impromptu rendition of Waterloo at the piano and he suddenly missed his presence since he figured John would never do something that off the wall. Sighing, he trudged into the parlor with everyone else and Amelia sat down at the piano. She played while the same sorts of songs were played that he'd heard before, the Civil War era confederate songs that he really didn't know and really didn't care about. He fought to keep from laughing when on the second song Alternate Jack leaned in and started singing Fleetwood Mac's Go Your Own Way under his breath. The Doctor grinned and joined in with him, both men delighting in the fact that Alternate Rose was trying not to lose it while she stood in front of them.

"What? It's a far better song than The Bonnie Blue Flag," the Doctor whispered in her ear.

Rose and John tried to keep straight faces when both of them started singing Funkytown under their breath while Amelia played Dixieland. While he was singing, the Doctor's eyes were drawn to a window beside the piano when he thought he saw some movement outside. He looked again and smiled when he saw a familiar brown skinned youthful face looking at him with amusement.

_Quit singing, Daddy, you suck,_ Tara thought to him.

Everyone else tried not to laugh at that while the Doctor gave her a look of mock anger.

_I do not suck at singing,_ he thought back.

_Yes, you do, you sound horrible. Why are you singing anyway?_ Tara thought while she and Rain watched him.

_This was entertainment before television_, the Doctor thought.

Tara made a face at that.

_Come out here, Daddy. That tree was Dex's TARDIS so we need to put it in our TARDIS,_ she thought.

The Doctor held up a finger. He inched back to Peter who was standing near the back.

"Um…I've had a wonderful evening but I'm tired. So I'd like to retire for the night."

Peter nodded.

"Good night then."

The Doctor tried not to breathe a sigh of relief as he bid him goodnight and left the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I can't believe they make you sing like that," Tara said as she and Rain walked with the Doctor towards their TARDIS.

They were headed that way while Awinita and Grace stayed with Dex's TARDIS, ready for a signal to fly it into his ship. The night was clear and slightly cold with the moon and stars out and a light breeze blowing through the grass while they walked.

"I told ya, Star. That was their entertainment. They all gathered together in the evening for a singsong in the parlor. They didn't have telly and video games in the 1800's," the Doctor said. "It was either the piano or reading and since illiteracy was common, most of the time the piano was the only source of fun they had."

"Glad I didn't live here then. I'd die of boredom," Tara said.

"I doubt that. Ask Amelia and Caroline. I bet they have a million things they do to pass the time. You're only saying that because you know of the existence of telly and video games," the Doctor said. "So did you enjoy your supper with Samuel?"

"Such as it was. He didn't get fed much and neither did we," Rain said. "Grace checked him out. He was very shy at first but Grace finally gained his confidence. He's emaciated and he does have whip scars."

The Doctor cursed under his breath. Rain put a hand on his arm.

"But…they're old and according to Samuel, he got those when he was a young boy before he was sold to Dex."

"Thank God for that," the Doctor said. "I don't think John could have stomached his son being an abusive slave-master. However, just the fact that he barely feeds the poor bloke is bad enough. Did he say where he was from?"

"Alabama originally. He said he was sold a few years ago to another plantation owner further south of Dex and then Dex brought him and Ruth from the guy about a year ago. He said compared to his other masters, Dex has been fairly kind but still, the poor guy gets worked to the bone. I suppose fairly kind means he doesn't flog him while he does it."

"Did you ask if he knows where this plantation is in Alabama? If he has family there?" the Doctor said.

"He does, a mother, brother and three sisters. But he wasn't sure of the location. He thought it was several miles outside of Birmingham but he can't be sure since he was never allowed off the plantation for anything. He was born there and thought he was gonna die there until he got sold. I guess being sold came as a surprise to him since he was a hard worker and his master actually trusted him to oversee a few other slaves. He did say he was quite popular there so perhaps his master feared he was getting popular enough to stage a revolt."

The Doctor nodded.

"It was a good thing we brought Tara along because she seemed to set him at ease," Rain added.

"Well, she does that," the Doctor said, grinning while he tousled her hair.

"He was nice, Daddy. I like him. He had big muscles too. He was showing them off."

The Doctor chuckled.

"Yes, she was quite impressed with his arms," Rain said. "They are quite muscular. If he wasn't so beaten down, I could see him snapping Dex's neck with them."

"And he's never tried to escape, never ran away from any of his plantations?" the Doctor said.

"No. He said he considered doing it at one time but when he was back on the plantation in Alabama, one of his childhood friends tried it and got caught and was flogged until he died while all of them were forced to watch. That killed that desire then and there."

The Doctor shook his head.

"Humans," he muttered to himself.

"Daddy!"

The Doctor looked down at her and she stopped him and Rain and pointed ahead of them. They looked where she was pointing and saw a deer and fawn emerging from the woods near the TARDIS. The Doctor put his arm around her and they stood there watching while the deer tentatively walked past the TARDIS.

"Got a shotgun, Love? Suddenly, I feel like having some venison," the Doctor said.

"Daddy!" Tara said while he snickered.

"Just kidding," he said to her.

They stood quietly and watched while the deer walked cautiously across the field. They got a few feet past the TARDIS when they suddenly froze and jerked their heads around towards them, their ears taunt while they listened. Tara groaned when the two of them suddenly ran across the field, across the road and over into the other field.

"Bye deer!" Tara said.

"Bye! Thanks for not pooping on my TARDIS or damaging it with your hooves!"

"Daddy!" Tara said while he giggled.

They resumed walking. While they walked, the Doctor's sensitive hearing heard a crunch of grass behind him. He jerked his head around and saw Amelia and Caroline about twenty feet behind them. He stopped his family and waited while they caught up.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

He looked towards the house and noticed the lights were all out.

"We snuck out. We saw ya'll coming out here and wondered what you were doin'," Amelia said.

"Well, we're…moving something," the Doctor said while they resumed walking.

"Whatcha movin'?" Caroline asked.

"Well, we're moving a starship like mine into our starship," the Doctor said.

They reached the TARDIS and the Doctor unlocked the door. Amelia and Caroline glanced at the letters above the door.

"What's that say?" Amelia said, pointing to it.

"It says police public call box," Tara said. "Why? Can't you read?"

The Doctor groaned when they shook their heads.

_Another difference between them and our grandchildren,_ he thought to Rain. _Least our Dex had the sense to educate Amelia and Opal. I'm beginning to think Dex went gung ho with his programming when he became Peter. _

They went inside and Amelia and Caroline followed them. They stood by Tara and watched while the Doctor turned on the TARDIS and lowered the shields. Once he did that, he thought to the others and let them know he was ready.

"I s'pose we should get an electric lantern while we're in here so we'll have some light tonight in the barn," he said to Rain while they waited. "Do you think we need more blankets?"

He noticed the odd look on Rain's face.

"What is it?" he said.

"Love, can you feel Dex or Amelia or Opal? Or Julie or Mingxia or River…I can't feel them."

The Doctor paused. He'd been so busy he hadn't noticed the other minds in his head. He took a quick check and his eyes widened when the six minds were missing from his own.

"Oh God, how long has this gone on? I didn't realize they were missing until you said something," he said.

"I just now checked myself because I suddenly realized it seemed like a few were missing. Oh God, I hope they're alright."

The Doctor sighed.

"And I don't know where they went so if they are in trouble we'll have to wait till their minds come back before we can ask. Rain, we have to stop this spur of the moment travel. Everyone needs to know where everyone else is going just in case something like this happens. Now I can't rescue them if they need it."

"What are you talkin''bout?" Amelia said.

The Doctor quickly explained it to them. When he was finishing up with his explanation, Awinita and Grace came through the back door.

"Got it, Dex's TARDIS is safe and secure onboard," Awinita said.

She noticed the distressed looks on Rain and Tara's faces.

"What is it?" Awinita said.

She and Grace were shocked when they told them. They checked their minds and cursed softly when they couldn't feel them.

"Damn, there's so many people now it's hard to keep track of everyone's minds," Awinita said.

"I hope they're alright," Grace added.

"Me too. At the moment all we can do is monitor our minds and get in touch with them when they come back. We'll call Alan and tell him as well so they can watch for them. I told Rain we need to stop this spur of the moment travel now so if someone does get in trouble we'll know where to go. For the moment, all we can do is just keep calm and wait and see what happens. Now that we have Dex's TARDIS safely in here, let's get a few more blankets and some electric lanterns and head back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After getting their supplies and locking up the TARDIS for the night, all of them headed back. While they did, they continually monitored their minds while the Doctor put in a call to Alan and told him the situation. As they walked, Tara kept looking around behind her.

"What is it, Honey?" Rain asked.

"Mommy, there's not gonna be any battles, are there? I mean, are we gonna have to hide from the war?"

"Oh! Um…no, Sweetie, at the moment, all that's up north. It's around the time of Gettysburg so you don't need to worry. We're safe here," she said.

"You know where the fightin's at?" Amelia said.

Rain nodded.

"Yeah, being time travelers and all, we know that right now the fighting's up in Pennsylvania for the most part. At a little town called Gettysburg."

"Never heard of it," Amelia said.

"Trust me, pretty soon everyone will have heard of it," Awinita told her.

"If the fightin's up north, that means we're winnin', right?" Amelia said.

"Nope," Awinita said. "Gettysburg is the beginning of the end."

"We lose?" Amelia said in disbelief.

"Yup," Awinita and Grace said in unison.

Amelia and Caroline fell silent. They watched while the Doctor finished his conversation with Alan and put the mobile back in his pocket. Up ahead they could see the rest of the family standing outside the barn waiting for them. They waved and the Doctor's group except for Amelia and Caroline waved back. They reached the house and the group angled to the left heading towards the barn but instead of going back to the house, Amelia and Caroline followed them. The Doctor glanced at them.

"Shouldn't you be getting back to bed before your father finds you missing?" he asked them.

"We wanna talk to you some more before we go," Amelia said.

The Doctor nodded. He reached his family and they took the blankets and lanterns from them.

"We have some news about Samuel and also Dex's group," he said to them while they started up the ladder. "Our Dex, I mean."

"Are they alright?" John asked.

"They're missing."

Everyone froze at that. The Doctor held up his hands.

"I'll explain up top. Let's just haul this stuff up there before Dex wakes up and sees it," he said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they up in the loft, the Doctor and Rain related what happened with Dex and with Samuel.

"So, we can't ring them?" Alternate Donna said.

"I tried that before ringing Alan. No one answered," the Doctor said. "And since I have no idea where he went all we can do is wait and contact them telepathically when they wake up."

Amelia and Caroline were sitting beside the Doctor, Rain and Tara on a separate blanket. They let them have a couple of bottles of Coke and they were drinking them along with Tara. Amelia was still deep in thought about the South losing the Civil War while she listened to the discussion going on around her. Finally, Amelia couldn't stand it anymore and she tapped the Doctor on the arm.

"If the South loses, what happens to us?" she asked.

"Well, a period of hardship comes that will be called Reconstruction and everyone will struggle for several years," he said. "The slaves will also be freed."

Amelia considered that.

"What about us?" Amelia finally asked. "You know a bunch of things. What happens to us?"

"Not sure. With a few exceptions, I don't know about individual people's lives unless they're famous," he said to her. "However, I s'pose we can let you in on another bit of information. You see, the reason we want the watch is because the man you know as your father is pretending to be who he is. He's really an alien like we are."

Amelia and Caroline's eyes bulged.

"He comes from outer space?" Amelia said.

"Yes. See, I told you that some of us come from another universe and that there's an Amelia and Opal there…that Amelia and Opal are my grandchildren because their father was my son and your father is John's son so you are John's grandchildren."

Both of them looked at John who smiled warmly at them.

"You're our Papaw?" Amelia asked John.

"Yes, I am."

Amelia looked at the Doctor.

"Then who are you?" she said.

"Well…" he said while everyone giggled. "Um…I'm kinda the alternate version of your Papaw, I s'pose. This isn't really my universe so I can't really claim you as my grandchildren but in a technical sense I am. But I know that's confusing so just think of John as your Papaw and Rose will be your step-mamaw once they get married."

"Okay so if that's not really our pa, who is he?" Amelia said.

"He is your pa," John said. "You're his children. We're not denying that. We're saying that he's used a device to take out his true self and put it in a watch and he made up this pretend self that you know as your pa."

They sighed when they saw the blank looks on their faces.

"I know, it's confusing, I realize that," the Doctor said. "But it's the truth."

"Then who is he really?" Amelia asked.

"His name is Dex," John said. "He's my son."

"How can he be your son? Ya'll are the same age," Amelia said.

"Well, that's another complicated explanation and I think we better hold off on that since you're currently trying to get your head wrapped around what we're telling you now," John said. "Just understand that he is my son and he's hid his true self in a watch which we think is up in your attic since that's where it was in the other universe."

"Why did he hide himself in a watch?" Caroline asked.

"Because he's hiding from me," John said. "He's angry at me and I need to talk to him as himself and work things out but to do that I need the watch to release his true self and bring him back to the man I know. But as for what will become of you, I'd like to take you away from here the way my brother took Dex and his family away so they could be with him."

"Ya mean, go time traveling with ya?" Amelia said.

"Yeah," Tara said. "You get to travel through time and space and have all kind of adventures. It's fun."

"If you want. You don't have to but I'd like for all of you to be safe," John said. "It's going to get very dangerous in the next year or so and that's why the Doctor took his Dex away from here."

"Will we die?" Caroline asked.

"I don't know but that's why we wanna take you from here," the Doctor said. "You don't need to be in the middle of what's coming and the aftermath, not when we can help you. But…I will say this because my Amelia and Opal were like you and also thought less of non-whites. If you travel with us, you'll have to change that point of view because you're gonna meet all sorts of alien creatures and all sorts of people and you can't go around thinking you're superior to all of them because that kind of thinking could get you killed. No one is better than anyone else in this universe even though some people do think otherwise but if you're gonna be time travelers you have to stop thinking that way, alright?"

They nodded.

"I know you've been taught to think that way and it's not your fault but you can change that outlook on life here and now and be better people for it. If you can do that, then I'll let you travel with me and I'll show you worlds you've never even dreamed possible," John said. "There's an entire universe full of wonder and discovery out there but you have to approach it with open hearts and minds. So will you do that?"

They nodded. John thought for a moment.

"I know this might seem awkward but…could you give your Papaw a hug?"

They nodded. The Doctor smiled when they walked over and gave him and Rose hugs. After that, they sat in between them and listened to them for another couple of hours before the others urged them to go off to bed. They bid them goodnight and watched while both of them climbed down the ladder and disappeared from view.


	302. Chapter 302

Chapter Three Hundred and Two

The tiny group spent the next hour relaxing in the barn, enjoying the night breeze and listening to the night sounds around them. They heard an owl flapping somewhere above them which prompted Tara to make another quip about catching it and training it to attack Jenny. They giggled when Jenny walked over and gave her a few playful slaps on the back while she cowered. She lay beside her mom and dad on their blanket staring at John and Rose who were talking quietly. Her mind drifted away and she became lost in her thoughts while she stared at them and thought over what had happened to them. She turned her head and stared at her mother and father who were talking and giggling. The Doctor caught her eye and grinned while he gave her a wink. Tara laughed when he suddenly feigned fear and buried his face in the blanket.

"What are you doing, ya goober?" Rain asked.

"I'm being watched, it's scary," he said, pointing to Tara.

Rain giggled and looked at Tara.

"Quit watching your father, it makes him nervous," she said to her.

"Okay, Mommy," she said, giggling.

She turned her head around and laughed when she heard the Doctor let out a sigh of relief.

"I hate being stared at," he said to Rain.

She swiveled her head around and giggled when the Doctor got a deer in the headlights look and rammed his face back in the blanket.

"Hey, I told you to quit that," Rain said to her.

"Sorry, Mommy, I won't freak Daddy out anymore," she said, spinning her head back around.

She noticed John staring at her in the semidarkness with a wide smile and tender look on his face while the Doctor let out another relieved sigh.

"She has bug eyes, I hate that," the Doctor said while Tara giggled behind her mother. "It makes me all ooky when she stares."

"There, there, Dear, her ooky eyes are pointed the other way," Rain said, patting him on the arm.

"You know, Doc, having a daughter did you a world of good," Alternate Jack said.

"I'll say," Alternate Rose said. "We need to find some kids of our own."

Tara heard that and drifted back to her thoughts while she lay beside her mother's warm body. She wanted to ask John and Rose something but she wasn't sure how to go about it. She was jerked out of her reverie when John rose up.

"You know what; I need to take a walk. The loft feels a bit claustrophobic now," he said.

"Can I go with you?" Tara asked quickly.

John paused.

"I don't see why not," he said, shrugging.

"Yes, get ooky eyes away from me, she creeps me out."

"Daddy!" Tara said while everyone laughed.

He gave her hair a tousle.

"Be careful out there. I can smell rain in the air, might be a storm coming in," he said.

"We won't go far," John assured him.

They both stood up and Tara giggled when she heard the Doctor say, "At last, I can relax without her ooky eyes around me." John let Tara go down first and then followed her. They stepped out into the warm night air. John paused a moment and sniffed the air.

"He's right, I can smell the rain as well so we won't go very far," he said.

"Move! I need to pee!"

They looked up and backed up when they saw Jack at the loft door unzipping his pants. He smirked and walked back in while everyone in the loft laughed. He reappeared a few seconds later.

"I was just kidding if you didn't already guess that. Enjoy your walk," he said.

John shook his head.

"Harkness is one strange individual," he said to Tara while they walked off.

"Our Jack's like that too."

"Oh blimey, two of them in the whole of creation. Now I'm scared," John said while she giggled.

They turned and headed towards the field. Off in the distance they could see heavy black clouds heading towards them.

"And there is the aforementioned rain," John said to her.

"I like rain though."

"Me too. It's very soothing," John said.

They reached the edge of the field and walked through it towards the TARDIS. They walked for several feet before Tara finally decided to voice her thoughts.

"John?"

"Yeah?"

"Um…I have to admit something. I came with you because I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh? What about?"

"Well, see…I've been thinkin' and what I've been thinkin''bout is kinda weird."

John turned his head towards her.

"Really and what is this weird thought floatin' through your noddle?" he asked.

"Well, first off, do you like me?"

"Yes, I like you a lot. You're sweet," John said.

"I like you a lot too. I mean, you're not as silly as my Uncle Alan. You're more like Daddy but I like you."

"Well, in all honesty, I think it'll take a bit of doin' before I'm as silly as your Uncle Alan," he said to her. "But I'm glad you like me. I'm trying very hard to like myself."

"You don't like yourself?" Tara said.

John sighed.

"Tara, Sweetie, I don't know how it was with Alan, but from the moment I was born it seemed like I couldn't do anything right," he said. "Everything I did to try to help out failed and then I went and destroyed all the Daleks which earned me a one-way trip to another universe because my sire was furious that I killed a species that frankly never should have known life in the first place. Then I tried to fit in and become what Rose's parents wanted me to be, which worked up to a point, except I was angry and resentful and miserable and by the time my Doctor became the Valeyard and came after me I really didn't care if I lived or died anymore."

He glanced at Tara who had fallen silent.

"I'm sorry if that is distressing for you to hear, Sweetie. I realize I resemble your father and uncle and it must be painful to hear someone that looks like them saying that they didn't want to live but up until your dad came along, I really did want to die because I thought it would solve everything. I honestly thought I was a mistake and the universe would function better without me. When your dad accepted me as his brother that gave me the first sliver of hope for the first time in my life and that's what made me decide that perhaps there was a place in this universe for me. Then I met his family and saw how happy your dad was and how much at peace and it gave me even more hope that perhaps I could have the same. My Doctor made the mistake of letting his darkness consume him which is ironic since I was supposed to be this humongous threat to all of creation. And now here I am, the Doctor, for all intents and purposes. Perhaps that's part of why I was brought into being then, to replace him and carry on his legacy. Anyway, I'm gabbling on about a lot of depressing things. I don't wanna ruin your night with my pity me whinings."

"No, I mean, I wanna know because I wanna give you something…well, give you and Rose something."

"Oh? What do you wanna give us?"

"Me."

John stopped walking.

"You?" he said, frowning.

"I wanna adopt you and Rose as my second mommy and daddy just in case things with Bala don't work out," she said.

John stared at her in disbelief. He swallowed hard when his eyes began to mist over.

"You'd do that?" he said, kneeling down to her.

"Mm-hmm, I did that with the Doctor. Well…my Amelia put me up to it, but I was the one who asked to become his daughter and I wanna do the same with you."

"Tara…" John said in a choked voice.

He slid his arms around her and she clung to him while he held her tightly.

"See, now you can be even happier," Tara said to him. "Now you have your first daughter."

Tears ran down John's cheeks while he stroked the back of her head. He touched foreheads with her while he poured love into her mind.

"You know, I just thought of something," John said, sniffing. "How are we gonna manage this? Is the Doctor and me gonna be a divorced couple now and you have to go to different universes on alternating weekends?"

"Come back with us and live with us in Nova."

"Oh Love, I'd love to but I'm needed here right now," he said, stroking her cheek. "I think all this happened so I could watch over this universe."

"Then let the Doctor give you a void crosser and a house on our street and you can do what Sarah Jane does and come and visit sometimes," she said. "I mean, if I'm there, that means you have a reason to come and see us."

"Indeed I do. Oh Tara, my Tara…"

"Daddy," Tara said, holding him close.

John let out a sobbing laugh at that and kissed her cheek.

"Thank every god in the universe you and your father just happened along," he said to her. "My life has taken a turn for the better since I met you."

He rained kisses on her head and nuzzled it, secretly understanding now why Tara was the Doctor's favorite. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the tears from his cheeks before he stood up and took Tara's hand while he put it back. They looked towards the horizon and noticed the storm clouds were closer.

"We better head back now, my Tara. We don't wanna get caught up in the storm," he said to her. "Besides, I have to inform my fiancée about all of this."

"Do you think Rose will wanna be my mommy?" Tara said while they turned around.

"Oh yeah, are you kiddin', she'll spoil you beyond belief. You oughta see how she spoils her sister."

Tara frowned.

"Sister? Rose has a sister here?"

"Yes, a little sister named Juliet….oh….that's right, your Rose has Tony. Yet another difference, I see," he said.

Suddenly, they heard a loud snap in the woods beside them. Both of them froze and stared through the trees, trying to determine the source of the noise.

"Maybe it was another deer," Tara said to John.

John frowned and shook his head.

"Somehow I doubt it. I have a funny feeling, Tara. I don't think it's a deer," he replied.

"Do you wanna go investigate?" Tara said.

He hesitated a moment and then nodded.

"Slowly though, your other daddy would kill me if I let something happen to you," he said. "Not that I would, but still…"

They slowly walked towards the trees while John took a flashlight out of his trouser pocket. John took the lead while they stepped through the trees. In the distance they heard the faint rumbling of thunder.

"We need to do this quickly, Tara," John whispered while she nodded.

They slowly stepped through the underbrush, John waving his flashlight around. Suddenly there was another snap of a twig and John swung his flashlight to the right and caught a young boy in the light. He looked like he was less than ten years old. He was wearing a Union Army uniform and he could see a bullet wound in his left arm with dried blood running down the sleeve. The arm hung limply while the boy tried to back away from them.

"It's alright, we won't hurt you. Friends," John said. "I'm John and this is my daughter, Tara."

He smiled at her.

"Damn, feels good saying that," he said to her while she giggled.

He turned his attention back to the frightened boy.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"S…Simon."

"Simon. We can help you. I can help mend that arm if you'll trust us enough to let me work on it. Will you trust us?"

"Are you Rebs?" the boy asked.

"No, we're not on either side. We're visiting this man's farm," John said. "We won't hurt you, I promise. We can protect you but you have to trust us, alright?"

Simon nodded.

"How old are you?"

"Nine."

"And you're in the Union Army?"

"Was. I deserted. If they find me, my commanding officer will have me executed," Simon said.

"Why?" Tara asked John.

"Desertion was a crime, punishable by death," John said grimly. "Is that what happened to your arm? Did they try to shoot you while you were fleeing?"

"No, I got this in battle. I ran away from the battlefield."

"Battle? Where?"

Simon thought.

"Bout twenty miles north of here," he said, pointing off to his left.

"Blast, I hope the battle doesn't come down here," John said.

"But…you're younger than I am. How come they let you fight?" Tara said.

"I'm with the flag corps," Simon said.

Tara looked at John.

"They had flag boys that led the troops into battle," he explained. "They carried the flag of the regiment and the flag of whatever side they were on and if one boy fell, someone else had to pick up and carry the flag."

"You mean they had to stand up front and get shot at first?"

"Yes, Sweetie."

"That's crazy," Tara said. "Why would you wanna do that, Simon? Are you nuts?"

"I thought it'd be exciting. I lived on a farm in Ohio and I hated it. I thought it would be exciting to see combat."

"Until you got in a battle and then you thought differently, right?" John said.

Simon nodded.

"I was in a few battles but I never got shot at until now. I just got scared because I don't wanna die so I ran off into the woods when everyone was fighting and ran and ran. Thought I was running north."

"No, you're headin' south, I'm afraid. But like I said, you're safe now. We'll protect you. Just let someone try and execute you. Just come with us and we'll get that arm mended. Tara, we need to get your other daddy and get him to open the TARDIS so we can use the med bay."

"You don't have to, the TARDIS will open for me," Tara said.

"She will?"

Tara nodded.

"Yeah, the TARDIS bonded with me like it did with Daddy so she'll open the door for me."

"Good, because the storm's getting closer and we don't have time to walk to the barn and walk back. Can you walk, Simon?"

"Not very well, I got blisters all over my feet."

"Then I'll carry you. Tara, take the torch and lead the way. Just come to my arms and we'll have you right as rain in no time."


	303. Chapter 303

Chapter Three Hundred and Three

"Right, here we are on Nord. Everyone get on your thermals so your tootsies can be roasty toasty in the freezy cold!"

Everyone stared at Alan who grinned and shrugged.

"Just saying it'll be cold enough to freeze your external body parts, is all," he said.

"You know, I've been travelin' with him for over a year now and I still need to get used to him," Donna said to them. "Rose, how can you be married to him without going insane?"

"Lots and lots of patience," Rose said.

She grinned when Alan put his arms around her and gave her a big kiss on the cheek.

"I amuse her and fill her days and night with laughter and song," he said to them.

"That too," Rose added.

Alan gave her another big kiss and skipped up to the front door.

"Alright, let's get this search for Jenny started," he said to them. "Just remember, it's colder than snot out here so be prepared…"

While he was talking he threw open the door and froze. Everyone walked up behind him and looked over his shoulders. In front of him was a lush green valley with numerous trees, all with green leaves. Birdsong was everywhere and yellow and purple flowers dotted the landscape.

"Oh yeah, it's a bleedin' icicle world out here," Donna said, dryly. "I don't know how we're gonna survive without getting frostbite on our tootsies."

"What?" Alan said in disbelief.

He ran back to his monitor and shook his head while he stared at it.

"This is Nord," he said to them.

"Maybe in this universe, Nord is a warm planet," Martha said, shrugging.

Alan shrugged.

"Well, saves on thermals, I s'pose," he muttered as he walked back to his family.

All of them walked outside and he shut the door behind them. The day was sunny and pleasant with a warm breeze blowing. Alan looked around, wondering if perhaps the TARDIS got it wrong and sent them to the wrong location. They found a small paved path leading into the valley and followed it down. While they walked, Alan sighed. Rose, who was walking beside him, looked up at him.

"What is it, Love?"

"I hate this. I'm used to our Jenny and being able to feel her. Now we're back to before when she was half a Time Lady…not even half, more like a quarter. It would be so much easier to be able to detect her and know for sure if she was on this planet or not," he said.

"We'll find her, we usually end up achieving our goals one way or another," she said, patting his arm.

As they got closer to the bottom of the valley they noticed a small wooden sign sticking up out of the ground. Once they reached it, they all stopped and read it.

TONIGHT AND TOMORROW NIGHT ONLY  
ULTIMATE FIGHTING  
NO HOLDS BARRED, NO RULES, NO LIMITS.  
LAST ONE STANDING IS THE WINNER.  
WATCH THE SUPER SOLDIER IN ACTION  
800 HOURS IN KLANSKY PARK.

"No holds barred, no rules? Sounds brutal," Jack said.

"Some kind of bloodsport competition," Alan said. "Like ultimate fighting, only worse. They have this kind of rubbish on different worlds."

"Yes, but Alan…" Rose said, pointing to the words super soldier.

They all paused a moment and stared at that. Alan's stomach began to sink.

"No, she wouldn't….she couldn't…" he said. "Not after Brother influenced her not to kill others…she wouldn't have joined some kind of ultimate fight group, would she?"

"It's worth checking out, Al," Jack said.

"Yeah, at the very least they might have known where she went," Ianto added.

"Yes, but if she's not among them, we have to be careful about what we say because Jenny would be just the kind of fighter they would want. Someone who has all that military knowledge and knows hundreds of fighting techniques would be a star. I just hope they haven't gotten to her already. I can only imagine what they've made her do for other people's amusement."

All of them hurried along the path. They walked through the valley, looking around for any sign of life but apart from a few animals, there were none. Alan hoped that Klansky Park wasn't too far away. With each passing moment, he was having more and more disturbing visions of Jenny fighting and killing other combatants in brutal and barbaric ways. He couldn't believe that after all the Doctor had done to change her view about killing that she would end up in the one venue where killing was not only allowed, but encouraged. It turned his stomach thinking that his alternate niece was killing other people for sport.

They reached the other side of the valley and started back up. By now the sun was high in the sky and the day became hot and humid, prompting Donna to make another quip about how cold Nord was. By the time they reached the top of the valley, they were all hot and sweaty and panting slightly. They looked at the path and noticed it wound down the side of a hill and up another hill. They saw another sign on the hill and some trees and benches scattered around it.

"I hope to the gods that's Klansky Park," Alan panted, pointing to it.

They stood there for a moment catching their breath before moving on. It took them another half hour to reach the other hill and to their relief, the sign did indicate it was Klansky Park.

"Splendid, now we have to find out where the fight is taking place and where the fighters are staying at," Alan said when they rested again at the top of the hill.

"Did you say you were interested in the fighting?"

They looked to their right as a heavyset man emerged from the trees with an extremely voluptuous lady. The lady was wearing a tight purple dress and had a long white fur around her neck. Both of them were pasty with fat faces and small beady eyes. The woman's hair was in tight curls and was bleached to the point it looked white. The man was balding with a few sparse strands of hair combed over the top of his head. He was wearing a pinstriped suit similar to the Doctor's and Alan had to admit it looked strange on him and how three of his brother could probably fit in the one suit.

"We're looking for the place where the fight will take place," Alan said to him. "Actually, we're looking for one fighter in particular."

"Oh? Well, all the fighters in my stable are resting at the moment in anticipation of the big fight tonight. It takes a lot out of them each time they battle and they need their sleep."

"How do you manage to hang on to your fighters if it's a battle to the death?" Martha asked.

The man chuckled.

"The deaths, my dear, come from the other stables, not mine," he said.

"What about this Super Soldier that was advertised on the sign?" Ianto asked.

"Ah, she's my star fighter. My prize fighter out of all the warriors in my stable," the man said.

Alan's stomach lurched when he heard the word, "She."

"What…uh….what does she look like?" Alan managed to get out.

"You've never seen her in action?" the man said.

"We're new to the sport," Jack said. "Friend of ours got us hooked on it and we're trying to learn all we can about it. Which is why we'd like to meet some of the fighters and perhaps talk to them?"

"I don't know about that," the man said, rubbing the back of his sweaty neck. "I mean, they need to rest."

"We won't take up much of their time," Alan said. "We just want to learn who they are before the fight tonight."

"Oh let them talk to them, Prometheus," the woman said. "They're not gonna bother them."

"Are you sure, Ursula?" Prometheus said. "They need their rest."

"Look, you'll be brief, won't ya?" Ursula said.

"Very brief," Alan replied.

"Let em talk to them. They're new fans, Sugar, we need to let them learn about the sport."

"Oh alright, but be brief," Prometheus said.

"We will, I promise," Alan said.

"Follow us then," he said.

Alan's group glanced at each other before following them down the hill. He led them to ten large canvas tents that had been placed in a circle out in a clearing. Prometheus gestured to them.

"These are where my fighters rest up," he said to them.

"Which one belongs to Super Soldier?" Alan asked.

"Oh, you have an eye for the very best, dontcha?" Prometheus asked.

"Yup, I only wanna talk to the best fighter out there and learn what it's like to be a bloodthirsty warrior," Alan replied.

He pointed to a tent near the back.

"She's in there. But once again, be brief because she needs to rest."

Alan nodded. All of them headed back towards the tent while Prometheus and Ursula walked away. They paused a moment and waited till they were out of sight before they headed to the tent. They pulled back the flap, entered and froze when they saw Jenny fast asleep on a camp bed in the corner. Alan felt like he was going to vomit when he noticed a few bruises and several old scars on her face. They walked over to her.

_Careful, if she's trained to fight, she might attack_, Alan thought to them. _Be ready for anything. _

He knelt down beside her and gently shook her. He noticed Jenny frowning in her sleep but she didn't wake. He tried again and Jenny's eyes opened slightly.

"Jenny," Alan said while everyone else gathered around her.

"Yeah?" Jenny mumbled. "How d'ya know my name?"

Her eyes opened wider and Jack leaned over. He noticed they were glassy and unfocused.

"I think she's been drugged, Alan," he said.

Ianto backed up slightly when Jack leaned over and gasped when his foot hit something and nearly tripped him up. He looked down and noticed an iron stake was driven into the ground beside the bed. A chain was attached to it and was leading up under Jenny's blanket. He pulled back the blanket and Alan groaned when he saw a large iron manacle around Jenny's ankle.

"Now we know she isn't here voluntarily," Jack said to him.

Alan shook her again when she noticed she had drifted back off to sleep.

"Interesting that they'd let you talk to her if she's been drugged like this," Martha said.

"Maybe they forgot," Donna said. "Bloke didn't seem all that bright to begin with."

"Jenny," Alan said into her ear.

"Mwah?" Jenny said, opening her eyes again. "What?"

"You asked how I knew who you were? I'm a brother of your father, the Doctor."

Her eyes opened wider and Jenny slowly turned her head. Alan put a hand on her head while she tried to focus her eyes.

"Dad?" she murmured.

"No, it's a long story but I'm his brother. But I know where he is and I can take you to him."

"No, Dad hates me," Jenny murmured. "He left me behind."

"On accident, Jen. He thought you were dead. He never would have left if he'd known you were alive."

"Then why isn't he here? If you're his brother, why are you here instead of him?" she murmured while she tried to focus on his face.

"Because he's trying to rescue his son at the same time. I volunteered with everyone here to try to find you. I'm not your Doctor and this isn't your Martha or Donna but we're just as concerned about you as they are and we want you away from this place. Your place is by your father's side, not fighting and killing in an arena. We can help you but you have to be quiet. Just relax and I'll carry you away from here."

"I don't think so!"

They spun around and saw Prometheus standing just inside the opening glaring at them. Alan's mind was filled with rage while he walked to the front of the group.

"Let her go this instant!" he said to him.

"What's she to ya?" Prometheus said.

"She's my niece, that's what she is to me and if you know what's good for ya, you'll let her go because otherwise I'll involve you in your own personal bloodsport."

Prometheus snorted.

"You, Skinny? A strong breeze could knock you down."

Alan held his hands up when Prometheus took a pistol out from the waistband of his trousers.

"Put it away, there's no need for that," he said to him.

"Really? You just threatened my life so I see a very big need for it."

"Let her go, all we want is my niece."

Prometheus snorted.

"My star fighter? Are you nuts? She's won every match I've put her in, I'm not about to let her go and lose money."

"If you've made her kill others…"Alan snarled.

"Oh, she's killed others all right. And as for making her do it...Well, a little shock to the head and groin from time to time finally convinced her to see things my way."

Jack grabbed a hold of Alan who was seconds away from pouncing on Prometheus and ripping him apart.

"Wait, I have an offer," Jack said to him.

"I'm listening," Prometheus said.

"Put me in the arena tonight. I'll fight in Jenny's place and if I win, she goes free and leaves with us."

"Jack, no," Alan muttered.

Jack ignored him.

"Well?" he asked Prometheus.

Prometheus considered that.

"I want to see you in action first before I say yes or no," he said to him. "She's my star fighter and I want to be sure you'll last more than a few seconds so I'm gonna put you in the arena for a test fight with Doric, he's my second best fighter."

"Okay, when?" Jack said.

A smile spread over Prometheus's face.

"Right now, I'm not a patient man," he said to him.

"On one condition," Ianto said.

They all looked at him and he pointed to Jenny who was now awake and listening.

"She comes with us so you can't hide her someplace while Jack's fighting," he said.

Prometheus let out a barking laugh.

"Hide her? She's my star fighter, why would I hide her from you clowns. But very well, she can come with us but she'll be watched and the moment you try to hide her from me, I'll put all of you in the arena and let you fight without weapons while the other guy's fighters get armed to the teeth, is that a deal?"

They all nodded.

"Very well," Prometheus said, pulling a key out of his pocket. "This ougtha be interesting!"


	304. Chapter 304

Chapter Three Hundred and Four

Amelia groaned and slowly woke up. She felt hands on her back and she tensed up.

"It's alright, Sweetheart, it's only me," Julie said.

"Julie, where are we?" she murmured, struggling to clear her head and think straight.

"I don't know. In a room somewhere. We're all here except for your father. I woke up and he was gone so I have no idea where he is. Everyone else is awake except for River. That electrical charge must have damaged her circuits because we're trying to get her to function again."

Julie helped her sit up. Across the room, she could see Mingxia and Opal sitting beside River. River was lying on her back; her eyes open and staring blankly up at the ceiling. Amelia looked around but there was no visible door. She panicked when she couldn't feel anyone except the people in the room and Julie put her hand on her back.

"I think whoever it is has some kind of damper in here. We can't feel any members of our family apart from the ones in here. And they took our screwdrivers, psychic paper and cell phones so we can't get out, repair River or call anyone."

"I tried using River's phone to call Papaw but they got me, whoever "they" are," Amelia said.

"I have no idea, I haven't seen anyone except us," Julie said.

Amelia crawled over to River and stared down at her expressionless face.

"Is there any way to fix her without our screwdrivers?" she asked Mingxia.

"I've tried. A lot of the circuitry is burnt out. It needs to be replaced. I'm not even sure if a screwdriver could repair it. I think she needs to be taken back to the lab and given new parts," she said.

Amelia leaned over and stared into her eyes.

"D'ya think she knows we're here?" she said. "D'ya think she can still see us and just can't speak?"

"I don't know. I don't think the computer that passes for her brain was damaged in any way. It might be conceivable that she is hearing and seeing us and can't speak or move. I just hope we can get her fixed. But there are more important things to worry about right now like where your father is."

"I hope Pa's not dead," Opal whimpered.

Amelia drew close to her and held her.

"He's not. We have to believe that," Amelia told her. "Pa's strong. He's Papaw's son so he can survive anything."

Opal swallowed hard.

"I wish Papaw was here right now," she said softly.

Everyone drew near to them and put their arms around them while they stared ahead at the wall and waited for something to happen.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dex lay strapped to a cold metal table in a laboratory. He had woken up on the table so he had no idea how he got there or who strapped him down. His hearts raced when he realized he couldn't feel his children or the rest of his family and guilt plagued his mind. All the times he had cautioned his father to keep his children safe when he took them out and he was the one that got them killed. He chided himself for that thought. He couldn't feel anyone at all so he surmised that perhaps the room had a damper and they were all safe for the moment. He was determined to escape and get back to his children and family and get them away before all of them ended up dead.

He looked to his right when a section of the white metal wall slid open and a strange being entered the room. He was humanoid but he seemed to be made out of one huge chunk of ruby. There were hollowed out eye sockets but no eyes inside them and yet the creature seemed to have sight since he walked over and began to undo Dex's restraints.

"Who are you?" he said.

The creature said nothing. Upon closer inspection, Dex couldn't see a mouth or any hint of lips and figured he couldn't talk. There were no nostrils and the head was bare, giving the creature a creepy appearance. He was about to fight him when he noticed two other ruby creatures enter the room. Figuring they were going to take them to the leader, he decided to play along for the moment and find out all he could about their captor and his missing family members. The lead creature grabbed him by his arm and jerked him to his feet.

"Oi, watch it, ya big lummox," he said to him. "I'll go, no need to jerk my arm out of my socket!"

The creature said nothing and didn't seem to acknowledge him. Another one of the creatures took his other arm and the third led them out. Dex looked around while they led him down a corridor. He figured they were inside the ship but he couldn't see any other rooms or windows or doors. He figured if there were any doors they were also built into the walls and it frustrated him that he couldn't feel any of his family or knew where they were. He knew if something had happened to them, he was gonna take a leaf from his father's book and make them all pay for what they did.

After leading him down a few corridors, they finally stopped at a section of wall. It slid open to reveal a control room. The room was dimly lit and a huge console was at the front along with an enormous plate glass window that spanned the room and let the crew see a wide swath of space. He noticed with sinking hearts that they were in space, far above Verdant, and he guessed that his TARDIS was probably still far below, deep in the woods. He couldn't see anyone in the room just three high back leather chairs spaced evenly in front of the console. To his surprise, the creatures let him go and lumbered back out the door. It slid shut behind him, leaving him alone in the console room. Dex was in shock. They were actually letting him be by himself in the console room? He looked around figuring it was a trick of some kind. For a moment he was tempted to go up to the console and work the controls but then he remembered that their assailants seemed to be invisible. He looked around.

"Is there someone else in this room? I'm guessing there is and you're all cloaked," he said aloud.

"Very good, Time Lord."

The middle chair swiveled around but Dex couldn't see anyone in it. He did see a slight indentation in the seat and knew someone was there. The voice was female, deep and sultry. Steeling himself, he walked towards the chair, praying that he inherited his father's way of charming people into doing what he wanted.

"Are you the leader here?" he said aloud.

"I am. I am S'rina, The Ruby Empress. And you are…"

"Dex. Where are my family members?"

"Safe. They're all safe. However, the android was knocked out permanently from our stun disc and needs servicing."

"What do you want with us?"

"That shall be revealed in time, Time Lord. However, I am very interested in the fact that you and your family have survived. I was under the impression the Time Lords were extinct. My scanners never lie and that's what they told me you were when my servants did a body scan. Care to tell me how you survived the destruction of your planet?"

"No, not till I have my family safe and sound beside me."

"You'll see them in time, Time Lord. Until then, I require some information from you."

"So do I," Dex said, trying to sound more confident than he felt.

He knew that he was a novice when it came to situations like this. He had observed his father a few times since he was reunited with him and he tried to imitate him as best he could. But he wasn't kidding when he told Amelia that his father had been unique among Time Lords. Most Time Lords were conditioned not to be confrontational like this and it took all he had to fight the urge to run. He steeled his spine and tried to imitate his father's haughty, overconfident expression.

"Why were you attacking Verdant?" he said in a loud, steady voice.

"We were searching and gathering fresh specimens," S'rina said. "We prefer to attack pleasure planets like Verdant where the risk of people carrying weapons is low."

"What do you need these specimens for?" Dex asked.

"So many questions. Why should I answer your questions when you won't answer mine?" she purred.

"I want my family before I answer anything!" Dex demanded.

S'rina sighed. She spun around and pushed an intercom button.

"Come into the room," she said into it.

She spun back around while the door slid open and the creatures came back into the room.

"Bring the other prisoners here. If it keeps the Time Lord happy and willing to answer my questions, then do it," she said to them.

"Thank you," Dex said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"I have done this small favor for you, Time Lord, now you will cooperate with me or I can have my servants take them back to their cell," S'rina said.

There was silence for a moment. Dex stared at the empty chair hating that S'rina wouldn't show herself and give him something to focus in on.

"This makes you uncomfortable, doesn't it?" she finally said. "This meeting. I'm aware that your race is extremely complacent and doesn't like to be confrontational. It must be taking all you have to stand there and demand anything of me."

Dex stiffened, not liking that she could read him like a book. Once again, he wished he had his father's confidence and wished his father was there beside him. Again there was silence.

"You are thinking of another," S'rina finally said. "I am also a telepath. That's why I activated the dampers on this ship so you couldn't communicate with your family but there are others, aren't there? Other Time Lords outside this ship. Tell me, how many of there are you?"

"I won't answer any questions until I see my family," Dex said more forcefully.

Another short pause from S'rina.

"You are very brave for a Time Lord, I must admit. The ones I have dealt with in my life have been very cowardly but you're willing to stand your ground. I admire that. But…that was learned from someone else, wasn't it? Somehow I don't see you picking that up from anyone on Gallifrey. Am I right?"

"Partly," Dex admitted.

"Partly? Do you mean you did learn it from another Time Lord?"

Dex was silent. Suddenly, the door opened and he breathed a sigh of relief when Amelia and Opal sprinted in followed by Julie and Mingxia. River was lying dormant in one of the creature's arms. Dex pointed to her after he gave his children a brief hug.

"I want her restored and fully functional!" he said to S'rina.

"Pa, who ya talkin' to?" Amelia said.

"That would be me."

Everyone's attention was focused on the chair. Amelia and Opal stared at it in shock.

"There's a lady there?" Opal said, pointing.

"Yes, her name's S'rina," Dex said, putting his arms around them while Julie and Mingxia came up beside them. "Now about restoring my friend…and when I mean restore, I mean to the way she was before, no enslavement of any kind."

S'rina was quiet.

"Once again, this bravado. So unusual. So answer my question now that you're reunited with your family. Who taught you to be so brave?"

"The Doctor did!" Amelia said.

Dex hushed her. S'rina was quiet for a moment.

"The Doctor? The legendary Time Lord? You know him?" she said with interest.

"Yes," Dex admitted grudgingly, not liking where this was leading.

"Did he survive the destruction of Gall…well, naturally he would, wouldn't he? The greatest Time Lord that ever lived. Mere planetary destruction wouldn't be enough to kill him."

"Pa, what's she talking about?" Opal said to Dex.

"I'm talking, dear child, about the fact that most of your kind was cowardly but all of you have bravery that's very unusual for Time Lords and Ladies. I wanted to know where this bravery came from and if you learned it from the Doctor, it all makes sense. Tell me, is the Doctor nearby?"

"I have no idea where he is," Dex said.

"But you're friends, aren't you? So surely you know how to get in touch with them? The guard that kidnapped that child there said that she was trying to pull out a communicator device. Getting in touch with him, were you?"

"Don't say anything, any of you," Dex warned them.

"You know, I have ways of gaining your cooperation and they aren't pleasant," S'rina said. "I want to meet the Doctor and speak with him and if I don't do that…well, I can't guarantee their safety or yours."

"Leave them alone! Let them go back down to Verdant. I'll be your prisoner!"

S'rina was quiet again.

"Interesting. Once again, so out of character for a Time Lord. Most of them were so docile, so easily tamed, but all of you are different. It can't be mere association with the Doctor, there must be something more. Nevertheless, I will order my servant to bring the communication device back in and you will call the Doctor and tell him to come to Verdant so we can pick him up…or else."


	305. Chapter 305

Chapter Three Hundred and Five

By the time they reached the TARDIS doors, the rain was starting to fall.

"What's this?" Simon said, looking at it.

"It's like a house. It's bigger on the inside and it has a tiny hospital where we can get you mended," John said.

"TARDIS, let us in," Tara said, rubbing the door.

They stepped back and the doors opened up. John noticed Simon's shock at the doors opening by themselves and the interior. They heard a thunder boom and John ushered them both inside.

"Follow us, Simon," John said to him.

While they walked back, John put up a privacy block around the Doctor's mind.

_Doctor, it's John. We had a slight diversion,_ he thought while they walked to the med bay. _We found a young boy. A flag bearer from the Union side. He was injured in a battle about twenty miles north of here._

_Battle? There are no battles near…oh no, I'm guessing this is another difference between this universe and our own? Blast! I hope it doesn't come down here,_ he thought back.

_His name is Simon and his left arm has a bullet wound so Tara and I are mending him before we come back. _

_Well, Rain, Jack, Rose and I followed Amelia and Caroline into the house. She decided to bring us inside to search for the watch. So we're in the attic right now,_ he thought back. _Dunno how long it'll take but that's where we are if you get back to the barn before us._

_There's more though. Tara wanted to walk with me for a reason. She…adopted me and Rose as a second mother and father so we could have her as a daughter._

_She did? That's brilliant. My daughter is so stellar, _he thought.

_You're not angry?_

_No, should I be? It's her decision. I'm not jealous of you if that's what you mean. We'd just have to work out a way for you and Rose to see her. Personally, I'm happy she's letting you love her like that and there's plenty of her to go around. _

_Well, she wants me to have a void crosser and a house in your dimension so I can come visit._

_Done and done. Have you told Rose yet?_

_Not yet, we were going to go back and do it but then this development came up. _

_Need any help?_

_Nah, it's easily fixed. We just have to explain to Simon about the TARDIS but I wanted to treat his arm so it didn't get gangrene. If the storm gets too severe we'll wait it out in here, just be careful going through the attic._

_We will, Brother, keep me updated if anything happens. Hopefully, if there are troops nearby they won't be daft enough to march in the rain or maybe they'll go the other way. _

_Just as long as they don't go looking for Simon, I'll be happy, _John thought.

_Me too. Now if you don't mind I want to speak to my super stellar child for a moment in private._

_Go ahead, we're in the med bay now and I'm x-raying Simon's arm._

_Use the tissue rejuvenator. Tara knows where it is._

_Will do._

The Doctor switched the privacy block to Tara.

_Star? _He thought to her.

_Yes, Daddy?_

_I wholeheartedly approve of you adopting John and Rose as your other parents. I'll tell Rain. Me and her and Rose and Jack are with Amelia and Caroline in the attic searching for the watch. But I just wanted to let you know that I'm proud of you and we'll work something out so he can see you as often as he can. Just letting you know that I'm not jealous of this and I know your mommy won't be either. I'm just very, very proud._

_Thank you, Daddy._

_And take your time since we're in the house. I'll let the others know where you are and what's happening so they won't worry 'bout ya. Just keep John company and make friends with Simon and make him feel comfortable. _

_I will. _

_Love ya lots, my Star. I'm very, very proud._

_Thanks, Daddy, love ya lots too._

The Doctor lifted the privacy block and Tara concentrated on helping John mend Simon. The Doctor, a grin a mile wide, walked over to Rain who was rummaging through an old steamer trunk. He tapped her on the shoulder and whispered what Tara did in her ear. Rain's eyes widened.

"Seriously?" she said.

"Yup."

They looked at Alternate Rose who was searching through an armoire near the back.

"Does she know?" Rain whispered to him.

"Don't think so. John said he was coming back to tell her when he and Tara got caught in the storm and ended up in the TARDIS and I'll tell you why in a moment. I just wanted to tell you that first. You're not upset by that, are you?"

"No, why would I be? I think it's great. It's just what they need."

"John was scared I'd be upset by that. I told him, no, we'd work something out. Tara wants me to give him a void crosser and one of the houses for his use."

"Yes, do it, Thete," Rain whispered.

"Shall we go inform Rose?" the Doctor whispered.

Rain nodded. They walked over to Alternate Rose who was looking along the bottom of the armoire. They tapped her on the shoulder and she leaned back up, giving them a quizzical look. The Doctor grinned and leaned in to whisper what was going on. Alternate Rose's eyes boggled and her mouth dropped open when they finished.

"Seriously, she wants to do that?" Alternate Rose said.

"My daughter's a very open and caring person," the Doctor said, shrugging. "She never had any love until we came along and I'm sure she wants this just as much as you do. But as I was telling Tara, I'm all for it and we'll work something out. I'll give your group a void crosser and you can have one of the empty houses on our street so you can come visit whenever you like."

Alternate Rose put her hand over her heart.

"I don't know what to say. I mean, she's such a little darling and I fell in love with her and I know John did too. I was going to miss her so much when you finally left us and just knowing that she wants to be in our lives and be our daughter…oh God, this is wonderful."

"What's going on?" Alternate Jack asked, coming up beside them.

The Doctor took the opportunity not only to fill them on what Tara did but also tell them about Simon.

"Oh God, the poor boy," Rain said. "We'll have to hide him in the loft if we can't find the watch and…"

"Hey!"

They looked around when Amelia brought her hand up from a trunk. In her palm was the fob watch.

"This what ya'll's looking for?" she asked them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Simon looked around in confusion while he sat on a metal lab table.

"What is this place? It's weird lookin'," he said to John.

"Well, it's a long explanation and I'd rather wait till this was done and we were comfortable before I started," he said to him. "But there's nothing to fear. You're safe here."

Tara brought him the tissue rejuvenator.

"What's that do?" Simon said.

"Well, I took a picture of the inside of your arm and there's a minie ball lodged in your arm that broke your bone. But I have a way of repairing that and making it good as new. Just sit still, this won't hurt a bit."

He put the box against the wound and pressed the button. There was a hum and Simon's eyes widened when the minie ball popped out of the wound, hit his leg and bounced against the steel. Tara ran after it, caught it and put it in the trash while John continued to heal the wound. After ten minutes, he was finished and he asked Simon to move his arm around. Tentatively he did and smiled when he could move it in every direction without any pain at all.

"I don't know what that doodad is but I love it!" he said while John chuckled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Now what do we do?" Amelia said while they went back down the attic steps.

"Now we need to put your father to sleep and take him back to the TARDIS," the Doctor whispered taking a small vial and handkerchief out of his pocket.

"What's that?" Caroline asked.

"Chloroform, it's harmless, it'll just put your father to sleep."

"Why?" Amelia asked.

"Because when our Amelia opened the watch in front of my son, he went insane as soon as he was restored and tried to kill all of us," the Doctor whispered back. "This time I'm not taking any chances. Once we get him restrained then we'll wake him back up but until then, he'll rest peacefully."

While they crept to his room, the Doctor telepathically told the others they had found the watch and asked them to meet on the verandah. He went into the room first, taking care not to wake Peter who was snoring loudly while he slept in his bed. The others came in behind him, everyone except the children using their respiratory bypass systems. They froze when Peter let out a snort and woke up briefly when a particularly loud thunder boom shook his window. But to their relief, he settled back down to sleep and in a minute was snoring peacefully again. The Doctor poured a small amount of chloroform onto the handkerchief and gently put it over his nose and mouth while Amelia and Caroline watched. He listened closely and when he heard his alternate son's breathing even out, he took the handkerchief away and nodded at Alternate Jack.

"Are we gonna carry him through the rain to the TARDIS?" Alternate Jack said, gesturing to the storm outside.

"No, I'll contact John and ask him to bring the TARDIS inside the house. Then all we have to do is carry him downstairs," he said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"This is the kitchen," John said to Simon when all of them stepped into the room. "Are you hungry?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Nah, don't have to call me sir. I don't like that rubbish. Just call me John," he said.

_Brother, we have Dex sedated but we need you to fly the TARDIS into the house so we can avoid the storm._

_I'm all over it. Just give me a few minutes,_ John thought back.

"Tara," John said aloud. "You know the kitchen better than I do. Fix him something to eat while I do as your other father requests."

She nodded and he kissed her on the head before walking out of the room.

"Would you like a sandwich?" Tara asked.

"Yeah. Um…are you an Indian?" Simon asked while she opened the refrigerator.

"Sorta. My birth mom was from India," she said, rummaging around the refrigerator. "But one of my mommies is an Indian…was an Indian. Well…she still looks Indian but she's not, it's kinda complicated."

"One of your mommies? How many you got?"

"I got two mommies and two daddies now. I adopted them both. You like turkey?"

Simon nodded and Tara got the bread out of the breadbox.

"How long you been in the army?"

"Not long. Just a few months," Simon said.

"Why'd you join? I mean, you got shot at and all," Tara said.

"I was bored. I hate being a farmboy. I wanted excitement."

"Well, I can understand that. That's why I like traveling with my daddy. It's dangerous but it's fun too."

She finished making the sandwich and paused for a moment in thought.

_Daddy John?_ She thought.

_Yes, Sweetie?_

_When were potato chips invented? Would Simon know what they are?_

_They were invented in 1853 in Saratoga Springs, New York. But they weren't mass produced until 1910 so I'm not sure if he'd know what they are. If you're thinking about giving him crisps, I figure he's standing in a time machine with a couple of aliens so it can't hurt now._

_Okay, Daddy, just checking._

She reached into the cabinet for the bag of potato chips.

_We've landed in the house so go ahead and do what you're doing. I'll assist your other dad, _John thought.

_Okay, Daddy._

"So when we get done here, do you wanna go back home?" Tara said to Simon while she put a handful of potato chips on his plate and reached into the fridge for pickles and milk.

"Can you take me back home?" Simon said.

"We can if you want to. This ship is very fast and we can get you back up there before the army people can find ya," she said, putting a couple of dill pickles on his plate and pouring him a glass of milk. "Here ya go, I hope you like this."

"Looks good, thanks," Simon said.

He walked over to the table and Tara put everything down in front of him. Simon thanked him and began to eat while she put everything back in its proper place. While she was doing that, the Doctor entered the room. Tara looked at him.

"Okay, which daddy are you?" she said.

"I'm the original, the one, the only and the best," he said, winking.

He glanced at Simon who had paused to look at him.

"So that's the boy you found, eh?"

"Yup. He wants to go back home to Ohio."

"Well, you and John will have to do it without me," the Doctor said.

"What d'ya mean, Daddy?"

He sighed.

"I finally got a call from our Dex. He's in trouble. He's on some spaceship above this planet called Verdant and this woman named S'rina wants me to go there…or else, her words."

He held up his hand when she opened her mouth.

"No, Star, you can't come with me. I'm going alone. I need you to help John sort this mess out here. I'll be alright. I'm going to leave off my damper ring just in case you need to track me, although…he mentioned they were damping their telepathic capabilities but she may not be damping the artron energy which is why I'm gonna take the ring off. Help your other dad and your mommies and family with Dex and his family and with Simon, okay?"

Tara nodded.

"I know you want to be with me but I need you to help here. There's still a lot to do and I'm trusting you to help sort it out, okay?"

"Okay, Daddy, just…be careful."

"Are you kidding? Careful is my middle name!"

He snickered when Tara gave him a dubious look and hugged her tightly.

"I'm very, very proud of you. You're my junior Time Lady and you're definitely earning that title."

He stood up and smiled at Simon.

"I know I look like John but I'm his twin brother, the Doctor. It's nice to meet you. I'm glad you're mended and got away from the maniac soldiers who think it's okay to put children on the front lines. I have to go, pressing business elsewhere, but it's nice to meet you and I wish you luck."

"Thank you, Sir."

"And no sirs, please. Just the Doctor will do."

"Yeah, you are that other guy's twin cause that's what he said."

"Really, how interesting," he said, winking at Tara while she giggled.

Tara kissed her father briefly on the lips.

"Thank you, I need that before going into whatever I'm going into. John's Dex is still sedated and strapped down. I believe John is gonna wait till he wakes before he opens the watch but you assist him and give him any help he or anyone else needs. And make Amelia and Caroline feel at home as well as Samuel and Ruth when we convince them to come in here."

"You can count on me, Daddy."

He grinned and gave her another kiss.

"Goodbye, my daughter," he said dramatically. "Your old man is off to kick some alien arse and save the day."

"Don't forget to wear clean underwear while you do it!" Tara said.

The Doctor gave her an amused look. She shrugged.

"I heard that on TV once. Something about having clean underwear on if you get in an accident," she said.

He chuckled.

"Well, I can assure you my smalls are nice and clean and neatly pressed."

"Then…go get em, Daddy!"

He laughed and gave her a hug.

"Goodbye, Star! I'm off to save the universe again…with clean underwear!" he said, going out the door.

"Yay! Go Daddy! Whoooooooooooooooo!" she yelled.

She turned to Simon who was giving her an odd look.

"Sorry about that. My daddy has a hard job and I was just giving him some support before he left," she said.

"His job…is saving the universe?" Simon said in disbelief.

"Yup and he's the best universe saver I know!"

Simon nodded politely, not really knowing what to say to that. Tara went and grabbed a bowl and the bag of potato chips. She gave herself some and poured some milk and went to talk to Simon, waiting until John was ready to turn Peter back into Dex.


	306. Chapter 306

Chapter Three Hundred and Six

"Okay, where's this Doric at? Let me at em!" Jack said while they followed Prometheus.

"Patience, my friend, you'll meet him soon enough," Prometheus said, amused.

_Ick, I wouldn't want that man as my friend even if you paid me_, Martha thought.

She was walking alongside Alan and Rose. Alan was carrying Jenny in his arms. She was still groggy but was slowly becoming more lucid. He stared at the scars all over her face and longed to give Prometheus the same scars plus several more besides.

"Are you sure this is wise?" Alternate Jenny said, groggily. "Doric is a fierce fighter. Your friend might get killed."

He noticed the smirk pass across Alan's lips.

"Trust me, Jenny," he whispered to her. "In this instance, getting killed will not be a concern."

He smiled and winked when he saw the baffled look on her face. They walked down a steep hill and saw a huge stone arena in a clearing. It resembled a small Roman coliseum with several arched entrances spread out on all sides. They walked through one, went through a semi dark tunnel, and out into the sunlight. They were standing in the circular area where the fighters battled. The ground was made of hard packed dirt.

"So…what do you wanna do? Do you want weapons or do you wanna fight him bare-handed?" Prometheus asked Jack.

"Depends. Because if he's one of those people that likes to cheat, I want a weapon of some kind," Jack replied.

Prometheus was shocked.

"My fighters never cheat," he said, scandalized.

Alan smirked when he heard a small snort coming from Alternate Jenny.

_Take the weapon, Jack. Jenny just snorted at that statement_, Alan thought to him.

"I've decided. I want a weapon," Jack said to Prometheus.

"What will be your pleasure?" Prometheus said.

Jack thought.

"Um…give me a spear, a long one," he said.

Prometheus clapped his hands and a moment later, a thin, wiry boy appeared from another entrance carrying a spear with a long wooden shaft and long, thin steel blade. He gave it to Jack and ran off. Jack stepped away from the others for a moment testing the weight and the maneuverability of it. Satisfied with it, he nodded and stepped back to the front of his group.

"So, where's your number two fighter then?" he said.

"DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC!" Prometheus howled.

All of them stared at Doric with wide eyes when he stepped through an entrance on the other side of the arena. The man was six foot five inches and his body was muscular and finely sculpted. Jack stared at the bulging muscles on his arms and legs and coughed nervously.

"Oh God, I don't know if I can watch this," Ianto muttered.

Jack looked behind at him with a confident smile that masked his nerves.

"Not to worry, Yan, I'll clean his clock, just you watch."

"Like I said, I don't know if I can watch this," Ianto muttered.

"So…you're the puny man who's come to challenge me!" Doric said in a booming baritone voice.

Jack stiffened his spine and gave him a haughty look.

"Yes, I am. I am Jack Harkness and I'm your worst nightmare!"

Doric threw his head back and let out a loud, booming laugh.

_Somehow I don't think that filled him with fear, Jack,_ Ianto thought.

_Yes, but I know something he doesn't know,_ Jack thought back. _Just trust me, Ianto, got it all under control here._

Prometheus signaled to the others and everyone left except for Jack and Doric. They walked over to the wall and Prometheus put his stubby fingers in a crack and pulled open a door. They went through, up a short flight of stairs, and over to the first row of stone benches while Prometheus shut the door. Alan carefully lowered Alternate Jenny down to the bench and he and Rose sat on either side of her while she wobbled a bit.

"This man is number two?" Alan said to her.

Jenny nodded.

"Yeah, I've won all my battles. He's only won eighty percent of his."

"Wow, I mean…I hate that they've forced you to fight like a gladiator but I can't help but be impressed that you are actually a better fighter than that behemoth," he said.

"Will…he…be able to stand up against him?" Alternate Jenny said.

Alan leaned into her ear.

"If he doesn't, we have a secret weapon. He's immortal. He can die but he won't stay dead. No matter how many times you kill him the man comes back to life."

Jenny gave him a shocked look.

"What? How?"

Alan put his finger to his lips when Prometheus sat down near them.

"Let the games begin!" he yelled out.

Doric sneered at Jack.

"You think you can beat me, little man?" he boomed.

"Little? I'm not that little and besides I know something you don't know!" Jack replied.

"Oh, what is that?"

"I'm not teeeeeeeeeeelling!" Jack taunted.

Doric chuckled. He pounded his left fist into his right palm while he advanced on Jack.

"Oh Jesus, I can't watch this," Ianto murmured.

Doric let out a fearsome bellow, trying to intimidate Jack as he lunged at him. Jack dodged him and did a roll. He quickly took his long coat off and threw it to the side of the arena. Doric raised his eyebrow when he noticed the gun in his holster.

"You gonna shoot me, little man?" he said, pointing to it.

"I will if you don't behave yourself, young man," Jack said, wagging his finger at him.

Doric snorted and lunged at him again. Jack jabbed the spear towards his face and Doric reeled back to avoid the metal blade. Jack smirked and lunged at his midsection intending to knock him off balance but he let out an oof when he ran into him and nothing happened. Doric chuckled at that and tried to grab him but Jack did another roll and held the spear out in front of him while he moved around in front of him.

"Is this the best you can do?" Doric yelled to Alan's group. "Why don't you let Skinny fight me instead of this wimp?"

"Because Skinny has a touch of the diarrhea and is about to drop trouser chili so I can't move," Alan yelled back.

Doric gasped when Jack shoved the spear in his face, inches from his right eye.

"Hey, Schwarzenegger, pay attention to what's going on in front of ya!" Jack taunted.

Doric bellowed at him and lunged for the spear. He grabbed the shaft and Jack gasped when he wrenched it out of his hand and threw it like a javelin across the arena to the back wall. Jack stared at it sticking up out of the ground and then looked at Doric who was laughing at him.

"Now, you face me, man to man!" he said to him.

"No, actually, I prefer to face you like a cowardly chicken," Jack said.

Doric gasped when he took out his gun and shot at the ground inches from his right foot. He lunged at him again when the man's leg was up and this time he succeeded in toppling him over.

"David, one, Goliath, zippo!" Jack yelled as he jumped over him and ran towards the spear.

He ran as fast as he could towards the spear, grinning when he heard Doric let out a frustrated yell behind him.

"Sorry, Muscles, I guess Little Man got the drop on ya, eh?" he muttered as he ran.

Suddenly, he saw the servant boy running out from one of the openings beside him. He had a spear in his hand and before Jack could do anything, he lobbed it at him. Jack's eyes bulged and everyone in the stands yelled when the spear went directly into his neck and he crashed to the ground, dead.

"That's cheating!" Alan screamed, leaping to his feet.

Prometheus gave him a smug grin.

"Obviously, you don't follow the sport, my dear boy. Anything and everything's allowed, including cheating. Why do you think I allowed your friend to use his gun?"

He gave him a look of mock pity while Alan seethed quietly.

"Aw, so sad about your friend there. But we'll be sure to give him a proper burial outside the arena. As for my star fighter, she goes right back to her tent where you found her and…"

Doric let out a yell and all of them turned to see Jack with his hand wrapped around his beefy neck and a gun to his head. Prometheus's mouth dropped open.

"What? That can't be. That was a direct hit!" he said, pointing a trembling finger at Jack. "You can't still be alive. How?"

"I told you, I'm more than meets the eye!" Jack said. "Fight wasn't over yet which means I have your fighter at my mercy and if you don't let Jenny go, I'll blow his pea-sized brains out!"

"You wouldn't dare!" Prometheus said.

"Oh, wouldn't I? I have enough bullets in this gun for him, your sneaky little servant, and you and your wife or friend or whatever the hell you call her. Now let Jenny and us go."

"Kill the big lummox. I have Jenny here and plenty of fighters besides her."

Alan saw the stunned look on Doric's face and saw his opportunity.

"Hear that, Doric?" he said to him. "You see how he treats you? Why would you wanna work for someone like this? He thinks you're all disposable. My friend has a gun to your head and he could care less about it."

Alan grinned when he saw Doric turning his anger on his employer.

"I fought for you! I bled for you and this is how you repay me?" Doric said to him. "I'm not a piece of meat and neither is she. That's it, I quit!"

"You quit when I say you quit! You and Jenny!" Prometheus bellowed at him

Jack took the gun away while Doric stomped up to the wall.

"I quit, do ya hear me? I quit!" he yelled at him.

"Very well, but you don't quit. You're fired!"

They gasped when Prometheus pulled out his gun and shot him directly in the heart. Alan quickly stepped in front of the others while he pointed his gun at them. He sneered at Jack who had his gun trained on him.

"I don't know how you survived a spear to the neck but if you can do that, you're valuable to me. But if I were you, I'd put the gun down because I'm betting I can shoot your friends before you can get up here to save them. So what's it gonna be…Jack?"

Jack sighed angrily and threw his gun off to his left side. Prometheus yelled for his servant boy and everyone put their hands up while he came out to assist him.

"I'm a fair man so I tell you what I'm gonna do. You and Skinny Boy here fight tonight in the arena and if both of you win, Jenny is yours. How's that sound?"


	307. Chapter 307

Chapter Three Hundred and Seven

After talking with Simon for awhile, Tara went to check on John. She found him in the lab patiently waiting for Dex to wake up.

"Is he still out?" she said.

"Yeah, shouldn't be too long now," John said. "I just hope all goes well. Your other daddy told me what he did when he turned back into your Dex and the fact that he tried to burn your family alive to get revenge on the destruction of Gallifrey just chills me to the bone. He told you he was leaving, didn't he?"

Tara nodded. John put a hand on her shoulder.

"He took my TARDIS after I made sure my TARDIS would let him fly her. But don't worry, he'll be alright even if his little helper isn't around to look after him," he said.

"I know. My daddies both kick butt," she said.

"Yes, we do," John replied.

"Daddy, can I see the watch? I've never seen this fob watch thing."

John reached into his pocket and gave it to her. She held it in her hand, intrigued by it.

_Leave me alone. Leave me in here._

She blinked when she heard an unfamiliar male voice in her mind. She looked at John.

"You just heard him, didn't you?" he said to her.

"Heard who?" Tara asked.

"Dex. Telepaths can hear the consciousness inside the watch. You just heard him speak to you, didn't you?"

"I heard a man's voice telling me to leave me alone and leave me in the watch."

He nodded.

"I heard it as well. That doesn't bode well for us but I'm hoping I can talk some sense into him when we release him."

"He knows he's in there?"

"Oh yeah, I was the same way when I was trapped inside one. I knew where I was," he said.

He smiled and squeezed her shoulder when she blanched at that. They both looked at Peter when he started to groan and open his eyes. John took the watch from Tara and telepathically told the others he was waking up.

_No, I want to stay in here!_ Dex thought to John while he held the watch.

"No, my son, you can't stay in there. You need to be yourself and face me. I need to speak to you," he said aloud to the watch.

_No! Leave me alone!_ Dex thought.

"Sorry, my son, I love you too much to leave you trapped in a watch for all eternity," John said to him.

The others came inside with Amelia, Caroline and Simon. John walked over to Amelia and Caroline.

"Stand back, alright? I'm about to let him out and he's already telling me he doesn't want to come out so there's no telling what he'll say."

"Why doesn't he wanna come out?" Amelia said, pointing at the watch.

"Because he's angry at me," John said sighing. "He's cursing at me inside my head and begging me not to open it so just know that he's not going to be happy when I'm finished."

He walked back over to Peter who was trying to get out of the leather restraints.

"What's the meaning of this? Where am I? What are you gonna do to me?" he yelled at John.

Tara came up beside him and watched while John put the watch over his face and opened it. Amelia and Caroline came up beside him and they all watched in wonder as a golden light streamed down onto Peter's face. Peter's eyes were wide as if he were in shock. When the light faded a moment later, he blinked and looked around. He looked up at John.

"I told you not to release me!" he said in a British accent.

"Sorry, Son, you need to be yourself and listen to what I have to say."

"I don't wanna listen to what you have to say. You hate me! Mum said so."

"No, Dex, I love you. Your mum told you a heap of lies to turn you against me!"

Dex turned his attention to Amelia and Caroline who were in shock.

"What are you gonna do to them?" he said to John.

John raised his eyebrow.

"So you still love them?"

"Of course I love them. They're mine, aren't they? What are you gonna do, turn them against me?"

"No, Son, I'm not your mother. I want to take them and you away from here before the war reaches your house. And by everyone, I mean Samuel and Ruth and I hope to the gods that you didn't carry that racist mentality over with you when you came out of the watch because I'm extremely ashamed of you for doing that to them! Not to mention you didn't educate your own daughters which means we'll have to find a way to get them caught up to their age levels. I know you were trying to hide from me but the Deep South during the Civil War? And a slave-owner? Son, what were you thinking?"

Dex fell silent. He looked at Amelia and Caroline who were still in shock.

"I just…I wanted to get away from you and I thought the Civil War…you'd never look for me there."

John sighed.

"Son, this….all of this has gotten out of hand and now other people have become involved. Your children, Samuel, Ruth…please tell me you didn't beat them."

"No, I didn't."

"But they are malnourished. I can tell that just by looking at them. Not to mention they've been torn away from their families. Now I know you didn't do that directly but you bought them from another man and ensured that they stayed separated from the ones they loved. Now I'd love to take them back to their families but I'm not sure if I can find them now because I'm pretty sure they don't know where they came from. Son, I've never hated you, never once in my lives have I hated you. Your mother was angry at me and fed you a bunch of lies so you'd turn away from me. Up until the other day, I was sure you'd died along with everyone else on Gallifey and I was devastated because both of us parted ways as enemies."

"Why did you destroy our home in the first place, Father?"

"I had no choice. The Daleks finally gained the upper hand and they were overrunning the planet and killing everyone. The Time Lords allowed the remnant of their invading force to stream onto the planet and then I was ordered to annihilate it."

"Why didn't you rescue everyone, Father?"

"Four billion people? I couldn't! Son, we lost the war, the whole stupid Time War was lost by that time and the High Council felt like there was no other choice so they chose to kill themselves before the Daleks did it for them."

"Then why didn't you die with them?"

"Because someone had to destroy the planet. Believe me, I didn't want to be alive and I wanted to die for years after it happened. They felt like I was the only one who could do it because if I was left alive afterwards I could still protect the universe. I accept what I did, Dex. I have accepted my actions and have learned to live with them as best I can. I've also tried to move on and let the past be the past. The whole war is time locked. There's no turning back, no fixing things, so all we can do is move on and focus on the future. However, it seems that the universe has given me a rare opportunity to make amends with one part of my past and that's you. Which is why I let you out of the watch. Because I want you in my life. You, Dex, not Peter. Frankly, I disliked Peter for the reasons I mentioned a moment ago and I sincerely hope if we bring Samuel or Ruth onboard you won't mistreat them and you'll show Tara and Rain and Awinita the proper respect now. I know I wasn't there for much of your upbringing but I did try to teach you to respect other races and cultures. I hope that's returned now that you're back to your old self again."

"It is. I mean, I'm sorry for doing that. That was just part of the programming," Dex said. "That was part of my disguise."

"Well, I'm happy to hear that's no longer an issue because Tara here has adopted me as her father which means you have a little sister now and the last thing I want is for you to constantly harass her because she's supposedly a dirty injun."

"I'm sorry I did that, Tara. You and Rain and Awinita will have to forgive me. It was part of the programming."

"I forgive you, Dex," Tara said while Awinita and Rain came up behind her. "I just wanna be your sister now."

Dex considered that and smiled.

"I'd like that as well," he said.

"Wow, he's not going on a rampage and trying to kill us all? That's refreshing," Awinita said to Rain.

"Rampage?" Dex said.

Rain explained about their Dex and what he did. Dex was horrified and shook his head when she finished.

"No, I'd never…I'd never burn people alive or kidnap someone and use the chameleon arch on them. I mean, I'm sorry this other me went insane and did all that. I'm not a threat, Father, I wouldn't do that to anyone, I swear. Oh God, is that why you have me tied down?"

Everyone nodded.

"I'm not going to do that. I know Father and I have differences but I wouldn't try to burn you all alive to get back at him. Father, please, I promise I won't hurt them, I swear!"

John nodded. He and Alternate Jack undid the restraints and Dex sat up.

"God, my double really did all that? Is he still insane?"

"No, he underwent treatment and he's cured now," Rain said to him. "He's actually with his Amelia and Opal and a few of our family members on Verdant but they got kidnapped and our Doctor, my husband, went to try and help him."

"Married? Really?" Dex said.

"Yes and I'm actually engaged to…"

John took Rose's hand and brought her forward. Rose smiled warmly at him.

"This is Rose, my fiancée. Their Rose is actually married to their Doctor's clone who's named Alan."

"Clone?" Dex said.

"Yes, Son, and actually I'm not the original Doctor, I'm also a clone, but I'll explain. But before we get to that, I just want the two of us to try to work everything out and put the past behind us and be close. I want us to be a family, me, you, Rose, Tara and whoever else ends up joining us. But I want you to know that once I found out from their Doctor that you might be alive I didn't hesitate in coming here to find you because I love you dearly, my son. I always have and I always will. Just please give me a chance. Don't turn away from me, alright? Open your hearts to me and I'll open mine to you."

Dex nodded. Everyone smiled and let out a sigh of relief when they embraced one another.

"How did you find all these Time Lords and Ladies though?" Dex asked when they broke apart.

"It's a long story so why don't we eat something and talk in the living room," John said.

He nodded and slid off the table. He smiled at his children's befuddled looks.

"Pa?" Amelia said. "Is that you?"

"Yes, Amelia, it's still me. I know who you and Caroline are and I still love you just as deeply as I did when I was Peter," he said.

He embraced them both and kissed them.

"The only bad thing is now I'll have to watch them grow old," Dex said sadly.

"No, you don't. There's a way for them to become Time Ladies," Tara said.

"What?" Dex said.

"Just follow us, Son, and we'll explain everything," John said to him.


	308. Chapter 308

Chapter Three Hundred and Eight

The TARDIS landed in the woods of Verdant. The Doctor stepped outside and shut the door behind him. He glanced up at the sky and noticed there was no ship above him. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his mobile. He dialed the number of Dex's mobile. It rang a couple of times before Dex answered.

"Son, is this you?" he said.

"Yes, Father."

"Tell S'rina I'm on Verdant so if they're gonna pick me up they better get down here and do it."

There was a pause before Dex spoke again.

"She wants you to turn on a homing beacon so they can find you," Dex said to him.

The Doctor turned around and went back inside.

"Are you alright? Is everyone alright?" he said while he walked to the console.

"Yes, we're alright for the moment," Dex said.

The Doctor punched in a command.

"There, I've sent up a homing beacon," he said, walking back to the door.

There was another pause while the Doctor stepped out and shut the door behind him.

"They're coming, Father, and she says no tricks," Dex finally said.

The Doctor snorted.

"Wouldn't dream of it," he said.

He glanced up when he saw a spaceship descending down from the sky.

"And here they come," he said into the mobile.

He stepped out onto the path and waved his arms around. The spaceship stopped several miles up and hovered above him. Suddenly, there was a beam of light and two ruby creatures appeared in front of him.

"I assume the ruby goons are for me," he said into the mobile.

"She says to follow them and no tricks," Dex replied.

The Doctor sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I do have a brain and comprehension beyond a two year old level," he muttered. "I understood the no tricks command the first time I heard it."

He walked over to the ruby creatures who immediately seized his arms.

"Oi, I'm cooperating," he said, annoyed.

The beam went back up into the ship. The Doctor grunted when the creatures immediately dragged him out of the bare room they were in.

"I can walk!" he said, incensed.

"Father?" he heard Dex say.

The Doctor held the mobile up to his ear.

"I'm being dragged along right now, Son. I assume I'm going to wherever S'rina is."

They walked him down several corridors and then a door slid open and they shoved him inside.

"Papaw!"

He looked around and noticed that all the women were in the room. Amelia and Opal ran to him while the door slid back. He hugged them both and hugged Opal extra tight.

"Am I glad to see you," he said to Opal.

"Doctor? Are you alright?" Julie said as she and Mingxia came over and knelt beside him.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

He noticed River lying motionless in the corner.

"Oh no," he said.

"They put these shock discs on our necks and it stunned and knocked us out but when they did it to her, it fried her circuits," Mingxia said.

The Doctor cursed under his breath. He looked around and didn't see Dex. He brought the mobile to his ear.

"Dex? Are you there? Where are you?"

He cursed again when he realized he'd been cut off. He dialed his number again but the mobile was dead.

"Damn it!" he said. "Do you know where they took him?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"We haven't seen him in awhile. I hope he's alright," Julie said.

"Me too, Te'lesu," the Doctor said.

He glanced at River and pulled his screwdriver out of his pocket.

"They took ours along with our cell phones and psychic paper," Julie said.

The Doctor looked back at the wall. He tried using the screwdriver on the wall but it didn't open.

"Figured as much. Ah well, let me see if I can mend River," he said.

They walked over with him and knelt down beside him. Julie and Mingxia helped turn him onto her back. The Doctor turned her head so she was lying on her right cheek and pulled up her t-shirt. He used the screwdriver to open a hatch in her back and pulled out his glasses while he examined the circuitry.

"Some of these wires need to be replaced but I think I can fix her enough that she'll be able to function," he said. "If they'll give me enough time to repair her, that is. I'm sure S'rina will be sending her ruby goons back here to fetch me soon."

"What do they want ya for, Papaw?" Amelia said.

"No idea, Amo'ya. But I have a feeling she's not going to be serving me tea and scones when we meet."

The Doctor used his screwdriver and started repairing River's circuits.

"Come on, River, come back to us," he muttered while he worked.

After twenty minutes, Opal told them that River was moving her eyelids. They glanced at her and noticed she was making various facial expressions while she was trying to come back online. Encouraged by this, the Doctor stepped up his efforts and five minutes later, he let out a triumphant yell when she began to move her body around.

"Doc…tor?" she said slowly.

"Yes, River, it's me."

"Where…am…I?"

"On board a spaceship, you got hit with an electrical charge and it short-circuited your systems. I managed to get you back to a functional level but you'll have to be serviced somewhere when we leave here."

He repaired a few more circuits and closed the hatch back. All of them helped her sit up and sat with her while she tested her body parts to make sure they moved. When she was done with that, she looked at him.

"How'd you get here?" she said.

"I was summoned here by S'rina, the woman in charge. She told me to come here…or else. I was speaking to Dex who I assume was with her but we got cut off and I haven't heard from him since. So while I waited, I brought you back."

"Thanks. You're right though. I still feel sluggish. Whatever that thing was they put on my neck, it messed me up. Have you heard from anyone else?"

"Haven't heard from Alan's group yet. We managed to find the other Dex and get him into the TARDIS. When I left, John was gonna open the watch and restore him. Hopefully that was a success. And now I'm here waiting on this S'rina to speak to me and tell me what she wants."

As if on cue, the door slid open and the ruby creatures returned. The woman stared at them in shock but the Doctor calmly rose to his feet and walked over to them.

"I'll come quietly this time, there's no need to…"

He grunted when they seized his arms.

"Then again, I s'pose I'll get dragged back down the corridor like a dead body."

He gave his family a reassuring smile before the creatures dragged him outside and the wall slid shut behind them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor grunted when the creatures shoved him forcefully into the console room of the ship.

"Thanks, I needed my spine shoved back into place," he said, rubbing his back.

He smiled when Dex hurried to his side.

"Father, are you alright?"

"Other than a spinal readjustment just now, I'm fine and dandy. I'm glad you're alright. I was worried when they cut us off."

"She hasn't done anything to me yet. Actually, it's been pretty quiet. She was invisible before so I have no idea if she left the room," Dex said. "How did things go with my double?"

"Well, we managed to get him sedated and secured on the TARDIS and John was gonna open the watch when I left. We put his TARDIS in mine before he could use it and he didn't put up a fight. There were a few differences though between him and you. He owned two slaves."

"What? Are you serious?" Dex said horrified. "I can't believe he did that. I made sure when I programmed the arch that I wouldn't do something like that. That's disgusting."

"I agree. Also, Patience and Opal were dead."

Dex was horrified.

"How?"

"Scarlet fever took them a few years before we came there."

Dex nodded.

"There was an outbreak of scarlet fever a few years before you found me. It affected a few of the families in our county but not us. Oh God, that's horrible."

"There was another major difference. Amelia was there but your double had a third daughter named Caroline and…"

He noticed the look of disbelief on Dex's face.

"Father, I never told you this but…at one point Patience was going to have a third child. She had a miscarriage a few months into the pregnancy. But if it had been female we were gonna name it Caroline."

The Doctor was taken aback.

"So…she was the daughter you would have had if Patience hadn't miscarried. Well, at least that explains where she came from then. Blimey, all these universes with their slight differences…"

He sighed and looked around.

"Well, where is she? A little irresponsible of her to just leave us here where we can reach the controls. Unless…she's still in here and listening to us."

"Correct, Doctor, I am."

They both looked off to their left when they heard her disembodied voice speaking to them. There was a shimmer of light and she materialized into view. She had ruby red skin with long white hair. She was wearing a white off the shoulder dress and her long slender arms and fingers had numerous rings and bracelets on them. She was barefoot and they noticed a small gold ring on the little toe on her right foot.

"S'rina, I presume," the Doctor said.

"You presume correctly, Time Lord. I am the Ruby Queen, ruler of Diomantia."

Yes, I've heard of it. Hundreds of gem mines scattered all over the planet. Your planet is one of the biggest exporters of gems across the Kalium Galaxy. I assume you also rule over your subjects with an iron hand."

"Only ensuring that the gems keep flowing and none of my subjects gets any ideas about stealing any," she said, shrugging. "My subjects for the most part are like children. They need a strong, steady hand to guide them."

"I also have heard that Diomantia deals with a lot of black markets and you use these same black market dealers to import more rare and precious gems that Diomantia doesn't have for your own use. And these black market dealers advocate slavery including making the slaves work in miserable, hot and dangerous conditions."

"You've done your homework, Doctor," S'rina said.

"I come from another universe and the ruler of Diomantia did the exact same thing which is why the Shadow Proclamation put a stop to their tyranny long ago."

"Is that so?" S'rina said. "Well, you see, I've always kept my eye on you as have my associates for that very reason. Interesting that you say you're from another universe. I'm assuming your…son…is as well?"

The Doctor nodded.

"So you have no say in what goes on here?" S'rina said, walking around to him.

"I fight tyranny wherever it's found," the Doctor said. "The fact that I'm not in my own universe makes no difference to me. The other ruler of Diomantia was stopped and you need to be stopped as well."

"Oh really?" S'rina said.

She stared into his eyes. The Doctor stared right back without flinching. S'rina smiled.

"I was telling your son that you were unique. Even the Doctor in this universe has courage far beyond a normal Gallifreyan. Your son here tried to be as courageous as you were but I could tell it was hard for him to overcome the conditioning to be a timid, silent watcher."

The Doctor put a hand on his son's shoulder and squeezed it while he gave him a proud smile. She smiled at that.

"You're proud of your son, aren't you?"

"Extremely. You're right, he's not used to confrontation but he's proved time and again that he can be just as courageous as me. Now why this would interest you so much, I have no clue, but…"

"I'm just fascinated by you, Doctor. You're an anomaly among your people. Most people I've spoken to know of you and your exploits. Just the fact that you came from a people who shrink away from confrontation makes you even more fascinating and if this is your son then I see why he carries some of that courage within him."

"Yes, fascinating how genetics works, isn't it? Now about letting me and everyone else go…if you do that perhaps we can work out a deal where you can continue to import and export gems without resorting to slavery and then I and my son will leave you in peace."

"I have a better deal. You and your son come to work for me as enforcers and make sure my operations run smoothly and I'll let the rest of the captives go."

"No, I'm not allowing a slave ring to keep functioning. Nor will I be in your employ. Now you can cut a deal with me or I can stop you, your choice, but I warn you, I'm not a man to be trifled with as I'm sure you know."

S'rina giggled.

"This isn't a joke," the Doctor said angrily. "I don't know how many Gallifreyans you've dealt with in the past, but you're right, I won't cower and submit to you and I won't back down from a fight so if I were you, I'd choose the sensible option and run your gem operations legally and humanely rather than face me and go down in defeat."

S'rina stared at the Doctor whose eyes were boring into hers.

"Very well, if you won't cooperate, I s'pose I'll have to use my cloaked guards and cause you a bit of grief so you will submit to my demands."

Before the Doctor could react, he and Dex felt shock discs being placed on their necks. Electricity coursed through their bodies before they fell to the floor unconscious. S'rina smirked at them.

"Take this one to the punishment chamber," she said, pointing to Dex. "And take the Doctor to the room next to it. If the Doctor won't see reason, perhaps his son's screams and anguish will change his mind."


	309. Chapter 309

Chapter Three Hundred and Nine

John and his group sat in the living room with Simon, Samuel and Ruth. It had taken a bit of convincing to get the two former slaves to come inside and even more convincing for them to sit down on the furniture and eat with them. But once they realized they weren't going to be punished by Dex, who apologized profusely for his behavior, they loosened up and began to talk to the others. John was extremely interested in finding out where they had come from and if there was a way they could be reunited with their families as well as taking Simon home.

"No pressure though," John said to Simon. "I just figured taking you home was the safest way to avoid the death penalty."

"Death penalty?" Alternate Dex said.

"He's a deserter. He got shot in the arm and ran from a battle," John said to him.

"Oh, son, at your age? You shouldn't be going into battle like that," Alternate Dex said.

"Well, I was telling John that I did it to get away from farm life. I think farm life's boring," Simon said.

"Yeah, well, I concur with that," Alternate Dex said. "Still…at your age. What did your parents think?"

Simon shrugged.

"Didn't have much say in the matter. I ran away from home in the middle of the night."

Everyone's mouths dropped open.

"Honey, don't you think they're worried about you?" Rain said. "I have four children and if any one of them did that to me, I'd be worried half to death. I can understand you not wanting to be a farm boy but shouldn't you have left a note at least?"

"I was afraid they would have stopped me," Simon said.

"Well, I can understand that as young as you are," John said. "And…there might be a solution but…I think we better go back to your house and let your parents know you're alive first. We can go with you and help you explain where you were but you can't just leave them like that. I'm sure they care about you, don't they?"

Simon nodded.

"Just tell me where you live and I'll try to find it with my ship here. But…as for the solution I mentioned, if you don't want to be a farm boy, perhaps you can travel with me."

"Where?" Simon asked.

"All over. I know it's hard for you to understand but I can go all over time and space and that's what I do, I travel and see other worlds and time periods. It gets dangerous at times but I guarantee it's a lot more exciting than shoveling cow manure. And if you want to go with me, I can bring you back to your parents sometimes and you can visit with them so you can keep in touch but I won't have you just going off without telling them, alright?"

Simon thought for a moment and then nodded. John smiled and turned to Samuel and Ruth.

"I'll offer you both the same offer but if there is family you want to see…"

"I don't know where mine are, Mastah John…" Ruth began.

"No, you and Samuel are free now. I'm not your master and neither is anyone else here. I'm just John."

Ruth nodded.

"I was just a baby when I was taken from ma mother. I have no idea where ma family's at."

John glanced at his family and they shook their heads.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Ruth. I do hope they're alright wherever they are. And you're more than welcome to travel with me. I have a TARDIS similar to this one and it's more than big enough for you and everyone else. Now Samuel, how 'bout you? You said you thought you came from a plantation several miles outside Birmingham?"

"Yes but I don't know if they'd still be there," Samuel said. "That was a long time ago when I was a boy. I doubt they're still there now and I'm afraid of going back and getting caught."

"If you want to check, I can pose as your master and ask the owner about your family and pretend to buy them. That way there's no danger of you being captured. But it's up to you, Samuel. Whatever you want to do, I'll do it."

Samuel thought for a moment.

"I'd like to check but I'm not sure where the plantation was."

"Can you describe it to me? Did it have a name like…"

He grinned at his family.

"Twelve Oaks," he said while Rain and Alterante Donna grinned at each other.

"Or Tara," Rain muttered under her breath while Alternate Donna chuckled.

"I believe it was called Shady Meadows," Samuel said.

"Brilliant. I can ask this ship to locate Shady Meadows then," John said.

Samuel stared at him in shock.

"It can find the plantation just like that?" he said.

"Oh, this ship is very clever. It can do a lot of things," John said. "So do you wanna do that? You don't even have to come out of the ship. I can go and speak with the owner and mention I have you as a slave."

"I'd love it if you did that for me, John."

"Brilliant. Since we're finished here for all intents and purposes we can either do that or go see Simon's family. Dex, anything you want to take with you?"

"I don't. The house was Eloise's and it was mostly her furniture. Amelia, Caroline, you want anything?"

"I want my dolly," Caroline said.

"Okay, well go and get what you wanna take and bring it back here," John said to them.

"I'll take them outside," Alternate Dex said as they stood up.

He ushered them outside the living room while John looked at his friends and family.

"Now, what should we do first? Should we go to Shady Meadows or Simon's house?" he asked them.

"You can go to the young'un's house first. I'm sure his parents are frantic with worry now," Samuel said.

John looked at Simon.

"Is that alright?" he asked.

"Might as well. Get it over with," he said.

"Okay, just give me an approximate location of your farm and the TARDIS can do the rest."

He took Simon's hand and led him out to the console room while the others talked. There were talking for about ten minutes when suddenly Dex, Amelia and Caroline ran back in the room.

"What's wrong?" Jenny asked.

"We had to hurry. Those Union troops were coming across the field towards the farm," Dex said. "I'm sure they'll raid the place once they get here."

"They're gonna find me?" Simon said, panicked.

"No, Son, we're…well, it's difficult to explain but we're in space right now in a thing called the vortex. We're traveling back to your house at this moment so they won't find us at the house. Good job you found me before they came. I'd hate to think what they might have done to me and the children."

"Dex, I gotta ask," Rain said. "Our Dex had friends that he took with him when he left Gallifrey, five of them, three men and two women. Did you do something like that?"

He shook his head.

"No, I couldn't get anyone to come with me," he replied. "You mean there were more that disguised themselves like me?"

Rain, Awinita and Grace nodded.

"Yeah, we managed to find all of them," Grace said. "They live with us in the housing development but a couple of months ago we started talking about finding an uninhabited planet to live on, a new Gallifrey, so they all went out in search of planets. They come back from time to time to rest and report what they've found but at the moment they're all somewhere in time and space looking."

"Except for Nelak," Rain said. "Nelak and Awinita are lovers, so he stays behind and travels with us on occasion so he can be with her."

"Nelak, he's alive?" Alternate Dex said with a grin.

"Yup, you can't miss him. He's the one with the purple doo," Awinita said while Rain and Grace laughed.

Rain looked at Alternate Rose.

"If you wanna see if you can find your version of Angel and Elizabeth, we can give you the date and time they were found but the reason Alan and our Rose found them was they were searching for one of the Time Lords named Tulio and they just happened to find a house where this lady was alone and dying and Alan delivered Angel just before the mother died and then took her and Lizzy away and adopted them."

"Oh God," Alternate Rose said. "Yes, I'll speak with John because I'm sure he'll wanna look then."

"Are you gonna get married too?" Tara asked.

Alternate Rose glanced at her.

"We'd like to at some point," she said to her.

"Why don't you do it before you leave us so we can all be in the wedding with ya?" Tara said.

Alternate Rose considered that.

"I'll have to ask John about that as well but I'm sure he won't mind doing that," she said. "I know both of us want you to be in our wedding though."

"Yes," Tara said, pumping her fist.

"So who else ended up alive then besides Nelak and Tulio?" Alternate Dex said.

"Well…" Rain said. "There was the two of them plus Asdra, Mara, Seth and Ophelia."

"Blimey, they all turned me down when I asked," Alternate Dex said. "I'm glad they saw sense in one universe then."

_Okay, everyone, I think I located the farm,_ John thought to them. _So everyone who's going, bring Simon up here so we can go talk to his family._

"Come on, Honey, we're at your house," Rain said to Simon.

She and Awinita led him out while the rest of them sat together and chatted. They walked up to the console room and John led them down the ramp. He opened the door and they stepped outside. They were near a dirt road next to a cornfield. At the end of the cornfield was a small, unpainted wooden house and a large red barn. John pointed to it.

"Is that your house?" he asked.

"Yeah," Simon said.

"Okay," John said, closing the door. "Let's go talk to your family then."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

John stood on the small porch and knocked on the door while the others stood behind him.

"Hello? Mister Paine? My name is John and I have your boy, Simon, with us. Can we come in and talk to you?" he said through the door.

They waited but didn't hear anything.

"Maybe they went out for the day," Awinita said.

"Simon, is there a town near here? Somewhere where they might have gone?" Rain asked him.

"There's a town about ten miles up the road. They could have gone there to get supplies and barter for things," Simon said to her.

"Think they might have done that?" Rain asked.

Awinita looked around and noticed a large wagon parked next to the barn.

"Simon, is that their wagon?" she said, pointing to it.

"Yeah, that's the wagon we use to go into town," Simon said.

The women looked around and walked around the house while John knocked again. While he was doing that, Simon ran over and went in the barn. He emerged a few minutes later and shook his head.

"They're not in there," he said as he and the women came back to the porch.

"Well, listen, why don't we go inside and leave them a note at the very least. I'm assuming you don't wanna come back here at all?"

"Lord, no," Simon said.

John withdrew his screwdriver. Simon watched in shock as he unlocked the door and went inside.

"How'd you do that?" he said.

"That's what it does, it unlocks doors among other things," John said. "Now we won't be long, I'll just let you write a note and…"

He wrinkled his nose when a sudden foul odor from inside hit his nostrils. A few seconds later the others smelled it too and reeled back.

"Ugh, they need to clean their house better," Awinita said.

"No, that's not the smell of a dirty house," John said, "it's more like…"

Realization dawned on the adult's faces and they rushed inside with Simon following them.

"Mister and Misses Paine!" John screamed as they ran through the house.

They all stopped short when they saw Simon's mother lying dead near the fireplace. She had a blank look on her face, a bullet hole in the middle of her forehead and her skirt had been hiked up to her stomach exposing her genitals. John's stomach turned when he imagined why the skirt was hitched up like that.

"Ma!" Simon said, falling to his knees.

John left Rain and Awinita to comfort him while he ran through the house. He climbed up to the second level and found Mister Paine in the middle of the bedroom floor. His hands were bound behind him with rope and he also was shot once through the head. His stomach lurched when he realized they'd both been dead for some time.

"Pa!"

John jerked his head around and saw Simon standing on the ladder, staring at his father's dead body in horror. Gently, he walked over to him and knelt down.

"Simon, were there others in your family?" he said softly.

"No, just me and ma and pa," Simon said.

He came up the rest of the way and John put his arm around Simon's shoulder while he stared down at his father.

"I'm sorry, Simon," he said to him. "I'm so sorry. Do you have any relatives nearby?"

"No, they're all back east and I've never met any of them. Pa came out here a few years before I was born."

John rubbed his shoulder.

"If I had to guess, I'd say that they were shot by army troops. The bullet hole resembles the size and shape of the one in your arm. We can help you give them a decent burial and if you want to come with us, you're more than welcome to."

Simon nodded.

"I want to, John. There's nothing for me here anymore."

"Okay, I'll go get the others and we'll help you bury them."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They found a spade in the barn and Simon sat on the porch with the women while Samuel, John, Alternate Dex and Alternate Jack dug the graves under a tree behind the house. They had taken the sheets from the bed, wrapped them up and tied it around them with some rope they found in the barn. Simon sat with the children while the others sat nearby and talked quietly.

"Who could have done this?" Simon said, staring numbly at the graves. "Ma and Pa didn't do anything to anyone."

"Maybe some bad people decided to shoot them," Caroline said.

Simon shook his head.

"What am I gonna do now?"

"My daddy and mommy will take care of you," Tara said. "My birth mom was killed when I was born and when my other mommy and daddy found me they adopted me and made me their daughter. I'm betting John and Rose will do the same for you if you let them."

"Are they nice folks?"

"Very nice. I love em. That's why I decided to adopt them and if you do the same thing, you can be my little brother."

Simon considered that.

"Never had a sister. Never had an injun for a sister."

"You can't call her that, John gets mad," Amelia said.

"Yeah, 'sides she's not that type of injun. Her ma was from India," Caroline added.

"I'm nice and so is my mommy there and Aunt Awinita. We're all nice people," Tara said.

Simon glanced at the adults who were smiling warmly at them. Alternate Rose scooted down to him and put her arm around him.

"If you want John and I to adopt you and take care of you, we will," she said. "And if you just want to be friends with us, that's alright as well. Whatever you feel comfortable with and there's no hurry to decide since you just lost your mum and dad."

"I want to come with ya. You seem like nice folks. Can I wait to decide about ya being my ma though?"

"Sure, like I said, there's no rush. We just want you to know that if you want a mum and dad, we'll be happy to do that. But no matter what, we will take care of you and look after you."

Simon nodded and Rose gave him a sideways hug and kissed the top of his head.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they dug the graves deep enough, the four men carefully brought out the wrapped bodies and used the remained of the rope to lower them carefully down in the graves. After that, they let Simon say a few words and say a prayer over them before all of them stood back and let the men fill in the graves. Simon stood by Alternate Rose and she kept her hand on his shoulder while they watched.

"I hope they didn't suffer, Rose," Simon said, looking up.

"I'm sure they didn't, Simon," she said. "If they were shot in the head, I'm sure they died instantly. They're up in Heaven now watching over ya."

Simon nodded and sniffed while his eyes misted over. Rose rubbed his shoulder and squeezed it while they watched the men filling in the rest of the graves.


	310. Chapter 310

Chapter Three Hundred and Ten

After they were finished, they let Simon get a few things from the house before they went back inside and closed the door behind them. Alternate Rose led Simon back to the living room with everyone else while the four men clustered around the console.

"Okay, I'll try to locate Shady Meadows, Samuel. I need some names of your family though so I can ask about them."

"Well, there was my ma, Ezra, and my sister, Adelaide and another sister, June," he said. "That's all the folks I remember havin'."

"Okay, well you go ahead and rest with the others and I'll handle this."

"I'll go with you as well," Alternate Jack said.

"And me, Father, I've brought slaves before so I can help you negotiate if they're there," Alternate Dex said.

John nodded and took the TARDIS into the vortex.

"Okay, Old Friend, I need you to locate Shady Meadows in Alabama for me," he said to the ceiling.

There was a short pause and then they felt the TARDIS hurrying towards a destination.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they landed, John and Alternate Jack hurried up to the wardrobe room and changed into something more appropriate for the 1800's. Jack grimaced when he looked down at his clothes.

"Ugh, never thought I'd be wearing 1800's garb again," he said to John. "Thank God for twenty first century clothes."

They paused by the living room on the way to the console room and informed everyone inside what they were doing.

"While we're doing this, could one of you try to get in touch with Alan's group and find out what they're doing?" John asked. "I'm assuming the Doctor is incommunicado at the moment but hopefully Alan and his group will be able to tell us if they've found Jenny."

"I'll call em," Rain said.

"Brilliant. Samuel, just relax and we'll see if we can locate Ezra, June and Adelaide for ya."

He nodded, thanked them and went to sit with the others while the three men headed up to the console room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The TARDIS was parked in the woods across the road from Shady Meadows. The three men stepped out of the trees and stared at it. It was the stereotypical white plantation house set far back on a large estate. The dirt path that led up to the house was lined with trees and a black wrought iron fence surrounded it. Affixed to the fence by the gate was a small plaque that had Shady Meadows written on it in elegant cursive script. There was no sign of any slaves from where they were standing. Alternate Dex snorted.

"I'm sure they have them hidden safely behind the big house so people don't have to drive by and look at em," he said derisively. "That's why I didn't get a heap of slaves. I thought after Eloise died, I needed a little extra help around the farm. I realize I was wrong now but at the time it seemed like a good idea but I wasn't about to have a cotton farm with hundreds of slaves like these people probably have."

"Just as long as they still have the people we're lookin' for, I'll be satisfied," John said. "Unfortunately, the majority of them will have to wait till war's end before they can be freed."

They put felt hats on their heads, adjusted the brims, and walked through the open gate up the path to the house. As they got closer, they could hear voices that sounded like they were coming from the back of the house. They weren't very loud and indistinct so they couldn't be sure if it was the family or the slaves who were speaking. They walked up the steps to a large verandah and knocked on a large white wooden door. There was no answer at first and then a young black woman of about twenty opened the door.

"Good morning, we wish to see the man of the house," John said pleasantly.

The slave nodded and shut the door.

"Ugh!"

They looked at Alternate Jack who was waving his hands around in front of his face.

"Mosquitos, lovely, we'll get eaten alive while we're here," he said.

They watched while he slapped one off his hand and then the door opened again. A middle aged man stepped out onto the veranda. He had brown hair with a hint of gray running through it, a slightly lined, thin face and dark brown eyes. He was dressed elegantly and held himself in a regal manner. Behind him, the slave stood at the door and peered out.

"You can go, Cecilia," the man said to her.

Cecilia nodded and shut the door. The man smiled at the three strangers.

"What can I do for ya'll?" he asked in a deep baritone voice.

"Sir, we're here to purchase some slaves," Alternate Dex said. "But, we're looking for certain ones."

"Oh?" the man said.

"Yes, we have a former slave of yours, Samuel, and I've been pleased with his performance. I wish to find the rest of his family and purchase them because I'm sure they'll work just as hard as he does," Alternate Dex said.

"I'd recommend against that. These coloreds need to be kept apart," the man said. "You get a family of them together and they might think 'bout runnin' away and then you lose your investment. Not to mention spending money on trying to get them back."

The three men seethed at that but kept silent. The man shrugged.

"Still, if you wanna buy them, that's your business as long as you have the money," he said. "Once they're sold, I don't give a damn about them."

_Yeah, I bet you don't give a damn about them otherwise,_ John thought to the others.

"I understand the risks, Sir, and I'm willing to take them in order to get more hardworkin' slaves like Samuel," Alternate Dex said.

The man shrugged.

"Your funeral, friend. Name's Jonathon Tyler by the way."

"I'm Peter Greene, this is John and Jack, my…brothers," he said to him.

"Nice to meet ya'll. Haven't seen ya around these parts before."

"We're from Georgia, up near Gainesville," Alternate Dex said.

"And ya'll came over here to buy these slaves? Samuel must be a hard worker. He was a young'un when he left here so I'm happy to hear that he became a good slave."

Again, all the men seethed at that but held their tongues. Jonathon grinned and ushered them inside.

"Brandy?" he said. "Ya'll must be parched after a long ride."

The three men glanced at each other and nodded. They followed Jonathon into the sitting room. On the way, they saw several young slaves cleaning the house; a few of them looked like they were four or five years old. All of them glanced at them briefly but quickly went back to work. As they passed by a large window in the back, John looked out and saw a large cotton field with hundreds of slaves toiling in the hot sun. He shook his head sadly wondering how humans could ever justify owning other humans and treating them like animals. Jonathon led them into the sitting room. He shut the door and picked up a crystal decanter filled with brandy. He poured some into glasses and handed it to them.

"Cigars?" he asked.

All of them shook their heads. They hurriedly drank their brandy wanting to get down to business. On the other hand, Jonathon sipped his brandy leisurely.

"So you wanna buy all of Samuel's relatives?" he asked them.

"If they're here, yes," Alternate Dex said.

"Well, Sir, they are. Some of them anyway. His mother died several years ago but he has two sisters and a little brother. I sold his father to another plantation 'bout a year ago and his grandparents passed on several years back."

"So the two sisters and brother are for sale?" John asked.

"If you want em. The brother is young, 'bout four by my reckoning. But I think he'd be good in the house. The two sisters are much older but they're both hard workers and still very fertile, if you know what I mean."

All of them fought to keep their anger in check and nodded at that.

"Sister's names are Adelaide and June and the brother's name is Toby. I'll take six hundred for all three."

"Done," John said.

Alternate Dex glanced at him.

_I don't have the money, Father,_ he thought to him.

_I do. The other Doctor gave me this wallet that allows you to print your own money. Just keep him busy while I work the keypad,_ he thought back.

Alternate Jack got up and walked over to Jonathon while John pulled the wallet out of his pocket.

"So, another brandy, my good man?" he said to Jonathon.

"Certainly," Jonathon said walking to the decanter. "So where are you from? They sound British but you sound like you're a Yankee."

"I was raised in the states, up near New Hampshire. Mum couldn't take care of all of us so she sent me to live with relatives when I was a baby. I only recently found my brothers again when they came to live in Georgia," Alternate Jack said.

He made sure to keep Jonathon's back turned while John worked the keypad on the wallet. Alternate Dex watched with interest.

_Where'd the other Doctor find that_? He thought to him.

_Dunno, I'll have to ask him but I love it. This is definitely handy to have_, John thought back.

He grinned when he pulled out six hundred in confederate dollars and showed it to his son.

_More than I ever had, Father,_ Alternate Dex thought to him.

_Well, thank the other Doctor then, Son,_ he thought back.

He got up from the sofa and presented the money to Jonathon.

"I believe this will cover everything," John said.

"It certainly does," Jonathon said.

"Good, can we see them now?" John asked.

He and Alternate Jack downed the remainder of their brandy, set the glasses down and he led them out of the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Several minutes later, Jonathon had June, Adelaide and Toby brought around to the front of the house. All three men pretended to look them over before nodding.

"Looks fine to me," Alternate Dex said. "We'll take em."

"Excellent. Ya'll wanna bring your wagon here and I can help you load them up."

"That won't be necessary. We can walk them over," Alternate Dex said. "Two women and a child won't be difficult to get inside the wagon."

"Suit yourself. It's nice doin' business with ya'll," Jonathon said, shaking their hands.

They forced a smile onto their faces and took the chains that led to manacles around the slave's necks. They waved at Jonathon and headed towards the front gate with them. When they were out of earshot, John stopped everyone and turned to them.

"This isn't what it looks like. We're actually here to free you. Samuel is with us and we came to get you so you could be reunited with him."

"Samuel's alive?" June said.

"Yes and you'll see him in a moment. He'll be happy to know he has a little brother as well. But just follow us and keep your head down till we get back to our transport and then once you're there, you'll be free."

The former slaves nodded. They kept their heads down and followed the three men while they led them towards the gate.


	311. Chapter 311

Chapter Three Hundred and Eleven

Alan sighed while he and his family rested inside Alternate Jenny's tent. Prometheus had posted two guards at the front flap to keep them inside. Both of them were just as burly as Doric had been so they guessed they were other fighters. By now, the drugs had worn off and Jenny was now alert and looking at the others. She was slightly confused about Alan, Donna and Martha not being her father and friends so they explained it to her while they sat.

"And my father's in Georgia right now?" Alternate Jenny said when they finished.

"Yeah, along with your Donna. I have no idea where your Martha is at the moment. I'm assuming she's with the other Jack's Torchwood," Alan said.

Alternate Jenny shook her head.

"This is confusing beyond belief. I can't believe there's another universe and another me out there," she said.

"Yeah, well, there are thousands and thousands of universes out there so there might be other Jennys as well," Alan said.

"I'd rather not think about that," Alternate Jenny said, shaking her head.

"Yeah, neither would I. I've already learned I have another clone out there and it boggles my mind that there were two Davroses. I'm beginning to see how the whole of creation could have been destroyed so quickly if there was more than one pruneface with a reality bomb."

"Huh?" Alternate Jenny said.

"Nothing," Alan said, waving his hand dismissively. "Right now we need to concentrate on getting all of us out of here in one piece. These blokes guarding us, fighters?"

Alternate Jenny nodded.

"Can they be turned like Doric?" Jack asked.

Alternate Jenny thought about that.

"Not sure. Some of them want to be here. They're actually interested in the sport. I don't know about these two. They kinda keep me separated from the others in case I do find a way to escape."

"How did you end up here?" Donna asked.

Alternate Jenny sighed.

Prometheus has spies all across the galaxy who do nothing except find fighters for him. I was on another planet about two over from this one and I was trying to help this young woman escape from this rapist and I used a few of my fighting skills on him. Well, a crowd had gathered to watch me including one of the spies and when he saw how quickly I defeated the rapist, he and another spy followed me and knocked me out when they finally found me alone. The next thing I knew I was a prisoner of Prometheus. I tried to get away at first but they beat me and drugged me and forced me to fight in the arena. They had me kill others at times and if I didn't do that, I was beaten almost to the point of death. I didn't think anyone cared about me and I didn't think Dad would ever rescue me so eventually I just gave up.

Alan shook his head sadly.

"I'm sorry, Jen. I'm sorry that no one was able to reach you in time before they made you kill someone. I know my Doctor stressed to our Jenny the importance of not killing anyone and I'm sure John feels the same way. You had no choice though, Jen. You were forced to do it which is different than just being bloodthirsty and killing everything in sight. Your father will understand that. He'll also hand these people's heads to them on a platter if he ever finds out what they did. I wish I had my mobile so I can call him but…"

They shut up when Prometheus entered the tent. He had Alan's mobile up to his ear and was chuckling into it.

"Hold on, he's right here," he said into the phone.

He held it out to Alan.

"Relative of yours, name's Rain. She tried to call you. So I'm gonna be gracious and let you talk to her," he said.

Alan glared at him and took the phone from his hand. Prometheus stood nearby, smirking, while Alan put it to his ear.

"Rain?" Alan said.

"Okay, the jerk who answered the phone gleefully informed me that you are all his prisoners and you and Jack are being forced to fight for Jenny's freedom so I know all about that now. Is everyone okay otherwise?"

"Yes, we're fine, Te'lesu. You?"

"Yeah, we're fine. We restored Dex to his normal self and this one didn't go on a mindless rampage so I don't think there's a need to take him to Crystal Waters. I think he and John will be able to talk things out without therapy. We did find a few others though. There were a couple of slaves named Ruth and Samuel and a little boy named Simon. All of them are going with John. We just found the rest of Samuel's family, two sisters and a brother and Simon's mother and father had been killed so he's left all alone now. So we're quite full here. The thing is, your brother had to go rescue our Dex because he and his group got kidnapped and she wanted him to come…or else, her words. So all of us have had our various troubles again, I guess. Do you need help?"

"I'm not sure but I don't want you coming here because I'm sure Prometheus wants it," he said, glaring at Prometheus while he sniggered. "If anything, you should go and rescue Brother because I'm sure he needs the help more than us."

"We're considering it. We're gonna drop off our extra passengers at our house though. Tara just adopted John and Rose as her second mom and dad so the Doctor's giving them a void crosser and an empty house so they can come and visit her."

"What about me? When do I get to be Bug-a-boo's father? This is so not fair!"

"Do you wanna be?" Rain said.

"Nah, it'll get too confusing. I'll just continue to be Uncle Alan to the nipper kipper. I'm glad she did that though. Any chance to expand our family is fine by me."

"Well, she asked if they wanna get married now so we can all be in the wedding so we're gonna start planning that."

"Great, count us in then," Alan replied.

"You sure you don't need help?" Rain said.

Alan paused a moment and then pulled her mind forward.

_Prometheus is standing right here watching us but I'd advise rescuing the Doctor first and then coming for us,_ he thought to her. _But be careful because I'm sure Tubby will have guards keeping an eye out for ya._

_Yes, but he doesn't know what we look like, _Rain thought back. _And John and Jack could use the imagers. If this is some kind of sport then they'll have to let spectators in to watch, yes? So we can pretend to come and watch the fight and infiltrate the games that way. _

_Just be careful if you do. Like I said, Tubby will probably be on the lookout for ya_, Alan thought.

"Okay, apparently you have nothing more to say so time's up now," Prometheus said.

"I gotta go, Te'lesu. Just take care of yourself and have fun rescuing the Doctor," Alan said aloud.

"Thanks. Good luck, Bro. You and Jack be careful."

"Always. Bye bye."

Alan hung up and gave the mobile back to Prometheus.

"So you have others out there," Prometheus said to him. "Well, if you think they're gonna come and rescue you, you better think again. I'll be on the lookout for your family and you'll be guarded at all times so don't try anything funny."

"Let's be truthful here, Promo," Alan said. "Are you really gonna let us go if Jack and I win our fights?"

"Who knows? Depends on how good a fighter you two really are. I do have an eye for talent and if you're more than capable of holding your own…well, I can't let star fighters walk away just like that."

"And if we do poorly on purpose?" Jack asked.

Prometheus shrugged.

"Then you die, I suppose. But you…you already are unique because you apparently survived a fatal blow to the neck. So I seriously doubt if I let you go."

"You can't do that though, we had a deal!" Martha said, getting to her feet.

"Yeah, well, I was never much for keeping my promises," Prometheus said, shrugging. "Just be thankful I let your family contact you and let you know where you are. I could have let them wonder forever what happened to you. But I'm a merciful man so I gave you the chance to say goodbye. And if this Rain or any other family member comes, well, I'll just say they volunteered to become an ultimate fighter like all of you. So you better hope Rain keeps as far away from here as she possibly can. Actually, I'm hoping for the opposite. She sounded cute over the phone, bet she's very cute in person and well…Ursula is getting a bit tiresome. I could use someone new in my bed. Have a good day, my fighters."

He winked at them and strolled out of the tent while everyone glared silently and cursed under their breath.


	312. Chapter 312

Chapter Three Hundred and Twelve

John opened the door and stuck his head out. He saw a white hover minivan parked nearby. He looked at Rain who was standing behind him.

"This your house?" he asked.

She looked out.

"Yup, this is it," she said.

"Great, let's get everyone out who wants to stay here and then it's off to rescue Alan's group," John said stepping outside.

Rain came out behind him and opened the door leading into the living room. She grinned when Rory, Blizzard and Barney ran towards her.

"Hey, guys, how's it going?" she said, quickly petting them.

She looked around.

"Maddie? We're here!" she yelled.

She listened but no one answered. She shrugged when the others came in behind her.

"Must be out for the day," she said. "But I can show everyone else to our bedrooms so they can lie down."

She led Ruth, Samuel's family and Simon to the bedrooms. While they were doing that, John turned to the others.

"I want the ladies to stay here for the moment," John said to them. "Prometheus is gonna be looking for women and it'll be better if Jack and I go by ourselves with the disguises on."

"I want to come as well, Father," Alternate Dex said.

"Are you sure, Son? It might be dangerous," he said.

"I want to help the others. You might need more than two anyway," Alternate Dex replied.

"Can I go, Daddy?" Tara said.

He put his hands on her shoulders.

"No, Tara, I want you to stay here and help take care of the others. Samuel's family and Ruth and Simon need a chance to rest and adjust. We'll be okay. I promise I'll bring your uncle and other daddy back in one piece."

Tara nodded and he patted her on the shoulder. When Rain came back, John repeated his request for the women to stay behind. She nodded.

"Just be careful, all of you," she said.

"We will. And I'll bring your husband's TARDIS back in one piece as well. I'm sure he'd kill me if I destroyed it."

He gave her a hug.

"We'll be back in a few minutes with Alan and his group," he said to her.

Rain nodded. They waved to everyone and walked back through the garage door. They closed it and a few minutes later they heard the TARDIS wheeze as it vanished. All of them sat down on the sofas and recliners and sighed.

"I don't like this," Rain said after a few minutes. "I'd rather try to rescue my husband while they're rescuing Alan and Jenny."

"Yeah, I don't want Daddy and Dex to die while they're finding Uncle Alan," Tara said.

"Yeah but how will we get back?" Alternate Donna said. "He just took the TARDIS and…"

They noticed a grin spreading over Awinita's face.

"Be back in a minute, everyone," she said, getting up and rushing towards the front door.

They watched her open it, run out and shut it behind her.

"What's goin' on?" Alternate Rose asked.

Rain thought for a moment and then grinned.

"I think she's seeing if Nelak is home. If he is, he has a TARDIS of his own," she replied. "Thing is, we need someone to stay with everyone here so they aren't scared."

I will," Alternate Rose said. "If Maddie comes home, I'll just explain where you went to."

"Are you sure, Rose? I can stay here," Grace said.

"Yeah, me too," Jenny added.

Alternate Rose shook her head.

"No, you can treat any injuries they have, Grace, and you know how to fight better than I do, Jenny. You'd be able to help. I can handle myself here."

"Well, if you need help. Your alternate mom and dad are across the street and Francine and Tish are beside them and beside them is Wilf, Tim and my dad. There's a lot of help if you need it," Rain said.

"Speaking of…"Grace said, "I was thinking…maybe it'd be a good idea to have Ruth and Samuel and his family live here in one of the houses until they get used to living independently. Same for Bala and Karishma and anyone else who wants to live here. That way, they can have a home and can still go with John since he's going to be back visiting us from time to time."

"That's a good idea," Rain said. "We can give them a house and if we need to buy a few more, we can. But I think Ruth and Samuel and his family really need that stability at the moment and with all of us here we can look after them, we'll talk to the Doctor after we go and rescue him."

They all looked over when the door opened and Awinita and Nelak walked in.

"It's a good thing you caught me. I just got home from the cinema," Nelak said. "I know Jackie and Francine are home but everyone else is gone for the moment. But if the Doc's in trouble, I wanna go and rescue him."

"I'll make a quick call to Maddie and let her know what's going on," Rain said. "That way she won't be shocked when she comes home and finds you here."

"And I'll stay here as well," Alternate Donna said, "so Rose won't be overwhelmed."

Alternate Rose thanked her as Rain reached into her pocket for her mobile.

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After calling Maddie and explaining the situation, Rain, Tara, Jenny, Awinita and Nelak went over to Awinita and Nelak's house and used his TARDIS that was sitting in his garage.

"We know he went to Verdant," Rain said to Nelak, "and he said he was gonna take off his bio-damper so hopefully we can track him that way."

"Okay, well, I'll go across the void to Earth and run a scan there before going to Verdant. If I can track the Doc, hopefully we can land right on the ship and sneak up on them," he said.

He started the TARDIS and flew into the vortex.

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After they went over the void, they headed to London and sat in the middle of Hyde Park while Nelak ran a scan. While he was doing that, Rain looked at the other women.

"You know, we really should tell the boys what we're doing just in case they do get finished before us and try to go after the Doctor," she said to them. "I hope they won't be angry with us but I can't sit around and let my husband suffer if we're able to help him."

She found John's mind and pulled it forward. She explained what they were doing and assured them that they would be safe.

_Just be careful please,_ John thought back. _I know I haven't known you lot for long but I do care what happens to you, especially since you have my daughter with you._

_We'll be careful. We've had plenty of experience rescuing family members now and Tara can pretty much hold her own, trust me. We just wanted you to know before we went onto the ship because if the ship is dampening the telepathic transmissions, we won't be able to contact you._

_We'll try to find you as soon as we can get to Alan and the others, _John thought._ I'm sure they'll be just as eager to rescue the Doctor as we are. _

"Got it, Rain, I found his artron energy signature," Nelak said, looking up from the scanner.

Rain relayed that to John.

_Brilliant,_ he thought back. _We'll be able to track it as well. Then as soon as we're finished here, we'll head your way._

_Be careful, all of you,_ Rain thought_. This Prometheus sounds like a maniac. _

_Easy peasy, I've handled plenty of maniacs before. You just mind yourselves on this ship, _John thought back.

_We will and we'll see you on the ship or back on Nova, whichever comes first._

_Same here, take care of yourselves,_ John thought.

Rain ended her talk with John and watched while Nelak locked the Doctor's energy signature into the computer.

"Here goes nothing, gang," he said to them.

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The TARDIS landed in a storage closet on the spaceship. Nelak ran a scan and noticed there were several life forms scattered nearby.

"Wait a tic, everyone. I'm going to get a little handheld scanner so we can keep track of where these life forms are at," Nelak said, running to the back door. "That way we won't be taken by surprise."

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He got a small silver scanner that a little LCD screen that showed the body heat of the various life forms roaming about the ship. They stood by the front door while Nelak scrolled around the storage closet looking at everyone's position. He frowned when he noticed five lifeforms clustered together in one room and showed it to the other women.

"These five aren't moving around. They're stationary and together in one room. You don't think that could be our family, could it?" he asked them.

"One way to find out," Grace said.

"Yeah. And if they aren't, there's five guards we could take out at once," Jenny added.

"Okay, everyone, hold your breath cause here goes nothing," Nelak said while he opened the door.


	313. Chapter 313

Chapter Three Hundred and Thirteen

Nelak and the others went quietly down the corridor heading towards the five life forms clustered in one room. He scrolled past them and noticed that about thirty feet away there were three more life forms that weren't moving. One was standing in a room and the other two were in the room beside it. Around the room, several more life forms were moving around. Nelak held up his hand and stopped everyone behind him when he noticed someone heading their way. He put his finger to his lips and they all hurried to the end of the corridor, watching while the life form headed for them. They stopped at the end of the corridor and waited while Nelak kept glancing from the scanner to the life form. He noticed it rounded the corner and stopped in front of them but when he looked straight ahead, he couldn't see anyone in front of him. Trusting a hunch, he balled up his fist and hit where the scanner indicated the life form was at. They heard a grunt and the sound of someone dropping to the floor.

"Be careful, everyone. Some of these people are cloaked," he said to them.

Using the scanner, he found the body and ran his hand up towards the head. When he reached his neck, he felt something metal around it and found a small button. He pushed it and the life form shimmered into view. It was an insectoid trpe creature with huge compound eyes, green skin and large mandibles. It was dressed in a black lycra body suit. Nelak took the collar off his neck and stood up.

"Come with me, we'll take this bloke back to the TARDIS and have her duplicate this. That way we can move about unseen," he said.

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After dumping the insectoid in the holding cells and having the TARDIS duplicate the collars. They all put one on and hit the button. All of them shimmered out of view. Nelak grabbed another scanner from the lab so they could split up.

"Rain, Tara and Jenny, you investigate the five people in the room. Me and Grace and Awinita will go check out the three people in the two rooms."

He handed Rain the extra scanner and all of them headed back out the door. Once they were outside, Nelak's group got ahead of Rain's group and followed the scanner to the three people. Meanwhile, Rain led her group towards the five people who were still together in the one room. They made sure the TARDIS made some extra collars just in case they did run into their other family members. When Rain noticed another life form coming towards them, she stopped them and they pressed themselves up against the wall. They watched the scanner and noticed the life form passed by them without their seeing it. They waited till the cloaked life form was several feet away from them before they moved on. They used their respiratory bypass systems and moved stealthily along until they reached the room. Rain used her screwdriver. The door unlocked and she slowly opened it. She peeked inside and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw all the female members of her family. She came inside the room with everyone else and they turned off their collars while Jenny shut the door.

"Mamaw!" Amelia and Opal said, running to her.

She hugged them both tightly and gave them a kiss while the others rose and went to greet their family.

"Am I glad to see you guys," Julie said. "They took Dex away awhile back and the Doctor's gone too. We don't know where they went and we're worried sick about them.'

"Nelak, Awinita and Grace headed up that way. There's three people standing in two rooms so they think that might be them and someone else," Rain said. "We have these invisibility collars for all of you so put them on and we'll try to catch up to Nelak's group so we can get our men out of here."

All of them put the collars on. Everyone turned them on and they all shimmered and vanished from view. Jenny opened the door, glanced out while Rain checked the scanner. Once they realized the hallway was clear, they stepped out and made their way towards the three life forms.

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The Doctor couldn't take much more. For the past hour and a half, he had been standing inside a bare room staring through a large Plexiglas window at his son who was being beaten and shocked unmercifully by S'rina. He had begged, pleaded and screamed himself hoarse trying to get her to let him switch places with his barely conscious son but all he got in return was taunts and jeers about being the great and powerful Time Lord. Seeing his son in anguish made him angry beyond belief and he longed to get out of the room and wring her neck but she had made sure to search him and took his screwdriver before she started tormenting Dex. Dex, to his credit, was being stoic and taking the abuse bravely but he could tell she was going too far and he became terrified that any moment he might regenerate and she would continue on his new body.

He was so preoccupied with what was going on in front of him and so busy screaming for mercy that he didn't hear the door beside him unlock or see it open slightly. His attention was riveted on Dex while the door opened wider for a moment and then closed quietly. He was so tormented that it took a moment to realize that someone was hugging him and he heard soft sobbing beside him. He turned his head and felt a familiar hand brushing his cheek.

"Oh God, what are they doing to him?" Rain whispered.

"Rain," the Doctor choked out.

She shushed him.

"I'm in here with Tara, Jenny, Amelia, Opal, River, Julie and Mingxia. Nelak, Grace and Awinita are going in the other room and putting a stop to this."

"Let me go in there, I want her to suffer as much as Dex is suffering," the Doctor growled.

"Doctor, wait," Mingxia whispered.

"I can't, Mingxia. I've watched her beat and shock my son for the past hour, now it's her turn," the Doctor said, moving past them.

They paused when they heard S'rina yell in surprise when someone grabbed the back of her neck.

"That's it, I'm going in there and making her suffer for this," the Doctor snarled, heading towards the door.

"Wait," Rain said. "There's a bunch of people coming down the hall."

She materialized herself and showed him the scanner. The Doctor studied it and looked around.

"Follow me," he said to them.

They followed him outside. Using the scanner, they quickly knocked out several of the cloaked guards. When they were finished with that, they turned and noticed several ruby creatures heading towards the other room.

"God, what are those things?" Rain said.

"A pile of rubble, that's what they are," the Doctor snarled.

Letting out an enraged yell, he lunged at them and shoved them into each other. The other family members helped him, their rage rising with each passing second. By the time they had finished with the creatures, they were just as enraged as he was. The Doctor threw open the unlocked door and stomped into the punishment chamber, his eyes dark and menacing. By this time, Nelak, Grace and Awinita had turned off the collars. Grace was hunched over Dex who was barely conscious trying to care for him as best he could. Nelak and Awinita backed up when the Doctor grabbed S'rina's throat and began to squeeze her airpipe while he stared at her with pure hate and anger.

"I want nothing more than to give you the same injuries you gave my son. I would love to throw you on that table and listen to you scream the way you made my son scream! You are a worthless waste of space and you deserve to die!" he snarled at her.

"Doctor," Grace said.

The Doctor jerked his head and noticed his son's arms and hands was beginning to glow with a golden light. He felt his stomach sinking and with a howl of rage, he smacked S'rina's head against the metal wall as hard as he could. S'rina grunted and he let her go. She fell to the floor, unconscious, while he and everyone else hurried to Dex's side. He quickly undid the restraints while everyone watched.

"Daddy, what's going on? Why is he glowing like that?" Tara said.

"He's about to regenerate, Star. Stand back, all of you."

Rain took hold of Tara, Amelia and Opal and everyone backed up, giving Dex some space. Dex turned his head towards his father while Rain comforted his anguished children.

"I tried, Father, I tried to hold on," he said softly.

"It's alright, my Son, you're coming back to me in a moment," he said. "Just relax and let the regeneration happen. We're all here for you."

Dex nodded weakly. The Doctor swallowed hard while he turned his eyes to the ceiling and closed his eyes. A moment later, a brilliant golden light shot out from his body while Rain held the children close to her. The other women stared at him in wonder while Nelak put his hand on the Doctor's shoulder. A minute later, the light faded and Dex gasped as he came back to life. He lay for a moment on the table in shock while everyone came close to him. The children stepped forward and stared at him with curiosity.

"Pa?" Amelia said tentatively.

Dex smiled at her. He was younger, mid-twenties, with short ginger hair and green eyes. He was thin, tall and slightly muscular.

"I'm alright, Amelia," he said in a higher pitched British accent. "It's still me."

"Wow, Ma's gonna be shocked when she sees this," Opal said, wiping the tears from her eyes.

The Doctor helped him sit up.

"How are you feeling, Son?" he said.

"Much better now," he said. "I'm no longer in pain and actually it feels nice to be young again. But Opal's right, I have some explaining to do when I see Patience again."

"I'm proud of you, my Son. You were so brave in here and you held on for as long as you could. I just hope there's no ill effects from the regeneration since that tends to happen to me."

He looked back at S'rina and stared at her with hate.

"As for her, I'd love to put her through the same torment she put you through, but at the moment, I just want to get everyone out of here and back to our TARDISes so we can go help Alan. So let's round everyone up and we'll find the Shadow Proclamation for this universe. We can explain what happened and what she's been doing and hopefully they'll be able to stop the slave ring. As for you, my Son, I need to get you back to my TARDIS so you can rest, just in case there is going to be any ill effects from the regeneration."

He and Rain helped him up and Rain hugged him tightly. Dex smiled, hugged her back and gave her a kiss on the cheek when she whispered her love to him. After that, both the Doctor and Rain took his hand. They gave him and the Doctor collars and put one on S'rina. After everyone was cloaked, the Doctor picked S'rina up and with a derisive snort, carried her out of the room while everyone else followed him.


	314. Chapter 314

Chapter Three Hundred and Fourteen

After dumping S'rina in a cell, Rain led her husband away from her; fearful he might do something he'd regret later. Afterwards, they went through the ship, taking out any cloaked insectoids and ruby creatures they found. They brought them back to the TARDIS, making sure to hurry when they had a ruby creature since they never stayed unconscious for long. While they were carrying one back, the Doctor directed them towards the lab.

"I've never seen anything like this before and I want a closer look," he said to them.

He and Rain strapped it down and the children stayed nearby while the rest went out to finish searching the ship. By now, the Doctor had calmed down since he had been allowed to take out his anger on the crew when he knocked them out. At the moment, he was just perplexed about the creature in front of him. The children drew near and he smiled at them and rubbed Tara's back, letting her know that he wasn't angry any more. He was aware that he had scared the children with his outburst and he felt guilty about it, especially since Amelia and Opal were already upset by Dex's regeneration. So for their sake, he reined in his anger and calmed himself down. The five of them stood around the table while the creature slowly came to. The Doctor waved his hand in front of its eyes and moved his hand around while the creature followed it.

"It has sight of some kind," the Doctor said.

He lowered a large scanner towards the table and ran a scan on his body. When the scan was done, he read the results.

"It has internal organs beneath the ruby exterior," he said to the others.

"What does that mean, Papaw?" Opal asked.

"Means it has heart, lungs, stomach, body parts like we do."

He rapped his knuckles against its chest.

"This doesn't just resemble a ruby exterior though, it's actual ruby. Fascinating. I've never seen anything like this in our universe. I've seen things like the slabs but they didn't have internal organs. As far as I can tell, this is like covering a man with a ruby skin."

He pointed to his neck.

"But if you notice, the area around the neck and joints is softer to allow movement of the head, arms and legs."

Tara walked around him and touched the neck area. Her fingers were able to make a dent in the flesh. The Doctor watched that.

"I wonder if a syringe needle will penetrate there then. I want a closer examination and I don't want this creature breaking loose. Who knows how strong it really is."

His family stared at it while he walked over to a metal cabinet for a syringe and anesthetic.

"Hi, can you hear me?" Tara said, speaking where its ear would be. "Can you talk?"

The creature turned its head to her but said nothing.

"Love, is it possible they're telepaths?" Rain said to the Doctor who was putting some anesthetic into the syringe.

"I was thinking that myself and I've tried to contact it telepathically but it won't respond so I have no idea if it can communicate that way and chose not to say anything or if it doesn't have telepathic abilities. If not, they might communicate by sign language."

Awinita came into the room.

"I think we found them all, Bro, and we found our screwdrivers, psychic paper and cell phones in her office. Here's your stuff."

The Doctor thanked her and pocketed his screwdriver, psychic paper and mobile phone.

"How's Dex doing?" he asked her.

"He says he's a little out of sorts but other than that he's fine," Awinita said.

"Good because my regenerations tend to screw up which is why I'm worried about him. There is one thing I'm miffed about though."

"What?" Awinita said.

He smiled.

"He's ginger. I've tried nine times to be ginger and my son gets it on the third regeneration. I'm gonna be jealous for the rest of his fourth life."

"Ah, tough luck, Bro. I'll make him dye it purple like Nelak."

"No thanks, I'd rather suffer though the ginger hair," he said while she giggled.

Awinita sobered up while she followed the Doctor over to the lab table. She watched while he injected the sedative into his jugular vein.

"There's something else you should know, Bro," Awinita said. "Something about these things."

The Doctor glanced at her with a quizzical look on his face. She sighed.

"We found a journal in her office. These creatures used to be human or humanoids and she had them turned into these things as a kind of personal bodyguard for herself and enforcers on other planets."

The Doctor froze.

"That's what she said I would be. An enforcer," the Doctor said.

"You mean you were gonna be changed into this?" Tara said, alarmed.

The Doctor stared down at the unconscious being with newfound pity.

"I think I need to have a chat with S'rina. I need to use truth serum on her and record her answers because the Shadow Proclamation will not only be interested in her slave ring but she'll also be punished for kidnapping others and transforming them into this," he said, waving his hand across the ruby creature. "You're sure you're finished here?"

"I think so, Bro," Awinita said.

"Good, because I wanna take the ship into the vortex. I'll interview S'rina there and afterwards we'll turn them over to the Shadow Proclamation before we go and help Alan out. Follow me, we'll let this poor bloke rest awhile while I speak to S'rina."

He mentally called to the rest of his family to come inside the TARDIS while the others followed him out of the lab.

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Once the TARDIS was in the vortex, the Doctor, Dex, Awinita and Rain retrieved S'rina and carried her, kicking and struggling, to an interrogation room. Dex and the two women held her against a leather chair while the Doctor strapped her down. S'rina tried to get up and the Doctor slammed his hand hard against her chest.

"Stop struggling or I'll make it worse for you," he snarled at her.

S'rina stared at the coal black eyes and relaxed while everyone finished strapping her down. Once they were finished, the Doctor told the others to leave. Rain put up a privacy block around her husband's mind.

_Thete, are you sure you can control yourself?_ She thought.

_I can. I just wanna be alone with her. I won't kill her. Death is a far too easy escape for her. I'll be fine, Latara. Most of the anger's worn off anyway,_ he thought back.

Rain nodded and gave him a quick kiss on the lips before she left with the others. Once the door was closed, the Doctor turned to her. He kept the hard, cold look on his face knowing how intimidating it was.

"I want answers," he said in a dispassionate voice.

"I bet you do but you won't get any."

The Doctor snorted.

"I have ways of making you talk to me. However, I'd rather you did this without any force. You're already in trouble for running a slave ring and the attempted murder of my son. Now I find out that you somehow managed to change people into those ruby things."

S'rina smirked.

"Yes and you would have joined them if I had my way."

"Then my deduction was spot on. My family found your journal. I'm not entirely sure what you did to those people to turn them into your ruby enforcers but I intend to find out. And if you won't tell me willingly, I'll use truth serum on you and get the truth that way."

S'rina snorted.

"Listen to you, you think you're so justified in doing this."

"I know I'm justified because you have harmed people. Not just me and my son and those ruby things, but you've helped keep a slave ring going and now you get to answer for your crimes. Now are you going to tell me what I want to know or do I have to use the truth serum on you?"

"Use whatever you like, Time Lord. I'm royalty and the Shadow Proclamation won't hold me for long. No matter what I say it won't matter because they'll release me anyway."

The Doctor leaned down into her face, his eyes boring into hers.

"Don't count on it," he growled at her.

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The rest of the family stood around the console while it flew through the vortex. River was sitting on the jump seat, still groggy. Rain put her hand on River's shoulder.

"We need to take her somewhere while the Doctor's doing this so she can get repaired," Rain said.

"I'll go ask Daddy," Tara said.

"Knock first before you enter," Rain cautioned her.

"I will," Tara said.

She ran back to the interrogation room. She could hear her father talking through the heavy thick door. She paused a moment, listened and noticed he didn't seem angry. She knocked on the door.

"Yes?" she heard him say.

"Daddy, can I come in for a moment?"

"Yes," he said.

Tara opened the door and the Doctor walked over to her. She glanced around him and noticed S'rina was sitting in the chair, her eyes glazed while a small black box sat on a table beside her. Tara pointed to her.

"Is she hypnotized?" she said.

"In a way, I gave her truth serum and she's telling me where all her slave mines are along with how she managed to turn those poor people into the ruby creatures. Did your mum send you back here to check up on me in case I was roughing her up?"

"No, we wanted to take River somewhere to get her fixed while you were doing this and we wanted you to know we were doing that."

"Oh! Good. I know a place we can take her so I'll come back up to the front with you and get River to the repair shop before I continue with this."

He turned off the black box and ushered Tara out while he closed the door behind him.

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After they dropped River off at a repair shop, the Doctor and the others went back inside. He finished up his interrogation and a half hour later, came out and told everyone he was finished.

"I heard all I needed and got all the evidence needed to convict her," he said to everyone. "Now we can go to the Shadow Proclamation, drop them off, go get River and go help the rest of our family."

He ran a scan and found the Shadow Proclamation's location. He headed towards it while everyone stood around him.

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To his surprise, the Shadow Architect wasn't albino. She was a beautiful, statuesque woman with ivory skin, blue eyes and long flowing brown hair. Instead of the black Morticia-like dress, she wore a long white dress similar to the ones Serena wore. The other surprise was there were no Judoon in sight, just other beautiful women like her. The absence of the Judoon put the Doctor at ease and he found this Shadow Architect easier to deal with than his own. After helping unload all the prisoners and getting them into secure cells, his family sat in chairs and sipped tea while the Doctor explained the situation to the Shadow Architect.

"Thank you, Doctor. We've wanted to get our hands on Queen S'rina for some time but we never had the evidence to convict her," she said, holding a small cassette tape in her hands. "I assure you she'll be dealt with as well as her associates and we will break up her slave ring."

"Thank you. And if you could find a way to restore the people she changed that would be even better. She told me the name of the scientist that did it and the method of transformation so perhaps he'll know how to change them back."

The Shadow Architect nodded.

"We will do all in our power here, Doctor. Once again, I and my sisters thank you for finally putting an end to her."

The Doctor bowed his head.

"Now if you'll excuse us, we need to retrieve a family member and rescue several more."

"Of course, if you need us again, do not hesitate to contact us."

"Thank you," the Doctor said.

The other members of his family stood up. They thanked them for the tea and headed with the Doctor back into the TARDIS.

"Well, that went well," the Doctor said. "I think I'll deal with this Shadow Proclamation in future. They're a hell of a lot nicer than the ones in our universe."

They all went inside. The Doctor shut the door and a few minutes later, the TARDIS dematerialized and flew back into the vortex.


	315. Chapter 315

Chapter Three Hundred and Fifteen

The Doctor smiled when River emerged from the back room of the repair shop.

"All better?"

"Much better. I hate being an android, everyone else recovers except me."

"Well, I told you to let me do it when we were trying to rescue everyone from the data core but you insisted on being the hero," the Doctor teased while he put his arm around her.

"Yeah, well it wouldn't be the first time I made a rash decision," she teased back.

They walked out of the repair shop and headed back to the TARDIS.

"Do you wanna go back to Nova and rest?" he asked her.

"I thought you wanted to go to Nord now," River said while they walked.

"Well, Dex is still feeling a bit woozy so I'm taking him back so he can go home and rest. I'm betting you need to rest as well."

"Rest sounds good," River said, nodding.

"Amelia and Opal are also going back. They're worried about their father and they're gonna help explain what happened to Patience since I'm sure she'll be upset once she finds out what happened."

"What about Tara?" River said while they walked up to the TARDIS.

"Are you kidding? That kid sticks to me like glue," the Doctor said while she chuckled.

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By the time they returned to their house, Madison was back with the other children. She was talking to Alternate Rose and Donna when they came inside the living room. The Doctor quickly explained what happened to Dex and all of them got up and hugged him tightly.

"Patience is home now," Madison said to him.

"Great!" Dex said, rolling his eyes. "I can't wait to explain my regeneration to her."

"We'll go over there with you and help explain," Madison said.

"Yeah, we'll go with you and catch her when she faints, Pa," Amelia said.

Everyone laughed when Dex raised his eyebrow at that.

"I don't think your mum is as frail as that," he said to her. "But I'm sure she will start to cry when she hears about my ordeal which is why I'm gonna be brief with that part of it."

"Get some rest, Son, and be sure to tell someone if you feel weird or if…"

Dex held up his hand.

"I'll be fine, Father. I don't think I inherited your wonky regenerations. If something was going to go wrong, I'm sure it would have happened by now. Just concentrate on rescuing Alan and the others."

The Doctor nodded and hugged his son tightly. He went back to the TARDIS along with Tara, Nelak, Rain, Mingxia and Julie. The others waved and wished him luck and when he was gone, they followed Dex and his children while he went to break the news to Patience.

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"I hope this works," Alternate Jack said to John and Alternate Dex.

They were making their way through the valley to the arena. Alternate Dex wasn't wearing any disguise but the other two had imagers on. Both of them had made themselves appear to be in their seventies with thinning white hair and lined faces. John was his normal thin self but Alternate Jack had made himself heavyset, which amused John. For the past half hour, Alternate Jack had been listening to his quips about getting a middle-aged spread and letting himself go in his old age before he finally stopped teasing his friend. When they reached the entrance to the arena, they noticed three muscular men stopping all the women in the queue and asking questions.

"Aha, now see, it was a good idea to leave the women behind," John said. "I figured they'd be checking for Rain."

They got into the queue and tried to keep calm while they neared the men at the entrance.

"You sure these imager things are foolproof?" Alternate Jack said. "They can't see through them, can they?"

"I haven't the foggiest. I've never used one before. We'll just have to wait and see what happens when we get up there."

It took about twenty minutes before they reached the men. They kept calm and tried to appear nonchalant while the three men looked them over while they took their tickets. To their relief, they waved them through and they headed up the tunnel. At the end of it, another man stood there and pointed off to the left to a stone door that had been opened in the wall. Behind the man, there was a heavy wrought iron gate over the entrance to the arena so they were forced to go through the smaller door, up a flight of stairs into the seating area. They sat down at the front, looking all around for any sign of Alan and his group. All the arched entrances had the same iron gates over them, preventing anyone from getting in and out of the battle area. Without any idea where the others were at, they were forced to sit and wait and try to think of a plan.

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Alan stood near the tent flap, trying to look past the burly guards at the arena. All of them were inside the tent. Alan, Jack and Jenny wore shackles around their legs that were attached to stakes in the ground. The others were free to move around but the guards kept looking inside, watching them intently. The sun was going down and they could hear the noise of the crowd in the arena.

"So I guess it's almost fight time," Jack said while he sat on the camp bed with Jenny.

"Yup, too bad they don't have a small workout area in here. I don't feel I'm at my best unless I'm pumping some iron before my fights," Alan said.

Rose walked over to him. He smiled and put his arm around her.

"Be careful, yeah? I don't wanna see you regenerate or die outright," she said to him.

"Me? Perish the thought. I'd never let anything happen to this gorgeous body," he said to her. "I'm insulted you'd even ask me to be careful, Starlight."

He kissed her head when she sighed and lay it against his chest. He glared at one of the guards when he turned to check on them.

"D'ya mind, mate? We're having an intimate moment here."

The guard snorted and turned his head back around. Alan snorted back and stuck his tongue out at him.

"You're just jealous of me because you don't have a cutie worrying about ya," Alan said to him. "Not to mention I have a better body and I don't have muscles bulging out every spot on my body making me look like I've just had a severe allergic reaction to a hive of bees."

"If you don't shut up, Skinny, I'll use these muscles on you," the guard snarled at him.

"Ah, but if you rough up my skinny body, Tubby the Shamu Whale will come and rough you up in return. After all, I'm a prize fighter which means you can't damage my gorgeous physique."

"I hope you do get messed up so that mouth of yours will finally shut up," the guard replied.

"Now, now, is that any way to speak to your captive? I'm participating in these fights out of the kindness of my hearts, the least you can do is be civil to me," Alan said. "Oh and just so you know, I'm going to give my wife another kiss so you won't be breathing down my neck during it. I don't want your hot breath on my neck because you think we're exchanging a spade during our intimate moment."

The guard glanced at his companion and rolled his eyes while Alan and Rose shared a kiss. When they finished, they heard the crowd's cheers increasing and the guards moved slightly when Prometheus came to the tent flap.

"Showtime, my fighters," he said to them.

The guards came into the tent with him and backed the unchained occupants up against the wall while Prometheus unlocked the manacles. While he was doing that, three more muscular guards came in the tent and seized their arms, preventing them from running off. When they were finished, Prometheus turned to the two guards who had been guarding the tent.

Stay in here and watch them and the moment they try something to help their friends, break their arms and legs," he said.

"Wait, I'm a doctor and I wanna go with them to treat any injuries," Martha insisted.

Prometheus ignored her and let the three guards drag the men outside before he followed them. The other captives cursed when the two guards walked over to the flap and stood in front of it, their arms folded over their muscular chests while they watched them intently. Rose glared at them.

"You won't get away with this," she said to the guards. "They'll find a way to free themselves and then they'll come for you."

"I wouldn't count on it, Blondie, it's gonna take a miracle to free your friends," the guard replied.

Suddenly, the guard's friend let out a grunt and fell to the ground unconscious. The guard stared at him in shock and looked around.

"What the hell was that?" he said.

"A miracle," they heard the Doctor say.

There was another grunt as Mingxia's invisible foot smacked the back of his neck and he joined his friend. All of them turned off their collars and embraced their family members.

"Doctor, they just took Alan, Jack and Jenny to the arena," Martha said.

"We saw that. John, the other Jack and Dex are here as well and we're gonna help to get everyone out of here safely and in one piece."

He reached into his pocket and gave them cloaking collars.

"Now put these on and follow us. We're gonna help tip the scales in our family member's favor during the battle and make sure they come out of the fights in one piece," he said to them.


	316. Chapter 316

Chapter Three Hundred and Sixteen

John, Alternate Jack and Alternate Dex perked up when the gate opened and Alan was shoved into the arena.

"Okay, now what do we do?" Alternate Jack muttered while the crowd cheered around them.

"Now we wait for our chance to leap down there and help him," John muttered back.

John grinned when his double began to sprint around in a circle blowing kisses at everyone and pumping his fist.

"THANK YOU! I WILL BE AVAILABLE AFTER THE FIGHT TO SIGN AUTOGRAPHS AND KISS YOUR BABIES!" he screamed at them. "NO APPLAUSE IS NECESSARY. I KNOW I'M THE BEST!"

"That Alan's quite a character," Alternate Jack said.

"Yes but I'm glad he's that way," John said. "It's nice to know he's not just a clone of his Doctor but a unique individual."

They snickered when Alan began to wiggle his butt and dance around.

"UH-HUH, UH-HUH, I'M NUMBER ONE!" he yelled. "I'M THE ONE YOU WANNA SEE. I'M THE BEST, IT'S ME, ME, ME!"

"The other Rose must have fun being married to him," Alternate Jack said.

Alternate Dex watched while Alan pranced around in a circle singing his praises to the crowd. While he did, he suddenly felt someone touching his left arm. He looked over and noticed the woman sitting beside him was talking to a man on her left and wasn't touching him in any way.

"Hi!"

He reeled back when he heard Tara's voice in his ear.

"Hi, Dex, it's me, Tara. I have this thing on that makes me invisible. My Daddy's down there with Alan and he asked me to come up here and let you know we were here. Where's my other daddy and Jack though?"

"Right beside me," he said, jerking his head sideways at the two elderly men.

He felt Tara move past him.

"Daddy?" he whispered in John's ear.

John jerked his head around.

"Tara?" he said, looking around.

Tara explained to him and Alternate Jack what was going on. John felt her taking his hand and saw her put a collar into it. She did the same with Alternate Jack and Dex while she quietly explained how to use them. The three men grinned and put the collars on before they stood up. John took Tara's hand and they walked back to the door that led down to the tunnel.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Alan stood near the wall, looking around for any sign of the other combatant. He jumped when he felt a tap on his shoulder and he jerked his head around. He gazed around when he didn't see anyone beside him.

"Brother."

He jerked his head back around when he heard the Doctor's voice in his ear.

"I'm right beside you. I have a cloaking collar around my neck which is why you can't see me but I'm gonna help you win this fight. There are a few others here. They're also going to help and sneak in when they can while Awinita and Nelak use the TARDIS to get the police and clue them in that they're holding people against their will here. I sent Tara to speak to John and his Jack and Dex. Dex was sitting up in the stands behind you but I didn't see Jack or John. They were gonna wear the imagers though so they might have been beside him in disguise. Anyway, don't worry; you lot now have help with these fights of yours."

"Brilliant," Alan muttered back. "So everyone else is alright?"

"Yes, except our Dex regenerated after this bitch called S'rina beat and shocked him to death," the Doctor muttered.

"No! Oh no," Alan said.

They noticed a gate opening on the far side of the arena.

"I'll go into more detail about it later. For now, let's concentrate on the task at hand and…"

He trailed off when a hulk of a man came through the gate. He was nearly seven feet tall with bulging muscles. He was bald and his head looked tiny and out of place on his pumped up body. He was wearing a white loincloth around the midsection of his tanned body. The Doctor let out a low whistle.

"Blimey, they weren't kidding around when they chose a fighter for you. No matter though, he might have muscles on top of his muscles but I doubt he'll be able to see an invisible fighter. Just try to hold your own against him, Brother, and I'll be helping you out."

Alan nodded and felt the Doctor leave his side. He tensed his body while the man stomped towards him.

"They made a mistake putting you in here with me," Alan said to him. "I'm your worse nightmare!"

The man threw back his head and laughed at him.

"No one can defeat Roderick the Magnificent!" he said to him. "Certainly not a little wisp of a man like yourself. I shall crush you into the dust!"

"Not before I crush you first, Roddy-poo!" Alan said. "You don't know who you're dealing with! I'm Alonzo "Kill-Them-All-Slowly" Timelord and I also shall crush you into the ground, only when I do it, I'll pee on your head and do a jaunty Irish jig on your chest at the same time! And not only am I a fierce fighter, I can also summon spirits that will help me fight because I'm a handy dandy ghost wrangler on top of being an extremely macho and charismatic fighter!"

Roderick threw back his head and laughed again.

"Laugh all you want, Roddy-poo the Kangaroo, I'll get the upper hand and you'll get nothing but comeuppance and a dirt sandwich! But talk is cheap! To battle!"

"It's your funeral, little man," Roderick said, slapping his hands together.

"I seriously doubt that, Roddy-poo the Gitchie Goo," Alan said, moving to the left and right. "I will defeat you handily and do the aforementioned pee and jig. So bring it on, show me what you've got!"

Roderick started towards him. Suddenly, his loincloth was whipped off his body and thrown several feet away. Everyone in the audience howled with laughter while he covered his genitals and blushed.

"So that's what it looks like?" Alan said. "Tough luck, Roddy-poo, I can see why you bulked up everywhere else because your Roddy-poo Junior is a bit on the wee side."

Roderick ran over to his loincloth and quickly put it back on.

"Ho-hum," Alan said, pretending to look at an imaginary watch. "Come on, Roddy-poo, put that handkerchief back around that bee stinger and fight me!"

Roderick yelled at him. He ran at him while he hurriedly finished trying his loincloth back around his genitals. Alan took off and ran around the arena.

"Hey look, I'm recreating the whole gladiator scene from Monty Python's Life of Brian!" he yelled out while he ran. "I wonder if the People's Front of Judea are up in the crowd planning to overthrow the Romans while I'm doing this!"

He did a tight U-turn and sprinted past him. On his way past, he seized the loincloth and ripped it back off Roderick's body.

"Speaking of that movie, I believe they had one scene where they were twying to welease Woderick! That was such a funny movie. I'd recommend you watch it but I'm sure you can't see much of anything with those muscles blocking your vision especially those large man-breasts the steroids gave ya. Very buxom, I must say."

Roderick bellowed at him.

"Give me back my loincloth!" he yelled at him.

Alan held it out in front of him like a matador's cape.

"Come and get it, Toro!" he yelled at him.

Roderick yelled at him and ran. Alan dodged at the last moment and whipped the loincloth over his head.

"OLE!" Alan yelled.

Roderick turned and Alan turned with him, holding the loincloth out again.

"Come on, Toro, come and charge the cape like a good bully bull! Ole!" he yelled at him.

"I WILL KILL YOU!" Roderick roared at him.

"Now, now, Roddy the Spanish Bull, is that any way to talk to me, the world renowed matador? Come on, Bully-boy, charge the cape like a good little moo-moo!"

Roderick gritted his teeth and ran towards him. Alan deftly stepped out of the way.

"Ole!" he said, sweeping the loincloth over his head.

Roderick turned, murder in his eyes. He paused when he felt someone tap him on the shoulder and he jerked his head around.

"You know," Roderick heard the Doctor say. "There is an advantage to you being like this. I can see my target perfectly."

Roderick was confused for a couple of seconds and then he suddenly felt a swift kick to his balls. His mouth dropped open in a silent scream as he grabbed his crotch and fell to his knees.

"I realize this is cheating but from what I know of this sport, it's perfectly okay to cheat," he heard the Doctor say. "So now I bid you goodnight. Because you see, I'm not the only one in here. I also have my daughter and Mingxia in here with me and both of them are trained in martial arts. So nighty-night, Beefcake!"

Roderick let out a pained grunt when he felt feet slam into both sides of his head at the same time. He groaned and fell over, face first into the dirt, while everyone cheered. Prometheus watched from the stands, his mouth handing open in shock, while Alan went up to Roderick and slammed his foot onto his back while he gestured for the audience to cheer him.

"What?" he sputtered while the crowd cheered Alan. "But…he…how…what is going on here?"

He gritted his teeth and walked down to the wall separating the stands from the arena.

"Bring out the next fighter!" he screamed, "and bring the other two in here. I want a massive fight to the death!"

The crowd roared their approval while the gate opened and Jack and Alternate Jenny were dragged inside. Unbeknownst to them, the other members of the family along with John, Alternate Jack and Dex had been waiting quietly behind them and when they were brought in, all of them entered too. While all of them walked towards Alan, Alternate Jack chuckled under his breath.

"Oh yeah," he whispered, nudging John beside him. "This ougtha be good. Let the battle royal begin!"


	317. Chapter 317

Chapter Three Hundred and Seventeen

Jack and Alternate Jenny came up beside Alan who was rocking back and forth on his heels whistling cheerfully. By now, it had grown dark and huge stadium lights lit up the arena. While they were waiting for the next fight to begin, four large guards came into the arena and dragged Roderick away by his legs.

"I'd advise against doing that," Alan said. "You might snap off his bee stinger!"

"Alan, are you sure you should be taunting everyone like that?" Alternate Jenny said.

"Not to worry, Jen. We have help and from what I understand, we have heaps of help," Alan replied.

He grinned when Alternate Jenny and Jack looked around.

"Who d'ya think pulled the loincloth off of Roddy-roo?" he said to them. "My Doctor is in here with me somewhere. They have cloaking collars on, rendering them completely invisible."

Alternate Jenny felt someone sliding their arms around her body. She felt lips in her ear.

"And I'm your real father," John whispered. "I'm right behind you, Jenny, so just relax and have fun with this. There's no need to fight for your life because all of us are gonna gang up and put a stop to this."

"Dad?" Alternate Jenny said, feeling her eyes mist over.

She swallowed hard when she felt John's lips on her cheek.

"I'm sorry I left you behind, Jenny. That's not gonna happen again," he whispered in her ear.

He gave her another hug from behind while a tear ran down Jenny's cheek. They watched while the gate opened on the other side and ten large fighters strolled into the ring. All of them were just as muscular as Roderick. All of them had shaved heads and growled at the combatants they could see.

"Wow, everyone except Jenny is a steroid addled brute," Jack said to Alan. "I'm surprised he didn't pump Jen full of steroids too."

"Are you kidding, Jen's an animal," Alan said. "She doesn't need steroids. Do ya, our Jen?"

"Nope," Jenny said while she stood cloaked beside him. "I don't care how many muscles they have, they're all going down."

"See, told ya, an animal," Alan said to Jack.

He looked down when he felt a collar being pressed into his hand.

"Wear this, if they can cheat, so can you," the Doctor whispered in his ear.

Alan nodded and put it on. The Doctor gave one to Jack and John gave one to his daughter and whispered in her ear what it was and how to use it. The fighters stopped about twenty feet from them and began to stomp their feet while they grunted and chanted in unison.

"All righty then," Alan said.

He began to imitate them while he sang Spice Up Your Life. Jack giggled and joined him while Alternate Jenny gave them an odd look.

"We're just following their lead and engaging in a little pre-fight ritual," Alan said when he saw her staring at him.

While he listened to the Doctor telepathically telling the others to spread out and prepare, Alan and Jack continued to dance back and forth and mock the fighters while they glared at them.

"Ah, come on, that's no way to be," Jack said. "We're just doing what you're doing. You can't get mad at us for that!"

"You are the one who survived the spear!" one of the fighters said to Jack, jabbing his beefy finger at him.

"Yeah, I am. You can call me Harry Potter because I'm the boy who lived!" Jack crowed while Alan snickered.

"And you can call me Alan the Invisible Ghost Wrangler because I've summoned all my ghosty friends to come and help us!"

All the fighters snickered at that.

"Don't believe me? You will when all your loinycloths mysteriously fly off your person," Alan said to them.

"My fighters!" Prometheus said from the stands. "Kill these three!"

"Oi, I thought we were your star fighters!" Alan yelled at him. "Is that any way to treat celebrities?"

He turned back to the fighters who were slowly advancing on him.

"I see, it's time for some good old fashion confuse the oafs maneuver," Alan said. "Jacky-boy, follow my lead!"

Suddenly, he began to dance around while he sang.

"I say, you wanna be startin' something? You got to be startin' something. I say, you wanna be startin' something? You got to be startin' something! Too high to get over, too low to get under, you're stuck in the middle and the pain is thunder"

Alternate Jenny stared at Alan and Jack while they began to shuffle off to the right while they sang. She glanced at the fighters who were all perplexed. Both men were now dancing like Michael Jackson while they continued to sing. The fighters glanced at each other and started running after them. Alan saw them coming, let out a high-pitched Michael Jackson squeal and grabbed his crotch before he and Jack ran opposite directions. The fighters split up while Alan and Jack taunted them. Alternate Jenny stood by herself wondering what the hell was going on. She felt her father behind her. He chuckled.

"Come on, Jenny, help us take these brutes down," he said to her.

Jenny looked behind her, nodded, and she felt John take her hand. They ran towards the fighters who were pursuing Alan.

"What? You blokes aren't Michael Jackson fans?" Alan yelled at them.

Suddenly one of the men chasing Alan reeled back when someone kicked him hard in the gut. He staggered back and looked around. His eyes bulged when there was a shimmer in front of him and Mingxia came into view.

"That was me!" she said. "I'm being cheeky!"

Prometheus's mouth dropped open when she vanished from view.

"Wait! There's a non-combatant in the arena!" he said.

"Oh? You mean like the child that threw the spear in my neck earlier? That sort of non-combatant?" Jack yelled at him while he ran past.

Prometheus's mouth dropped again when one of the fighters suddenly tripped on thin air and barreled into the back of the man in front of him, sending them both to the ground.

"No, this isn't fair!" Prometheus yelled.

He turned to Ursula who was sitting beside them.

"They're cheating! Only I can cheat!" he said to her.

Ursula shrugged.

"Oh, why am I telling you, you fat cow, you know nothing," Prometheus muttered.

He watched in disbelief while loincloths flew off his fighters and they tripped over invisible legs and grunted when invisible fists and hands punched and slapped them. Then to his horror, Alan, Jack and Alternate Jenny suddenly activated their collars when the fighters finally managed to corner them and disappeared from view. Prometheus ran to the wall and slammed his hands down on the top of it while he scanned the arena for any sign of them. For the moment, the invisible combatants seemed content to just toy with the fighters, pinching and poking and stealing their loincloths, throwing them up into the stands while they ran away laughing loudly. One of them shimmered into view in front of his third best fighter, Orick. He was a thin, elderly man. Orick yelled and charged him.

"Wait, I'm old. You wouldn't hit an old geezer, would ya?" John said in a falsetto voice.

Orick grunted when someone in front of John hit him hard and he reeled back.

"See, Whippersnapper, that's what you get for assaulting the elderly!" John said, wagging his finger at him.

He grinned and vanished while Orick shook away his disorientation and howled his frustration. By now the whole entire arena was in disarray with fighters chasing after the invisible assailants who continued to taunt them, pinch and poke them. Prometheus glanced at the crowd and noticed they loved it but his fighters were near exhaustion from running around and getting hit from every direction. He could tell most of them were ready to give up and he loudly ordered all the gates closed to prevent them from leaving. Just then, Alan or someone that resembled him shimmered back into view in front of the exhausted fighters.

"You hear that?" the Doctor said to them. "He's holding you here against your will and making you fight until you die of exhaustion! He's holding you prisoner. You lot are nothing more than slaves to that fat git! Is that what you want? To fight for Tubby the rest of your lives while he treats you like cattle?"

Prometheus noticed to his horror that the fighters were now listening intently to him.

"You're better than this! None of you are pieces of meat. You're men and you deserve to be treated with respect! Look at him. His fat arse is sitting up there, nice and comfy, while you lot run around in the heat of the night. Is that fair? You're bigger and stronger than him and there are more of you! Rise up and rebel against your oppressor!"

Prometheus swallowed hard when the fighters turned to him with murder in their eyes. He looked at Ursula.

"Baby, I need your help!"

"After calling me a fat cow? I could possibly care less about what happens to you. You also treated me like a piece of meat so now you're on your own, Prometheus."

Prometheus stared at her in shock when she got up and made her way to the exit. He jerked his head around and noticed the fighters were heading towards the door in the wall. He followed Ursula towards the exit while the fighters sprinted towards the door, trying to cut him off. He made it to the door and shoved Ursula out of the way.

"I'm first, ya fat cow!" he snarled at her when she fell into several of the spectators.

He ran down the steps and ran out the other door. He stopped short when he saw thirty policemen standing in the tunnel, blocking both exits. Behind the policemen, Awinita and Nelak grinned and waved at him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor and his family stood near their TARDIS, resting and watching while the police took Prometheus, Ursula and the fighters into custody. While they did that, the spectators filed out of the arena, back into the night. They heard a few of them grumbling about not getting their money back but they ignored them.

"Hopefully, that's the end of that," Jack said.

"Yup, never did like these fight to the death blood sports," the Doctor said. "The whole ultimate fighting thing should be done away with."

He glanced at John who was talking quietly to Jenny under a nearby tree. He felt Rain come up beside him and he smiled at her.

"I'm so glad she's alright," Rain said to him.

"Same here. I can use my tissue regenerator to heal the scars on her face but I hope in time John can help her heal the internal scars. I hate that we weren't able to get to her before she killed someone."

"Yes. But she was doing it against her will and I think once John does what we did with our Jenny and gets her away from all this, she'll heal and learn to be a young lady like our daughter did."

The Doctor nodded.

"I s'pose now that everything is sorted out, we can head back home and sort out who goes where and figure out if John and Rose are going to get married and if so, where and when."

"Oo, a marriage, sounds nice, we haven't had one of those in a long time," Rain said.

"Yeah and we have, let me see, Awinita and Nelak, Jack and Ianto, Donna and Lee and Mickey and Martha. We just keep waiting for them to marry each other and they never do. So you know what? I think we should put our feet in John and Rose's bums so at least they'll finally marry and set an example for the rest of the marriage shy people."

Rain giggled and nodded. The Doctor ushered everyone inside the TARDIS and walked over to John and Alternate Jenny. He gently urged them back inside the TARDIS and once they were inside, he closed the door and set the coordinates to go back over the void to Nova.


	318. Chapter 318

Chapter Three Hundred and Eighteen

After getting Alan's TARDIS back into his own, they flew back to Nova. When they got back, Madison ran to the Doctor and gave him a hug while Amelia and Opal did the same. Alan and Rose scooped up Elizabeth and Angel and showered them with kisses while everyone else came inside. The Doctor laughed when the dogs ran to him and leapt up.

"I know, I know, you lot missed me," he said, scratching their heads while they licked his hands.

He ordered them to sit and moved back to Amelia and Opal when they did.

"How's your mother and father?" he asked them.

"Um, Ma's upset but Pa took her out to eat so he could explain everything. She doesn't hate ya though in case you're worried about that," Amelia said.

"Well, that's a relief," the Doctor said. "Wasn't like I was trying to get him killed anyway. I'm glad he's alright though. You need to go ask Rose sometime about the last time I regenerated and how badly I scared her when I became ill."

"Actually, the other Rose told us," Opal said. "She went through the same thing."

"And we also got to talk to the other Amelia and Caroline. Ma started crying when she saw Caroline."

The Doctor nodded.

"Dex said that your mum lost a baby and they were gonna name it Caroline," he said. "I don't doubt that would be quite a shock for her to see her alive and well in another universe."

"It's kinda full here now with Samuel's family and Simon and Bala and her mother and the other Amelia and Caroline and the other Rain and Teresa. We're filled to the brim," Amelia said.

The Doctor chuckled.

"Well, we're gonna sort out who's going to go with John and who stays here," he said. "I think for the moment Samuel and Ruth and Samuel's family will stay here so they can get adjusted and I'll see if Bala and Karishma want to stay as well. As for everyone else, we'll talk it over. I need to give John and Rose a house of their own so they'll be able to come and stay with us. Now before I go and speak with them and show them a house I need to ask if anyone's spoken to Sarah Jane and told her about all this."

"I don't think so, Papaw," Amelia said.

"Then I'll do that so she can the teens can come and meet everyone. In the meantime, relax and make friends and I'll go show John and Rose their new house and ask Samuel and Ruth and Bala and Karishma if they want to stay."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After everyone greeted each other and the Doctor made a call to Sarah Jane, he pulled John, Rose and the alternate Jenny, Jack and Donna aside and spoke to them about marriage while he led them outside towards their house.

"We'd like to get married now," John said while Alternate Rose nodded. "And we'd love to have your family be a part of it."

"Splendid, then we'll make arrangements for that," the Doctor said to them. "In the meantime, here's your house. It's across from our Jack's Torchwood house so hopefully the noise level won't bother you. They do tend to get a bit raucous at times. This is a four bedroom house so there should be plenty of room for all of you."

"If not, Jack can sleep in my TARDIS," John said.

"Tee hee," Alternate Jack said while they laughed.

They climbed the steps and the Doctor unlocked the door with the house key and gave it to John.

"Welcome to Little Gallifrey, Brother," he said to them.

They stepped inside and let out a low whistle at the brand new house.

"I love it," Alternate Rose said.

"So do I," John added.

Alternate Donna gave him an odd look.

"You, Mister Anti-domestic, loves a house?" she said to him.

John shrugged.

"I don't mind coming here with all my new friends and family around to keep us company. It was living under our Jackie's thumb that I hated," he said to her.

"Now there's a four bedroom across the street that I was thinking of giving to Samuel's family and Ruth. That way they can adjust to a life outside slavery and have support here and then in future if they want to go with you, they can."

"I like that idea," John said.

"I thought about doing the same for Bala and Karishma for the same reason. They've also been held as slaves and they need the same stability before they can go out and explore the universe," the Doctor said. "Francine spoke to Madison and offered to let them stay with her. Karishma can room with Tish and Bala can have her own room."

"I like that idea as well," John said.

"In addition to that, both Toby and Bala will have children here to play with. Toby's four and so is Dot, Elizabeth and Tony and Opal's nine so I'm betting Bala will get along with her since she's eight. And I'm sure your Dex is going with you but his Amelia and Caroline are welcome here as well. And your Rain and Teresa are also welcome. Now, as for Simon…"

"I think Simon is going with me but he's also nine so he'll be able to make friends with Bala and Opal," John said.

The Doctor nodded.

"And Rose, Donna and Jack…just pretend you have identical twin brothers and sisters, that works for me," he said while they laughed. "But this is your home now and you're always welcome anytime you want to visit. And before you leave, I'll be sure to take you furniture shopping so you aren't sleeping on the floor when you come here"

They smiled and hugged him briefly before he continued the rest of the tour.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After he finished showing him the house, the Doctor led them back to his house. He brought Ruth, Samuel, his family and Bala and Karishma outside onto the porch and spoke to them.

"We would love to stay here," Karishma said to him. "Everyone's been wonderful and even though Tara's not my daughter, I'd love for her and Bala to become friends."

The Doctor nodded. He pointed across the street to Francine's house.

"Since there's just two of you, Francine will let you stay there. She's wonderful and so is Tish. And yes, I think Bala and Tara will get along with my granddaughters. Opal's a year older than she is so I think they'll have a lot in common. And if you want to travel with me or with John, all you need to do is ask and we'll be happy to take you with us. Now what about you lot?" he asked Samuel.

"If you don't mind we'd like to stay. We like everyone here," Samuel said while Ruth and the others nodded.

"Well, I have a house next to our Jack's house and he and his group will be next door so they can check on you along with everyone else. We're a very big family here and we watch out for each other. So come with me and I'll show you the house and we'll get you furniture when we order some for John and Rose."

John patted Samuel's shoulder when he saw his eyes mist over. The Doctor took them down the street and showed them the house. John, Rose, Rain and the Doctor smiled at their happy expressions when they saw how beautiful the house was and realized it would be theirs.

"We'll take you lot clothes shopping when we shop for the furniture so you'll have some nicer clothes," the Doctor said while they took them around the house. "And I realize this is all futuristic to you but all of us will help you to adjust. But none of you have to worry now. You're all free and no one can control you anymore."

"Thank you, Doctor," Samuel said while he and everyone else got tears in their eyes. "Thank all of you. This is more than we ever dreamed."

"Well, I'm glad we were able to help you and help you find your family again. I hope you adjust to your new life smoothly. Everyone here wants to be your friends and I know it's strange to go from being ordered about to being respected and loved but that's the reason why we want you to stay here for the moment so you can gain confidence and self esteem and self respect and learn to live independently before you go zooming all over time and space."

Samuel nodded and smiled and they hugged each other before they headed back to the Doctor's house.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor and Alan decided to hold a backyard barbecue to allow everyone to get acquainted with each other. They spread out two large blankets by the pool and let the children sit with each other while the s chatted. Sarah Jane, Rani, Clyde and Luke came up and they were getting to know the newcomers while the Doctor and Alan fried hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill. Everyone else sat and stood around the pool, drinking tea and sodas while the dogs walked through them, letting the humans pet them while they played.

The Doctor and Alan chatted by the grill. They glanced down and noticed Tara and Bala were coming up beside them.

"Oi, go and make friends," the Doctor said.

"I am but we were just wondering if we could help you cook the food," Tara said.

"Well, Maddie might need help inside. I think there's an estrogen parade in the kitchen. You could help with that," Alan said to her.

"Ha ha," Tara said while they chuckled.

The Doctor tousled her hair.

"Look at you, you have a twin sister that's five years younger than you are. Welcome to my world now," he said, pointing to Alan.

Tara shrugged.

"I figure she's kinda like my little sister," Tara replied.

"Yeah, Tara's nice. I like her," Bala said.

"Good, that was my intention getting everyone together. If you're gonna live across the street, you need to learn how to get along," the Doctor said to her. "And you have all these other children to play with while you're here. Course we'll have to get you up to date as far as education goes and we'll have to do the same for Ruth and Samuel and his family but we'll sort that out in time. For now, just have fun and go help the estrogen parade in the kitchen."

"Daddy, you're getting to be as bad as Uncle Alan," Tara said, swatting his arm while the two men sniggered.

He gave her a kiss on the head before she and Bala went off towards the kitchen. They went back to chatting for a few minutes before John came up beside them.

"Need any help?" he said to them.

"No, but I think the estrogen parade in the kitchen does. Better go in there before they blow stuff up," Alan said.

John shook his head when the two men giggled.

"Better not say that too loudly. I believe my wife is a part of this estrogen parade," John said.

"Nah, we're fine here. However, we were just wondering where you'd like to marry your Rose."

"Not sure, something romantic though," he said to them. "I want to give my Rose a wedding to remember."

"Well, I got married in Kyoto which was beautiful and he married his Rose in Sedona, Arizona."

"Which was also beautiful."

"Hmm, both of those sound like nice locations," John mused. "I'll have to ask my fiancée though, I'm sure she'll wanna have the final say before we do anything."

"Just let us know what you decide so we can start planning. How're things going with your Jenny?"

"We've been talking. She's feeling guilty about killing people even though she was forced to do it so I've been trying to reassure her that I'm not angry with her about that and I understand what happened. We're just going to take it slow and slowly get to know one another but she definitely wants to travel with me."

"Good," the Doctor replied. "She'll adjust. Just teach her how to be something other than a soldier or a fighter, that's what we did with our Jenny and she's happy and well-adjusted now. I'm just happy you found her and she's safe now."

"So am I. I'm just so glad we ran into each other. My life has taken a turn for the better since then."

The Doctor nodded and patted him on the shoulder.

"I'm glad to hear that, Brother. There can never be too many mes running around the whole of creation."

"Got that right. The more Doctors, the merrier," Alan said.

"Yes, we are God's gift to the whole of creation," John added.

They glanced over and saw Rain staring at them.

"Humility is a virtue, you know," she said to them.

"Yeah and it's a boring virtue at that. Besides we know we're the best thing in all the universes so why not let everyone else know it?" Alan said.

They laughed when Rain rolled her eyes. The Doctor put his arm around her and held her close while the three men continued to chat and cook the meat.


	319. Chapter 319

Chapter Three Hundred and Nineteen

After getting her cheeseburger, French fries, potato salad and Coke, Tara walked out to the porch and sat down with her food. She rocked back and forth in the porch swing while she ate. She stared out at the sunny sky while she thought. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't see Rain until she sat down beside her with a Coke in her hand.

"Honey, what's the matter? We were looking all over for you. We figured you'd sit and eat with the rest of the children," Rain said to her.

"I'm just thinkin'," Rain said.

"About what?"

"'Bout John and how we found another version of Daddy. I'm just wondering how many Doctors there are out there in the universe."

"I know, I thought the same thing. Hard to believe there's more than one of your dad, huh?" Rain said.

"I was wondering too if Daddy has all these other versions of himself, is there some that haven't reached the tenth life yet."

"You mean earlier versions?"

Rain nodded.

"It's possible, I guess," Rain said. "I mean, all these universes have little differences in them so maybe in a few universes he's on one of his past lives."

"That would be neat, meeting one of them," Tara said.

"Might be neat for us but I don't know if your dad would think it was so cool," Rain said. "At least with John, he looks the same. I don't know if he'd wanna have one of his past lives staring back at him."

"You know what, Mommy?"

"What, Sweetie?"

"I wonder if Daddy's other doubles have friends besides us. Did Daddy have any friends before he met us?"

Rain took a sip of Coke while she thought.

"He had companions that he was friends with, the people who traveled with him."

"But they always left him, right? I mean best friends from Gallifrey when he was growing up."

"There was one he showed me once in this thing called the Simulation Room, Honey. His name was Koschei," Rain said.

"What happened to him?"

"They had a falling out and he turned evil and renamed himself the Master and they became enemies," Rain replied.

"Is he still around?"

"Not in this universe, Tara. He's dead here," she said.

"Oo, what if he's alive somewhere else? What if his friend is good and we find him like we found John!" Tara said.

Rain considered that.

"That could be another possibility, Honey, but I'm not sure how your father would react to that. He might be wary of him and think that eventually he'd turn evil."

"Yeah but what if he didn't and Daddy had his best friend back? Then he could hang out with him like I do with Amelia."

"You're full of ideas now that we've met John, aren't ya?" Rain said, smiling.

Tara nodded.

"I just want Daddy to be happy," she replied.

"So do I, Honey. So does everyone here," Rain said, stroking her hair.

Tara ate her burger while she thought.

"Mommy, why'd his friend call himself the Master?"

"Because he was insane and he wanted to be master of everything."

"But his name was Koschei before that?"

"Yes."

"Does Daddy have a real name then besides Doctor?"

Rain nodded.

"Do you know what it is?"

She nodded.

"What is it, Mommy?"

"I can't tell you, Baby. Your father swore me to secrecy."

"Is it bad?"

Rain shook her head.

"No, it's not that. It's just something he wants to keep hidden. He told me because I married him. The only one I know of that knows it is River and he was forced to tell her his name because her future self let him know she knew it. So when he met her again he told it to her to keep past events in order. That's the only reason why he told her."

"Would he tell me what it is? I'm his daughter."

Rain shrugged.

"I don't know, Honey. I'm not telling you without his permission though. It's his name and he's the one who needs to decide if you should know it."

"Is it a pretty name?"

"I think it's beautiful."

"Better than Doctor?"

Rain chuckled.

"Yes, much prettier than Doctor."

"Doctor is a strange name."

"Yeah, but I've gotten used to it now," Rain said, smiling at her.

"Yeah but he should have a normal sounding name for when he goes out and talks to people," Tara said.

"Well…he uses John Smith sometimes. That's how your other daddy came up with his name. He just used his alias for his human name."

"Do you call him that sometimes?"

"Well…no, but he did give me a special name to call him when we're alone," Rain replied.

"And I s'pose I can't know that either," Tara said, sighing.

"Honey, I'm just respecting your father's wishes. He entrusted me with his real name because he loved me and he gave me a secret name to call him so I could have something personal to use besides Doctor. I'd talk to him, Sweetie, and see what he says about him telling you his name. Perhaps he'll think up a name that you and he can share."

"Like Star?"

"Yes, but a little more personal than that. Something secret only you and he would know," Rain said.

Tara thought about that. She finished up her meal and stood up.

"I'm gonna ask him," she said. "You think he'd get mad though if I asked about his real name?"

"No, I don't think so. He might have gotten mad if I'd told it to you without his permission but I don't think he'll be mad if you ask him if he'll tell it to you. If he does though, you have to keep it to yourself and not tell anyone unless he gives you permission."

"I won't," Tara said. "I love Daddy too much to make him upset like that."

Rain smiled. She kissed her and watched while she went back into the house.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After she put her dishes in the sink, Tara went to look for the Doctor. She found him outside sitting at a poolside table while he chatted with Alan, John and the two Jacks.

"Well, there she is," Alan said, pointing to her as she walked up. "We figured you jumped in the TARDIS and went far away."

"Nah, I went and ate on the porch with Mommy. We had a talk," she said, coming up behind the Doctor.

"Ew, chatting with Snotbag, that musta made you lose your lunch," Alan said, making a face.

Tara swatted his arm while the others laughed. She looked around at the Doctor.

"Daddy, can I talk to you for a moment privately?"

"Ought oh! You're in trouble now!" Jack said.

"Will this be a long chat?" the Doctor said to Tara. "If so, I'd like to bring my burger so it's not ice cold when I return."

"You can bring your food, Daddy."

"Good. I hate ice cold burgers and chips. Well…I s'pose I better go and hear what my daughter has to say. I'll talk to all of you later."

They nodded and he got up with his plate and glass of Coke and followed Tara into the house.

"So…am I in trouble?" the Doctor said as he followed her.

"Nah, it's just something Mommy and I talked about outside," Tara said as they went up to his bedroom.

"My hygiene? I've been meaning to bathe more," the Doctor said, following her.

Tara giggled.

"No, it's not that. I've just been thinking."

"Ought oh! That doesn't bode well for me. Listen, Cutie, we need to get John and Rose's wedding out of the way before we go swanning off to parts unknown."

"No, it's not that," Tara said.

They went into the bedroom. The Doctor sat his dishes on the bedside table while she shut the door.

"So…what d'ya wanna talk about?" he said, sitting down beside his food.

Tara came and sat down beside him. The Doctor munched on his food while he listened to her theory about the other earlier versions of himself.

"It's possible, Star," he said when she finished with that portion of her talk. "We found John and the Valeyard so there might be other mes at different stages of my life. Not that I'd wanna meet some of them but you never know…why? You wanna go find these other earlier mes?"

"No, I was just thinking that might happen," Tara said.

The Doctor shrugged.

"Anything is possible, Tara," he said.

She paused a moment and continued on to her theory about Koschei. The Doctor paused a moment in mid-chew when she first mentioned it and then chewed thoughtfully while she talked about it.

"That's also a possibility," he said when she finished. "Don't know if I'd like to find a nice version of him though. I think your mum is right about me being wary of that. There was a lot of enmity between me and him and I've come to terms with that and put it behind me. I don't think I'd like another version of him in my life at this point. I think it'd be too painful after all we've been through. But you never know…I do hope in one universe my double and him are still friends and he never became the Master because he was a good friend before his madness overwhelmed him."

Tara nodded and continued on to the Doctor's name. She hesitated a moment and then asked if he would tell it to her.

"Um…I'd rather not, Sweetie. Your mum knows it and River knows and I'd rather not tell it to anyone else. It's not because I don't trust you, I just like keeping that part of me to myself."

"Oh okay, I guess I understand. But Mommy said you use a secret name with her and I was wondering if I could do that with you and use your name, you know."

The Doctor thought about that.

"Well, first off, did your mum say that this personal name is used only by us in private?" the Doctor said.

Tara nodded.

"I have an idea but…you have to promise you'll do the same thing and use the name I give you only between us in private. Otherwise, I won't do it."

"I promise, Daddy."

"Because I've decided I'll let you know a part of my real name. I won't tell you the whole thing but I'll let you use the first part of my name as a special name between us. But you have to swear you won't tell anyone what it is because I'm doing this as a sign of my love and trust in you. So will you swear to keep it a secret and use the name just between us?"

"I swear, Daddy, I won't tell anyone."

"Good. And if you do use it, you have to be careful about our being alone. Alan knows the personal name between me and your mother because she's said it when she thought she was alone and it turned out he was nearby. Plus, she used it in another instance to snap me out of a murderous rage but we won't go into that. But I mean it. Unlike Star, no one can know this, not even Amelia. I'm trusting you to be mature enough to keep this a secret."

"I can do that, Daddy. I promise I won't tell," Tara said, making an X over her hearts.

The Doctor nodded. He leaned over to her ear.

"Merzet," he whispered.

"Merzet?" she whispered back.

"Yes, that's the first part of my real name. And that's yours to use, no one else's. Got it?"

"Got it."

He smiled and tousled her hair.

"Is your real name pretty long then?" Tara asked.

"Weeeell…longish…longer that a normal human name. Gallifreyans didn't have middle and last names. We all had one long name but most of us used the first half in day to day conversations. Dex and Nelak are part of longer names. They just use the first part of it because it's a mouthful for most people if you use the whole name."

"So your friend Koschei, that was part of a longer name too?"

He nodded.

"Merzet's pretty. Mommy said your whole name is very pretty," Tara said.

He smiled.

"I'm glad she thinks so. I'm glad she didn't tell you and let you come to me first. That's why I let her know it because I knew she'd keep it a secret and I'm trusting you to do the same with Merzet, okay?"

Tara nodded. She hugged him from the side and the Doctor smiled, put his arm around her and kissed her head.

"Is that all you wanted to know?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Is John still gonna get married though?"

"Yes, we were talking about possible places to have the wedding when you walked up. There's a planet called Bellanoche that has spectacular crystal clear waterfalls. We were thinking about having the wedding there in front of one of these waterfalls. They have several resorts and I believe they do have weddings there."

"That sounds pretty. I'd like to see them get married in front of a waterfall," Tara said.

"Well, he has to ask his Rose but I think that's where they're gonna have it. And afterwards, they can go to one of the resorts for their honeymoon," he said.

"I'm glad they're getting married, Daddy."

"So am I. They deserve it."

He finished up his meal and licked his fingers.

"Mmm, delicious burger if I do say so myself. I'm quite adept at charring animal flesh."

He nuzzled her head when she giggled at that.

"So…ready to go back down."

"You know it, Merzet!"

He put his finger to his lips.

"Say that quietly."

Tara put her hand over her mouth.

"Sorry," she whispered to him.

He kissed her temple and she grabbed his empty glass while he picked up his empty plate.

"Come on, little thinker. It's time to give that inquisitive mind a rest and go down and mingle," he said to her as they headed towards the bedroom door.


	320. Chapter 320

Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty

"There he is, the bad boy," Jack said when he and Tara came back outside. "What did you do wrong?"

"It was my hygiene," the Doctor said to them. "I didn't bathe today and Tara was out on the verandah because she couldn't stand the smell."

"What about me? Do I stink?" John asked, lifting up his armpit to her.

"Phew, yes," Tara said, waving her arm in front of her face.

She giggled when he tickled her armpit. The Doctor let her sit down in his seat.

"I'll be back. Gotta chat with the misses," he said to them.

"Why? Do you have to apologize to her for your funky smell?" Alternate Jack said.

"Oh of course, I gotta make sure she lets me back in the house tonight," he said.

He tousled Tara's hair and walked away. Tara looked around and noticed the two Jennys were chatting with the two Donnas and Roses at another table. Tara looked at John.

"Is your Jenny alright? Are you gonna get along with her?" she asked him.

"Oh yeah, she and I talked a bit and I think everything's gonna be alright," John replied. "I'm just glad you talked me into finding her and we got her away from that horrible ultimate fighting rubbish. She doesn't need to be doing that."

"And you and your Dex are getting along?" Tara asked.

"Yup, we still need to talk about some things but it's nothing that requires intense therapy like your Dex needed. At the moment, I believe he and Amelia and Caroline will go with us and Simon and Teresa and the other Rain. Everyone else, as far as I know, is staying here for the moment."

"I'll miss you when you leave."

He smiled.

"Aw, I'll miss you as well. I'll have to come back frequently so we can see ya."

"I'll miss you too!" Jack moaned, flinging himself on him.

"Oi! Get off me, Jack!" he said while Jack's double howled with laughter. "I'm glad you're staying here. One Jack is bad enough."

"Hey!" Alternate Jack said while Alan and Jack sniggered.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, Dex and Patience finished dining at a fancy restaurant downtown. Patience had gotten over her initial shock but she was still upset at his regeneration and finding out that their miscarried daughter was alive in another universe. Dex spent most of the meal trying to calm her and explain that he was still himself just in a different body. By now the effects of the regeneration had dissipated and his memory was no longer foggy. There was a terrace outside the restaurant and after they ate he took her out onto it and they sat down at a table. Dex sat beside her and took her hand.

"Are you alright, my love?" he asked.

"I'm better now. I realize this is normal for us but still…just knowing that someone killed you and made you regenerate…"

"Be thankful you're not married to Father. Someone killing him and making him regenerate is pretty common with him," he said.

He squeezed her hand.

"I swear to you I'm basically the same bloke you married, Patience. You had to adjust to me becoming Dex, this is really no different."

She nodded.

"Just don't blame Father for this. He tried to get out of the room and when he couldn't, he tried to bargain and plead for my life. He's not to blame for this."

"I know that. I'm not angry at him," she said. "I didn't think he stood by and let you be killed on purpose. He's a wonderful man and I know he loves you dearly and I know he feels bad that this happened to you. I'm just glad it happened when they were around you keeping you safe."

"So am I because I know that woman would have continued on tormenting this body and making me regenerate again and again. And as for Caroline…I know that was a shock as well but at least our third child did survive in another universe. And John will be back to visit us in future so I'm sure you'll be able to see her and this other Amelia again."

"Two Amelias, that'll be a handful," Patience said.

Dex chuckled.

"Yeah, I was thinking much the same thing, my love," he said.

He stroked her cheek while Patience sighed contentedly.

"I think I could get used to this body. I love the youthful appearance and the red hair," she said.

"So do I. Father's a bit angry though because he's wanted to be ginger for centuries and I finally was able to do it. There might be a bit of jealousy during this life," he replied with a grin.

He kissed her.

"I'm glad you're willing to accept this new body, Patience."

She shrugged.

"I accepted you becoming Dex and becoming a Time Lady, I guess I can't fault you for regenerating," she said. "I just hope this new body lasts awhile."

"Me too. Although, sometimes other people have an influence on a Time Lord's personality when they regenerate and I definitely have been hanging around Father because I no longer feel timid about doing what he does and going out and seeing the stars."

He chuckled when Patience groaned.

"But…I will be careful if I do that and I will put my family first," he said to her.

He gave her another kiss.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Oh, I am knackered," the Doctor said when most of his family went to their houses for a short rest.

He made John and his group and Bala and Karishma stay so he could take them downtown for furniture shopping.

"Might as well get this out of the way," he said to them. "You can pick out what you want and they'll deliver it to the houses."

"I wanna go, Daddy," Dorothy said, tugging at his trouser leg.

"You do?" the Doctor said, picking her up. "You wanna go furniture shopping with me?"

"Yes!" Dorothy said, putting her arms around his neck.

"Okey-dokey, we'll take you furniture shoppin' then," he said to her.

"Can I go, Daddy?"

"No."

He giggled when Tara eyed him.

"If I said no to you, would that stop you?" the Doctor said to her.

"No."

"Then why do you feel the need to ask me for permission?"

"Um…being polite?" she said.

She giggled and ran away when he tickled her armpit. He looked at Dorothy who was staring into his eyes.

"You want the same treatment then you better behave!" he said sternly.

"No!"

John chuckled when the Doctor feigned anger at that.

"D'ya hear that, John? Listen to this willful child. She needs a good spanking on her behind," he said to him.

John smiled and rubbed her back while Dorothy laid her head on the Doctor's shoulder.

"She's so cute. Where did you find this one then?"

"Well, it's a long story and I'll tell it to you while your fiancée and Donna pick out the furniture. I'm assuming they'll be handling that."

John snorted.

"I don't want any part of it, mate. I'm useless when it comes to picking out furniture."

"So was I. Although the wife helped me out and I'm actually pleased with our selections. But if everyone is ready, we can sally forth and pick out some furniture."

He looked behind his shoulder at Tara who was sitting on the sofa.

"Come on, General Nuisance, if you're going, let's go!" he said to her.

"I'm not a general nuisance, Daddy," she said, getting up.

She and Rain followed everyone else out to the garage. The Doctor put Dorothy on the far side of the minivan right behind the driver's side and activated the restraint that held her into the seat. He then walked around to the driver's side while Rain opened the garage door and got into the passenger side. Once everyone was inside, the Doctor started the car and drove off towards downtown Nova.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

When they reached the furniture store, the men let the women walk around and shop while they stood by and chatted. While they picked out their furniture, the Doctor held Dorothy's hand and told John the story of how they found her and Madison. Alternate Jack stood beside them, listening while he chatted.

"Dalek Factor?" Alternate Jack finally said. "Davros was trying to turn humans into Daleks?"

"Yes," the Doctor said. "Actually, it wasn't the first time. That was the third time I've seen the Dalek Factor in humans. Except this last time, the humans were actually becoming metal and that's never happened before. But we managed to save Madison before she lost her memory and she came with us. And we got Dot here away from her asshole husband and later on, she decided to adopt me as her new daddy."

"So if we wanna find her and Maddie, we should look in Denver," John said.

"Yes, although…if you meet your Grace first and if the Dalek Factor shows up, then your Grace would contact you and tell you to come to her hospital in San Francisco," the Doctor said. "That's what happened to us."

John smiled.

"It would be nice to see Grace again. Have you tried to find any other companions you had before her?" John said.

"No. I'm not sure if I want to. We found Grace by chance. We were in LA and she was there for a conference and I saw her eating. Rain was the one who went over and introduced herself. I'm glad we found her but I'm trying not to consciously seek out my former companions. I figure if we're destined to meet again we will and in the meantime, I'll let them live out their lives."

"Still…wonder what became of some of them," John mused. "I s'pose whether or not they're alive depends on where you land. But Grace was happy to see you, wasn't she?"

The Doctor nodded.

"Yeah, she missed me but I'm afraid of disturbing individual timelines which is why I'd rather run into them instead of seeking them out. That way I know that it's a part of my timeline and I'm not taking them away from some major event they're destined to be a part of."

"Daddy?"

He glanced down at Dorothy.

"Where are we?" she said, looking around.

"We're in the furniture shop, Dot."

"Why?"

"I don't know, I'm asking myself that very same question right now," he said while Alternate Jack and John snickered. "I think we're here to get some furniture so John and Jack won't have to sleep on the floor."

"Oh," Dorothy said, looking around. "Can we go somewhere?"

"We can go back home and collapse in a heap, is that alright?" the Doctor said.

"No."

"Oh, well, sounded like a good idea to me," the Doctor said to the men while they giggled. "I'm a bit knackered myself but not her; she has all this youthful energy. I'm an old man and I need to go home, strip down to my underwear, fall asleep in the recliner and snore my head off. That's what old folks do, right?"

"Somehow, I can't see you doing that, Doc," Alternate Jack said. "Although…might be fun to see you sprawled out in a chair in your undies."

"Yes, I'm sure you'd get your jollies from that, Harkness," the Doctor said, rolling his eyes while John giggled.

Tara walked back over to the Doctor.

"Hello, Person Who Isn't Shopping For Furniture, having fun wandering around the store in a bored daze?"

"Yup," Tara said.

"Oh good, glad to know someone is enjoying themselves," the Doctor said.

Tara put a privacy block around his mind.

_Mommy said you said it was alright for her to tell me your private name,_ she thought to him. _She told me you don't like Theta Sigma because people used to tease you with it. Can we go back to Gallifrey so I can find the people who teased you and beat them up?_

The Doctor gave her a wide-eyed look.

_I don't believe so, Star. I couldn't go back to Gallifrey if I wanted to and if I did, I wouldn't take you back there just so you could beat the living daylights outta everyone_.

_I just don't like people being mean to you,_ Tara thought to him.

_Well, that was far in my past and it doesn't matter to me anymore,_ he thought back_. I appreciate the gesture but going back and bloodying everyone who teased me isn't going to help me now. Besides you'd be quite busy since most of the people who knew me on Gallifrey when I was growing up bullied me._

He felt her anger in his mind and smiled at her.

_You really are protective of your old man, aren't ya?_ He thought to her.

In response, Tara walked around to his left side and put her arms around him while she leaned her head against his arm. The Doctor smiled tenderly and kissed the top of her head before he resumed his conversation with John and Alternate Jack.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they finished picking out everything, everyone got back into the minivan.

"I wanna go somewhere, Daddy!" Dorothy said when he climbed into the driver's seat.

The Doctor looked back at them.

"Is it alright if we take a short diversion to the park so Dorothy can actually have some fun for awhile and stop badgering me like I'm her personal chauffeur?"

Everyone laughed and nodded.

"Alright, we'll go to the park then and let Dot have some fun," he said, starting the car.


	321. Chapter 321

Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty One

After they returned home, the Doctor and Rain sat on their porch swing while Sarah Jane sat on the stone divider wall in front of them and chatted about what she had been doing lately. While they were doing that, the children played in the road between the houses, laughing and giggling while they ran around and chased each other. Sarah Jane looked over her shoulder and watched them for a few minutes.

"You just keep adding children all the time, Doctor," she said to him. "You're gonna have to set up a day care center eventually."

"Tell me about it," the Doctor said, watching them. "But it's nice. It's nice having children around and listening to them laughing and playing."

"Yes, I agree," Sarah Jane said.

The door opened and Rose and Alan walked out the door.

"Where are you off to?" the Doctor asked them.

"Mum wants to see me for a moment," Rose said. "She wants to brainstorm about wedding gifts for John and the other Rose."

"And I'm just tagging along like the dutiful husband I am," Alan replied as they went down the porch steps.

The children stopped playing and watched while they went down the steps into the street. The giggled and formed a queue behind Alan. Alan stopped and noticed all the children were behind him while Rose continued up the steps to Jackie's house.

"What's this?" he asked.

"We're going to follow the leader," Tara said while the other children giggled.

Alan walked off to the right and the Doctor, Rain and Sarah Jane laughed when they all followed him. He walked around the street, whistling casually while they continued to follow him. He grinned and suddenly took off down the street, laughing while the children scrambled to keep up with him.

"Follow me, I'm the Pied Piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiipeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!" he yelled while he sprinted away from them.

He ran for several feet and then made a sharp U-turn and headed back the other way while the children laughed and tried to keep up with him. He stopped short and the children formed the line behind him.

"Help, Brother, there's a long line of little ones coming from me bum!" he said while they laughed. "I can't shake them no matter what I do!"

"Hey, I've got an idea," Amelia said at the back of the line. "Let's pretend we're Papaw and his companions and Alan's a monster!"

"Okay, I'll be Daddy!" Tara said behind her.

Alan spun around.

"Wait a tic, why can't I be the Doctor? I look like him! Why do I have to be the monster?"

"Cause you're taller than us, Daddy," Elizabeth said to him.

"So? There are short monsters out there," Alan said.

The children looked at each other.

"Okay, you be the Doctor and we're your companions," Tara said while the others nodded.

"That's better," Alan said. "Okay, faithful companions, follow me then!"

The children giggled while they followed him down the street. The Doctor, Rain and Sarah Jane laughed and watched them. Alan turned and led them up to Jackie's porch.

"Shhh, there's an evil villain inside this house. We have to be cautious," Alan said to them.

"Okay, Doctor," Amelia said.

They giggled when Alan snuck up to the front door and knocked on it. They watched while he stood in front of it and tapped his foot impatiently. Rose opened the door and stared at him.

"Oh no, the evil villain has my former companion, Rose, I must rescue her!" Alan said dramatically.

"You what?" Rose said.

Jackie came up behind her.

"And there she is now! Unhand my companion, Jackie Tyler!" Alan said.

"What are you gabbling on about?" Jackie said as Rose opened the door wider.

"We're playing. Alan's the Doctor and we're his companions and you're the villain," Opal said.

Alan coughed nervously and the adults across the street laughed when Jackie glared at him.

"I am, am I?" she said to Alan.

"In a pretend sense, Jackie," Alan said sheepishly. "It's not my idea, it's theirs."

"And that includes making me the villain?" Jackie said.

"Well, no, that was me but I knew you were home and well…can't make the misses the villain, I have to sleep with her, you know and…I'll be off now," he said, shuffling away.

Rose bent over in silent laughter when Alan quickly ran back down the steps, the giggling children following him.

"Don't know what you see in that man, Rose," Jackie said to her. "Don't know what you saw in the Doctor but at least the Doctor's only half insane."

"Aw, Mum, he's just playing with the children," Rose said, patting her on the shoulder. "It's just a joke, honestly."

"Well, if you ask me, the moment the man stops joking, I'm thinkin' that'll be the end of the universe," Jackie said, going back inside.

Rose caught Alan's eye and blew him a kiss. Alan made a huge show of catching it and rubbing it all over his face while everyone else laughed. Rose went back inside Jackie's house and shut the door.

"Wow, Doctor, that was a close call," Tara said while she and the children clustered around him.

"Yes, that dastardly villain almost got me but luckily I talked my way out of the danger," Alan said.

A door beside them opened and Jenny stepped out of her house.

"Argh! A monster!" Tara said, pointing at her.

"Who are you calling monster, ya little pest?" Jenny said while the children laughed.

They squealed and ran back to the Doctor's house when she started to chase them. They ran up the steps and swarmed onto the Doctor's porch while he watched with amusement. He laughed when Jenny ran across the yard towards the porch and all of the children squealed and ran inside the house.

"What's going on?" Jenny asked, going up the steps.

"Oh, they're playing. Alan's pretending to be me and all of them are his companions," the Doctor said while Alan climbed the steps. "He nearly got killed when he went over there and called Jackie the villain."

"And I'm a monster according to my bratty sister?" Jenny said.

"Yup, apparently you are, Angel," the Doctor replied.

They laughed when Jenny flung open the door, roared at the squealing children and slammed it back.

"There, I gave them my monster roar," Jenny said, walking over and sitting beside Sarah Jane while Alan rested in the chair on the other side of the porch.

The door opened slightly and the children slowly crept out, grinning from ear to ear. They looked at Alan and walked over to him.

"Hey, Doctor can't rest, we need to travel!" Opal said to him.

Alan's eyes bulged out.

"Oh no, I've been hit by a sleep ray!" he said. "Nighty night, companions!"

The adults laughed when his head slumped onto his chest and he snorted loudly. They laughed harder when everyone gathered around him and began to shove him back and forth while they yelled at him to wake up. Jenny got up and walked over to them.

"Wake up, Doctor, monster's comin'!" Amelia yelled while they slapped his arms.

Jenny stopped at the back of the group when Dorothy and Elizabeth came up to her.

"Go 'way, Monster!" Dorothy said to her.

They squealed and ran back in the house when Jenny roared at them. She walked over to Alan and sat down on his lap. She waited while the door opened and the children stuck their heads out.

"Hey, you get away from the Doctor!" Amelia said.

Jenny let out an evil laugh and bent over Alan while he continued to snore loudly. She waggled her fingers over his head while the children gathered around her and lightly slapped her back. Bala walked over to the Doctor.

"Hey! You come and save him!" she said to him.

The Doctor's eyes bulged.

"Argh, sleep ray!" he yelled while the other adults laughed.

He slumped over and snored loudly while the children ran over to him and tried to wake him.

"Harder, kids, slap him harder. You need to wake him up!" Rain said while Sarah Jane laughed.

"Oi, whose side are you on?" the Doctor muttered to her before he closed his eyes again and snored.

While he was doing that, Angel climbed up beside him. The adults bent over laughing when she screamed right in her ear.

"Hey! You don't have to blow my eardrum out!" the Doctor said while the children giggled.

"I wake you up!" Angel said.

"I know and you made me deaf in the process," the Doctor said to her.

He got up and the children made a way for him while he walked over to Jenny. They laughed when he seized her around the middle and jerked her up and away from Alan.

"I believe you were told to move, Monster," he said to her while he walked back to the porch swing. "I'm the other Doctor and if you won't listen to the first Doctor, you'll listen to me. Now, sit here on the swing and behave before I have to kick your monster bum around the verandah!"

He patted Jenny on the head, walked back to the snoring Alan and plopped down on his legs.

"As for you, Doctor, I'm ashamed. Letting yourself fall asleep like that. That's not something I'd do!"

The children squealed with laughter while he poked him repeatedly on the top of the head.

"Yeah, I would never allow myself to fall asleep!" he said while he poked his head. "You are a disgrace to the pretend Doctor profession. How dare you sleep on the job?"

The children laughed and began to poke him repeatedly all over his body.

"See, my companions think so too," he said, poking his head. "For shame, Pretend Doctor, you are a disgrace!"

"Wouldn't be the first time I've been called that," Alan muttered with his eyes closed.

The Doctor noticed Angel coming around to his ear.

"Mate, if I were you, I'd wake up now before your daughter screams in your ear and makes you deaf," he said to him.

Alan opened his eyes and Angel froze when he looked in her direction.

"Yeah, I see you there," he said while the children laughed. "You and that loud gob of yours. Don't think I don't know what you were planning to do."

"You wake up!" Angel said.

"Wake up! Wake up!" the children said, poking his body.

Alan looked up at his brother while they poked him and laughed.

"Um…my eyes are open, haven't they noticed that?"

"I think they're having too much fun poking you, Brother," he replied.

The children squealed and ran back in the house when Alan roared and thrust his arms out at them. He looked up at the Doctor.

"Nice to know that the newcomers are playing as well," he said to him.

"Yup, I think the children will be a good influence on them. Especially Toby and Bala," the Doctor said, walking back to the swing. "I'm glad all the children are getting along now."

The front door opened and Tara peeked out.

"Are you still awake, Doctor?" she asked.

"Awake and knackered. The Doctor needs a bit of a rest before heading off into time and space again. So why don't you go play and maybe find the dogs and pretend their monsters while I take five and rest my bones?" Alan said.

"Wimp!" Tara yelled before she slammed the door.

The other adults laughed when Alan flipped the vees at the door. He smiled and leaned his head back while he and the other adults listened to the children laughing inside the house.


	322. Chapter 322

Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty Two

The Doctor let out a yawn as he sat on his sofa with Rain. They allowed John's group and Samuel's group to stay with them for the night until the furniture arrived in the morning. They offered their rooms to Teresa, Alternate Rain, Simon, Ruth, Samuel and his family since the others were Gallifreyan and didn't need them. While the Doctor and Rain watched the holo-television, John and Rose sat outside on the patio discussing the wedding, the children played upstairs and Alternate Donna, Alternate Jack, Alternate Rain and Teresa were off visiting with the others in their houses. Alan was taking a bath as was Madison. The dogs lay in front of the holo-television snoring softly, exhausted from all the excitement earlier. The Doctor put his arm around Rain and shut his eyes for a moment, relaxing them.

"HELLO THERE, I'M CRAZY EDDIE HERE WITH A DEAL FOR YOU!"

The Doctor's eyes snapped open and he cursed under his breath when he heard a man in a commercial screaming at the top of his lungs while he was standing in the middle of a used car lot.

"DO YOU NEED A CAR?" Eddie screamed.

"No, but I need a hearing aid now, do you sell those?" the Doctor said while Rain and Rose giggled.

"I HAVE THE BIGGEST SELECTION OF CARS IN THE TRI-GALAXY AREA! MY PRICES ARE SO LOW, THEY'RE INSAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANE!"

"That's good because you're just as insane as these prices of yours," the Doctor muttered.

"I HAVE THE LATEST YEAR 4181 MODELS OF TIAGRA, PORUS, BOLT AND DAZZLER CARS!" Eddie screamed while he hurried around his lot and showed off the cars. "ALL OF THEM COME WITH STANDARD GEL BAGS, FRONT AND BACK HYDROGEN BRAKES AND MORE, MORE, MORE! I'M SO INSANE THAT I'M WILLING TO GIVE AWAY THESE CARS FOR PRACTICALLY NOTHING!"

"I'm guessing it's because you're about to be sectioned and you wanna sell the cars off so you can leave the planet and escape the men with the straitjackets," the Doctor muttered while the women giggled.

The Doctor gestured to the TV.

"This actually entices people to buy cars?" he said to her. "I find it annoying as hell and I certainly wouldn't wanna buy a car from this lunatic."

Rain shrugged.

"I never bought a car until we got the minivan out there, Dear. But they used to have car commercials like this on Earth and yes, I found them very annoying."

They glanced over when Alan suddenly hurried down the steps. He stopped midway down and gazed at them with wild eyes.

"HI, I'M ALONZO TIMELORD AND HAVE I GOT A DEAL FOR YOU!" he screamed.

"Oh bugger, not you too," the Doctor said.

Alan dashed down the stairs towards Rose and got in her face when he reached her.

"ARE YOU TIRED OF LIFE? WOULD YOU LIKE TO DIE? I OFFER EUTHANSIA SERVICES FOR YOU AND I NEED TO KILL AS MANY PEOPLE AS I CAN BEFORE THE TAX MAN COMES SO I'M WILLING TO KILL YOU AT A LOW, LOW PRICE!" Alan screamed.

Rose gave him an odd look while the Doctor chuckled.

"SO COME ON DOWN TO CRAZY ALONZO'S HOUSE OF DEATH AND END THAT PATHETIC EXISTENCE OF YOURS FOR NEXT TO NOTHING!" he screamed, gripping Rose's shoulder.

"What the hell is going on out there?" Madison yelled from inside the bathroom.

Alan chuckled. He patted Rose's shoulder and sat down beside her.

"Heard the barmy git as I was coming out of the bath so I thought I'd give Rose my little humble interpretation of him," he said to them.

"What's going on, Daddy?" Tara said, coming to the top of the stairs with the rest of the children. "Why were you screaming about killing people?"

"That was your uncle," the Doctor said, jabbing his finger at Alan while he giggled hysterically. "He was giving us his imitation of this idiotic car advert where this man screamed his lungs off trying to sell cars.

"Oh," Tara said while she came down the stairs with the rest of the children. "Wondered why you wanted to kill people all of a sudden."

"I was bored and needed something to occupy my time," the Doctor said to her. "I wasn't in the mood for my yo-yo so I thought I'd grab a machete and make everyone in the house regenerate for a laugh."

The children came up to him.

"Do you have something Toby can eat? He's kinda hungry," Tara said, pointing to him.

"You are?" the Doctor said to Toby.

He nodded shyly. The Doctor scratched his chin.

"Well, what shall we feed you then? Tell me, my wife, do we have anymore of those delicious dinosaur biscuits that Dot likes to shove into her mouth?"

"Don't ask me, I'm not in charge of those," she said to him.

They looked over when Alan began to giggle.

"Ought-oh," Rose said.

"Hey, kids, let's play a game! Wanna?" he said, leaning his body over towards them.

The children looked at each other and nodded. Alan leapt up and strolled out to the garage.

"What kind of game? Russian roulette?" Rose asked the Doctor and Rain.

"Hard to tell with him and the way he thinks, Sis," Rain said.

Alan came back into the room a few minutes later carrying a basket of fruit and a small paring knife.

"The game I want to play is called Eat the Unfamiliar Fruit," Alan said, setting the basket down on the coffee table. "I've asked my Daisy to produce fruits from different planets and all of you will do a blind taste test and tell me what you think. That way we can have fun and a bit of nourishment at the same time. I don't think anyone except Brother has seen these fruits before so let's experiment.

He picked up a bright red fruit about the size of a tennis ball. He showed it to the Doctor who grinned and nodded. Alan cut into it with the paring knife and gave a small slice of it to Toby.

"Eat it and tell me what you think," he said to them.

"What is it?" Amelia asked.

"I'll tell you when you're finished sampling," Alan said to her.

Toby examined the slice for a moment before tentatively putting it in his mouth. He chewed it and bit into it again when he swallowed it.

"Do you like it?" Alan said.

Toby smiled and nodded. Alan cut off another slice and handed it to Tara. She bit into it and her eyes widened with delight.

"Whoa, this is good, what is it?" she said.

"You shall know presently, I need to give the rest of your friends a piece," he said to her.

One by one, he cut off slices for all the children and everyone else except for the Doctor who declined. Everyone told him how good it was and he smiled.

"Good. This is Jarvis fruit from the Amelsian Galaxy. It's grown in a very special way. Gigantic rats the size of Rory over there eat the seed, pass it through their bowels and the fruit grows out of that."

"We just ate something that came out of a rat dog's butt?" Rain said while the Doctor sniggered.

"I washed it in the sink before I brought it out here," Alan said, giving her an innocent look.

He reached into the basket and pulled out a golf ball sized green fruit.

"Now…on to the next one," Alan said.

"I don't think I wanna eat any more if I just ate something that came out of a rat's butt," Tara said, staring at the green fruit with distaste.

"They don't all come out of rat's butts, I assure you. Just be adventurous and have some fun. I'm trying to make snack time enjoyable here. Now…"

He cut off a small bit and handed it to Toby. He bit into it and scrunched up his face.

"You don't like that?" Alan said.

Toby shook his head furiously.

"I don't want it then," Tara said while the other kids stepped back.

"What? How do you lot know you won't like it?" Alan said. "Just because Toby doesn't like it means you won't like it either. Look, I'll take a bite to prove it's not a joke."

Alan took a small bite of it and made a small mmmm noise while he chewed the fruit.

"See, it's delicious. So who's first?"

Tara looked at the others.

"Anyone want it now that he got his spit all over it?" she said.

"I did not get my spit all over it," he said while they giggled. "Honestly, Tara, you won't get sick from a bit of saliva on a piece of fruit. Especially since you have a Time Lady physiology."

Dorothy came up to him.

"I want it," she said.

"Good, at least someone is willing to go out on a limb here," Alan said.

He cut off a slice and gave it to her. The children watched intently while she bit into it and made the same face as Toby. The Doctor rushed over to her and held his hand out so she could spit out the remains.

"That settles it, I won't eat any of that," Tara said while the Doctor went to throw the chewed up fruit in the trash can.

"Oh, you lot have no sense of adventure. But for clarification, this is Ambrosia Fruit from Catron Five."

While he decided what fruit to give them next, Madison came out of the bathroom, fully dressed except for a towel turban wrapped around her head.

"What was all that screaming earlier?" she said to the Doctor while he walked past her.

The Doctor explained it to her while Alan reached in, grabbed a dark orange softball-sized fruit and held it up. The Doctor paused when he saw it.

"Where did you get that?" he said to Alan.

"The TARDIS made it. It's not real, unfortunately," Alan said.

"Why? Where's it from?" Tara asked.

"Is it alright to answer her question?" the Doctor said to Alan.

"Yeah, go ahead," he said.

"This is Tamsil fruit from Gallifrey," the Doctor said, pointing to it.

"Not actual Tamsil fruit, mind. It's artificially created but it still tastes the same. I know most of you are curious about Gallifreyan things so I asked Daisy to make this for you to sample."

The Doctor looked at the kids and noticed the newer children were confused but Tara, Amelia and Opal had eager looks on their faces. The Doctor sighed softly at that, feeling a pang of regret that he'd never be able to show off Gallifrey to his family and all they had left now were artificially created items. He knew they were curious about his childhood on Gallifrey and he made a mental note to tell them more and let them read some of his books on Gallifreyan history and culture when they were old enough to be interested in them. This time he accepted a slice along with the others and put it in his mouth savoring the sweet juice that squirted into his mouth when he bit down. A rush of memories came flooding back. All those happy times sitting under the Tamsil trees eating the fruit he managed to knock down from the branches, sitting alone with his thoughts while he gorged himself on the sweet fruit. He didn't have too many happy memories growing up on Gallifrey but that was one of them. Just the thought that the Tamsil trees and their fruit were extinct now made his hearts ache.

"That was good. You got any more Gallifrey things?" he heard Tara say and he smiled at that.

"I can go ask Daisy to make you some tafilshrew breast milk," Alan said.

The Doctor laughed when most of the children gave him looks of disgust.

"What? Nothing like a tall glass of tafilshrew breast milk to quench that raging thirst," Alan said to them.

"No thanks," Amelia said.

"Okay, how about Volefilch Nibbles?" Alan said.

"What's that?" Opal asked.

"Well…Gallifreyans used to catch this little rodent called the Volefilch and kill it for its yummy meat. But before they cooked it, they opened up the colon, took out the poo and laid it out in the suns to dry and once it was dried into little nuggets they put tafilshrew breast milk cheese crumbles on top and had a party in their mouths."

"EWWWWWWWW!" the children screamed in unison while the adults laughed.

"Wait a tic; I'll go get ya some!" Alan said, running off to the garage.

The other adults laughed harder when the children zoomed up the stairs so quickly they nearly broke the sound barrier. They laughed even harder when they heard an enormous SLAM at the same time Alan came back into the room with a small plate filled with little brown nuggets.

"Where'd they go?" he said, feigning confusion.

"I think they ran up to the children's room and I'm sure they're probably climbing out the window, leaping down and running far, far away right now," Rain said.

"Why? I was gonna offer them a plate of chocolate chips here. Why wouldn't they want that?" Alan said innocently.

"You're really evil sometimes, Alan," Madison said while the others giggled.

Alan gave her an evil grin, popped a chocolate chip in his mouth, and winked while he passed the plate around to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After a half hour, John and Alternate Rose came back inside.

"Well, I think we have all the details worked out," he said to them. "However, Rose and I want to take my TARDIS and go reserve a spot on Bellanoche. We should be back before you lot are able to blink," John said.

The Doctor had a sudden thought.

"Why not take Tara with you. I'm sure she'd enjoy some alone time with her second set of parents and she'd wither and die if you went somewhere without her."

"I'd love that, where is she?"

"Probably across the galaxy right now with the rest of the children," Rain said.

"What?" John said, confused.

They chuckled and explained it to him and Alternate Rose while the Doctor went upstairs to fetch his daughter.


	323. Chapter 323

Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty Three

After Tara got ready, she came down the stairs with Simon.

"Can Simon go too?" Rain asked the Doctor.

"Not sure, I think John's in his TARDIS. He'll probably say yes though," the Doctor said.

He gave her a kiss.

"Be good for me," he said to her.

"I will, Daddy."

She gave Rain, Rose and Madison hugs. Alan stood up and hugged her.

"Don't forget your bib now," he said to her.

"Huh? What bib?" Tara said.

"The bib you should be wearing so you don't drool all over John's TARDIS. I don't think he'll appreciate you getting saliva all over his ship."

"Shut up, Uncle Alan," she said while they giggled.

Alan gave her another hug before she and Simon went into the garage. She found John and alternate Rose in the console room of their TARDIS waiting for them.

"Hey, Daddy, Simon wants to come too, is that okay?" she said, pointing to him.

"Yes, welcome aboard," John said. "Come inside, so we can be off. I just hope Bellanoche is the same in this universe."

"Wait!"

Tara and Simon looked at Alan when he ran up to them panting.

"You forgot something," he said to Tara.

Tara groaned when he tied a Spongebob Squarepants baby bib around her neck.

"There, I had Daisy makes this special for ya. Have fun," he said, patting her head.

John raised his eyebrow when he ran off giggling.

"Okay, you'll have to explain this to me," John said, pointing to the bib while Simon giggled.

Tara rolled her eyes while she pointed to it and explained the joke. John glanced at alternate Rose while Tara untied the bib and threw it outside towards Alan's TARDIS.

"See, this Alan is one crazy bloke. Just goes to show ya how varied the universes really are," he said to her.

"Oi!"

They watched while Alan stomped back to the front door holding the bib in his hand.

"This was made special for you, Missy!" he said to Tara while she stood just inside the door with Simon. "I made it so you wouldn't make a mess and…"

Simon laughed when Tara suddenly grabbed the doors and slammed them shut in his face.

"OI!" Alan yelled. "That wasn't very nice, Missy. I'm doing my new brother a favor by giving you this bib. He won't like it when drool starts coming out of your mouth! Ever see that Tom Hanks movie, Turner and Hootch? That dog's drool constantly spilled out of his mouth and the same thing will happen to you if you don't watch it and…"

"Daddy, go!" Tara said, tugging John's jacket sleeve.

"In a minute, I'm listening to my half-insane counterpart rabbit on about bibs and drooling," John said while alternate Rose and Simon giggled.

"John, listen to me! Open the door and grab the bib, for the love of God! You'll regret it if you don't!" Alan yelled through the door.

John laughed while Tara ran around the console powering it up.

"Is the coordinates set in the computer, Daddy?" she said, breathlessly, when she was finished.

"No, don't leave yet. You need your Spongebob bib, Tara!"

By now, they could hear the others outside the TARDIS door laughing with him.

"Spongebob needs you, Tara!" Alan yelled through the door.

Tara tried to stop John when he ran to the doors and threw them open.

"Thank God," Alan said, running inside while the others stood outside, laughing and watching.

He tied the bib back around Tara's neck and kissed her head.

"There ya go, crisis averted. Cheers!"

They laughed when Alan zoomed out the door and slammed it shut behind him. John fingered the bib with an amused grin.

"Cute," he said to her.

"Yeah, well, he can have it for Angel, she needs it more than me," she said, taking it up and stuffing it in her pocket.

"Well, I'll go then and save you the humiliation of having it tied back around your neck," John said.

Tara walked over to the console with Simon. John grinned when she helped him operate it.

"Your other daddy taught you well, didn't he?" he asked her.

"Yup, I'm a Time Lady-in-training," she said proudly.

"What's a Time Lady?" Simon asked her.

"It's what I am…sorta. I won't be a full Time Lady until I'm twenty but I'm like them," she said, pointing to John and Alternate Rose. "Time Lords and Ladies travel time and space and have adventures and they're very smart."

"Can I be one?" Simon asked John.

John and Alternate Rose glanced at each other.

"You can if you want. I have one of these crystal things the Doctor gave me but you have to be sure because I don't think I can change you back…well…second thought, there is the chameleon arch but that's painful and I'd rather not put you under it. So make sure you wanna do this before I give this crystal thing to you."

Simon thought it over for a moment and then nodded.

"I'll do it. I want to do this. I like being on another planet. It's weird but wonderful too."

"Yes it is, it's the best sort of life. I'm so glad I get to do it again," John said, reaching into his pocket.

He handed him the crystal.

"Break it open and you'll be a Time Lord like Daddy," Tara said, pointing to John.

Simon broke it open and the light surrounded him. He blinked when it faded and looked down at himself.

"Did it work? I don't feel different," he said to them.

"It did, I can feel your mind in mine," John said.

"Yeah, can't you feel people's minds inside yours?" Tara asked.

Simon paused a moment.

"I feel all this buzzing," he said to them.

"That's it," John said. "It'll become stronger when you get your full mind but you're feeling our minds, which means you are a Time Lord or Time Lord-in-training like Tara is."

"Neat," Simon said.

"And you have two hearts now and you won't have to sleep very much and you can hold your breath for a long time," Tara added. "And you'll be able to fly this when you turn twenty…'cept Daddy's kind taught me a bit but I don't know everything about it."

"I do," Alternate Rose said. "And it's a good job I know how now since my Doctor never taught me how to fly it."

She gave John a pointed look.

"Well…you weren't a Time Lady," he pointed out. "Tara's a Time Lady so that's why he's teaching her."

"Uh-huh…" Alternate Rose said.

"I'm…very protective of her," John said, patting the console rim. "I don't want just anyone flying her."

"I'm not just anyone, John," Alternate Rose said, giving him another pointed look. "Will I be allowed to fly it now that I do have the knowledge?"

"Only on altenate Wednesdays in months without R's in them," John said.

He chuckled when Alternate Rose swatted his head.

"You're like Uncle Alan and his Rose. She's always doing that when he says something smart-alecky," Tara said.

"Oh blimey, I'm becoming like Alan? Better run and hide, Rose," John said to her.

He put an arm around Tara when she giggled at that. Simon came up beside her and looked at the strange array of things on the console. He asked about a couple of them and John's hearts swelled with pride when Tara told them what they did. He had an idea and pulled Alternate Rose aside for a quick chat. While they did that, Tara continued to show Simon the console and tell him what some of the things did. Five minutes later, John came back to Tara.

"Tara," he said, leaning against the console and folding his arms over his chest, "when the Doctor adopted you, what did he do?"

"He just said I was his daughter and that he'd always think of me as his daughter and that was that."

"See, there is a bonding ceremony we used to have on Gallifrey…"

Tara nodded.

"Daddy did do that but then we got a zillion people in our family and Rose kept having to perform it and I think she got tired of having to say the words every five minutes so we don't really do it anymore. Daddy said it really didn't matter anyway, it was just a formality. Everyone thinks of me as his daughter now," she said.

"Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to do something extra because I'd like to mark the occasion. I understand them getting tired of doing the bonding ceremony and truth be told, it is a rather long winded and stuffy ceremony. The one I was thinking of is not Gallifreyan, it's more beautiful than the bonding ceremony and your mum and I would like to do it because we want to honor you and welcome you into our little family. If you like, we can take a quick diversion and do that since you're here."

"Ooo, yes. I want to, Daddy, please."

"Then we'll do that before going to Bellanoche," John said.

"What about me?" Simon said.

John gazed at him.

"Do you wanna become our son?" he asked.

"Well, I've been thinking about it and you're very nice people and I wouldn't mind having you as my new mom and dad," Simon said.

Alternate Rose laid a hand on John's shoulder as tears came to his eyes. He gave him a hug.

"Then we'll do the ceremony for both of you," he said to him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Tara looked down at the white dress she was wearing. Covering the back of her head was a heavy white veil that had embroidered white flowers all over it and she was wearing soft velvet white slippers. Simon had changed into an all white suit with white dress shoes. Tara looked at Alternate Rose who had changed into a rose-colored knee length strapless dress.

"I have to wear this?" she said to Alternate Rose.

"According to John, you do. I don't know very much about Archella but according to John, children who go through the ceremony wear white to signify their innocence. And also it's meant to represent wedding clothes because like a wedding, you and Simon are joining together with me and John and becoming a part of our family. It's just part of the ritual," she said.

"Can you take pictures for my other daddy?" she asked.

"Don't worry, I will. Believe me, John wants photos as well," she said to her.

They hugged one another.

"You look beautiful, Love, and I'm sure your brother will look very nice in his white outfit," Alternate Rose said.

"Oooo…"

They turned and saw John and Simon staring at them from the wardrobe room entrance.

"You look beautiful, my daughter," John said, coming over to her. "Like a little princess."

He gave her a hug.

"Yes, I'm glad I thought of this. This will be a beautiful ceremony," he said in her ear.

He gave her a kiss on the cheek and Tara looked at Simon when let go and bent back up.

"You look good, Simon," she said.

"You do too, but tarnation, this thing itches, I'll be glad to get outta it," Simon said.

"Well in that case, we better get the ceremony over with then," John said as they walked out of the wardrobe room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They landed on Archella next to a large white mansion. John led everyone inside it and he spoke to the receptionist sitting at a desk ten feet from the front door.

"Yes, Mister Smith, you're expected," the young woman said, checking her schedule. "The person in charge of your ceremony is Ricky and he'll be with you shortly."

John thanked her and all of them went off to the left through a white corridor with pink marble flooring into a huge common room. When they reached it, the room was closed off with huge double doors that were edged with gold trim. John threw open the door and Tara gasped when she saw her entire family and friends sitting and standing in the large room.

"Oh yeah, I made a few calls while you were getting dressed, I was going to tell ya but it slipped my mind in all the excitement, sorry," he said to her with a wink.

"It's a good thing he did because we would have killed him if he'd done this without all of us," Awinita said.

"Yes, I'm glad you thought of this, John," the Doctor said. "It didn't occur to me to do this because we were on holiday in Florida but I love the idea. And congratulations on gaining Simon as a son and his becoming a Time Lord. Luckily, I could round up everybody on short notice. Good job Sarah was still around with the teens in their house."

"Yes, I wouldn't have missed this for the world," Sarah Jane said.

They all came towards them and the Doctor and Rain embraced their daughter.

"You're a vision," he said to her.

"Thanks, Daddy."

Rain kissed her while the Doctor patted Simon's shoulder.

"Welcome to the family," he said to him. "And you look nice as well."

"Thank you," Simon said.

They heard someone clearing their throat and turned to see a tall man with an atlethic build and a tan. He had short brown hair that was slightly tousled, a heart shaped face, a slight tan and spectacles perched on his nose.

"My name is Ricky, I'll be doing the ceremony this afternoon. Is this everyone who'll be attending?"

They all nodded.

"Then follow me, please," he said to them.


	324. Chapter 324

Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty Four

Ricky led them through a forest into a clearing. There was a small dirt path that went ‎through it. A hundred folding chairs had been set up on either side of the path, fifty on ‎each side. In front of the path was a large stage with a white backdrop. In the center of ‎the backdrop was a large wreath with white Roses inside it. Above it was a white sash ‎trimmed with gold. Everyone sat down in the seats except for John, Alternate Rose, Tara ‎and Simon who stood at the back while they received instructions from Ricky on how the ‎ceremony was performed. When he was finished, John and Alternate Rose walked up to ‎the stage and stood together smiling at their children while Ricky pulled a small book out ‎of his suit and studied it for a moment. While Tara and Simon were standing there, Alan ‎looked back with a stern look and pointed to his chest.‎

‎"No bib," he mouthed to Tara. "Shame on you."‎

‎"Be quiet, Uncle Alan," Tara said aloud while everyone laughed. ‎

Tara looked at the chairs beside her and saw Serena and Tobey standing there. She came ‎up and put her hand on her shoulder.‎

‎"Hey, you came too," she said.‎

‎"Yes, we were chatting with Sarah Jane when the Doctor contacted her and told her what ‎was happening. I'm glad I decided to visit all of you so I could see this. You look ‎beautiful, Honey."‎

‎"Thanks," she said to Serena.‎

Tara raised her eyebrow when Alan hurried up the aisle.‎

‎"What did you do with your bib?" he said in a loud whisper.‎

‎"I burned it," Tara said.‎

She giggled when Alan's mouth dropped open.‎

‎"Fine, see if I buy you any more bibs in future, Miss Ungrateful," he said to her.‎

He quickly hurried back up to his seat at the front and leaned across Rose to talk to the ‎Doctor. They chatted for a moment and then the Doctor looked at Tara and pointed to his ‎chest.‎

‎"No bib," he mouthed to her.‎

He and Alan giggled when Tara gave them an exasperated look. Music began to play and ‎everyone turned to look at them while two ladies wearing navy blue evening dresses ‎appeared at their sides. Tara and Simon walked slowly down the aisle with them while ‎John and Alternate Rose watched.‎

‎"Yeah, Daddy was right about this being like a wedding," Tara whispered to Simon. ‎‎"This is weird."‎

‎"Just as long as we aren't marrying them for real," Simon whispered back.‎

‎"Psst, you forgot your bib," Alan hissed when they passed by him.‎

‎"Will you shut up, Uncle Alan," Tara whispered while everyone around Alan giggled. ‎

They led them up the steps to the stage while the Doctor, Rain and several others used ‎cameras and cell phones to take pictures of the ceremony. Tara stood in front of Alternate ‎Rose and Simon stood in front of John.‎

‎"Friends, we are here today to witness this adoption ceremony and the joining of these ‎four people," Ricky said. "All four have entered into this ceremony willingly and wish to ‎become a family. Is there anyone here who disputes this?"

Everyone remained silent and continued to take pictures. ‎

‎"Very well, Tara come forward," Ricky said.‎

Tara stepped between John and Alternate Rose and they put their hands on her back. ‎

‎"John and Rose, do you wish to adopt Tara as your daughter?" Ricky asked.‎

‎"We do," Alternate Rose and John said in unison. ‎

‎"Tara, do you accept Rose and John as your mother and father?" Ricky asked her.‎

‎"I do," Tara said. ‎

‎"Then by the power invested in me, I declare Tara your legally adopted daughter," Ricky ‎said. ‎

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box. He gave it to John. He opened it and pulled out a small delicate crystal ring. He slipped it on the ring finger.

"This is kinda like a wedding ring," Tara whispered.

"In a way. It's on the wrong finger for a wedding ring, but it's still the same sort of symbolism."

Both he and Rose bent down and gave her kissed on the cheek while the sent love into her mind. She stepped back and the ritual was repeated with Simon. Once he declared John and Alternate Rose to be his mother and father, Ricky gave him a ring made of silver and he slipped it on his finger. Both of them kissed his cheek and they stood and turned to everyone else. They all cheered when Ricky declared Tara and Simon to be John and Alternate Rose's adopted children. Once the ceremony was done, all of them walked back to a large reception hall for drinks and to congratulate John and Alternate Rose.

"You didn't drool on yourself, I'm proud of you," Alan said to Tara just before they went into the reception hall.

"I'm gonna slug you, Uncle Alan," Tara said while the Doctor giggled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

At the reception everyone except the children had champagne. The children were given milk and all of them sat at large round wooden tables that had white tablecloths drapped over them. John and Alternate Rose sat with the Doctor, Rain, Tara and Simon.

"So now that it's official, we have to work out a visitation schedule," the Doctor said.

"We'll visit her as often as we can. We'll just pretend she's off at boarding school in Switzerland or something," John replied.

"Actually, I have a better idea," the Doctor said.

"Yeah?" John said.

An impish grin spread over the Doctor's face.

"I have a machete in my TARDIS. I'll take it and cut her down the middle and then you get half and I get half."

"Brililant, why didn't I think of that!" John said while Alternate Rose and Rain laughed.

"Yeah, that was really funny alright," Tara muttered while the Doctor and John gave her kisses.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After the party ended, John and his family headed back to their TARDIS so they could continue on to Bellanoche. The Doctor and Rain followed them while everyone else got back into his TARDIS for the journey back to Nova.

"Have fun on Bellanoche," the Doctor said to them. "Find the most romantic spot on the planet and maybe we can convince our wedding shy family members to join you."

"I wouldn't mind," John said. "It would be nice to watch a wedding rather than be a part of it. Although, I will enjoy it since I'll be marrying Rose and having my son and daughter carrying me down the aisle towards her."

"What?" Tara said while the giggled.

"I'm not carryin' ya," Simon added.

"Just kiddin'," John said. "Although you might need to be our ringbearer."

"Actually, you can borrow Dot for your flower girl. Course I can't guarantee she'll behave properly. My daughter's are all a bit wild and that includes this one right here."

"I have to be wild to keep up with you, Daddy," Tara said.

"Yup, you do," the Doctor replied.

They reached John's TARDIS and he and Rain gave her and Simon hugs.

"Have fun, I have to take the rest of the family back home before they wreck my TARDIS," the Doctor said to Tara.

He stared at her for a moment.

"John, can you do me a huge favor?" he said to him.

"Yeah?"

"Could you find a shop and get me some super adhesive glue so I can fuse this outfit to Tara's body. It must never come off."

"Yes, it must. I don't like it," Tara said.

"Well, I wasn't taking your feelings into consideration anyway," the Doctor said to her.

He kissed her on the cheek when she rolled her eyes.

"You can take it off…for awhile and then you'll have to put that and that red sari back on so we can comment on your beauty," he said.

"Red sari?" John said.

"Ugh, Daddy, you had to say something," Tara muttered.

"Yes, because now you'll have to model the sari for you other mum and dad," the Doctor said. "In fact, you can wear it at the wedding. It'd be perfect."

"How 'bout if I wear my jeans and t-shir…"

The Doctor clamped his hands over her mouth.

"Yup, the sari will do just fine," he said while Tara giggled through his hands.

He let go of her and tousled her hair. Rain gave her a kiss and they waved while they headed back to their TARDIS.

"Yes, wave, you'll never see her again."

Alternate Rose jerked her head around when she heard John mutter that in a low, sinister voice. John feigned surprise and put his hand to his mouth.

"Sorry, did I just say that out loud. How embarrassing," he said to her.

Alternate Rose gave him a peck on the cheek.

"If you do decide to kidnap her, leave me behind because if he's anything like our Doctor, I don't wanna be in the middle when he flies into a rage. Come along, Tara and Simon, let's get into the TARDIS and head off."

She put her hands on their shoulders and they walked inside. John sighed contentedly watching them go inside.

"Well, I got the adoptions sorted out, now all that's left is Rose," he murmured to himself before he followed him.


	325. Chapter 325

Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty Five.

John flew the TARDIS through the vortex towards Bellanoche.

"Now all we have to do is find the spot and make all the arrangements. Find someone to conduct the ceremony, hire a caterer, find a banquet hall, find somewhere where we can spend the night," he said, wagging his eyebrows.

"Down boy, one thing at a time," Alternate Rose said when he took her hand and kissed the back of it.

"Are you going to dance to your song at the reception, Daddy?" Tara asked him.

John froze.

"Um…we don't have one," he said to her.

"What do you mean your song?" Simon asked.

"Well…a lot of couples pick a special song that's meaningful to them and they make it their personal song," John explained to him. "Up until a few days ago we didn't really have much of a romantic relationship so we didn't get as far as that."

"I can help you. I have an idea for your song," Tara said.

"Yes? What is it?" John said while Alternate Rose came up behind her.

"Well…this isn't my other mommy and daddy's song. Mommy played me their song before and I like it but this is one song they were dancing to one night when we were traveling in the TARDIS and they thought I was in bed. And I was but I was bored and wanted to talk to Daddy for awhile and when I went to the console room, they were dancing and singing to each other and I just stood in the door and watched. They do a lot of stuff like that. But I finally told Mommy I saw them and asked her what the song was and she said it was So Bad by Paul McCartney. Have you heard it before?"

"I have," John said. "Thinking back on the lyrics, I think it might do nicely."

"I've never heard it. Least I don't think I've heard it before," Alternate Rose said. "I like Paul McCartney but that song doesn't sound familiar."

"Here, I can ask the TARDIS to cue it up and let you have a listen," John said.

He found the song and the soft pop song started. They stood around the console while they listened to it.

There is a pain, inside my heart,  
you mean so much to me.  
Girl, I love you, girl, I love you so bad.

And if you leave, my pain will go,  
but that's no good to me.  
Girl, I love you, yes, I love you so bad.

Well, it feels so good, sometimes it feels so bad.  
This is worse than anything I've ever had.

There was a pain, but now you're here  
and I don't fear a thing.  
Girl, I love you, yes, I love you so bad.  
And she said, boy, I love you,  
boy, I love you so bad.

When the solo came on, John took his fiancée around the waist and both of them slow danced around the console while Tara and Simon sat on the jump seat and watched them. The TARDIS dimmed the lights down and the couple became lost in the moment, closing their eyes and dancing around while the song finished up. When it finished, John cupped Rose's face with his hand and they leaned in while they shared a deep kiss. After thirty seconds, John remembered where he was and who was with them. Embarrassed, he broke off the kiss."

"Sorry, got carried away in the moment there," he said to Tara.

She shrugged.

"Daddy does it all the time, I'm used to it," she said. "Besides you looked happy so I'm glad you did it."

"Well…" John said, glancing at Alternate Rose. "I think we're gonna go with your suggestion and use that as our song. Thank you for thinking of it."

"That's what I'm here for," Tara said to him.

John walked over and kissed her head.

"Yup, too bad you'll never see your other daddy again, eh? Bad luck, I'm afraid. You're mine and mine alone!"

"Ahem."

"Okay, you're mine and Rose's," he said while Tara giggled.

He turned to the monitor while Tara and Simon came up beside him and watched what he was doing. Tara studied the gallifreyan writing on the monitor while John went around to the other side of the console. Alternate Rose came up beside her and leaned down.

"So your other mum and dad have a lot of romantic moments?" she asked her.

"Oh yeah, they're kissing and hugging and always doing stuff like that," Tara said.

"What about Alan and the other Rose. Do they do stuff like that too?" Alternate Rose asked.

Tara giggled.

"Yeah, but Alan likes to tease her all the time and he likes to embarrass her for fun."

"Really? Like what? What was one time he embarrassed her."

Tara got a fit of the giggles.

"Um…one time I was in the console room with Mommy and Daddy and Rose and we were just standing there talkin' and suddenly Uncle Alan runs into the room and smacks Rose's butt as hard as he can and he screamed, "This belongs to me, no touchy!" and then he ran away while everyone laughed and Aunt Rose turned red."

"Wow, I suddenly feel sorry for the other Rose. Does he do that stuff in public?"

"Yeah. He loves seeing her turn red. We were in this opera one time in the past and it was this pretty theater with these red seats and it was me and Mommy and Daddy and Alan and Rose and Jack and Ianto and in the middle of the opera, Uncle Alan leans over to Aunt Rose and says in this loud whisper, "You know, if I drop some trouser chili on the seats, the stain will be there forever more so there's my immortality!" and she turned red because the people behind him heard it and started laughing."

"I'm liking Alan more and more. I'm actually sorry I missed the stuff she's describing," John said to them.

"Daddy sometimes joins him but Uncle Jack is really bad about it," Tara said.

"Yeah, I can just imagine," John said, rolling his eyes.

"There was this one time when him and Uncle Alan and Daddy started imitating Mommy and Aunt Rose and Ianto and making them say silly things and after they said all these crude, silly things, all of them got into this fake argument about hair gel and how there wasn't much left and they'd have to battle to the death for it. That time me and Dot were the one ones around, they were just doing that to make us laugh," Tara said.

John sniggered.

"Yup, sounds like life with them is never dull," he said to them.

The TARDIS landed and powered down. John and Alternate Rose took the children's hands and all of them walked to the front door. They opened it and John peeked out.

"So far it looks calm and peaceful," he said to them.

They stepped outside onto a patch of lush, green grass. There was a dense forest beside them and a little dirt path. In the distance they could hear the faint roar of a waterfall.

"Yes, I believe this is Bellanoche," John said, closing the door behind them.

They stepped onto the path and headed towards the waterfall. Above them was an aquamarine colored sky with twin suns next to each other and two tiny planets next to them. John glanced down and put his hand on Simon's shoulder when he saw how awestruck he was at seeing the alien sky. They walked the path for about a quarter of a mile before they saw a sign pointing to a divergent path that led into the woods. According to the sign, the waterfall was named the Starlight Crystal. All of them took the diversion down and into the woods. The closer they got to the falls, the louder the roar got until they rounded a bend in the path and saw it through some trees. The water was the deepest blue Tara had ever seen and she ooed and ahed at it while they stepped off the path to get a closer look. The falls were coming off a hundred foot high cliff and half way down an outcrop of rock jutted out making the water splash out and away from the cliff on the second half of its journey down to another pile of rocks below. The suns hit the water making several small rainbows in the mist that rose from the rocks. More mist flew through the air and hit their faces, a welcome relief from the heat of the day. They noticed another sign right by the rocks. There were a couple of boulders near the rock piles and someone had carved steps into them. The sign invited people to go behind the falls for a closer look. John and Alternate Rose took the children's hands and they slowly climbed the wet stone stairs to a large flat stone surface directly behind the waterfall. The water roared in their ears while they looked around. The outcropping was about thirty feet over their heads making a little sheltered cove that was both shaded and cool. The rock surface was about twenty feet across and on the other side another set of stone steps led down to the other side.

"This is beautiful," Simon said, looking around.

"Yeah, I love it here. It's so peaceful," Alternate Rose added.

"Then this is it."

They looked at John who was near the far side of the rock grinning from ear to ear.

"Plenty of room for a wedding party back here, it's nice and cool and we'll have the waterfall beside us when we wed. I vote we have the ceremony right here."

"Oo, you need to do that, Mommy. This'll be pretty," Tara said to her.

Alternate Rose turned her head to John and saw the grin on her face. His infectious grin spread to her face and she nodded.

"Yeah, let's have it here," she said.

The children cheered while John ran over, picked her up and spun her around. Then he lowered her back to the rock and his lips pressed against hers.

"I think our children approve," John said to her.

"Yup, I don't hear any noises of disgust coming from them," Alternate Rose said.

"Hmmm, maybe we should try harder to disgust them," John said, wagging his eyebrows.

Alternate Rose grinned and they deepened the kiss. Simon made a face and wandered out of the console room but Tara stayed and smiled softly knowing her other mommy and daddy were now just as happy as her first mommy and daddy. She watched for a moment more before she carefully got up and left the snogging couple alone.


	326. Chapter 326

Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty Six

After John and Alternate Rose left, he and the others got into their swimwear, took a boom box out to the pool and relaxed for awhile. Alan, Rose, Bala and Madison swam while the Doctor rested in a deck chair beside Rain and Dorothy. Across the way, Karishma was talking with the other Rain and Teresa. They left the dogs inside for awhile and every so often they came to the glass patio door and whined while they pawed the glass. Finally, the Doctor decided to be merciful and let them come out. Dorothy squealed and hopped off her deck chair. She ran with the dogs while the Doctor settled back down in his chair, took his wife's hand and closed his eyes, completely contented. They were listening to a so-called classical station which played songs from the twentieth and twenty first centuries. The music wafted through the air while the swimmers laughed and splashed each other.

He felt a hand on his stomach and opened his eyes. He saw Dorothy beside him staring intently at his navel.

"You have a hole there," she said, pointing to his belly button.

"I know, neat, huh?" the Doctor said to her. "And you know what? I used to be the only Gallifreyan that had one. You have one too. It's called a belly button."

"Belly button," Dorothy said softly.

The Doctor eyed the dogs when they came up to his other side and began to sniff his body.

"I don't have any treats on me so you might as well go beg somewhere else," he said to them.

His eyes widened when Rory howled at him.

"Oi, don't take that tone with me, Rory," he said while Rain and Dorothy giggled. "I don't care how long and how hard you protest you're not getting any treats from me. So shove off."

"Come on, doggies, play!" Dorothy squealed, running around him.

"That's right, go and play with the wee one and leave me alone," the Doctor said, pointing to her.

He sighed when the dogs chased Dorothy and left him alone.

"Remember when that lot used to be puppies, Latara?" he said to Rain. "They were all so small and adorable and easy to manage. What the hell happened?"

Rain giggled.

"I guess they grew, Dear," she said.

"So did Tara but she doesn't come sniffing around me looking for treats."

"Give her a few years when she's a teenager and wants to borrow the TARDIS for a night on the town," Rain said.

The Doctor snorted.

"Over my dead body and since I'm on my tenth life that'll be awhile," he murmured.

The Doctor closed his eyes and let out a contented sigh as the sun warmed his skin. A couple of minutes later he heard an enormous splash followed by women squealing. He opened his eyes and saw Alan making a huge tidal wave with his arms while Rose, Bala and Madison tried to get away from it.

"Behold, I am the Tsunami King! Flee before my tidal waves of terror!" he said while he walked through the shallow end making waves.

"More like the Dork King!" Rain yelled.

The Doctor opened one eye and grinned when Alan stopped and stared at her intently from the middle of the pool.

"Don't even think it, Bro," Rain said, pointing at him.

"What did you just call me?" Alan said, crossing his arms over his bare chest.

"You heard me and don't you dare do something to retaliate. Just keep on swimming and leave us alone."

"Us? You mean you and Brother? Brother's not the one who called me a dork just now," Alan said to her. "He's innocent in my eyes. You, on the other hand…"

"I'm warning you, Bro. Don't you dare or I'll make you regenerate."

Alan threw back his head and laughed long and loud. He turned and continued the forced laugh while he walked towards Rose who was getting out of the pool on the shallow end. Rose turned and watched while he came up beside her and continued the forced laugh. He kept on laughing while he pointed at Rain. Bala giggled as he kept up the laugh for another thirty seconds finally ending up with one loud, "HA!" before falling silent.

"That's what I think of Rainy's threat, just so you were clear on what I was doing," Alan said to Rose. "Anywho, back to Rainy now…"

"No, we're not back to Rainy now, go away!" Rain said.

"Move, Starlight, I have to mete out punishment to my mouthy sister."

"Doctor, go over there and restrain your brother this instant."

"I'm resting," the Doctor said to her.

"I'll get out if you give me time to do it," Rose said to Alan who had his hands on her back and was lightly shoving her.

"Well, hurry up," Alan said to her. "I need to get out and get over there before she runs in the house and you are a barrier right now so scoot, scoot, scoo…"

He gasp when a wave of water hit him from behind. Everyone howled with laughter when he turned and saw Bala standing behind him.

"There! That's for trying to get us wet!" Bala said.

"On second thought, cancel Rainy; I have to deal with this one here!"

Bala squealed and started running when Alan took off after her. Alan deliberately kept his pace slow enough that he was behind her but couldn't catch her as they went around the shallow end of the pool.

"You know, you're just as cheeky as Tara is," Alan said to her while she ran from his squealing. "And just like Tara, you're gonna learn not to mess with El Supremo here! I won't have you living across the street and terrorizing me every ten seconds, no siree bob! This behavior will cease here and now!"

"Run, Bala, he's a crazed maniac!" Rain called out to her.

"And don't think for one second I've forgotten you because I haven't!" Alan said as he passed by her.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yada, yada, yada!" Rain said, waving her hand dismissively.

The Doctor smiled enjoying the scene through half closed eyelids. He groaned when the mobile on the table next to him started ringing.

"Mobile phones are demonic!" he said to Rain.

She giggled when he picked it up and hit the talk button.

"Hi, whoever this is, talk fast because I'm about to jump into the TARDIS, go back in time, find the person who invented these sodding things and kill him!"

He snickered when there was a pause on the other end of the line.

"I'm sorry I disturbed you then," John finally said.

"Oh, only joking, Brother. It's just that ever since Martha gave me this phone, it's been ringing almost non-stop and it's become a bit of an irritant now. How are you? Did you find something on Bellanoche?"

"Yes, we did. A lovely spot behind a waterfall. We arranged with a nearby resort to have someone come and marry us there."

"Behind a waterfall?" the Doctor said.

"Yes, there's room enough for everyone. At least everyone in the wedding party, the others will have to watch from either side but it's romantic and the four of us love it so that's where we're going to have it. We scheduled the wedding for two days time so we can have time to get ready. Is that alright?"

"Perfectly fine with me. I'll let everyone know about it so they can prepare. How's my beautiful daughter doing?"

"Oh, she's fine. She's been very helpful."

"Well, I expected no less of her," the Doctor said. "I only hope this helpfulness continues through the teenage rebellion years. I love the way she is now, I'm not looking forward to her telling me to piss off and slamming the door in my face because I've suddenly become uncool in her eyes."

John chuckled.

"Somehow I can't see that happening. She adores you, we can tell that much. But we'll go ahead and take her to get her outfit since she's with us. Both Rose and I want to spend as much time with her as we can before we have to part company with her."

"You don't have to leave right away. Take your time," the Doctor said. "You have a home here now so there's no rush."

"I know but at the same time both Rose and I want to make up for lost time since Jackie and Pete chained us to Torchwood. But we'll be back to see her. We've both grown very attached to her and neither of us could bear to be away from her for an insane amount of time."

There was a pause when Alan finally caught up to Bala and began to tickle her while he splashed water on her body.

"Who was that?" John asked.

"Tara's twin. She mouthed off to Alan and now he's giving her the tickle splash treatment in our pool," the Doctor said.

John chuckled.

"Must be odd having a brother so different in personality from you," he said to him.

"Yeah, it was at first but actually I've learned to be more like him now so it's not so weird. In time, I hope you learn to do the same because there's really no need to be that serious."

"Well…I realize that and I'm trying but it'll take awhile to shake off Jackie's influence," he said. "We're debating on whether or not we should go and tell her about our wedding. My Rose would love to have her sister there but not if our Jackie is gonna disrupt things. We thought about going and getting that over with and Tara has offered to come with us and try to talk to her. Don't know how much good that'll do but then again, Jackie seems to like children so maybe she and Simon can soften her heart and we'll get out of there with our heads intact. I'm just glad that you've worked things out with your Jackie and she gets along with you and Alan because it's hell having that woman on our backs."

"Don't I know it, Brother," the Doctor said. "Took a long time for her to come to that point but I'm glad she did because she's been great with the children and gracious about babysitting for them when we need it. Plus, our Rose gets to see her mum and dad and brother whenever she likes. Well…whenever we can get back here, let me put it this way. I'm sure there were times when she was sitting in a dungeon somewhere that she wanted to come and see them but it wasn't feasible at that time."

John chuckled at that. The Doctor heard Tara in the background asking to talk to him.

"Wanna speak with your daughter?" John asked him.

"Sure, put her on the phone," he said.

"Okay, just a tic."

There was a short pause and then the Doctor heard Tara's breathing.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, my Star?"

"I just wanted to say hi to you and I love you."

The Doctor beamed.

"Thank you and I'll throw the same sentiment back in your direction."

"You'll like the place we found. It's very pretty," Tara said. "We're going to have a big reception after it with lots of food."

"Oh well better not let your uncle hear that then."

"Better not let me hear what?" Alan said from the other end of the pool.

"That the sky is falling on Turtro Seven and it's killing millions," the Doctor called to him.

"Damn, I want to watch the Turtros die!" Alan yelled back.

The Doctor chuckled before he turned his attention back to Tara.

"So you're going to go see their Jackie now, huh?"

"Yeah, I think so," Tara said.

"Did I ever tell you how incredibly brave you are, my daughter?" the Doctor said. "You're facing down a woman who must never be messed with."

"Our Jackie's nice," Tara said.

"Yes, well, our Jackie apparently isn't a slave driver like their Jackie is. Just be mindful of those small differences that crop up between universes, Tara, and don't be surprised if she's not as open and warm as our Jackie is."

"Okay, Daddy. If she's not like our Jackie, I'll hit her in the mouth."

"Well, make sure you hit her extra hard for me then. But don't let the other Rose know I said that," the Doctor said.

Tara giggled.

"Okay, Daddy. That's all I wanted to tell you though. I was just saying hello and I love you."

"Well, hello and I love, love, love ya too!" the Doctor said while Rain smiled at that. "You wanna talk to mummy?"

"Yeah."

The Doctor held out the phone to Rain. She took it and started talking to Tara while the Doctor shifted his body to get comfortable and closed his eyes again.

"What were you referring to when I said I better not hear that?"

The Doctor opened his eyes and saw Alan standing beside him toweling himself. The dogs were clustered around his wet legs licking the water droplets off and the Doctor shooed him away before he told him what John had said. Alan raised his eyebrows when he finished.

"Behind a waterfall. Why didn't we think of that?" he said, draping the towel around his neck. "That sounds lovely though and I will definitely enjoy all the food. But afterwards can we go and watch the Turtros die?"

"Sure, why not!" the Doctor said with a grin.

"Brilliant. Well, I'm gonna go inside and get dressed in some dry clothes and come back out. Perhaps we can have another barbecue tonight?"

"Sounds good to me," the Doctor said.

"Extra brilliant. I'll talk to you in a moment then."

He turned to go and then had a wicked idea. He spun around, took the towel off his neck and ran to Rain. Rain gasped when he slapped the wet towel over her forehead.

"Retribution is swift!" he yelled as he left the towel behind and ran to the patio doors.

"Bro, geez!" Rain said, flinging the towel away while everyone laughed. "Honey, can we leave him behind when we leave Bellanoche, please?"

"I'll consider it," the Doctor said with a wink.

Rain shook her head, sighed and went back to her conversation with Tara while the Doctor leaned up, patted her leg and then went back to sunbathing himself.


	327. Chapter 327

Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty Seven

John sighed as he activated the void crosser so they could cross back into their original universe.

"I'm not looking forward to this," he muttered.

"Well, look at it this way," Alternate Rose said. "If it goes badly we can get back in the TARDIS and go. The least we can do is offer her a chance to be a part of our family and come to the wedding. I'm sorry, John, but I would like my sister to attend the weddin'."

John nodded. All of them held on as the TARDIS crossed the void.

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Once the TARDIS landed. The four of them stepped outside onto the sprawling lawn of the Tyler estate. The lawn was manicured as well as the bushes and behind the huge white mansion there was a large hedge maze with several stone benches spaced out around the perimeter of it. Beside that was an enormous flower garden with flowers of every color and description. A Pakistani gardener was tending to it while butterflies and bees flitted from flower to flower. They waved to him as they passed and he waved back.

"That's Majid," John said to Tara and Simon. "He's a nice bloke. One of the few people who treated me kindly around here."

They walked up to the front door and everyone stood back while Alternate Rose rang the doorbell. John put his hands on his children's shoulders as the door opened up and Jackie stared at them.

"What do you want?" she said coldly.

John sighed when he saw his suspicions were confirmed. Jackie glanced at him and gave him a look that could freeze molten lava. Her eyes drifted down to the children and she gave them a puzzled glance before she focused her attention back on Alternate Rose.

"Well?" Jackie said to Alternate Rose.

"Mum, we wanted to talk to you," Alternate Rose said.

"Oh really? What about? You wanna talk about why you suddenly quit working at Torchwood?"

"We quit because we got a TARDIS back," Alternate Rose said.

Jackie sighed.

"Blast. I was afraid this would happen someday," she muttered.

She looked at Tara and Simon.

""And who are they?" she said, pointing to them.

"These are our children. We just adopted them," Alternate Rose said.

"You what?" Jackie said.

"They're our son and daughter," John said. "This is Tara and this is Simon. Congratulations, Jackie, you're a grandmother now!"

Jackie's eyes bulged out of her skull which amused John to no end.

"Yup, Jacks, you are now a grandma," John said gleefully.

John was ecstatic. For once, Jackie was completely speechless. After a moment, she finally found her voice.

"You adopted them?" she said.

"Yes, we did, Mum," Alternate Rose said.

"And you're gonna be going off into time and space again?" she said.

"Yes, we are," Alternate Rose said.

Jackie jabbed her finger at the children.

"Then what happens to them? How are you gonna take care of them if you're running from monsters?" she said.

"Well, actually, from what I've heard, Tara can take care of herself," John said, patting her shoulder. "And Simon here was in the Union Army and was at the front of a battalion marching into battle with a flag. That takes courage so I'm sure with a little training he'll be able to take care of himself as well."

"You're barking mad. Both of ya," Jackie said, shaking her head. "I can't believe you're gonna give up a perfectly good job at Torchwood to fly all over the universe."

"Neither of us enjoyed working at Torchwood, Mum. That was yours and Pete's idea."

"Yes, because both of you need stability and now that you have these two kids, you're gonna need even more stability. You want to get them both killed?" Jackie yelled at them.

"I can take care of myself. I've helped my other daddy before," Tara said to her.

Jackie froze.

"Other daddy?" she said to Alternate Rose. "What other daddy?"

John and Alternate Rose glanced at each other.

"Mum, perhaps we better sit down and we'll explain everything," she said to her.

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After getting some tea for everyone, they sat down in the living room and John and Alternate Rose explained everything to Jackie while Tara and Simon sat beside them on the sofa. The deeper they got into the explanation the more red Jackie became and John was thankful they brought the children along because he sensed that was the only reason Jackie hadn't punched him yet.

"So, this one, she's from another universe and she's the daughter of another separate Doctor?" Jackie said when they finished.

"Yes, her Doctor and her actually found us by accident and Tara was actually the one that freed me from the Valeyard's control. I worked with her father and both Rose and I fell in love with her and she did the same and offered to become our daughter and let us be her second set of parents so we formally adopted her and Simon here. And in addition to them, I have a biological son and daughter but they're not here."

"Biological?" Jackie said.

She turned her wide eyes towards Rose.

"You…and he…"

"No, Mum, he has a son from his first marriage and his daughter was cloned from his hand."

"I don't believe this," Jackie muttered. "You have been nothing but trouble ever since you came into our lives. I tried to live with you, tried to put up with your odd behavior but this is the final straw. Once again, you're going to take my daughter away from me."

"No, Jackie, I'm not going to take anyone away from anybody. I'll let Rose see you. She wants to see you and Pete and Belle anyway," John said. "I tried to do things your way, Jackie and I ended up miserable, depressed and angry. I'm not the sort of person who can work at one job day in and day out, I want excitement and adventure. What you wanted for us was a living death as far as I'm concerned. I'm much happier now and so is Rose. Isn't that more important than stability? I'm not the enemy, Jackie. I haven't done anything to Rose. I haven't brainwashed her in any way. All I did when she first started traveling with me was awaken her true self, a woman who was destined for greater things than a corner office. Would you rather she was stuck somewhere, miserable and bitter for the rest of her life because she wasn't living up to her true potential? As for taking care of her, I've taken care of her so far. She isn't dead, is she? And I trust the children enough to take them into time and space. I wouldn't have offered a space of my TARDIS if I didn't think they were mature enough to handle whatever was out there. Tara here has been traveling with her other Doctor for more than a year now and according to him there's been several times when she actually rescued him."

"Yup," Tara said proudly.

"She's been through hell in her life and survived that. Up until she was twelve, she was a prisoner of her a satanic cult and was beaten and abused. She came through that with her sanity and body intact so I'm gonna take that as a sign that she'll be able to cope with a few monsters. If you don't believe me, wait here and I'll go get her other father and I'll let him tell you what he's seen her do. As for Simon, like I said, any nine year old who can stand at the front of a bunch of solders and march into battle with just a flag in his possession is more than worthy of being at our side."

"What do his parents have to say about that?" Jackie said to them.

"My parents were murdered," Simon said.

Jackie gave him a sympathetic look while John nodded.

"Yes, he ran away from home to join the army and when we went to tell his parents we found them murdered. He came out west when he was a baby and never had any contact with any other relatives so we wouldn't know who to send him back to even if he wanted to stay behind. We took him with us and he eventually made the decision to become our son. We didn't snatch him away from anyone. I wouldn't do that to a child."

He held up his hand when Jackie started to open her mouth.

"Rose made the choice to come with me. I didn't snatch her away either," he said to her.

"Okay so you made your decision. So why did you come back?" Jackie said.

"Because we would like for you to come to our wedding, Mum. I'd still like to have a relationship with ya. Especially since you have grandchildren now. The other Doctor's Donna told me that her mother cut her out of her life when she went back to the Doctor and now they're estranged and I don't want that with you. I want you and Dad and Belle to still be in my life but you have to respect our decision and let us live our life the way we want to."

She took Jackie's hands.

"Please, Mum, don't shut us out just because you don't agree with what John and I did. We're happy now. We're where we need to be. I'll be alright and so will the children. John will look after us. Just give him a chance, yeah? The other Doctor's Jackie accepted him and his clone and they get along great now. In fact, the other Rose's family are Time Lords now just like she is so they can be together."

"What? You mean she goes off and travels…"

Alternate Rose shook her head.

"No, she stays at home. She did it so she wouldn't die long before her Rose did. I love that she did that for her. I'd love for you to do that for me and be with me."

Jackie shook her head.

"I can't believe you did that to yourself. All of you. What possessed you to do that?" she said.

"Love possessed me to do it," Alternate Rose replied.

"Actually, we had nothing to do with Tara being a Time Lady, that was her other father's doing," John added.

Jackie looked at her.

"Sweetie, aren't you scared of doing this?" she said to her.

"Nope, I love it. It's fun being a Time Lady. I love helping my daddies and mommies," she said.

Jackie stared at her in wonder. She looked at John who arched his eyebrow.

"See, some people are just born to do this. She's one of them," he said to her. "Same with me. I was born to be a Time Lord and this rubbish with Torchwood was suppressing it and killing who I truly was. Staying at home may be fine for you, Jackie, but it's not what everyone is destined for. Some people are free spirits and enjoy excitement and adventure and some people prefer domesticity. If you try to stick a free spirit behind a desk and tell them to behave themselves they're gonna rebel sooner or later. If I wasn't here, if I'd never met Rose she would have done something similar to this sooner or later because that's the sort of person she is. So why don't you do what the other Jackie did and be accepting of your daughter and who she truly is?"

"I s'pose you're right," Jackie said. "I just…I hate that she's out there putting herself in danger and risking her life."

"I understand that, Mum, but I could step outside this door and be shot by a deranged person," Alternate Rose said to her. "I could be in my office in Torchwood and have the building collapse on top of me. I could be sitting here and have a heart attack and die. If it's my time to die, then it'll happen. I might as well enjoy life in the meantime and not cower in a corner thinking something's going to get me."

Jackie nodded. Alternate Rose put her hand on hers.

"Will you come to wedding then, Mum?" she said.

"Yes, I will and I'll bring Belle but I'll have to discuss this with your father once he gets home. I can't guarantee he'll come or be open to all of this. He was upset that you both turned down perfectly good jobs to go gallivanting out among the stars."

"Yes but if they didn't do that I wouldn't have met them," Tara said.

"Yup, if it wasn't for the Valeyard, I wouldn't have met my daughter," John said.

"That's another thing. If the original Doctor turned evil, what's stopping him from doing the same?" Jackie said, pointing to John.

"I won't do that. I don't want to become evil," John said.

"And you can stop it just like that?" Jackie said to him.

"The Doctor pushed people away from him and that made him depressed and angry and it led to him embracing the darkness. I have a family now. I have a reason to live and be happy so that won't happen," John replied. "And if it does, you have permission to hunt me down and kill me because I don't want to live that way."

Jackie nodded.

"Alright, still not entirely happy that you've gone and done this but you're right. You were meant for better things, Rose, and I can't deny you that. If you're happy doing this then that's really all that matters."

"Thanks, Mum, and I am. I'm very happy,"Alternate Rose said.

John smiled when both of them hugged each other.

"We'll be back to get you when we're ready," Alternate Rose said. "We're still working everything out but we already have a location in mind."

"Where?" Jackie said.

"Bellanoche. Behind a waterfall," John said.

"Another planet?" Jackie said, groaning.

"It's a beautiful planet and it's safe, Mum. There's not gonna be an alien attack while we're there."

"Don't be so sure," Jackie muttered.

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John sighed when all of them walked out of the house and headed back to the TARDIS.

"Well, that went well thankfully. At least your mum saw reason," John said to Alternate Rose.

"Yes, I'm glad it didn't end up like Donna and her mum. I know you're not a fan of her but I do love her and want her in my life and the children's life."

"As long as she behaves herself, I will allow her to be a part of our family," John said, shrugging.

He smiled at the children.

"So, I s'pose now we head back to Nova and figure out what our next move should be, eh?" he said to them.


	328. Chapter 328

Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty Eight

The Doctor lounged by the pool, his eyes closed while he continued to sunbathe. While Rain took the dogs inside to rest and get them out of everyone's hair, Dorothy wandered over and sat down in the chair next to her father. She stared at her bare legs and wiggled her toes while the Doctor relaxed. While she was doing that Alan wandered by and stopped to see what she was doing. Grinning he leaned over, grabbed her big toe and wiggled it back and forth.

"Piggies," he said while he wiggled it.

Dorothy giggled.

"I have toes," she said to him.

"So do I, I have ten of them, how many do you have?"

"Forty."

"Forty?" Alan said while the Doctor laughed. "Blimey, I had no idea you had so many. Where are you hiding them all?"

"You're silly."

"Yes, I am, but it can't be helped," he replied.

Dorothy giggled when he wiggled her toes and said, "Whee, whee, whee, whee…" in a high-pitched voice.

The Doctor sighed when the mobile rang again.

"Dot, be a good daughter and answer that, I'm busy being a sun-bunny," he said to her.

Alan grabbed the phone and answered it.

"Timelord and Smith, Solicitors, may I help you?" he said.

The Doctor snorted out laughter at that.

"It's me, John," John said after a moment's pause.

"Ah, Mister Smith, good afternoon. What do you need? You need the trousers sued off someone?"

The Doctor snickered.

"No, actually I was wanting to talk to the Doctor," John said, amused.

"Ah, you want the senior partner of the firm then. Very well, a moment please while my secretary redirects your call."

He made a bunch of squeaking and buzzing noises into the phone before handing it to the Doctor.

"There you go, make sure our client gets every pence he deserves," he said, walking away.

"Hi, John," the Doctor said when he was able to stop laughing.

"I can tell he was half human, chap's got some imagination," John said.

"Well, you should have the same. You were once half human too," the Doctor said.

"Yes, well it'll take some time to get that back after Jackie beat it out of me. Speaking of, everything went well, Jackie was angry at first but we made her see reason and she and Belle will be at the wedding. Don't know about Pete yet. He wasn't there but I don't really care if he comes or not to tell you the truth. I'm allowing this because I love Rose. They may be my in-laws but that doesn't mean I have to be close to them. Anyway, we're heading back now."

"Did you get Tara's outfit then? You said you were gonna do that."

"Bollocks, I knew I forgot something. Yeah, we'll stop somewhere before we come back and do that."

"Well, we were planning to have another barbecue tonight and char some more meat."

"Good, I'm in the mood for charred meat. We'll be back as soon as we can, just wanted to update you on what was happening."

"Well, I'm glad things went well with Jackie. We already have one family member that's been disowned by their mother, we don't need another one," the Doctor said.

"Agreed. I'll talk to you later then."

"See you when you get back, Brother," the Doctor replied.

He hung up the phone and set it on the table. He glanced at Dorothy who was now at his side watching him.

"Phone," he said, pointing to it.

"Cookie," she said.

"No, phone, cookies are what you eat."

"No, I want a cookie."

"Sorry, not my department. Find your mum, she's the cookie provider," the Doctor said.

"I'm bored."

"I'm the Doctor, pleased to meet you, Bored," he said, shaking her hand.

Dorothy giggled and laid her head on his chest.

"Cookie?" she said.

The Doctor stared at her.

"What's this, a demonstration of your womanly wiles to get yourself some sustenance?" he said.

Dorothy gave him a blank look and the Doctor squeezed her nose.

"That went right over your head, I can tell from the look on your face," he said to her.

"Cookie."

"Nah, don't want that, it's not healthy for ya. How about a nice big bowl of prunes? Good for your urinary tract."

Another blank look and the Doctor squeezed her nose again.

"I'm gonna beep your nose everytime you give me that I don't know what you're talking about look," he said to her.

He glanced over when Rain slid open the patio door.

"Hey, Cookie Monster here wants food, can you be a dear and lead her to the sought after treat? I'm tanning," he said to her.

"Dear, we have a problem," Rain said.

The Doctor groaned.

"Now what?" he said.

Rain grabbed a large red bowl and walked over to him.

"Our Jackie wanted to make something for the reception," she said to him. "She made a bowl of mixed fruit."

"Hmm, she did, did she? What's the problem, she lace it with rat poison?" he asked.

"Well, you might think that if you tasted it."

The Doctor frowned.

"Why? What's wrong?" he said.

She sat the bowl on his chest.

"Look closely at the contents, Dear."

The Doctor sat up a bit more and looked inside while Rain prevented Dorothy from eating any of it. Perplexed, he stared at the assortment of fruit wondering what his wife was on about and then he saw it and he groaned as he picked up a sliver of pear.

"She didn't."

"She did," Rain said. "She brought it over and left before I could say anything. I guess I could ask her to make a second bowl for you without pears but I'm afraid she might rant about how she has to make something special for you."

He held up his hand.

"Don't bother, I won't eat it. She was nice enough to make it and I won't make a fuss. Thanks for bringing it to my attention though before I shoved a piece of pear in my mouth," he said.

She kissed him on the head.

"What are wives for," she said, taking the bowl. "And as for finding Dot a cookie, I'll do that too."

"Thanks muchly, my lives mate," he said, smiling.

Rain took Dorothy's hand and led her back into the house while the Doctor closed his eyes and relaxed again. He opened his eye when he heard Rain yelp and saw Alan grinned as he hurried past her to his side.

"I'm gonna get you good one of these days," Rain said to him while she went inside.

"Oh, I barely touched your bum, don't be such a baby, Rainy," Alan said to her.

Rain snorted and shut the door.

"So what did the other brother want?" he asked the Doctor.

The Doctor explained his conversation to him.

"Good, I'm glad there's not going to be another estrangement like there was with Donna," Alan said. "Course, I'm not entirely sure I like the idea of two Jackies but I'm sure the Roses will keep them in line."

"There's one other thing, Brother."

"Yes?"

"Don't touch the mixed fruit. Jackie made it and put pears in it."

Alan made a face.

"You mean she actually thought someone might like pears?" he said.

The Doctor shrugged.

"Just giving you the same warning Rain gave me."

"Pears. I knew that woman was psychotic but this is off the scale. How dare she ruin a perfectly good bowl of mixed fruit by putting pears in it. Ick! What's next, cyanide in the sausages? Botulism in the beef? Does she know what pears are? They're Hell's fruit."

"Apparently, they don't affect her like they do us," the Doctor replied.

"Then again, she seems to be from the depths of Hell so I can see how it wouldn't affect her," Alan said.

He sat down in the chair beside the Doctor and relaxed.

"I s'pose I better rest a bit with ya before we have to deal with the second Jackie," he said. "Especially if she's worse than ours is."

"But you know, I'm sure our Jackie will become the alpha female and take control of her the first time she sees her," the Doctor said.

Alan snorted.

"Don't be so sure, mate. I'm sure the two of them will be rolling down the street, punching each other's lights out in a bid for dominance," he replied.

"Then again, could be fun. I'd pay millions of pounds to see two Jackies rolling around in the dirt having a cat fight," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, that would be brilliant. Then we could film it and put it on the telly and make a ton of credits off the pay-per-view," Alan said. "Course I'd probably spend the rest of my lives sleeping on the sofa since I'm sure the wife would be furious but it would be well worth it."

The Doctor grinned.

"You know, you and I are masters at manipulation. Perhaps there's a way we can orchestrate a fight so the two of them will end up at each other's throats. And we can do it in such a way that no one will suspect we started it."

Alan grinned at him.

"I'm listening, Brother. What do you have in mind?"

"Well, it's just a notion at the moment. I need time to formulate a plan but by God, I'll come up with a way to get the two Jackies to quarrel and then we'll sit back, pick the pears out of the mixed fruit as we eat it and enjoy the fun."

Alan chuckled. They gave each other high fives before they both settled back in their chairs and closed their eyes.


	329. Chapter 329

Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty Nine

"Here we are, Clarion City, one of the biggest shopping destinations in the universe," John said while all of them stepped out of the TARDIS. "At least it was in our universe. Hopefully, this isn't some huge war zone in this reality. But part of the fun is finding out so let's go and see."

They stepped out of an alley into a bustling city. Most of the buildings were skyscrapers. All of them were made of marble and glass with marble domes on the top of them. Hover cars zoomed down the streets and through the air above them.

"Ah, so far, so good. It resembles our Clarion City. So hopefully we'll be able to find outfits for all of us," he said.

He took Alternate Rose and Tara's hands and Alternate Rose took Simon's hand as they walked down the pavement. They weaved in and out of humans and aliens who were carrying shopping bags and going about their business. As they passed a street corner, Tara noticed a slutty looking alien and human calling to people while they told them they'd give them hand jobs for ten credits each. John sighed when he noticed her staring.

"Prostitution is legal here and actually it's a big business. Women register with one of the whorehouses and they send them out. Then whatever credits they make, their house gets a cut of it. Unfortunately that means the sex workers are going to be everywhere so just try to ignore them."

"Hey, Skinny Boy, you're very pretty," a blue skinned alien said to him when they passed another street corner. "Fancy a shag?"

"No thanks, I'm engaged," John said, glancing at her.

"So am I, but that doesn't mean you can't have a bit of fun on the side."

She shut up when Alternate Rose gave her a look of death. Shrugging, she turned her attention elsewhere while John squeezed her hand. They walked for another couple of blocks before they found a store specializing in wedding outfits. A huge black beetle alien dressed in a business suit walked up to them when they walked inside.

"Good afternoon, welcome to Roget's Wedding Boutique," he said in a gravely voice. "May I help you?"

"Yes, we need clothes for all of us," John said.

"Very good, Sir. I'll see to you and the boy while Jambi sees to the girls."

He clapped his hands and a female black beetle wearing a large purple dress walked up to them. Jambi led the women to the other side of the shop while the male beetle stayed with the men.

"This way," Jambi said to the women. "We have a wide selection of wedding and wedding attendant dresses."

They came to a large display of wedding gowns in assorted colors. Alternate Rose and Tara walked through them searching for the right one.

"I would if I should wear white," Alternate Rose said to Tara while they looked at a black wedding gown. "There's a lot of different colors here and white just seems so…plain."

"I like this blue one, Mommy," Tara said, pointing to a powder blue one, "it's got butterflies on it."

"It does?" Alternate Rose said.

Tara pointed to the bottom of the dress. There were lace butterflies all around it with diamonds sewn into the wings and the top of the antennae.

"That is pretty," Alternate Rose said fingering the sleeve.

"Hey, here's a pink one with roses," Tara said.

Rose went a few feet to the right and stared at the pink frilly gown. At the bottom of it were lace roses with diamonds and pearls around them.

"This is gorgeous," Alternate Rose said. "What d'ya think?"

"I like it. It has roses like your name."

"Well if we get this one, we need pink for the bridesmaid's dresses," Alternate Rose said.

She called Jambi over and pointed to the dress.

"I think I'll take this one," she said to her.

"Excellent choice, Madam," Jambi said. "And for the wedding attendants, we have matching pink gowns with the flower and jewel design."

"Great, let's see em," Alternate Rose said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Meanwhile, Carrus, the male beetle was helping the men with their outfits.

"I'd like something in black or grey and is there one that's waterproof? We're getting married under a waterfall," John said to him.

"We can waterproof them, Sir," Carrus said. "We have many styles of wedding suits from different planets all over the universe."

"Do you have anything from Earth?" John asked.

Carrus was taken aback.

"No offense, Sir, but shouldn't you pick a more sophisticated planet?" he said.

"No, I like Earth," John replied.

"Very well, Sir, follow me," he said, leading them to the back of the shop.

He led them into a large wardrobe and picked out several Earth tuxedos and morning suits in grey and black. John and his son looked through them.

"Hmmm, nothing really catches my eye," John said to Simon while he looked. "You ever been to a wedding before?"

"No, Pa," Simon said.

"So you've never worn a suit like this before?"

"Nope."

John's eyes glanced at the other suits from different universes that were still hanging on the racks. His eyes bulged when they fell on a robe near the back and he walked over to it.

"I don't believe it," he murmured as he took it and laid it out on a table.

Simon came up beside him and stared at the robe. It was black velvet with gold trim around the bottom, the bottom of the sleeves and the neck.

"This is a wedding suit?" Simon said skeptically.

"Robe. But yes, this is from Gallifrey, my home and now your adopted home. This is what Gallifreyans wore when they married. I wore something like this ages ago when I married my first wife."

He turned it over and pointed to a large gold design on the back.

"That's the Seal of Rassilon. He was the founder of Gallifrey," he said to Simon.

"I like it. It's pretty," Simon said.

John ran his hand down the robe, momentarily lost in his memories. He quickly snapped out of it and beckoned to Carrus.

"I changed my mind. I want this," he said, pointing to the robe.

"Very good, Sir. I'm afraid we don't have any other robes like this so you'll have to find something for the rest of the male attendants."

"Then I'd like the black morning suits for the rest of them," he replied, pointing to a black one.

"Very good, Sir," Carrus said. "Just tell me how many you need and what sizes."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jackie opened the door and smiled when she saw the Doctor standing there.

"Hello, Jackie, I wanted to speak with you for a minute," the Doctor said to her.

"Come on in. Is anyone else with ya?" Jackie replied, stepping aside.

"No, they're getting ready for a barbecue tonight."

"Oh, that's good. You can use the mixed fruit for that," Jackie said.

"Um…about that. I hate to be ungrateful because I'm not but next time don't put pears in it."

"Why not?"

"I hate pears and consequently so does Alan and probably John."

"What's wrong with pears?" Jackie said.

"I just…hate the taste, that's all."

"You've eaten stranger things than pears," Jackie pointed out.

"Yes but even I have dislikes when it comes to food," he said.

"Well, I didn't know," Jackie said, shrugging.

"I know. I should have said but I didn't think it was important. I told Rain once during one of our conversations and she's the one that told me about the pears. I appreciate you making the mixed fruit; I just wanted to tell you next time not to add pears."

Jackie nodded.

"Is that why you came over here?"

"No, I wanted to tell you what John told me," he said to her.

He explained the phone conversation to her while they sat on her sofa.

"Well, I'm glad the other Rose managed to keep her relationship with her mum," Jackie said when he finished. "Bad enough Donna lost her mum without her losing her family."

"That's what I thought. And Jackie and her sister, Belle, are coming to the wedding. Not sure about Pete, she was gonna ask him and tell John when he went back to see her."

"So the other Jackie has a daughter instead of a son?"

The Doctor nodded.

"One of those little differences between universes," he said.

Jackie shook her head.

"It's amazing the things I've seen and learned since I've met ya," she said.

The Doctor sighed when the mobile rang in his pocket.

"Hold on, let me answer this," he said to her.

Jackie went to the bathroom while the Doctor talked on the phone. By the time she got back he was done.

"Was that John?" she asked.

"No, it was this woman called the Shadow Architect."

"Who's she?"

"She's the head of this outer space police force called the Shadow Proclamation. She learned my number because someone else had the exact same number. Someone who wants to see me."

"Who?" Jackie said.

The Doctor sighed.

"The Valeyard," he said.


	330. Chapter 330

Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty

The Doctor came back into his house. He hurried over to Rain.

"Latara, I gotta go. Something just came up," he said.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" she asked.

"Not unless you wanna tag along."

He explained what was happening to her and she gave him a skeptical look.

"The Valeyard suddenly reverted back to the Doctor and wants out? Dear, are you sure this isn't a trick?"

"I don't know. That's what I intend to find out."

"I'm coming with you then. Just let me tell Maddie and Rose," she said.

He nodded and she ran outside to tell them. While she did that, the Doctor heard the TARDIS materializing in the garage. He went into the garage just as John and his family stepped out.

"We got the wedding dress, robe and outfits for the wedding party," he said to him. "So everyone should be taken care of now. I have a holographic disc of the outfits if you want to take a look at them. I even found a Gallifreyan wedding robe for me and…"

"Okay, I'm ready to go now," Rain said, coming inside.

"Where are you going?" John asked.

The Doctor explained and John gave him the same skeptical look as Rain.

"Sorry, but I have trouble believing he reverted back to his old self that fast. I'm inclined to think it's a trap."

"So do I but I have to be sure," the Doctor replied.

"Then let me go with you. I wanna see this for myself," John said.

"Can I come, Daddy?" Tara asked the Doctor.

The Doctor thought for a moment and then nodded.

"I s'pose it'll be safe enough for you since he'll be in a maximum security prison," he said.

John looked at Alternate Rose.

"Are you coming?"

She thought for a moment and then nodded.

"Yeah, I wanna see if he's really reformed."

"Son, you wanna come?"

"Sure," Simon said, shrugging.

"Okay, well let's be off then," the Doctor said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they reached Volag Nok, they were escorted by Locke to a special room where the Valeyard would be separated from the others by a force field. The children looked around at the large circular, metal cell doors while Locke led them down a metal catwalk.

"Are the prisoners behind those doors?" Simon asked.

"Yes," the Doctor said, looking back at him. "There's nothing in them but a metal slab to sleep on and a sink and toilet. This is where some of the most ruthless criminals end up. Somewhere in here is another evil Time Lady called the Rani."

Locke stopped at one of the metal doors and opened it. He led them inside. The room was bare except for a long wooden table and several chairs. A force field divided the room in half and on the other side of it sat the Valeyard. Once they were all inside, Locke shut the door and they all sat down.

"I'm listening," the Doctor said, folding his arms over his chest.

The Valeyard's eyes skimmed over everyone. He smiled warmly when they fell on Alternate Rose but she didn't return the smile. His eyes went back to the Doctor who was waiting patiently.

"I've found a way back to my old self," he said. "I no longer want to be the Valeyard."

"Yes, well you'll forgive me if I don't believe you," the Doctor replied.

"I understand that but I mean what I say. I lost control but I managed to gain it back and I'm sorry for what I did and for all the pain I caused. Just give me another chance, please."

The Doctor studied him trying to let his senses gauge the truth. The Valeyard's eyes flitted back to Alternate Rose and she neared closer to her fiancé and took his hand. The Valeyard noticed Rain and smiled at her.

"You're the other woman I kidnapped," he said to her.

"No actually I'm her double. The other Rain is back with our family," she replied coolly.

"Look, I know it's hard to believe but I have turned back into my old self. I'm the Doctor again, honestly," the Valeyard said.

"If that's true then would you be willing to undergo psychiatric care for awhile?" the Doctor said.

"No, I don't need it. I'm cured. I want out of here and I want my TARDIS back," the Valeyard replied.

"If you want out then you'll undergo a series of tests to make sure you're cured and you're not just saying this to get out of here," the Doctor said firmly.

The Doctor noticed the anger in the Valeyard's eyes but he quickly suppressed it.

"I don't need tests, I'm perfectly fine," he said, trying to keep calm. "I want to leave here and I want my TARDIS back. I'm assuming my clone took it and it's mine."

"Not anymore, I'm the Doctor now," John replied.

"You are not me, you little…"

The Valeyard quickly caught himself while the Doctor studied him intently. John smirked at that, sensing a way to cut through the charade.

"I'm you now," he said calmly. "You gave up the right to be the Doctor when you became the Valeyard. Therefore, I have decided to take your place."

The Doctor noticed the barely contained rage beneath the Valeyard's seemingly calm exterior. John put his arm around Alternate Rose.

"And Rose and I are going to be married as well," he said.

The Valeyard glanced at her.

"You can't!" he said.

"I can and I will. I love John now," Alternate Rose said calmly.

The Doctor noticed the Valeyard's temper was reaching the boiling point. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Rain put her arms around the children when they stepped back away from him. The Valeyard glared at Rose.

"Is this how you return my love? By marrying my clone?" he asked her.

Alternate Rose shrugged.

"I fell out of love with you the moment you decided to go off your trolley, kidnap me and make me your harem girl," she said. "I don't believe for one moment you've returned to normal and I have a feeling no one else here believes you either. I think you're saying this so you can escape and conquer the universe."

"Rose, I love you!" the Valeyard said. "We have a relationship. I'm the one you fell in love with, not him! You're telling me that you've willing to leave your lover in prison forever while you go off with a weak copy of myself?"

"You stopped being my lover the moment you became the Valeyard. And as for John being a weak copy, he's more than measured up to ya. You haven't reformed, you're not any better. You're just scheming to get out of here. I know you and I know how manipulative you can be and that's exactly what you're doing right now except it's not working. Now quit wasting our time."

The Valeyard let out a scream of rage and leapt to his feet.

"THIS ISN'T OVER, YOU HEAR ME. I'LL FIND A WAY OUT OF HERE AND I'LL DESTROY YOU ALL!" he bellowed.

"Apparently, he hasn't reformed," the Doctor said to his family.

"I'LLKILL YOU, YOU LITTLE FREAK!" the Valeyard screamed, fixing his rage on John. "HOW DARE YOU ASSUME MY POSITION! YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A WEAK LITTLE CLONE AND YOU'LL BE THE FIRST TO SUFFER WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE!"

"I've heard enough," John said, sighing. "Come on, let's go back home and concentrate on happier things."

"YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF ME!" the Valeyard screamed as the door opened behind him and guard robots came in to get him. "I'LL SEE YOU GROVELING AT MY FEET, YOU, THIS ALTERNATE VERSION OF ME AND THE BITCH WHO SPURNED ME FOR A SIDESHOW FREAK!"

"Come on, kids, outside," Rain said to Tara and Simon. "I don't want you hearing this."

The Valeyard continued to rant and rave while he was being pulled out the door by the guard robots. Rain quickly ushered the children outside so they wouldn't have to listen to him vowing death for all of them. Everyone else followed them and the Doctor closed the door behind them.

"Well, that went well. Anyone care to visit the Rani now and hear her scream about how we'll all grovel and die at her feet?" the Doctor said. "Or hear about how she's turned over a new leaf and she'll be very, very good from now on, honestly?"

"I figured it was a trick," John said as they walked away. "Sad, really. It would be nice to have him back and be his brother but oh well; I have a family so I don't need him."

"Do you think he'll escape, Daddy?" Tara asked the Doctor.

The Doctor grinned.

"If he does, we'll sic your uncle Alan on him. After a few wedgies and slaps on the bum with a wet towel, he'll beg to go back in solitary confinement," he said to her.

Rain snorted.

"I don't doubt it," she said, putting her arm around Tara. "Not to mention he'll be driven even more insane with his singing and dancing and bouncing around."

"I like his singing and dancing and bouncing around," Tara said to her.

"Well then you have the job of being his minder then since you like his zaniness so much," she said.

"DOCTOR!"

The Doctor jerked his head around and everyone saw a large wolf creature on the other side of the huge cell block. He was being escorted by two robot guards along a catwalk.

"YOU! YOU DID THIS TO ME! I'LL GET YOU, I SWEAR I WILL!" the wolf said while the robots struggled to keep him moving.

Rain glanced at him.

"Who's that?" she said to him.

"Um…I believe I caught that bloke about twenty years ago. Apparently he's still alive and kicking."

"How many people are in here because of you?" Rain asked.

He grinned.

"Oooooooh, quite a few. It's a popular baddie dumping spot for me," he said to her.

"DOCTOR, HEAR ME! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE SOMEDAY!" the wolf yelled as he was dragged away.

"I get that a lot from angry people, can't ya tell?" he said to them. "Anyway, I'm sure they're taking Wolfie to get a flea bath or something so let's give him some privacy. To the TARDIS!"


	331. Chapter 331

Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty One

"Boo!"

"Bee boo boo boo!"

"Bomp-a-doodle-doodly-doo!"

"Womp womp!"

"Neener, niner, noner, nooooooo!"

Maddie came out of the kitchen into the living room and noticed Alan sitting on the sofa with Lizzy making strange noises with her while Angel stood on the sofa behind him playing with his hair.

"Bouncy, bouncy, bouncy," Alan said to Lizzy.

"Geep!" Lizzy replied.

"Snorkle, flicker, floom!" Alan said.

"Mooooo!" Lizzy replied.

"Are you two having fun?" Maddie said, amused.

"Tons. My daughter and I are having some bonding time."

"Yeah, well I'd watch your other daughter before she pulls your hair out of your skull," Maddie said, pointing to Angel who was tugging on Alan's tousle.

"Nah, she's fine. I'm keeping my eye on her while I play with my daughter."

"Well, enjoy yourself then," Maddie said, going back into the kitchen.

"I will, thanks," Alan said to her.

He looked at Lizzy.

"Bomble, boo, boo?" he said to her.

"Mingy poo poo." Lizzy said with a giggle.

"Dander donder…ow! Angel, watch it, I like my hair the way it is," Alan said when Angel tugged on his hair extra hard.

He turned his attention back to Lizzy when she slapped his knee.

"You look over here!" she said to him.

"Well, aren't you Miss Bossy today. I'll have to curb that behavior with some tickle therapy," he said to her.

He grinned when Lizzy squealed and rolled herself into a ball on the end of the sofa.

"Oh, that won't stop me. I'll find a pry bar and loosen you and then you'll be tickly-fied," he said, reaching for her. "Yes, you'll soon be at my mercy and…ow, listen you little hair puller, you come away from there before I really do go bald. I love my fabulous locks and I want to keep them through this regeneration."

He turned so he could grab her. Angel squealed when he plopped her down in his lap and gave her a tickle.

"See what happens when you pull hair. You get tickled," he said to her.

He grunted when Lizzy smacked his head and she squealed and leapt off the sofa when he tried to tickle her.

"I'll get you when you're not looking so be aware of that, my daughter," he said to her.

He paused when he heard the TARDIS materializing in the garage.

"Hmmm, sounds like everyone is back from their chat with the Valeyard," he said.

He stood with Angel and walked to the garage with her while Elizabeth followed behind. He waited while the Doctor opened the door and let everyone inside the room.

"Did the Valley Girl send his warmest greetings?" Alan said to the Doctor.

"Oh yes, he got really warm and fuzzy once we saw through his whole I've reformed masquerade," he said, closing the door. "We're now going to die once he gets out of Volag Nok."

"Nice to know I'm on his hit list," Alan said as Maddie came out of the kitchen.

The Doctor filled them in on what happened. Maddie rolled her eyes.

"Well, that was a wasted trip," she said when he finished. "I figured he was lying."

"Me too. But I had to make sure. I didn't want him to end up stuck in there if he truly had reformed," the Doctor said. "Call me a sucker but I had to check for myself."

"You're not a sucker. You're a good guy and you want to see the good in everyone," Maddie said, patting his cheek. "It's why we love you so much."

The Doctor smiled at that and accepted a kiss on the cheek from her. He followed Maddie into the kitchen.

"Our Rose is over talking to Jackie," she said to him. "Dorothy and Bala are outside playing with the kids and Karishma's relaxing on the porch swing. Jack came over while you were gone, our Jack, and brought over some hamburger and hot dogs for the grill. He was upset when I told him what you were doing but I explained to him that you wanted to get it over and done with and didn't have time to go get him."

"Thank you for telling him that. I'm sure Jack wanted to go in order to protect me but there wasn't a need. He was imprisoned behind a force field while we spoke to him."

"Well, there's something else. He told me to tell you that he's finally going to take the plunge and marry Ianto."

The Doctor raised his eyebrows at that.

"Apparently, planning the wedding has gotten him in the mood," she said. "So, they started discussing it and want to have it soon."

"'Bout bloody time," the Doctor said. "Now if we can get the other three couples to do the same."

Madison giggled.

"What?" the Doctor said amused.

"Speaking of couples, um…Julie, Mingxia, Grace, Jenny, Awinita, Amber and Nelak went downtown for awhile. They'll be back in about an hour but they came over here to let me know so I could tell you because they needed to get out of the house for awhile. Seems Donna and Lee are having a little afternoon delight and the banging bed got to them."

The Doctor giggled with her.

"I think those two need a separate house now," the Doctor said, reaching up into the cabinet for a mug so he could have some tea.

"Yeah, I think it's getting a bit crowded in there now. Especially since Awinita and Nelak do the same," Maddie said, reaching into the refrigerator for the milk. "From what she said, they were trying to watch a movie but the banging and moaning and groaning drowned out the Transformers movie. It's a good thing they're both sterile because they've told me they go at it quite frequently."

The Doctor grinned as he lifted the mug of tea to his lips.

"Well, knowing Donna as I do, I imagine she's the one on top, yeah?"

He chuckled when Maddie gave him a playful slap on the arm. He glanced over when Rain, John and Alternate Rose came into the kitchen.

"Good news! Most of our family's scarpered into town because Donna's having sex and howling at the moon now," he said to them.

He giggled when the three of them gave him an odd look. Maddie quickly explained what was happening and John shook his head.

"Donna Noble having sex. There's an image I don't want," he said, walking back out.

"And our Jack is going to marry our Ianto sometime soon," the Doctor added.

"'Bout damn time," Rain said, heading towards the tea pot. "Are the others following suit?"

"I think Awinita's pressuring Nelak to do it," Maddie said to her while Alternate Rose followed Rain to the tea pot. "Don't know about Mickey and Martha and I'm sure at the moment Donna and Lee are too busy banging a huge hole in their bedroom wall to get married."

All of them snickered.

"Could you whisper whenever you mention Donna and Lee?" John said from the living room. "I told ya I don't want that image in my brain."

"Same here," Alan said, walking past with the children.

Tara and Simon walked into the kitchen.

"Can we go over and play with Amelia and Opal?" she asked the Doctor.

"Yes. Just be careful and come back when it's time to eat," the Doctor said.

"Okay, Daddy."

He bent over, accepted a kiss from her and took a sip of tea while she and Simon ran out.

"So…do we go over and surprise the amorous couple then?" the Doctor said with a wicked grin.

"You would, wouldn't ya?" Alternate Rose said.

The grin widened.

"Nah," he said to her. "I value my mind. I don't want brain damage for the rest of this regeneration. We'll let them have…"

He looked around…

"Sex," he said in a loud whisper while the others giggled.

He heard the front door open.

"Has the Doc come back yet?" he heard Jack say.

"In here, Jack!" the Doctor yelled.

He looked over when Jack entered the kitchen.

"I trust Maddie told you the news."

"Yes and we're all glad to hear it. It's about time," the Doctor said.

"Well, we're waiting a little bit. We're not getting married on John's wedding day."

"How very wise of you," the Doctor said.

"Nah, I wouldn't upstage John like that."

"P'eh, that's a switch," Rain said.

They laughed when he eyed her.

"How'd the chat session with the Valeyard go?" Jack asked the Doctor.

"Lying through his teeth," the Doctor said.

"Coulda told ya that, Doc, and saved ya a trip," Jack replied as he walked past to the tea pot.

"Well, you know me, always gotta check it out," the Doctor replied. "So does this mean there will be wedding bells for Mickey and Martha?"

"If I have my way there will be," Jack said with a grin as he reached into the cabinet for a mug. "We need to have a big old wedding so we can get all the remaining couples in town hitched."

"Well, if you do, make sure you get a screen for Donna and Lee and earplugs for us," Rain said.

Jack gave her a puzzled look while everyone else chortled.

"Say what?" he said.

They explained it quietly to him and Jack grinned.

"Ah, those kooky kids," he said, pouring some tea. "It's a good thing we're all sterile because I'm sure they'd have at least ninety six kids by now."

"Hi, everyone, I'm going outside on the verandah until you stop discussing Donna Noble's sex life," John said to them when he came to the door.

"Okay, everyone, refrain from talking about that before we drive another family member away," the Doctor said to them.

"Thank you, I'd like to eat my burger tonight without that image in my head," John said to them.

"Yes, some of us have sensitive stomachs," Alan said, leaning in behind him.

"Aw, poor baby, we'll be sure to puree your burger into mush so your little infant stomach can handle it," Rain said to him.

"Speaking of puree, can we throw Rainy in the blender and make Rainy tartar?" Alan said to the Doctor.

"Nah, might jam the blender and make a huge mess," the Doctor said.

"Bollocks! I was just about to get a tarp and watch the fun," Alan said. "Ah well, perhaps we can tie her to a huge spit out back and roast her like a suckling pig."

"Just try to tie me to one, Bro," Rain said to him while he walked back to the living room.

John came further inside and leaned against the wall.

"This go on constantly, this teasing between the two of you?" he asked her.

Madison snorted.

"You better believe it. We're all used to it though. We'd be worried if they didn't diss each other," she said.

"Yeah," Rain said, waving her hand dismissively. "It's a sibling thing. We've done it so long now it's just a part of who we are. We do get along and love each other. He's just playing the part of the bratty younger brother."

"Rainy sucks!" Alan said from the living room.

"Alan sucks more and blows it out!" Rain called back while the others giggled.

John raised his eyebrow and glanced at Alternate Rose.

"This other Rain who's going with us…you think she'll start doing this with me since that's her double?"

"Maybe," Alternate Rose said, shrugging.

"If she does, be sure to smack Bogeybutt's double in the face for me so she'll be kept in line in the other universe!" Alan called out.

"Bogeybutt?" John said while everyone bent over laughing. "Blimey, what have I gotten myself into here. I'm beginning to wonder if finding all of you will eventually drive me insane."

The Doctor put his arm around him.

"If so, you'll have lots of company in the insane asylum," he said with a wink.


	332. Chapter 332

Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty Two

A couple of hours later, the Doctor and Jack put the meat on the grill and the women began cooking the rest of the food while Alan went out the front with a metal spoon and pot. He began to bang on it furiously.

"PARTY'S BEGINNING! GET YOUR BUMS OVER HERE AND HAVE SOME FUN!" he screamed.

Giggling, he ran back in the house while everyone opened their doors and stepped outside to see what the commotion was.

"I never thought I'd say it," Jackie said to Pete, "but that man makes the Doctor look normal."

Everyone shut their doors and went over to the Doctor's house.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

While Jack cooked the hamburgers and hot dogs everyone else mingled. The Doctor moved two of the deck chairs apart and put a blanket between them so the children could sit with them. He sat on one chair with Rain and Tara while John and Alternate Rose sat on the other one. When Donna passed by with Lee, the four adults looked at each other and grinned as they shared a knowing look. The Doctor craned his neck back when Awinita put his arms around him.

"Hope you're the correct Doctor," she said to him.

"That I am. Did you enjoy your spontaneous shopping trip into town?"

He giggled when Awinita rolled her eyes.

"Course I don't have any room to talk, I'm probably just as noisy as they are."

"Got that right."

"Shut up, Mingxia," Awinita said to her while Mingxia hurried past. "Anyway, I'm thinking both us couples need to get separate houses or soundproof the rooms because they get pretty loud in there."

"Do you mind?" John said. "Not wanting to be rude but I told them earlier I don't want to hear about Noble's sex life."

"Sorry, John, just registering a complaint with the provider of our house," Awinita said to him.

"Sorry, I only provided the house for you, I don't referee what goes on inside it," the Doctor said to her.

"Well, like I said, Nelak and I don't have room to talk," Awinita said.

"Did Jack tell you lot about getting married?" the Doctor asked.

"Oh yeah, I think he told everyone in the neighborhood with the exception of Serena and Patty."

"Did we invite them over?"

"I did. They're both coming over as soon as they get ready," Rain said.

"Brilliant. And Tobey as well?"

Toby looked up at him from his place on the blanket.

"Huh?" he said.

"Not you, the other Tobey," the Doctor said, patting his head.

"I hope so. I wish he'd come over more often. I hate that he's so shy," Rain said.

"Yeah, there's no reason to fear an attack and even if these other vampires do find them, we can protect them," the Doctor said. "But perhaps, given time, he'll get used to us and visit us more frequently. He's a nice bloke and it's a shame he feels he has to hide away from others."

The Doctor looked down when the kids started roughhousing with one another, tickling and playfully punching each other.

"Oi, what's this then?" he said to them while they laughed.

"Rumble!"

The Doctor looked over at Alan who was sprinting towards them.

"Rumble! Fight! I wanna join in!" he said.

The Doctor laughed when he fell to his knees and grabbed Amelia.

"Hey, leave me alone!" Amelia said, laughing.

"No, I wanna be in the thick of the fight! I love a rumble!" he said to her.

He groaned when the kids stopped their roughhousing and looked at him.

"Blast and I was all ready to fight to the death," he said.

"Geez, children," Tara said.

She giggled when the Doctor stared at her with wide eyes.

"And what are you, a senior citizen?" she said while Tara laughed harder.

"Yeah, last time I checked you were only thirteen," Alan said, getting up.

"Yeah, I'm a teenager now, I'm not a kid," she said to them.

"Not by Gallifreyan standards, on Gallifrey you would have been considered an infant," the Doctor said.

"Ha ha."

"Shut up, Amelia," Tara said to her.

"Now, now, none of that. We'll have harmony here at my feet," the Doctor said to Tara. "If you wish to be an adult, you'll act accordingly or get down on the blanket with the children."

"Sorry, Daddy."

"Apology accepted, now shut up."

They laughed when Tara playfully swatted his arm and he sniggered. The Doctor leaned his head back when Mingxia and Julie came up behind him.

"Hello there, my sisters," he said to them.

He frowned when Mingxia got down in his ear and whispered something. He chuckled and stood up while Mingxia and Julie moved on to Alan and John and whispered in their ears.

"What's going on?" Rain said, frowning.

"You'll see."

Once they were done, the three men stood in front of them in a line. Mingxia and Julie got on either side of them.

"Okay, we had an idea for a game," Julie said. "You ever hear of that old shell game that people do with cards or walnut shells where you have to find the ball or a certain card out of three?"

"Yeah," Rain said.

"Okay," Mingxia said. "This is our version of that. Ready? Go!"

The three men began to weave in and out of each other.

"Alright now, find the Doctor! Find the Doctor! Which one's the Doctor!" Julie said while the three men chuckled and went around one another. "Place your bets; place your bets, which one is the original Time Lord?"

The three men stopped moving and stood in a line.

"Okay, which one is he?" Mingxia said while everyone laughed. "Anyone care to take a guess?"

"Well, I guess we can rule out the one in the t-shirt," Rain said.

"Bollocks, I should have changed into a suit before we did this," Alan said.

Everyone stared at the Doctor and John, both of them identically dressed. Rain grinned.

"I know who he is," she said in a sing-song voice.

"You do?" Tara said to her.

"Yup, I have ways of telling which one is the Doctor," she said to her.

Alternate Rose raised her eyebrow while she stared at the two men.

"You do? I wish I could tell them apart," she said.

"Yeah, me too."

"What? You mean you can't tell which of your daddies is which?" the Doctor said. "For shame."

Tara got up from the deck chair. She walked over to both of them and stared at them intently while both of them smiled at her. She raised a finger and pointed to the man on the left.

"You're the Doctor," she said.

"You sure?"

Tara frowned while both men giggled.

"Um…no, but I'm gonna guess you," she said to him.

She looked at Rain.

"Is that right, Mommy?"

Rain shrugged and winked.

"Too bad they don't have tattoos like Alan does," Awinita said, coming up beside them with Grace.

Tara noticed the momentary look of shock on the "Doctor's" face and pointed to the man on the right.

"No wait, you're the Doctor cause you know Alan has a tattoo."

"Blast, you should have kept a poker face, John," the Doctor said.

"You have a tattoo?" John said, turning to Alan.

Everyone laughed when Alan rolled his eyes and jerked up his sleeve. John and Alternate Rose walked over and stared at it.

"Wait, isn't that the Disney alien?" Alternate Rose said, pointing to it.

"Yes, it's Stitch. It's my nickname for him," Rose said, coming up beside her.

"Okay, I know you have a different personality from the Doctor but…a tattoo?" John said in disbelief.

"It was my wife's idea!" the Doctor said in a snotty voice.

He ducked away when Alan eyed him and shrugged.

"Well, that's what you always say. I'm just saving you the trouble of saying it again," he said while he sat down beside Rain.

Alternate Rose turned to her double.

"You convinced him to get a tattoo?" she said.

"Yeah, I've got one as well," she said, hitching up her sleeve.

John read it.

"Amo'tiri?" he said.

"It's his pet name for me," Rose said.

"Hmmm, I love that as a pet name but you went and put that on your arm?"

"Spur of the moment thing," Rose said, shrugging.

"Well, I see we have a way to tell the two of you apart," John said.

"Go and get a tattoo like this so he can't tell us apart," Rose whispered to her double.

"No, you won't be getting a tattoo while I'm still breathing air," John said to them while they giggled. "I'm not a fan of them."

"Neither am I," the Doctor said. "Which is why I've been able to resist everyone's pleas for me to get one."

John looked around at everyone.

"You want him to get a tattoo?" he said to them.

"Why not? It's the in thing to do," Grace said, shrugging.

"This from the woman who doesn't have one," the Doctor said to her.

"I haven't had time to get one yet," Grace replied.

"Well, how many of you have one then?"John said.

Everyone with a tattoo raised their hands. John and Alternate Jack's mouth dropped open when they noticed Jack's hand was in the air.

"You have a tattoo?" Alternate Jack said.

"Yup, got it one night with several other members of our family," he said, hitching up his sleeve and showing him the eagle.

"Hmmm, actually, I kinda like that," Alternate Jack said.

John's shocked gaze was now on Jenny who was giggling.

"You?" he said while everyone laughing.

Jenny hitched up her sleeve and showed him the mermaid.

"Got it at the same time Jack did," she said to him.

John turned to the Doctor.

"You let your daughter permanently ink her arm and put a mermaid on it?"

The Doctor blushed while everyone giggled.

"She's an adult, I can't stop her," he said to him.

"I'm an adult too. Can I get a tattoo?" Tara asked.

"Not till you're thirteen hundred years old," the Doctor replied.

"Can I get a tattoo, Pa?" Amelia yelled to Dex who was on the other side of the pool sitting at a table with Patience and his double.

"No, you can't," Dex said while Patience nodded in agreement.

"Darn," Amelia muttered.

"Can I get a tattoo, Daddy?" Tara said to the Doctor.

"What did I just say a moment ago?"

"No."

"Well, my answer hasn't changed since then."

Tara giggled and looked at John.

"Can I get a tattoo, other Daddy?" she said.

"No, you can not," he said while everyone laughed.

"Just testing," Tara replied innocently.

The Doctor looked at John while he gestured to Tara.

"I believe we need to have a chat now and decide how we want to bring up this child because I have a feeling she might start doing the whole run to the other parent when one says no to her thing."

"No, I won't, Daddy. I was just kidding," Tara said.

"Good because since he's basically me I'm sure both of us will be in agreement most of the time," the Doctor said.

"Okay, I'll go to Mommy then," Tara said.

"No, you won't," Rain and Alternate Rose said in unison while everyone laughed.

The Doctor looked down when Dorothy tapped his leg.

"I want a cookie, Daddy."

"My God, you always want cookies. I'm surprised you haven't changed into a cookie jar now," he said to her. "You can't have a cookie, we're gonna eat burgers and hot dogs soon. Is that alright?"

"I want a cheeseburger, Daddy."

The Doctor gently turned her and sat her on his lap.

"You need to cut down on this eating before we have to roll you into the TARDIS," he said to her while everyone else went back to their conversations. "You need to be slim and trim so you can run with me eventually. You wanna run with me?"

"Yes."

"Okay then, cut down on the cookies."

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

Tara giggled when they kept up the no, yes dialogue for another thirty seconds before the Doctor tickled her.

"You're a silly girl. And you're getting big too. I remember you when you were eye level with my trainer and now you're getting to be a giant. If you eat any more cookies, you'll be through the ceiling and then we'll have to cover your blonde curls with a tarp so the rain doesn't ruin them. Plus you won't be able to fit into the TARDIS, you'll have to hang on the front like Jack did and that won't be any fun for you. It's better to be inside the TARDIS with me."

Dorothy leaned back against his chest and the Doctor smiled and rubbed her arm while he chatted with Rain. While he did that, Tara got up, walked over to Rain and tapped her on the arm.

"Yes, Honey?" she said.

"You didn't say how you knew it was Daddy," Tara said, pointing to the Doctor.

She chuckled.

"I can tell how old he is from his eyes, he has ancient eyes and he has a certain smell to him that smells like time to me."

Tara frowned. She stared into the Doctor's eyes while the other kids except for Dorothy, Elizabeth and Angel did the same. The Doctor sat quietly while the children stared at his eyes. Alan noticed what they were doing and wandered over. He leaned down and the children stared at his eyes and then the Doctor's trying to see the difference while Rain chuckled.

"I don't see a difference," Tara said, shrugging.

"Yeah, neither does anyone else. Apparently only my wife can see it," the Doctor replied. "Which I s'pose is a good thing since there's no chance she'll end up in bed with Alan."

"I wouldn't wanna bed Rotor Rooter anyway," Rain said, making a face.

"Yeah, I prefer my wife, she has no cooties," Alan said while the children giggled.

"She doesn't have cooties, but you do."

"I'm not listeniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!" Alan said in a high pitched voice while the children laughed harder.

"I figured that, you have so many cooties they've plugged up your ear canals."

Alternate Rose giggled as Alternate Rain came up behind her with Teresa. Rain looked at her and pointed to Alan.

"Hey, Rain, if you don't mind, I want you to do what I'm doing with my brother and make John's life a living hell."

The Doctor giggled when John gave her a shocked look.

"Okay, just tell me everything you do to him," Alternate Rain said.

John turned his shocked gaze to her.

"Having thoughts about leaving her here, mate?" Alan said to him.

"Yes, suddenly I'm wondering if I really should take her along with me," he said while they laughed. "I have a feeling I should keep these two separated while they're together."

Rain chuckled. The three men watched while she stood up, put her arm around her double and walked over to the other side of the pool with her.

"Ought oh," Alan said while the Doctor snickered.


	333. Chapter 333

Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty Three

Finally, they were ready for John and Alternate Rose's wedding. They swung by the wedding shop for their outfits before heading on to pick up Jackie. Everyone was with them in the Doctor's TARDIS including Patty, Serena and Tobey. The Doctor activated the void crosser and they headed towards Alternate London. When they landed in front of the mansion, everyone filed out and John led the way to the front door. When Alternate Jackie opened it, her mouth nearly fell to the ground.

"Hi, Jackie!" everyone said, waving.

"Who are all these people?" Alternate Jackie said.

"This is the Doctor's family," John said, "and now mine and Rose's family as well."

Everyone waved again as her eyes swept over them.

"All of them are his family?" she said.

"Well, not all of them. I have some here who are friends but they're close to me like family," the Doctor said, shrugging.

Alternate Jackie spied her double, Pete and Rose standing in the middle of the throng. She shook her head when they waved to her.

"Okay, let me get Belle and my Pete," she said, closing the door.

"Wow, I'm surprised she was able to say something when she saw everyone," John said to the Doctor.

"One thing about Jackie, she's never at a loss for words," the Doctor whispered to him.

He looked back at his Jackie.

"Hey, Jackie, bring Tony up here so she can see him since she's bringing Belle out," he said to her.

The crowd parted as Jackie scooped up Tony and walked up beside him. She looked up at the mansion.

"I see her Pete's done just as well for himself," she said to the Doctor. "Makes me wonder if my original Pete would have been as successful if he'd lived."

"Never know, Jackie," he said. "He just thought up that Vitex drink when he was killed, right?"

Jackie nodded.

"Yeah, never thought it'd amount to much though when my Pete first came up with it," she said to him. "I'm glad I was wrong."

The door opened and Alternate Jackie came outside with Belle in her arms and Pete behind her. Pete froze and stared at everyone while everyone focused on Belle. The Doctor grinned at her. She was four years old and looked exactly like a tiny Rose right down to the straight shoulder length hair.

"Oh, she's darling," Jackie said, rubbing her back. "This is my boy, Tony."

Alternate Jackie set Belle down and Jackie did the same with Tony. The two women knelt down with Alternate Pete and looked over each other's children while everyone waited. Rose walked up with Pete and they knelt down beside their Jackie.

"Oh my God, she's so cute," Rose said, taking Belle's hand. "Hi there!"

"Rose," Belle said, walking to what she thought was her sister and giving her a hug. Alternate Rose knelt down beside Rose and grinned when Rose hugged her back. Belle noticed the other Rose and gave them a confused look before Alternate Rose took her hand.

"I'm your sister," she said to her.

She picked her up and held her. Jackie took Tony's hand and Alternate Jackie and Pete followed the others into the TARDIS.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they were inside the TARDIS and it was in the vortex, the Doctor left it there while the women and men split up and went to separate sections of the TARDIS to get dressed. The TARDIS put up a barrier making sure they were separated and John couldn't see Rose before the wedding. The women busied themselves putting on their dresses and doing their hair and makeup while John got into his robe and the men put on their morning suits. While the Doctor was dressing, Jack came up beside him and stood there, adjusting his jacket while they stared at their reflections in the mirror.

"Yan and I have been discussing our wedding," Jack said to him. "And we still want to get married in Kyoto. We both loved the outfit you wore."

"Yes, it was very comfortable, much better than this thing," he said, smoothing down his shirt. "I would love to go back to Kyoto again. Do you want to get married at the same shrine?"

"If that's possible," Jack said. "I showed Ianto photos of it and I think he definitely wants to do it there. We both thought it was a gorgeous location."

"It was. Japan is beautiful," the Doctor said. "I wouldn't mind taking the children there and showing them where we got married. Just let me know when you wanna do it so we can make plans."

"Gotcha," Jack said.

He finished dressing and studied his reflection in the mirror.

"You know my John, the psycho boyfriend I once had?"

The Doctor nodded.

"I almost came close to marrying him. We were gonna have a traditional wedding though with suits like these. That was before I realized how demented he really was. I'm glad I never went through with it. You know, when I first me Ianto and he helped me catch Myfanwy, I never thought he'd be the one. I'm glad after all these years, I finally found someone who I can truly love."

"I'm glad for you as well, mate," the Doctor said. "Chasing after people might be fun for awhile but eventually you need to settle down and be with one person."

Jack chuckled.

"I never thought I'd hear you say that, Doc," he said.

"Well, I was like you. I never thought I'd find the one either and I did. Fate has a funny way of doing things and most of the time your life doesn't turn out the way you planned. In our case, it turned out for the better."

Jack nodded and smiled. The Doctor finished dressing and patted Jack on the shoulder before he moved away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After everyone got dressed, the men went out to the console room while the women stayed in seclusion. The Doctor spoke to them telepathically and told them he was heading for Bellanoche as he set the coordinates. While they were doing that, Tara came into the room. John tapped the Doctor on the shoulder and he turned. His eyes widened when he saw his daughter. She was dressed in a pink strapless gown. Her black hair was swept up in a loose bun and there were pink roses and baby's breath inserted around it.

"Wow!" Jack said, coming up beside them. "I take it this is a preview of how stunning the other women will look."

The Doctor and John went to her and embraced her.

"You are beautiful, Star," the Doctor whispered in her ear.

"Yes, you're a vision," John added.

"Thanks," Tara said, hugging them back. "Mommy Rain told me to come out here and be a…liaison and see if there was anything you need?"

"Nope, everything is well in hand," the Doctor said as he and John stood up.

He paused and smiled.

"Are you sure that's the real reason? I mean we can communicate telepathically. You sure she didn't send you out here to show you off to us?"

"Probably," Tara said, rolling her eyes.

He smiled and put his arm around her. Tara stared at John's robe.

"Why are you wearing a dress?" she said to him.

The men roared with laughter as John folded his arms over his chest and gave her an indignant look.

"This is not a dress. It's a Gallifreyan wedding robe," he said while she giggled. "I found it at that wedding shop and I thought it'd be more appropriate to get married in than a suit."

Tara walked around it.

"I like the pretty design on the back," she said from behind.

"It's the Seal of Rassilon," the Doctor said to her. "It's the symbol of the founder of Gallifrey."

"Kinda looks like an eight," Tara said, tracing her finger around the design. "It's pretty though."

She came around to the front.

"This is kinda what the Valeyard was wearing too," she said.

"Well, that's because Time Lords wore these robes," John said.

"Did girls wear them?"

"Sometimes," the Doctor said. "They wore other things as well. Robes like these were more for formal occasions like this one."

The TARDIS landed and powered down.

"Okay, liaison, go and tell the women we've landed and tell them to come out here so we can marvel at their beauty."

"Except for Rose," John said. "Keep her hidden for now until the wedding starts."

"Okay," Tara said, hurrying to the back door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they gave the women appreciative looks, everyone stepped outside. Alternate Pete stayed behind with Alternate Jackie so they could bring Alternate Rose out at the appropriate time. The women were dressed the same way Tara was with the pink dresses, loose buns and roses and baby breath in their hair. John rolled his eyes when most of them snickered and teased him playfully about his robe. They landed beside the resort and John stepped inside while everyone else waited outside. The resort was fifty floors, made of glass and concrete and had a huge neon sign at the top that said Paradise Resort. Twenty minutes later, John stepped outside with an elderly man. He was tall and thin with white hair, a slightly lined face and granny glasses. He was wearing a black tuxedo and carrying a small gray book.

"This is Alexander, he'll be conducting the ceremony," John said, pointing to him.

"Pleased to meet you all. I understand that the bride is waiting in a spaceship?" he said.

"Yes, she's waiting in my ship and we'll contact her when we get to the site," the Doctor said.

"Very well, follow me," he said loudly.

He walked to the back of the crowd and everyone turned and followed him along a path. The waterfall was a five minute walk from the resort and everyone marveled at it when they reached the site.

"Gee, think we could skip the shrine and find a waterfall like this in Kyoto?" Jack said to Ianto.

"I wouldn't mind it," Ianto replied.

Alexander turned to them.

"Okay, the space behind the waterfall isn't big enough for everyone so whoever is in the main wedding party follow me and the rest of you can watch from the sides.

John and the Doctor followed Alexander along with Alternate Jack, Alternate Donna, Tara, Simon, Belle, Alan, Rose, Alternate Dex and Alternate Jenny. The others waited until there inside before half of them went up and over to the other side. Both groups clustered around the opening while the Doctor sent a message to Alternate Rose that they were ready and gave her instructions on how to find them. Alan hurried back out and along the path to find them while everyone else waited for them.

"This is gorgeous," Alternate Donna said to Alternate Jenny who was standing behind her.

"Yeah, I'm glad they found this. I love the idea of getting married behind a waterfall."

"At least your flowers are getting watered," Alternate Jack quipped while he stood across the way with the men.

The Doctor was the best man while Alternate Donna was the maid of honor. Behind the Doctor was a place for Alan then Alternate Jack, Dex and Simon. On the women's side, it was Alternate Donna, Jenny, Rose and Tara who holding on to Belle's hand and talking softly to her while she fidgeted. After five minutes, Alan was back. He sprinted up the rocks and got in his place.

"They're ready now," Alan said to Alexander.

"Let the bride be brought forth then," Alexander said.

The Doctor relayed that to Alternate Rose and everyone on her side turned and watched. They heard them ooing and awing and the Doctor smiled at John when he saw the look of anticipation on his face. The crowd parted and everyone saw Alternate Pete escorting her up the rocks. She was dressed in the pink wedding dress and her hair was up and had roses and baby's breath in it.

"Oh my love, you look gorgeous," John said under his breath.

Everyone smiled at her as Alternate Jackie got in line behind Rose and Alternate Pete led his daughter up to John.

"Do you give this woman away to this man?" Alexander said to Alternate Pete.

He smiled at Alternate Rose.

"I do," he said.

Alexander gestured to her and Alternate Rose came up beside John. John took her hand while Alternate Pete walked over and got in behind Alternate Jack. Alexander opened his book.

"We have come here today to celebrate the joining of two lives," he said. "Two people who have decided to bind themselves together and face the challenges and joys of life together. These two have made a commitment to one another and this ceremony today will formalize that and declare to everyone present that they are truly one in body, mind and soul. John, do you agree with everything I have said just now?"

"I do," he said, squeezing Alternate Rose's hand.

"Then you agree to bind yourself to this woman and be hers and hers alone until you die?"

"I do."

"Do you agree to stay with her through trials and tribulations, happiness and pleasure and take care of and comfort her until one of you must part from the other?"

"I do."

Alexander reached into his pocket and pulled out a gold bracelet. On it was an inscription that said my wife, now and forever. John opened it and slipped it around her right wrist. The moment he closed it, the bracelet glowed with a radiant light for a moment and then faded.

"Rose, do you agree to bind yourself to this man and be his and his alone until you die?"

"I do."

"Do you agree to stay with him through trials and tribulations, happiness and pleasure and take care of and comfort him until one of you must part from the other?"

"I do."

Alexander reached into his pocket and pulled out a gold ring. On it was the tiny inscription that said my husband, now and forever. She slipped it on his right ring finger and the ring glowed with the same brilliant radiance before fading.

"Join hands," Alexander said.

They joined their hands and smiled at each other.

"These two are now husband and wife, now and forever," Alexander said. "Let all who witness this acknowledge that and honor their marriage. With that, I conclude the ceremony. You may now kiss each other."

Everyone applauded as John grinned, leaned in and kissed Alternate Rose deeply on the lips. Alternate Rose threw her arms around him and kissed him passionately while everyone laughed and whooped and hollered. When they were finished, Alexander smiled and closed his book.

"And now, if everyone's ready, follow me and I'll lead you to the reception," he said to them.


	334. Chapter 334

Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty Four

After the ceremony, Alexander led them all back to the resort so they could have the reception. Once they reached the building, they all followed him inside. Alexander led them to a long escalator that led up to the reception hall on the fifth floor. While they rode up, Elizabeth stood beside Alan and stared down at the moving stairs in a puzzled silence. Finally, she tugged on Alan's jacket and he smiled down at her.

"Yeeeeeeeeeees?" he said.

"Daddy, how are we moving?" Elizabeth asked him.

Without missing a beat, Alan grinned and said…

"Monkeys. There's a heap of monkeys under the stairs turning cranks that move them for us."

Elizabeth looked down at the step she was on.

"Where? I wanna see the monkeys."

"Alan," Rose said as she stood behind him.

Elizabeth looked at her.

"I wanna see the monkeys, Mummy."

Rose sighed as Alan snickered. He patted Elizabeth on the head.

"Daddy, I wanna see the monkeys," Elizabeth whined.

"You can't, Bug-a-boo, they're too busy turning the cranks to say hello," Alan replied.

He giggled and tousled her hair affectionately when she pouted and muttered under her breath about wanting to see the monkeys.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they reached the fifth floor, Alexander led them down a short hallway to a pair of large doors that were painted white with gold trim. He opened them and they saw an enormous room that was painted in the same white color with the gold trim everywhere. There was a stage at the far end of the room and a huge crystal chandelier hung down in the center of the ceiling. All the round tables had white tablecloths on them with the gold trim and there were robot waiters hovering by the tables that were filled with food of every description. When they began sitting down, the waiters flew over and started serving them drinks and appetizers. The Doctor sat at one large table with his wife, daughters, Alan, Rose and their daughters. They were studying a list of the foods available when the Doctor felt someone hovering over him. He looked up and noticed the robot was staring at him intently.

"What?" he said.

"Sir, your hair is not combed. Would you like me to go fetch a comb?"

"No!" the Doctor said while Rain, Rose and Alan howled with laughter. "What is it with snooty robot waiters and my hair? It's fine. Now go and fetch us our food."

"Very well, Sir," the robot said.

The Doctor let out an exasperated sigh when it flew back towards the tables.

"I'm gonna start wearing hats when there's a chance of being around flying robots," he said to Rain. "Just keep an eye on them before one of them pours a jug of water on my head and tries to comb my hair."

Rain grinned and patted his arm. The Doctor stiffened when the robot came back with a tray of appetizers but it said nothing and went back to the table and he relaxed and grinned as he shoved a little hot dog in his mouth. He looked at Dorothy who was sitting beside him and leaned down.

"Love me nibbles," he said to her.

He grabbed a little hot dog and fed it to Dorothy. He smiled and rubbed noses with her while she chewed it.

"Well, well, look who gets to be all high and mighty!"

The Doctor and everyone else at his table looked over when they heard Jack. The curtain on the stage had parted revealing a lone table where John and Alternate Rose were sitting. On one end sat wedding gifts stacked neatly in a pyramid and on the other end was a four tiered white wedding cake. John and Alternate Rose waved at everyone.

"They forced us to sit here," John called to them. "Wasn't our idea."

"Speech!" Awinita yelled.

John and Alternate Rose glanced at each other when everyone chanted, "Speech, speech, speech!" John cleared his throat and the room fell silent while he stood up.

"Friends, family, I have decided to say a few words since you're insisting on it. I'm glad you're all here. I worked and slaved to make all this food for you so eat it all, every last bit. And…when we get out of here, don't bother me and the misses because we're gonna have fun and…"

He trailed off when someone tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to see a robot waiter behind him.

"Sir, your hair is messy, would you like a comb?"

"What?" John said while everyone else howled with laughter. "My hair is fine. Get out of here before I take you apart and examine you."

"Very good, Sir," the waiter said, flying off.

"Don't feel bad, Brother, I get that often with that lot," the Doctor called out.

"Well, it's none of his business if my hair is combed or not," John said. "Anyway, enjoy your meal and schmoozing. And thanks for being here to support us."

"At least he had all of us," Alan said to the Doctor when he sat back down. "When it was me and my Rose, we had a grand total of four people at our reception and one of them stank up the room."

He looked intently at Rain. Rain whistled to herself while she studied her list and ignored him. Alan continued to stare at her while the children giggled.

"Look at her, studying the menu as if she's gonna get food today," he said.

Rain whistled louder while Tara giggled.

"I don't think she's listening, Uncle Alan," she said to him.

"Oh, I'll make her listen," Alan said.

Tara looked at her mother. Thirty seconds later, Rain made a face and lowered the list, glaring at Alan while he giggled.

"What'd he do, Mommy?"

"He put a privacy block up and projected an image of him stripping inside my head" Rain said.

"Just trying to make you lose your appetite so we can have more to eat," Alan said, shrugging.

"See these hot dogs, I'll be stuffing them up both of your nostrils in a moment," Rain said while Tara giggled.

"Keep your slimy mitts off those hot…"

His mouth dropped open when Rain grabbed a couple and popped them in her mouth before she went back to studying the menu.

"How rude!" Alan said while the children laughed.

"Mmmm, those are good, Sweetie, try some," Rain said to Tara.

"Okay," Tara said, taking one.

She gasped when Jenny snatched it out of her hand and popped it in her mouth.

"Thanks, Sis, I didn't feel like getting that on my own," she said to her.

Everyone laughed as Jenny got up and ran off while Tara let out a protest.

"Get bent, Sis!" Tara said to her.

Jenny grinned as she sat down with Awinita, Nelak, Donna, Lee, Grace, Mingxia and Julie. She winked at her sister before she started talking to her friends. Tara glanced at her warily before she took another hot dog and popped it in her mouth.

"May I have your attention please?"

Everyone looked at the stage and saw Jack standing there beside John and Alternate Rose's table with a microphone.

"I'd like to welcome you to the reception," Jack said. "The wedding reception of two dear friends who I hope will continue to be our friends far into the future. And I hope all of you will show up for me and Yan's wedding when we finally work out the details. Now, I noticed that there is no music or entertainment of any kind so I decided to come up here and get the ball rolling. So I welcome you to the first episode of Cardiff's Got Talent and for our first contestant, Ianto Jones is gonna favor us with a song. So Yan, get your butt up here!"

Everyone laughed when Ianto paused with a glass of wine at his lips. He lowered the glass and gave Jack an odd look.

"Excuse me?" Ianto said to him.

"You heard me, Babe, get up here and sing a song."

Ianto cocked an eyebrow.

"Babe?" he said as everyone laughed harder.

"Honey?" Jack said. "Darling? Sugar? Bunny Munchkins?"

Ianto looked at Gwen who was sitting beside him and shook his head while she sniggered.

"Well, what you waitin' for, Ianto. Get up and sing," Gwen said.

"Yeah, let's hear what you sound like when you sing," Martha said, sitting across the table.

"You first, Jones," Ianto said to her. "Why don't you and your boyfriend do a duet?"

Martha glanced at Mickey who was sitting beside her.

"We're not from Cardiff," Mickey said.

"Yes, we're from London so that disqualifies us," Martha said. "It's you and Gwen and Rhys who are eligible."

"Then get up there and sing, Gwen," Ianto said to her. "You and Rhys do a duet."

"Count me out, I don't wanna scare everyone here," Rhys said.

Gwen smiled, leaned over and gave her husband a peck on the cheek. She glanced at Alternate Jack who was sitting on the other side of Rhys.

"What about you, Jack?" she said to him.

"I'm not from Cardiff either," Alternate Jack said, shrugging.

"Come on, Ianto, serenade us!" Jack yelled to his boyfriend.

"No thanks, Jack, I'm eating," Ianto replied.

Jack groaned.

"Ah, you're no fun," he moaned. "Alright, fine. It's up to me, I guess."

He walked over to the table and picked up a fork. He held it up while he spoke into the microphone.

"Behold, an ordinary fork!" he said, showing it to everyone. "But if I plunge this ordinary fork into my eye and pull my eyeball out, will my miraculous powers of resurrection allow me to grow a new one? Let's find out!"

"Sit down, ya hack!"

Everyone laughed when Jack gave Awinita a dirty look.

"Anyway, as I was saying, fork in the eye and…"

"You do and we'll take the fork and stab it all over your body," Donna yelled at him. "We're all trying to eat here."

"Really, Donna? I was under the impression you were too busy snogging Lee to do that," Jack said.

Everyone laughed when Jack dropped the microphone and ran off the stage the moment Donna got up and started towards it. He went back to his microphone when Donna sat back down.

"Seriously though, where's the music?" John said into it. "This is a party, not a wake. Hey, one of you robots! We need some music!"

A robot waiter flew up to him.

"Yes, Sir?"

"We need some music. Earth music from about the 1960's to 2010, play us some of that."

"Very good, Sir."

"That's more like it," Jack said into the microphone as the robot flew to the back of the room where the stereo equipment was located. "So, hopefully once the music is turned on, the party will kick up a notch. In the meantime, everyone enjoy your food and…"

He trailed off when music started blaring out of the speakers. He listened for a moment with everyone else and they laughed when they realized the robot was playing C Is For Cookie from Sesame Street.

"No!"Jack yelled into the microphone. "I said, play music!"

The robot flew back to him.

"That is what you requested, I'm playing an Earth song from 1960 to 2010," he said.

"I meant an adult song. This is for little kids."

"Daddy, I want a cookie!"

"Oh blimey and now the song's given Dot ideas," the Doctor said while everyone at his table giggled.

"Go find something else to play, now," Jack said to the robot.

"Very good, Sir."

It flew back over to the stereo equipment.

"Anyway, sorry about that, hopefully he'll pick a better song and…"

He trailed off again when he heard a heavy bass beat that vibrated his body.

"Well, I'm gonna get into my escalade," they heard someone rapping. "Gonna get paid and have it made. Gonna ride with my homies through the street. Gonna pop a cap in an ass and find a ho to beat."

"No!" Jack said while everyone roared with laughter. "Something that's appropriate for a wedding reception, you stupid robot!"

The robot turned and gave him a blank look. Jack sighed.

"Look, play…I don't know…Play something romantic from the 1980's. Something that talks about love and romance and hearts. Something like that."

The robot turned back to the stereo. Everyone laughed harder when a few seconds later they heard…

"SHOT THROUGH THE HEART AND YOU'RE TO BLAME! DARLING, YOU GIVE LOVE A BAD NAME!"

Jack threw his hands up.

"Okay, I give up. I'm going to go eat now," he said, putting the microphone back in its stand. "Let the little confused robot play whatever it wants."

He went back to his table while everyone else sang along with Bon Jovi and ate their food.


	335. Chapter 335

Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty Five

"On second thought, we won't let the confused robot play whatever he wants," Jack muttered as he scribbled down a list of songs on a large napkin.

Once the robot got through playing You Give Love A Bad Name, it moved on to Funkytown. Unfortunately, it was Funkytown off the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie soundtrack. Everyone was giggling hysterically at the high-pitched voices.

"Oi, play Witch Doctor next!"

"Shut up, Alan!" Jack yelled as everyone laughed harder.

Everyone had finished their appetizers and was looking at the menus trying to decide what to have for the main course. The Doctor whistled Funkytown while he scanned the choices.

"You know, we could have a fondue," he said to everyone at his table.

"What's that?" Tara asked.

"Well, they bring out this huge bowl and they light a little fire underneath and we can cook meat and vegetables on skewers," the Doctor said to her.

"Cool, I wanna do that," Tara said.

"If that's what that is, they also have cheese and chocolate fondues but I'm guessing this is the hot oil."

"Good, we can boil Rain in it after we poke her eyes out with the skewers," Alan said.

"No, I think we'll do that to you after I take a skewer and ram it through your manhood."

Alan made a face while Rose sniggered.

"Oi, I didn't threaten your womanhood, Missy," he said.

Rain shrugged. They glanced over when Awinita pulled her chair up and sat down beside Alan.

"Howdy, couldn't help overhearing the fondue idea. I'd love to join you since a certain couple is about to go at it again at our table," she said.

They looked over and noticed Donna and Lee were gazing deeply into each other's eyes while the rest of the people at the table gave the Doctor pleading looks. The couple was jolted back into reality when everyone picked up their chairs and moved over to their table.

"Oi, what's going on?" Donna said.

"We're just giving you privacy," Mingxia said.

"We're just looking at each other," Donna said, exasperated. "We're not gonna start snogging and shagging each other if that's what you're worried about."

"Promise?" Grace said.

"Yes, we promise," Lee replied.

Everyone at the Doctor's table laughed when the refugees picked up their chairs and returned to their homeland.

"Sorry to bother all of you. I'll order the fondue over here," Awinita said to them.

The Doctor and the others turned their attention back to each other. Tara felt a tap on her shoulder and looked around at Amelia.

"Hey, what are you doing over here? Why don't you come sit with us?" she said, pointing to the children's table near the stage.

"I'm sitting with Daddy right now," Tara said, gesturing to him.

"So? Come sit with us," Amelia said.

"I'm having fondue with Daddy. Besides, what if I go over there and an alien attacks and I can't save him cause I'm over there?"

The Doctor stared at Rain while Alan and Rose giggled. The Doctor patted Tara on the head.

"My guard dog," he said while Tara giggled. "What did I ever do without her? Bless."

"Come over here and sit and have fondue," Tara said to Amelia.

"What's that?" she asked.

The Doctor briefly explained it to her.

"Nah, I want a hamburger," she said.

The Doctor pouted and leaned over into her face. Tara giggled when he made a pleading face.

"Don't wanna sit with your Papaw?" he said to her. "Have some fondue with us?"

He gave her a hopeful look.

"Come on, have some fondooooooooooooooooo!" he said while Tara giggled hysterically.

"Yes, have some fondoooooooooooooooo," Alan parroted.

"Have some fondoooooo in Chattanooooooooooooga," Rose said.

She flashed everyone a triumphant grin when Alan giggled hysterically at that.

"Ah, memories," he said.

Everyone stopped what they were doing when the next song came on. It was someone screeching and wailing.

"Now what are you playing?" Jack yelled at the robot.

The robot floated over to him.

"I am playing a song by an Earth woman called Yoko Ono."

"Oh hell, no!" Jack said while everyone roared with laughter. "Here, take this list and play the songs on it and do not deviate from it at all!"

"If you say so, Sir," the robot said while he took the napkin.

He flew back over and a few seconds later, everyone applauded when Born To Be Wild started playing.

"The only problem is now we won't get to have a laugh at the odd choice of songs," Alan said.

The robot finished programming in the rest of the selections and went around taking everyone's entrée orders. Jack breathed a sigh of relief.

"When we get married in Kyoto, we will be doing it at a time when there are no flying robots," he said to Ianto.

"I agree with Alan, it was sort of amusing listening to his song selections," Ianto said.

"Yeah, they always play the same fifty songs at receptions but you never hear The Chipmunks singing Funkytown," Gwen added.

"Well, when John and Rose get up to dance, maybe they can request that as their song," Martha said.

Alternate Jack rolled his eyes.

"You and my team would get along great. I realize there are differences between the universes but not with you," he said.

He took a sip of beer.

"I have to ask though because it's been bothering me. Where's your Owen and Tosh? Are they on assignment or are they absent from this dimension?"

Everyone gave him a shocked look.

"You don't know what happened to them?" Jack asked his double.

He gave Jack a confused look.

"No, what happened to them? In my dimension they're perfectly fine. Actually, Martha and Mickey are with them. Their joining Torchwood did happen in our universe so they're all working together and…what? Why are you giving me odd looks?"

"Jack," Gwen said to him. "Our Tosh and Owen…"

She swallowed hard before continuing.

"They're dead, Jack," she finally got out.

Alternate Jack was horrified.

"What? How?"

They explained it to him and his horror intensified.

"Grey? You found him…and he buried you alive…and he killed your Tosh and Owen?" he said to his double.

Jack nodded. Alternate Jack sat back in his chair in a stunned silence.

"Grey never showed up in our universe or John…son of a bitch…I can't believe Grey…any Grey would go berserk like that…Jesus. Look, I'm sorry to bring it up. I didn't realize…"

Jack held up his hand.

"You didn't know…" he said to him. "However, perhaps sometime if you come back with John, you could bring them along. I know it's not our Tosh and Owen but it's a Tosh and Owen and I know Gwen and Ianto and Martha miss them."

They nodded in agreement.

"And I'd like to meet them," Mickey said. "I've heard a lot of stories about them from these three and I wouldn't mind meeting them and getting to know them."

"I'll be sure to bring them sometime then," Alternate Jack said. "I had no idea. I really am sorry. I thought it was odd that they weren't around but I figured perhaps you had them out on assignment and they couldn't make it back in time. I'm sorry."

"Quit apologizing, alright? You didn't know," Jack said to him.

The robot came to their table and all of them ordered their food before it flew over to the next table where the Jackies, Petes, Jake and Francine were sitting. While they finished off their appetizers, Mickey felt a tug on his jacket sleeve and saw Toby staring at him.

"Hello there, little mate," Mickey said to him. "Are you having fun?"

Toby nodded shyly. Mickey gave him a hot dog and he took it hesitantly and ate it, smiling at Mickey while he did.

"He's so cute," Martha said, laying her hand on the top of his head.

Toby came around Mickey and stared up at her.

"Would you like another hot dog?" she asked him.

Toby nodded and Martha handed him one.

"I hope he gets to the point where he feels comfortable enough to speak to us," Jack said.

"Yeah, but you know he was a slave up until a few days ago," Mickey said. "I reckon it'll take awhile for him to trust everyone and open up to us."

"Well, I think he came over because you're black like he is," Ianto said. "Maybe you're not as threatening to him."

"Could be," Martha said. "He spends time with the other children and I'm betting it's for the same reason."

She rubbed his back while she gave him another hot dog.

"You don't have to worry, Toby. No one will hurt you again," she said to him. "There's a whole room of people who won't let that happen."

Toby beamed at that and Martha laid her hand on his head. Toby finished off the hot dogs while he listened quietly to their conversation.

Back at the Doctor's table, one of the robots was setting up the fondue pot. Amelia had pulled up her chair beside Tara and both of them watched with quiet fascination while the robot poured the oil into the silver pot and lit the sterno can underneath. They stared at the blue flame that licked the underside of the pot while the robot went to fetch a trolley.

"Dad used to do this in the '70's," Rain said, gesturing to her father who was three tables over with the other older adults. "He used to have his friends over for fondue parties. I guess it was the in thing to do back then."

"I had a fondue party with Andy Warhol and Twiggy," the Doctor said. "It was quite interesting. I didn't partake of the LSD that was passed around, mind, but I did have fun watching the others wander around in a drugged haze. Ah, memories."

Rose rolled her eyes when the Doctor and Alan sniggered at that.

"Yes, I remember that via your memories. It was quite fascinating when Twiggy painted one side of her body blue and the other pink. She was quite flat as you know in the chesticle area and very, very skinny. But then she wouldn't be called Twiggy if she wasn't skinny as a beanpole, eh?"

"Much like you and the Doctor?" Rose said.

"Nah, she made me and the Doctor look like sumo wrestlers. Waify little girl, needed a lorry filled with sandwiches to be honest."

"Agreed, I kept waiting for her to fall through a crack in the floor," the Doctor said. "Anyway, after everyone came down from the acid trip, I starred in one of Andy's experimental films. It was a six-hour film entitled Scarf where all he did was film my scarf. He started at one end, ran the camera along it and then ran it back and then repeated over and over and over. I saw the end result and fell asleep three hours in. Quite boring. He didn't film one bit of me and that would have made the film much more exciting. Not so much as a curl off my hair, nope, not a sausage…"

He paused when Tara tugged on his sleeve.

"Hey, you're rambling again about nothing," she said.

"Spot on, thank you for pointing that out," he said while Rain giggled. "I did indeed go off on a run my gob about nothing tangent. Much like Seinfeld. Now there's another interesting chap. I remember once I went to a burlesque show with him. Course he couldn't stop looking at my garish outfit but then again neither could Peri. Then again, Peri used to wear shorts up to her crotch and tight shirts that left absolutely nothing to the imagination and I had to fend off drooling men with my cricket bat and later my umbrella. I told her time and again, Peri, dress sensibly before I run into someone like Jack Harkness and he lands up shagging you senseless in…say…a filthy alley in Bangkok, but the girl wouldn't listen to me. She'd just strut around the TARDIS in short shorts and tied up shirts and skimpy bikinis. I kept on waiting for the day when she'd come out and strut around the console in her birthday suit but it never happened which frankly shocked me given the girl's penchant for tight '80's fashions and…"

He grinned when he felt the tug on his sleeve again and winked at his daughter.

"That time, I rambled on purpose," he said, pinching her cheek.

The robot brought the trolley over. It had long, metal skewers on top of it along with several trays filled with raw meat, chicken, fish and vegetables. The robot flew away while Rain grabbed a skewer.

"Come over here and tell me what you want on your shish kabob, kids," she said to them.

While they were doing that, Alan felt a tug on his sleeve and he looked down at Elizabeth.

"I gotta go to the toilet, Daddy."

"Okay, let's see if we can find where the loo is," Alan said.

"Good, cause I gotta drop some trouser chili!"

The Doctor and Rain bent over laughing while Rose gave her daughter a shocked look. She eyed Alan who was shifting uncomfortably.

"Gee, my witty witticisms seem to be rubbing off on my daughter, who'd have thunk it?" he said to her.

"Yeah, who'd have thunk it?" Rose said dryly.

"Daddy, come on, I gotta drop trouser chili," Elizabeth said, tugging on his sleeve.

"Lizzy, don't say trouser chili, it's not the proper thing for a young lady to say," Rose said, sighing.

"But I gotta go to the comfort station, Mummy," Elizabeth said. "I need to use the necessary room 'fore I explode."

Rose raised her eyebrow while Alan gave her a sheepish look.

"Yes, right, I'll be taking our daughter to the loo then," he said, getting up. "Come along, Lizzy."

Rose looked at the Doctor and Rain who were trying not to laugh.

"As you can see, his personality is starting to rub off on them," she said to them.

"Trouser chili!"

Rose sighed when she heard Angel squeak out the words in a little high-pitched voice.

"I can't wait to see how they turn out when they're fully grown. I'm already imagining three Alan's running about the house," Rose said, turning to Angel who was on her left side.


	336. Chapter 336

Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty Six

Once the reception was over, all of them headed back down the escalator and over to the front desk. Alternate Rose and John were booking a room while the others booked an entire floor underneath them so they could spend the night and relax. On the way down to the front desk, Elizabeth stared down at the escalator step she was on.

"I wanna see the monkeys, Daddy," she said to Alan.

"We can't, Bug-a-boo, monkeys aren't on their tea break yet."

"What monkeys?" Dorothy said as she stood with the Doctor two steps behind her.

"There's monkeys under here making the stairs go," Elizabeth said, excitedly.

"Daddy, I wanna see the monkeys!" Dorothy said to the Doctor.

"We can't, Ladybird, they're working right now," he said to her.

"Geez," Rose muttered, "you two are hopeless. What are they gonna think when we have to tell them the monkeys aren't…"

"Shhh, Starlight, don't say anything," Alan said, putting his hand over her mouth. "They need to believe in the Escalator Crank Monkeys just like they need to believe in Father Christmas. Let them be young for a few more years."

Everyone giggled when Alan winked and kissed her cheek.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Party!" Alan said, running out of the lift with Lizzy in his arms. "Let's rip the place apart!"

Tara and Amelia let out squeals and ran after him while Lizzy laughed hysterically. Jack turned to his group that had crowded into the elevator.

"You heard the man, let's rip this place apart before the lift goes down and the Jackies get up here!" Jack said to them as they stepped out onto their floor.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once everyone was on the floor, everyone opened up their front and communicating doors and did what Alan suggested. Just about everyone went from room to room laughing and chatting. The Doctor phoned down and requested Earth music be piped into their rooms, making sure to specify the type of music they wanted. Rock music was coming into the rooms through an overhead speaker while everyone mingled. The Doctor and Rain was sharing a room with Alan and Rose. The rooms were large with the same white and gold trim design. The beds were white sleigh beds with gold duvets. They had a computer with Internet access, a TV and a small kitchen with fully stocked refrigerator and cabinets. The Doctor was reading a brochure that was on their bedside table finding out what the resort offered. While he was doing that and Rain was showering and changing into her street clothes, Tara zoomed into the room and flung herself onto the bed. A moment later Amelia and Opal ran into the room armed with pillows. They stopped by the Doctor's side and raised them over their heads while Tara sat up and did the same with her pillow.

"Before all fluffy hell breaks loose, let me remind all three of you that I'm an innocent bystander but I will use force if necessary because I too have a pillow," the Doctor said to them as he pointed behind his head.

"Move then," Amelia said to him.

"I don't wanna move. I'm nice and comfy and I'm perusing this brochure to find out what to do here. And…if you must know I haven't seen a listing for pillow fights so once again, I'm warning you against stray shots that touch my person because I will retaliate. However, before you do that…"

He leaned over, pulled open the door in the bedside table and pulled out a small sewing kit.

"Observe, I have the means to sew your pillows together so you'll have to sleep side by side by side."

"Give that to us so we can sew the sheets together, Papaw," Amelia said.

They giggled when the Doctor pretended to think that over.

"Hmmm, sew all the bed sheets together and make the management angry. Dare I?"

"Dare, dare, dare!" the three children chanted.

_What's going on out there?_ Rain thought to them.

_Trying to distract my child and grandchildren before I'm assaulted with fluffy pillows,_ the Doctor thought back.

"No!" she said aloud. "Kids, don't you dare have a pillow fight. You might knock something over and I doubt your father and grandfather wants to pay for it after paying for all these rooms!"

"You heard the woman," the Doctor said smugly.

All three children lowered their pillows.

"Darn, now we have to find something else to do," Opal whined.

The Doctor folded up the brochure neatly and sat it on the bedside table. He reached into his pocket and brought out his yo-yo.

"Observe," he said to them.

He began to do tricks while the children watched and applauded.

_Now what's going on? What's with the applause?_ Rain thought.

_I'm being brilliant and showing off my yo-yo prowess to them,_ the Doctor thought as he walked the dog.

He paused a moment when he heard Gangsta's Paradise start overhead and then went back to his yo-yo tricks. While he was doing that, Alan wandered into the room, walked up to him and began to sing loudly.

"As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life and realize there's nothing left. Because I've been blastin' and laughin' so long, that even Davros thinks that my mind is gone. But I ain't never crossed a Dalek that didn't deserve it. Me be treated like a punk, you know that's unheard of. You betta watch how ya talking and where ya walking or you and your Cybermen might be lined in chalk. I really hate to trip, but I gotta loc'- As they croak I see myself in the pistol smoke, fool I'm the kinda G the little homies wanna be like on my knees in the night sayin prayers in the street light."

Suddenly Jack ran to the door with Alternate Jack. He began to sing the chorus while Alternate Jack sang the 'ahs'. The children laughed while Rain opened the door and stuck her head out.

"Kids, get in here until the madness passes," she said to them.

"Sing, Daddy! Sing with them!" Tara said to him.

"Okey-doke," he said.

He cleared his throat.

"Look at the situation, they got me facing, I can't live a normal life, I was raised on Gallifrey. So I gotta be down with my hood team. Too much flying through the vortex got me chasin' dreams. I'm an educated fool with travelin' on my mind. Got my screwdriver in my hand and a gleam in my eye I'm a loc'ed out gangsta, set-trippin banger. And my homies is down, so don't arouse my anger, fool. Death ain't nuthin but a hearts beat away. I'm livin life do-or-die-a, what can I say? I'm twenty-three hundred now, but will I live to see twenty-four? The way things is goin' I don't know."

Rain chuckled while the children cheered him. While they sang, Rose came back into the room with Elizabeth and Angel. She paused and watched with an odd look on her face while the Doctor, Alan and the two Jacks sang the song as dramatically as they could. Rose glanced at Rain.

"Gee, should we go get John so he can join in?" Rose said to her.

"I have a feeling before the night is out they'll be doing just that," Rain replied.

"Yeah, she's right. We need to go pull John away from all that boring honeymoon stuff so he can hang with us, eh, my homies?" Alan said to the men.

"Yes, we need to teach our fellow homie how to relax and loosen up a little, yo!" Jack said.

"If he's doing what I think he's doing, I'm sure he's loosened up by now," Rose said, walking past them.

"Well, we need to go check on Mister Wedding Night Jitters and be sure!" Alan said.

"I wouldn't if I were you, Alan, not if you want a fist in the face," Rose said while she turned on the TV and tried to find something for Elizabeth and Angel to watch.

Rain closed the door but after she did that, she put up a privacy block around the Doctor's mind and said something to him. A smile slowly spread over the Doctor's face.

"Um, Rain and I want to go down to the Jacuzzi for awhile," the Doctor said to them. "So all of you homies just chill out and be fly and I'll see you later."

Tara looked at Amelia when she tapped her on the shoulder.

"Come with me, I have an idea," Amelia said.

Tara nodded and they both ran out of the room.

"I've got an idea for a prank we can play on Mamaw and Papaw," Amelia said as they ran to the lift. "Let's get down there before them, turn the bubbles on and use our bypass systems to hide under the water. Then when they get in we'll jump up and scream boo!"

"Okay!" Tara said.

They ran harder towards the elevator.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They made it to the pool room before the Doctor and Rain. In the corner was a large Jacuzzi. On the wall was a dial that activated a timer for it. Amelia and Tara quickly took off all their clothes and hid them behind a large pile of plastic tubing. Amelia turned the dial all the way around and the water jets started. As the water began to froth, both of them got into it. They activated their respiratory bypass systems, walked to the far side and sank down under the bubbles. They sat on the bottom waiting for the Doctor and Rain to come. Two minutes later, they saw the Doctor put his toe into the water for a moment before taking it out. They waited and watched but he didn't get in.

Finally, after five minutes they saw the Doctor put his foot onto the first step and come down. They glanced at each other and grinned but the grins fell off their faces when they noticed the Doctor didn't have any swim trunks on. They stared with horror at his penis and testicles as he walked over to the marble bench ringing the edge and sat down. A moment later, Rain came down the steps and she too was completely naked. Both girls watched while she walked over, sat down beside him and began to fondle his private parts. They stared at her hand while it gently took his penis and began to stroke it up and down. Amelia put a privacy block up around Tara's mind.

_What do we do?_ She thought.

_I don't know but we can't let them see us. We'll get in trouble,_ she thought back. _Just wait, maybe they'll leave._

But to their horror, Rain ended her ministrations, got up and lowered herself onto his erect penis. They watched while she made love to him.

Um…ew, Amelia thought while they watched the sex act.

Yeah, I don't wanna watch this. We have to get up though before our air runs out. We have to show ourselves and get it over with.

They glanced at each other, counted to three and stood up. The Doctor and Rain froze the moment their heads broke the surface of the water and they stared at them in shock.

"Um…boo?" Tara said hesitantly.

"Care to tell us what you were doing under there?" the Doctor finally said.

"Um, well, we beat you down here because we were gonna play a prank on you and jump up but then you started doing this and we were afraid to show ourselves," Tara said.

"I see, so your little prank backfired then," the Doctor said.

"Yeah but we wouldn't have done it if we knew you were going to do this," Amelia said. "We're sorry, we were just kidding around, honestly."

An impish grin spread over the Doctor's face.

"Well, I s'pose that's a lesson to check next time before you think up a clever prank, eh. Now that you've shown yourself, can you leave us both in peace here?"

The children nodded. Tara hesitated a moment.

"Isn't that uncomfortable? What you're doing?" Tara asked Rain.

"No, it feels very good. You'll find out one day," she replied.

"I trust you know what this is so we don't have to lecture you on the birds and bees," the Doctor said to them.

"No, we know exactly what you're doing," Tara said.

"Good. Now, could you give us some privacy?"

They nodded. The Doctor grinned.

"Go and give Jack a wedgie or something. He needs one."

"Okay, Daddy."

"I would kiss you but it'd be a bit awkward so I'm afraid you'll have to just run along now," the Doctor said.

"Be careful going back up. Your clothes are down here, I hope," Rain said.

"Yeah, we hid them over there," Tara said, pointing to the tubing.

"Good, get them, get dressed and we'll see you later."

Tara and Amelia nodded. They got out, grabbed their clothes and ran to the changing room door on the left side of the wall. The Doctor and Rain watched them run through it and then the Doctor looked at Rain.

"Suddenly, I've lost interest in finishing, you?" he said.


	337. Chapter 337

Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty Seven

John and Alternate Rose lay together in bed staring up at the ceiling.

"I'm so glad we finally got to this part," Alternate Rose purred as she turned on her side to face him.

"Me too. Except…"

"Yeah?" Alternate Rose said.

He turned on his side to face her.

"Except we'll have to leave after this and leave our daughter behind. I've gotten used to her being around and it'll be hard going off and leaving her behind."

"Yeah, I know but you have to share with her original dad," she said.

John chuckled.

"It's still bizarre doing this. Who'd have thunk there'd be more than one Doctor among the universes. Wonder how many more mes there are?"

"Well, let's not go looking for them. Let them come to us," Alternate Rose said.

"But if the other Doctor hadn't gone looking, we would have still been under the Valeyard's control," John pointed out.

"Yeah, except he wasn't looking for other Doctors. He just stumbled onto us," Alternate Rose said.

"Thank the gods he did," John said, smiling as he embraced Rose.

"Yeah," Alternate Rose said, embracing him back.

She lowered her lips to his and they began to kiss passionately.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After getting back to the room, the Doctor and Rain relaxed for awhile with Dorothy until the rest of the women came by to ask if Rain wanted to go to a movie with them.

"Go ahead. I'll stay with Ladybird and be amused by her antics," the Doctor said to her.

She gave him a kiss and left with Jenny. The Doctor relaxed with Dorothy on the bed, watching a movie until she passed out. Once she was asleep he grabbed a paper and pen that was on the bedside table. He went over to the table by the window, sat down and began to write a note to John. While he was doing that, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and turned his head to see Tara looking around the doorway at him.

"Hi, Daddy."

"Hello, Star," he said cheerfully.

"Um, you're not upset?"

"Nah, you and Amelia weren't being malicious. You just thought you'd play a joke on us except the joke was on you. I can't fault you for being playful. I would have done the same. I expect you'll check first before doing that again, yeah?"

"Yes, I saw more than I wanted to see," Tara said, coming into the room while the Doctor chuckled.

Tara went into the kitchen and grabbed a soda from the refrigerator while the Doctor went back to writing his letter. She wandered back out and walked over to his side. She stared at the hastily written concentric circles on the piece of paper.

"What are you doin'?" she asked.

"Writing John a letter of thanks and encouragement," the Doctor said. "Your mum went to see a film with the other women so I volunteered to stay and look after Dot. When she went to sleep I came over and worked on this."

Tara sipped her soda and watched while he quickly wrote out the note. She frowned when he quickly wrote out the circle language without any hesitation.

"How do you know where the circles go?" she finally asked.

The Doctor tapped his temple with the end of the pen before he went back to writing the letter.

"You write fast," she commented.

He smiled.

"This is a more shorthand version of Gallifreyan writing. Sorta like the cursive writing you do," he said while he wrote. "It's a special script for documents and letters because it takes too long if I make the words look like the writing on my monitor."

"How do you know where the circles go? It looks weird," she said.

"Well, when I first saw roman letters I thought they were weird and thought the same thing," the Doctor said. "This language is based on mathematics though. You have to do calculations in your head in order to be able to read it properly."

"Sounds hard."

"Nah, you'll know what to do when you get your full Time Lady mind," he said.

She continued to watch while he finished the letter.

"There," he said, folding the paper over into half.

Tara took a sip of soda and watched him write out a more elegant version of the writing on the front of the paper.

"What's that say?" she said, pointing to the big circle.

"That's his name."

"Cool. What's my name look like?"

The Doctor sat the letter aside and took another piece of paper. He thought for a moment and then drew out the word in the same elegant hand he used for John's name. Once he was done, he gave it to her. Tara grinned and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks, Daddy."

"No problemo," he drawled.

She folded it up and put it in her pocket while the Doctor leaned back and put his hands behind his head.

"Think we should wake Munchkin Bunchkin there and get something to eat since we're on our Tod?" he asked Tara.

"Yeah, I wanna go eat something."

"Okay, go scream in your sister's ear while I shave the excess hair off my finely sculpted face," he said.

He giggled when Tara swatted his arm and got up to go to the bathroom. He went in and used the complementary razor and shaving cream. While he did that, Tara got Dorothy up and got her ready. As she was helping Dorothy put her shoes on, she heard a knock on the door and saw Ianto smiling at her.

"Hello there," he said.

"Hi, Ianto, wanna come eat with us?" Tara said.

The Doctor came out of the bathroom with a half-shaved face.

"You're welcome to come along if you want, you and Jack," he said.

"Thanks. I will. Just me though. Jack and Jack are busy at the moment," Ianto said.

"Suit yourself. Just let us finish and we'll go downstairs," he said, going back into the bathroom.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After getting ready, the Doctor shut the door and locked it and he, Ianto, Tara and Dorothy all went downstairs to the restaurant. They found a table near the back and after ordering drinks settled back and relaxed.

"So…Jack know you're down here? He might get worried if he can't find you," he teased.

Ianto snorted.

"Actually, I excused myself from their company. Jack and the other Jack were getting a bit randy and I was the object of their affections," Ianto said, picking up the menu.

"Really? I would have thought your Jack would have objected to the other Jack chatting you up," the Doctor replied.

"No, he figured since it was technically him that made it perfectly fine," Ianto said, rolling his eyes. "It was getting a bit…uncomfortable in there so I went to see if there was someone else I could talk to and I found you lot."

"Just in time for supper too," the Doctor said.

"Yup, I've always had impeccable timing," Ianto replied.

He smiled at Dorothy who was sitting beside him and softly singing to herself while she and Tara looked at the menu.

"Nice to have children along," Ianto said. "I've always had a soft spot for kids personally."

"Yes, I love being with them," the Doctor said, winking at Dorothy and Tara when they looked up. "So does this mean you'll be adopting any once you wed?"

"Not sure. I'd like to. Don't know about Jack though."

"I think Jack would. He likes being around the kids and he's a big kid himself in many ways."

"Tell me something I don't know," Ianto said, shaking his head. "Don't know how it is with you and Rain but Jack can get a bit…wild at times."

"Well, the misses and I have our moments but…maybe I shouldn't elaborate," the Doctor said when he noticed the face Tara was making.

Ianto glanced at her.

"Why? Are you uncomfortable with hearing about your dad and mum's sex life?" he said.

Tara looked at the Doctor.

"Go ahead. If you wanna tell what you and Amelia did, be my guest," he said.

"Why? What'd you and Amelia do?"

Tara sighed and told him. The Doctor giggled when he noticed a small smile creep onto Ianto's face near the end of the explanation.

"No wonder you and Jack get on so well. You and Amelia are just like him," he said when she finished.

The waiter came by and they placed their orders. They waited till he left before going back to the conversation.

"So have you set a date yet for the wedding?" the Doctor asked Ianto.

"I think in a fortnight or so. John's wedding's got Jack in the mood and he doesn't wanna wait any longer," Ianto said.

"Brilliant, just let us know what you want to do and when you want to go," the Doctor said.

"You're just itching to have us wed, aren't you?"

"I'm tired of me and Alan being the only married couples, especially since there's you and Jack and Awinita and Nelak and Donna and Lee and Martha and Mickey. All of you have been engaged for donkey's years, it's time you all take the plunge and get it over with," he said.

"So we can be miserable?" Ianto said.

"Yes, so you can be miserable like we are," the Doctor said while he and Tara giggled. "Then you can find some bratty children to adopt so one day you can climb in a Jacuzzi and have them see your John Thomas up close and personal."

Ianto grinned at Tara.

"I expect you'll check the next time you try something like that," he said to her.

"Yes, I will," Tara said, rolling her eyes.

"Better not let Alan get wind of what they did, he might try it next."

"He does and he'll get a fist in his face, brother or no brother," the Doctor said while Tara giggled. "I enjoy most of his antics but I draw the line at viewing my wife's backside in the Jacuzzi. He has a wife of his own, he can look at her backside all he wants."

"Yeah, stay away from Mommy because Daddy will kill if anyone gets a look," Tara said.

"Funny then that you're still alive, huh?" the Doctor said while she giggled. "You got a look and here you are. I must be getting forgetful in my old age. I'll have to make a note to kill when I get back up to the hotel room."

_Yan, where the hell are you?_

Ianto sighed when they heard Jack's voice in his head.

"Figured it wouldn't take long for him to find out I'd scarpered. I told him I was going to the loo," Ianto said.

"Blimey, was it that bad?" the Doctor said.

Ianto put up a privacy block around his mind.

_They were about to strip me naked and make me into a vegetable tray. After which they would have ate off me,_ Ianto thought to him.

_Oh,_ the Doctor thought back. _I can understand. With two Jacks, that would have been hazardous to your health. _

_Tell me about it,_ he thought back before he dropped the block.

"Still," the Doctor said aloud. "Better tell him where you went so he doesn't destroy the floor or run into every room thinking you're playing hide and seek from him."

Ianto nodded and thought to him.

_You're with the Doc and you're eating?_ Jack thought back. _Hold on, Other Jack and I will be right there._

"Figured that would happen as well," Ianto muttered to the Doctor.

"Well, we'll have them sit across the room and watch their frustration while we eat," the Doctor said.

Ianto grinned at that and nodded. Both of them looked up and sat back slightly when the waiter came back and put the plates of food in front of everyone.


	338. Chapter 338

Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty Eight

After another round of sex, John and Alternate Rose took a shower together and relaxed on the bed while they watched a movie. Halfway through, they heard a tentative knock on the door.

"Daddy?" Tara said through the door while she slipped the Doctor's note under the door, "I hope I'm not bothering you but the Doctor wrote you a note and I told him I'd bring it to you. Good night."

John leapt out of the bed and rushed to the door. He flung it open and saw Tara going back down the hall to the lift.

"Wait a tic, wait a tic, come back here," he said. "You're not bothering us. We're watching a film on telly. Come here."

He held his arm out to Tara and put it around her when she came back to him.

"We're finished with our honeymoon stuff so come on in," he said.

He let out a groan as he bent down to retrieve the letter.

"Your other daddy wrote me a note, eh?"

"Yeah, I don't know what it says though. It's the circle writing. I just know that's your name on the front because he told me so," Tara said, pointing to the big circle while Alternate Rose came up beside her and put her arm around her. John opened up the sheet of paper and read it.

"What's it say?" Tara asked when she saw a grin spread across his face.

"Dear John, I've grown tired of Tara. Please kill her as soon as she delivers this message to you, love, the Doctor."

"It does not say that," Tara said while Rose giggled.

John patted her on the head.

"Dear John, I'm a bit bored at the moment. Was watching a film with my youngest daughter but she's spent and for the moment I'm by myself so I thought I'd take a moment to write you a letter and tell you that I'm glad I found you and you're a part of my life and my very big, very wacky family. I'm glad I was here to witness you and your Rose's wedding and I wish you all the luck in the universe, in fact, several universes. I'm chuffed that Tara asked to be your daughter. She's a joy to have around and I know that she'll be a joy for you as well as a source of healing, just don't let the girl sneak into the Jacuzzi before you and Rose get in it."

Tara blushed when John looked at her.

"Care to explain that part of the letter?" he said.

"Um, could you finish the letter first?" Tara replied.

"Suddenly I have a feeling the whole Jacuzzi thing is much more interesting but okay," John said.

He cleared his throat.

"I hope you both come back often and visit us. We love having you here and we'll be sorry to see you go but I admire your sense of duty and your need to defend your universe from the forces of evil. Just remember to take a break now and again so you don't get burned out and don't let your Donna run you ragged and for the love of all that's sacred, don't find your version of Lee. I've heard nonstop complaints about their snogging from my sisters and daughter and apparently the two of them make rabbits look celibate so if you don't want her turning your TARDIS into a den of ill repute, resist her bleatings about finding her Lee."

"That wasn't very nice," Alternate Rose said while John and Tara giggled.

"Bleatings, eh? I s'pose I'll have to start calling our Donna, Donna the Sheep," John said with a wink.

He turned his attention back to the letter.

"My Brother, I wish you the best of luck and hope that you'll be able to make a new life for yourself and find a large family of your own so we can overrun the neighborhood whenever we have barbecue parties. Please take care and know that we'll be thinking of you and your loved ones and you'll always be in our hearts in this universe. Sincerely, the Doctor. P.S. Kill Tara."

"It doesn't say that," Tara said while John and Alternate Rose giggled.

John folded the paper up neatly into a little square and stuck it in his pocket.

"Okay, I'm finished. Now what about the Jacuzzi?" he said to Tara.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After a few days of relaxation, it was time for them to go. All of them returned to Nova before John and Alternate Rose left with their group. They stood in the street saying their farewells to each other and one by one, John's people entered their TARDIS and left John, Alternate Rose, Alternate Jenny and Simon with the others. John knelt down and embraced Tara.

"This is gonna be hard," he said with misty eyes. "You've become such a large part of our lives that we'll miss you terribly once we're gone."

"I'll miss you too, Daddy. Come back soon," Tara said, hugging him tightly.

John held her as tightly as he could. He glanced at the Doctor.

"Sure we can't get a saw and cut her in two?" he said.

"If you want, I'll go fetch one right now," he said while Tara giggled.

John chuckled and held her even tighter.

"You take care. I don't wanna come back here and find you injured," he murmured in Tara's ear.

"I'll be careful, Daddy. You take care too," Tara replied.

John gave her another tight hut and then let Alternate Rose take a turn. She hugged her just as tightly.

"We'll try to come back soon," Alternate Rose said. "I'll make sure John brings the TARDIS back about a minute after we leave."

"I'd like that," Tara said, hugging her. "I'll miss you."

"You too. But you have my double here so at least you won't forget my face."

Tara giggled and gave her a big kiss on the cheek. She let go and let Alternate Jenny kneel down and hug her.

"Bye, Sissy," Tara said.

"Goodbye, I'll miss you too. I know I haven't known you as long as your Jenny but I'm glad we're sisters now," Alternate Jenny said, brushing her hair away from her face. "You be careful."

"You too. You don't let anyone make you fight anymore."

"Trust me, I won't," Alternate Jenny said while everyone chuckled.

She gave her a kiss on the cheek and stood up. She moved aside and let Simon hug her.

"Be careful, Simon," Tara said.

"You too. I'm glad I met you and everyone here. I miss Ma and Pa but I'm glad I got a new family," he said.

They broke apart and everyone except John went into his TARDIS. John looked around.

"Quick, get in while no one's looking and…oh bugger, never mind," he said while everyone laughed.

The Doctor came forward and embraced him.

"Take care, Brother. Be safe and come back in about a minute," he said to him.

"I will. Rose will be whinging if I don't," he said.

The Doctor patted his back and everyone waved as he turned and walked into his TARDIS. They all stepped back and watched as it dematerialized. They waited a minute and when it didn't reappear, they all dispersed and went back inside their houses.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Wow, now we're back down to just the two of us," Alan said as he and Rose and the Doctor, Rain and Tara sat on the sofas and Madison and Dorothy sat in the recliners.

"Yup, it won't be the same without John around, at least not full time," the Doctor said.

"I hope he's okay. He said he'd be back in a minute," Tara said.

"Well, I'm here, doesn't that count for something?" the Doctor said while she giggled. "Are you that eager to have him around so he can take you away from me? Huh? Am I that boring? Huh, huh?"

Everyone laughed as the Doctor began to tickle her.

"I'm here, doesn't that count for something? Huh? Huh? Huh?" he said, tickling. "I was your father first, don't forget that. I'm not nobody. I'm somebody, not nobody, you hear?"

"Yes!" Tara said between giggles.

"I'm not nobody, I'm somebody, I'm the Doctor," the Doctor said, tickling her.

Dorothy leapt off his chair. With a squeal she ran over to him and tried to stop him tickling Tara.

"That's my motto, you know," the Doctor said, ignoring Dorothy while he kept on tickling. "I'm not nobody, I'm somebody. You understand that? Huh? Huh?"

"YES!" Tara squealed.

The Doctor stopped tickling her.

"Alrighty then. You just keep that in mind because I'm your number one dad," he said, folding his hands in his lap while Tara took in lungfuls of air. "Where's my other daddy, indeed? I'm not nobody, I'm somebody!"

"Alright, Daddy! You're somebody!" Tara said while everyone else laughed hysterically.

"Good, I'm glad you got that through your noddle. I'm not nobody, I'm somebody!"

"I'm going to my room now," Tara said, getting up while everyone laughed.

"Why? I'm just making a point. I'm not nobody, I'm somebody!" the Doctor said.

"I know, Daddy, you've said that a billion times in five minutes!"

"Just making sure you understand my point," the Doctor said while Rain snickered.

He chuckled when Tara swatted him on the head and pulled her into her lap.

"If I were you, I'd go ahead and rest up because you and I have some travelin' to do," he said to her.

"Okay, Daddy, I'll go take a nap so we can leave in the TARDIS and see more neat stuff."

"Good because I'm not nobody, I'm somebody."

"Okay! I get it now!" Tara yelled while everyone roared with laughter.


	339. Chapter 339

A/N: This isn't mine. This chapter was written by a friend of mine, Carol (Ninewood) who is doing her own crossover series with my characters and her own Doctor and clone characters. She wrote this for me to include in this fanfic and I'm putting it in here for her. So kudos go to her for this chapter, not to me.

Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty Nine

"There we go," said the Doctor while his feet stuck out from under the console and he crawled out, looking up at Alan.

"All fixed?" asked Alan while the Doctor dusted the dust off his trousers.

"Yep, now let's see if it worked," said the Doctor as he walked around the console and pushed some of the buttons. Checking the screens, he smiled and leaned against the console. "Ok, the void crosser's been upgraded and we're ready to go."

"Can I do it?" asked Tara, who was sitting on the command chair.

"Don't see why not," said the Doctor as she got off the chair and walked to the console. They watched while Tara pushed the buttons, flipped the levers and turned the dials and the TARDIS rumbled around them.

'_Ok, everyone, we're about to run a little test to see if the upgrade to the void crosser worked,' _thought the Doctor while Tara pulled the main lever and the TARDIS vanished, going into the vortex.

'_Be careful, Thete,' _thought Rain.

'_Don't worry, Snotrag, I'll make sure he doesn't get into trouble,' _thought Alan.

'_Now I am worried.'_

'_Ha-ha!'_

The Doctor softly laughed when he looked at the screen and Tara stood next to him.

"Now, if this works, we won't have all that bumpy ride stuff we usually get when we cross over," said the Doctor when Tara pushed the button and the TARDIS started vibrating. They watched the screens as the TARDIS crossed over to another dimension and they felt the minds of the others vanish. The TARDIS slowed down when they felt a slight thump and the Doctor checked the screens.

"Where are we?" asked Tara, looking at the screen.

"Let's find out," said the Doctor then walked to the doors and unlocked the doors. They walked outside the TARDIS when they looked around and saw the clear blue sky spreading out overhead. Thin white clouds rolled by while the soft wind blew through their hair and the Doctor took Tara's hand as they headed down the dirt path. The Doctor noticed the green grass and the purple leaves on the trees and the sound of birdsong filled the air.

"Blimey, this place is amazing!" said Alan as he took Tara's hand and they head off into the forest. Walking along, they listened to the birdsong, stopped when the bushes moved as some unseen creature darted by and Alan swung Tara's hand back and forth.

"Doctor?!" called out a voice and they stopped.

"Doctor?!" shouted another voice when the Doctor recognized it and blinked.

"It can't be," said the Doctor and heard some movement to their left.

"Brother, that sounds like…" said Alan and the Doctor nodded.

"It came from that direction," said Tara as she pointed to the right and the Doctor ran off, followed by Alan and Tara.  
----------------------------------------------------------------------

"Are you sure he went this way?" asked Zoe while she and Jamie walked down the path and the young Scotsman stopped, looking at her.

"No, I'm not sure but where else could he be?" asked Jamie.

"He did say that he wanted to take some samples of the flora. Oh, I wish I had gone with him."

"Och, now's not the time to point blame, you know that he likes to do things on his own."

"I know that but he should have…What was that?" asked Zoe as Jamie placed her behind him and removed the dirk from the sheath on his hip. Looking around, Jamie scanned the bushes when the Doctor, Alan and Tara appeared and Alan and Tara nearly crashed into the Doctor's back.

"I don't believe it," whispered the Doctor and slowly walked toward Jamie and Zoe.

"Stay where you are," growled Jamie, pointing the dirk at the Doctor.

"Easy, we're not going to hurt you," said the Doctor, holding both hands up and Jamie glared at him.

"Who are you?" asked Jamie.

"I'm the Doctor."

"No you're not," said Zoe.

"Aye, the Doctor is this wee clever chappie."

"Well, you see, I'm from another dimension and this is my daughter, Tara, and my brother, Alan."

"Hi," said Tara, waving.

"How's it going?" asked Alan with a smile.

"How did you get here?" asked Zoe.

"With our TARDIS," said Tara.

"Where is it?" asked Jamie.

"It's this way," said Alan as they headed down the path and the Doctor noticed that Jamie and Zoe were both wearing wedding rings.

'_Brother, take a look at their ring fingers,' _thought the Doctor as Alan looked at their fingers and blinked.

"So, how long have you two been married?" asked Alan as he pointed to the rings and Zoe smiled, slightly blushing.

"We've been married for two months now," said Zoe, sliding her arm around Jamie's arm.

"That's fantastic!"

After a few minutes, they arrived back at the TARDIS and the Doctor opened the doors. Alan and Tara walked inside while he looked at Jamie and Zoe and both of them slowly walked closer. He stood back as they walked up the ramp and both of them were stunned.

"Oh, my, this doesn't look anything like ours," said Zoe as she ran her fingers along the coral supports and Jamie walked to the console.

"Aye, our console's not this big," said Jamie as he looked at the console and softly laughed. "Or this messy."

"Do you mind me asking where your Doctor is?" asked the Doctor while Alan tried to stop Jamie from touching things and Zoe sighed.

"That's just it. We don't know. We landed here a few hours ago and he decided to go off and take some flora samples. When he didn't come back, we went to go look for him," said Zoe.

"I thought for sure we'd find him by now. Him or that metal thing," said Jamie and they looked at him.

"For the last time, K-9 is…"

"Wait, are you talking about this?" asked Alan when he pushed a button and a hologram of K-9 appeared in front of them.

"Aye, that's it," said Jamie, nodding.

"Maybe we could trace K-9's energy signal," said Alan.

"We could do that," said the Doctor as he walked to the console and started pushing some of the buttons. He checked the screens when he saw something and smiled. "I found him."

"Where is he?" asked Zoe.

"About a five minute walk from our present location."

"Then let's go get him," said Jamie.

"Can't we just wait until he comes this way? I mean he has to see the TARDIS sooner or later," said Tara and the Doctor slid his arms around her.

"Is my daughter brilliant or what?!" asked the Doctor as he kissed the top of her head and they laughed, making her blush.

"What do we do until then?" asked Zoe.

"How about a little tour?" asked Alan and they nodded. Leading the way, he led them out of the room and the Doctor looked at the screen, watching the Doctor walking along the path.

------------------------------------------------------

"Oh, dear me, this isn't the right path either," said the Doctor when he sat down on a rock and used his large handkerchief to wipe his face. He had gotten lost on his way back to the TARDIS and was starting to worry.

"Master, we must keep going," said K-9 as it scooted closer to the rock and he looked down at it. While traveling with Leela, they had answered a mayday call from a refueling station near Saturn's largest moon. The TARDIS passed through a strange cloud on the way and the Doctor and Leela were attacked by a strange virus, which was trying to control their minds. He was able to land at a nearby medical satellite and Professor Marius was able to help the Doctor destroy the virus. Unfortunately, Leela died from the virus and Doctor Marius asked the Doctor if he would take K-9 with them as a replacement. He didn't like the idea but K-9 had been a very helpful addition to the TARDIS and he had been having fun playing chess with it.

"Yes, I guess we should," said the Doctor as he stood up and they walked down the path. After a few minutes, they arrived at the TARDIS and he smiled. "Ah, there it is! I knew it was here somewhere!"

"Caution, Master, that is not the TARDIS," said K-9 and the Doctor frowned.

"Of course this is the TARDIS," said the Doctor as he walked to the doors and removed the key from his pocket. He placed the key in the lock then turned the key but the doors stayed locked and he blinked. "The key didn't work."

"That is because it is the wrong key."

"How can it be the wrong key? Unless…" said the Doctor as he slowly backed up and started shaking. "Oh, my giddy aunt, they found us."

"We must leave, Master."

"I agree," said the Doctor when the doors opened and he hid behind a tree. Peeking out, he saw Alan and the Doctor as they looked around and Alan scratched the back of his neck.

"I swore I heard someone trying to unlock the door," said Alan.

"Well, whoever it was is gone now," said the Doctor when Alan looked down and saw the small tracks in the dirt.

'_Brother, I think whoever it was went that way,' _thought Alan as he glanced over at the trees and the Doctor followed his eyes. Slowly, he removed the sonic screwdriver from his pocket when he took aim and fired at the ground near the trees.

"Oh!" shouted the Doctor as they saw him come out from behind the tree and Alan smiled.

'_I can't believe you had a Beatle haircut in those days,' _teased Alan and the Doctor glared at him.

"Hullo," said the Doctor as he walked toward the Doctor when K-9 came between them and fired a warning shot at the Doctor's feet, making him jump back a few feet. "Oi, there's no need for that!"

"Stay away from me!" shouted the Doctor when Jamie, Zoe and Tara came out of the TARDIS and he looked at them. "Jamie? Zoe? Are you all right?"

"Aye, Doctor, we're fine," said Jamie.

"Let them go! It's me you want!"

"What are you on about?" asked Alan as he walked closer and the Doctor looked from him to the Doctor and back.

"Wait, there is something wrong here. You are Time Lords, aren't you?"

"Yep," said the Doctor, popping the "p".

"But you two are twins."

"Yep," said Alan.

"That is impossible. Multiple births were banned on Gallifrey."

"Well, if you would like to come inside, I'll explain," said the Doctor as he pointed to the TARDIS and Zoe walked closer, taking the Doctor's hand.

"It's all right," said Zoe as he nodded and they walked to the TARDIS. They went inside as K-9 scooted after them and the Doctor closed the doors.

-----------------------------------------------------

Jamie sat to his left and Zoe sat to his right as the Doctor sat on the couch and Alan sat on the chair near the fireplace. K-9 sat near the couch while the Doctor brought in a tray and sat it on the coffee table in front of the couch. Nodding, he took a cup then sat down on the chair near the couch and they picked up the other cups. Balancing the cup on K-9's back, the Doctor pointed to Alan and K-9 moved to him.

"Tea, Master?" asked K-9 and Alan took the cup, patting K-9's head.

"Will someone please tell me what is going on?" asked the Doctor as Tara came in and placed a tray of biscuits on the table then sat on her father's lap.

"Fine, my brother, my daughter, Tara, and I are from a different dimension. We are Time Lords and she's a Time Lady…" said the Doctor.

"What? That is impossible. Children can't be Time Lords or Time Ladies."

"Hold on, I'll explain that in a second. Now, I am you but eight lives in the future. My brother is really my clone."

"He's your what?! Oh, my giddy aunt, this is confusing."

"Maybe it would be easier if we used the simulation room," said Tara.

"That's a great idea!" said the Doctor as she got off his lap and they stood up. The others followed as they left the room and went down the hallway. They came to a door when the Doctor closed his eyes and felt the TARDIS inside his mind. He opened the door as they walked inside and there were eight frames hanging in mid-air. He walked to the first one when he touched it and they watched scenes from his third life.

"Doctor, that's Liz, Jo, Harry and Sarah Jane," said Zoe, pointing at the frame.

"You met them?" asked Alan and she nodded.

"And there's Bessie!" said Jamie as he pointed to the car. The Doctor moved to the next frame when he tapped it and they looked at the scenes of his fourth life.

"There's Leela," said Zoe and the Doctor sighed.

"Poor child," said the Doctor.

"What happened to her?" asked the Doctor.

"Mistress is no longer living, Master," said K-9.

"Ah," said the Doctor and Alan then the Doctor walked to the fifth frame, tapping it. They watched the scenes of his fifth life and he walked to the next frame. They watched the rest when the Doctor told the TARDIS to end the simulation and the room returned to normal.

"Outstanding," whispered the Doctor.

"So what's your story? I mean, in our dimension, Jamie and Zoe didn't travel with me," said the Doctor and Jamie and Zoe gasped.

"You never met us?" asked Zoe.

"No, I did but…Do you remember the War Games?"

"Aye, that was a sticky mess," said Jamie.

"Did you call the Time Lords to help end them?"

"Yes, I did. When they put me on trial for interfering with things, I was shocked when they wanted to take Jamie and Zoe away from me."

'_Is that what they did to your Jamie and Zoe?' _thought Tara.

'_Not only that but they removed all of their memories of him except for the first one,' _thought Alan.

'_That's so mean!'_

'_It was, my Star, but they were punishing me,' _thought the Doctor.

"What did you do then?" asked Tara.

"I made a diversion and we ran for the TARIDS. They hadn't had time to ground her so we took off and have been running ever since."

"If you don't mind me asking, what year is this?" asked Alan.

"It's nineteen seventy-seven," said Jamie.

"What year are you from?" asked Zoe.

"We're from the year two thousand and nine," said Tara.

"Oh, my giddy aunt," said the Doctor and the Doctor smiled.

"Now I understand why you were scared when you saw us. You thought we were here to take you back to Gallifrey," said the Doctor.

"Yes, that's exactly what I thought."

"Nope, we're just testing our void crosser," said Alan.

'_Daddy, can I talk to you for a second?' _thought Tara.

"Excuse me. My daughter wants to talk with me for a few minutes. We'll be right back," said the Doctor as they left the room and he closed the door. "Let me guess. You want them to come home with us."

"Well, yeah, can they? I mean it stinks what those Time Lords want to do to them. They're going to take away his family."

"Jamie and Zoe aren't really…Ok, they are, just like you and your mother are my family, but sooner or later they have to go back to their timelines."

"Why?"

"For one thing, Jamie comes from the past. I never thought about the ramifications of having him traveling with me but…"

"Did things change because he traveled with you?"

"No, but that's not the point. The point is…"

"If you could, would you go back and get him?"

"Why would I do that?"

"Because you miss him and you agree that it was wrong what they did to him."

"Yes, I do miss him…and Zoe. Going back to our original topic, he has to let them go so he can…"

"Be forced to regenerate and spend the rest of his lives alone?"

"He wouldn't be alone. He will have other companions to meet and travel with."

"Like Aunt Rose?"

"Yes, like her and, if he doesn't meet her, he would never lose his hand and there would be no Alan."

"Are you sure this dimension is supposed to have an Alan?"

"No, I'm not but…"

"Then, if they can't come home with us, you can give them crystals and he can turn them into a Time Lord and a Time Lady. That way they can't send them home and he won't be alone."

The Doctor looked at his daughter while he thought about what she said when he sighed and placed his arms around her, hugging her.

"Have I told you lately how much I love you?"

"Not in the last hour or so," teased Tara and he laughed.

"Just remember that it's his choice if he wants them to change or not," said the Doctor, wagging his finger at her and she nodded. They went back inside the room while the others looked at them and Alan walked closer.

"Everything ok?" asked Alan.

"Yes and I have an idea. Allons-y!" said the Doctor as he left the room and they followed him. They headed back to the control room when he opened the grate and removed the trunk. They watched as he removed the box that had the crystals Imiko had given him and he opened the box, removing two of the crystals.

"I say, what are those?" asked the Doctor as the Doctor placed the box and trunk away and placed the grating back.

"These crystals are what turned my daughter and the rest of my family into Time Lords and Time Ladies," said the Doctor, standing up and the Doctor looked at the crystals.

"Actually, I used the chameleon arch," said Alan as he pointed up at it and they looked at it.

"I see," said the Doctor.

"Anyway, my brilliant daughter thought that you might want to use them and turn Jamie and Zoe into a Time Lord and a Time Lady so the Time Lords couldn't send them back to their timelines."

"She did, did she?" asked the Doctor and Tara nodded.

"And you wouldn't have to travel alone. They are like your family, aren't they?" asked Tara and Jamie and Zoe looked at him.

"Of course they are, Dear Girl."

"There's no pressure. Just thought you'd like to have a backup plan just in case. All you have to do is break them open," said the Doctor as he placed the crystals into the Doctor's hand and folded his fingers over them.

"Yes, thank you. Now, would you be so bold as to direct me to my TARDIS?" asked the Doctor and Alan walked to the console. He pushed the buttons while looking at the screen and smiled.

"Hang on," said Alan as he pushed some more buttons, turned a few levers then looked at the Doctor while standing at the main lever. "After you!"

The Doctor walked to the console when he pulled on the main lever and the TARDIS hummed around them. The TARDIS vanished then reappeared near the other TARDIS and the doors opened. Both of the Doctors, Alan, Tara, Jamie and Zoe walked outside when the Doctor saw the TARDIS and turned, looking at them.

"Thank you again," said the Doctor as he held out his hand and they shook hands. Letting go, the Doctor saw the disc in his hand and blinked.

"That's the directions to our dimension," said the Doctor.

"Ah, yes, I would like to come and see how different our dimensions are," said the Doctor, handing the disc to Zoe. He walked to the TARDIS then opened the doors and turned, looking at Jamie and Zoe. "Come along."

"It's been nice meeting you," said Zoe as she hugged Tara then Alan then the Doctor and walked to the TARDIS, going inside. The Doctor followed her as they looked at Jamie and he titled his head to one side, giving them a haunted look.

"I won't forget you, you know," said Jamie as he walked away then went inside and the doors closed behind him. They watched as the TARDIS vanished and Alan looked at the Doctor, who looked like he was going to cry.

"You ok?" asked Alan and the Doctor felt his hearts aching.

"Yep," said the Doctor as he walked to the TARDIS and went inside. Alan shrugged as they followed him inside and the TARDIS slowly vanished.

------------------------------------------------------

The Doctor stood in front of the portrait as Jamie and Zoe smiled at him and had their arms around each other. Tears trickled down his face as he wiped them away when he felt like someone was there and turned around, seeing Tara standing in the doorway. She walked to him as she looked at the portrait and slid her arm around his waist.

"Why are you crying?" asked Tara.

"Was just reliving the past, Star, is all. You remember what Jamie said?"

"You mean about not forgetting you?"

"Yep, that's what my Jamie said to me before they sent him away," said the Doctor softly and she hugged him. He kissed the top of her head when she pulled on his shirt and he knelt down.

"They're not gone, Daddy, they're right here," said Tara, tapping his forehead then placed both hands on his chest and he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tighter. He let go of her as he stood up and they left the room while the lights went out and a lone spotlight shone on the portrait.

---------------------------------------------------

The Doctor looked at the crystals while the crystals shimmered in the light and he closed his fingers around them. He had been thinking about giving them to Jamie and Zoe but argued if he could allow them to become a Time Lord and a Time Lady, knowing what he knew would happen if they did.

"Doctor?" asked Zoe as they came into the room and he stood up straighter.

"Ah, there you are. Where would you like to go?" asked the Doctor as he started pushing some buttons and Zoe placed her hand on his, making him look at her.

"We've been talking and we've decided to use the crystals," said Jamie.

"What? Oh, dear, are you sure?"

"Of course we're sure. I couldn't imagine the thought of having to leave knowing that you'd be alone," said Zoe.

"But…but…but you don't know what you're saying. If you become a Time Lord and a Time Lady, there is no going back. And you wouldn't be able to have children. Oh, we do have children but not in the way humans do. In fact, we're all sterile. You just got married and I wouldn't want you to give up your chance of having a family of your own. No, I won't let you."

"Doctor, let me tell you something. I lost my family when I was a wee lad. If it wasn't for my laird, I would have ended up in an orphanage or a workhouse. Now, my laird tried to be a father to me but I didn't let him get too close because I was afraid to lose him as well. When I came to live with you, Ben and Polly, I got something I thought I would never have again. A father. And I thought you thought of me as a son as well," said Jamie.

"Well, considering my son doesn't want anything to do with me, I do feel like you're my son."

"And I cherish everyday with you. I couldn't ask for a better substitute father than you. So, please, give us the crystals," said Zoe and the Doctor wiped his eyes. He handed them the crystals as they looked at them then at him. "He said we have to break them open, right?"

"Yes," said the Doctor as they broke the crystals open and the golden light floated in the air then into them. Both gasped as the light faded and the Doctor hugged them.

'_Can you hear me?' _thought the Doctor, watching their eyes grew wide and he smiled.

'_Yes, I can hear you,' _thought Zoe.

'_So can I," _thought Jamie,

"Good. I'll teach you the rest later," said the Doctor, walking to the console. He checked the screens then the void crosser when he got an idea and smiled.

"Uh-oh, I don't like that look," said Jamie.

"Doctor, why are you smiling like that?" asked Zoe.

"I thought we'd do a little void hopping," said the Doctor and Jamie rolled his eyes.

"No offense, but you get lost in this dimension. I don't want to know what trouble we'd get in somewhere else," teased Jamie.

"What? I do not get lost! How dare you think that…" said the Doctor, getting flustered.

"Oh, Doctor, you know that he's teasing. We don't care where we go as long as it's together," said Zoe and the Doctor patted her hand.

"Aye, though I wouldn't mind going somewhere fun for a change," said Jamie.

"Then I have just the place!' said the Doctor as he placed his hand on the main lever and pulled. The TARDIS slowly vanished while the grass blew in the wind and the leaves rustled in the trees.


	340. Chapter 340

Chapter Three Hundred and Forty

"Come on, it's this way!"

Tara was leading the group of children as they headed for the lake behind the housing development. Everyone except Angel was going and Tara brought along a picnic basket filled with food so they could have lunch down by the lake. After promising to be careful, all of them assembled in the street and walked towards the back of the development. Tara led the way followed by Amelia, Opal, Bala, Elizabeth, Dorothy, Tony and Toby. As they walked by a house near the back, they noticed a moving van in the driveway.

"Hey, we're getting another person in here," Tara said, pointing.

"Wonder if everyone will go over and say hello like we did with Patty," Amelia said.

They stopped in front of the driveway and watched. After a minute, the door opened and an elderly woman stepped outside. She was short and dumpy with white hair that was tied up in a tight bun. Her skin was a pale pink and she had vibrant green eyes. The children waved at her and she smiled warmly as she walked over to them.

"Where did you come from?" she asked.

"We're on the other side. We live there with our families," Tara said. "Are you moving in here?"

"Yes, I just retired from my job and this looked like a nice place to live," she replied. "My name is Sheeva, what's your names?"

Tara introduced everyone and she smiled at them.

"Well, I hope you'll come and visit me sometime. I live by myself but I love company."\

"Thanks," Amelia said, "we'll tell our families you're here. I'm sure they'll wanna come over and say hello."

"I'd like that. I'm usually home so they're welcome to come over anytime."

They nodded and waved to her while they continued on their way. They walked to the back and found the little path leading to the lake. They ran and skipped and laughed as they followed the winding path to the woods. At one point, the older kids broke into a run while the four year olds struggled to keep up with them.

"Hey, slow down!" Elizabeth yelled as they ran.

"Yeah, we wanna come too!" Tony said.

Tara sighed and she, Amelia, Opal and Bala stopped.

"Did we have to take them with us? They're only four years old. They're babies," Opal whined.

"We're not babies!" Dorothy said angrily as she stomped up to them.

"Yeah, we're old enough to come with you. I'm old enough to travel with Daddy," Elizabeth said.

Tara snorted at that but she and the other older kids turned and continued on their way. They reached the woods and entered it. The day was overcast and the woods were dark, giving them a spooky appearance. The older kids walked confidently down the path while the four year olds glanced around with some hesitation.

"I wonder if there's ghosts in here?" Elizabeth said.

"Don't be stupid, no such thing as ghosts, Daddy said so," Tara said.

"How do you know?" Dorothy said.

"Cause Daddy's smart," Tara replied.

"So, he ever see one?" Elizabeth said.

"I don't know but Daddy knows lots of things and I believe him when he says there's no ghosts," Tara replied.

"Hey, look, there's someone at the lake," Bala said, pointing through the trees.

They stopped and looked where she was pointing.

"Oh, that's just Grandpa John and Wilf and Grandpa Tim, they're probably fishing again," Tara said when she got a good look at them.

They hurried down the path to the dock the three men were sitting on. All of them were sitting on the end of the dock, their feet dangling off it while they fished and chatted with each other. They turned their heads when they heard the sound of feet on wood and smiled at them.

"Hello there," John said. "What are all of you up to?"

"We're going for a walk and having a picnic," Opal said as they walked up to them.

"Well, have fun and be careful," Tim said. "We usually come here to fish so we haven't explored much of the woods. We don't want any of you getting hurt out here."

"We'll be careful," Amelia said.

All of them neared closer and watched the red bobbers as they floated along in the water.

"Did you catch anything yet?" Bala asked.

"A couple. They're in that cooler over there," John said, pointing to large white cooler beside Wilf. They opened it up and looked inside. They noticed three large grey fish at the bottom of it. Tara picked one up and everyone gathered round and examined it.

"We're told those are Anglican Fish," Wilf said to them. "Whatever they are, they're very tasty."

"Is your father home right now?" John asked Tara.

"Yeah, he had to do some work on the TARDIS and mommy's helping him so we decided to go play and have a picnic," she said to him.

John smiled and peeked into her picnic basket.

"Looks like you're all set to have fun," he said. "Tim's right. Be careful. No telling what's in the rest of these woods especially since we're on an alien planet."

"We'll be careful," Opal said.

The three men waved goodbye and watched while they walked off the dock and continued on their way.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They walked through the woods deeper and deeper down the path. By now the trees were thicker and it was dark and creepy. The four year olds kept close to their older siblings glancing around in fear and even the older ones were a bit creeped out.

"It's okay," Tara assured them. "John and Wilf and Tim are nearby and we can contact our daddies if something happens."

The other children nodded and were emboldened by that. They walked on, looking around at the woods around them. There was birdsong in the air which made the woods seem less foreboding and they soon resumed their laughing and teasing.

Suddenly, they rounded a bend and saw an old one story house nestled in the woods. They stopped and stared at it.

"Whoa, there's a house back here," Tara said. "Cool!"

"Think anyone lives there?" Bala asked.

"Dunno, but we can find out," Tara replied.

"No, it's scary lookin'," Elizabeth said.

"Yeah, there might be haints in there," Toby said quietly.

"There's no such thing as ghosts," Tara said. "We wanted to have fun and have an adventure so let's go explore and see what's inside."

The older kids took the four year olds' hands and led them towards the old decaying house.


	341. Chapter 341

Chapter Three Hundred and Forty One

Meanwhile, back at the house, the Doctor and the rest of the adults except for Alan were sitting in the living room while the dogs lay in front of the holo-tv. The Doctor was reading a magazine, Rain and Madison were watching television and Rose was playing with Angel.

"Yippee!"

They looked up at Alan who was coming down the stairs.

"Those crazy kids are gone. The house is actually quiet for once!" he said.

He began to dance down the stairs.

"The kids are gone," he sang as he boogied down the stairs. "The kids are gone, rock on! The kids are gone, can't hear ya! The kids are gone, say what?"

"You're being mean, Alan," Rose said as he jumped from the last step onto the floor and boogied over to her.

"Why? Because I tire of those insufferable brats and long to have a holiday from them?"

He paused and looked at Angel.

"That being said, why are you here, you little Bogey-butt?" he asked her. "Why aren't you out pulling a Hansel and Gretel and with the other kids and getting yourself lost forever?"

"No!" Angel said.

He picked her up and held her close.

"No? You said no to me?" he said as he walked with her into the kitchen. "Okay, you can stay then, at least until I tire of you and put you out for the dustman to find."

Rose rolled her eyes when he resumed his kids are gone song while he puttered around in the kitchen.

"Hope that means something doesn't happen to the kids because you're gonna regret it if it does!" Rose said loudly.

Alan came back out with Angel.

"I doubt that, they have Doctor Junior with them and I'm sure she'll think of something clever like build a contraption of some sort that'll destroy the threat. Nothing to worry about whatsoever!"

He whistled the kids are gone song while he went back into the kitchen. The women glanced at the Doctor who was calmly reading his magazine.

"Nothing to say to that?" Rain said to him.

The Doctor turned a page.

"If they die, Brother dies too," he said. "Ooo, look, Scatlon Eleven has built a new particle beam accelerator. Hmm, what does the article have to say about it?"

They giggled as his eyes widened.

"And they have a new microbiological manipulator to go with it. This is fascinating! Who knew that Scatlon Eleven could build such things?"

"Whasat?" Alan said, coming out with Angel.

"Daddy, I'm hungry," Angel said.

"So are starving people in third world countries," Alan said quickly. "Anyway, what was that about Scatlon Eleven?"

"Daddeeeeeeeeeee, I'm hungreeeeeeeee."

Alan sighed.

"See, this is what I was telling you about," he said with feigned anger. "All night and all day, feed me, burp me, poop me, hit me, the list goes on and on."

He swiveled around and everyone giggled as he flounced back into the kitchen.

"What about me? When does me time come? When do I get to eat, huh? When do I get to have my nappy changed and have my needs looked after? Blimey, I feel so neglected," they heard him say while he got food for Angel.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Okay, just stick with me and we'll be alright," Tara said as the children neared the house.

They walked up to the door. It was old and battered with peeling green paint on the door. Tara knocked on it and waited for an answer while everyone stood behind her. When they didn't hear anyone, she used her screwdriver, unlocked the door and grabbed the rusty doorknob. She opened it slowly and everyone coughed when dust was stirred up. Tara opened the door further and peeked inside. The interior was dusty and they saw some old worn out furniture scattered around the large living room. The walls had red paint that was peeling off and above them a light fixture hung on the ceiling. Tara and the others came inside and looked around.

"Don't see anyone around," Tara said.

"Wow, this house must be a billion years old," Dorothy said.

"Maybe it's got hidden treasure," Elizabeth said.

The children looked at each other and decided to find out. They moved slowly through the tiny house staring at the musty, dusty furniture and the peeling paint. They went into the kitchen and noticed another door against the far right wall. They walked to it and opened it up. There was a flight of stairs leading down to the basement. Tara tried the light switch but nothing happened.

"Come on, let's get outta here," Tony said nervously.

"Wait a minute, I wanna see what's down here," Tara said.

She began to slowly walk down the stairs while the others stood in the doorway and watched. Suddenly, Tara let out a scream when her foot hit air and she fell through a missing step onto the floor below.

"Tara!" Amelia yelled.

"Ow! I think I broke my ankle!" they heard her moan.

"WHAT'S GOING ON IN HERE?"

The children screamed and spun around. They screamed again when they saw a big, burly disheveled middle-aged man in raggedy clothes glaring at them. He started to grab at them and they quickly dropped the picnic basket and ran around him, dodging his grasp.

"You kids get the hell out of my house!" the man screamed at them while the children ran for the door.

"Wait, we can't leave Tara!" Bala gasped out.

"We'll go get Papaw and Alan, they'll help Tara out. That guy is too big for us to fight," Amelia said.

They sprinted out the door and heard the man slam the door behind him. They ran down the path for several feet and then Amelia stopped everyone when she realized the Doctor was trying to call to them inside her head.

_What's going on, why are you suddenly so afraid and why is Tara in pain?_ He thought frantically.

Amelia thought back to him explaining everything. She heard the Doctor curse inadvertently before he told them to wait there.

_If he comes for you, hide but stay where we can see you otherwise, we're on our way_, he thought.

The children stayed near the trees by the path and cast nervous glances back towards the house.

"Oh God, I hope Tara's okay," Opal said.

"She better be or Papaw will murder that guy," Amelia said.

"What about John and Tim and Wilf?" Bala said.

"You better tell them but I don't know if they'll be able to help. They're all kinda old," Opal said.

"I'm gonna tell them anyway," Bala said running back down the path.

The rest of the children stayed by the trees, ashamed of leaving Tara behind but not knowing what else to do.

_Tara, are you alright?_ Amelia finally thought.

_I'm hurt. I'm afraid to say anything or that guy will come back and find me,_ she thought back.

_We thought to Papaw and he's coming and I think Alan's coming too,_ Amelia thought.

_I did that too and Daddy told me he and Uncle Alan are on their way. Oh God, my ankle. I hope Daddy can fix it,_ Tara thought.

The children sensed someone behind them and turned to see Bala coming back up the path with John, Wilf and Tim. All three men were furious and for a moment, the children thought it was directed at them. John held up his hand, sensing their fear.

"We're not angry at you, kids. We're angry because this guy has Tara," John said.

"We just talked to her and she said he hasn't found her yet and she's not making a sound," Amelia replied.

They heard some gasping and saw the Doctor and Alan sprinting up the path.

"Where?" the Doctor gasped out. "Take us to the house!"

The children turned and led the adults back up the path towards the house.


	342. Chapter 342

Chapter Three Hundred and Forty Two

The adults followed the kids as they led them along the path to the house. Once it was in sight, the Doctor ran past them and he and Alan sprinted up to the door. The others stood and watched while the Doctor pounded on the door.

"OPEN THE DOOR AND LET US IN, NOW!" he bellowed.

"Boy, I'm glad Papaw loves us 'cause I'd sure hate to be that guy right now," Amelia said to the other children.

The Doctor pounded harder when there was no answer.

"OPEN UP OR I'M COMING IN ANYWAY!" he screamed.

The door opened and the man glared at him.

"What do you want?" he snarled.

"I want my daughter back and if you've hurt her in any way..."

He trailed off when he saw the blank look on his face.

"My daughter?" he said in a calm manner. "Her name is Tara. She was playing with the other children and went into the basement and fell through the steps and broke her ankle."

"I had no idea anyone was in the basement. They all ran off before they could tell me and whoever's down there isn't talking."

"That's because she's too afraid to," Opal said.

"Well, I'm sorry if I scared you but you kids were in here and startled me. This is my house. I found it and I don't like others bothering me and making trouble. I'm not a mean person, believe me. I haven't done anything to Tara and you're more than welcome to come inside and get her."

"Thank you," the Doctor and Alan said.

The man stepped aside and let them all pass. He led them into the kitchen and opened the basement door.

"Hey? Is anyone down there?" he yelled.

There was no answer and the Doctor stepped forward.

"Tara, love, it's me. Alan and I are here now. You're safe."

"Daddy, my ankle's broken, I think."

"Well, we'll get that sorted out once we get you out of here. I'm coming down now."

He tried to light switch and looked at the man when nothing happened.

"Do you have a light down there?"

The man shook his head.

"No, that's why I never go down there. I know about the step too and that's another reason. I do have an electric lantern though. I'll go get it."

The Doctor thanked him. He ran to get it and a moment later returned with lantern in hand. The Doctor took it from him, turned it on and slowly made his way down, pausing a moment to lower the lantern in between the gap once he stepped over it.

"Hello, you," he said when his daughter's face was reflected by the light.

"Hi, Daddy, I did a dumb thing," she said.

"Tell me something I don't know. But no worries. I'll get you up and out of here and you can tell the rest of the family about your dumb thing after I take you to the TARDIS med bay and heal your ankle," he said.

He went the rest of the way down and under the stairs. he knelt down beside Tara, kissed her temple and smoothed back her hair and gave her the lantern to hold before picking her back up and carrying her back up the stairs.

"Look at ya, you Goofus Doofus, you're not s'posed to go down dark steps without a light. Even I know that, duh!"

"Shut up, Uncle Alan," Tara said as everyone giggled.

The Doctor turned when he came up out of the basement and the man closed the door behind him and locked it.

"Thank you..."

"Linus."

"Thank you, Linus, for letting me get my daughter."

Linus shrugged.

"S'alright, like I said, I'm not a cruel man. I was just angry because I thought those kids were up to no good."

"Well, that's partly my fault. I've been known to go into places without asking and the children picked that up from me. But I'm sure next time they'll be more cautious, yeah?"

The children nodded. The Doctor held out his hand and Linus shook it.

"Thanks again, it was nice meeting ya," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, you too. Take care, all of you."

The Doctor nodded. Linus followed them to the doorway and after he watched them go, he closed and locked it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A few hours later, after eating a simple meal of a sandwich and a glass of water, Linus decided to lay back down and go to sleep. As he was going into the bedroom to lay down, he heard a knock on the front door. Grumbling, he walked back towards it. He opened it up and was shocked when he saw the Doctor standing there with Alan, Rain, Rose, Tara, Amelia, Opal and Bala.

"Hello, Linus," the Doctor said cheerfully.

"Hi, what are you doing here?"

"We came to thank you once again and make you an offer," the Doctor replied.

Linus glanced at Tara and noticed she was standing.

"So the ankle wasn't broken then?" he asked.

"It was but I have ways of healing things quickly," the Doctor replied.

He glanced around.

"Tell me something, Linus, why are you living here?" he asked.

"I'm homeless. Lost my job and my house when I couldn't make the payments on it anymore. I don't have any family members who are willing to help me so I found this place after I got evicted."

"I see, can we come inside a minute?" the Doctor said.

Linus shrugged.

"I don't see why not," he said.

"Thank you, because I was thinking we might be able to help with your situation," the Doctor said as they entered the front room. "See, we live in the houses near here and there's still alot of empty ones left and I have the means to buy you one if you like."

Linus blinked, not sure if he heard that right.

"You wanna buy me a house?" he said.

"Yes, it's the least I can do. No one should be living here, this isn't safe," he said. "You need a fresh start and I can help you with that."

Linus stared at him in shock as he felt tears coming to his eyes.

The Doctor smiled at that.

"My daughter here was also very insistent about moving you out," he said. "She has very big hearts when it comes to others. We can help you get settled in, buy you furniture, food and necessities and I can ask my friends and family members if they can find you employment somewhere. But until you do find work, we can help support you."

"I..I don't know what to say," Linus said. "Thank you."

"Aw, it's alright. You're a nice bloke and you deserve far better than this. So follow us and you can use our house so you can get a bath and eat and rest yourself on a proper bed."

"Thank you, thank you so much," Linus gushed.

"No problemo, mate. Now...follow us so we can get outta here. It's dusty in here and I hate getting dirt on my magnificent body!"

He winked, patted Linus on the back and everyone gathered around him while they led him back towards the Doctor's house.


	343. Chapter 343

Chapter Three Hundred and Forty Three

"So..." the Doctor said as he led Tara into his ship. "I believe you and I will have another one on one training exercise but to make it more exciting for me, let's do it in another universe and go to a completely random planet, yeah?"

"Yeah!" Tara said, eagerly.

"Okey-doke, let me inform your mum and then we'll get going," he said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Okay, random planet in a random universe. Let's get out there and explore it!" the Doctor said when they landed.

"Yeah!" Tara said eagerly.

The Doctor hunched over and gave her a wide-eyed look.

"Are you ready?" he said.

Tara nodded.

"Are you set?"

Tara nodded.

"Are you needing the loo right about now?"

Tara giggled and nodded.

"Well, tough, no peeing for you. We're out the door to explore!"

He grinned and he and Tara laughed when he flung open the door and ran outside.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they found a lush green hill to climb, they started to hike up it together. The planet was verdant with lush green grass and thick forests. A single sun shone down from above and the planet seemed to be uninhabited by higher life forms. They got halfway up the hill before settling down to gaze up at the blue sky above.

"Well, so far nothing but birds and small animals," the Doctor said to Tara. "Not a sign of technology as far as the eye can see."

"The TARDIS," Tara reminded him.

"Yeah, well that goes without saying," he said.

He took off his trenchcoat, spread it on the ground and they lay down on it. The wind blew the grass around them while they relaxed.

"Lovely," the Doctor said while they looked up. "Reminds me of the time I took Rose to New Earth right after I regenerated. We laid on my coat just like this."

Tara turned on her side.

"Did you love Aunt Rose like you love Mommy?"

"Very much so. She was a large part of my life just like your mum is," he said. "She was just what I needed after I lost everybody on Gallifrey."

"I wish I'd known you back then, Daddy. I could have made you feel better."

He smiled lovingly at her.

"Me too, Star. You've also become a huge part of my life. You and your sisters and brother and uncles and aunts and cousins and grandparents. All of us just one big, happy family."

"I'm glad you're happy, Daddy. I like it when you're happy."

He smiled at that. His smile widened when Tara kissed him and he closed his eyes while she neared and laid her head on his chest. the Doctor put his arm around her and rubbed her back while she stared up at the sky. After fifteen minutes, she stood up. the Doctor opened his eye and glanced at her.

"And where are you going?" he asked.

"I'm gonna go pee cause you wouldn't let me do it earlier!"

"I swear to Rassilon, here we are on a paradise planet and all you can think about is your bladder. Typical. Kids...no attention spans."

He snickered when Tara swatted his chest. she kissed him on the cheek and promised to hurry back before she ran down the hill. She headed back towards the TARDIS and then gasped when she ran into it earlier than she anticipated. She looked around, puzzled.

"Um, okay, I thought this was further away..." she said.

She pulled her TARDIS key out of her pocket, unlocked the door, stepped inside and froze. She immediately knew something was wrong when she saw the pristine all white interior, the orderly silver console and the huge roundels on the walls.

"Something tells me this isn't our TARDIS," she said to herself. "Guess I better go back out before..."

"Doctor? Is that you?"

Tara was backing away when she heard a unfamiliar female voice coming from the back door. She froze and watched while a young woman with brown bobbed hair came through. The woman froze and both of them stared at each other. Tara raised her eyebrow when she saw how skimpily dressed she was and remembered the Doctor's teasing rant after John and Alternate Rose's wedding.

"You're...Peri?" she said hesitantly.

"Yeah," Peri said, shocked. "How'd you know who I was and...who are you and how'd you get inside the TARDIS...and where's the Doctor?"

"You mean, your Doctor?"

"Yeah, there's only one Doctor," Peri said.

"I wouldn't be too sure of thaaaaaaat," Tara said under her breath.

Peri came around the console.

"So who are you then since you know me?" she said.

"My name's Tara and what you said about your Doctor being the only one, that's not true. I'm from a different universe and I'm my universe's Doctor's daughter."

Peri was taken aback.

"There's another Doctor and...he has a daughter?" she said.

"Three, actually, and a son and granddaughters and sisters and brothers..."

Peri's mouth dropped open.

"The Doctor...I mean, my Doctor never told me he had a family like that."

"Maybe he doesn't. Which Doctor do you travel with? I know you traveled with the one that wore all white and the one that had the clown outfit on."

Peri bit her lip, stifling a laugh.

"I travel with the one that has the clown outfit on," she said.

"Really? Where is he cause I always wanted to ask him why he chose such a dorky outfit," Tara said.

"Well, what about your Doctor? Don't you have the same Doctor?"

"Nah, I think your Doctor's on his sixth life, right?"

Peri nodded.

"Mine's on his tenth."

Peri's eyes bulged.

"He is? Where is he? What does he look like? He must know me since you know who I am."

Tara nodded.

"Yeah, you wanna go see him? He's not that far away."

"Okay, take me to him," Peri said.

"Okay, can I use your bathroom first though because I really gotta pee."

"Sure, it's in the back. I'll wait here while you..."

"Oh, Peeeeeeeeeeri!"

They both froze when they heard someone calling outside.

"It's my Doctor," Peri said. "Quick, hide and..."

It was too late, the sixth Doctor strode through the door in a pompous way.

"There you are, Peri," he said, rolling the R, "I have stumbled upon a Gold Chested Malfoy Bird and I want to show you its splendor and..."

He trailed off when he noticed Tara.

"And just who the blazes might you be, young lady, and what are you doing here?" he said, crossing his arms over his chest as he glared at her.


	344. Chapter 344

Chapter Three Hundred and Forty Four

The Sixth Doctor tapped his foot impatiently while he waited for Tara to answer.

"Well? Speak up, Child, what are you doing here?" he demanded.

He noticed Tara was transfixed on his outfit and he looked down at himself.

"What ? Is something wrong with my outfit?" he said.

"Where should I start?" Tara muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" the Doctor said.

"Nothing," Tara said with a sigh. "My name is Tara. I'm from another universe and in that universe I'm the daughter of that universe's Doctor. I thought this was our TARDIS and I came in here by mistake, okay?"

"What? What kind of fool do you take me for?" the Doctor said.

"The kind of fool that wears clown clothes," Tara muttered under her breath.

"What?" the Doctor said.

"Nothing."

The Doctor looked at Peri.

"Why did you let this child into the TARDIS?" he asked.

"I…I thought it was you," Peri stammered.

"Me? Do I sound like a shrill, obstinate child? No, I have a deeper, more refined voice than that."

"Oh, brother," Tara muttered to herself. "Glad I didn't meet Daddy when he was him."

"And you, my dear child, must vacate the premises immediately. I have no place in the TARDIS for children so run along and play your pretend games or whatever it was you were doing."

"She says her Doctor is here now," Peri said. "She was going to take me to meet him."

"Peri, there is only one Doctor," the Doctor said in a condescending tone of voice. "And that is me. This child is either deluded or playing some kind of juvenile prank on us, don't listen to her."

"Alright, I'll prove it. Follow me!" Tara said angrily.

"Sorry but I have better things to do than follow deluded children around and…Peri, where are you going?"

"I'm going to go see this Doctor for myself," Peri said angrily. "You may know a lot of things, Doctor. But you don't know everything."

The Doctor scoffed at that and then shrugged.

"Fine, fine, follow her. I'll be here when you get back from her little prank."

"Come on, Peri, I'll show you my daddy," Tara said, taking her hand.

The Doctor snorted as Tara led her out the door.

"Daddy. The only time I was a father was when I helped bring up Dex. I certainly didn't have any girls to speak of."

He paused and thought.

"However, curiosity compels me to find out who this imposter is. I think I will follow at a distance and observe," he said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Doctor lay on his coat, his eyes closed while he enjoyed the warm breeze and the birdsong around him.

"Daddy!"

He grinned while he kept his eyes closed.

"So…there you are, at last. What happened? The loo monster try to grab you?"

"Daddy, open your eyes and see who I found!"

The Doctor opened his eyes and they nearly popped out of his head. He sat up swiftly.

"Peri?" he said in disbelief.

"Doctor," she said, kneeling down to get a look at him. "Are you really the Doctor?"

"I'm a Doctor, yes. I'm the Doctor from another universe and you…I don't believe it. First John, then my second life and Jamie and Zoe and now this."

The Doctor felt his eyes drift down to her breasts and for the first time ever, he suddenly felt aroused as he pictured his wife wearing the same tight outfit she had on. He quickly averted his eyes before he had an erection in front of her.

_Blimey, I must have been dead back then if I could stare at Peri and not be aroused,_ he thought to himself. _I don't recall her being so tarted up. Then again, I was a bit wrapped up in me at the time and probably didn't notice what she was wearing._

"Doctor?"

The Doctor snapped back to reality and smiled at Peri.

"Yeah, it's good to see you again, Peri."

"Yeah, well you're cute in this body. Kinda skinny but cute," she said.

The Doctor eyed Tara when she giggled at that.

"Thanks. Um…who are you with at the moment? Please don't tell me you're with…"

He groaned when he caught sight of the Sixth Doctor stepping out of the trees below them.

"Oh bugger, not him," he moaned.

"So, this is the man who claims to be me, eh?" the Sixth Doctor said, striding up the hill. "A bit on the skinny side, I should think."

"You can talk, Hippo Hips," the Doctor muttered.

Tara was the only one who heard that and she tried not to giggle as Six stopped in front of his sitting counterpart. He looked him over and raised his eyebrow.

"So you're supposedly me from a different universe," Six said.

"Yup, I am," Ten replied.

"That can't be. There can't be more than one of me, I'm an original."

"Yeah, well, I used to think that as well until I found another version of me and found a version of me in my second life and now I've found you."

"Okay, if you are from another universe, what are you doing here and how did you get here, for that matter?"

"I have a void crosser to answer the second question first and my daughter and I are here for exploration and training."

"Wait, void crosser, as in the void crossers the high council supposedly keep under lock and key?" Six said.

"Yup, I stole it from the Valeyard after I defeated him."

"The who?"

"Obviously you haven't gotten to your trial yet," the Doctor muttered to himself.

He sighed.

"He's a villain. You'll meet him eventually," he said aloud.

"I see," Six said. "Now for the second answer, I understand you wanting to explore but train? Train for what?"

"I'm a Time Lady in training. Daddy's training me to be his companion."

Six burst out laughing at that.

"You? You're what, six?"

"I'm thirteen," Tara muttered angrily.

"Well, that's still nursery age. You should be in the nursery, not behind the console of a TARDIS."

The Doctor quickly stood up when he noticed Tara was about to punch Six in the gut.

"Look, I can't go into much detail but things are different in my universe and there's no nursery anymore," he said.

"Oh? Why not? How do the children learn? They still brain buff don't they?" Six asked.

"Um, no," Ten said, rubbing the back of his neck. "That's no longer an option."

He held up his hands when he saw the odd look on Six's face.

"Just go along with me on this. Brain buffing is no longer available in my universe so I have to teach Tara until she reaches the age of twenty when her Time Lady knowledge kicks in."

"What?" Six said.

He shook his head.

"Man's obviously a lunatic, Peri. One of those weird groupies that have those weird clubs that are dedicated to me. But this man apparently didn't do his homework before he tried to outwit me. Come on, back to the TARDIS so we can concentrate on more important matters."

Peri watched as he started back down the hill then looked at the Tenth Doctor who was giving her a pleading look.

"Peri, please, I am who I say I am. I'm the Doctor. I can prove it. Have you been to Varos yet?"

Peri nodded.

"You were nearly turned into a bird before the process was stopped," the Doctor said. "Now how would I know that unless I'd been there? When I was in my fifth life I was poisoned along with you and died after giving you the entire antidote. How would I know that unless I was the Doctor?"

"Doctor, it really is you."

"Peri! Come on, you silly child! Quit talking to the village idiot there!" Six said when he was halfway down the hill. "Come and see the Malfoy bird I mentioned earlier."

The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"I do mellow out in this life…somewhat," he muttered. "I never said it before because I was him and I was wrapped up in myself at the time but bless you, Peri, for sticking with me through this incarnation. You have the patience of a thousand saints."

"Yeah, well I learned to…ignore some things."

"Did he…did he try to…strangle you when he first regenerated," the Doctor said hesitantly.

Peri nodded. Tara frowned and looked at the Doctor.

"Huh? Strangle her?"

"My regeneration went wrong and I wasn't all there mentally in this life and I had a momentary lapse of sanity shortly after I changed and nearly…nearly killed…Peri."

Peri's heart went out to him when she saw the guilt on his face. She touched his arm.

"Doctor, it wasn't your fault. Like you said, you lost your sanity for a moment. I understand, I really do."

"I'm just so sorry for what I did. I know he'd never admit it but it tore me up inside knowing I almost killed you. I'm so, so sorry."

Tara listened quietly. The Doctor had never mentioned trying to kill one of his friends before and she was horrified but also intrigued. The Doctor never mentioned his sixth self much except for a couple of scathing remarks about the way he acted and dressed so it was news to her that he temporarily lost his mind and tried to kill someone. The Doctor noticed her silence and put his arm around her.

"This is my adopted daughter," he said, quickly changing the subject. "I do have a biological son named Dex and a biological daughter named Jenny and then I have another adopted daughter named Dorothy. And Dex gave me two grandchildren, Amelia and Opal…"

"PERI! I SAID, COME ON! DO YOU THINK I'M TALKING TO HEAR MYSELF TALK?"

Peri groaned.

"I gotta go, Doctor. It was nice meeting your future self," she said.

"Wait, come with me. Come and meet the rest of my family. I can have you there and back before the pompous windbag knows we're gone," he said.

"I'd like that. I'd love to meet your family."

"Okay, just follow me and hurry before I get wind of what I'm doing and come after you. The last thing I want is that multicolored nightmare around the rest of my family."

Peri giggled. The Doctor took hers and Tara's hands and they quickly sprinted down the hill and into the trees towards his TARDIS.


	345. Chapter 345

Chapter Three Hundred and Forty Five

The Sixth Doctor sighed angrily. He had lost sight of Peri and the others somewhere in the trees.

"I am not in the mood for hide and seek, Brown!" he said aloud. "Peri, show yourself unless that buffoon is holding you hostage, in which case, release my companion!"

He paused and listened. For a moment he thought he heard the wheezing of the TARDIS fading away but then decided it had been an auditory hallucination. Grumbling, Six went off into the trees to find his missing companion.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Wow, your TARDIS is…different," Peri said, looking around the console room while the Doctor flew them over the void.

"Yeah, I got tired of the antiseptic white eventually and made a change," the Doctor replied.

Peri walked over and noticed Tara was helping him fly the TARDIS.

"Is this what you meant by training her?" she said.

"Part of it. I've been teaching her all sorts of things. She's very, very helpful and I'm proud of her."

Tara beamed at that. Peri walked behind her and stared while she pushed a few buttons.

"I've traveled with him a lot over the past year. I've gotten to be a good flyer," Tara told Peri.

"Because of me," the Doctor said.

Tara put her hands up to Peri's ear.

"No, I learned it all on my own," she whispered.

The Doctor came over to her other ear and imitated his daughter.

"No, she didn't," he whispered.

Peri giggled.

"It's refreshing seeing you act this way after traveling with my Doctor," she said. "I mean, my Doctor is wonderful, it's just that…I miss the other him. He was sweeter."

"I know and once again, I'm sorry for his behavior. I had issues in that life and bless you for putting up with me."

He chuckled which made Peri grin.

"What?" she said.

"Good job my wife wasn't around back then. She would have slapped me silly."

"She wouldn't be the only one," Tara muttered.

"You're married?" Peri said in disbelief.

"Very happily married. You'll get to meet her in a minute. As well as my twin brother."

"What? The Doctor never told me he had a twin brother either," Peri said.

"Well, that's because he won't get him until he's reached this life. He's actually a clone of me but neither one of us likes to think of him that way so I call him my twin brother. His name's Alan."

"Alan? He has a normal name?"

The Doctor gave her a hurt look while Tara giggled.

"I like Doctor," he protested. "But anyway, being my clone, he looks exactly like me and has all my memories so he'll be in for as big a shock as I was."

"Why? What happens to me in your universe?" Peri said, moving closer to him.

The Doctor shifted his feet nervously. He glanced at his daughter and noticed she was also waiting for an answer.

"You'll eventually marry and leave me," he said.

"How long?" Peri asked.

The Doctor sighed.

"I don't know if I should tell you, Peri. I might disrupt something in your timeline. Not to mention it's a different universe and things might not be the same as they were when my Peri traveled with me. Best to leave it at that."

Peri nodded.

_What happened to her, Daddy?_ Tara thought to her.

_I'm not for certain, Star,_ he thought while he pretended to push a few buttons on the console. _I was put on trial by the Time Lords in my sixth life and watched what I thought was her death on a view screen but then I was told later on that she was safe and married a King Yrcanos. I never saw her again after that and never did find out what was the real truth which is why I'm reluctant to say anything to her now. _

Tara turned her eyes towards Peri who was looking at one of the support columns and running her hand down it.

_I hope she lived, Daddy,_ she thought to him.

_Me too, Star, me too. She was a sweet girl. A bit on the flighty side at times, but very sweet and I had fun traveling with her. I only wish we'd stumbled upon my fifth self since he treated her much better than my sixth self did. I think you lucked out, Tara, when you met me. Out of all my lives, this is the calmest and happiest I've ever been. I meant what I said about not getting my sixth self around my family. The man was a nutter and arrogant and mean. You saw a bit of that but there were times when he'd go off the deep end and he was verbally abusive to Peri at times. Makes me sick just thinking about it. _

The TARDIS landed with a thump.

"Here we are, our house."

"House, you have an actual house?" Peri said, amused.

"Yeah, like I said, I calmed down a lot since you traveled with me," he said. "But hold on; let me go get Alan so he can meet you first. Just stay in here and hang out with Tara. I'll be back in a mo."

He opened the doors and ran out. Peri peeked out and looked back at Tara.

"We're in your house?"

"Yeah, he parks it in the garage like a car," Tara said.

Peri giggled.

"Does he go grocery shopping with the kids too?" she said.

"No, but he does go furniture shopping and buys houses for people that need it. He has this unlimited credit stick and he brought all these houses for us and he just got done buying one for this guy named Linus. He lives in a house just around the bend from our street. He's a nice guy. So…you're American?"

"Yup, I'm from Pasadena, California. I was at university studying botany when I met the Doctor. You're American too judging from your accent?"

"Used to be. I was born in Florida but Daddy changed me into a Time Lady so now I'm Gallifreyan."

"How?"

"There's these magic crystals that change people into Time Lords. They were given to us and that's how most of our family became Time Lords and Ladies."

"Wow, I've never heard of any magic crystals," Peri said.

"Well, they were given to us by a fox spirit named Imiko," Tara said.

"Bloody hell!"

Peri turned when she heard what she thought was the Doctor's voice and her mouth dropped open when she saw Alan standing next to the Doctor in the doorway. Alan moved closer to her.

"God, he wasn't kidding. You are his clone," Peri said, looking him over.

"Peri," Alan said.

He swallowed hard.

"Blimey, the universe keeps throwing up surprises left and right now," he said.

He looked around the console room.

"Where's Ringling Brothers?" he asked the Doctor.

"I left Ringling Brothers to his circus. The last thing I want is for him to get in my wife's face and bellow about how he'd never marry her and adopt children in a billion, million years."

"Yes, I can just imagine the rant," Alan said, rolling his eyes. "Anyway, what are we standing around here for? Come inside and meet our clan, Peri."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Once they were inside the house and the dogs had calmed down, the Doctor introduced Peri to the rest of the occupants. After that, he took her outside and introduced her to everyone else. The only ones missing were the Torchwood team who were down at the Hub and Sarah Jane and the teens who were down in Ealing. Everyone else was friendly and gracious to Peri and they stopped her briefly to swap stories about being companions with the Doctor.

"Wow, this is your family?" Peri said when he finished taking her around to all the houses.

"Yeah, we have a few friends nearby. Linus is around the corner, Patty's on the other side of the development and Serena and Tobey are in the mansion in the woods across the road. There's always someone around if you need someone to talk to or hang out with and everyone looks out for everyone else."

"Maybe that's what my Doctor needs," Peri murmured.

The Doctor considered that and nodded.

"I think then was the beginning of my descent into darkness. The poison did something to me, made me hallucinate the companions I had during my fifth life and then I saw the Master urging me to die over and over and I think that affected my mind when I finally regenerated. The hallucinating hasn't happened so far during the past four regenerations but I became violently ill when I incarnated into this body and nearly scared Rose half to death. Plus, she was like you. I didn't bother to inform her about regenerating so it was a shock when it happened."

"You need to make a note of that every time you find a new companion," Peri said to him while they walked the streets around the development. "First thing you do is tell them about the regeneration."

The Doctor chuckled.

"Yeah, I need to remember to do that. But the thing is, I really don't travel with strangers anymore. I haven't sought out anyone in donkey's years. I just travel with my family and friends here since there's always someone who wants to go with me and even though we have very dear friends we've held off for now on changing people over until we become used to them because all of us know one another now fairly intimately and a stranger kinda throws that harmony out of balance."

"You mean, like me?"

"No, I know you. I traveled with you and I think you'd fit in here. I'm talking about complete and total strangers. We've gotten to know Patty very well and Serena. Tobey we're still trying to get him to come out of his shell and we've only met Linus the other day. There was a time about a year ago when we changed people over into Gallifreyan fairly quickly but now that we have so many in our family we don't do it as often. "

"Tara told me about the crystals," Peri said. "That's wonderful that you have those so you can change your loved ones into Time Lords."

The Doctor smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, they've been a godsend," he said to her.

"What do your people think about you doing this? The ones on Gallifrey, I mean," Peri asked.

The Doctor swallowed hard.

"Gallifrey, here, is gone," he said softly.

"What? How?"

"I don't know what'll happen in your universe but here, there was a war between the Time Lords and the Daleks called the Time War. I fought on the front lines and tried to defeat them but in the end, there were too many and too few resistance fighters and the Time Lords charged me with the duty of destroying Gallifrey before the Daleks took control of it. I burned my own planet up, Peri. Everyone who was on it perished."

"Jesus," Peri said, shaking her head.

"My people are sterile. They reproduced asexually using this machine called a loom where the child would be grown from DNA. The looms were destroyed so before Imiko blessed me with changing my family members and giving me the crystals, I was doomed to be the last. But as you can see, that's no longer the case. But these people here, these are the last remaining remnants of Gallifrey and the sad part is they've never stepped foot on their adopted world because I was the one that burnt it up."

"Doctor," Peri said, laying a hand on his shoulder. "Oh God, Doctor, I'm so sorry. I can't even imagine how that must feel. Doing that to Earth, I don't know if I could go through with it."

"I was messed up for years afterwards," he said. "Time Lords have a connection with one another, a telepathic bond."

Peri nodded.

"My Doctor mentioned that before," she said.

"We can hear other Gallifreyan minds in our own and feel them and when Gallifrey was destroyed, all that was lost and I nearly went insane from just that. But now I have that back again and everyone's been stellar. We've helped each other here. We keep each other happy and filled with hope and love and there's no longer any of that depression or darkness within me."

"Good," Peri said, squeezing his shoulder. "I'm so glad. I do care for you, Doctor. Even the you I have right now. He's a bit of an asshole at times but I've never regretted being with you for one second."

"Really? Because when I watched your transformation on Varos, they informed me that the species one morphed into was determined by what they were feeling and thinking and they told me you wanted to be a bird so you could fly away from life."

"That wasn't you, that was other things that'd happened in my life," Peri said. "I don't know if I told you but my stepfather sexually abused me when I was growing up and I still struggle with that from time to time. That was one of the reasons why I thought about flying away from life; you on the other hand, have been the best thing to ever happen to me."

The Doctor beamed at that and she gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Although…after meeting you, I kinda wish my Doctor had your personality," she said.

"And my fashion sense?"

Peri made a face.

"God, yes. This is nice, what you're wearing. It looks very sophisticated on you and it doesn't make me go blind if I stare at it long enough."

The Doctor giggled when Peri gave him a playful punch in the arm.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Thank you all for letting me meet you," Peri said when she was ready to go.

Everyone had assembled in the street in order to tell her goodbye.

"Good luck in the other universe," Donna said.

"Yeah, good luck with Clown Boy," Tara said.

"Oi, Clown Boy is me, young lady!" the Doctor said while everyone laughed.

Everyone hugged Peri goodbye and waved as she followed the Doctor, Rain, Rose Alan and Tara back into the house. The small group went into the garage and got back into the TARDIS.

"So, wanting to meet me, are we?" he asked Rain and Rose as they stood beside him.

"Oh yeah, gotta get a personal look at those clothes of yours," Rain said while Rose stuck her tongue between her teeth and nodded. "We have our cameras aaaaaaall ready for the occasion."

"Oh blimey, this oughta be good," the Doctor muttered while they giggled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Six slammed his fist against a tree.

"Where is he? What did that skinny imbecile do with Peri?" he muttered. "If he's hurt her in any way…"

He spun around when he heard the sound of the TARDIS wheezing and saw it materializing.

"Aha!" There you are!" he said. "Now I've got you!"

He stomped over to the front door and pounded on it.

"Open up! I demand to know what you've done with my companion!" he screamed.

The door opened and Peri stuck her head out.

"Relax, Doctor, I was meeting this Doctor's family. They're nice," she said.

She stepped out and the Doctor followed her.

"You! How dare you take Peri on a journey without notifying me!" he said, jabbing his finger in the Doctor's face. "I oughta…"

He trailed off when Alan stepped out behind him. His hand dropped to his side and his mouth dropped open while Alan casually looked around. Behind him, the three remaining women stepped out.

"Nice place, seems a bit dull though, could do with an amusement park or a great big tower that you can ride up to the top and spit off of," Alan said.

"Wait a minute, where'd he come from?" Six said, pointing to Alan.

"This is my twin brother, Alan," the Doctor said proudly.

Six grunted when Alan seized his hand and shook it vigorously.

"Howdly Doodly, I'm Alan, nice to meet ya," he said. "I'm the wacky kid brother of the Doctor here so don't be surprised if I do something spontaneous and silly. PORK! See, just then, I screamed out pork, that's how unpredictable I really am. This here's the missus, Rose, the love of my life and keeper of my straitjacket."

"Hello," Rose said when he put his arm around her.

"And this is a weird bit of pond scum we found in a rubbish bin one day," Alan muttered, gesturing to Rain.

"No, I think that's you, Mister Straitjacket," she replied, stepping forward.

She shook Six's hand.

"Hi, I'm Rain, the Doctor's wife."

The Doctor bit his lip when he saw the shock on his double's face. Rain, pretending not to notice how flustered he was, flounced up to her husband and kissed his cheek.

"We're very happily married," she said to Six. "Have been for a little over a year now."

"Have you gone mad?" Six said to the Doctor when he finally found his voice.

"You better believe it. Madly in love, that is! Come here, Sweetcakes, and give me sugar!"

Everyone else tried not to laugh at Six's shock when the Doctor dipped his wife and kissed her hard on the lips.

"Oh yeah," he said when he pulled away. "That's what I'm talkin' 'bout, right there! Lips like velvet rose petals and a body that has more curves than a boa constrictor with scoliosis. This is my love slave right here!"

Peri had to turn away to keep from laughing when Six's mouth began to move but no words came out. She could tell he was on the verge of yelling at his double though as he spun Rain around and wrapped his arms around her from behind.

"This here is my lives mate and she is one hot mamma," he said while Rain giggled. "She has got it goin' on! Right, Bro?"

"Who me? You want me to tell you that Rainy the Painy's got it goin' on?" Alan said, pointing to himself. "Okay, I'll bite the bullet then. OH YEAH, SNOTRAG HAS A BODY THAT JUST WON'T STOP! I GET A STIFFIE WATCHING THE TWO OF THEM GO AT IT! GO RAIN AND HER BODACIOUS BOD!"

"You're all mad," Six said while Peri clamped her hand over her mouth. "You're out of your minds. They're humans!"

"Not any more, these babies been turned into Time Ladies," Alan said, waggling his eyebrow as he seized Rose. "They were made just for us. Kinda like the Stepford Wives but without Matthew Broderick. But yeah, these women do anything and everything for us. Come to me, my Lust Candy, and give Daddy a good, hard snog!"

"Peri, come this way. Away from the lunatics, we're leaving now!" Six said, gesturing to her as Alan planted his lips on Rose's and began to snog away.

"What's the matter, can't find a Love Bunny of your own?" the Doctor said while Peri giggled. "I have a large family if you'd like to pick and choose one. My other brother, Jack, will take ya in a heartsbeat, outfit and all."

"Peri, let's go!" Six yelled at her.

"Bye, guys," Peri said, "It was nice meeting all of you."

Alan embraced her and gave her a kiss on the cheek then the Doctor did the same.

"Are you quite finished?" Six said, exasperated.

"No, Daddy wants to make love to her next," Tara said.

Alan snorted out laughter and ran to hide his mirth while Six's mouth dropped almost to the floor.

"Um…no, we won't go that far," the Doctor said, trying not to laugh. "Wifey won't like that, I can just tell, so I'll make do with a friendly peck on the cheek before we say goodbye."

Peri grinned and accepted the peck on the cheek before she walked towards Six.

"'Bout bloody time, get inside now before they don tutus and start ballet dancing."

"Hey, there's an idea!" Alan said.

"In, Peri, now!" Six said.

"Oi, mate!" the Doctor said.

"What is it?" Six snapped at him.

He grinned.

"Tell Frobisher I said hello when you meet him," he said.

Six muttered as he got into the TARDIS. Everyone stepped back and waved cheerfully as the ship dematerialized and disappeared.

"Who's Frobisher, Daddy?" Tara asked the Doctor.

"Frobisher was an alien who shapeshifted into a talking penguin," the Doctor said.

"Nuh-uh," Tara said.

"Uh-huh, I had a talking penguin as a companion. Name was Frobisher."

"You did not, Daddy!"

"Okay!" the Doctor said in a loud voice. "Everyone inside we need to go find Frobisher now so my daughter will be convinced!"

"You did not have a talking penguin in the TARDIS, Daddy," she said as they walked back inside their ship.

"Brother, did I or did I not travel with Frobisher?" the Doctor asked Alan.

"You most certainly did. Decent chap. Penguin poo on the console room floor was a bit much though not to mention his beak was constantly in your butt for what I hope was a non-sexual reason."

"Shut up, you did not have a talking penguin in here!" Tara yelled as the Doctor chuckled and closed the door behind them.


	346. Chapter 346

Chapter Three Hundred and Forty Six

"I'm on…top of the world looking…down on creation and the only explanation I can fiiiind is the love that I found ever since you've been around…"

"Daddy, what are you singing?" Tara said, tugging on the Doctor's sleeve while they stood in front of the TARDIS.

"It's The Carpenters. I'm on…top of the world looking…down on creation…"

"It's goofy, Daddy."

"So is Hannah Montana stuff but I allow you to play her music in my TARDIS from time to time."

"You like it, you dance to it when I play it," Tara said.

"I dance to a lot of things. Just because you play Best of Both Worlds doesn't mean I'm a fan. I just like the beat."

Tara shrugged. The Doctor grinned at that.

"You get the beeeest of both worlds," he warbled. "Chillin' out, take it slow, then you rock out the show. You get the beeeest of both worlds, mix it all together and you know you got the best of both worlds."

He feigned surprise and put his hand over his mouth when Tara gave him an amused look.

"I'm sorry; I don't know what possessed me to sing that just now. Must have had a temporary bout of insanity and channeled Miley Cyrus. Won't happen again."

"Sure it won't, Daddy."

"You get the limo out front," the Doctor sang as Tara giggled. "Every style, every shoe, every color. Cause you're greedy as hell and you're gonna be cannon fodder!"

"Daddy! Shut up!" Tara said, giggling while he snickered.

"What? You don't like the Carpenters so I'm forced to sing something you do like. Course I sing it my way since that's the way I am. You get the beeeeest of both worlds, chillin' out, take it slow, drink some beer, slap some hos."

He grinned when Tara bent over laughing and he patted her back.

"See, I constantly come up with new ways to improve on song lyrics," he said to her.

"You're a nut, Daddy."

"Yes, I am. Pecan, to be specific."

He glanced at his watch.

"Where is John? I figured he'd be making fire trails through the vortex just to see ya. I'm bored with waiting on him and singing Miley Cyrus ditties."

"Sing something else then," Tara said.

"Okey-doke. The moooon riding high in the sky, is about to crash down and hit me right in the eye. I can't believe as I look up in the sky, I'm gonna die here eating key lime pie."

Tara bent over laughing while the Doctor smiled tenderly at her.

"See, I'm better than your other father. I can make up stuff just like that. I'm not nobody, I'm somebody, you know."

"No, don't start that again, Daddy!" she said while he giggled.

They looked over when they heard a wheezing.

"Bout time my divorced husband got here. I hate giving you to him every other weekend. It interferes with my outings at the spa and my chatting up sexy supermodels."

"Daddy!" Tara said, giving him a playful slap on the chest.

The TARDIS stopped and a moment later the door opened.

"Daddy!" Tara said running to John.

John fell to his knees and Tara did the same as they embraced each other.

"Oh God, I missed you so much," he said, holding her tight. "Rose and I got used to you being around us and it was so quiet without your bubbly personality."

She let go and embraced Alternate Rose when she came up behind him.

"Mommy."

"Hi, Sweetie, you been behavin'?"

"Hell no," the Doctor said while Tara giggled.

Simon came up and hugged Tara while John hugged the Doctor.

"Brother, great to see ya. Glad you're alive and well," the Doctor said when they finished hugging.

"Same here, sorry it took so long. Had to fight some lizard monsters that were threatening to enslave and eat humans living in this colony on some far-flung galaxy. My son there actually rescued a couple of the colonists from one of the hungry lizards and we're both very, very proud of him."

"So he's adjusting to time travel?"

"No problems whatsoever," John said. "Normally, Jenny and Donna travel with us but they're staying at a hotel while we have an outing with the kids."

"How is Jenny adjusting?" the Doctor said.

"Very well. We took your advice and exposed her to non-military things to break that conditioning and it works. I got all the scars off her face so she looks like your Jenny now. How 'bout you? The Jack/Ianto wedding hasn't happened yet, has it?"

"Nope, a few days away so stick around after you return."

John nodded.

"And you're okay?"

"Never been better. Course my daughter was getting irritated because I was singing Miley Cyrus tunes and mangling them for my amusement."

"Who's Miley Cyrus?" John said.

"Hannah Montana? Kid's show about a teen rock star?"

"Never heard of it or her, I don't think she exists in my universe."

"Can I switch universes with ya then?" the Doctor said eagerly.

"Daddy, geez. He's being a dork, Other Daddy."

"So what else is new?" John teased as he put his arm around her shoulders.

The Doctor leaned over and cupped her cheek with his hands.

"Behave, I don't wanna have to cross universes to spank you," he said to her.

"I'll behave," Tara said.

"And don't you dare think of going off with him permanently because if you do, I will find you, strap you down and mangle Miley Cyrus songs until your ears bleed and you beg for death," he said.

"I won't. I'll be good and just go with him for this short, little trip."

"Good, because I'm not nobody, I'm somebody."

"Geez, Daddy, can we go now?" Tara asked John.

"Fare thee well, my divorced spouse, don't kidnap the child and take her across the void to avoid paying child support," the Doctor said to John.

Alternate Rose giggled as John smiled at that.

" I won't, Honey. I wouldn't dream of taking our Bubby across the void to a strange universe so I can keep her to myself."

"See that you don't or else I'll get the courts involved and I'll sue for full custody and terminate your parental rights," the Doctor said.

"On who's authority, Sweetie?" John said, feigning anger as he got up in his face.

"On my authority, Sugar Snaps, I owned her first!"

"Well, we'll see who she ultimately loves; Doris Day, and then the courts will give her to me when she decides it's me!"

"Doris Day?" the Doctor said as Alternate Rose roared with laughter. "Very well then, don't you threaten me, Rock Hudson, or I'll hire a private detective to track you down."

John chuckled.

"I have all the money in the world, Jimmy Stewart. I'll get the best barrister I can find and sue you for custody."

"Oh yeah, Orlando Bloom, I'm really scared!"

"You should be, Johnny Depp!"

"Yawn, Vince Vaughn!" the Doctor said, putting the palm of his hand over his open mouth. "You can't scare me."

"We'll see about that, Alfred Hitchcock!"

"Yes, we will, Freddy Krueger!"

"Are you guys done yet?" Tara said as Alternate Rose and Simon laughed.

"She has no appreciation for a good comedy routine, does she?" John said to the Doctor.

"Nah, she doesn't even know who The Carpenters are, we need to educate her and get that cultural IQ of hers up to date."

"I'll do my best if you will. In the meantime, we need to hit the open road."

"Have fun, Love, don't forget the alimony," the Doctor said.

"Checks in the mail, Sweetness, don't spend it all in one place," John called back as they stepped into his TARDIS.

The Doctor waved at them and watched while their TARDIS faded away before he went back into his and left for Nova.


	347. Chapter 347

Chapter Three Hundred and Forty Seven

"At last, we have her back where she belongs!" John crowed to Alternate Rose as the TARDIS flew through the vortex.

He strolled over to Tara who was sitting on the captain's chair with Simon.

"And all that stuff about returning you? They were all lies, my daughter. You'll never see the old fart again! Ha, ha, ha, ha!"

"You've lightened up a lot, Daddy, since I last saw you," Tara said.

"Well, being out here among the stars where I belong lightened my spirits. Not to mention being married to your mum," he said. "Once all that oppression was gone, my natural personality came back to the fore and actually since I'm half Donna, that's coming across now too."

"That's why Alan is the way he is. He calls it Noble-itis."

John chuckled.

"Noble-itis. I like that. I'll have to start referring to my quirks in that manner."

He kissed her cheek.

"And you've done a lot to help chase away the doldrums," he said to her. "And now that you're here, we can go on a little family holiday. So where shall it be, my family? We can go anywhere in time and space, so start throwing out ideas!"

One by one everyone except Tara made suggestions. Finally, John looked at her.

"Tara, love, you don't have any ideas?"

"Well, Amelia told me one time that she wanted to travel like pioneers in the old west but they never got to and I think that'd be fun."

"What's so fun about it?" Simon said. "You sit in a hard wagon while oxen or horses pull you, big deal."

"Yeah but I think it'd be fun to do that rather than travel by rocketship or hovercar or something like that. We're always doing that, I wanna ride in a covered wagon for a change."

"You mean the Little House on the Prairie scenario?" John asked.

"Yeah, something like that."

John thought it over for a minute and then had an idea. He hurried out and came back several minutes later dressed in 1800's pants, boots and a white shirt with a straw hat. He walked over to Alternate Rose.

"Howdy, Miss," he said with an American accent. "What's a pretty thing like you doin' out on the prairie?"

Alternate Rose giggled.

"I'm the local prostitute."

The children giggled at the stunned look on John's face before he broke into a grin.

"You're the local tart? Well, I happened to strike it rich down the gold mine. I panned me some gold and now I'm gonna buy a night with you."

"Ew," Tara said.

"Yeah, we don't wanna see this, Pa," Simon said.

"Darn, they were interrupting our Western Gent Buys a Hooker scenario. Anyway, if you lot wanna try out a day in the old west, I s'pose we could dress up and hire a covered wagon for a day across the prairie. How 'bout it?"

"Sounds good to me," Alternate Rose said.

"Only if we see injuns," Simon said. "Never seen a real injun before."

He glanced at his sister.

"And you said you're the kind from India so that don't count," he added.

"Or…"John said. "We could go back to Salem, Massachusetts during the witch trials. We could land the TARDIS right in the middle of a trial and see how long it takes for them to hang us for witchcraft!"

"I don't think so, John," Alternate Rose said.

"Unless we can save someone's life that got killed cause they thought they were a witch," Tara said.

John thought that over and sensed the time lines in his head. He smiled when he realized that a few people could be rescued.

"Okay, my family, let's do a good deed on the way to the prairie," he said. "Gather round and let me tell you what we're gonna do."

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(Salem, Massachusetts, 1692…)

Sarah Osborn lay on the ground in her cell. She had been captured about five days ago and with little food and water, she was pale and sickly and near death. She coughed noisily while she numbly watched a big, brown rat scurried through the dirty straw lining the floor of her prison cell. She had already seen several women taken out to hang and had heard the screams and screeches of the pre-teen and teen girls who had accused so many of bewitching them as they writhed around in the courtroom above the jail. Sarah was there because she had lived an immoral life in the eyes of her neighbors. She rarely went to church services and had sexual relations with her indentured servant. She had been thrown in jail and left to rot there while others were given the mercy of a quick hanging. As she lay there, dying, she wondered to herself if there was a God and if so, why would he let her be accused of being a witch and allowing her to suffer. She sighed, wishing that angels would send someone to rescue her from her doom.

She glanced up when one of the guards came by her cell. He looked in and sneered at her.

"Look at you, you slut. Get just what you deserves, you're gonna hang for your sins," he said to her.

"If I die, my blood will be on your hands," she murmured weakly.

The guard snorted.

"Look at ya, you're no witch. If you were, you would conjure up a way out of here," he said. "Come on, Witch, save yourself. Quit pretending and show us what you can do! Conjure up some help for ya!"

Just then the guard heard a wheezing sound behind him and spun around. His mouth dropped open when a tall, blue box appeared out of nowhere. Then when it became solid, the box became still. A moment later, the door opened and a man stepped out.

"Hiya, I'm a familar come to rescue my mistress and her friends," he said. "Boo!"

"Wizard!" the guard screamed as he ran back towards the stairs. "Quick! There's a wizard down here freeing the witches!"

"Quick, grab your pitchforks and torches and form a mob like in the Frankenstein film!" John yelled at him.

Simon and the women stepped out behind him and counted the women. Besides Sarah, there were two other women, both of them near death. John used his screwdriver to open Sarah's cell door.

"I'm John, this is my family. We're not gonna hurt ya, we're gonna get you and the others down here to safety," he said, kneeling down to her.

"Thirsty, so thirsty," she said weakly.

"I'll fix that in a minute. For now, lay still and let me carry you into my ship."

"Ship? What ship? We're nowhere near water," Sarah murmured.

John threw the screwdriver to his wife and she and the children went to free the others while John carried Sarah into the TARDIS and laid her gently on the jump seat. When he was coming outside, he saw the guard coming down with two others.

"See, behold! The demonic familars of the witches!"

John waited a moment and then let out a blood curdling shriek as he ran towards them. The three men screamed and flew back up the stairs before John could touch them. John imitated Margaret Hamilton and let out a witch's cackle before he went to help his wife and children get the other two women inside the TARDIS. Once they were done, the women went back inside while John and Simon waited by the open door.

"Whatcha doin', Pa?"

"Waiting to see if the cowards come back down to arrest us witches," he said.

Sure enough, a moment later the guards came back down stairs with loaded rifles.

"Who are you, Wizard?" the guard demanded trying to be brave.

"I am Voldemort, He Who Must Not Be Named!" John said, dramatically. "Go away or I shall kill thee with the Avada Kadavra curse! Ooooooo!"

He let out another shriek and he and Simon chuckled when the guards flew back up the stairs, screaming.

"What about the others, Pa?" Simon said.

"I'm afraid we can't save them all. We can't save the ones who hung but we can save these women because they died in prison. I hate to leave the others but it must be done. The hangings are fixed events in time, my Son. Someday when you become a full Time Lord, you'll learn the difference. Now come on before they come back down here and open fire on us."

They hurried inside the TARDIS. John shut the door and a minute later, it vanished from view.


	348. Chapter 348

Chapter Three Hundred and Forty Eight

After they got the TARDIS back into the vortex, Tara and Simon helped the adults carry the women back to the med bay.

"Saints preserve us, what magic is this?" Sarah said, glancing around as she lay in John's arms. "Am I seeing things? Where am I?"

_Tara, love, can you go on ahead to the med bay and get the anesthetic out of the top drawer on the right hand side by the door?_ John thought to her as she walked in front of him. _I have a feeling if we don't sedate these women now they'll begin freaking out in a minute._

_Okay, Daddy, _Tara thought back.

Tara ran on ahead and by the time the others had entered the med bay, Tara had the IV bags laid out for him on a metal table.

"What did we do without you?" John said as she and Rose laid the women on the beds.

"What are you going to do to me?" Sarah said, her eyes wild with fear as she looked around. "No! No more torture, I beg of you!"

John laid a hand on her shoulder while Rose went to get the last woman.

"Shhh, there will be no torture. I want to help you," he said, gently. "My name is John. What's your name?"

"Sarah, Sarah Osborne."

"Greetings, Sarah. Don't be afraid. I'm going to make you and these other women well enough that you can go home and live out the rest of your lives."

"We can't go back sir. They'll hang us for sure."

"Then we'll take you someplace safe. Another part of the country where they'll never bother you again," John said. "But for now, I want you to relax. My son, daughter and I are here to help. You're no longer in danger so just keep calm and rest."

Sarah stared into his eyes for a moment. Convinced he was telling the truth, she closed them and drifted off to sleep. While she was doing that, Tara helped John with the IV needle while Simon helped Alternate Rose lay the last woman on the last remaining bed. When she was comfortable and Alternate Rose had reassured her that she was safe, the woman slept and both mother and son went to help the others with the IVs.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After they got them sedated and stabilized, John led everyone back out to the console room.

"We'll let them rest a bit," John said to them. "We'll tend to them until they're strong enough to walk out on their own and once that happens, I'm going forward in time to a time where they will be able to live their lives out in peace. They'll probably accuse me of being a witch and using witchcraft to move time forward but I really don't care. I'd rather be called a witch then have them hang as one or die in prison. Honestly, humans are so easily spooked and can be so gullible sometimes, it amazes me."

He leaned back against the rim of his console.

"So you wanna take a quick trip into the prairie to see the sights and live the pioneer lifestyle?"

"Yeah!" Tara said.

"Count me in!" Rose said.

John looked at Simon.

"Son, I know this won't be new for you. You lived this kind of life for nine years but do you wanna still do it?"

"Yeah, never been out on the prairie, might be fun."

"Okay, then let's get into our 1800's outfits and get those wagons moving!" he said to them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After landing near a small western town, they were able to negotiate with a man and rent a covered wagon and team of four red and white oxen.

"How far ya headed?" the man asked John.

"Oh, not sure, just going where the prairie wind takes us," John replied as he waited for his family to finish getting inside the wagon.

"You got any provisions? I notice you have nothing with ya."

"We're going to get some before we leave," John replied.

"Ugh, these shoes are killin' my feet!" Tara said as she tried to climb into the wagon with narrow Doc Martins on her feet.

"Hush up now, children should be seen and not heard!" John said to her.

"She an injun?" the man said in disbelief as he pointed to Tara.

"Yes, that's my daughter. I adopted her from the wild and fierce Apache tribe. I intend to civilize her with my prim and proper British ways."

John stifled a smile when he heard a big snort coming from inside the covered wagon.

"Well, if you ask me, only way to civilize them redskins is to beat em or shoot em."

John plastered a smile on his face and resisted the urge to knock the man's teeth out.

"Well, nice talking with ya, we must be moseying along as you Yanks say."

"Yeah, keep a stiff upper lip. Heard that from an English feller a few years ago. He was kinda an outcast 'round here. Man only drank tea when everyone else in this town drank beer. He wasn't well liked. So I'd watch that fancy-schmancy accent you and your wife have."

"Point taken, Old Bean. Thanks for the bit of jolly good advice. I bid you good day. Cheerio and pip pip!"

"Yeah, whatever, I'll stick to American folks. Least I knows what they's sayin' when they speaks to me," the man muttered as he walked away.

"Daddy, if we kill the man will that change history?" Tara said, pulling up a bit of the tarp covering so she could see him.

"Probably, Love. I'm sure he's some famous person who will stop something somewhere. Just ignore him, Old Beans, and let's be on our bally way!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So…" John said as he drove the wagon along a narrow dirt trail, "anyone else feeling all Little House on the Prairie yet?"

He was on the left side of the buckboard while Rose rode beside him. She was dressed in a long calico dress with Doc Martins and a white bonnet. Tara had on an ankle length white dress, Doc Martins and a white bonnet and Simon was wearing a white shirt, dark grey pants and stiff shoes. John was still wearing his 1800's outfit, his straw hat perched at a angle on his head.

"Get along little doggies, dogies, whatever you are," he said to the oxen while he lightly slapped the reins on their backs. "Moo, do you hear me, moo! As in…mooooove faster!"

He slapped the reins again.

"Ooooooooh!" he said as he started singing in a loud, off-key voice. "I'm gonna eat me beans from a tin, beans from a tin, beans from a tin. I'm gonna eat me beans from a tin and fart and fart all daaaaaaaaaay!"

Tara and Simon stuck their heads out of the opening just behind them.

"Hey, we're trying to enjoy the ride and you're not helping," Tara said.

John ignored her as he continued to sing.

"Prairie doooogs howling at the moon. Jackie's faaaace resembles the arse of a baboon."

"Oi!" Alternate Rose said, smacking his arm while the children laughed.

"Sorry, my dear, have to face facts. The years have not been kind to Jackie Tyler," John said to her.

They reached a hill and went up it.

"Whee, roller coaster time!" John said. "Everyone put your hands up!"

They reached the top and started back down.

"Yeah!" John said while his family laughed, "isn't this exciting? We're going so fast everything is a blur!"

He pointed to another wagon off in the distance.

"Look, there's a potential traffic jam up there. Maybe we can get around them and avoid a collision. I do so hate exchanging insurance information."

"Wonder who they are," Alternate Rose said.

"One way to find out. YAH! Go little moo-moos, fly like the wind."

The children giggled when the oxen kept on with their easygoing pace.

"Suddenly, I miss my TARDIS," he said while he gave the reins another snap.

He urged the oxen on and they finally complied and sped up to the point that they were able to catch up with the other wagon. It was a huge Conestoga wagon like theirs and in the front an elderly woman sat driving a team of four brown draft horses. She was dressed in a long powder blue dress, Doc Martins, a bright red bonnet and a corncob pipe was clenched between her teeth.

"Mornin'!" John called out when they got alongside her.

The woman took the pipe out of her mouth.

"Mornin', where ya'll headed?" she asked.

"Not quite sure yet, we'll know when we get there," John said.

"That's the spirit. Follow your heart. I likes that. I'm headed towards Montana with the big, wide-open spaces. Gonna start my life over there. I lost my husband recently."

"I'm sorry to hear that…"

"Name's Bertha. Bertha Nightshade.

"I'm John Smith; this is my wife, Rose and my two children, Tara and Simon."

Bertha nodded. They both went up another hill and saw a small herd of buffalo grazing at the bottom when they reached the top of it.

"Yee-haw! Dinner!"

John's family watched in amusement as she grabbed a rifle out of the wagon and put the reins between her knees while she took aim at the grazing beasts. A loud boom rang out and one old bull dropped dead as the others stampeded away in fear.

"Impressive," John said to Alternate Rose.

"Come on, follow me. I'll let you young-uns have some buffalo meat," she called to them as she urged the horses to turn to the right.

John followed her and they stopped several feet away from the dead animal. Bertha reached behind her, grabbed a bowie knife and jumped down off her buckboard.

"Do you need help?" John asked.

"Nah, I knows what to do. When I was little, we lived near some Cheyenne and an old man taught me how to skin and prepare buffalo meat. I'm fine."

All four of them got out of the wagon and walked over while Bertha knelt down beside the carcass and sliced open its belly. Tara made a face when she plunged her hand through the long slit she made, fumbled around for a moment and then pulled the heart out.

"Want a taste?" Bertha said, holding it up to them.

"Um, it's raw," Tara said.

Bertha frowned.

"You're an injun, aren't ya? Haven't you seen this done before?"

"My mom was from India," Tara replied.

"Oh! Sorry, Sweetie, I thought you was from the states. A lot of the injuns that hunt buffalo eat the heart so they can get the animal's strength. "

Tara made a face when she put the bloody, dark red heart to her lips and took a huge bite of it. She offered it to the others.

"No thanks," Alternate Rose said, holding up her hand.

"I will, I've had raw things before," Simon said.

He came forward and ate a small bite of the heart. Once he was finished, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and walked back to Tara who was staring at him with disgust. She gave her father a shocked gaze when he stepped forward and she and her mother both watched with revulsion as he copied his son and ate a chunk of the heart.

"Not bad, bit of a metallic iron taste from the blood coating it but otherwise, it's pretty good," he said.

He walked back to Alternate Rose.

"Can you be any more disgusting?" she muttered.

"What? It's good. Quit turning your nose up at it and try some."

"No thanks, I'll give it a miss," Alternate Rose muttered as John slipped his arm around her.

The children climbed up to the buckboard and sat down while John and Alternate Rose leaned against the side of the wagon. All of them watched in an impressed silence as Bertha quickly skinned the buffalo and began to carve up the meat for easy carrying.

"I'll divide it up and give you some," Bertha said over her shoulder.

"Thanks, we appreciate that," John replied.

"No problem, too much for me to eat. This was a big one; normally I get the mothers or babies. I got lucky this time."

With pipe clenched firmly between her teeth, she finished carving up the meat. While she was doing that, something caught John's eye and he tapped his wife on the shoulder. She looked where he was pointing and all of them saw several Native American braves riding towards them on painted ponies. All the braves had war paint on and were dressed in nothing but buckskin breeches.

"Ought-oh, I hope this turns out well," John said when he heard them begin to yell at Bertha.


	349. Chapter 349

Chapter Three Hundred and Forty Nine

The moment Bertha heard them; she leapt up, grabbed her gun and leveled it at the braves. In response, the braves grabbed their bows, arrows and tomahawks.

"That's it, grab a gun and shoot at them. Give them a reason to fill you full of arrows and scalp you bald," John muttered under his breath.

The braves saw the gun and screamed their war whoops while John urged the kids and Rose back into the back of the wagon. John waved his arms as he stepped up beside Bertha.

"No! Wait! Stop!" he yelled at them. "Everyone put your weapons down now!"

Both sides were startled by his cries for a ceasefire. The braves slowed their horses and Bertha lowered her gun. John breathed a sigh of relief and walked over to the puzzled braves who had now stopped to look the white man over.

"That's better," he said. "Can you understand me?"

The braves gave him a puzzled look. Simon and Tara watched while he switched to a form of sign language.

_Can you understand me?_ He signed.

The brave in the middle glanced at his companions.

_Yes,_ he signed back.

_Good, please don't hurt us,_ John signed.

_The female killed a buffalo. These are ours,_ the brave signed. _She has caused the other buffalo to leave._

_She was shooting one for food for her and for us,_ he signed. _There is no need for killing. We're sorry if she scared off the buffalo but they'll be back._

The brave got off his horse. Everyone tensed as he came forward to look at John, but he remained calm and stared right back. The Doctor noticed the black hand print across his face and the hand prints on his bare chest.

_Don't tell me you got painted up to attack her_, he signed.

_We are making war with the Crow,_ the man signed. _But we will kill any whites we find on the way._

_We are peaceful but I will fight you if I must._

The man laughed at that.

_You are small and skinny, white man. You cannot defeat me._

_Don't be so sure, _John signed.

The man gave him an amused grin and shook his head. He said something to the others and got back up on his horse.

_We are busy today so we will let you pass but be gone when we return,_ the man signed to him.

John nodded and the braves let out a whoop and rode past them. John eyed Bertha who was still holding the gun in her hands.

"Now see, we did things your way, we might have all died," he said to her. "Indians can be reasoned with. I suspect you know that since you were friends with the Cheyenne."

"Yes but one never knows out here on the prairie," Bertha said defensively.

"True but many men have died needlessly because they shot first and asked questions later. It would have been better to seek out the tribe and ask permission before killing that buffalo but what's done is done so let's divvy up the meat and get out of here before they return and make good on their threat."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Well, that was fun, nearly getting skewered by hundreds of arrows," John said.

After she finished slicing up the meat, she salted it and loaded half of it into their wagon. Then they said their goodbyes, wished each other luck and hurried on their separate ways. Both Tara and Simon kept near the front to avoid being near the pungent meat that was drying in the warm summer air.

"And now, Simon, you can say you've seen Indians up close. Thankfully you survived the encounter intact along with the rest of us and…"

He trailed off when they went up and over another hill and saw a baby buffalo calf, lost and lowing pitifully.

"Aw," John said, stopping the wagon. "Hey, little fella, you lost?"

He and Alternate Rose got down off the wagon while the children stuck their heads out through the hole in the tarp and watched. John neared the calf slowly. It shied away from him and galloped a few feet off to his left where it resumed its lowing.

"John, we better not muck with it. The mother might come back for it."

"Yeah, but I wanted to help the poor thing. Bless his little cottons, he's frightened. We should give him to Tara to take back with her as a pet. Then the dogs could have company."

"I'll do it if you bring it over here," Tara said.

"She means that, doesn't she?" John said to Alternate Rose while Tara and Simon giggled.

"I have a feeling she does," Alternate Rose replied.

"If I did that, do you think Brother would disown me?"

"Probably," Alternate Rose said.

John reached out his hand and the calf shied away again.

"John, let's go before those Indians come back and kill us," Alternate Rose said. "The mum will probably find him if we just let him be."

John sighed.

"Well, bye little friend, hope everything works out for the best. I'm sure Tara would have loved ya and dressed you up for tea parties."

"Nah, I would have trained it to be like a pit bull and attack people."

John looked at Alternate Rose.

"Our daughter's a bit on the peculiar side, you notice that?" he said as his wife laughed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After traveling a couple more miles, they decided to turn back and head for the TARDIS. Before they did that though, they stopped and rested beneath some trees. Alternate Rose lay with Simon while John lay several feet away with Tara. Both of them lay on their backs, watching the clouds drift by.

"I'm so glad you're here with us today," John said to Tara. "I teased about taking you from your other dad but I have to admit I'm jealous because he gets to have you most of the time. Perhaps, I should cut off your hand and clone you."

"No, don't you dare," Tara said.

He smiled at that.

"Nah, I wouldn't hurt you. Actually, I've entertained the idea of coming to live with all of you and then we'd come back here, the opposite of what I'm doing now. I hate being separated from you and I know Rose and Simon do as well. It's nice to feel you in my mind since most of the time you're happy. I s'pose that comes from living with such a big family, eh?"

"Yup. I'd love for you to come live with us full time, Daddy," she said, turning on her side to him.

"Well, I resisted until your sisters and cousins are a bit older so they don't get confused having three look-a-likes in the same place. Not to mention Lizzy and Angel would have a duplicate of their mother and I'm sure Donna and Jenny would want to stay as well and that would complicate things even further. We'll work something out though."

"Some of our family is off trying to find a planet where we can have a new Gallifrey. Maybe by the time you decide to come live with us full time, we'll find something."

"New Gallifrey, I like that. It'd be nice having a homeworld of our own again rather than living in a row of houses and pretending that's Gallifrey. We need our own space and our own civilization back, except this time we can make it better, no corruption like they had in the high council. We could make it a paradise of our own."

"I'd like that. I'd like to have a Gallifrey I can live on."

John smiled at that.

"Has your other daddy ever taught you our language?"

"Some, I know a few words and he translates sometimes what the circle language says. Alan calls his Rose Amo'tiri and Daddy calls Mommy, Latara and Amelia Amo'ya and Opal Te'telos and also Te'lesu and Te'lesau, those are the words Daddy uses regularly.

"Hmmm…"

Tara watched her father when he went deep into thought.

"Whatcha thinkin' 'bout?" Tara said after a few minutes of silence.

"The Doctor calls you Star, yeah?"

"Yeah, it's what my name means. Tara is Hindi for Star."

"I like that. It suits you. But…I want to also give you a personal name. Love or Sweetheart is so boring. You deserve better."

Tara smiled and rolled onto her belly.

"What name, Daddy?"

"I was thinking…Ya'mer'la.

"Ooo, that's pretty. What's it mean?"

He smiled.

"It translates to my shining star."

"I like that and I like Gallifreyan. It's pretty. Can I call you something too cause I call the Doctor Daddy and I wanna call you something different."

"Oo, call me Sexy then."

He giggled when Tara slapped his chest.

"Daddy told me the first part of his real name so why don't you tell me the rest and I'll use that."

"No, because I suspect that's just a clever ploy to reveal his whole name to you, isn't it?"

"Um…yeah…" Tara said, giggling. "Mommy knows it though."

"She does?"

"Yeah, Daddy told her after they got married."

John glanced at Rose who was on her side facing Simon and chatting with him.

"I s'pose I'll have to do the same then," he murmured. "She deserves to know. But back to the problem at hand. What name would you like to give me?"

"Dunno, I have to think of something. Got something in Gallifreyan I could use?"

"Weeeell, maybe but you need to think of something to give me an idea. There's thousands of words and phrases I could use."

"How 'bout…my special daddy?" Tara said.

"Ya'canos'tya," John said.

"Nah, don't like that very much," Tara said. "How 'bout gift from god?"

John beamed at that.

"Anu'nok," he said.

"I like that better," she said. "But let me try one more. Um…I love you, how do you say that?"

"A'ner'ra."

"Yes, A'ner'ra. That way whenever I say your special name, I'll be saying I love you at the same time."

John grinned and pulled Tara into an embrace.

"What about Rose then?" he said. "Are you going to think up something for your mum?"

Tara giggled.

"How 'bout pain in the butt?"

John snickered.

"Mel'ka'zet," he said.

"Really? That's how you say pain in the butt?"

"Well, it translates more like buttocks are sore but same difference."

Tara giggled.

"Hey Mommy?"

Rose looked over her shoulder at her.

"I heard it and don't you dare call me that," she said as they laughed. "I do love your name for John though.

"How do you say beloved mommy?" Tara said.

"Amo'mya."

"Okay, I'll call you that then."

"Aw, thanks, Sweetie," Alternate Rose said.

"I'll call Simon Mel'ka'zet then."

"I'll call you the same thing," Simon said as they laughed.

"I could call you Mer, that means star in Gallifreyan," Alternate Rose said.

"Okay," Tara said.

"What about you, Son? Wanna get in on the name game?"

"Nah, I'll just call her Tara and you, Pa and Ma, Ma," Simon said.

"Fair enough. So, Ya'mer'la and Simon, ready to go back to the TARDIS yet?"

"You know it, A'ner'ra," Tara replied.

"Cripes, this is gonna get confusing right quick," Simon said as they all got up and headed back to the wagon.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After John took the TARDIS into the vortex, Tara and Simon went off to play while he and Alternate Rose sat in the console room. John had his arm around her.

"I s'pose we can head back to rest up before Jack and Ianto's wedding," he said to her.

"Yeah, hard to believe they're getting married. I wonder if our Jack's had much success convincing his Ianto to do the same thing."

"Knowing Jack, he'll be on his knees and following Ianto around night and day until he gives in," John said.

He smiled and kissed her temple.

"You heard us earlier when we chose the names?"

"Yeah, I'm glad you did that. I love the special names you have."

"Did you hear when I said I'd tell you my real name?"

"John, you don't have to."

"No, I want to. The Doctor trusted Rain enough to let her know and I have the same trust in you."

Rose ran her hand down his right cheek.

"Oh my love, it would be an honor and I'd never tell another soul what your true name was, I swear that."

John nuzzled her nose and kissed her lips. He kissed her cheek and worked her way back to her ear. He put his arms around her and got in close. With a smile, he whispered his true name in her ear. Tears came to Rose's eyes.

"It's beautiful, like you," she said.

"I'm entrusting that to you forever more, Rose Smith," he said, rubbing her side.

"And I will keep it close to my hearts forever more, John Smith," she said to him.

They leaned in for another kiss. Suddenly, the TARDIS began to go haywire.

"What's going on?" Alternate Rose said as the TARDIS rocked back and forth.

They yelled out when the TARDIS jerked hard and sent them both off the jump seat.

Mommy! Daddy! What's going on?" Tara screamed.

Neither could give her an answer since they were sliding all over the floor as the TARDIS rocked and reeled. Then suddenly, with a bang, the TARDIS crash-landed and everything became still.


	350. Chapter 350

Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty

Tara and Simon moaned and slowly got up from the floor.

"What happened?" she said.

"Dunno, does the TARDIS act like that sometimes?"

"Not this badly. Daddy's would rumble and rock sometimes but not like this."

They made their way out of the room.

"Simon? Ya'mer'la, are you alright?" they heard John said.

"We're okay, A'ner'ra!" Tara called back as they made their way to the console room.

By the time they reached it, the backup power was on and the roundels were glowing with a dim light. John came over and embraced his children.

"Whatever happened, the TARDIS landed hard and it knocked a few things offline. I need to get them repaired before we can leave again," he said. "In the meantime, all of us are going outside and taking a look at our surroundings to make sure we're not anywhere hostile. Stay with us, don't wander off, got it?"

The children nodded and Alternate Rose took their hands as they neared the door. John made everyone get behind him before he unlocked it and slowly opened it. They blinked when bright sunlight hit their eyes and John rubbed his before taking another look. They all cautiously stepped outside. The grass was a pale pink and so was the sky. The trees had pink leaves on them and in the distance there was what appeared to be a farm. The buildings of the farm were white circular structures with domes on top and the fences had several strange animals inside them.

"Looks like Amanthia to me," John said, looking around. "But…it can't be…"

"What's wrong?" Rose asked.

"Amanthia was destroyed in the Time War. Overrun by Daleks. Tried to save it but…"

He trailed off and shook his head.

"If it is, we shouldn't be here. It's time locked, the war is time locked. We should have lost our minds like Caan. Unless, this isn't Amanthia and just a planet that is similar to it. At any rate, I need to make repairs. If you want to explore, stay close and let me know telepathically the minute there's trouble."

They nodded and he kissed them all before heading back inside. Alternate Rose looked at her children.

"So…do you wanna explore a bit?" she said.

They nodded their heads and she took their hands and they began to walk towards a clump of trees. The wind was moderate and it made the woman's hair whip around their faces while they looked around at the scenery.

"Pink planet, I like pink," Tara said.

"I don't. Too girly for me," Simon said, making a face.

Alternate Rose glanced back at the TARDIS. The door was open and she could hear the soft strains of opera music coming from the console room. She knew her husband was listening to it while he worked.

"I hope he's wrong and this isn't Amanthia because if Daleks suddenly start swarming all over the planet..." she murmured.

"Daddy talked about the Daleks," Tara said to her. "They sound scary."

"They are, Honey. They're more than scary, they're terrifying. If anything could swarm across a planet and defeat it, it'd be them," Alternate Rose replied.

They walked on, looking around at the scenery and marveling at its beauty. Then as they reached the top of a hill, Alternate Rose was shocked to see another TARDIS exactly like theirs.

"Oh boy, now which Doctor did we find?" Tara said to herself.

Alternate Rose looked at her.

"How'd you mean?" she asked.

"Daddy keeps running into other Doctor's in other universes, but they're all earlier versions of himself. We found his second life and his sixth," Tara said. "This must be another Doctor then."

"Well, let's leave him alone before something happens," Alternate Rose said.

Just then the door opened and Alternate Rose urged the children to the ground. She lay down beside them and they peeked over the top of the hill as the occupant came outside. He was dressed in Edwardian clothes with shoulder length wavy brown hair and piercing blue eyes.

"That's the eighth Doctor, Amo'mya," Tara whispered to her.

Alternate Rose stared at him, transfixed.

"Have to admit he is kinda cute," she whispered to the children.

"Why is he dressed in something from the 1800's, is that another disguise?" Simon whispered.

"No, that's the way he dressed. I've seen pictures of him before," Tara replied.

They watched while he leaned against his TARDIS waiting for someone and then they heard another TARDIS wheezing and saw one appear next to it. The TARDIS camouflaged itself as a large rock and then they watched as the door opened and a man stepped out of it. He was dressed in white Time Lord robes with the skullcap and frill. Tara resisted the urge to giggle at his appearance.

"Well?" the man said to the Doctor. "This is the place?"

"Yes, we picked up transmissions from the Daleks. They're supposedly going to attack Amanthia next," Eight replied.

"Then we must assemble a strike force; stop them once and for all!"

"And what if we're wrong, Counselor Borga?" Eight said, turning to him. "What if the Daleks sent that message knowing we'd decode it? What if this is a trap to lure us away from Silon and the battle there?"

"Doctor, we can't let another planet fall. We already lost Arcadia to those metal menaces. We have been engaging in hit and run guerilla tactics. But now is the time to strike and stop them once and for all. Davros is dead and can't command them anymore."

"That doesn't mean anything," Eight countered. "Davros hasn't been their true leader for centuries. Not since he fell out of favor with the Daleks. He's was more of a puppet leader, a figurehead to them. They'll have a supreme Dalek somewhere; he's the true leader and the one we have to worry about."

"Nevertheless, we must make a decisive move before the Daleks gain the upper hand," Borga replied. "Several planets have suffered already."

"I'm well aware of that…"

"Arcadia was lost because there were not enough fighters there to defend it. You didn't call for reinforcements."

"Because there were none," Eight said, trying not to lose his temper. "You and the other council members sit there, locked away in your chambers while you imagine that you have a large army at your disposal and you don't. There aren't that many who are willing to stand against the Daleks and I lose more and more the longer the war goes on. I'm down to maybe a hundred fighters; if that and I'm sure before the day is out I'll lose several of them. That's why we need to be sure, Counselor, before we split our forces in two. If we do it and the transmission was a trick, the Daleks will slaughter both groups and then the universe will be at their mercy."

"That is unacceptable, Doctor. We cannot let the Daleks win!"

"Then perhaps you and the others in the high council should volunteer to fight," Eight said angrily. "When I look at the fighters I have, I don't see too many Time Lords among them. Perhaps you can urge our fellow Gallifreyans to volunteer and add to the ranks."

"You know that's not possible. I and the others in the high council must stay behind to plan strategies and run this war and we cannot ask ordinary Gallifreyans to fight. They have no experience fighting battles and they'll be slaughtered."

"But using me, that's perfectly acceptable, is it?"

"You are not like us, Doctor. You have experience fighting the Daleks which is why we urged you to do this. We realize it's a struggle to maintain a sufficient number of fighters but that is where your clever mind comes in, find fighters and enlist them to our cause."

"I can't! Most of the people I find are too scared to stand up against the Daleks!" Eight said.

"Then I don't know what to say, Doctor. Find some who aren't afraid and use them. Impress people into service if you must, just don't let Amanthia become another Arcadia! Is that clear?"

"Crystal," Eight said between gritted teeth.

Borga nodded.

"Good day to you, Doctor, and good luck."

Eight clenched his fists when Borga turned and strode back into his TARDIS. He mumbled curses under his breath and backed up while the TARDIS dematerialized.

"Pompous windbag. It's all well and good when it's me fighting, but if I try to ask you to shoulder some of the burden suddenly you have a convenient excuse. If the universe is enslaved by the Daleks, you and the others on the high council will be as much at fault as I am."

Sighing angrily, he turned and froze when he noticed Alternate Rose and the children on the hill.

"You there!" he said, pointing to them as they quickly got up and started to leave. "Wait, come back. Why were you there? Who are you?"

The three of them stopped and turned to face him. He gave them a kind smile as he walked up.

"Please, don't be afraid. I'm the Doctor, who are you?"

The three of them glanced at each other.

"You're not gonna believe this," Alternate Rose said. "But I'm the wife of an alternate Doctor and these are his children."


	351. Chapter 351

Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty One

The Doctor lounged lazily in one of the metal chairs by the metal table near the pool. Around him sat Julie, Mingxia and Grace. Dorothy was nearby playing with the dogs and Rain, Amelia, Opal and Madison were swimming along with Alan who was teaching the four year olds, Angel and Bala to swim. The Doctor and his sisters were sipping mimosas while he listened to them describe going out on the town the night before.

"So after we went to the movie, we stopped at this bar a few blocks away," Julie was saying to him. "Me, Grace, Mingxia and Amber. We ordered a few drinks and talked to one another when this hunky guy comes up to our table and starts flirting with Mingxia."

The Doctor grinned at that and nudged Mingxia when she blushed.

"So, was the bloke nice?" he asked Mingxia.

"Oh yeah, he was a nice guy. There was just one problem though."

The Doctor glanced at Julie and Grace when they sniggered.

"Really? What sort of problem?" he asked Mingxia.

Mingxia rolled her eyes while she took a sip of her drink.

"I asked him what his occupation was and he said he was a circus performer. Guess what he does in the circus?"

The Doctor paused a moment in thought and then begin to giggle along with his sisters.

"Ah, Te'lesu, I need to fix this clown phobia of yours. Let me go into your mind and find the underlying cause and take it out so you can date men without worrying if they're gonna be dressing up as a clown the moment you take him to bed."

"I wasn't that interested in him, Doctor. He was a nice guy, but he didn't seem like my type."

"They're never her type," Grace said, rolling her eyes. "We've been to several bars and nightclubs and cute guys always gravitate towards her but she isn't interested in any of them."

"Not to be rude but you're not a lesbian, are you?" the Doctor asked. "Because if you are, that's fine. But if you've met a lot of men and don't fancy them…"

"No, I'm straight. It's just that…"

"Just that what, Te'lesu?"

"It's just that I'm hesitant to get in a serious relationship since I'm gonna outlive anyone who comes along."

"Not necessarily. I have the crystals, you know."

"I know but what if he doesn't want that?"

"Mingxia, you can't do this to yourself. I did that for centuries and I ended up miserable in the end. If you fancy someone, go out on a date with him and see if you're compatible. Don't be afraid to be in love with someone if they don't want to become a Time Lord. Enjoy them for however long you have. Besides at least let these men have a chance to get to know you and you them before you decide they're not worth being with."

He patted her hand when she nodded.

"But other than finding the clown, you four had a good time?"

"Oh yeah, we had a blast. It's always nice to go out and have a bit of fun in the city," Julie said.

"And it's nice to take a break from work and go join them," Grace added.

"How is work?" The Doctor asked. "They aren't running you ragged, I hope?"

"Oh no, they're nothing like the hospital in San Fransico. Everyone gets an even workload and most of the things I do are non-invasive so I don't spend hours and hours in the operating room."

"Good," the Doctor said. "Meet any cute doctors there?"

"I love how you're just so interested in our love lives," Mingxia said.

"Why shouldn't I be? You're my sisters and I want you to be happy. Do I have to have a pair of breasts and a vagina in order to sit in on some girl talk? I just wish you all the best and hope you find some loving, non-clown, spouses someday."

They laughed when Mingxia gave him a playful punch on the arm.

"Goo, goo, goo, goo, goo, goo, goo, goo…"

The Doctor raised his eyebrow and turned his head to see Dorothy was near the pool. She was flexing her knees, bouncing in place while she said, "Goo, goo, goo, goo, goo, goo…"

"What in the name of all that's sacred are you doing, you weird thing?" the Doctor said to her while his sisters laughed hysterically.

"Goo, goo, goo, goo, goo, goo…"

"Maddie, I think our daughter's brain is stuck," the Doctor said to her as she swam in the pool. "And I think her knees have turned to rubber because she can't stand up properly anymore."

"What are you doing, you silly girl?" Maddie said, swimming to the side with Rose and Rain.

Dorothy stopped bouncing and walked over to her.

"I'm havin' fun, Mommy!"

"Oh okay, Honey. I was just wondering since you're apparently creeping your daddy out with your behavior," Madison said.

"I'm havin' fun, Mommy!"

"Well, go and have fun, Dear," Madison said.

Dorothy walked over to the Doctor while the three women resumed swimming. Dorothy stopped at his side and stared up at him intently.

"Hi!" she said.

"Don't you mean goo, goo, goo?" the Doctor said while his sisters giggled.

He shook his head when Dorothy immediately went back to bouncing and gooing.

"What's wrong, Doctor, you never bounced in place and made strange sounds when you were her age?" Grace asked.

"No, because I would have been seen as a looney and taken to an institution," the Doctor replied. "I told ya, our minds didn't work that way. We played in the nursery, but not by bouncing and gooing like a weirdo."

He leaned his head down and gave his daughter a pointed look as she giggled at him. She stopped bouncing and gave him a kiss on the lips.

"Love you, Daddy!"

"Aw, I love you too, Bouncy-goo-goo," he said while his sisters giggled. "I think I'll call you that instead of Ladybird. Bouncy-goo-goo the Giggly Girl."

"You're silly."

"Me? I'm not the one bouncing around going goo, goo, goo, goo. I think you're sillier by far."

Dorothy spied the last of his mimosa and reached for it.

"No, you can't have this. It's got alcohol in it!" the Doctor said sternly.

"I'm thirsty, Daddy."

"I'll get her something to drink," Julie said. "Come on, Dot. Let's go get you some milk!"

"Okay!" Dorothy said happily.

Julie got up from her seat, took her hand and led her back into the house. The Doctor continued to chat with the others for a few more minutes before his mobile phone began to ring. The Doctor kept on chatting.

"You gonna answer that?" Mingxia said.

"Only if someone pays me," the Doctor said, reaching into his pocket for it.

He flipped it open and pushed the talk button.

"Hello?" he said.

"Doctor," Sarah Jane replied.

"Sarah, hi. Nice to hear from you, how are things in twenty first century Ealing?"

"They're fine, Doctor. But you won't believe who popped round for a visit today."

"Gordon Brown."

"No."

"Prince Charles."

"No."

"King Sarluky of the Mong Dynasty on Thratmos."

"No."

"Blast, who else is there?" the Doctor said while Mingxia and Grace giggled.

"Valotte is here."

The Doctor's eyes widened.

"She…is?" he said.

"Yes, she apparently looked up my address thinking I'd know where you were. She wants to see you."

"Why? I haven't spoken to her in ages."

"She says she misses you and wants to see what you look like now. She's wondering if you still wore the long scarf and I said no. Anyway, she was hoping you'd come down here or she'd go up there. If you want to see her and don't want to come down here, I'll use my manipulator and…"

"No, I'll come down there," the Doctor said hurriedly. "Just give me the current date and I'll be down shortly."

"Okay."

Sarah Jane gave him the date and time she was calling and he quickly memorized it. He told her goodbye, hung up and stared off into space as he put the mobile back in his pocket.

"What is it?" Grace said. "Who's Valotte?"

"Former girlfriend. I dated her centuries ago just after I left Gallifrey to go traveling for good," he said.

"So she can time travel too?" Mingxia said.

He shook his head.

"She's immortal?" Grace asked.

"Not immortal but her race lives for centuries. She's a Mantua. One of the oldest races in the universe. Their kind used to be friends with the Time Lords which is how she met me. She first met me on Gallifrey and after Sharina and I divorced, I had a brief fling with her. However, we were both strong willed, independent people and it didn't work out. I haven't seen her since my forth life when Sarah and I ran into her in a pub on Andromeda. That's how she knows Sarah and I s'pose she guessed she might know where I am so she looked her up."

"So you're going down to say hello?" Mingxia said.

"Yes and tell her I'm married. She never really got over the break-up. She tried to rekindle our relationship when she saw me and Sarah and I told her I wasn't interested in a relationship which was the truth. I have a feeling this is another attempt to be my girlfriend. I won't be gone long, just long enough to say hello, tell her I'm married and then back up here to relax."

He stood up and walked over to the pool. He called Rain over and knelt down while he explained the situation to her.

"Would you mind if I came with you? I'm not jealous, I'm just curious," she said.

"I don't see why not. Maybe having you there will help convince her that I'm off-limits now."

"Good, cause I also wanna say hi to Sarah while we're there," she said, walking over to the pool ladder.

Alan walked over to him, Angel riding on his shoulders while he kept her secure by holding on to her legs.

"Again?" he said to him. "She just doesn't know when to quit, does she?"

The Doctor shrugged as Rain got out of the pool and Rose and Madison swum over.

"Precisely why I'm making sure this is the last time she does this," he said to them. "I have no interest in her. I haven't for a long time and I don't want her to continue on with this, thinking I'll tire of Rain or she'll die and she'll have me free and clear."

"So, how many lovers have you had in the past?" Rose asked as Alan went back towards the children.

"That…is none of your business, Rose."

"Aw, come on, you can tell us. We're you the Casanova of Gallifrey?"

"Hardly," the Doctor said while they giggled.

"Bet you were, bet you made all the ladies heads turn," Rose teased. "You had to run everywhere you went because women ran after you like you were the Beatles."

"I don't think so. Most of them refused to go out with me, except for Lorelei."

"Who's Lorelei then?" Rose said.

"Someone who shall remain just a name to you," the Doctor replied.

"Come on, Doctor. That can't be true," Rose said. "I fell in love with ya, Rain did and Sarah did too. You must have had quite a few companions wanting to be your lover, eh?"

"That's as may be, but the point is for several centuries I kept them at a distance and part of it was because I had a disastrous marriage and then things went wrong with Valotte. But I wasn't some Casanova running around giving everyone venereal diseases."

"Oh, you have venereal diseases? Which ones?"

Rose howled with laughter as the Doctor tired to grab at Madison when she went down under the water. He watched while she swam underwater to the middle of the pool and then flipped her off when she surfaced.

"Goo, goo, goo, goo, goo…"

They laughed harder when the Doctor turned and saw Dorothy behind him bouncing and gooing while she held a glass of milk in her hands.

"You're fixated on that today, aren't you?" he said. "Maybe I'll take you as well and you can be a warning to Valotte about what happens if you marry me. You get to suffer through your shenanigans."

While he was telling her this, Grace and Mingxia informed Julie what was going on.

"Oh really, old flame troubles, eh?" Julie said amused.

"Yes and they'll be remedied shortly," the Doctor said, standing up.

"Where's Rain, did she go get a rolling pin to bash over your head?" Julie said.

"No, she's going with me."

"Oh, I see, so she's going to use the rolling pin on Valotte before she and her mud wrestle and catfight," Julie said while the women giggled.

"Not a bad idea, Brother. You need to encourage that scenario for your own amusement."

"That'll be all from you," the Doctor said to Alan while the women laughed harder.

Rain came back outside, fully dressed.

"Right, let's go so I can hit the little home wrecker into next week."

Everyone howled with laughter at the shocked look on the Doctor's face. Rain chuckled and lightly patted his cheek.

"Just kidding, Dear. I'll behave if she does," she said.

"Somehow I don't quite believe that," he said, eyeing her.

Rain kissed his cheek, took his hand and with a wave walked off with her husband while everyone else wolf whistled, howled at him and laughed hysterically when he blushed.


	352. Chapter 352

Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty Two

"So why am I just learning about this one now?" Rain teased as they got into the TARDIS.

"Because I'd prefer to forget her, that's why," the Doctor replied as he shut the doors and walked with her to the console.

"That bad? As bad as Sharina?" Rain said.

"Not that bad, but pretty damn close," the Doctor said, starting up the TARDIS. "She was more enamored of me than I was of her and it apparently still continues to this day. But no more. This is it. Once and for all, I'm telling her to piss off."

"Ooo, glad I'm coming along then if the sparks are about to fly," Rain said.

She giggled and gave his butt a playful slap when he finished taking the TARDIS into the vortex.

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"Wife, children?" Eight said, rubbing his chin. "You mean there are other Doctors in the other universes. But the ancient writings say that Rassilon made sure that the Time Lords existed only in one universe."

"Well, I s'pose Rassilon was bending the truth a bit," Alternate Rose said.

She froze when she felt him briefly touch her mind and sense it.

"You're a Time Lady."

Alternate Rose nodded.

"Yeah, my husband is a short distance away repairing our TARDIS."

"Why? What's wrong with it?" Eight said.

"Dunno. We were flying and suddenly it crashed landed here," Alternate Rose said.

"I see and…you obviously know me but who are you?"

"Oh, I'm Rose, this is Tara and Simon."

"Hi," Tara and Simon said in unison.

The Doctor smiled warmly at them.

"Boy, you're a lot friendlier than the Sixth Doctor was," Tara said.

"You met my Sixth life?"

Tara nodded.

"And your second life too."

"Blimey, what are you doing? Trying to find all my lives?"

"No, we come upon them by accident. That's how my original daddy and me found her and my second daddy," Tara said, pointing to Rose.

Eight was taken aback.

"She has two fathers?" she said to Alternate Rose.

She nodded.

"How did you manage that. I mean, the looming…"

"She wasn't loomed, she was adopted," Alternate Rose said. "And so was Simon."

"But…she's Gallifreyan, I can sense her mind. I can understand adopting her but still, she had to be loomed at some point."

"It's…a long story and I don't think I should tell it," Alternate Rose said. "You see, my husband is your tenth incarnation."

Eight's eyes boggled.

"Oh, I see, so the distant future," he mused. "Yes, best not to tell me too much. Don't wanna change events and ruin something."

"Yeah, like my marriage," Alternate Rose muttered to herself.

"Well, best to separate then. Don't wanna muck things up by meeting another me."

"Yeah but we come from another universe," Tara said.

"Yes but still, the universes are only parallel and there's enough similarities that I could mess up something in this universe that's meant to happen if I know too much about your father's future. I'm glad I met you and I wish you all well but…"

"That other Time Lord, he talked about the Time War, so that's going on right now?" Tara asked.

"Yes, it's the sixth year of it in fact," he said grimly. "We've been fighting non-stop almost every day and still neither side seems able to get the upper hand."

"Do you know Grace?" Tara asked.

Eight smiled.

"Grace Holloway, yes I do. Why? do you?"

"Yes, she's my…friend," Tara said, catching herself before she said aunt.

"How is she?"

"She's fine," Tara said. "She's very nice."

"Yes, she is. I miss her terribly and I often think about what happened to her. But I know she'll do great things in her life."

"Yup, she will," Tara said, smiling. "So who you travelin' with now?"

"No one," Eight said.

"You don't have any companions?" Alternate Rose said.

"I commanded them to leave as soon as the war started. I had a duty to fight but they didn't so I made them leave."

"Who were they?" Tara asked.

"A man called Fitz and a woman called Compassion."

"Never heard of them, Amo'mya," Tara said to Alternate Rose.

Eight grinned.

"You call your mum Amo'mya, I love that," he said.

"Yup and I call my daddy, A'ner'ra and he calls me Ya'mer'la."

The Doctor smiled and nodded.

"Well, it's nice to meet all of you. I s'pose this is a preview of my own future and if it is I'll be looking forward to it. For now, I must bid you goodbye, I need to go meet with some members of my team and keep alert for any signs of Dalek attack. So if I were you, I'd get your TARDIS repaired as quickly as you can before they get here."

"Can you help us then?" Simon said. "If you help Pa, it might get done faster."

"I…I'm not sure if I should, Simon. I mean, I really shouldn't know too much about…"

"Rose? Kids?"

John came up over the hill and froze when he saw Eight standing there with them.

"Oh bugger," he said.

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Sarah Jane smiled when the TARDIS door opened and the Doctor and Rain stepped outside.

"So, you brought along the wife to see your old girlfriend, eh?" she teased.

"Yup, just like Mickey said when we were at Deffreyvale, the misses and the ex, welcome to every man's worst nightmare."

Sarah Jane chuckled.

"I'm assuming at that time, Rose was the misses then?"

"You assume correctly. So, where is she?"

"I'm here."

The door opened as Valotte said that and she stepped outside. She was pure white with thin black stripes crisscrossing her body from neck to ankles. She had lavender hair and eyes to match and she was wearing a lavender dress that was so sheer, you could see the lavender underwear underneath it. She wasn't wearing a bra and Rain made a face when she saw her ample breasts bouncing up and down as she walked towards the Doctor.

"Thete, it's good to see you again."

Rain was thrown for a loop when she heard her personal name for her husband coming out of her mouth. The Doctor stiffened upon hearing it and she could see the anger in his eyes.

"Please don't call me that," he said, tersely.

"Why ever not? I've always called you Thete, haven't I?" she said.

The Doctor shot his wife an apologetic look as Valotte pressed her body to his and gave him a hug. Rain gritted her teeth when she noticed her rubbing her crotch up against his leg. The Doctor jerked back and glared at her, warning her not to do that again. Valotte shrugged and smiled as she briefly ran her finger down his cheek.

"Shall we go inside for human refreshment?" she purred.

Without waiting for an answer, she turned and walked back into Sarah Jane's house. The Doctor put his arm around Rain and drew her near.

"After you, Sarah," he said, gesturing to the open doorway.


	353. Chapter 353

Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty Three

After they left, Alan went back to helping the children swim but his mind was a million miles away as he did it. Angel rode around on his shoulders and fiddled with his hair while he walked. Normally, he would be teasing her but he barely noticed her fingers tugging and examining his tousle.

"Dad?"

He turned his head when he heard Jenny's voice and saw her and Awinita coming through the patio door. Jenny saw him and started to go to him but Alan turned and showed her his tattoo.

"Oh. Uncle Alan, where's Dad?" Jenny said, looking around.

"He's down at Sarah Jane's. An old girlfriend showed up at her doorstep demanding to see him," Julie said.

"Really? Who?" Awinita said.

"Her name's Valotte. The Doctor dated her just after he divorced Sharina," Alan said.

"Really? Why didn't you go then? Not interested in seeing her again, Bro?" Awinita teased.

"Actually, looking back on it, I should have done," he said.

"Why? What's wrong?" Jenny said when she noticed the concern in his eyes.

"Valotte isn't all there, shall we say, and she's not one to take no for an answer. In fact, Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction comes to mind when I think of her."

The women all stared at him in shock.

"You're serious?" Rose said. "You mean this woman might hurt Rain when she finds out they're married?"

"Might hurt either one of them, actually."

"Well, hell man, let's get down there and keep an eye on her if she's that nuts," Awinita said.

The women looked at each other before all of them, got up, grabbed the children and once Rose and Alan were out of the pool, hurried through the patio door to get ready to go down.

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After they went inside, Sarah Jane went into the kitchen to make them some tea while everyone else went to the living room. Luke was sitting there playing his Nintendo DS and he grinned at them when they entered the room.

"Are you okay?" Luke said.

"Spiffy, how 'bout you?" the Doctor asked.

"Fine, school's a bit boring. I know most everything but I have to go," he said.

The Doctor gave him an apologetic look and put his hand on his shoulder.

"Trust me, I know what It's like being surrounded by people who aren't as clever as you," he said with a wink.

"So, Thete, what have you been up to? Haven't seen you in ages."

Luke noticed him stiffen.

_What is it?_ He thought to the Doctor.

_I don't like the name, Thete. I told her not to call me that and she doesn't listen,_ he thought back.

_Is that your real name?_

_Nickname,_ the Doctor thought.

_Bugger and here I thought I'd finally learned your proper name,_ Luke thought.

The Doctor grinned and shook his head while he patted him on the shoulder.

"Are you speaking telepathically, Thete, you know that's rude when there are non-telepaths in the room," Valotte said.

The Doctor turned slowly to face her. She was sitting on the sofa while Rain sat nearby in an overstuffed chair. The Doctor noticed Valotte was ignoring her, focusing solely on him.

"You're cute this time around, very cute," she purred. "I love the hair especially. Didn't like all those curls you had the last time I saw you and the scarf was odd. You look very sophisticated this way."

The Doctor muttered thanks. He was relieved when Sarah Jane came back in the room with a tray that had filled tea cups, cream and sugar. The Doctor went over and fixed his and his wife's tea. He took it over to her and once she thanked him, sat down beside her on the arm of the chair. Everyone else took a cup except for Valotte who was following the Doctor's every move. Rain glared at her as the Doctor shifted uneasily but Valotte ignored her completely.

"Well, what have you been doing lately, Thete?" she said when everyone got settled.

"First, quit calling me that, I don't like it and second, I've been doing what I've always done before, traveling in my TARDIS. Oh, and third, I have a wife now."

Finally, Valotte took her eyes off the Doctor and they settled on Rain. Rain stared at her calmly while she looked at her with contempt. She jerked her head back up at the Doctor when he put his hand on his wife's right shoulder and squeezed it.

"I see," Valotte said. "So, I assume it won't last then."

Sarah Jane, Rain and Luke stared at her in shock but Valotte didn't care as she looked straight at the Doctor. The Doctor's eyes burned with anger but he managed to calm himself enough to speak to her in a civil manner.

"No, I intend for this marriage to last a very long time," he said, emphasizing the last three words.

"What makes you think it will, Thete? Your first marriage didn't last."

"I got married to Sharina for the wrong reasons and it was basically an arranged marriage which is also why it didn't last. You and I didn't last because you wanted to have your own way all the time."

"Well, so did you."

"Bang on, we're two very stubborn, hardheaded people."

"And what is she, meek and submissive then?"

Sarah Jane and Luke giggled when the Doctor let out a huge snort at that.

"Then what makes her so special?" Valotte asked.

"We understand one another. She and I get along and we love and respect each other deeply. Each day that we're together, I fall more deeply in love with her and I don't intend to be with anyone else ever."

"But she's a human, isn't she?"

"No, she's a Time Lady on her first life," the Doctor said making sure to point that out to her. "She and I made the decision to marry, it wasn't made for us and even though she is an independent woman, we've learned to compromise and cooperate with one another so it isn't a constant screaming match between us like it was when you and I were together. If you came here thinking I'd take you back, I'm sorry, I won't. I'm happily married and it's gonna stay that way until the day I die."

Valotte was silent. She glanced at Rain who shrugged and smiled. She glanced at Sarah Jane who was sipping her tea but she could see a gloating look on her face. She looked at Luke who was quietly listening to everything they were saying.

Then suddenly they heard a wheezing noise outside and Valotte blinked.

"What?" she said. "Is that another TARDIS?"

"Yes, and I think I know who it is, excuse me," the Doctor said, getting up.

Rain quickly got up with him. They sat their cups down and she took his hand as they walked past Valotte. Rain glanced at her briefly as she walked past and saw the fire in her eyes as she stared at their clasped hands. The Doctor quickly led Rain to the front door and when they opened it, Alan and the adult women were coming out of the TARDIS. The Doctor closed the door and they walked over to them.

"Jenny, Awinita? When did you find out?" the Doctor said when he saw them.

"About twenty minutes ago before we all decided to come down here," Awinita said. "Bro, if this woman is like Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, maybe you should leave."

"What? She is?" Rain said, looking up at the Doctor. "I mean, I know she's angry at you being married but…she wouldn't hurt us, would she?"

The Doctor sighed.

"That's why I didn't want her to come up to Nova, Latara. I wanted her to be here where I could do something if she did go berserk, and on that note…"

He sent a telepathic message to Sarah Jane and Luke asking them to come outside. A moment later, the door opened and they came out.

"Alan, what's going on? Why are all of you here?" Sarah Jane said.

"Just…be quiet, Sarah and come with me into the TARDIS. I need to explain something because the last time you saw her, she didn't act like she did when we were dating."

All of them started to head into the TARDIS when they heard the door bang behind them. They turned and saw that Valotte had flung it open and was stomping towards them. The Doctor got in front of everyone and Alan came to the front which made Valotte do a double take.

"What? What's this? Some kind of sick joke?" she said, pointing to him.

"No, this is my brother, Alan. My clone brother which means he has all my memories including the memories of me and you."

"Hello Valotte," Alan said coldly.

"You… have a clone. What? Is your ego so big that you had to go make another you to contain it?"

The Doctor raised his eyebrow as a look passed between the women.

"Now see, this is what I'm on about. You are a very disrespectful and hateful woman when you get angry, Valotte," the Doctor said. "And I got fed up with your constant abuse every time something didn't go your way."

"And I suppose Rain doesn't get fed up with you either," Valotte spat out.

The women giggled when the Doctor raised his eyebrow and looked over his shoulder at his wife.

"Gee, I don't know, you never say if you do or not," he said in amusement.

"Um…well…sometimes you do leave your clothes scattered around the floor for me to trip over, but that's a very minor complaint," she said. "But even though that is annoying at times, I don't go up to my husband's face and say some cutting, caustic remark like the one that just came out of your mouth. My husband's been alive for over 1200 years now and there are certain habits that he has that won't change. And I'm not gonna make him change them because that would be controlling someone and molding him to the way I would like him to be instead of just loving and celebrating him as he is. Maybe that's what he means when he says we get along better than you and he did."

Rain couldn't help but smile when she felt the Doctor telepathically kiss her mind a couple of times for that. The Doctor noticed that Valotte's anger was increasing and both he and Alan neared closer to one another blocking Rain from any direct assault. Behind Rain, the other women and Luke gathered around her, sensing the same thing when they saw her violet eyes darken.

_Sarah, Rain, Luke, Te'lesu, get in the TARDIS and close the door. Let Alan and I handle this,_ he thought to them.

Valotte noticed everyone except the brothers slowly backing up towards the TARDISes. Valotte tried to get around the Doctor to Rain but he stepped in front of her, his eyes flashing a warning. Valotte watched as Rose opened the doors of the Valeyard's TARDIS and they all got inside it.

"Coward," she muttered to Rain as they closed the doors.

"Actually, I told them to do that for their own safety," the Doctor said to her.

"Oh really? Well that's too bad because you should be worried about your own safety now, _Sweetie_!"

The Doctor grunted when she landed her fist on his cheek. Alan roared out his anger and rushed her, toppling onto her as she struggled to get past him to the Doctor who was rubbing his cheek and advancing towards him with fire in his eyes.

Then suddenly, he heard a sound that chilled him to the bone. Alan let out a pained grunt as a gunshot went off.

"Brother!" the Doctor said as Valotte pushed him off her body and leapt up holding a gun in his face. He checked him and noticed the bullet had entered his left side just below his ribcage. The Doctor noticed the TARDIS door starting to open.

"No! Stay inside!" he yelled to them.

He watched helplessly as Alan lay on his right side clutching the wound while he glared up at his attacker.

"Come with me, you and your bitch wife, and I won't shoot him in the hearts," Valotte said.

The Doctor held up his hands.

"I'll come, but not Rain, leave her alone, please. This is just between you and me," he said.

"No, it's you and her together or he dies permanently," Valotte said, keeping the gun aimed at the Doctor's hearts.

"No, Valotte, don't do this. We can work this out without violence."

"I'm waitiiiiiiiiiiiiing!" Valotte said in a sing-song voice.

The Doctor's blood chilled when he heard the door open behind him.

"I'm here, let him live," Rain said, closing the door.

The Doctor closed his eyes in anguish for a moment. He opened them and watched as Rain went to Alan and knelt down beside him.

"Oh, Bro," she said, laying her hand on the side of his head.

A look of pure hate was leveled at Valotte.

"I will come but I want to take him to the med bay first and heal this wound. I want to make sure my brother is safe before I go with you," Rain said.

Valotte looked at her for a moment and then nodded.

"Very well, but I'm going with you and this better not be a trick."

"Trust me, it isn't," the Doctor snarled as he knelt down beside Alan.

Both of them helped him to stand. Alan groaned as he got to his feet and he put his hand under the wound, catching the dripping blood as he staggered to the TARDIS. The door came open and Rose rushed over, cupping his face, her hearts in anguish as he walked slowly. She got behind him, covering his back with her body while Valotte followed him. As they walked inside the Valeyard's TARDIS, Alan managed a pained smile for everyone before groaning from the strain of walking to the med bay. The TARDIS, sensing her beloved's pain and distress, moved the med bay door directly to the back door and the other women and Luke went into it as Alan was slowly led to the bed in the center of the room. Julie quickly put a fresh sheet over it to catch the blood and the Doctor, Rain and Rose slowly helped him lie down, wincing with every groan and pained face he made. The Doctor glanced at Valotte and seethed when he saw the total lack of concern on her face while she kept the gun trained on them. Rose kissed her husband's forehead as he tried some deep breathing in order to get through the pain. Both she and Rain checked his body for signs of any glowing but so far, to both their relief, there was none.

"Oh Alan, my darling," Rose murmured as she stroked his cheek.

Alan looked up at her and gave her a reassuring smile. His eyes darted over to Rain who had unshed tears in her eyes and he winked at her and held his clean hand out to her. Rain took it and he gave it a squeeze before holding it tightly.

_This is all my fault, I shouldn't have been so flippant with her,_ Rain thought to Alan.

_No, Te'lesu, she had it in for you the moment she found out you were married to Brother. It wouldn't have made a bit of difference what you said or didn't say. The woman's a nutter,_ he thought back while he kept his eyes on the ceiling.

_God, I can't tell you how badly I wanna pound this bitch's face in for doing this to you,_ Rain thought.

Alan smiled.

_I thought you'd enjoy seeing me in pain, Snotbag,_ he thought fondly.

_Nope, no one but me can abuse you, Bro. All others who do it must die,_ Rain thought while Alan gave her hand another squeeze.

Alan glanced at his wife who was now standing behind his head, stroking his cheek with the back of her fingers.

_Don't regenerate on me, Alan, ya hear me?_ she thought to him.

_Are you kidding? I enjoy this body, I'm not about to lose it,_ he thought back.

Rose bent over and kissed his forehead and Alan let out a contented sigh.

Meanwhile, while Luke and the other women watched Valotte closely, the Doctor pretended to rummage through a drawer for the tissue rejuvenator. It was at the front of the drawer in plain sight but the Doctor was secretly communicating with the TARDIS, telling her to throw up an invisible square force field around Valotte so she'd be contained.

_I will, Beloved, it's done now, she's contained,_ the TARDIS thought to him.

_Thank you, TARDIS, all that matters to me is my family's safety,_ he thought back before grabbing the rejuvenator and closing the drawer.

He walked back over to Alan and moved in front of Valotte.

"Thank God you have that," Alan groaned as he took the tiny box and held it over the wound.

"Yes, I'm glad we thought of building it a year ago," he replied as he turned it on.

_I'm glad the children aren't here to see this,_ he thought to Alan as he worked. _Especially Lizzy._

_Sod Lizzy, what about Tara? That bitch would have filled her full of lead because your daughter would have jumped right on top of her and started punching her senseless the moment the bullet entered me,_ Alan thought back.

Alan's pained breathing evened out when the bullet popped out of the wound and it began to close as the tissue and organs inside him were repaired. Rose gave him a kiss on the lips and he squeezed Rain's hand when he saw a tear of joy streak down her cheek. Once the job was done, Alan breathed a sigh of relief and sat up with Rose and Rain's help.

"Can you walk to the shower, Love?" Rose asked him.

"I think so, Starlight. I'm better now, just a little residual pain that's going away now," he said to her.

His family gathered around him and started to escort him out.

"Wait, not you and Rain, you stay here!" Valotte ordered.

The Doctor thought to his family, telling them what the TARDIS had done and they all walked right past her.

"I said, get back here or I shoot him again! Or maybe I'll shoot Rain next and make sure it's through the hearts so she can't come back!" Valotte said.

The Doctor stopped at the med bay door as everyone went on.

"Try to come to me," he said to her. "Try to grab my arm, if you can."

Valotte stomped towards him and grunted when she ran smack into the invisible force field. She let out an angry yell as she ran her hand over it.

"Thanks for letting us bring Alan inside the TARDIS where she could contain you. I will be back shortly to determine what to do with you. I have to cool off first because right now all I can think of is doing to you what you did to my brother. Now if you'll excuse me, I need a cup of tea to calm myself."

He turned and ignored Valotte who was screaming at him to come back or he'd regret it. Then as he got halfway down the corridor he heard another loud bang coming from the med bay and he froze as horror washed over his face.

"DOCTOR!" Rain screamed from somewhere down another corridor.

"No, I'm okay! I'm alright, Latara, but…"

He didn't finish as he spun around and ran back to the med bay. He reached the door and froze when he saw Valotte on the floor of her prison, her dead eyes staring blankly at him as blood poured from the bullet wound in the left side of her temple.

"No!" the Doctor said.

The TARDIS took down the barrier and he fell to his knees, horrified at what his ex-girlfriend had done.

"Oh God!"

He looked around and saw Rain standing in the doorway, staring at the corpse in a stunned silence.

"She couldn't have me so she chose to end it all," the Doctor said softly.

"Oh, Thete," Rain said, coming into the room.

She knelt down beside him and embraced him. She laid her head on his shoulder and rocked with him as he stared numbly at Valotte's body. While he did that, the other women and Luke came into the room.

"I didn't do it, she did it to herself," the Doctor said. "I s'pose this was her final attempt to get back at me for spurning her one last time."

"God," Luke said, shaking his head.

Sarah Jane knelt down beside him and embraced him. The Doctor put his arm around her and held both her and his wife while a heavy silence fell over the room.


	354. Chapter 354

Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty Four

Alan was just about to get into the shower when he heard the bang.

"NO! Brother!" he screamed as he spun around and sprinted back towards the med bay.

By the time he got there, everyone was huddled around the Doctor, comforting him. Rain explained what had happened and Alan cursed under his breath as he sat down near Rain and put his hand on the Doctor's back.

"I have to prepare her and take her somewhere for cremation," the Doctor said.

"We'll help you," Rose said.

"Yeah, you need all the help you can get right now, "Awinita said gently.

Jenny came around to the Doctor's back side. She fell to her knees and put her hands on his back, lowering her head to his back as the Doctor sent love into her mind. The Doctor glanced at Alan who had managed to take his shirt off but nothing else. Dried blood ringed the area where the wound used to be and the Doctor sighed through his nose.

"Go ahead and bathe, Brother, everyone's safe now," he said to him.

"Not yet. I wanna help you prepare her body. I don't want you in there alone. She did this to make you feel guilty and I know that's what you'll do. You'll wanna go in there by yourself so you can torment yourself with guilty thoughts while you clean and prepare her and I'm not going to let you do that. She did this to herself, Brother. She's the one who pulled the trigger, not you."

The Doctor nodded as everyone murmured their agreement at that.

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After they carried her to the preparation room, everyone helped him prepare her before was wrapped up in a clean cloth that was tied with heavy rope. After that was done, they went outside to rest a moment before finding somewhere to cremate her. While they did that, the TARDIS had cleaned up the blood on the floor and the bed and disposed of the bloody sheet so everything was spotless when the Doctor and Rain passed by the room. He led his wife to the console room and slumped down against the back wall while Rain knelt beside him.

"Don't," she said gently. "Don't do it. I know you're about to do what Alan said you would do and I won't let you."

The Doctor thought for a moment and nodded.

"I just feel responsible. I should have taken the gun away from her before I asked the TARDIS…"

"No," Rain said firmly. "The way you did it was the correct way. If you'd tried to grab the gun from her hands it might have gone off and hit someone else. You had no way of knowing she'd do that, just please stop second guessing yourself, Love. She made the choice to end her life and she did it to herself, you did nothing to her."

She came closer and laid her head on his chest while he put his arm around her and nuzzled the top of her head with his cheek.

"The wedding isn't for another day and a half. Let's go somewhere tonight where we can be alone," Rain said to him. "Just you and me at some hotel and you can rest and recover from this, alright?"

The Doctor nodded and she kissed his face.

"You need to take a breather anyway, you family man, you," she said with a wink.

The Doctor managed a grin at that and rubbed her arm as she closed her eyes and let him stroke her mind.

"I hate what she did but at the same time, I'm relieved because I was terrified of what she might have done to you," he murmured to her. "I meant what I said about falling in love with you more deeply each day. I can't bear the thought of you being hurt or separated from me or killed. I don't think I would recover my sanity if you died in some horrible way."

"I won't, my love, I won't die. You won't let that happen. I'll grow old with you and regenerate and you'll go first…"

She thought.

"Then I'll…probably lose my sanity and asked to be cremated alive with your dead body like widows used to do in India which might hurt but if I knock myself out and just lie there like a lump while we burn…"

She grinned when the Doctor chuckled in spite of himself.

"Don't you dare hop on that pyre with me, Misses, or I'll make myself come back from the dead just to push you off it."

"You'll come back to life for that? In that case, I'll make a note to throw myself in the flames so you can live again."

The Doctor chuckled softly and kissed the top of her head. He held her close and leaned his head on hers while Rain remained silent and let him think. Then, after a few minutes, he looked at her.

"You really do trip over my clothes?" he asked.

She giggled.

"Not that often. You were asking if I had a gripe about you and that's the only one I could think of. Truthfully, I've gotten used to the way you do things and nothing you do bothers me. I just feel blessed that you chose me to be your lover and wife so I'm not about to nitpick every little thing you do."

"Well you snore," the Doctor said. "And you pick your bum at inopportune times and you make this clicking noise with your teeth when you're thinking and you hog all the covers at night and your hair blows into my face whenever we get in a strong breeze…"

"Okay, I'll sleep in another bed, tie my hands behind my back, wire my mouth shut, buy separate covers for myself and I'll cut my hair."

"No, you're not touching the hair. I never said cut it, I just said it blows in my face."

"What are you gonna do when it goes down past my feet and onto the floor? Especially since you don't like it if I put it in a bun."

"That's your problem, isn't it? Guess you'll have to think of a creative solution. Come to think of it so will all the women in our family. No one is to touch their hair, ever. I like long hair."

"Gee, I never would have guessed, Dear."

He chuckled and kissed the top of her head.

"But a nice night in a hotel sounds lovely. We'll tell everyone we're going after we get through with the cremation."

He sighed deeply.

"Another one. Seems like we've had a lot of cremations over the past year," he said. "I cremated the Master and that was it for awhile until now and now we just seem to be losing people left and right."

"Well, a lot of that was because we had to cremate all those body parts and that little girl Jasper had."

The Doctor rolled his eyes at that and muttered a curse under his breath. While they were sitting on the floor, Alan poked his head around the back door.

"Slip and fall on the wet floor?" he said.

"No, we're just sitting here so the Doctor can compose himself."

"Brother, I told you not to start beating yourself up over her death," Alan said as he came into the room and walked over to them.

"I'm not doing it now. Rain talked me out of it. But after this gets sorted out, we're going to go spend a night at a hotel somewhere so we can have some private time. Then we'll be back for the wedding."

"Good idea, you need it," Alan said, slumping down beside Rain.

"How are you feeling?" Rain said.

"What do you care, Douchebag?"

He giggled when Rain swatted the back of his head and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Muchly better, thanks. I'm healed completely which Rose is mighty glad of. I might take a leaf from your book and take her to a hotel too. I think she's shaken up by what happened."

"Yeah, I'd imagine so," Rain said.

"And the moment the rest of the clan hears about this, they'll be crowding around me, suffocating me with their love and gifts of chocolate."

"Yeah, you poor thing," Rain said dryly while the Doctor snickered.

"Yes, it'll be rough. All those people supporting me, how to fend them off? I guess I should just give in and let the kisses flow. But enough about me and my upcoming pampering. How about you lot?"

He pinched Rain's cheek when she rolled her eyes.

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The Doctor sighed as he leaned up against the TARDIS door. The others were off chopping wood for the funeral pyre. The Doctor wanted to help them but they insisted that he rest while they did it. He glanced up at the night sky and the twin moons overhead. He was getting tired of this. Tired of cremating people. Valotte had her problems and he knew it was better to stay far away from her, but he never wished for her to kill herself and it hurt him knowing that she chose death over a life without him. The fact that she did it out of spite made him even angrier. Life was precious and to throw it away just so you could make someone else feel guilty for the rest of their life was selfish and stupid. He thought about her and their disastrous relationship. Up until Rose, he never had much luck with relationships. All of the ones he dated and married ended up abusive or controlling and it always ended badly. Rose was the first lover who didn't degrade him and yell at him about his choice of lifestyle. He had hoped after her and Rain that the past was truly in the past but just like the Daleks, it always came back to haunt him from time to time.

"We're done, Love."

He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard Rain's voice and saw her standing beside him gazing at him with concern. He gave her a loving smiled and took her hand. The body had been laid on top of the pyre and the others let the Doctor say his eulogy before they handed him the torch. With heavy hearts, the Doctor lit the wood and feeling like he was experiencing déjà vu, threw the torch on top and stepped back with his family to watch it burn.


	355. Chapter 355

Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty Five

John looked around.

"Look, if somehow we've crossed each other's timelines…" he began.

"I don't think we have. Your daughter claims that you're from another universe."

John nodded.

"Which was going to be my next logical guess and I believe that's the right one," he said, walking over to them.

"My other daddy and Alan and me met your second life and daddy and we met your sixth life in different universes," Tara said.

"Blimey, you've been busy, haven't you?" John said.

"I'm sorry but what is this about? She's Gallifreyan and she's your daughter but she hasn't been loomed?"

"No, she hasn't. She was changed into a Time Lady along with me and everyone else."

"You? You're me," Eight said. "Why did you need to change?"

"Well, it's a long, complicated story. I'm not the original Doctor in my universe, I'm a clone of him. The original one turned and became the Valeyard and I took over from him after he was incarcerated."

Eight staggered back slightly upon hearing the Valeyard's name.

"Are you okay?" Tara asked.

"Yes, it's just that I never thought I'd hear that name again," he said. "And hearing that your Doctor actually became him…"

He shook his head.

"Sorry, I don't even wanna contemplate that," he said. "So…you're stuck here on Amanthia?"

"Yes, I was taking a short break from my repairs and came to check up on my family to make sure they're alright. So…this truly is Amanthia."

Eight nodded. John looked around.

"The Daleks haven't attacked yet, I suppose," he said.

"No, we just got intelligence that suggested this was their next target. It is, isn't it?"

John nodded.

"Blast and I don't have enough men to hold them off. I'm down to my last hundred men and more and more are dying every day. I can't find anyone to take their place and the Daleks are growing stronger every day."

He thought for a moment.

"We lose, don't we?" he finally said to John.

He nodded when John remained silent.

"You don't wanna say but I can guess the outcome nevertheless. This war is unwinnable. Everytime we score a victory, the Daleks go back in time and try to change the outcome of it which means we have to go to go back to try to stop them and on and on. No one can win this as long as we keep going back in time to undermine each other. But there is an ending to it finally, yes?"

"Yes," John said quietly.

Simon, who was by now confused, glanced up at his father. He smiled and laid a hand on his shoulder.

_I'll explain all this later, Son,_ he thought to him.

Eight turned and put his hands behind his back as he scanned the horizon. The other four watched while he lost himself in quiet contemplation for a moment before he turned back and walked past them.

"Come and show me where your TARDIS is, at least I'll be able to succeed at fixing her."

John and Rose glanced at each other. John put an arm around his wife when he saw the sorrowful look on her face and both of them led Eight and the children back to the TARDIS.

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"I see you've changed the interior again," Eight said when he entered the console room. "I actually like it. It's more organic looking than mine is."

"Yeah, yours was a bit too Jules Vernish for my tastes, no offense," John said, leading him to the console.

"None taken. I'm a huge fan of Jules Verne. The man was a genius. He envisioned so many things that turned out to be correct. He was a visionary. But enough about him, show me the problem, old man."

"I'm not old. I'm barely a year old now. It's you I should be calling old man," John said with a smile.

Eight chuckled.

"I forgot you're a clone. If this is a part of my future, it sounds like I'm in for an exciting time."

John was silent about that, thinking about what was going to happen to him in the near future and the consequences that would come from that. He and Eight lay down under the console and Alternate Rose took the children into the other room so they could work in peace.

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After awhile, Tara walked out of the living room and left Alternate Rose and Simon there to watch TV while she went exploring. She walked down a couple of corridors and found the library. She peeked inside and didn't see anyone. She stepped in and glanced around. She had been in her other father's library before and John's was similar to it with the long wooden tables and chairs, the little tiffany lamps spaced at intervals on top of it. The rows and rows of bookcases with dusty leather-bound books and the paintings on the wall that the Doctor once explained were some key moments in history. There was Washington crossing the Delaware, the Battle of Waterloo, Caesar crossing the Rubicon, King John signing the Magna Carta, Lee surrendering to Grant at Appomattox Court House and an Andromedan named Titus defeating Maxon the Fifth at the Battle of Crystal Waters on Grantia. That one the Doctor spent the most time on when he explained it to her. Tara quickly grew to love the room. The dark walls and colored light from the stained glass shades on the Tiffany lamps made the place seem comfortable and cozy to her even though it was the size of a football field. The Doctor led her to some books he thought she would like to read, some first editions of children's classics and once she promised to treat them with careful respect, he left her to them and she eagerly devoured them since the cult members never taught her to read. Once she began to read them and the Doctor found out how much she loved the books, he cleared out a special bookcase just for her and put the books in them so she could select what she wanted without having to search for them. She walked over to the bookcase he had designated hers in his TARDIS and found dusty law books. She did remember the location of a few of the books before the Doctor moved them and she walked several bookcases down and found The Secret Garden. She had read it once but it was one of her favorite books and she figured she could spend a couple of hours reading it again. She pulled out the old leather bound book, carried it to a nearby table and sat down.

An hour passed and Tara was now lost in the book and unaware of the time. She was so engrossed in it that she didn't realize that someone had sat down next to her until she sensed him leaning over to look at what she was reading. She glanced up and saw Eight smiling at her warmly, his blue eyes sparkling.

"Secret Garden is brilliant. One of my favorites," he said.

"Mine too. I'd never read it before I started traveling with my first daddy. I grew up enslaved by these Satanists and they never taught me to read. This lady at this school on our homeworld made me look into a machine and it crammed all this stuff I should have been taught into my brain and I was instantly able to read after that. So Daddy took some of his children's books and made a space for me in one of his bookcases so I could come in here and read whenever I wanted to. My other daddy did, not John."

She paused but the Eighth Doctor only smiled and nodded in reply so she went on talking.

"My other Daddy and I have been together for about a year. I met John a couple of weeks ago but he was lonely and needed someone so I asked to be his daughter and the Doctor agreed so I travel with him most of the time and John takes me for trips. This was one of those trips. Simon stays with him all the time though. John's his only dad."

"Sounds like a peculiar arrangement," Eight said. "But I love that you had room in your hearts for two sets of families."

"I never had anybody growing up. My mom was taken from India when I was inside her and they killed her after she had me…as a sacrifice."

Tara glanced at Eight and saw anger flashing in his eyes before he gave her a sympathetic smile.

"I'm glad I found you then. You seem like a nice girl. Having said that, I didn't seek you out. We're nearly done with the repairs and both me and your father are taking a break. I love to come to the library to relax so I came in here and there you were."

"The Doctor does that too. He likes his library," Tara said. "It's a lot like this one. I like it too. It's nice and cozy."

"Yes, it is. You can spend hours in here and it only seems like a few minutes have passed," Eight said wistfully. "It's one of my refuges from the madness of my life. Out there I'm usually running from something. In here, I can stop and rest and just be."

"I understand that. Daddy's training me to be a Time Lady so I'll be ready when I'm twenty and I get my full Time Lady mind and I've run a lot with him but I like it when we have quiet moments too."

"You make him happy," it was a statement rather than a question.

"I make both my daddies happy. They pretend fight and argue about who will get me. John keeps threatening to kidnap me and take me far away so he can have me to himself."

Eight chuckled at that.

"I don't blame them. I think I'll have to stage a kidnapping of my own," he said with a wink.

"You're nice like they are. I liked the second Doctor but the sixth Doctor was a jerk."

"Yes, I know," Eight said under his breath as he rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry you had the displeasure of meeting him. I pray that our timelines never cross because I think I'll run away screaming the moment I catch sight of him."

Tara giggled.

"Daddy Doctor snuck his Peri away into his TARDIS and showed her our family back on Nova. He didn't take Six because he didn't want him yelling at us telling us that he would never have a family."

"You have a large family then?"

"Oh God, yes. I have my daddy and mommy and brothers and sisters and aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents."

"Blimey and they're all a part of the Doctor's family?" Eight said.

"Yes and so is John and Rose and Simon. They're now a part of our family too."

"And…are any of them natural Gallifreyans besides your father?" Eight asked.

"Well, there's Dex, Daddy's son, but..."

Tara fell silent and Eight put a hand on her shoulder.

"I know I shouldn't ask but I have a feeling that dire things are about to happen to me so I figured it wouldn't hurt to know. The war, I feel, is unwinnable and there's nothing I can do to change it. Tell me, Tara, what happens? Whatever you tell me, I won't deviate from it. I know better than to mess with the timelines like that."

"Don't tell daddy I told you," Tara said.

"I won't, Tara, I promise. This is just between you and me," he said gently.

Tara put a bit of her hair behind her left ear before speaking.

"Um…I don't know a lot. I think my original mommy and Rose know more than I do. I just know that in the end, the Daleks got onto Gallifrey and were gonna invade and kill everyone and Daddy had to fry the planet to stop them and stop the war and he killed everyone except himself."

Eight closed his eyes in anguish.

"I thought as much," he said softly. "I imagined many scenarios that might happen to end the war and that was one of them. So I become the last Time Lord for awhile."

Tara nodded.

"I think you regenerate too when it happens, get hurt really bad and change," she said, thinking while she spoke. "You're in your ninth life when you meet Rose. You're really sad and angry and she helps you and…you fall in love with her kinda like you did with Grace."

He grinned.

"Grace was more of a passing fancy. I cared for her deeply but I'm not sure if I would have made her my lover or married her. I think this incarnation is a bit prone to romantic flights of fancy though."

"Well, if you think it's bad now, it gets worse for you because you fall head over heels in love with Rose," Tara said with a sly grin.

"Really? Well, she is beautiful, I must admit. I s'pose I'll have to wait till the Time War ends before I find out what's so special about her and fall head over heels in love with her. So Rose is with both versions of me then? You have two Roses for mummies?"

Tara shook her head. She briefly explained what she knew about what happened while Eight listened spellbound.

"Wow," he said when she was finished, "well, nice to know that all of this will have a happy ending eventually. It makes going through it worthwhile. I'm glad you found a happy ending as well. I have no love for those who enslave and torture in the name of religion. I'm not against religion per say, I love a lot of the rituals involved with them and I love reading the religious texts but religious ideas can be twisted and used for evil purposes and I'm sorry you and your mother suffered because someone believed that torturing and killing for some demonic entity was perfectly acceptable. I'm glad you finally found a mum, well…two mums that love you and look after you. Never been much for family or domesticity but perhaps there's a time and a place for everything and one day I will crave that family atmosphere and marry this Rain, if she's here in this universe. Now I'm a bit curious and feel like looking for her to see if she's here. Do you know where she came from?"

"Um…Arizona, she was Navajo so they lived on the reservation. Her dad's last name is Niyol so I'm guessing that was her name too."

"Rain Niyol, got it!"

Tara giggled.

"You're gonna go look for her now?" she said.

"Not yet. I'm not gonna expose her to the Time War and risk her dying. But someday…when I reach my tenth life, I'll seek her out. Although…knowing my luck, she'd be completely evil here."

"Nah, my mommy's sweet. You'll like her. Here…"

She reached into her pocket, pulled out a small pink wallet and found a photo of her, the Doctor and Rain. She showed it to him and he smiled.

"She's beautiful, I can see why my future self is so taken with her. I've always loved dark skin on humans. I think it flatters the human form better than ghostly white skin."

"Like yours?"

She giggled when Eight glanced down at his hand.

"Well, yeah, like me," he said.

He tousled her hair as she laughed harder.

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After they repaired the TARDIS, John and his family walked with Eight back over the hill.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay here for a bit? I can give you some battle strategies and..." John said.

Eight held up his hand.

"You gave me some advice and that's enough. You've already fought this war and I won't ask you to fight it again and as for strategies, well, you know me, I like to make it up as I go along."

John grinned and nodded. He gave him a hug.

"Good luck to you then."

"I wish you the same. Good luck with your new life and family."

He hugged Rose, Simon and then when it was Tara's turn, he bent over and kissed her cheek.

"I enjoyed our little talk in the library," he whispered in her ear. "Thank you for giving me hope about the future. I think that's what I'll hang on to after everything else is lost because I know that one day I'll be surrounded by family and friends and love."

"I'm glad," Tara whispered back.

She kissed his cheek and everyone waved at him. Eight waved back, leaned back against his TARDIS and watched them go back over the hill before he went back inside his TARDIS to rest.


	356. Chapter 356

Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty Six

John opened the door of his TARDIS and peeked out. He smiled when he saw he was in the garage of his house.

Aha, the Doctor isn't the only one who can park TARDISes," he said proudly.

All of them came outside and he shut the door.

"John?" Alternate Rose said.

"Hmmm?"

He looked where she was pointing and saw a new hover-minivan sitting in the garage behind them.

"Oh bugger, I got it wrong, I s'pose," he said.

"No, this is ours," Alternate Rose said when she opened the door heading into the living room and checked the house.

"When did we buy a car?" John asked.

"Maybe Daddy got it for ya," Tara said.

John beamed. They walked over and examined it and saw an envelope resting on the driver's side seat. John opened the door, grabbed it and took out the note that was inside. Everyone gathered around while he read it aloud.

Dear John,

I took the liberty of buying you and your family a motor to use while you're here. Hope you don't mind people carriers. They're roomy and the one we own is nice. Just another welcoming gift from me to you.

The Doctor.

"Ah, bless him," John said.

_Tara, are you guys back home now?_ Madison thought to her.

_Yeah, we're in John's house,_ Tara thought. _We'll be over in a minute._

"Actually, don't wait for me Ya'mer'la. I need to go get our Donna and Jenny and Jack and bring them here for the wedding. If the Doctor's there, tell him I'll be back in a few minutes, yeah?"

"Okay, A'ner'ra."

"I'm coming too," Alternate Rose said to John.

"Son, do you wanna come with us?"

"No, I'll stay here."

John nodded. He kissed his children's cheeks. He winked when he kissed Tara.

"Don't get too comfortable here because soon I will spirit you away again," he said.

"Okay, A'ner'ra."

He grinned.

"I'm glad you thought of that. It's pleasant hearing I love you each time you say my name."

He gave them each one more kiss before he and Alternate Rose got back in the TARDIS. Tara and Simon waited till they were gone before they headed over to the Doctor's house.

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"There you are," Madison said when they came in the front door. "Did you have fun?"

"Yeah, we met Daddy's Eighth self when we crash-landed on this planet," Tara said. "Where's other Daddy so I can tell him?"

"He's gone, Sweetie. Him and your mom and Alan and Rose spent the night at hotels. They had a very rough day. Dot and LIzzy and Angel are with Jackie right now so I'm fixing pot roast, carrots and potatoes for supper."

"What happened to everyone?" Tara asked.

"An old girlfriend asked to see your daddy. She wanted to date him again and when he said no, she punched him and shot Alan in the side when he tried to protect him and then he threatened to kidnap your dad and mom. They lured her into Alan's TARDIS so they could heal him and his TARDIS caught her in a force field. The Doctor was going to take her to a mental institution for help but she shot herself in the head and killed herself. That's why they went to the hotel. So they could have some private time to recover from what happened."

Tara and Simon were horrified.

"Is…Uncle Alan okay?" she said.

"He's fine, Sweetie. The Doctor healed him completely with that tissue rejuvenator thing. There's not even a scar left."

Tara breathed a sigh of relief. She and Simon sat down on the sofa while Madison went back into the kitchen. She tried to watch TV but she kept mulling over what Madison had told them. Finally she searched for her uncle's mind and pulled it forward.

_Uncle Alan?_ She thought.

_Tara! You're back!_ Alan thought.

_Yeah, I am. Me and Simon are in the house watching TV while John and Rose went to get their Donna and Jenny and Jack. Aunt Maddie told me what happened to you and Daddy. Are you okay?_

Tara felt a wave of love sweep into her mind.

_Never better, Sweetie-pie. I recovered completely and Rose and I are just resting and relaxing in our hotel room._

_Everything's alright now, Star, don't worry._

_Daddy, are you gonna be okay?_

_Yup, I'm fine. Your mum and I are ready to leave actually. We'll see you in a minute, yeah?_

_Okay, Daddy. I'll be waiting for you, _Tara thought.

Ten minutes later, they heard the TARDIS materializing in the garage and Tara leapt off the sofa. She ran to the garage door, opened it up and stepped inside just as the Doctor and Rain were coming out.

"There she is!" the Doctor said happily as Tara ran to embrace him. "Blimey, I missed you. I'm used to turning around and seeing you behind me. Not to mention hearing your chirpy little voice. How was the holiday with your other dad?"

Tara took hold of their hands and explained what happened as they all went inside the house. The Doctor shook his head when she finished.

"Why is everyone suddenly finding different versions of me now? I s'pose we'll find another one soon. I just hope it's not my first life."

"Why?" Tara asked as the Doctor and Rain sat down beside Simon and said hello to him.

"Because my first life was a bit curmudgeonly and he'll be a lot like my sixth self with the I can't believe you're married and have children sort of thing. On the other hand, I'd get to see Susan again so it wouldn't be all bad."

"Your other granddaughter?" Tara said, sitting down beside him.

"Yup."

He looked at Rain.

"We'll have to start taking Amelia and Opal along just in case. I'd want my granddaughters to meet my other granddaughter," he said to her.

"If you can get them away from their father now that he likes to travel as much as you do."

The Doctor chuckled.

"Yes, funny thing about regeneration, sometimes the personality shifts can surprise you," he said. "But then again, he started traveling with me shortly before he changed and he probably got a taste for it then."

Madison came out into the living room and gave him a hug.

"I'm glad you're feeling better now."

"Yup, a night with the wife was just what I needed to lift my spirits. Is that roast I'm smelling?"

"Yup, pot roast, carrots and potatoes for supper."

"Oh, I wish you hadn't told me that, now my stomach will be growling from now until the moment its fed," he said to her. "Where are the small ones?"

"With Jackie and the dogs are out back by the pool. I figured I'd also have a little rest and quiet time while you guys were gone."

"Good idea, Te'lesu, get in all the rest time you can with this family."

"Hey!" Tara said while he snickered.

He patted her on the head and settled back into the sofa with Rain.

"Ah, nice and comfy," he said, closing his eyes as Rain rested her head on his shoulder. "I think I'll just sit here with my loved ones and doze right off…"

His eyes snapped open when there was a knock on the door.

"Or I can be bothered instead," he said as everyone laughed. "Come in!"

"Hey, Doc," Jack said, opening the door and coming inside, "sorry to bother you but I was listening in on the telepathic party line and I heard what you said. Just wanting to make sure the wedding was still a go for tomorrow."

"As far as I know it is," the Doctor said, shrugging. "John went to get the other members of his group and bring them back here for it. I have one question though. What time frame are we talking about for Kyoto? Do you want modern Kyoto or feudal Japan Kyoto?"

"Modern. Already went to feudal Kyoto with you once and that was enough for me."

"Oh yeah, right, we did go there, didn't we? Okey-dokey, then the last thing I need to do is ring the shrine and let em know we'll be there."

"Good because I can't wait," John said, sitting down in the chair.

He sniffed the air.

"Roast?"

"Yup, havin' it for dinner."

"Mmm, sounds good. We're having pizza again. We just got back and we're all too tired to cook. I think we keep the pizza shops in business on this planet."

Madison came out of the kitchen and handed him a little bowl filled with a small hunk of roast, some carrots and potatoes.

"You are wonderful, Maddie," Jack said, taking the fork from her other hand.

Madison kissed him on the top of the head and went back into the kitchen.

"Bless her, she's a wonderful cook," Jack said. "I wish we could cook as well as she can."

He tasted the meat and made an "Mmm" sound while he relished its flavor.

"I also wanted to tell you that all of us have been subtly convincing Martha and Mickey to take the plunge next and I think they will."

"What do you mean by subtle? Getting in their faces and screaming, "YOU WILL MARRY NEXT OR ELSE!" that kind of subtle?" the Doctor said.

Jack eyed him while everyone giggled.

"No, we didn't take a hammer and hit them on the head demanding they get married. I think they were thinking about it anyway and I know Donna's thinking the same."

"Do a double wedding next and get it over with," Rain said.

"Yes, let's just all get married at the same time so we don't have to spend credits or money on multiple weddings and receptions," the Doctor said. "Course after that we'll have to spend our energy on finding suitable mates for the others."

"Listen to you, ya little matchmaker," Jack said.

The Doctor grinned at that. Everyone looked at the garage door when they heard the wheezing of the TARDIS.

"And that'll be Brother or…my other Brother," the Doctor said.

Tara hopped off the sofa and ran to the door. She opened it and peeked around the corner.

"I don't think you'll be able to tell until they come out, Star. We all have the same phone box TARDIS," the Doctor called to her.

"And even then you won't be able to tell," Rain said while he snickered.

"Alan, quit!"

"Then again, maybe you will be able to tell," Rain added as the Doctor giggled.

Tara stepped back away from the door as Rose hurried into the living room.

"I swear, you are such an infant sometimes," she yelled over her shoulder.

"What? I'm only sharing bogeys with you," Alan said, coming inside.

He smiled at Tara.

"Nice to see you back, don't ever leave us. And now, EXCUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSE ME!"

Rose ran to the Doctor and put her arms around his neck as Alan waved his finger around and advanced towards her.

"You do and I'll get your brother after ya," she said. "Both brothers and the other one once he gets back here!"

"Oh, don't be such a baby, Timelord, take your bogey like a woman!"

Rose squealed, let go of the Doctor and ran past him when Alan dived for her face. Everyone laughed when he turned and pursued her.

"Quit it, ya infant!" Rose yelled.

"Infants don't know when to quit!"

"Exactly my point!" Rose yelled, running back towards the stairs.

"They also can't understand it when someone tells them to quit doing something which is why I'm still pursuing you with this bogey."

"Doctor, stop him!" Rose said.

The Doctor folded his hands in his lap and whistled which made Alan laugh with delight.

"He's on my side, Missy, prepare to be bogeyed," he said.

Rose tried to run past him but Alan grabbed her and ran his finger down her cheek.

"Ha, ha! You got a bogey on your faaaaaaaaace!" he said as he sprinted towards their bedroom.

Rose flipped him off as their door slammed.

"Wanker," Rose muttered under her breath as she ran her hand up and down her cheek.

"I take it the night has been an interesting one," the Doctor said to her as she plopped down in the chair across from Jack.

"That would be putting it mildly. The little git was determined to have fun and I think he scared several people in the process. I love him but the man needs an on/off switch sometimes, especially in public places."

"It's rude to talk about people behind their backs, you know," Alan said as he strolled out.

"Well, most of the time you are behind my back," Rose said, "so I s'pose it doesn't make a difference."

"And how dare you say I need an on/off switch. You need one when you start acting all prudish and mean, Misses."

"I am not prudish and mean, Mister!"

"Yes, you are, Girl."

"No, I'm not, Boy."

"Dog," Alan said with a grin.

"Cat," Rose countered.

"Horse."

"Cow."

"Budgie," the Doctor said.

Rose grinned.

"Moose," she said to the Doctor.

"Ocelot," the Doctor said to her.

"Dingo!" Alan said to Rose.

"Ferret," the Doctor said to Rose.

"Mongoose," Rain said to the Doctor.

"Thank you! At last, someone comes to my defense!" Rose said.

They giggled when they noticed Simon giving them odd looks and Rain put her arm around him.

"Just silly time for us," she said to him.

Simon grinned.

"Okay, beaver," he said to the Doctor.

The Doctor beamed at that.

"Mountain lion!" he said to Simon.

Jack was munching on a potato and shaking his head.

"And you guys think I'm weird," he said to them.

The Doctor watched him eat for a moment and looked at Madison.

"By the by, why has Harkness been given sustenance and not the rest of us?" he said.

"Because I was giving Harkness a sample since he's eating pizza later on."

"Screw the pizza, I'm staying here," Jack said.

He eyed the Doctor when he saw the look on his face.

"And no remarks about me saying screw the pizza either," he said while they laughed. "Cause I can tell that's what's about to fly out of your mouth."

"Bollocks," the Doctor muttered. "I was about to have a field day with that."

Jack glared at him as he winked.


	357. Chapter 357

Before we begin this next chapter, Alan has something he'd like to say to all his fans.

There is a stark white room with nothing in it. Alan strolls into view, stops in the center of it and stares at the people reading this fanfiction. Then suddenly, he spins around so his back is to everyone, bends down and points to his ass.

"I have a butt," he says.

Whistling, he straightens up and walks away.

Okay, that was it, now back to the story.

Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty Seven

By the time John and Alternate Rose reached the Doctor's house, the other children were home and everyone was eating supper in the living room. The Doctor stood up when John and his wife came through the door.

"There you are. Thank you for returning my property to me."

Alternate Rose laughed at the shocked look on John's face.

"Your property? I believe she's my property," he said after he recovered.

"She most certainly is not. I saw her first!" the Doctor said as Tara giggled.

"So? She gave me a whole new name so that means she loves me more than you!" John said smugly.

"She did? She didn't tell me that. What name did she give you?"

"A'ner'ra."

Tara grabbed a pillow beside her and put it over her face as the Doctor spun around in shock. Everyone laughed as he walked over to her with feigned anger.

"So let me get this straight, STAR, every time you say his name he gets to hear I love you while I just get to be called Daddy, is that correct?"

"Yes," she said into the pillow.

"What do you call Rose now?"

"Um…" she said into the pillow, "Amo'mya?"

"So you call Rose beloved mother, but Rain just gets to hear mother?" he said as everyone laughed. "We took you in, gave you food, brought you up and this is how you repay us?"

"Sorry," Tara said into the pillow as everyone laughed.

"And you, Homewrecker," he said, spinning on his heel and facing John, "I s'pose you have a name for her now too."

John stuck his chin out.

"Yes, I call her Ya'mer'la, that okay with you?"

"No, since you took my idea and expanded it!" the Doctor said as everyone laughed harder. "I'm the one who calls her Star. I'm the one that actually named the ungrateful waif and you just steal my nickname and make it better. That's it; I'll see you in court and sue you for custody!"

"Fine, I'll bring the best barrister money can buy and sue you back!" John said.

"Fine!"

"Fine!" John said, spinning around and stomping off.

"Wait!" Rain said, "I have an idea! Share!"

John paused as everyone snickered and pretended to think that over.

"Should I share? After all, she seems to like me more now," he said aloud.

"Aw, go ahead and share," Jack said, "what'dya got to lose?"

"My daughter!" The Doctor and John said in unison.

Both of them bent over laughing at that as everyone else laughed harder.

"Wow, that was eerie, I guess I am your clone even if I came from another universe," John said when they both composed themselves. "But anyway, it's great to see ya all. Great to be back and that roast looks delicious. D'ya mind if the misses and I…"

"No, help yourself," Madison said.

"Thank you. Our Jack, Jenny and Donna are here. They just decided to be anti-social and stay at our house for a bit. Enjoying the fact that they have a house here now, I suspect. But anyway, come on Rose; let's get some roast and potatoes before they're all gone!"

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After they finished eating, the Doctor and John went out and sat in the deck chairs by the pool while everyone else stayed inside and chatted. The dogs were outside with them and the Doctor lazily scratched Blizzard's ears while she sat beside him. While he did that, he filled John in on what had happened with Valotte. When he finished, John shook his head.

"I have to admit I never dated a Valotte, but that's tragic what happened. I'm sorry you had to witness her killing herself, Brother," he said.

"Yeah, I only hope she's at peace now," he said. "How about Lorelei, did you know her?"

"Yeah, I did, from the academy?"

The Doctor nodded.

"Yes, I knew her."

"I told Rain about her but she's the only one. I took her into the simulation chamber and showed her my memories of the Master because I wanted her to know about him and I also needed a fresh perspective which she did give me when we were finished."

"She must mean a lot to you for you to open up to her like that," John said. "I love Rose but I'm not sure I'm ready to share that part of my life with her."

"I just find it so easy to talk to her. I s'pose it's because when I was first sent to kill Alan and Rose and I was in disguise, she was the first one to talk to me and she was the friendliest one not to mention she kept my secret for awhile which told me that she was trustworthy. Then we became close and she helped me to heal and since she was so straightforward with me, I thought I should do the same with her, even more so after we were married. She's brilliant, John. The Rain you found is nice as well but I'm not sure if she's like my Rain in terms of loyalty and caring. I do care for Rose, but as a sister. I no longer have the same kinds of feelings that I do for my wife. Perhaps she was meant to be here to help me and that's why I opened up to her like that so she could finally help me break free of the demons in my past. I've helped her in return. She's had about as bad a childhood as Tara had. Her mother died in childbirth, her sister, Amber, used to verbally abuse her because she was angry at her mother dying, everyone teased and picked on her and called her ugly and worthless. I was actually her first. I met her just last year and no one had ever slept with her before."

"You're kidding me, she's beautiful. I mean…oh, humans. Sometimes they can be so thick."

The Doctor nodded.

"In a way I'm glad though. I'm glad I've been her first and only, that makes her even more special in my eyes and that's why I try to be protective of her. Tara as well. I love all my children but her…I hate to admit it but she's my favorite, just because of the way she acts and how giving and caring she is."

"If she's your favorite, she's mine as well, mate. Why do you think I keep on teasing you about taking her away from you?" he said. "I've never met a human child like her. I think it's because she never had love that she's so willing to give it away."

The Doctor nodded.

"My thought as well. I'm so proud of her and I know you are too. She's gonna grow up to be one hell of a Time Lady."

John grinned and nodded.

"Actually I also wanted to tell you something else," he said.

"Yes?"

"Rose and I've been thinking and we've decided to base ourselves in this universe and go into our original one from here. We both missed Tara and hated being separated from her, especially since we couldn't feel her mind and know for sure if she was alright. We've grown deeply attached to her like you have and we can't bear to be a universe apart from her all the time."

The Doctor nodded.

"You're welcome here, Brother. You and your family and friends can stay here if you like. I'd love it and I know the others would as well."

"Thank you. I know part of the reason you stay here so often is so you can be there for Dot as she grows up and that's what we want to do for Tara. We don't want to be strangers who pop in and out occasionally. We want to get to know her as deeply as you do and let her know that we're a large part of her life as you are."

"I'm glad you feel that way. I know Tara will be thrilled if you stay here for the majority of the time."

"Also Simon wants to be here. He loved playing with the other children and we'd rather he grew up with them than be alone with us all the time. He had to learn to be an adult early on in his life. He needs to be a kid now."

The Doctor nodded.

"That's why I thought It'd be good for Bala and Toby to stay here for awhile, so they could have a chance to be kids. What about your Dex though?"

"He's going to stay in the other universe and visit occasionally. He's trying to bond with Amelia and Caroline since they have to get used to his new personality and he's going to teach them reading, writing, maths and everything they didn't learn. Plus, he doesn't want anyone to get confused with two Dexs and two Amelias running around. "

"And yes, three Doctors, two Roses, two Jennys, two Jacks and two Donnas is perfectly fine," the Doctor said.

"Jack will stay with his Torchwood for most of the time."

"Good, I don't think the universe could handle two Jack Harknesses in it," the Doctor said.

"Donna and Jenny will stay here but our Rain and Teresa are looking for a house at the moment until they can get used to time travel. But they are coming for the wedding. I'm picking them up in the morning. Also, Jenny said she wants everyone to call her Jen or Jennifer to avoid confusion with your Jenny and Rose has agreed to let everyone call her Rosie for the same reason. Donna…we haven't figured out something suitable for her yet. I suggested Don, but she didn't like that and I suggested Donny but that earned me a scathing look. There's not much you can do with Donna."

The Doctor thought about it and a grin spread over his face.

"Could call her Donnalita Margarita," he said.

John chuckled.

"I'll ask her but I have feeling she'll say no," he said.

"Well, if she's anything like our Donna, you could call her the Snog Machine," the Doctor said.

"Or the Love Bite Monster?" John added.

"Exactly," the Doctor said," like I said, don't go looking for your universe's Lee or you'll regret it."

"I don't see that happening. Our Donna fancies Jack, believe it or not."

"So did our Donna until we convinced her he'd break her hearts. Isn't your Jack dating Ianto?"

"I think so but you know Jack, that won't stop him."

"Speaking of him, what does he want to be called?"

"I think just Jack. He won't live here permanently so there's no need to think up something for him."

"Dot, no!"

They looked over towards the patio door and saw Dorothy opening it.

"Dot, get in here! They're trying to talk in private," Madison said, walking over to her side.

"It's alright, Maddie. She can come and sit with us," the Doctor said. "We're just rabbiting on out here. She'll be fine."

"Be good out there," Madison said to Dorothy. "Go out and sit and I'll bring you your food."

The men smiled when Dorothy walked out to them. She froze when she reached the Doctor's side and looked from one to the other.

"Daddy?" she said, frowning.

"Right here," the Doctor said, urging her onto his lap.

"I better start wearing the blue suit," John said. "Poor child. She keeps seeing double and now triple."

Madison brought her plate and cup out to her.

"Dot, sit beside Daddy," she said.

"She's fine. I made her sit here."

Madison nodded. The Doctor took her cup of milk while Madison sat the plate with the roast, potatoes and carrots on her lap. Dorothy began to pick through it with her fingers and ate while the Doctor and John resumed their conversation.

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The next morning, the Doctor woke bright and early. His wife was still asleep in their bed. He gently kissed her cheek and gazed at her lovingly while she slept before he quietly walked down to the garage. He got in the TARDIS and took it to Kyoto in the twenty first century so he could make arrangements and pay for the wedding. Once he was finished, he headed back into the vortex. As he was flying, he suddenly had a silly thought about a way he could make his children smile. He asked the TARDIS to make him a tie and described what he wanted on it. The TARDIS rumbled out laughter before doing as he requested. The Doctor thanked her, took off the solid black tie he was wearing and put it on. He left his jacket unbuttoned so they'd be sure to see it and then he set a course for Nova.

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"Mommy, what should I wear today?" Tara said, coming into her parent's bedroom.

Rain was awake and dressed. She had on a satin black dress with black heels.

"Wear your sari, Honey, you look pretty in that," she said.

"Okay. You look beautiful, Mommy."

"Thank you, Sweetie."

They heard a faint wheezing.

"Your father's back now," Rain said.

Tara went out of the bedroom and ran down the stairs.

"Mornin' Daddy," she said as he opened the garage door.

"Good morning, Star," he said cheerfully. "It's a beautiful day today. Perfect for a wedding. I just hope this is the start of more weddings to come and…"

He paused a moment and chuckled when he noticed Tara wasn't listening to him. Instead, her attention was fixed on his tie. It was dark blue with little rubber ducks all over it. The rubber ducks were wearing pirate hats, eyepatches and a red and white striped waistcoat while they held a wooden sword under their left wing.

"Um…Daddy, what's with the tie?"

"I decided to be whimsical this morning and have a wacky tacky tie day. You don't like the pirate rubber duckies?"

"Yes, I do. They're cute," Tara said as she took the tie in her hands and examined them.

"Well, don't tell anyone else about it. I want to see if they notice," he said.

"Okay, Daddy."

She kissed him and hurried off to her room while the Doctor strolled into the kitchen for a cup of coffee. As he was pouring himself some, Rose came in.

"Morning, Doctor."

"Morning, Rose."

He deliberately turned to face her and sipped his coffee casually. Rose glanced at him, did a double take, and stared at the tie.

"Hmm, you're wearing that to the wedding then?" Rose said with a grin.

"I might. I wore it to amuse the children but I might wear it to the wedding so all eyes will be on me and now Jack," he said.

"Yeah, I bet you will," Rose replied.

He nudged her arm and chuckled as she reached into the cabinet for a cup. While she was doing that, Alan walked in, saw the tie and stared at it in an amused silence before going back out.

"Lizzy, Angel, come see what your wacky uncle's gone and done," they hear him say.

"What?" Rain said from the living room. "What's my husband done?"

She entered the room and the Doctor giggled when she raised her eyebrow and gazed at the tie.

"Yup, that's definitely you, Dear," she said as Alan brought his daughters in.

The Doctor bent over and let them examine it while they giggled.

"I'll go find Maddie and Dorothy," Rose said, walking out of the room.

She returned a few minutes later with them and Madison laughed as Dorothy squealed with delight and ran over to examine it with her cousins.

"Tara, come and see what your father's wearing," Rain yelled out the door.

"I saw it, Mommy!" Tara yelled back.

"She was the first one to see it," the Doctor said.

"Are you wearing it to the wedding?" Rain asked.

"I might. It'd go perfectly with your gorgeous dress," he said.

"Duckies, Daddy!" Dorothy squealed.

"Yes! Pirate Duckies!" he said.

He leaned back up when the children were finished looking at it.

"That's nifty, where'd you find it?" Alan asked.

"TARDIS made it for me," he said.

Alan thought for a moment before hurrying out the door.

"Ought-oh," Rose muttered.

He returned a few minutes later wearing a bright pink t-shirt. On the front of it was a large, wooly cartoon sheep. It had a straw hat on its head and was holding a wooden cane while it tapped danced.

"There, I'll wear this to complement your tie. We'll be a huge hit at the wedding," he said.

"Over my dead body, Alan!" Rose said as everyone laughed.


	358. Chapter 358

Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty Eight

After showing Tara the t-shirt, Alan went to put on something more suitable. The Doctor switched ties while everyone else finished dressing. He chose the black suit and maroon shirt Rain had made for him.

"Oh yes, I wholeheartedly approve," Rain said before kissing his cheek.

Alan chose his blue suit, white shirt and black tie while Rose wore her white dress. Both Elizabeth and Angel wore little white frilly dresses while Dorothy wore a red velvet and lace one. Madison put on a dark green satin dress and draped a white shawl around it.

The Doctor and Alan let out a low whistle when they saw everyone.

"All of you look absolutely gorgeous," the Doctor said.

He smiled at Tara who was wearing her red sari.

"And I'm glad you wore this," he said to her. "You look gorgeous in it."

He patted her shoulder when she blushed. He picked Dorothy up and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"And so do you," he said to her.

"Thank yoooooou," Dorothy said while he chuckled and gave her another kiss.

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After awhile there was a knock on the door and John's group came in, including their Rain and Teresa. They all froze when they saw Tara. She giggled when John's mouth fell open.

"Gorgeous, that's all I can say," he said as the Doctor's family laughed. "I had no idea you owned a sari but I'll have start buying you more of them."

He bent down with Rosie to admire the other children's dresses and gave them all hugs.

"You three clean up very well," he said. "You all look so beautiful."

He was wearing his brown suit. Rosie had on an aquamarine strapless dress, Jen had on a green strapless dress, Alternate Donna had on a long sleeved orange dress, Simon on a black suit with white shirt and black bow tie and Jack had on an identical suit except he had on a black tie. Teresa was wearing a white blouse and ankle length tan skirt and Alternate Rain was wearing a black blouse and knee length grey skirt.

"We actually have a surprise for Jack. It's in our TARDIS," John said. "We'll wait till we see him before we show him what it is. And our Dex and the kids couldn't make it, they're off on a dig site on Darius but he and Amelia and Caroline sent gifts and well wishes to them and to everyone here."

The Doctor nodded and slapped his hands together.

"Okay everyone, let's go get Jack and Ianto," he said.

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After everyone else from the houses gathered together in the street, they all walked over to the Torchwood house. They pounded on the front door when they reached it.

"Open up and face the mob!" Awinita said while everyone laughed.

The door opened a crack and Martha looked out.

"Is the mob looking for Frankenstein or the Bride of Frankenstein?" she asked.

"Depends, which one is the bride?" Nelak said.

"Not me," Jack said, opening the door wider.

He looked everyone over.

"Very nice," he said, nodding. "Is everything ready to go in old Kyoto?"

"Yup, made arrangements this morning. Wedding's at 3 p.m. We just need to go get Patty and Serena and Linus and go fetch Sarah Jane and the teens and we'll be off."

"Great. Come inside then if you call all fit."

They all filed inside and saw the rest of the team sitting in the living room. Ianto was sitting on the sofa with Gwen and Rhys.

"There's the bride!" Julie said, pointing to Ianto.

He rolled his eyes while everyone laughed. While they were doing that, the Doctor told everyone that he was going to go get Patty, Linus and Serena. He was going out the door when he noticed Tara was following him. He held out his hand and she took it as she closed the door.

"You're gonna make the housing development envious of your beauty," he said as they walked. "Then I'll get to brag that you're my daughter."

"I don't think I look that pretty."

The Doctor's eyes nearly fired out of his eye sockets.

"What? You're beautiful! I said so and so it's true," he said.

"Okay, if you say so."

"I do say so. Don't do what your mother did and think you're unattractive. If you were, I'd let you know by screaming and running away."

Tara giggled. They rounded the corner and came to Linus's house. They walked up the driveway and knocked on the door. Linus opened the door and smiled.

"Doctor."

"Linus, are you doing anything this afternoon?" he said.

"Not really, why?"

"Well…I have a friend that's marrying his partner in Kyoto and I was wondering if you'd like to come with us."

"Kyoto? Where's that?" Linus said.

"It's in Japan on Earth in the year 2009."

Linus gave him an odd look.

"I'm a time traveler, believe it or not. I have a time machine that takes me anywhere I want to go in time and space. I know I didn't mention this before but I was going to, trust me. But I'm going to go get my other friends, they want to come with us and I was wondering if you'd like to come as well since you're now our friend."

"But isn't this a personal thing? I mean…I really haven't known you for very long."

"Yes, but you're a friend now and we'd like you to come. Besides it'll allow you to get to know us better and vice versa. How 'bout it?"

He nodded.

"Okay, I just need to get ready."

"We'll be back around when we get Serena and Patty, that should give you plenty of time."

"Okay and thanks, Doctor."

"No, thank you," he said.

They walked away when Linus closed the door.

"Good, I wanted him to come along. I want him to be as close to us as Patty and Serena are," the Doctor said to Tara.

"Me too, Daddy."

They neared Sheeva's house.

"What about her?" Tara said, pointing.

"What about who, Star?"

"There's a lady that lives here named Sheeva. We met her the day we met Linus. She seems awfully nice. She's old and she lives alone."

"She does? Well, why didn't you say something?"

"Because we've been busy meeting the other yous," Tara said.

"Not all the time!" he said, trying to tickle her.

Tara squealed and ran a few feet away from him as he chuckled.

"We won't invite her today. We'll wait to invite her over and introduce her to everyone before we include her. I don't really want to knock on her door and throw her into the TARDIS the moment she opens it."

They walked on and got Patty and then walked across the road and through the woods to Serena's house.

"Oh God, that was today, I'm glad you told me. Wait a minute, I'll get ready," Serena said when they told her.

She fixed her hair and put on a white evening dress. She tried to convince Tobey to come with her but he declined. The Doctor sighed when she told them.

"I really wish he'd learn to trust us more," the Doctor said when they got out of earshot of the mansion. "I hate that he stays to himself all the time."

"I know and I tell him to come with me and have fun but I still think he's afraid something's going to happen," Serena replied.

"Well, maybe if we keep working on him, he'll come around," the Doctor said, winking.

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Meanwhile, while the Doctor and Tara were fetching their friends, Alternate Jack was leading Torchwood and the others back to John's TARDIS.

"This can't wait till after the wedding?" Jack asked his double.

"No, it really can't. Trust me guys, you'll be pleasantly surprised."

They went into John's home and John opened the TARDIS doors. The moment he did, Alternate Ianto stepped out and waved.

"Blimey, you weren't kidding when you said the Doctor had a large family," he said to Alternate Jack.

Alternate Gwen came out behind her followed by Alternate Mickey and Martha.

"Rhys didn't want to come," Alternate Gwen explained. "We're not livin' together in one big house like you lot are."

"Nice to meet you all…again," Jack said to the alternate team.

"But wait, there's more…guys! Come out!" Alternate Jack called.

Jack and his team gasped when Tosh and Owen stepped out. Gwen put her hand over her mouth and Martha squeezed her shoulder as Ianto fought to keep from crying. Both Alternate Tosh and Owen gave them sympathetic looks.

"Our Jack explained what happened with your Tosh and Owen," Alternate Owen said. "I'm so sorry that happened."

Jack swallowed hard. Saying nothing, he and the rest of his team came forward to hug them while the rest of Alternate Jack's team stepped back and watched in silence with the rest of the family.

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Once the Doctor returned with Patty, Serena and Linus. Alternate Jack introduced him to his team, including Tosh and Owen.

"I met you before, didn't I?" the Doctor said to Tosh. "In my universe there was a medical examiner that looked just like you. Alien pig?"

"Yup, that was me. I was working undercover for Torchwood. Owen was supposed to do it but he was sick that day," Tosh said.

"Well, nice to see you again," the Doctor said.

"So is everyone ready to go then?" Jack asked.

Everyone nodded.

"Very well then. Everyone inside my TARDIS and we'll hit the open road for Kyoto!"


	359. Chapter 359

Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty Nine

The Doctor landed the TARDIS near the Kamigamo-Jinja Shrine and everyone stepped outside into a bright sunny day.

"Cool!" Tara said as all of them went through the torii gate and up the shaded dirt path towards it.

Before they landed, the TARDIS gave both Jack and Ianto outfits similar to what the Doctor wore at his wedding. Jack was staring at Ianto's outfit with barely contained lust as they neared the shrine.

"Oh, this is definitely a keeper for you, Yan," he said.

Ianto noticed the smoldering look in his eyes.

"Jack, control yourself," he said sternly.

"Easier said than done with you looking like this," he said.

They entered the large courtyard and looked around.

"Oh, it's just like it was when we were here," Rain said to the Doctor.

"I know, it s brilliant, isn't it?"

Rain nodded and he kissed her on the lips.

"Ewww."

"Mind your own business, Ladybird," he said to Dorothy as everyone laughed.

The priest came up to them and bowed.

"Who is getting married?" the wizened old man asked.

They pointed to Jack and Ianto. The priest beckoned to them and they stepped forward while everyone else closed ranks behind them. Ianto took Jack's hand and Jack gave it a squeeze as they walked towards the well near the back of the shrine. Everyone gathered round and watched while the Shinto priest performed the ceremony, let them pour the water over each other's hands and gave them the cups of sake to drink out of. Tara, Amelia and Opal stared at the scene in confusion.

_Aren't they gonna say anything like do you take this man or something, Daddy?_ Tara finally thought to him.

_No, Star, it doesn t work like that in a Shinto ceremony,_ the Doctor thought back.

The priest concluded the ceremony with a blessing for both of them. Once he was done, Jack faced Ianto.

"This is a dream come true," he whispered.

"For me too, I figured you'd move on eventually and forget me someday."

"Forget you? Never," Jack said.

Everyone applauded and cheered when Jack leaned in and kissed his husband passionately on the lips. He lingered there for thirty seconds before they broke apart and smiled at everyone while they all gave them another round of applause.

"Boy, that was quick," Tara said. "Took a lot less time than other Daddy and Mommy's wedding."

"Yes, it's short, but sweet and to the point," the Doctor said. "But they are married. I know you're thinking of Christian weddings but this is just as valid as that. They are husband and...husband now."

"You better believe we are!" Jack said, coming up to him.

He gave the Doctor a big hug while Rain embraced Ianto.

"Congratulations, Ianto," Rain whispered to him.

"Thanks, it's been a long time coming," Ianto whispered back.

He bent down and hugged Tara.

"Yay! You're married now!" she said to him.

"I know and I m so happy," Ianto said.

Tara kissed his cheek and he kissed hers in return before he and Jack made the rounds receiving everyone's congratulations and well-wishes.

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After they got done with the hugs and kisses and congratulations, everyone walked over to the large reception hall. Jack laughed when the priests pointed out that Jack and Ianto had to sit on the stage overlooking everyone.

"Oho, now it's our turn!" Jack said.

"Do we have to?" Ianto whined.

"Yes, Yan, it's tradition. Now come on, my husband, let s go hold court!"

Everyone cheered and whistled as they climbed the steps to the stage.

"My people!" Jack bellowed when he reached the stage. "Hear me! I am your master. You will adore me!"

"Are they serving us eggs so we ll have something to throw at him?" Awinita said loudly.

"Or tomatoes!" Grace added.

"Silence peasants or I ll have you all beheaded!" Jack said as he and Ianto sat down behind a low table.

Everyone else sat at round wooden tables arranged neatly by the stage.

"Now!" Jack said. "I looked this ceremony up online in case the Doc didn't tell me everything about it. And according to the website I found, you must all leave us gifts of money and you must all make a speech and sing for us!"

"Oh bugger, he found it," the Doctor muttered to Rain.

"Sing? I'm not gonna sing for that bozo," Tara said as she sat between the Doctor and John.

"Okay!" Alan said as he pointed to Tara across from him. "She says she's not gonna sing for bozo. How many here are willing to sing for bozo? Raise your hands!"

Everyone laughed when no one did.

"You will sing for us if I have to come down there, pull you up here and move your mouths for you!So who's first with the speeches and singing?"

"Can we eat first, Jack? We're hungry," Donna said.

"Okay, fine. Eat but after that, you'll sing for us!"

"Yeah, whatever, Jack," Gwen muttered as they all got up and made their way to the tables filled with food.

Tara walked over with her parents, Alan and Rose and grabbed a plate, cup and cutlery wrapped in a napkin from the end of the table. She looked over everything, trying to decide what to have while everyone filled their plates.

"Need help, my treasure?" the Doctor said when he noticed her indecision.

She nodded and they stepped back and around the table. he pointed to everything and told her what it was while everyone else filled their plates. Once the line thinned out, the Doctor took her forward and she filled her plate and got some hot tea. He carried her tea back to the table and when she was seated, he went back to fill up his own plate. Tara noticed a tiny pair of wooden chopsticks bundled in with the cutlery when she opened the napkin. Rain showed her how to use them and then she finally ate something. She was slow and clumsy with them but when she noticed the Doctor using them, she saw he was using them like a pro. While she was watching him, she noticed movement out of the corner of her eye and turned to see Alan waving one of his chopsticks around in front of her face. He winked at her before he turned his attention back to his meal.

"What'd ya want?" Tara asked him.

Alan finished eating the octopus ball he had in his mouth.

"Not polite to stare," he said.

"Ah, shove it up your nose, Uncle Alan."

Rose made a face when he put the end of his chopstick up his right nostril.

"LIke this?" Alan said to Tara.

"Alan, that's disgusting," Rose said to him.

"Oh, I didn't use the tip of it, Starlight, calm down," he said.

Tara tried one of the octopus balls for herself.

"Mmm, it's pretty good," she said.

"Yes, ground up squid eyes has always been a favorite of mine," Alan said.

Rose glared at him when Tara made a face and lowered her chopsticks to her plate.

"Kidding, I'm kidding, it's just octopus meat, Tara, just keep on eating it."

"You must have your hands full with him," Rosie said.

"Oh I do, believe me," Rose repiled.

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After they ate, Jack stood up.

"Okay, fawning and yodeling time!"

"Can you make it so that only the ones who wanna do it can, otherwise we'll be here for hours," Donna said.

"Oh, alright. Well...anyone wanna say something?"

There was silence for a moment and then Alan stood up.

"Um...s'pose I'll be brave then," he said. "First, I'll say to you what I said to Brother and Rain, 'bout bloody time!"

Jack laughed when most of the guests murmured their agreement with that.

"I'm glad you finally did it so we actually have a married couple that doesn't have the Doctor or one of his clones in it. We have taken care of that for the moment unless we find more Doctors and clones and then we'll beat them over the heads and kick them back into their TARDISes so we don't have anymore Doctor, Rose, whoever, weddings. I just have to say how pleased I am that you've finally found someone to love, Jack, and he decided to become a Time Lord so you'll have him around for a very long time."

Jack grinned and kissed Ianto on the cheek.

"I wish you all the best in life and love and adopt some more kids because everyone knows if it's one thing we're lacking around here, it's children."

He eyed all the kids as they giggled and then raised his cup of tea.

"To the married couple, I salute you, cheers!"

"Cheers!" everyone said, raising their cups and drinking a swig of tea.

They all sat their cups down and stared at Alan in anticipation.

"What? Did I break wind or something? Oh! The singing part, of course!" he said as Rose smacked his ass. "Okey-dokey, um..."

There was a pause and suddenly Alan made a sound like a howling dog. Everyone stared at him in shock as he began to sing off-key in Italian to the surprised couple. They let him sing for a few minutes before Jack clapped his hands to get his attention.

"Hey! What in the world are you singing?" he said to Alan.

"For your information, I was singing you a selection from The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart."

"Yeah, thank you for that, Alan! Next!"

Everyone laughed when Alan flipped him off and sat back down.

"Bloody Harkness, doesn't know how to appreciate fine opera," Alan muttered as Rose gave him a sympathetic pat on the back.

"Anyone else?" Jack called out.

Alternate Jack stood up.

"Congratulations but you're making me look bad because now this puts pressure on me to wed my Ianto," he said. "Just wanted you to know that, bye!"

He was about to sit down and sighed when everyone yelled for him to sing.

"I wasn't making a speech per say, I was just registering a complaint, that doesn't count."

He shrugged when the cries for a song became louder.

"Okay, um..."

He began to sing words to an upbeat melody.

"Congratulations Jack, ya lucky fellow, you went and gone and married Ianto. I hope you are as happy as can be, cause damn it, now my Ianto will want to marry me! Thank you!"

Everyone laughed as he sat back down.

"I'm sorry I'm such a burden on you, Jack," Alternate Ianto said.

"Nah, only kidding, Yan," he said, giving him a playful punch in the arm.

"Anyone else?" Jack said.

"Well, gee, I don't know if anyone else could top that," John said, gesturing to Alternate Jack who was sitting with his Torchwood two tables over.

Everyone watched as Dorothy got down from her seat and walked to the Doctor's side.

"I love yooooooou, Jack," she said. "I love yooooooou, Ian-to!"

"Aw," Jack said. "Love ya too, Sweetie-pie!"

"Love ya, Honey," Ianto said.

Dorothy looked back at Madison who was two tables behind the Doctor.

"Honey, sing the Oscar Meyer song to them," she said.

Dorothy turned around and began to rock back and forth as she sang in a high-pitched voice.

"My Bony has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R, my bony has a second name, it's P-P-G-Q-X-N-W. I lovin' eatin' every day, if you ask me why, I saaaay, cause Oscar Meyer has a way of B-C-P-P-Q!"

Everyone applauded as she went and sat back down.

"That's it!" Jack said, standing up. "Child is ours now! We're adopting her! She's too cute not to have!"

"P'eh! Over my dead body, Jack! You get your own insufferably cute child! That one's mine!" the Doctor replied.

"Darn!" Jack said, sitting down while everyone else laughed."Who's next?"

Tara leaned over and whispered in the Doctor's ear. The Doctor snickered and nodded as they both stood up.

"You first?" the Doctor said to Tara.

She nodded.

"Jesus, you two really do everything together now, don't you?" Jack said while everyone laughed.

"There's a reason for that. Star, you first."

"Okay, Jack...you've been a great uncle to me and I love you and you've been a great friend to me, Ianto and I'm glad you're now my other uncle. I'm glad you got married because you deserve each other and I want you to be happy and stay together forever."

Everyone applauded. She looked at the Doctor.

"Your turn, Daddy."

"Okey-doke. Jack, when I first met you, I wanted to kill you with my bare hands!"

John, Alan and the Roses snickered while Jack eyed the Doctor. He grinned.

"But...once we got past the whole trying to con me into buying nanogene infested chula ambulances before blowing them up and leaving me empty handed thing, I actually grew to like you. You've become every bit the responsible, caring leader you were meant to be and I'm glad you finally made a commitment to someone else and settled down into married life. Welcome to the old ball and chain, mate, have fun!"

He looked at Ianto as everyone laughed.

"Ianto, the first time I met you we were sorta in the middle of a crisis and I really didn't have time to say hello. But I'm glad I did eventually get to know you and see what a first rate bloke you really are. You and Jack make the perfect couple and if anyone can put up with his shenanigans, it's you. You're just what he needs, someone level-headed that'll bring him back down to Earth and center him. So, having said that, I wish you both the best of luck! I love you both!"

Everyone applauded that. The Doctor glanced at Tara.

"Ready?"

"Ready!" she said.

Everyone laughed when both of them started singing Best of Both Worlds together while they danced around. They sang up to the chorus and sat back down again while everyone applauded.

"That wasn't bad. You two need to form a duet and go out on the road for money," Jack said. "Anyone else?"

Alternate Owen and Tosh stood up.

"Jack, Ianto," Owen said. "Once again, I'm really sorry about what happened to your Owen and Tosh and even though my Jack sometimes irritates me, there's always been a deep camraderie and love between us and I hope it was the same between you and your Owen."

"There was, believe me," Jack said.

"Good because Tosh and I are glad that you did this. We're glad that the three of you became closer after they died and took in Martha and Mickey and made a family again. I've heard about you lot becoming Time Lords and I'm not sure I'd go that far but I'm glad that you have taken steps to be together and even if, God forbid, something does happen to one of you, you have a way to regenerate and keep on being a team. So best of luck to you and to all of you and I'm glad to be here."

"And so am I," Tosh said. "I feel the same way as Owen and I wish you all the best of luck and we'll try to come and see you when we can since John and Rose will be staying in this universe for the majority of the time. We want to become close to you so in a way you can have your Tosh and Owen back with you again."

Jack and Ianto had tears in their eyes as they smiled and raised their cups in salute. Everyone did the same and took a large swig of tea.

"Now you lot really don't wanna hear us sing," Owen said while they laughed. "I am rubbish at singing, trust me. My Jack has heard me at quite a few drunken parties and I don't wanna ruin the day by hurting your ears. So i'll give this whole singing thing a miss."

"Me too and don't you dare say a thing about it!" Tosh said, sitting down quickly as everyone laughed.

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After several more speeches and a few silly songs, everyone had some of the wedding cake and ice cream that was provided for them. After that, they helped carry the complementary wedding presents and food back into the TARDIS for Jack and Ianto. After that was done, they all went inside. As Jack and Ianto were going in, Owen and Tosh stopped them.

"Little present for you, mate, from me and Tosh," Owen said, giving him a white unwrapped box.

Jack and Ianto examined the small, thin, rectangular box before opening it. Both men felt tears come to their eyes as they started at a photo of Owen and Tosh in a silver frame. Both of them had their arms around each other and were smiling for the camera.

"So you'll be able to remember us when we're not visiting," Tosh said.

"Like I told Ianto, as if I'd ever forget you," Jack said in a choked up voice.

He and Ianto embraced Tosh and Owen and held them tight. They returned the embrace and Jack kissed both their cheeks before all of them broke apart.

"Thank you for coming," Jack said.

"Yeah, your being here was the best wedding gift of all," Ianto added.

"Eh, we just wanted to cheer you up and let you know that even though you lost us in this universe, you still have us in another."

They hugged once more before Jack and Ianto patted them on the back and all of them walked into the TARDIS together.


	360. Chapter 360

A/N: Skipping around a little again. My friend Natalie keeps pestering me to either show Awinita's regeneration or the Doctor's regeneration. So I'm going to do Awinita's so she can finally be happy and satisfy that bloodlust of hers, hee, hee. So this next story takes place about 199 years after Jack and Ianto's wedding.

Chapter Three Hundred and Sixty

"Blimey, what is it with you lot, always wanting to shop?" the Doctor asked as he and Alan walked behind their women.

In front of them were Rain, Rose, Awinita, Mingxia, Elizabeth, Angel, Dorothy, Tara, Emi and Tia. Rain looked back at her husband.

"You didn't have to come with us, you know. You could have gone somewhere else. We're perfectly capable of handling ourselves if a problem comes up."

"Yeah, but Alan and I were curious to see what you lot do since we're always going off somewhere when you shop," the Doctor said.

"Yes, we're doing a study on the shopping habits of Gallifreyan females," Alan said.

"Then shut your mouth and quit complaining about our need to shop," Awinita said.

"Yeah, we don't complain about your need to constantly fix the TARDIS," Mingxia added.

"Those are necessary repairs to ensure the TARDIS stays in proper working order," the Doctor said defensively. "What? Do you think I like spending hours on end fixing my ship?"

"Yes!" the women all said in unison.

They giggled when the Doctor glanced at Alan.

"Don't look at me, I'm not ridiculing ya and your love of TARDIS repair," he said to him.

They reached the outskirts of Xenon City; it was a bustling metropolis with hundreds of skyscrapers and a population of ten million humans and aliens. The shops had every kind of merchandise in them, both human and alien. Most stores had an exterior anti-gravity lift that consisted of a round metal platform inside a clear glass tube. The lifts took the shoppers up while they enjoyed a view of the city. In addition to the huge department stores there were also street trolleys and the largest bazaar for three galaxies around, all of which added up to a shopper's paradise. The Doctor had brought his family here on several occasions so they could spend the day having fun while they shopped. Usually, he and his brothers and nephew, Simon, would go find a bowling center or some other recreational facility to spend their time at but today the Doctor and Alan wanted to see what their women did whenever they left them to their own devices.

While they were walking along the pavement, the mobile phone in Tara's pocket rang.

"Hello?" she said when she answered it.

A smile spread across her face.

"A'ner'ra! Hi!"

"Oh blimey, it's the ex-husband!" the Doctor said to Alan who sniggered in response. "When will I ever be rid of that home wrecker?"

"He hasn't left in two hundred years, Brother. I don't think he's gonna leave now," Alan said.

"Dad's raggin' on you again because you won't leave me alone," Tara said into the mobile.

She looked back at the Doctor.

"A'ner'ra says he's here to stay so get used to it," she said.

The Doctor speeded up and ran a few feet in front of her. Everyone stopped and stared at him as he bent over and pointed to his butt.

"Tell A'NER'BLOODY'RA HE CAN KISS THIS!" he said, jabbing his finger at his right butt cheek.

Everyone laughed as the Doctor ran back to Alan's side.

"The Doctor just mooned us, pointed to his butt cheek and told you to kiss it," Tara said in the mobile as they resumed walking.

There was a short silence and then Tara let out an "Ooo."

"What? What'd he say?" the Doctor said.

"Says he's not interested in kissing the pruny butt cheeks of an old codger."

The Doctor's mouth dropped open as everyone roared with laughter.

"That's it, tell him I'm suing for custody!" the Doctor said, pointing to the mobile.

"A'ner'ra, Dad's suing for custody for the hundred billionth time," she said.

She looked back at the Doctor.

"He says yawn," she said.

The women stopped in front of a large glass department store and pushed the up button for the elevator. Tara continued to talk to her father while everyone waited. The platform came down, the door in the tube opened and everyone stepped inside. The elevator slowly went up to the fiftieth floor while everyone looked around at the scenery. When it stopped, they all go off and stepped into a large room. It was filled with clothes hanging off circular racks. Around the room were twenty doors that led off into other shops. They split up and headed for different areas of the store. The Doctor stayed with Rain, Tara and Dorothy while Alan went with his three daughters. Tara continued to talk on the mobile while the four of them headed for one of the racks. It had colorful shirts on it and the women began to look through them while the Doctor put his hands in his pockets and casually glanced around, taking in the items on the other racks. Dorothy was examining a teal dress with gold trim when she saw the bored expression on the Doctor's face.

"Dad, why don't you and Alan go do something?" she said, walking over to him. "Don't stand here and be bored all day."

"But most of the time Alan and I get bored with the recreational stuff. Everything they have we can do on the TARDIS and we just wonder what you get up to when we're not around."

"We get up to shopping!" Dorothy said.

The Doctor took the dress and held it up against her.

"This is beautiful; you should get it, Ladybird."

Dorothy rolled her eyes.

"What? Did I say something wrong?" the Doctor said, frowning.

"Dad, you keep calling me that. I'm not three anymore," she said to him.

"So? I still call Tara, Star. What's wrong with Ladybird?" he said. "I don't care if you're over two hundred and an adult in Gallifreyan eyes. You'll always be my little bouncy goo-goo girl to me."

"Oh geez," Dorothy said, blushing while the Doctor rubbed her back. He put his hands in his pockets and strolled around the store, his eyes darting left and right as he took in everything around him. As he was doing that, he noticed Emi coming up to him and he turned and smiled at her.

"And what have you found?" he said to her.

"Something I think you'll be interested in, Father. Come with me."

"Okey-dokey."

The Doctor strolled along behind her figuring she had found some dress or trinket she liked that she wanted his opinion on. As he followed her, he glanced around and didn't see Alan or Rose or their daughters nor did he see Awinita or Mingxia. Figuring they went into the shops, he turned his attention back to Emi who was leading him to the lift.

"Oh, it's on another floor then?"

"It's the whole floor. It's right above us," Emi replied.

"Um, Em, I hate to burst your bubble but if what you're wanting takes up an entire floor, I don't think we'll be able to get it in the TARDIS."

"No, Father," Emi said pushing the up button. "It's not something for sale, it's an exhibit."

The Doctor was puzzled. He could tell Emi was distressed but for the life of him he couldn't figure out why. He wondered if it was something to do with feudal Japan. They got into the lift, went up one floor and the door opened. The Doctor's mouth dropped open when he saw the huge banner over the entrance to the exhibit.

THE DOCTOR, HIS LIFE AND ADVENTURES.

"Me? This is all about me?"

"Yes, Father."

"But…haven't we been in here before? Where did this come from?" the Doctor said, looking around.

He entered the exhibit with his daughter and found a gold plaque just inside the entrance. They paused and read it.

THIS EXHIBIT IS DEDICATED TO THE DOCTOR. THE LEGENDARY TIME LORD WHO HAS TRAVELED THOUGHOUT THE COSMOS AND SAVED MANY PEOPLE AND CULTURES. HE HAS BEEN CELEBRATED IN STORY, SONG AND MYTH AND HIS LIFE HAS BECOME A MIXTURE OF FACT AND FICTION. THIS EXHIBIT WILL ATTEMPT TO SEPARATE THE FACT FROM THE FICTION AND SHOW THE UNIVERSE WHAT THE DOCTOR IS TRULY LIKE.

"Really? Suddenly, I have a burning desire to see this exhibit," the Doctor muttered.

He and Emi slowly walked through the exhibit. The room was huge with about thirty glass cases alongside each wall in addition to a huge sculpture in the middle that depicted eleven of the Doctor's thirteen lives. It was on a large bronze circular base and each life was around the rim of it facing outward with a plaque underneath that specified which life it was. They slowly walked around it looking at the different lives until they got to his current life. The Doctor raised his eyebrow. The other incarnations had been put into various poses, goofy poses in his opinion, and this was no different. The bronze statue of himself was wearing his trench coat and striking a heroic pose with his finger thrust into the air.

"Emi?"

"Yes, Father?"

"Have you ever known me to do that?" he said, pointing to the thrust out finger. "I have never made this pose in all my lives. How daft can you get?"

They moved to the next one and stared at it.

"This is the life that's yet to come?" Emi said.

"Yup and I already knew what I was gonna look like since Jenny and the others saw him in the simulation room a looooooong time ago."

Emi made a face as she stared at the jacket, pants and bow tie he was wearing.

"You look like a university professor."

"I do not, Em!" he said as she giggled. "I don't think it looks that bad. At least I'm not back to wearing what my sixth self wore."

They moved on to the glass cases on either side of it. They started with the right side and went to the first case where there were numerous drawings, photos and small paintings featuring one of the Doctor's incarnations. Beside each of them was a small card indicating where the item was found and what it depicted. The Doctor studied them intently, searching for errors. To his amazement, he found none and he moved on to the next case where he was amazed to find some of his incarnation's outfits on display.

"What? How did they…these have to be recreations," the Doctor muttered.

They moved to the next one and the Doctor's jaw dropped open when he saw some items on display, things that he had collected in his travels over the centuries.

"No, wait…"

"What is it, Father?"

"Some of this stuff…I've never shown some of this stuff to anyone before and yet…whoever put this together guessed what I had and has duplicated it in exact detail…if it is a duplicate…but how…"

"Maybe we should ask Uncle Alan to come take a look at this," Emi said.

"Yeah, could you run and get him for me, Em?"

"Hai."

The Doctor patted her shoulder and went back to inspecting the exhibit while Emi ran back to the lift. He walked to the next glass case and saw photos of his companions tacked up along the back wall. He was amazed to find that the photos were in order from Susan all the way down to his family members.

"Impressive considering I don't go through time in chronological order," he muttered.

He shook his head suddenly becoming very uneasy. He glanced around and saw several security cameras in the corners and two of them were pointed in his direction. He grew even more nervous and moved on to the next case. He noticed again that there were several items in it that his companions had given to him as gifts over the years. His eyes bulged when he saw his wedding ring tacked up on the wall in the top left corner. He took a look at the ring still on his finger and compared it. It was the same one.

"Okay, now I'm really nervous," he muttered to himself.

He looked around the room and noticed a door at the back. He walked over to it and tested it. Finding it locked, he hesitated a moment, brought out his sonic screwdriver and disabled the security cameras that were aimed in his direction. Then he used it on the lock and quickly went inside. The light was off and he turned it on. The room was bare with an uncarpeted, concrete floor and he wrinkled his nose at the musty smell. He closed the door behind him and held his screwdriver at the ready as he slowly walked through the room. He glanced around but didn't see any security cameras and he relaxed slightly. He saw another door up ahead and he made a beeline for it. Once he reached it, he unlocked it with the screwdriver and slowly opened it, taking a peek inside. His eye widened and he stuck his head in further when he saw what was in the room.

"No," the Doctor said, coming inside and closing the door. "Oh blast, it's a good thing we came here today. Don't worry, mate, I'll sort this out, I prom…"

He grunted when suddenly someone stepped out of the shadows and smacked him hard on the back of the head with a truncheon. The Doctor fell face-first onto the floor and lay motionless. The assailant opened the door and checked for any signs of anyone else and when he was satisfied the Doctor was alone, he closed the door, locked it and grabbed the Doctor by the arms pulling him past the cage where the eleventh Doctor lay unconscious and his TARDIS right beside it.


	361. Chapter 361

Chapter Three Hundred and Sixty One

Rose slowly walked through a candle shop with her three daughters. Alan had told them he was going to the loo the moment they entered but she suspected he was making up an excuse to avoid looking at candles. She picked up a large glass jar that filled with a bayberry scented candle and took a whiff of it.

"Mmm, not bad, but I'd rather have a different scent," she said.

"You're not getting a candle, are ya, Mum?" Elizabeth said as she stood beside her.

"I'd like to get one for our TARDIS. Your father likes to take his shoes off in it and I'd rather smell bayberry than his manky socks," she said.

"If you're gonna do that, Mum, get a really girly scent that'll drive him bonkers," Angel said, walking up to her with Tia beside her.

"You lot just love driving your father crazy, dontcha?" she said.

She giggled when all of them nodded their heads rapidly.

"Okay," Rose said with a grin. "How 'bout…strawberries?"

"Nah, that's not girly enough," Elizabeth said. "Dad likes strawberries."

"Get him fresh linen since you can't stand his socks," Angel said, pulling a jar down. "Maybe you can use that as a hint to wash his clothes."

Rose giggled. She took a whiff of the scent.

"Not bad, I could live with this," she said to them.

"How about candy floss, Mum?" Tia said, giving her another jar.

"Nah, won't stop him. It'll just make him think of sweets all day," Rose said, sniffing it. "Then we'll get to hear him beg us for candy floss."

They heard Elizabeth chortling and turned to see her holding a huge black rat candle.

"Oh, get this, Mum, and put it in your bed when Dad's not lookin'. Puh-leeze!"

The girls giggled as Rose took it and examined it.

"If I do, you're takin' the blame when he asks where this came from," she said to her.

"I'll gladly do that for the chance to see Dad's reaction," Elizabeth said.

"Blimey, you three are just as bad as him now," Rose said while they giggled.

They looked over when Emi ran up to them.

"Where's Uncle Alan?" Emi said to Rose when she got her breath back.

"Um…he told us he was going to the loo but that doesn't mean he did. Why? What's wrong, Em? Why are you out of breath?"

"There's this…exhibit above us about the Doctor and I took Father to see it and he wanted me to get Alan so he could see it too," Emi said.

"Exhibit? There's a Doctor museum in this building?" Angel said.

Rose held up her finger.

_Alan, wherever you're at, come to the candle shop. Emi's looking for ya. She wants you to go up to the next floor and see some exhibit about the Doctor,_ she thought.

_On my way,_ Alan thought back.

"He'll be here in a minute, Em," Rose said to her.

At that moment, they suddenly felt the Doctor's mind wink out and all of them looked at each other in horror. They put the candles back and ran out the front door. When they went through it, they saw Rain, Tara, Dorothy, Awinita and Mingxia running towards them.

"Oh my God, what happened?" Rain said, "I can't feel him anymore. Emi, what exhibit? What was it?"

"Just a bunch of statues of the Doctor's lives and photos and stuff that he owned."

They all looked at each other.

"We better get up there right now before the Doctor becomes a part of it," Rose said.

They started running towards the lift.

"Wait a tic, I'm coming!" Alan said as he burst through the door to the stairs and hurried with them towards the lift.

They all crowded inside and Emi jabbed the button for the fifty first floor.

"Come on, come on, come on," Alan muttered as the lift doors slowly closed.

Finally, the elevator started going up. It went up to the next floor and the doors slid open. Emi froze when she saw no exhibit to the Doctor, only another large floor with sporting equipment and doorways to other shops in the walls.

"Em, where's this exhibit at?"Alan said, looking around.

"I don't know. This isn't the right floor," Emi said.

Alan pushed the elevator button and checked the floor number.

"Says we're on floor fifty one," he said, coming back outside.

"No, that can't be right. The exhibit took up the whole floor, there were no shops there," Emi said, looking around frantically.

"Shit, now what?" Awinita said.

"Dunno, until Brother wakes up, we'll have to make inquiries and try to find where this exhibit went to," Alan said. "Come on; let's go talk to someone at the information booth."

They got back in the lift and took it down to the first floor.

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The Doctor groaned and slowly opened his eyes. He felt groggy and he struggled to think through the mental haze. He lifted his head and saw he was in a cage beside his eleventh incarnation who was now awake and staring at him silently.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," he said to his tenth self.

The Doctor struggled to sit upright.

"Wha…what happened?" he slurred.

"Drugged you. They did it to me as well in order to probe my mind for information," Eleven said.

"Information for what?" the Doctor slurred as he got into a sitting position and slumped against the back of his cage.

"You didn't see the exhibit out there? A lot of that was taken from my TARDIS. The owner took my key and ransacked her while I was unconscious in here."

"So that was your wedding ring I saw."

Eleven glanced down at his hand and sighed.

"Yup, I woke up to find that missing as well. Bloody bastard."

"Who is this bloody bastard and what does he want with you?"

"Dunno his name, won't say it. He's middle-aged, portly, wears a grey suit, thinning salt and pepper hair, I'm sure he'll show his face soon enough. And I'm sure he wants you as well as me…for the exhibit. Not completely sure but that's my theory. If he's this committed to building a museum to us then I'm sure he'll want us as the star attractions."

"Where's your family? Where's your Rain?"

"They're safe as far as I know. I came here alone to get a gift for Rain for our five hundred and forty seventh wedding anniversary."

"Congratulations."

"Thanks," Eleven said. "Anyway, that's why I'm here on my tod. And now I'm thankful for that…although, I'm sure any moment they'll realize I've woken up and start trying to locate me."

"Yeah, me too."

"Are your family here?" Eleven asked.

The Doctor nodded.

Rain, Rose, Alan, Awinita, Mingxia, Angel, Elizabeth, Dorothy, Emi, Tara and Tia, they were all shopping when Emi brought me up here. Then I told her to go back and get Alan before I decided to play Snoop around the Exhibit Hall and that's when I got knocked out."

"Well, if I were you, I'd tell them to stop looking because I have a feeling he wants more than us."

The Doctor snorted.

"Tell them to stop looking? How successful d'ya think that'll be?"

"I'd insist or else they're going to be caged right next to us," Eleven said.

They looked over when the door opened and the owner stepped through.

"Yup, you were bang on with the description, mate," the Doctor said to Eleven. "Portly and balding."

The man eyed him.

"I hardly think that is funny," he said.

"Wasn't meant to be funny," the Doctor said. "Now…let us go and let my other self get his things or you'll live to regret it."

The man snorted.

"I don't think so. You see, no one will find you, not that daughter of yours or any other family members you have here. I took the liberty of activating a button that sends the lift past this floor so no matter how many times your rescuers hit the button for floor fifty one, they won't reach it and there are no doors leading off the stairwell so they won't be able to get in that way either."

_Brother, where are you? We keep trying to find the exhibit and it's disappeared,_ Alan thought to him.

The Doctor glanced at Eleven and telepathically explained what the man had told them while the man bent down and examined him.

"You're quite a wiry little fella," he said. "I'll have to make sure you don't slip through the cage bars."

"At least I can," the Doctor shot back.

The man glared at him.

"Your flippant tongue is also legendary. I heard much the same from your replacement there."

Ten glanced at Eleven. He shrugged.

"What can I say, I'm still rude and not ginger," he said.

"I probed his mind and got most of the information I needed, so I won't have to do that with you," the man said to Ten. "I also went through his TARDIS and I intend to do it again once you and he are unconscious. However, I don't have any of your companions or family members. Perhaps I will start with the ones searching for you."

"Leave them alone. I'm warning you," Ten growled.

"And so am I," Eleven added.

"But wouldn't you rather have them with you since you're going to become a part of my exhibit once it opens?" the man said.

"No, because we're not going to be part of your exhibit," Eleven said. "We're getting out of here but not before we make you sorry you did this to us."

"If you don't curb that flippant tongue, it'll be you who'll be sorry," the man said in a menacing voice. "As I said, no one can help you here. Your family will never find the correct floor. However, I believe I will go up and find them. I think since I have two Doctors, it's time to start collecting his companions."

"You leave them alone!" the Doctor snarled at him.

"Is your pretty wife with them? I've seen memories of her in his mind," he said, gesturing to Eleven. "You seem so happy together. But…would your marriage last if I were to seduce her?"

The Doctor snorted and chortled.

"Yeah, you just try to seduce Rain and see how far you get," he said while Eleven chuckled. "If she chooses you over me, then she's welcome to a divorce because the last thing I'd wanna wake up to is your fat, pasty body."

The Doctor leaned his head back when the man tried to punch him.

"Oh, hit a nerve, did we, Chubby?" he said. "Maybe if you lay off the sweets and digestive biscuits, you might actually have a chance with my gorgeous wife. Buuuut, until then, I seriously doubt she'll pick you over me."

The man smirked.

"What about your daughters then? Particularly your favorite, Tara."

The Doctor's gloating look instantly changed to rage and he and Eleven lunged at the bars of their cages.

"Touch her and you will die, I guarantee it," the Doctor snarled. "Touch any of my children and I'll give you a long, slow, painful death."

The man chuckled.

"Yeah, I'll bed Tara instead of your wife and then make you watch."

"I'm warning you," the Doctor said through clenched teeth. "Don't do it if you want to live."

"I saw how loyal she was to you. I'd bet she'd do anything to ensure her Daddy was released unharmed along with her family, huh?"

"I SAID LEAVE HER ALONE! LEAVE THEM ALL ALONE!" the Doctor bellowed.

The man ignored the looks of death from Ten and Eleven.

"Well, as much as I enjoy talking to a legend like yourself. I have family members I need to catch and a little daughter I need to seduce."

He paused and smirked.

"Oh…and that telepathic bond of yours…go right ahead and warn her, warn all of them and see if they'll obey your orders not to rescue you. Have a good day, Gentlemen. I'll talk to you in a little while."

The Doctors watched, shaking with rage, as the man strolled past them into the empty room. The moment the door was shut, they looked at each other.

"He's right, mate," Eleven said. "They're gonna wanna rescue us if you contact them."

"I know but I have to warn them. I have to warn Star that man's coming for her. The last thing I want is to see her raped by that bastard," he said.

Eleven nodded.

"Let me help you then," he said. "Maybe together we can convince them to go and hide in the TARDIS."

Ten nodded and both Doctors closed their eyes and concentrated.


	362. Chapter 362

Chapter Three Hundred and Sixty Two

"Okaaaay," Alan said as they stepped out onto the first floor. "Information…"

They began walking around the floor looking for the booth.

"Information, information, information," Alan muttered as he looked around. "Information, oh…jellied spiced raga meat, have to get some of that when we sort this out, information, information."

"There it is, Dad," Elizabeth said, pointing to a small wooden booth on the other side of the room.

"Thank you, Eagle Eyes, and now let's find out what's become of this missing floor."

They hurried over to the booth only to find there was a plump elderly woman in front of them.

"So what you're telling me is there are no toilets on this floor?" the woman was saying to the harried staff member standing in the booth.

The young man sighed.

"No ma'am, I keep on tellin' ya, the nearest loo is on the third floor," he said.

"Well, why did they put it all the way up there? I'm elderly. Didn't they think of us when they designed the building?"

"Excuse me," Alan said to her.

The woman ignored him and went on with her complaint.

"I have Crux Disease. I can't move very well and I have problems with incontinence. I can't go up to the third floor. I'll wet myself on the way up!"

"Excuse me," Alan said a little louder.

"Can you at least find a little car that will take me up there?"

"Excuse me!"

"WHAT?" the woman bellowed, spinning around.

Alan and his family stared at her in shock as the man ran his hand through his sandy blonde hair and wished he was somewhere other than his job.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but we have an emergency here," Alan said gently.

"So do I, Sonny, I'm about to pee all over myself. Wait your turn!"

Alan sighed angrily as the woman spun back around.

"Can you get a car or something that'll take me up there?"

"We can provide you with a wheelchair."

"Wheelchair? I'm not that infirm."

"Is there someone we can talk to while you're talking to her?" Alan said to the man.

The man shook his head.

"Look, Ma'am, I understand the need for the loo but my brother is in trouble and there's a danger of him dying. Could you please let us ask a question?"

The woman sighed, turned and stomped away.

"Bloody youth, don't respect anyone or anything," they heard her mutter.

Alan shook his head and walked up to the front.

"Yes, sir?" the man said.

"Yes, we're trying to locate an exhibit on the Doctor. My niece thought it was on the fifty first floor but we can't find it. Can you tell us where it is?"

The man stared at him.

"Exhibit on who?"

"The Doctor."

"Who's that?"

They stared at him.

"You don't know about the exhibit this bloke has about the Doctor?" Alan said.

"No, never heard of it. There's no exhibit on the fifty first floor, there's only shops."

"Em, come here and tell him," Alan said, beckoning to her.

Emi came up beside him.

"I found this museum on the fifty first floor about my father. I took him up there and went down to get my uncle and when we came back up, the floor was missing," she said.

"I'm sorry," the man said wearily. "I have no idea what you're talking about. The fifty first floor has sporting equipment and shops, nothing else."

"Then where is this exhibit at?" Alan said.

"I don't know, Sir. I don't even know what you're on about. We have no exhibits."

_Brother, where are you? Is there any clue you can give us because we can't find the floor you're on,_ Alan thought to him.

_You won't be able to. It's hidden. The man who's holding us captive pushed some button that causes the lift to skip the floor and there's no door leading to the stairs so you can't find it that way. It doesn't matter now anyway. You lot need to leave. He's coming for you next, especially Tara. He's wanting Tara because he thinks he can seduce her and shag her in order to hurt me. Get back to the TARDIS before he finds all of you._

_Yes_, Eleven thought._ This is the eleventh Doctor, I'm also warning all of you to get away from here before you end up caged beside us. Please, just listen to us!_

"Sir?" the man said when he noticed Alan wasn't saying anything or paying attention to him.

Alan was jolted from the conversation. He glanced at his family briefly before shaking his head and sighing.

"Never mind," he said. "We'll find it ourselves."

The man shrugged. He watched as Alan and the others hurried away and then groaned when the elderly lady came stomping back to him.

"'Bout time they left, now about the car…" she said.

"I need a raise, they don't pay me enough to do this job," the man muttered to himself.

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After they finished contacting the others, both Doctor sat back in the cage and waited.

"So…where are you at in your timeline?" Eleven said. "How long has it been since you met Rain?"

"A little over two hundred years.

Eleven smiled.

"I remember that point in time very well. In a way, I hope she comes up here so I can see her old self again."

The Doctor was alarmed by that and Eleven held up his hand.

"She doesn't really suffer. She's not murdered by anyone. It's just old age and her body finally wearing out. She gets a severe case of Venusian Flu and her body wasn't able to cope with it. But she regenerated in bed while I was by her side. After that, she got up and went on her way with no side effects. So don't worry."

The Doctor nodded.

"What does she look like now?" he asked.

Eleven chuckled.

"Actually, she looks almost the same. When she did it, she was able to control it enough that she was able to keep her Indian looks. The only differences are she's taller, a bit darker, closer to Tara's skin color now and she has a rounder face. Other than that, she looks like her old gorgeous self. "

"Good because I love her skin color."

"Yup, exactly why I think she kept it. She told me she knew if she changed it, you'd throw a fit," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "But she's regenerated, so has Awinita, Nelak, John and his Rose."

"What do they look like, John and Rose, I mean."

"John's actually older looking than we are. He looks like he's in his mid-forties, sandy blonde hair, thin face and a bit shorter than he was. Rose, on the other hand, is shorter, has long black hair kinda like Rain's and resembles a Mediterranean woman. She's beautiful actually. Believe me, John approves."

"Hmmm, trying to imagine that," the Doctor said.

"Ianto regenerated. He's more muscular now with wavy, shoulder length brown hair and green eyes and a thinner face. Jack likes it. And last but not least...Tara."

The Doctor's eyes widened. Eleven held up his hand.

"It's not a bad death. She goes through it quickly and you and Rain are there with her."

"Let me guess, died protecting me."

"How'd you know?"

The Doctor laughed along with him.

"Now…Tara…Tara changed her body completely. She looks like a Unic now so she could resemble Phillip."

The Doctor was shocked at that.

"Wow!" he said.

"Yeah, she's beautiful though. Snow white skin, long white hair, slender and graceful with piercing black eyes. She doesn't have much of a horn though, just a tiny one. But…she only resembles a Unic, she can't change into the unicorn form which upset her greatly when she found out. But Phillip could possibly care less about it. Other than that, everyone else has managed to keep their old bodies."

The Doctor thought about that. He glanced up at the corner of the room and saw a security camera trained on them.

"D'ya suppose Chubby is listening to all of this?" he said, pointing to it.

Eleven looked at the camera and shrugged.

"He's already probed my mind. I'm sure he knows all of this already," he said.

Eleven paused and a smile formed over his face.

"My Rain is contacting me, can you hear her?"

The Doctor shook his head.

"No, I'm guessing because she's a part of my personal future and linked to you instead of me," he said.

"Too bad. She also has a deeper, huskier voice. Kinda like Stevie Nicks. It's actually very sexy."

"Bollocks!" the Doctor muttered as he chuckled.

Eleven fell silent and the Doctor assumed he was speaking to his version of Rain. He chuckled again after a few minutes.

"Told her about you. She's a bit upset that she can't hear you or feel you and now she wants to come here just to see you again. Says she misses your skinny bod which is a bit upsetting to hear since I thought I was very studly."

The Doctor chuckled.

"She wants you to know that she loves you and you and she will have lots of fun together and a happy marriage…which I coulda told you that."

He fell silent again. Five minutes later, he sighed and sat back.

"She's not happy about this. I told her I was sorry, I had no idea I was going to get captured on our wedding anniversary but I told her I'd be alright. Course that won't stop her from worrying about me until I'm back home. I just hope she also doesn't try to come here and end up captured. I couldn't take that."

"I don't blame ya. I just hope this bastard doesn't get hold of my Rain or Tara or anyone else in my family."

"Yeah, too bad he took our things. After he said that, I want nothing more than to use my screwdriver, get out of here and ring his fat neck."

"Me first, mate."

They looked over when the door opened and the man entered the room.

"Well, I hope the two of you have gotten acquainted with each other," he said to them.

"Oh yes, it's nice finding out what the future will hold for me," Ten said.

"And it's wonderful taking a stroll down memory lane," Eleven added.

He chuckled.

"How wonderful that you're getting along so well because I'm afraid I'm going to have to split you up for awhile. You see, I decided I do wanna do a little mind probe on you. Just in case I missed something in his mind and I also need that cage empty for your family, well most of them, Tara will be in my bed."

He smirked when he saw the rage return on both their faces.

"Oh come now, she's over two hundred years old, isn't she? I think she's old enough to have sex with someone without Daddy's approval, don't you think?"

"If you hurt her…" the Doctor snarled.

"I didn't say I was gonna hurt her, Doctor. I've seen what she looks like and a beautiful woman like that deserves to be handled delicately. Of course, if she resists, well…I guess she'll have to watch her beloved father suffer."

The Doctor gnashed his teeth as he fought to keep his rage in check. He was shocked when his future self wasn't so restrained.

"YOU BASTARD! LEAVE HER ALONE OR I'LL RIP THESE BARS APART WITH MY BARE HANDS AND THEN DO THE SAME THING TO YOUR BODY!"

"My, my, what a temper you have," the man said. "I suppose I'll have to sedate you as well."

Before they could do anything, he reached under his jacket, whipped out a small dart gun and shot a sleeping dart into each of their necks. He chuckled as he watched each Doctor struggle to stay awake for thirty seconds before both slipped into unconsciousness.

"There, now you can't warn them I'm coming," he said, putting the gun back into the waistband of his trousers. "And hopefully they'll be stupid enough to ignore any of your requests to run so I can catch them all and add them to my collection."


	363. Chapter 363

Chapter Three Hundred and Sixty Three

Tara followed her family as they walked out the doors of the department store and made their way back to their TARDIS. She hated doing this. She had long considered herself her father's protector even though she knew full well he could take care of himself. But she loved him so much and it worried her whenever there was a chance he would come to harm. She had to force herself to move away from the building towards the TARDIS because the urge to run and help him was so strong.

Then it happened. They felt his mind wink out and Tara instantly spun around so she could go back in and find him.

"No, Tara!"

She looked back when she heard Alan's stern voice. He walked over to her.

"I can't do this. I can't just sit back and let them hurt…"

"Tara, we aren't sitting back. We're going to come up with a strategy," Alan said to her. "I know you hate that he's in there and you can't get to him but running in there without a plan will only get us captured. Calm down, okay, he'll be alright. I promise."

He squeezed her shoulder and put his arm around her, gently turning her around so they could finish their walk to the TARDIS.

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The man stood by munching on a crisp while he watched the Doctor's memories on a large TV screen. The Doctor was in front of it, unconscious and strapped onto a large leather bed. He had seen most of his memories in the other Doctor's mind. What he was mainly interested in was where this Doctor had parked his TARDIS and who was with him. As he munched on his crisp, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the Doctor's TARDIS key. He rubbed his fingers over it, feeling the coolness of it and anticipating the moment he would use it to break into his TARDIS, raid it and hopefully steal away his loved ones for his collection. He picked up another crisp from a bowl and munched on it, glancing at the Doctor whose brow was furrowed as he unconsciously felt the pain of the mind probe. He paused when it came to one of his memories of Tara and stared at the brown-skinned girl for a moment.

"So beautiful," he whispered, touching the screen and running his finger down her hair. "All of your daughters are beautiful, Doctor, but this one is the loveliest. Even if I didn't have this museum, I would still want her for my own. I won't put her in the collection. I'll just marry her and make her mine. I'm sure she would rather have me than this unicorn freak she's dating right now."

He switched off the probe and the Doctor's face went slack. He ate another crisp while he grabbed a syringe filled with the anesthetic.

"Sleep, Doctor. Hopefully by the time you wake up, you'll be reunited with your family," he said, injecting it into his arm.

After he did that, he threw the syringe away; made sure his dart gun was loaded and then rubbed the key between his thumb and forefinger as he walked out the door.

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After they went inside the TARDIS, Rose made tea for everyone and they sat in the living room trying to think of a way to save the Doctors. They brainstormed together but all they could think to do was use the imager to disguise themselves and see if they could find a secret way onto the fifty first floor. After awhile, Tara excused herself to go to the bathroom but in reality she needed to go somewhere where she could get over her worry for her father. She walked up to the console room and sat down on the jump seat.

"Oh TARDIS, I hope Dad's alright," she said to the ceiling.

The TARDIS rumbled and nudged her mind in reply. Tara hesitated a moment and then deciding that if they needed her they could come find her, lay down and stretched out on the jump seat. Sighing deeply, she closed her eyes and tried to take a short nap.

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The man let out a giddy giggle when he neared the Doctor's TARDIS. He hadn't seen anyone on the way over and now here he was, about to capture a second time ship for his own. As he brought the key out of his pocket he wondered if he should display both of them in the exhibit or keep one hidden in the back for his own use.

"I can put this one on display and keep on taking things from the other," he muttered to himself as he neared the door.

He fumbled with the key a moment trying to put it in the lock and then it went in. He slowly turned it and stifled a gleeful laugh when he heard it unlock. He slowly opened the door and peeked in. The other Doctor's TARDIS had a metallic interior; this one looked like it was made out of coral. He inched inside and softly shut the door. He carefully tiptoed up the ramp and then…he saw her. He could hardly believe his luck when he saw Tara fast asleep on the jump seat several feet in front of him. As he neared the console, he readied his dart gun, intending to shoot Tara in her sleep. He came around the console and stood in front of her, his penis hardening as he stared down at his sleeping beauty.

"Stop right there!"

The man jerked his head around and saw Alan glaring at him from the doorway. He aimed his dart gun at him and fired. Alan grunted when the dart hit his neck and he slumped to the floor, watching helplessly as the man fired a dart into Tara's chest and then picked her up in his arms. As Alan lost consciousness, the man could hear the others yelling as they rushed up to the console room. The man sprinted around the console and kicked open the TARDIS door, laughing gleefully as he ran out into the night with his prize.

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Eleven was just starting to come to when he saw the man bringing Tara into the room.

"No!" he said, struggling to get to his knees. "Please, let her go."

The man ignored him as he opened the cage door and dumped her unceremoniously onto the metal floor.

"I have to finish up with her original father so I'll let you talk to her for awhile…once she wakes up, that is."

"Damn you, I'll ring your neck when I get out of here!" he snarled.

The man let out a snort of contempt and walked away. Eleven waited till he was gone before he sat back down and stared at his daughter.

"My Star, I won't let him hurt you. If your Doctor can't stop him, then I will."

He drew his knees up to his chest and waited for her to wake. It took twenty minutes before he heard her groan and then he scooted closer to the bars and watched her lovingly as she struggled to open her eyes. Finally, they opened completely and she looked around.

"Where am I?" she muttered.

"In a cage in the back of that exhibit you were looking for," Eleven said softly.

Tara turned her attention to him and he smiled warmly.

"Who are you?" she said.

Eleven was shocked for a moment before he remembered that she had never seen what he looked like before. He debated whether or not to tell her the truth before deciding it was okay to let her know.

"I'm your father, Star. I'm the Doctor's eleventh life," he said.

Tara managed to sit up. She stared at him for a moment in silence, taking in his appearance.

"You look like a college professor," she said.

Eleven threw up his hands.

"Everyone says that, I do not!" he protested. "Can I help it if I have a fondness for tweed and bow ties this time around?"

"Are you…alright, Dad?" Tara said.

"I'm fine, Star, and as far as I know so's your actual dad."

He sighed.

"But…oh Tara, you disobeyed him, didn't you? You came to find him?"

"No, I didn't. I was asleep in the console room and I woke up and found myself here. I didn't go looking for dad, I swear."

Eleven mulled that over for a moment and then cursed under his breath.

"Great, bastard's got two TARDIS keys now. He must have found out where you parked her by probing his mind. Then he used the key to get inside her. Damn! I'm gonna make him pay once I get loose from here."

"I…I know this isn't the time to ask it but…am I still alive…how long is it until you regenerate?"

He smiled tenderly at her.

"Yes, you're still alive. As for your other question, I won't give you the exact time because I don't want you to worry but it's still far off in the future from your point in time and I don't suffer, so don't worry about that either."

"What about me? Am I the same?"

Eleven debated about telling her and then he finally shook his head.

"Does it hurt when I…"

"No, Sweetie, It'll be quick, I promise. Your mum and I will be with you when it happens."

"Am I still pretty?"

Eleven grinned at that.

"You're gorgeous. And I'm still very proud of you," he said. "Actually, I haven't seen this incarnation in awhile so it's nice to see your first life again."

"Is everyone still with us?"

"Yes, everyone's still with us and everyone's fine. In fact, I came here to shop for a gift because your mum and I are celebrating our five hundred and forty seventh wedding anniversary."

He chuckled when Tara's eyes nearly popped out of her head.

"Why is that so shocking, my treasure? You made it to two hundred years being a Time Lady, that's only another three hundred and forty seven years tacked on to it."

"I know but…it's hard to believe I live that long."

"Try being my age, I'm over seventeen hundred years old now," he said with a grin.

"And you and mom actually stay together?"

"Again…why is that so shocking? I love your mum. I always have and I always will. I told her we'd be together for the rest of our lives and I meant that. Why? Did you think I was gonna kick your mum to the curb in a few years time?"

"No, it's just that...I never thought I'd make it this far let along five hundred and forty seven years. It just boggles my mind."

"Yeah, the longest time I've ever spent with anybody let alone a whole heap of somebodies," Eleven said.

"What do I look like? Seriously? I won't tell," Tara said.

Eleven considered whether or not to tell her.

"Please, Daddy, I won't change anything about my future. I'm just curious."

"Daddy, you haven't called me that in donkey's years. I actually hated it when you grew up enough that you felt you had to call me Dad instead," he said.

He rolled his eyes.

"Course certain individuals are still referred to as A'ner'ra," he said, saying the last word in a snotty voice.

He grinned when Tara giggled.

"You're never gonna let up on the whole divorced husband joke, are you?"

"No, it's too much fun. Your other father and I love teasing each other and pretending we were a married couple. Then we get to laugh more at our wives being exasperated at us."

He reached into his trouser pocket.

"If the wanker hasn't taken this, I'll show you a photo of yourself," he said.

He stood up and dug down deep.

"Ah! My photo album. Good, he didn't find it."

Tara reached out through her bars and took the little black photo album when he found the picture he wanted her to see. She stared at the photo. It was a picture of Eleven and a white skinned woman with white hair and a horn. The white skinned woman was wearing a pink t-shirt and jeans. Tara frowned for a moment before she realized the white skinned woman was her. She jerked her head over and saw Eleven giving her an amused grin.

"Yup, Star, you become a Unic, just like Phillip."

"Oh my God, I…"

Eleven laughed as Tara stared at herself in shock.

"I mean, I love the guy but…Jesus, what was I thinking?"

"I s'pose you were thinking, look like my boyfriend," Eleven teased. "And for all I know, this is probably the moment you get that idea into your head. Because I showed it to you."

"Can…can I look at the other pictures?"

"I s'pose it couldn't hurt. You've already seen me and yourself. Go ahead."

Tara turned the page and stared at a photo of him and Rain.

"Mom changes too?"

"Yup, but not for awhile. She fell ill and her body was old and couldn't fight the infection, nothing sinister. She's fine. Unlike you, she chose to look humanoid again."

"I can't believe I change myself into a Unic," Tara said, shaking her head.

She looked at the photo across from it and saw herself as a Unic standing with a middle-aged man and an olive skinned woman.

"Who are these people?" Tara said, showing him the photo.

Eleven giggled.

"A'ner'ra and Amo'mya," he said.

Tara's eyes bulged out as she stared at the photo.

"Them too?" she said.

"Them too. Yup, both of them change, A'NER'RA AND AMO'MYA!" he said, saying the names in the same snotty voice.

"Daddy! God!" Tara said as Eleven snickered.

She gazed at the photo.

"Amo'mya is beautiful in her next life."

"Yes, she is."

"Is the other Rose, does she change?"

"No, she's still the same and so is Alan. And Alan never lets me forget it."

He grinned and said in the snotty voice…

"SEE, BROTHER, I HAVEN'T CHANGED YET. I'VE BEEN TOO CLEVER. NO ONE CAN KILL ME! I'LL LIVE FOREVER LIKE THIS, HA, HA, HA, HAAAAAA!"

Tara snorted out laughter as Eleven winked at her.

"Well," he said with mirth, "that's what the git says. Never lets me forget that he still looks the same after five hundred odd years and believe me, he's still the same personality-wise. The years haven't mellowed him out one bit. Usually after he says that, he feels the need to prance around and sing, Fame, I'm gonna live foreveeeeeer and then laugh like a…goober…as you put it."

"He is a goober."

"I know he is, that's why I used that term just then. The man is the biggest goobity goober there's ever been."

Tara looked through the rest of the photos and handed the album back to him. Eleven stood up and shoved it deep inside his trouser pocket before sitting back down.

"Dad?"

"Hmm?"

"How do you die? Is it painful?"

"Nah! I live through it. And are you there with me? Yes, you are."

"Then I'm not able to protect you?"

"Star, sweetheart, I love how protective you are but sometimes things can't be helped and time has to run its course," he said gently. "I can't live forever in one body. Even if nothing happens to me, my body will eventually wear out like your mum's does and then I'll change. I wasn't able to stop your regeneration from happening but I accepted the new you and we went on with life. Please don't beat yourself up before the event even happens, alright? I'm happy in this body. I liked my previous body but everything changes including you and me. It's just a part of who we are as Gallifreyans."

Tara nodded and Eleven reached across and stroked her hair.

"You've been so good to me. You and your mum have looked out for me and kept me safe and tolerated my daft behavior. You lot, all of you, have kept me sane over the years and for that I'm grateful."

He ran his finger down her cheek when a tear escaped her eye.

"I'm very proud of you, Star. Always have been, always will be."

"Thank you, Daddy."

"Aaaw, and I love it when you call me Daddy," he said happily.

Eleven jerked his head towards the door when it opened and the man entered.

"Ah, you're both awake now, I see," he said with a sneer.


	364. Chapter 364

Chapter Three Hundred and Sixty Four

Eleven leapt to his feet as the man came near.

"Leave her alone! I'm warning you. You already made me angry by kidnapping her. Don't do something to her and dig a deeper hole for yourself!"

The man regarded him calmly.

"Do you love your father?" he asked Tara.

"Yes," Tara said.

"Then if you stay with me, I'll let him and your original father go free."

"No, Tara. Star, don't do it, please," Eleven said, reaching through the bars for her. "If you stay with him, both our hearts will break."

"Is that because she's your favorite?" the man said airily.

Tara frowned and looked at him.

"Am I?" she said.

Eleven sighed deeply.

"I never wanted you to think that because I love all my children but you…just by the way you've acted and how much you cared for me and wanted to be like me and be a Time Lady from the very beginning. Yes, Tara, you are."

Tara felt tears coming to her eyes. She reached through the bars and took his hand. He squeezed it and glared at the man who was snickering.

"So if she's your favorite, does that mean the reason you're so against me wanting to sleep with her is you want to do that yourself?"

Both of them stared at him in shock and then Eleven's eyes burned with barely contained rage. Tara stared at the man with disgust as he chuckled at that.

"You've taken her under your wing from the beginning, haven't you? Taken her everywhere, given her special privileges. You want to shag her just as badly as I do, you're just afraid to admit it aloud."

Tara gasped when Eleven let out a torrent of curses and promises to kill him if he touched her. By this time, Tara could sense the rest of her family except for the Doctor frantically calling for her but she was too stunned by everything that was happening around her to think to them. What the man was implying, that her father would commit incest with her, made her sick to her stomach and she was glad the other Doctor wasn't around to hear it because It was bad enough seeing her future father in pain and rage without seeing him the same way. The other surprising thing was that her father considered her his favorite. She had always struggled with her self-esteem even after she became a Time Lady which was why she was constantly trying to prove herself worthy in her father's eyes. She never stopped to think that he might favor her above any of her siblings, even when he did take her alone on training missions and confided in her things that he would only tell her mother and no one else. But thinking it over, making her a Time Lady-in-training at a young age, indulging her when she wanted to do something, even telling her part of his real name. All of that was a sudden wake up call to what she couldn't and wouldn't see over the years. Her father thought she was special. The thought brought tears to her eyes because at last she had her proof that she proven herself worthy enough to be his daughter. She felt Eleven squeezing her hand and she squeezed back hard, letting him know how much she loved him. While this was happening, Tara suddenly felt the Doctor's mind come back and even though she had no idea where he was at, she felt comforted knowing he was awake and alert. It didn't take long for him to realize something was wrong because the Doctor felt her fear almost immediately.

_Tara, what's wrong? Where are you?_ He thought frantically.

Tara couldn't think back because at that moment, the man whipped out his dart gun and shot both her and Eleven in the neck.

_Daddy…_Tara managed to think to the Doctor before she faded away into unconsciousness.

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When she regained consciousness, the first thing she was aware of was she was warm and felt so safe. She could feel arms around her and instinctively she pressed her body closer to whatever was holding her and felt the arms tighten in return. Then…she felt a gentle kiss pressed onto her forehead. As she struggled to come to, she felt a hand brush her cheek. For a moment, she basked in the feel of the lips and hands and arms before she remembered what the man had wanted to do with her and she instantly became afraid, thinking she was in his bed. But then she felt love pouring into her mind and the telepathic voice of her father telling her not to be afraid.

_We're here, Tara,_ the Doctor thought to her_. Both of us. He's let us be together for the moment. You're safe. Wake up now. _

"Da…ddy?" Tara finally said.

She felt lips kiss her cheek.

"I'm here," she heard her father whisper. "We're both here. Open your eyes. No one will hurt you."

Tara finally managed to fight the oppressive grogginess and open her eyes. The Doctor was holding on to her and smiling at her. Eleven was on the other side, staring at her with concern.

"I think she'll be alright," the Doctor said to him.

"Daddy? Where am I?" Tara said.

"Well, we've become flatmates with your future father," he quipped.

Tara stared at Eleven.

"I want rent as soon as possible, mind," he said, wagging his finger at her.

The men smiled when she giggled at that. She looked at the Doctor who was gazing at her tenderly.

"I thought…he was threatening to…"

"I know," the Doctor said. "But according to him, he decided to show some mercy and let us be with you before we have to leave. As if he'd let us leave here alive. I spoke with Alan and the others and let them know you were alright. Alan's fine, he also took a dart to the neck."

"I didn't try to rescue you. He came into the TARDIS…"

"I know that, Star. My future self told me what happened and about the sickening thing he said to him."

"Did he also say…about me being your favorite?"

The Doctor nodded, guilt flickering in his eyes.

"I never told you that because I didn't want you to think that you were better than your brother and sisters. I've always tried to treat all of you equally but I couldn't help but love you just a wee bit more because you were so willing to be my daughter and be a Time Lady and be so loving and caring towards others and towards me. But that's why I never said anything to you about you being my favorite. That bastard entered our minds and now he's using our memories to taunt us so he can have a giggle but he won't think it's so funny when we wipe that smile off his face."

He cupped her face with his hands.

"And don't you dare agree to anything he wants in order to win our freedom. Don't you agree to marry him, sleep with him, bathe with him, even share a burger with him. Neither of us want you to sacrifice yourself and your life for us. That's another thing he's using against us, your loyalty and self-sacrifice when it comes to me. But if you do that, if I see you in the arms of that maniac, my hearts will shatter and so will his. We love you too much to leave you here forever as his sex toy, do you understand?"

He kissed the tear that came down her cheek when she nodded.

"And I second that, you don't need to spend the rest of your life in misery to save our skins. You already went through that with the satanic cult."

"Precisely," the Doctor said. "I'd rather die than see you put in a situation like that again. I'm an old fart and I won't let a young-un like you act all noble and be a martyr for my wrinkly, crinkly arse."

He kissed her forehead when Tara giggled at that. He let go and they both helped her sit against the side of the cage before they sat down on either side of her. Both of them put their arms around her and Tara basked in the shared love they were emanating from their minds. Once she was calmed down and felt her fear drain away, she spoke to the others and let them know that they were okay. She felt her family's relief at that which added to the draining of her own anxiety. She wanted nothing more than to leave and be safe at home on New Gallifrey with her entire family but at the same time, she liked having her future father with her. He seemed just as warm and friendly as her own father, at least to her. It was odd seeing a version of her father that wasn't wearing a pinstriped suit but she had to admit, he looked handsome if a bit young. In fact, she figured he was almost as young as she was which was a bit freaky for her since he was her father but she had seen weirder things in her time as the Doctor's daughter and she quickly got used to him being there.

While both her fathers telepathically went over rescue strategies with her family, she took a look around. They were still in the same room they were before and the TARDIS was still beside them. She stared at it wondering if there was a way to get free and use it. It was resting there beside the cage, so tantalizingly close which Tara figured was the idea. Torment the Doctor by putting his TARDIS just out of reach of him. She wondered if her bond would still work with her future father's TARDIS and she reached out to feel that deep mental signature that was always there as an undercurrent underneath the shared minds of her and her family. She could feel it but wasn't sure if it belonged to her father's TARDIS or her future father. She closed her eyes and waded through the sea of minds to find the TARDIS. Reaching her sentient mind, she began to think to her and found to her relief that it was the TARDIS that was in the same room with them. As she began to talk to her, Eleven paused and with a smile nodded his encouragement to her while Tara asked the TARDIS for help in rescuing them.

_I cannot physically help you, beloved Tara,_ she thought. _I have no power to affect things outside my walls so I can't open the cage door for you but I'll try to think and come up with a solution to your problem. _

_Thank you, TARDIS, _Tara thought.

"Good work," Eleven said. "Perhaps she'll think of something."

"I hope so. I wanna go home."

"Yeah, you and me both. I'm in constant contact with your future family and all of them are just as worried as I am about you. In fact, your future self is threatening to hit me in the nose if something happens to you."

"Wow, I guess you better not let anything happen to me then," Tara said as the Doctor chuckled.

"Oh, that's not all. You also told me you'll spear me with your horn which…would be rather painful since the horn is blunt on the end. But now we have two sets of families wanting to come in here and help fight. So if you think you had a heap of relatives before, try two sets of them and when you get to me, there's even more friends and family around."

"So in other words, I'm just like this collector bloke, except I don't put them in a museum," the Doctor said.

Eleven laughed.

"Yup, although we should, easier to keep track of everyone then."

"So everyone from present time and future time is coming to kick this guy's ass?" Tara said.

"Well, there's a teensy problem, Star. No one can access this floor, remember?" the Doctor said. "That's what we're trying to figure out. How to make the floor visible so everyone can swarm onto it and kick the guy's ass as you so eloquently put it."

"Then I gotta go home afterwards and listen to the wife call me a daft little git for allowing myself to get in this situation in the first place," Eleven said.

"But…didn't you know this was gonna happen?" Tara asked. "You're not from a parallel universe. You're my Daddy's personal future."

"Yes, but when I was him, this never happened. I don't ever recall me sitting in a cage with you and my future self. This guy is mucking with history, I think, and changing it by kidnapping me and then kidnapping him and you. So I'm not sure what the outcome is going to be now."

"Great," Tara muttered.

"Don't worry, Star. We'll get out of here intact," the Doctor said. "Just be patient and everyone will think of a solution."

Just then the door flew open and the man stepped into the room.

"Except time is something we don't have much of," Eleven muttered to them.

The man smiled at them.

"Hello, I hope you enjoyed your time together because it's time for Tara to come with me."


	365. Chapter 365

Chapter Three Hundred and Sixty Five

Alan sighed angrily as he and his family sat inside the TARDIS. They had been brainstorming, trying to come up with a way to rescue their family members but so far they hadn't had much success.

"I refuse to believe that everyone in that sodding building has no clue there's a whole floor with a ruddy museum in it. There has to be another explanation," Alan said as they sat in the living room.

"Maybe we can talk to someone else," Rose said. "Someone in that building has to know about that exhibit."

Alan nodded.

"Who do we talk to though?" he said.

"Dunno, security guards, cleaning staff, anyone who works there who might have seen somethin'," Rose replied.

"Father, I have a suggestion," Tia said.

"Let's hear it," Alan replied.

"If we do find this missing floor, perhaps I can disguise myself and sneak in so I can see if I can locate them," she said.

"And I can use my ninja skills to help her," Emi said.

"Brilliant. But we still need to find a way up to the floor."

"I still say we should go and ask someone," Rose said."Other than that, what is there except finding the button that makes the lift stop at that floor."

"Very well," Alan said, getting up. "Follow me, troops, we'll outwit this evil bugger or die trying!"

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The Doctors got up and stood in front of Tara protecting her from him.

"Don't even try it," the Doctor said.

The man snorted.

"I have sleeping darts, I can just shoot you and take her," he said dismissively.

"Yeah, well, next time you won't be so lucky with that," Eleven said. "You shoot that thing at us and we'll catch the darts in mid-air and throw them right into your neck."

"Right, I'd love to see you do that," the man said, rolling his eyes. "Now step out of the way or I'll make her suffer as part of your punishment."

"Whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait, just a tic," the Doctor said. "Before we step out of the way, I wanna know who you are and why you're doing this."

"Very well, I'm Alfred Zoericker."

"Okay," Eleven said. "So why are you doing this?"

"I'm a very wealthy man who loves museums. I have several of my own scattered throughout the galaxy. Most of them are dedicated to various species but I've always admired you, Doctor. I've heard legends about you growing up and when I was older, I used my money to buy more books so I could read even more about you. I admire your dedication to the cause of fighting evil and injustice and I've always had a secret fantasy of being your companion one day."

The Doctors stared at him.

"Okay," Eleven said. "If you admire the fact that we fight evil, why are you doing evil things?"

"Because I'm upset with you!"

"And you're upset becaaaaaaaause…" Ten said.

"Because you never came and got me!"

The Doctors stared at him with wide eyes while Tara muttered, "Geeez," behind them.

"But we've only just met you today," Eleven said. "We may be capable of doing many things, but finding random people in time and space who wish to travel with us is not one of them."

"So now you're angry and what…you're gonna keep us here as punishment?" the Doctor said.

"I built this museum in tribute to you. I wasn't planning on keeping you here as exhibits but then I was out to lunch and I saw him and had an idea," he said, pointing to Eleven. "I figure if I can't travel with you, all of you can stay with me and keep me company."

The three captives gave him a long, hard stare.

"Did anyone ever tell you you're a barking mad looney?" the Doctor finally said.

Eleven tried to stifle his laughter when he saw the shocked look on Alfred's face. The shock dissolved into anger and he thrust his finger at the Doctor.

"Don't you dare call me that! My parents thought I was insane and tried to put me in an institution for treatment!"

_No comment,_ the Doctor thought to Eleven and Tara.

"If there's one thing I can't stand, it's being called insane. I am not insane! I know what I'm doing!"

"Then if you know what you're doing, surely you know that keeping us here and trying to sleep with my daughter is wrong so let us go!" Eleven said angrily.

"Why can't I sleep with your daughter? She's an adult, isn't she? I know you love her to the point of protecting her from everything but surely I can have a go at her."

"Um…I have a boyfriend already," Tara said, peeking from behind the Doctor's shoulder.

"What, that ugly unicorn freak?"

Both Doctors made a pffft noise when they sensed how angry Tara got at hearing that.

"Oh, mate, don't say anything bad about Phillip, whatever you do," Eleven said.

"Well, he's a lot better than you, Blimpo, and when he comes through a door, he doesn't need to be pushed the rest of the way through with a crowbar."

Both Doctors snickered at that until they noticed Alfred aiming his dart gun at her head.

"Don't…you…dare," the Doctor snarled.

"Give her to me!"

"No! And before you say something, I'm not being an overprotective daddy, she doesn't want you, she just said so, so anything you do sexually with her would be considered rape and I'm not about to let you do that!" the Doctor said.

"You can't do anything. I have all three of you at my mercy!"

"Uh-huh, well…come inside the cage and take her from us then," Eleven said smugly.

Tara snickered when the two Doctors folded their arms over their chests and gave him an I dare you look.

"Thought you'd torment us by putting us in here with Tara, but now it seems like you're driven yourself into a corner because you can't get her back out without facing us," Eleven said.

"On the contrary, I can do this!"

He held the gun out and gasped when Eleven's hand shot out and snatched it from him.

"I can do that, so now what are you gonna do?" he said.

He pointed the gun at Alfred.

"Open the door before I shoot you, knock you out and take the keys myself," he growled.

He quickly pulled the gun back in when Alfred tried to take it from him.

"No, my gun," he said in a condescending voice.

Alfred sighed.

"Very well, you're forcing me to be cruel," he said.

They watched as he put a small gas mask around his nose and mouth. The Doctor nudged his future self and they both looked at each other with grins.

"Are you my mummy?" they said in unison.

Alfred pulled a small box out of his coat and pressed a red button. Gas shot out from all four corners of the room filling it in thirty seconds to the point where no one could see anything. Alfred let the gas seep into the room for a couple of minutes and then pressed a black button. The gas was immediately sucked back into the walls and Alfred did a double take when the Doctors and Tara were still standing and staring at him. Both men still had their arms crossed over their chest while Tara giggled.

"We have respiratory bypass systems, you stupid wanker," Eleven said. "I assume you saw that fact when you read up on us."

"And you putting on the gas mask was a biiiiiiiiiiiiiig clue that gas was about to enter the room," the Doctor added. "Perhaps if you stepped out of the room and THEN pressed the button, we would be unconscious by now. So, any other clever things to throw at us, Chubbs?"

"Are you gonna throw a hunk of meat now before you release the tiger?" Eleven asked.

"You…you're mocking me?" Alfred said in disbelief.

The Doctors stared at him while Tara laughed harder. They turned their heads to each other.

_Suddenly, I have this feeling we're not really in that much danger,_ the Doctor thought.

_I know, I believe the man is an amateur when it comes to being a villain,_ Eleven thought back.

"What are you doing? Why are you staring at each other like that?" Alfred said to them.

Eleven turned his gaze to him.

"I'm narcissistic, I look at myself and can't help falling in love with the perfection that is me," he said.

_Brother, are you there?_ The Doctor thought to Alan.

_Yeah, are you lot alright?_ Alan thought back.

_Um…yeeeeeah, we're fine. Turns out Alfie boy, who's holding us prisoner, is Mister Thickety Thick Face. Trust me; I don't think he'll be much of a threat to us. _

_We're still searching for a way to get in there. We're trying to ask people if they know about the exhibit but so far, not a sausage. No one seems to know the museum exists,_ Alan thought to him.

_Hold on, maybe I can get Tubby Chubby to run his gob about that,_ the Doctor thought back.

The Doctor cleared his throat to get Alfred's attention.

"Call me a curious little monkey, but how did you manage to fix things so the lift doesn't come to this floor?" he said. "I'm just asking because I'm in absolute awe of your cleverness."

He, Eleven and Tara kept their faces passive while Alfred searched for any signs he was mocking him. Finally, he nodded.

"I didn't do it. That was here before I came. Something to do with smugglers using this building as a hideout before it became a department store."

"I see," the Doctor said, mentally relaying what he was saying to Alan. "So, there's a button that makes the lift skip this floor?"

"Yeah, near the lift."

"Then how come Dad and my sister found the floor before?" Tara asked.

"Well, I went down to eat in the food court and when I came back up, I forgot to turn it back on," he said, sheepishly. "However, I was overjoyed the moment I saw the Tenth Doctor walk into my exhibit. It was worth the lapse in security just to capture you."

"I bet it was. You managed to catch two Doctors. Cheers, mate, not many people can do that," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, you're definitely more than a match for us," Eleven said.

Tara stifled her laughter when she noticed Alfred had missed the veiled sarcasm and was pleased at that.

"Well, you both were worthy adversaries but in the end, I triumphed."

The two Doctor shared a look and rolled their eyes when Alfred turned away.

"Wait, where are you going?"Eleven said."Aren't you going to seize our daughter and take her to your bed for a night of carnal delights?"

"In a moment, I need to go to the loo."

"Oh," the Doctor said as Eleven giggled softly. "Well, we'll be here when you get back from the toilet."

"Yes, you will," Alfred said.

The Doctors rolled their eyes again when he waddled away.

"Something tells me our escape won't be all that difficult," Eleven said to them.


	366. Chapter 366

Chapter Three Hundred and Sixty Six

"So now what?" the Doctor asked Eleven when Alfred was out of earshot. "He may be dim but we still need to come up with a way to get at that button without him cottoning on."

"Dad, I think I have an idea," Tara said, tapping the Doctor on the shoulder.

She frowned when the Doctor didn't acknowledge her.

"Dad?" she said, tapping him on the shoulder. "Didn't you hear me?"

Eleven glanced at his predecessor who was still not answering his daughter.

"Doctor? She's trying to get your attention," Eleven said to him.

"I'm well aware of that, however, I have grown tired with hearing dad without the D-Y on the end."

Tara glanced at Eleven.

"Um…Daddy?"

"Yes, daughter?" he said, spinning around as Eleven snickered.

"Is it really that big an issue for you, not hearing Daddy anymore?" Tara said.

"Yes, because I miss it. Everyone calls me Dad now and it sounds too formal, in my opinion. Not to mention Dex and Em call me Father which is even more formal. Daddy has a nice, warm, intimate ring to it."

"Okay, Daddy, if that makes you happy."

"Indeed it does. And now, my Star, what did you have in mind?"

Tara pulled her fathers close to her and whispered her plan to them.

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"There we go, I feel much better," Alfred said as he came back into the room. "Now, hand over your daughter or…"

"Wait!"

Alfred looked at the Doctor.

"What?" he said testily.

"There's something I need to do before I forget. You see, a lot of those exhibits of me that you have are wrong."

"What?"

"Yeah," Eleven said. "They have huge factual errors. Makes me wonder what you used to study up on me."

"That's impossible. I studied up on everything I could find and checked and double checked the facts!" Alfred said.

The Doctor shrugged.

"Don't know what to tell ya, mate. All I know is I counted a lot of errors about me."

"Where?" Alfred said.

"Well, I'm not able to recall all of them, there were so many, but if you let us out and take us back in there, we can show you where they are."

Alfred gave him a wary look.

"How do I know you won't try to escape?" he asked.

"How can I escape when you have the lift guarded and the stairs blocked off?" he said. "Besides, you'll be able to nab us the moment you see us slipping away."

Alfred noticed that Eleven was still holding the dart gun in his hand.

"Give that back to me and I'll let you out…but only you…not him or your daughter."

"You better let me out because there are some things out there that have happened to me and not to him," Eleven said.

"Alright, fine, but your daughter stays in this cage so you won't try anything stupid," Alfred said.

"Will you give me your word that no harm will come to her while we're in here?" the Doctor said.

"Yes, you have my word."

"Very well then."

The Doctors turned to Tara and kissed her cheeks.

_Star, keep talking to Alan,_ the Doctor thought to her_. Tell him what's happening and tell him I'm going to try to get close enough to the button to push it. Once that's done, I'll contact him and let him know so they can come up here._

_Okay, Daddy. _

He smiled.

_Feels good to hear you call me Daddy again. I love it,_ he thought.

Tara grinned and they kissed her on the cheeks one more time before turning around to face Alfred.

"Okay, we're ready when you are," the Doctor said.

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The two Doctors led Alfred around the exhibit. There weren't really any errors but the two of them pointed to random stuff and making up something new while Alfred noted their corrections on a pad of paper. Both Doctors slowly worked their way up towards where the lift was. The Doctor noticed a small black button right beside it and deduced that was the button Alfred was talking about. The Doctor thought to his future self and Eleven grinned and nodded.

"Oh! I almost forgot. There was something else near the back," Eleven said. "It slipped my mind before but it's a glaring error that needs to be fixed!"

He put his arm around Alfred and led him away so he wouldn't see what the Doctor was doing. The Doctor quickly rushed over, jabbed the button with his index finger and sprinted back. To his relief, Alfred didn't look behind him until the Doctor was back with them and he gave him a charming, disarming smile to throw him off his guard. Alfred eyed him and then turned his head back around as the Doctor relayed to Alan that he had pushed a button beside the lift and asked him to see if it worked. While he did that, Eleven pointed to a peacock feather in one of the display cases and told him it was from the Maharaja of Mumbai. The Doctor had never seen it before so he had no idea where it really came from but he didn't care so long as Alfred kept jotting down notes on his pad. While he was doing that and Eleven was rambling on about the peacock feather, his sensitive hearing picked up the whirring of the lift and he knew it was heading down. He said a silent prayer to the universe that it would work this time and they would hit the correct floor. It seemed like forever as they stood there and Eleven kept going on with a nonsensical story about the feather and the Doctor shifted his foot nervously hoping that Alfred wouldn't catch on and do something drastic. He still had the dart gun in his hand and so far neither one of them had made a grab for it because they didn't want him to get his suspicions up. His ears heard the whirring again and again he said a silent prayer that they would succeed this time.

Eleven must have sensed the lift was coming up too because he suddenly pointed to another object in a glass case further down and he and Alfred walked towards it. The Doctor lingered a moment and turned his head to the lift. He grinned when he heard it stop and the door slid open revealing the rest of his family. Alan waved at him and he waved back as they all hurried out and hid behind the statues and the sides of the cases nearest the lift. Tia hurried to the bronze statues and changed her skin color to match it. The Doctor glanced over and saw that Eleven was telling Alfred another tall tale while he jotted it down. He wasn't looking his way so the Doctor hurried over to the statues where Tia, Rain, Dorothy and Awinita were hiding.

"Boy, am I glad to see you lot," he whispered when he reached the statue.

_Uncle, are you alright?_ Tia thought to him.

He nodded and pretended to study the statues while the other women neared closer to him. He grinned and accepted a quick kiss from his wife before she hid behind the statue of Eight.

_I'm fine, everyone. He's fine and so is Tara. If you go to the very back of this room, there's a door. Go through it and there's another room and the room after that is where they're holding Tara and his TARDIS. _

Tia nodded. She glanced at Eleven and Alfred and then made a break for it. They watched as she nimbly ran across the room and hid in the shadows. She changed her body color to all black and went as fast as she could towards the back door while Eleven continued to talk to Alfred.

_I better get over there in case Tubby looks this way,_ he thought to them. _Be careful_.

They nodded and the Doctor quickly sprinted over to Eleven and Alfred and positioned himself so he was blocking Alfred's view of the statues. So far Alfred was too busy trying to get everything that Eleven was saying down on paper to see where he was at. The gun was now tucked into the front waistband of his trousers but the Doctor still didn't try to grab it, letting his family have time to rescue Tara and get her to safety.

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Tara looked over when the door opened. She grinned when Tia slipped inside and closed the door.

"Tia, boy am I glad to see you."

"Yeah, you too. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, are my dads alright?"

Tia nodded. She reached into her jean pocket and pulled out her screwdriver. She unlocked the cage and thought to the others, telling them that she had rescued her. Tara could feel their joy at that and she sent all of them love in return. She and Tia tried the TARDIS door and found to their relief that Alfred had left it slightly ajar so he could get back in it again without having to rely on the key. They looked around at the metallic interior.

"Wow, Uncle changed the inside, I guess," Tia said.

"Yeah, I guess he got bored with the way it looked before," Tara said.

She shut the door and they walked over to the console.

"TARDIS, can you move to the exhibit room so we can rescue the rest of our family?" she asked the ship.

The TARDIS wheezed into life and Tara and Tia held onto the rim while the ship moved from one room to another. They knew they were in the other room when they heard the surprised yell of Alfred nearby. It was followed by the enraged yells of Alan and the women and triumphant yells of her fathers. A moment later, there was a knock on the TARDIS door.

"Tara, Tia, it's Alan. It's safe to come out, we got Blobbo contained now," he said through the door.

They opened the doors and Alan hugged his niece tightly.

"I'm so glad you're okay," he said.

"Me too. Daddy told me you got hit in the neck with a dart," Tara said.

"Eh, I'm fine. All in the line of duty," he said.

He put his arms around his niece and daughter and walked over to the others. Everyone was gathered around Eleven who was staring at all of them fondly. The Doctor was nearby, dart gun in hand, while he lay over the unconscious body of Alfred.

"We managed to get the gun away from him again," he said to Tara as he held it up. "Normally, I wouldn't shoot someone, moral high ground and all that, but it's a sleeping dart gun, so I just shot Tub-a-roo to my hearts' content. Might shoot him again before it's all over. In the meantime, I better get my wife away from me before I steal her away into my future TARDIS."

"I'm just admiring her beauty and remembering all the good times we had together when she was in this body," Eleven said to him. "I don't think my Rain would appreciate it if I brought her past self home with us."

He smiled at Awinita.

"And you, this body also brings back a lot of happy memories," he said.

"Yes, I know, I'm supposed to regenerate first," Awinita said, rolling her eyes.

"Sooner than you think," Eleven muttered in a nearly inaudible voice.

"Daddy, show them the photo album," Tara said to him.

"Okay, you can peruse the pictures while I get everything that belongs to me back into my TARDIS. And…come to think of it, everything that doesn't belong to me in case someone else gets ideas about starting a Doctor museum."

He found his photo album, handed it to Tara and borrowed Alan's sonic screwdriver so he could unlock the cases. Tara found the photo of herself as a Unic and showed them while the Doctor walked over to his future self.

"Well, I s'pose now you can get back home to your anniversary celebration," he said to Eleven.

Eleven nodded. He glanced over at the women and Alan who were staring at the photo album with interest and he leaned in close.

"I didn't wanna say this but Awinita's regeneration is about to happen, so don't be surprised when it does."

The Doctor nodded.

"I recall Jenny saying that in her vision you told her that it wouldn't happen for two hundred years so I was kinda anticipating it as well."

"It's nothing really. She doesn't suffer, trust me," Eleven whispered. "I just wanted you to know so you'll be ready."

"Thank you."

Eleven raised his eyebrow and grinned.

"You mean you're not gonna take a sneak peek at what your family will look like?" he said, pointing to the photo album.

"Yeah, I think I will take a small peek," he said. "Let me know if you need any help."

Eleven nodded and watched while his former self wandered back to the group. He smiled when he heard him laugh and tease Tara about her appearance and then he went back to the task at hand.

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After they finished looking at the photos, everyone helped Eleven finish loading the items into his TARDIS. Eleven grinned when he slipped his wedding ring back on his finger.

"Good job he didn't do anything to this, Rain would have killed me," he said as he looked at it.

He glanced over and saw Tara beside him holding the photo album in her hand. He took it from her and put it back in his pocket.

"There you go, always being helpful," he teased. "What would I ever do without you?"

"Daddy, I…wanted to tell you something."

"Yes?" he said.

Tara took his hands.

"What you said…" she said in a low voice, "about me being your favorite…"

"Tara, please don't let that go to your head. I love all of you and I never wanted you to think that you were somehow better than everyone else."

"But that's just it, Daddy; I didn't think I was better than anyone."

Eleven frowned.

"What'd ya mean?" he said.

"I mean, that I know it sounds crazy but I still have low self esteem from time to time and I never thought I was good enough."

Eleven's jaw nearly hit the floor.

"What? Of course you are. Star, how could you think you weren't? Have I ever made you feel inadequate in any way?"

"No, it wasn't you, it was me. It's…the way I was raised. The environment I lived in. it's hard to shake something like that and I spent all this time trying to please you, to do everything right so you would be proud of me."

Eleven held up his finger and mentally called the Doctor over. When he reached them, Eleven informed him what Tara had said and the Doctor's eyes nearly fell out of their sockets.

"Tara, no, you can't think this way anymore. I love you and I'm proud of you. I've always been proud of you from the moment I first met you. You don't have to work yourself to death to prove that to me, alright?"

"Yes but my point is what you said about me being your favorite, which kinda woke me up to the fact that I was making you proud all these years and I realized that I had succeeded in doing that."

The Doctor put his arms around her and Eleven hugged her from the front.

"And now that you know that, let that be the last time you have these doubts, alright?" Eleven said to her.

Tara nodded and both of them hugged her tightly and poured love into her mind.

"I love you, Daddy," she said to Eleven.

"I love you too, Star, and I'll see you someday when you're paler than a ghost."

He giggled when Tara smacked his chest and he gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"I'll take Blubberbutt somewhere where he can be watched and perhaps his mental illness can be cared for," Eleven said to them when they broke apart from Tara.

"Are you really gonna do that or are you just gonna go into the vortex and kick him out the open door?" Tara said.

"Well…thought had occurred to me but nah, I'd break my foot kicking that behind," he said as she and the Doctor giggled.

He gave her another hug.

"I love you, I love you, I love you, I'm proud of you, I'm proud of you, I'm proud of you, is that enough to convince you permanently?"

"Yes, it is," Tara said.

He gave her another kiss on the cheek.

"May I give you a word of advice before I go?" Eleven said to Tara.

"Sure."

"It's your choice but brown skin is much easier on the eyes than white, just a suggestion, mind," he said quickly. "It's entirely up to you if you wanna become a Unic."

Tara giggled and hugged him.

"I'll think about it, Daddy," she said.

"And she's calling me Daddy again, thanks for sending her to Coventry so she got the hint about that. I too got sick of hearing Dad instead of Daddy. Makes me feel a million times older than I am and that's saying something at my age."

He winked at Tara and shook his former self's hand, wishing him all the luck in the world. He walked over and hugged everyone else, telling them his goodbyes. After he was done and they helped him get Alfred into a containment cell, he waved goodbye, stepped inside and everyone stepped back and watched as his TARDIS faded from view.


	367. Chapter 367

Chapter Three Hundred and Sixty Seven

After getting into their TARDIS, the Doctor decided to take it into the vortex for awhile so everyone could relax. While he circled the console and flew his ship, his mind was a million miles away thinking about everything that had happened. He was unsure of where to go next especially if Awinita was nearing her regeneration. She hadn't told his sister about it, figuring she would worry needlessly about it like she did when she first found out about it two hundred years ago. The other thing that bothered him was Tara's admission that she thought she wasn't good enough to be his daughter. In all the years they'd been together she'd never given any indication that she was suffering from low self esteem and this frightened him because he realized that she was just as good at hiding her emotions as he was. He thought it over and figured that hiding her emotions probably came out of being tortured by the cult members. She had to have formed a protective barrier in order to survive the hell she went through. He could understand that since he did much the same thing throughout his life and especially after the Time War. But hiding her feelings and pretending she was okay was the last thing he wanted her to do. Especially since he had seen what doing that had caused in his own life. He knew he had to have a talk with her before they went to the next destination so he called to her telepathically. A moment later, she entered the room.

"Yes, Dad?"

She grinned when he eyed her.

"Dee…" she finished with a wink.

He grinned at that and held his hand out to her. She came up and took it and he gave it a squeeze as he sighed.

"Another adventure under our belts, eh?" the Doctor said.

"Yes, another successful halt to an evildoer's plans," Tara said. "And now that I know what I'm gonna look like next, perhaps I'll change my mind and stay a human."

"Oh, do you have to? I liked the whole Unic body. It made you look Unic-ique. Get it?"

"Geez, Daddy, you and your bad puns," she said while he snickered.

The Doctor sobered up and put his arm around her.

"Tara, I called you out here because I want to tell you that the next time you feel like you're worthless or unloved or you're not good enough, to come and talk to me. Because I wanna know since what you said back there was news to me."

"Daddy, I'm sorry. I didn't say anything because I didn't want you to worry."

"Yes, but Tara, that's what I used to do," the Doctor said. "Back before I met your mother, I used to go around pretending everything was fine and dandy and telling everybody I was fine when I wasn't. What you said scared me because in many ways we are a lot alike and you try to emulate me and I don't want you emulating this. So please, if in future you feel like you don't measure up or you're low and feel like no one loves you, come talk to me so I can give you a swift kick in the bum and say, lighten up!"

"Gee Daddy, way to make someone feel better about themselves," Tara said dryly.

The Doctor chuckled and rubbed her arm.

"You know me, have to finish up my lectures with something impish and cute," he said with a wink.

Tara leaned against her father and he gave her a sideways squeeze.

"Do you really think I should become a Unic in my next life?" she asked after a moment's thought.

"That's up to you, Star. I'll love you whatever you look like. You wanna be white with a horn on your head, go for it. Granted, you might have to disguise your appearance sometimes like Tia does when we visit Pre-Empire Earth but other than that, I don't think anyone in the family would mind. Do what you want to do."

"Can I switch genders and look like your sixth life then?" she said sweetly.

The Doctor made a face.

"Correction, do what you want to do except for that," he said while she laughed.

"Amo'mya will look very pretty when she changes, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I never imagined she'd go for the Greek look but yes, she looks very beautiful. Makes me wonder what our Rose will do when it's her time to change."

Tara looked over when Dorothy entered the room.

"Dad, everyone wants to know if you've decided where to go yet," she said, walking over to them.

The Doctor said nothing and didn't acknowledge her. Dorothy frowned as she came up next to Tara.

"Dad, did you hear what I said?" she said, puzzled.

"He hates being called Dad; he won't answer to it anymore. Call him Daddy from now on."

"Okay, um…Daddy?"

"Yes?" the Doctor said, looking at her.

"Okay, what's the deal with you not wanting to be called Dad anymore?" Dorothy asked.

"As I was telling your sister, Dad sounds too formal to me. You grew up calling me Daddy and I loved it because Daddy is warm and intimate and friendly. Then you both grew breasts and with it came this need to drop the D-Y and address me as Dad instead. I have suffered with it for over a hundred and fifty years but no more. My children will stop calling me Dad or Father or Parental Unit or Provider of my Food or Protector of my Body or Doctor. I will only answer to Daddy now."

"Does that include Mom?" Tara asked.

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"Hmm," he said, draping his arm over Tara's shoulder while she and Dorothy giggled, "should I make her call me Daddy? Hmmm…"

"Um, ugh…could you think about that somewhere else?" Dorothy said, making a face. "I really don't wanna imagine Rain calling you Daddy."

"Nah, I don't think I'd fancy that. She can call me Doctor as usual. And as for figuring out where to go next, haven't a clue. Do you have one, Ladybird?"

"Dad…"

The Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"Dee…" she quickly added as Tara giggled. "I don't like being called Ladybird. It's childish."

"Why? You've barely come out of your teenage years," the Doctor pointed out.

"No, I haven't. I'm two hundred and four now."

"Yes, like I said, you're barely an adult. You're not a human anymore, Dot. You haven't been one for two hundred and one years so stop thinking like you're one. On Gallifrey, you became an adult at the age of two hundred so I repeat; you're barely an adult now, why does being called Ladybird bother you?"

"Because it's goofy, what does it even mean?"

The Doctor stared at her and an amused grin slowly formed on his face.

"You don't know what Ladybird means?"

"No."

"It's the British term for ladybugs."

"Oh!" Dorothy said as Tara bent over laughing.

"What the hell did you think I meant all these years?" he said to her.

"I don't know, I thought it was some nonsensical gibberish you thought up when I was a toddler."

"Dot, go find your Aunt Awinita. I seem to recall that just before I met them Alan gave her a British dictionary for Christmas. Go ask her to give it to you so you know what I'm talking about," he said as Tara howled with laughter.

"I'm sorry, Dad…Daddy, you and Alan are always making up weird words. I thought that was one of them, excuuuuuuuuuuuse me then!"

"Well, I'm sorry I never clarified what Ladybird meant and you thought all these years that I was making the word up. Excuuuuuuuuuuuse me too!" he said as Tara held onto the jump seat and laughed harder. "In future, I will start doing what Lemony Snicket does when I say a word I think you don't know and say, "And by that, I mean," so you won't ever, ever be confused ever again!"

He turned to the console as Dorothy gave him a playful smack on the back.

"And with that in mind, let's go find a bookshop. I suddenly have an urge to find a British slang dictionary at some random Barnes and Noble somewhere and purchase it, you poor misguided thing, you," he said as Dorothy continued to swat him.

As the three of them laughed and teased each other, Emi came into the room.

"Father, are we going to land somewhere or…"

"Ah! Stop right there!" the Doctor said.

Emi froze in her tracks as the Doctor came over and put his arm around her.

"What is it, Father?" she said.

"Dot, Tara, tell her," the Doctor said to them.

"He doesn't want to be called Dad or Father anymore," Tara said. "It's too formal for him. From now on we're supposed to call him Daddy."

Emi jerked her head around and stared at him.

"But…Father, that's not polite and…"

"I know, Emi. I know in your time you were supposed to use formal terms for your parents because you were supposed to honor them but you're my daughter now and I would rather you called me Daddy. I know you mean well but Father sounds so distant, don't you think?"

"Perhaps but I thought you liked it. You've never told me you hated it before."

"I know and that's because I myself was being polite and holding my tongue since it was a cultural thing but I really did miss it when Tara and Dot stopped calling me Daddy and I'd love for all of you to call me that. So, could you do that for me? I promise I won't be offended if you don't use the formal parental term."

"I'll try…Daddy."

He smiled and gave her a hug.

"Thank you, I'd appreciate it, Em."

"Does this mean Tia has to stop calling Alan, Father?" Tara asked.

"Dunno, that's Alan's decision. I'm just telling you lot what I want from you. If Alan likes being called Father and Dad, that's his decision. But I better not hear it from you," he said with mock sternness.

"Okay…Dad," Tara said.

The women giggled when the Doctor raised his eyebrow.

"Well, I s'pose we ought to find a place to roam next, eh?" he said to them.

He bent over the console pretending to think about where to go while the three girls went and sat down behind him but in reality he was setting up a privacy block between him and his ship.

_TARDIS,_ he thought.

_Yes, Beloved? _

_According to my future self, the time has come for Awinita to change. Can you look into the time line and find the location where that will occur so we can get it over with?_

_Yes, my Beloved._

_I hate to do it to her but if it's meant to happen then there's no stopping It and with that in mind, let's make it sooner than later._

_She'll be alright, Beloved. Trust in that._

_I know, TARDIS, I know she'll live through it. I'm just gonna hate watching her go through whatever's gonna happen to cause her to regenerate._

_I've found it, Beloved. I've determined the location._

_Very well, TARDIS, take us there._

_As you wish, my Doctor._

The Doctor pretended to set a course as the monitor came to life and showed him the location his ship had chosen. Putting a smile on his face, the Doctor turned and leaned back against the rim.

"Found our next location, let's go get everyone else so they can get ready," he said to them.


	368. Chapter 368

Chapter Three Hundred and Sixty Eight

While the Doctor's daughters went back to inform everyone they had landed somewhere, the Doctor took a quick peek out the front door. He grimaced when he saw a snowy, icy planet similar to the Oodsphere.

_Better wear something warm, we're on a snowy planet,_ he thought back to them.

_Didn't you know that beforehand?_ Mingxia thought back.

_Um, no…I…took us somewhere random, more fun that way,_ the Doctor thought quickly.

_Oh boy, here we go_, Awinita thought. _Everyone put on body armor too because I'm sure a monster is lurking around the corner._

The Doctor swallowed hard when he heard that and guilt flooded his mind knowing that he was about to cause his sister's death and regeneration. But he reasoned that this was the time for that to happen and if it wasn't, the TARDIS never would have obliged him. He was comforted by the fact that she would regenerate and go on but it still was hard not to tell her that the event she had feared for many years was about to happen.

The Doctor shut the door and walked back to his bedroom to retrieve his coat. He found his wife there and his coat laid out on the bed. She picked it up as soon as he entered and gave it to him.

"Ah, thank you, my little coat rack!" he said before kissing her cheek.

"Yeah, well wear that as often as you can because I'm gonna miss it when you regenerate into Tweed Boy."

"Oi!" he said as she giggled.

"And when you do regenerate, are you going to say, "Now class, pay attention?" when you wanna tell us something."

She laughed when the Doctor tickled her ribs and she gave him a kiss.

"So…another random spot, eh?"

"Yup, I need to have some mystery from time to time. Been doing this for over fourteen hundred years, ya know," he said.

"Well, while you were up being a wallflower at the console, we were back in the back watching Little Shop of Horrors and having a grand old time."

"Ah! Love that movie!" he said.

She giggled when he grabbed her waist from behind and warbled the chorus to Little Shop of Horrors to her. She turned her head, gave him a kiss and straightened his trench coat before taking his hand and walking with him back to the console room.

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"Brrrrr," the Doctor said, shaking himself. "Nice chilly day, good for the body. The cold keeps the hearts a pumpin'."

"If you say so, Bro," Awinita said. "Personally, I would have preferred a tropical paradise to this."

The Doctor glanced at her and suddenly had a thought when he saw an icy glacier several feet behind the TARDIS.

"You know what, let's have a group photo up against that glacier," he said, reaching into his trouser pocket for his digital camera.

Everyone glanced at it and moved towards it. They gathered in a group in front of the sparkling glacier while the Doctor readied the camera. While they were standing there, Awinita giggled and made bunny ears behind Alan. Elizabeth glanced at it and put her index finger against his cheek while she made a goofy face and Angel did the same thing while she put her index finger under his chin.

"Is there a reason why I'm being singled out for harassment here?" Alan said as everyone laughed.

Rose giggled and pinched his butt.

"Like I said, why am I being singled out for harassment here?" Alan said.

Rose looked at Tia.

"Honey, you wanna harass your father?" she said.

"No, I'll leave him alone."

"Thank you! Everyone is being written out of my will except Tia," Alan said while they laughed.

The Doctor was finally ready and Alan's daughters and Awinita put their hands back at their sides. Everyone smiled huge smiles as the Doctor took the photo. He looked at the view screen while everyone else came over to his side. They looked at the photo with him.

"Not bad," Mingxia said.

"Yeah, we are a decent looking group of people," Awinita said.

"Yes, years from now we'll look back at this picture and say to each other, hey, remember the time we stood in front of a huge flippin' icicle?" Elizabeth said.

"Yeah, while we were freezing our bums off?" Angel added.

"Oh, I don't know, it's not that bad here," the Doctor said, putting his camera back in his pocket. "It would be a lot worse if we weren't Time Lords and didn't have our ability to withstand cold. Also, thank the gods Donna isn't here this time because I know she'd probably be whining like she did on the Oodsphere."

Alan nudged him.

"That coat," he said.

"I know," the Doctor said with a snicker, "I'm surprised her head didn't get swallowed up inside that furry hood of hers."

The Doctor gazed up at the sky and saw a single dwarf star providing some light for the planet.

"This isn't the Oodsphere though," he said, pointing up at it. "Which means we get the fun of walking around and finding out where we are. So, onwards, troops! Let's explore!"

"Allons-y?" Tara said.

"Exactly, couldn't have put it better myself. Now, march!" the Doctor said.

All of them set off on foot away from the TARDIS. The snow was about a foot deep and everyone took their time going through it. While they walked, the Doctor glanced at Awinita who was cursing under her breath while she was trying to move her feet through the thickly packed snow. He smiled tenderly at her and tapped her on the shoulder.

"I heard you lot were watching Little Shop of Horrors while I was in the console room," he said.

"Yes and you should have come back there with us, Bro. You spend too much time in the console room when you get in the TARDIS," she replied.

"You know me, creature of habit," he said with a wink.

Alan tapped him on the shoulder.

"While we're on the subject, Brother. I was teasing Rose during the movie because as you know Audrey calls Orin, Doctor, yeah? Well, we were watching the scene where Seymour watches Orin slapping Audrey around in her flat after she falls off the motorcycle and I pointed out to Rose that you should have done that when you were on the vespa in 1950's London."

"What? Slapped Rose around?" the Doctor said, confused.

"No, I mean, you should have said the dialogue while you were there. You know…the part of the scene where he says, "Falls off the motorcycle, musses my hair, get the door open, you little slut."

Rose rolled her eyes when both of them sniggered.

"Quick! The vitalis! Get the vitalis!" the Doctor said.

Rose looked at Rain and shook her head when both of them giggled hysterically at that.

"I don't have any!" Alan said, imitating Audrey.

"What?" the Doctor said, lightly slapping him across the face while everyone except Rose laughed.

"Hardy har har," Rose said.

The Doctor chuckled.

"Blast, that's one thing I should have done. Makes me want to go back there and get the vespa back from Tommy," he said.

"Did you ever see any man-eating plants like Audrey Two?" Dorothy asked.

"Yes, I did. However, they didn't talk…or sing…and I'm not sure if there are any talking, singing, man-eating plants out there," he said to her.

He poked Alan in the arm.

"By the way, Dorothy just figured out that Ladybird means ladybug. All these years she thought I'd made that word up."

Alan's eyes bugged out and everyone laughed when he jerked his head back towards her.

"Seriously? You didn't know what that meant?" he said amused.

"No, I'm sorry; I'm not up to date on all my British English words. Forgive me!" Dorothy said to them.

"Well, Doodlebug is a made up word, just in case you were wondering. There are no doodlebugs in the universe, at least not to my knowledge," he added.

He nudged the Doctor in the arm.

"By the by, did you know that I'm a mean green mother from outer space and I'm bad?" he said.

"Really? I didn't know that," the Doctor said as everyone giggled. "Nice to meet you, Mean Green Mother. I'm Kindly Purple Father."

"Nice to meet you, Kindly Purple Father," he said, shaking his hand. "Are you from outer space as well?"

"No I'm from inner space, it's much cozier."

"Innerspace, wasn't that a film with Dennis Quaid and Martin Short?"

"Spot on, Brother, it was!" the Doctor said.

"Oh no, here they go with their stream of consciousness ramble again," Rose said to Rain.

"Oh no, here we go with our stream of consciousness ramble again," Alan said. "And since it supposedly is a stream of consciousness ramble…turkey!"

"Gobble," the Doctor said.

"Mooooo!"

"Oink."

"Bacon."

"Breakfast."

"All right, you two," Rose said while they giggled. "Don't have to be so sarky, yeah?"

"Sarky," Alan said to the Doctor.

"Snarky," the Doctor said back.

"Barky."

"Larky."

Rose threw up her hands as everyone giggled hysterically. They all stopped when they heard something howling like a wolf in the distance.

"Listen to them, children of the night, what sweet music they make," Alan said, imitating Bela Lugosi.

The Doctor stared at him with wide eyes and then spun around, grabbing onto Rain's shoulders and staring at her intently.

"You will be my vampire slave!" he said with a Romanian accent.

Rain's head flopped forward and she snored loudly.

"Oi, Slave, I didn't say the word sleep in that statement," he said, snapping his fingers while everyone laughed.

"Oh, sorry, Dear. I thought going to sleep was a part of becoming a vampire slave," she said when she raised her head.

"No, if I say sleep, then you sleep, otherwise you stay awake, got that?"

"Yes, Master."

"Good," he said, putting his arm around her, "now come along, slave and company. Let's continue our exploration."

They headed off through the snow, chatting to one another. While they did, the Doctor kept looking around; trying to find any hint of danger but so far there wasn't any.

"Are you alright?" Rain finally asked.

He smiled at her.

"Yeah, just my usual keeping alert for danger phase. I'm fine," he said.

"If there's any danger, I think it's from us getting buried in a snowdrift," Tara said as she trudged through the snow.

They spun around when they heard a grunt and giggled when they saw Angel sprawled out face down in the snow.

"You git, that's not the way to make a snow angel," her sister said, poking her back.

"Piss off, Lizzy, I tripped and fell," she said as Rose and Mingxia helped her to stand.

She dusted the snow off her body while Elizabeth leaned her head back and looked at Alan.

"Hey, I just realized something, Dad. Snow…Angel…aren't I witty."

He patted her on the shoulder.

"Very witty, my witty Lizzy."

"Yeah, that's a real knee-slapper, that is," Angel muttered as she finished dusting herself off.

They resumed walking, this time making sure to be careful so no one tripped and fell again. As they walked, they passed by a grove of snow-covered dead trees and the Doctor noticed something out of the corner of his eye. He looked over and saw something shimmering through a couple of the trees. He pointed it out to everyone else and after a quick vote, they decided to go and investigate it.


	369. Chapter 369

Chapter Three Hundred and Sixty Nine

They made their way over towards the woods, looking around cautiously as they did. The shimmering came and went but the Doctor noticed that if a cloud passed overhead the shimmering stopped which led him to conclude it was the star's light that was responsible. Reaching the woods, all of them went through the trees. Emi pulled out her wakizashi and kept it ready while they searched for the source of the shimmer.

They finally found it when they stepped through another clump of trees into a snowy clearing. To their amazement, in the middle of the clearing was a large crystal carved into a snowflake. It was sitting on top of a long wooden pole and the snow had drifted all around the pole. Alan let out a low whistle when he saw the carving.

"Don't anybody move. I claim this for my Starlight in the name of me!" he said, trudging over to it. "My jewel must have an exquisite find like this."

"Hold on!" the Doctor said, following him. "I'm the leader, I get first call on any booty we find and I claim this for _my _jewel."

"You are not the leader," Alan said. "We are a committee, there is no leader."

"Committees have leaders," the Doctor pointed out. "I'm the oldest so I get to head up the committee."

"No, you need a fresh face and that's me. I'm the youngest so I'm the head!"

"Meanwhile, while they're arguing about this, a monster jumps out," Rose says to the others.

Both men paused and looked around.

"Coo-eeeee, monster, where are ya, boy?" Alan called out.

"Yoooo-hooooooooo, oh moooooooooonster! Come out and show yourself!"

The wolf howled in the distance.

"What d'ya know, the monster answered," Alan said while the women giggled. "Anyway, as I was sayin', I claim this crystal doodah for Starlight!"

"Nope, can't have it, I saw it first, mate," the Doctor said.

Alan dug deep into his trouser pocket and pulled out a red squirt pistol.

"Now…" he muttered as he looked down at the snow. "How to melt this stuff so I can get ammunition…"

"Are you threatening me, Alan?" the Doctor said, pointing to the gun.

"Yeah, because you won't back off your claim of this thing-a-ma-whosits here. So I must squirt you, watch you freeze into an ice lolly and seize it for myself!"

"Not if I do that first!"

"Oh for heaven's sake, ya children!" Awinita said, walking around them. "Sometimes you make infants look like senior citizens and…"

Everyone gasped as her foot hit something under the snow and she stumbled and fell face first into a drift. She jerked her head up and spat snow out of her mouth.

"Hurray, I'm not the only one that did that!" Angel said.

The Doctor walked over and helped her up.

"Are you alright, Te'lesu?"

"Yeah, my foot hit something solid down there."

She gazed into the deep hole her foot made and then began to dig and throw packed snow out of the way. The Doctor knelt down and helped her and the others came forward to assist. All of them flung snow out of the way as they tried to find out what Awinita had stepped on. They dug for about five minutes and then they finally saw what her foot had hit.

"Holy cow," Rain said.

"I take it back, Brother. Snowflake's yours, I want this!" Alan said to the Doctor.

All of them continued to dig until they found the edges and then they all lifted out a large crystal statue of a little girl.

"Whoa! This is cool!" Awinita said.

"It's mine, mine, all mine!" Alan said to the Doctor. "Or rather…it's my wife's."

"I don't want a crystal statue of a kid," Rose said.

"Yes, you do, you want it, trust me," Alan said quickly.

They tried to set it upright and found they couldn't when they realized the girl was on her tiptoes. She had her right arm out and her index finger was extended like she was pointing up at something in the sky. She was short and dumpy with bushy hair and Neanderthal-like features. She was wearing animal skins and a skin parka trimmed with fur. They admired the detail of the statue.

"You can even see the fur on her hood. Whoever did this is very talented," Mingxia said.

"Yes but why would you sculpt her on her tiptoes and not affix her to a base of some kind?" Rain said. "It's a little bit dumb to go through all the trouble of doing this and not making her able to stand upright."

The Doctor examined the outstretched arm. He glanced at the snowflake and had a thought. He moved the girl closer and noticed that the finger touched the snowflake.

"I see, so she's touching the snowflake supposedly," Dorothy said.

"That's what it looks like to me," the Doctor said. "But Rain's right, why not put her on a base so she'll stay upright?"

"Father…I mean, Daddy," Emi said.

Alan frowned at that. The Doctor chuckled.

"I don't like being called Dad or Father; it sounds too formal so I asked them to call me Daddy from now on."

"Do we have to do that too?" Angel asked Alan.

"Nah, Lord High God Supreme will do just fine."

They laughed when Angel swatted his back.

"What did you want, Em?" the Doctor said.

Emi handed him another small crystal sculpture. It was a furry lizard-like creature about half a foot long. Its legs were curled up slightly underneath its body and it's long tongue was sticking out. The Doctor pointed to the legs.

"Okay, yet another puzzling choice of design. Why are the legs curled under?" he said.

"Maybe it's supposed to be a dead lizard," Elizabeth said, shrugging.

Rain looked at it and then at the pole. She took it from her husband and tried to fit it around the pole. The legs hugged it perfectly. She then moved it up so that the tongue was touching the snowflake and looked at the others when it matched.

"Bloke's not very good at gluing stuff to things," Alan said.

"I found another lizard too," Awinita said, bringing them another furry lizard.

They stared at it. It also had its legs curled up under it and its tongue sticking out.

"Made this one first, didn't like it and made another one?" Alan offered.

"Dunno, somehow I get the feeling there's more than meets the eye here," the Doctor muttered. "At least we know now there's some kind of advanced life here but so far I haven't seen anything except snow, ice, trees and this."

They jerked their heads around when Tia suddenly jumped up onto a tree limb and leapt from limb to limb going upwards.

"Our daughter's multi-talented," Alan said, putting his arm around Rose.

They stood and waited while she jumped up to nearly the top of the tree and looked around.

"I see life past this forest," she called down to them. "I see smoke from fires."

"Well then, perhaps we should go talk to the locals and find out who's responsible for the odd tableau here," the Doctor said.

Tia came down the tree and jumped down beside the Doctor.

"Did you happen to see any people with guns, knives, bombs, that sort of thing?" Alan asked.

"No, Father…am I allowed to call you Father?"

The Doctor snickered as Alan considered that.

"Yeah, go ahead. I'm too lazy to enforce the call me Daddy edict. Whatever you wanna call me is a-okay with me."

"Okay, Dorkbreath, let's get a move on then," Elizabeth said.

Alan sighed as she and Angel ran off laughing. Rose shrugged.

"Said it was a-okay for them to call you anything," she said. "Don't blame them for obeying your request."

The Doctor chuckled and patted him on the shoulder as everyone else followed Angel and Elizabeth through the woods.


	370. Chapter 370

Chapter Three Hundred and Seventy

After catching up with Angel and Elizabeth, the Doctor wondered how far it was to the fires that Tia saw and placed his hands inside the pockets of his coat.

"You know, for a second there, I was thinking that shimmering was from a small silver ball," Alan said and the girls looked at him with confused looks on their faces.

"Now what are you on about?" Awinita asked.

"He's talking about the Yetis," the Doctor said and Alan beamed.

"There is no such thing," Rose said and Alan gave her a wide eyed look.

"Yes there is!" he said and moved his face toward hers and breathed in her face. She gently swatted his face as he gave her a stunned look and his lower lip quivered. "Ow,"

"Oh, come on, I didn't hit you that hard," Rose said as he sniffed and walked to the Doctor, placing his head on the Doctor's shoulder.

"Rose hit me," Alan said then sniffed and the Doctor patted his back.

"Rose Tyler-Timelord, how could you do such a thing?" the Doctor asked and Rose walked to Alan, tapping him on the back. He slowly turned his head toward her when Rose held her arms out and smiled at him. Alan sniffed then hugged her and she kissed his cheek.

"You slapped the other one," he said and she kissed his other cheek. He smiled at her then picked her up and carried her toward a snow bank. "And now it's payback time!"

"Alonzo Arthur Timelord, don't you dare!" Rose shouted while kicking her legs back and forth and he wiggled his eyebrows up and down. He swung Rose around as he moved like he was going to throw her into the snow and the girls laughed.

"No, my pride is hurt! I must have my revenge!" Alan shouted when Angel and Elizabeth ran up to him and swatted him on the bottom. "Oi, now I'm being abused by my own daughters!"

"That's because you're a dorkhead!" Elizabeth said and Angel nodded. Growling, Alan placed Rose on her feet then reached down and started making a snowball.

"Prepare to defend yourselves!" Alan bellowed then threw the snowball at Angel but she got out of the way and the snowball sank into the snow. "Hey, you weren't supposed to move!"

"Yeah, right, I was just going to stand here and let you hit me with a snowball," she said and Alan frowned, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I don't get any respect," he said when Tia walked over and kissed his cheek.

"I respect you, Father," Tia said and Alan placed his arm around her shoulder.

"Ok then, from now on, I have only one daughter!" Alan said when Tia slid an icicle down his shirt then scampered up the nearest tree. He grumbled as he tried to get the icicle out of his shirt and ignored the others laughing at him. Fishing the icicle out of his shirt, Alan shook his head then wiggled his finger at Tia and she climbed out of the tree. He smiled as she walked closer and he slid his arm around her, kissing the top of her head. Taking her hand, Alan started walking as the others went to catch up with him and he swung Tia's hand back and forth.

"I still think it was mean," Alan said after they walked for a few minutes and the Doctor gave him a confused look.

"What do you think is mean?" he asked.

"The way you treated Jamie when you first saw the Yeti," Alan said, talking about the Doctor's former companion, Jamie McCrimmon.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Who's Jamie?" Angel asked.

"His full name was James Robert McCrimmon and he used to travel with the Doctor. Though, for the life of me, I don't get how Jamie could stand being around him in those days. He was such a chicken," Alan said and the Doctor glared at him.

"I was not!" the Doctor shouted.

"Well, you were either a chicken or a doddering, old fool."

"Look, you…" the Doctor said while Alan ran behind Rose and held onto her shoulders.

"Save me!" Alan said and Rose smiled, shaking her head.

"If you must know, Jamie traveled with me in my second life and was a good and loyal friend," the Doctor said and the girls nodded.

"When did you meet him?" Emi asked.

"I met him in Scotland during the Rising at Culloden."

"That would make it…" Elizabeth said then thought for a few seconds and smiled. "In the year seventeen forty-five?"

"No, it was seventeen forty-six. Most people get that mixed up for some reason," the Doctor said then walked a little faster.

"Why were you mean to him?" Awinita asked.

"I wasn't mean to him!" the Doctor said loudly and tossed his arms into the air.

"All Jamie wanted to do was tell him this really neat idea he had and this one runs off like he had the plague," Alan said and the Doctor turned his head, glaring at him. "Oh, ah, Victoria, Victoria, I think this one of those incidences where discretion is the better part of valor. Jamie has an idea. Come along."

"Did you really say that?" Rain asked and the Doctor sighed, slapping his arms against his thighs.

"Yes, I did. Can we go now?" the Doctor asked and walked faster.

"That was mean, Daddy," Tara said and the Doctor sighed, rolling his eyes.

"What do you lot want me to do? Go and tell him I'm sorry?" the Doctor asked as he turned and looked at them.

"Yeah, that would be a great idea!" Rain said and the Doctor sighed, turned and walked faster. She half ran to catch up with him then placed her arms around his arm and he smiled at her.

"Sorry that we're teasing you," she said and he nodded, patting her arm.

"That's ok. I would like to go see Jamie again, but he wouldn't remember me."

"Because you're not the same Doctor he remembers?"

"No, it's because he doesn't remember me after our first adventure."

"What?"

"When I was exiled to Earth in my third, the Time Lords erased all but the first adventure he had with me."

"Why did they do that?"

"They were punishing me."

"And they took it out on Jamie?"

"Yep," the Doctor said as he popped the "p" and she placed her head against his arm.

"That so stinks," she said and he nodded. They kept walking when the Doctor stopped and held his hand up. The others gathered around him as they looked at the small village spreading out before them and the smoke from the fire circles in front of the snow covered stone house rose to the sky.

"What's the plan?" Alan asked as the Doctor looked at him and scratched an itch in the corner of his left eye.

"The plan is for us to slowly walk into town and let me do that talking," the Doctor said.

"Who says that you're going to do the talking? I am a much better talker."

"Yeah, you never shut up!" Awinita said and Alan flipped her off, making the girls laugh.

"I'll do the talking. End of story," the Doctor said when he got the feeling that they were being watched and he motioned for the others to get behind him and Alan. Out from behind the snow covered bushes came several men wearing clothing made from tanned hides and fur covered hoods covered their heads, The Doctor could see the men had the same Neanderthal-like features of the statue they had found and most of them held spears with stone points in their hands. The Doctor slowly held his hands up as the men growled at him and he held up a finger on each hand. "Hello, I'm the Doctor."

The men moved around the Doctor and the others while sniffing the air and the Doctor shook his head slightly, telling the others not to move. The men pointed their spears at them when one of the men grunted something and pointed with the spear that he wanted them to move.

"Right, stay together and no sudden moves," the Doctor said as the men gathered around them and they headed for the village. The doorways to the snow covered stone houses were covered with fur lined skins as some of the skins were moved back and the Doctor noticed the faces peeking out at him. He gently waved as the skins moved back over the doorways and he sighed, glancing over at Rain.

"Where do you think they're taking us?" she asked and the Doctor shrugged, sliding his hand around hers. They walked toward the largest of the snow covered stone houses when one of the men pulled back the fur covered hide and pointed with his spear that he wanted the Doctor to go inside.

"You want us to go in there?" the Doctor asked while pointing to the doorway and the man nodded. Shrugging, the Doctor walked to the doorway then bent down a bit and walked inside. He heard gasping when he turned and two of the men were standing in front of the doorway, blocking him from Rain and the others. "Oi, let them through!"

"No, it's ok!" Rain said as the Doctor sighed and nodded, turning back around. He walked further into the building as he tried to see but the inside was nearly pitch black and he could see the large fire circle in the center of the room. The flames moved across the logs as the logs popped and hissed and the Doctor stopped in front of the fire circle, peering into the darkness.

"Anyone home?" he asked then heard something moving in the shadows and took out his sonic screwdriver, holding it tightly in his right hand. Something stopped a few feet to his left as he spun on his heels and could just see a figure standing in the shadows. "Come out where I can see you. I mean you no harm."

"If that is true," a low growling voice said. "Lower your weapon."

The Doctor lowered the sonic screwdriver as the figure walked closer and the Doctor saw that it was a man, roughly half his size, and the man had long white hair and dark blue eyes. He was dressed in clothing made from some sort of animal and had been stretched, tanned and dyed a deep brown color. Fur was stitched around the hood of the man's coat and he wore fur lined boots on his feet. His face was round with dark, wrinkled skin and his hair was braided to one side, tied at the end with a black cord.

"I am the Doctor. Who are you?" the Doctor asked.

"I am Benjol," Benjol said with a nod of his head and the Doctor nodded.

"Well, like I said, my family and I mean you no harm. We're just visiting," the Doctor said and Benjol frowned, looking him over.

"But you are not dressed for this kind of weather," he said and the Doctor smiled.

"Well, if you would allow my family to come in, I'll explain," the Doctor said when he heard a loud screeching sound then screaming and shouting and they both looked at the doorway. Running outside, the Doctor noticed that Alan and the others were gone and he turned to Benjol, breathing hard and fast through his nose. "Where are they?"

"Over here!" Rain shouted as she waved from the doorway of the snow covered house to his left and he ran to her.

"Is everyone alright?" he asked and Rain shook her head.

"I don't know what it was, but it swooped out of the sky and…" she said and he held her, wrapping his arms tightly around her body. He looked into the darkness of the snow covered stone house when Alan walked closer and the Doctor could see that he was bleeding

"Alan," the Doctor said as Alan walked closer then sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

"I tried to stop it," he sighed and the Doctor let go of Rain and placed his hands on Alan's shoulders. "Whatever it was…It took her."

"Took who?"

"Awinita," Alan sighed and the Doctor balled his hand into a fist.


End file.
